You know, Forum, you've been really really of great help these days. And I've asked you a lot and each time you came with your wisdom to help me! But still I'm eager to know MOAR! So again,tonight, since you look in good shape I'll require some answers.

Here's the problem: I can't win. I mean, there's something in our gameplay that is fail for sure. I feel like when we are ''starting'' to win its alrdy too late and we lose. Like when we seal our firsts gates, the doomtrack is half full and theres a lot of **** on the board(herald things,monsters,Martial Law). I possess all big box expension so my mythos was brutal as f**k. Then I decided to play only Mythos Cards of expensions we were playing while using all other expension cards such as unique,spell,madness/injury, etc. It did nerfed the mythos phase but still, unable to achieve victory. It seems something is wrong in our way to achieve this so wanted victory.I think we're wasting the firsts turns so things get uncontrolable in late game. So I'd like to know what kind of ''play'' did you guys developped in order to masterise that epic board game. Some things like: Whats your priorities? Gear?Ecounter?Money? Token? Do you tend to ''close'' more then ''seal'' gates? How do you spend your Trophies/MOney? Do you abuse of a special encouter such as shops/admin/church/Sci.Building? Favorite investigators? Why?(Beside Patrice of course)

I know I ask a whole lot but the goal is the have some hints so at least we dont get savagely raped by the board. Thanks in adavance, awesome forum

Sincèrement Vôtre,

Saikoro

Don't have much to suggest... it's a tough run with all the boards in play.

I use six investigators. I feel that's the minimum necessary to have a chance, but then again I use anti-dilution to make Dunwich and Innsmouth gates more frequent. I know Solan plays with all board expansions but does not use anti-dilution and he gets by with four investigators.

My major priority is clues. If a personal story costs clues to pass, I often don't worry about trying to pass it. If a personal story offers clues upon passing, I often try to pass it. Make clues your priority. Use the Science Building's "dissection" ability often.

I try not to close gates without sealing them when possible, but occasionally you should close one just to keep the gate numbers low. If you're using the Lurker expansion and one of the gates starts moving, then that's a perfect opportunity to close a gate for the sake of closing because you can't seal one once it's moved.

Hope this helped. Good luck.

by ''anti-dilution'' you mean selecting you mythos depending what youre playing, like I did, correct? But **** 4 investigators on all the boards is pretty baller of him. It require some master knowledge of the game and epic dice rolls.

I use all expansions, every game.

Anti-dilution means, for me, that I increase the chances that I'll draw a Dunwich or Innsmouth gate (or Next Act card). This ensures that all three expansion boards are highly active, which means that I'll need six characters in order to cover them all, and that I'll be likely to push the gate limit.

Solan probably doesn't trim his Mythos deck at all, so he'll have a less active Innsmouth and Dunwich than if he were to use that expansion on its own. Though four is still probably a bit of a task even then. I might have gone with five, and only dropped it to four if I was using every expansion without any anti-dilution.

I'm with Tibs on this (how can I be not with him? Well, good question). Clues and gates are the main focus of the game. You should be able to send an investigator with enough clues to seal inside a gate by Mythos 3, and another one the round after. Even sooner if you are able to get an ES or a King in Yellow.

Besides, it's quite difficult to get the right timing in Arkham (I mean, being able to control the board well). So basically, my suggestion is keeping the things easy. If Heralds + boards + different disasters are too a mess, simplify a little everything. Do not use Heralds until you're able to control the board. Start playing with easy AOs, or, at least, with AO with a long doom track. Choose your characters. Silas, Joe, Michael, Soland, Minh, Hank these guys here are strong without being game breakers like Patrice or Daisy. And if you want, post a report of the very first round of a game you've lost, so maybe we can discuss your strategy with some more elements at hand

Clues, clues, more clues. Strategically seal high-frequency locations (by now you know which ones) then close the low-frequency ones if you can't seal them too and you risk being overwhelmed by monster surges, otherwise gather more clues.

As Julia said, you should play with no Heralds until you can win for 2-3 times in a row.

If you draw a Rumor, plan ahead if you are able to pass it or not, if your chances are low ignore it if you can.

If you can evade it in Arkham, don't fight it! Unless the guy coming after you can't evade it...

And in the end of course you have to be lucky

My response is going to mirror everyone else's on this. At least in the beginning, our group's strategy is to send players out for the first two to three turns to grab the majority of clues off the unstable locations before gates can swallow them up in general. After most of the clues are picked up, we tend to break into two functional groups in general. The more combat oriented characters (and more aggressive spellcasters) tend to become board sweepers, trying to keep the monsters at bay, and keep paths for everyone clear, while the second group closes and seals gates. Also, Sealing gates whenever possible should be a priority - it's much easier to Seal six gates than close all gates at once in our experience.

Seeing as how I've already been mentioned here, I can't resist contributing to this thread .

First, Saikoro, you wrote that you stopped including the Mythos cards of expansions you weren't using. Which expansion boards are you using now and how many players do you have per game? I won't ask which Herald you are using, because as other posters have already pointed out, you should cut out Heralds entirely until your win percentage improves.

