After 23 Mythos and a series of unfortunate gate openings (I had to close twice the Historical Society and once the Science Building), on the board were only 3 sealed gates (WH, Woods, Graveyard), 3 open gates (Indy Sq, Unnamable, Unv Isle), Yig had 9 tokens and my investigators lacked weapons-only Vincent had a Revolver and Sis. Mary had a Wither spell. Winning by sealing seemed impossible, so was winning by fighting the AO, so "close all" was my only chance even though I didn t think there was much chance winning anyway. All three would jump into the nearest gate they could get to, no time for strategic moving. Here are the last four rounds:
1) Mandy-Mairy-Vincent: Mandy jumps into the Indy gate to Uggoth carrying (among Sir William Brinton, who almost broke her arm at the Science Building, and many other junk) a gamer-saver Find Gate spell. Vincent jumps into R'Lyeh, carrying his Revolver. Mairy jumps into the Plateau of Leng, carrying her Cross and a Wither spell, totally clueless. Mandy encounters an Alien Mind and her Luck was low, but I had 6 clues for spending+research; I wouldn t be needing them anyway, since sealing was out of the question. So I rolled and rolled, and finally stopped that Alien Mind from possessing her, but was down to 4 clues now (2 +2 from fighting back the Alien Mind). Sis. Mairy had a rough time. A Dark Young appeared. Failed to sneak by it, passed the horror (losing just 1 Sanity) and the Dark Young drove her unconscious and straight to St Mairy's. Things were looking bad. Vincent wasn 't that lucky either- as a matter of fact he wasn' t that strong, since a shadow forced its way between his lips,he lost 2 stamina and was delayed.The 2 stamina loss was no problem at all, but delaying was like devouring at this point of the game.. Mythos gate at the Witch house (sealed), so the three live to die another Mythos.
2) Mairy-Vincent-Mandy: Mairy leaves the hospital, holding only her cross and with just 1 stamina, and jumps right back into the Plateau gate at the Unammable, there 's no time to play safe anymore. Mandy Finds the gate back to Arkham and lands to Indy Sq. She would have to wait for the other two though before closing the gate. Vincent gains a stamina and stands up. Mairy failed to find anything usefull among some bones-no problem, she could have encountered much worse things. Vincent had a better encounter this time too, some pinkish rays hurt him, leaving him with 2 stamina, but he is still alive and kicking. Mandy looses some food to some gypsies, despite doing some research to prevent it. Mythos surges monsters through the Unammable, most welcome! The three are still behind, but progress has been made.
3) Vincent-Mandy-Mairy: Vincent gets to 3 health and proceeds to the second area of R'Lyeh. Mandy is waiting for her friends. Mairy too moves to the second area of the Plateau. Vincent faces a Byakhee and kills it easily (I bet he kissed that Revolver afterwards) only losing 1 Sanity and being reduced to just 1, no prob, I won t be needing any more sanity next round. Mandy finds some frendly picknikers, though she didn t need the Stamina. Mairy had a chance to clear her mind by the peril she was into, but failed to do so nonetheless. Still encounters are loving Mairy... Mythos failed to open a new gate, surged 3 monsters in the outskirts though. That 's it! I had a final chance to return to Arkham ftw!!
4) Mandy-Mairy-Vincent: Moment of truth! Mandy easily closed Indy Sq. gate to Yuggoth, rolling 3 dice and SCORING. Mairy has a fair chance, ignores the monsters at the Unnamable since she just came back, and rolls 2 dice to close the Plateau gate. Pawned. Crap! Since Mairy had no clue whatsoever, Mandy researches and Mairy rolls again 2 dice. Thank God for that research! Second gate closed, one to go!!!! I was hoping to use research to aid Vinced, who just rolls one die for the R' Lyeh gate and has one clue only. He rolls a die and fails... So, that was it. After 26 Mythos, after so much struggle and agony, it all came down to one final roll of one final die. So I rolled it. And rolled a Six. It honestly felt like watching a buzzer beater.
A game that can get you cheering alone in your living-room, is definitely a god game.
I feel it would have been easier not to draw Indy Encounters!