I always play solo with 4 random investigators & 1 random Ancient One. This was my 16th game & in my 1st 15, I'm satisfied with my 10 wins & 5 losses. However, today's loss was more painful than any others I've had. The game was going really well, & I had high hopes of winning. I was just 2 turns away from sealing my 6th & final gate. I also was well prepared for the final battle with Cthugha with a whole arsenal of powerful weaponry & the Jealous Guardian corruption card (which prevents Mark Harrigan from losing items to this AO's weapon destruction ability --- & Mark still had his flamethrower). Furthermore, everyone was relatively healthy, & 2 of the investigators (including Mark were blessed).

I only play 1 turn each day, and I thought I was lucky that I'd extended the game this long in order to heal, acquire more weapons, visit South Church whilst at the same time going full speed ahead with my gate closing strategy (which nets the investigators more VP in my solitaire Campaign). Why did I feel lucky & somewhat invincible? First of all, the AO I'm facing does not allow Weather cards to be played, so I wasn't worried about the King in Yellow, even though I'd already been "entertained" by Acts 1 & 2. Secondly, I had anticipated going to Final Battle 7 days ago (when I wasn't so well prepared for combat) because 6 gates were open & 12 tokens were on the AO's Doom Track ---- meaning that only 1 more doom token or 1 more gate would wake up Cthugha. But somehow I dodged the bullet for 7 straight days.

Well my luck turned to disaster this morning when the final curtain fell on Act 3. Yes, I had drawn "The Next Act Begins" mythos card! Unbelievable!!! It's the 2nd time in my 6 losses that the King in Yellow did me in. Even with the heartbreak I suffered today, this game perfectly demonstrates the brilliance of AH. You never really know if you're going to win or lose until that final moment.