Absolute first priority is sealing six gates, which means Clue tokens and Elder Signs are by far your most precious resources. Never waste them! Also, this is a game which demands great teamwork; your players have to be prepared to act for the good of the team, whether that means trading away their best weapon, giving all their money to another player, or accepting being marooned on Devil's Reef after sealing the gate there. Without that attitude, you won't win.

On the first turn we do what we can to make sure that everyone has either a decent +6 from their weapons or a good Sneak score, so that each Player has a way of dealing with monsters. Often a character with a lot of money will visit the Curiosity Shoppe, which offers so much more potential benefit than shopping anywhere else. Everyone tries to save at least two dollars, though, for train fare. This doesn't always work, and sometimes the Kingsport Rift-Handler in particular winds up going broke getting there, but he usually has an item to sell at Neil's.

Those who start with three Clues are given precedence in gathering more Clues, since we need to get those Gates sealed as quickly as possible. We make it a general guideline, though, NOT to take Clues from high frequency gate locations unless doing so would put that player at five Clues. Otherwise there is too great a chance that a gate will open on him, either through the Encounter deck or Mythos deck, plunging him into another world without enough Clues to seal.

We almost never close gates instead of sealing them, not with all four boards in play. The gate limit in that case is nine, which is hardly ever reached, and of course every gate closed opens up the possibility of it reopening and adding another Doom token. Our Doom Track moves fast enough without us helping it along like that.

Tibs is of course right when he says the moving Lurker gates should be closed, but we don't use the Lurker gates anymore; we found they were the straw that broke the camel's back, adding just a little too much difficulty on top of everything else.

It can certainly be a good idea to seal high frequency gates, but if you're playing with Innsmouth such sealing early on can get you killed in the end game. Also, there is the ever-present danger of gate bursts at such locations. That's why I always jump at the chance to seal a gate at Devil's Hopyard or the Silver Twilight Lodge, for example, since I know such seals are very unlikely to add a Deep Ones Rising token and will never burst.

Trophies are virtually always spent at the Science Building for Clues, but if we're down to the last gate being sealed and we have a player in Arkham without enough Clues to jump in himself, he'll often make a beeline for the Church and uses his trophies to Bless one of the Investigators in the other world. Doing this has saved us the game a few times.

My favorite Investigator hands down is Silas Marsh. I love his backstory, he has great Will/Fight, he starts off with a lot of cash, and with all four boards in use his abilities to travel from one Aquatic location to another and be so much stronger in Aquatic locations are invaluable! Finally and most importantly, Silas' tragic Personal Story can seal your victory. Our games with Silas usually end with the Deep One hybrid taking his own life and thereby saving the world.

In terms of raw power, Mandy Thompson, Wendy Adams, Jacqueline FIne, and Marie Lambeau are at the top of the scale and a lot of fun to play.

I'll be interested to learn how many boards and players you're currently using in a game, Sairko. I love using all four, but the difficulty that way is absolutely through the roof. If you're just learning, I hate to say it, but you'd probably be a lot better off using just basic and Dunwich for a while. Once you've got a handle on that combo, you could start adding other things.

I tend to split my team in the early game between shoppers, money gatherers, and sometimes bank loan exploiters and clue token gatherers. I try to get almost all money onto a character or two and have them hunt for useful items (Elder Sign, King in Yellow, and Eltdown Shards especially, but also a weapon or two if necessary) at the Curiosity Shop and retainers at the Newspaper (to keep that money flowing over the course of the game you're best off getting retainers within the first four turns, I make a turn or two of shopping a first priority though).

I mostly avoid combat with monsters unless there are two of them on the same space, or if they're on a gate I want to go in (so I target them as a bonus trophy), or they offer something really good (like removing a doom token), I'd go for a Migo if it weren't in the sky, but probably not a tcho-tcho unless it were blocking the streets. It's important to not get bogged down in combat and wasting time on random things, but to keep to the primary objective of keeping your investigators well armed and stocked with clues so they can get into the gates as fast as possible (without getting knocked out in the meanwhile), and seal them. I'd also recommend taking Injury and Madness cards most of the time (they save two bucks, items, and sometimes they're really useful for traveling purposes with a low speed investigator).

Know the gate frequencies. Keep your luck up (until you know the few places that you actually want your lore up).

I'll often get one ally during a game (a really good fight booster +2 to combat or horror or both, or professor rice) on the strongest fighting investigator (this makes it so that if a very threatening monster shows up on the board, at least one investigator can handle it). But sometimes I just pour all my trophies into clues at the science building. I rarely get deputized. I sometimes get blessed (particularly in the last couple turns of the game when there's nothing better to spend extra trophies on and you already have all the clues you need for the win, or you're convinced the Ancient One's about to wake up).

Also, I tend to take this for granted, but I guess I shouldn't. It's a team game. You need to work as a team or you'll die as a team. That means no hording items, no being a glory hog. Do what your investigator is best suited to do, and if that means play a support role, play a support role (meaning you might just seal one gate, shop, gather money, trade items, and fight an occasional monster during the game while other stronger investigators do two or three gates with items that you got them).

Also, be smart about how you pick up clues. It's okay to let several clues (up to three) pool at the low frequency locations. Don't waste time going there when there's only one (and even two unless you're really desperate for clues). Also, don't pick up clues at the science building unless you have trading trophies when you're going there (otherwise you're being inefficient with your time, if you're smart about it on the other hand, you can pick up 4-5 clues in one turn and turn around for another gate). Don't have all the players competing for clues. Make sure one or two investigators get access to the clues they need for gate sealing early game. Also, don't waste clues by either spending them on checks that are not likely to kill your investigators or have them Lost in Space and Time. Save them for emergencies. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but they're extremely rare. And don't have one player hording too many clues (while it's nice to have maybe one or two more clues than you need if you are responsible for sealing a gate, just in case something goes horribly wrong, you don't need eight or nine clues, make sure at least one investigators is getting clues at all times while at least one investigator is in another world for sealing at all times, as soon as possible of course).

Getting random encounters is not a priority for me. I don't explore. I only use fixed location abilities (when I need them), and go to locations for clues. If they don't have clues or fixed location abilities I need I don't go there (unless it's the Newspaper). I tend to not visit most of the stable locations during the game. I can't even remember the last time I've had an encounter at Velma's Diner for instance, or even The Police Station.

Solan said:

My dear Solan,

First of all thanks a lot for responding to this post. Your reply is full of good information. When we start playin AH, I bought base game+Dunnwitch and we played like 15 games maybe with it. We used all stuff back then. Then I bought Kingsport and played just a couple game with it(5-6) but didnt liked it much so we switched back to Dunnwitch. Then I got Innsmouth so we decided to play with all boards. It was a total **** since theres too much chaos going on. And with ALL mythos in play, the deck is pretty brutal. Then we got rid of Kingsport(again) and played with Dunnwitch+Innsmouth but still playing Kingsport's Mythos cards when possible. Needless to say we got raped pretty hard again. So we decided to include just INnsmouth for now in order to know more how to handle it. And I also pick Mythos cards depending on their symbols of expansion. But ultimately, we'd like to play with all boards too. We usualy play with 6 investigators and we use Hypnos/Nodens depending the Ancient One and as Herald we use KiY/Dagon/Itzhkiaiubfibef(lol). I've alrdy found some flaw in our gameplay while reading you post. Things such as not wasting clue token on rerolls and portal burst locations. Guess we were playing like princesses and not willing lose a single encounter. FAIL! It all f***ed our brains when we read we could spend clue to reroll a failed check. We'll have to bear with things like madness/injury, sanity loss, object loss, etc...well, there might be some situations in which you HAVE to spend clues to reroll but we should have keep them and used them in emergency situations(last sealed gate, Doomtrack-related event). I've got all big expansion and King in Yellow. If you have some recommanded setup that practice some aspect of the game you judge important, just let me know too. I'll give it a try.

Avi_dreader said:

Thanks for hints! Seems like I"m not the only one having to deal with glory hogs and stockpiling objects. Also we were playing madness/injury not correctly. This is due to the facts that I'm the only one who has read ALL the rulebooks since everyone else is too f***ing lazy to do it. So I forgot some important stuff with so many rules in game. You've been of a great help!

Saikoro said:

Ah yes, nothing ramps the difficulty of Arkham more than other players.

Veet said:

Saikoro said:

You're most welcome! I see that since I posted Avi has reitirerated a few of my points and added some good ones of his own.

Ah, you're way ahead of me! If you've already played with Dunwich and been successful, then playing with only Innsmouth to learn how to handle it sounds like a good idea. I can say that we sometimes buy the Research Materials at the Grocery Store at the beginning of the game, we treat a gate opening at Devil Reef or Yha'nthlei as a Code Red emergency requiring an immediate response, and we don't hesitate to leave an Investigator on Devil Reef to find his own way off if we don't have the money to save him or are taking care of more important matters.

You definitely have enough manpower to handle all four boards; it sounds like it's just a matter of gaining more experience and understanding first. Even then, though, I should warn you that you're still going to lose a LOT of games; my group certainly does! As you've already pointed out, a Mythos deck composed of just the basic Mythos deck and the big box expansions is pretty horrific.

Ouch! No, you definitely can't afford to waste Clue tokens like that! You're right, only in a true emergency should they be used for anything other than sealing gates. Also, when we get reduced to 0 Sanity or Stamina, we always take an Injury or Madness card; we can't afford the loss of half our items and clues, plus the delay involved in getting healed up from 1 Sanity or Stamina again.

I'd go with what you're doing right now. It sounds like your biggest problem is players who aren't willing to act for the greater good. Try your best to persuade them that this is a team game and can only be won if you treat it as such. You might also want to use Eihort as your AO a few times; because of the nature of his abilities he really encourages Investigators to divide the gate sealing and punishes glory-hounds.

Solan said:

Yeah, I noticed a bit of overlap after posting too :')