My wife and I are planning on buying a new large box (new map) expansion soon but we're have some difficulty in choosing one to buy. On the one hand we've won some 90% of the games we've played and so we're looking for some new challenges, but on the other hand I want an expansion I can get the most out of only owning the Lurker at the Threshold and the King in Yellow expansions. I've read the rulebooks for the large box expansions but would still like some "real world" players to give me their takes on which is the hardest and what have you.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. Miskatonic Horror is pretty much out as it's an expansion of expansions, right?

Hardest? Innsmouth I guess, it introduces a new mechanic for waking the Ancient One, one that you have to take care of at least once every game.

But battling the Dunwich Horror can be fun, too, although quite rare.

Tox said:

If you'd like an extra Dunwich challenge, you can use this Herald, born from the twisted minds of Avi and me ::shudder::

As for the original question... you should go with Dunwich Horror first. There are tons of threads expansion-related, it shouldn't be difficult to spot them and have more players comments than those you'll be able (or willing) to read. Have fun!

Seraph87 said:

Getting the most out of Lurker is easy: just use its Mythos every game. (You can add everything else too, but the Mythos is key.) See, Lurker (and Black Goat) are the only small box expansions that provide Arkham Location Gate Bursts without requiring ANY other board in play. So you can add Dunwich, Kingsport, or Innsmouth, or any combination of the three, and Lurker will still provide a splash of extra instability to Arkham. (That said, Lurker synergizes EXTREMELY well with an Innsmouth-only game, because Innsmouth only provides Gate Bursts on its own board, so you actually NEED Lurker to prevent the security that Arkham will never burst.)

Unfortunately, the King in Yellow by itself suffers a good deal from dilution the more expansions you add. It should still work reasonably well if you added one big box to a King/Lurker combo, but you add any more and the Next Act cards will not only disappear, you'll be grateful when they show up instead of another Gate. HOWEVER, this problem is adequately solved by using the Miskatonic Rules for the Next Acts. (If you just look at the Miskatonic Rulebook and adopt those Next Act Rules as a "house rule" until you actually own Miskatonic, you will never have this dilution problem.)

After all that, it shouldn't really matter which big box with which you combine either or both expansions you own. So you can grab one based on its own merits.

Short answer: ALWAYS get Dunwich as your first big box. It has all the bits that FFG should have put in the original Arkham box in the first place. More items, Skills, Allies...more monsters...some tougher Ancient Ones and some advanced Investigators...and the ever important Injury/Madness decks. A few more unstable locations to prevent Elder Sign Stagnation, plus Gate Bursts to counterattack it. You'll even see more activity on the Terror Track, providing some strong flanking maneuvers to the King in Yellow's usual assaults. Let's just say that Dunwich "fully inflates" the whole of Arkham Horror.

Kingsport is too polarizing amongst its fans and naysayers, and thus makes a lousy first big box until you have a better idea of what kind of expansion board player you are. (Epic Battle Cards will wait patiently for you.) Innsmouth is the Death Star of AH in terms of difficulty, but while it will likely become your favorite board, there is nothing in that box with which to expand your Item/Skill/Ally decks, and should NEVER be your first big box. (Personal Story Cards will wait patiently for you.)

Dunwich, definately.

Dunwich is the best of the lot.

Miskatonic is not out of the question just because you don't have all the expansions, but clearly it does better as you get more. Have at least two large expansions and one small before considering Miskatonic.

I suppose I would agree with everyone else. I really like Innsmouth, but it is just a bit too murderous for the first big box expansion.

Also, to Julia: Great heavens! I've seen some nasty custom heralds, but that monstrosity is in a league of its own (accompanied by the Black Goat, of course). In particular, the bit about Cultists entering vortexes is just cruel....

Wow, I guess I'll be getting Dunwich Horror then. Thanks for all the input.

Just read your OP again. If it's difficulty your after, Innsmouth is the hardest.

Walk said:

::laughter:: yeah, it's kinda tough. But... it's fun. I played two games with it at the moment, I had a good time on both occasions

I'll try a Yog - Shapeless Mouths - Kerathimel game, sooner or later...

And I'm tempted to start playing some impossible games. Because of the Heralds used (a total Cthulhu experience, with Basatan, the Galaxy of R'lyeh and my R'lyeh awakens) or because of the party (a Rhan + Black goat game with all expansions in and George, Vincent and Dexter playing).

::in the mood for slaughter::

Julia said:

I see the scenarios have corrupted you ;'D you need a higher and higher dose of evil to get your Arkham Fix.

Avi_dreader said:

::laughter:: the main point is that after you entering my gaming life , Arkham's face was renewed. Sigh. Normal Arkham experience is kinda boring (game still great, but lacking of challenge). My last defeat in a Julia-only game (no noobs annoying me with wrong strategies) is dated 07th September 2010, Avi's Fan Creation League Scenario 2. Since then, 70 victories, 0 losses.

I'm also considering Scenarios where you need extra things to be done in order to win. Something like "start of the game: draw and resolve two Mythos cards. Open both gates on the Dreamlands. You need also to close / seal these two gates to win the game (6 seals aren't enough). Only the Captain of the White Ship may close / seal gates to the Dreamlands"

Plus, some Scenarios similar to the Shapeless mouths. One, with all the Rift open and on the board (three Mythos at the start of the game to see where the Rifts start; they do not move during the first turn) and something nasty required to start closing them. And one set in Innsmouth, with a special Mythos deck.

Need to think about them a little, anyway :-)

I can't really successfully argue against the eloquent points made about making Dunwich Horror your first option...Still, I would be remiss not to state that, at the end of the day, not adding Innsmouth would be nothing short of tragic. You mentioned wanting increased difficulty level, and Innsmouth will certainly supply that. Plus, it's just endlessly interesting. Dunwich is ok, as far as "interest quotient", but doesn't hold a candle to Innsmouth in that department. Just my one cent worth. This is from somebody who doesn't get into analyzing all the synergies and the math of the likelihood of this and that turning up, just so you know. In short, my vote goes to Innsmouth.

I'll be one of the vast minority to say that I like Kingsport more than Innsmouth.

The main deterrents for me are that Innsmouth's Martial Law mechanic make investigators less likely to want to go there, and the Deep One Rising mechanic is disappointing. When Dunwich's and Kingsport's main threats awaken, the investigators have to work hard to stop them, as leaving them unchecked will mean big trouble. If Innsmouth's main threat (Deep Ones Rising) triggers, the Ancient One immediately awakens.

Also, Kingsport doesn't dilute (not as much of an issue with Miskatonic available), and while preventing its main mechanic doesn't make thematic sense, the act of doing so causes you to get encounters , which are one of this game's strong points. Kingsport also comes with items, allies, and skills, and the Epic Battle deck is to die for (literally!).

If I was only allowed to own one board expansion, it would be Dunwich or Kingsport. If allowed two, one would definitely be Kingsport.

Tibs said:

...and the other would be Dunwich, right?

I wish my table was big enough to hold three expansion boards at the same time...currently, Kingsport is sacrificed in favor of the other two boards.

Julia said:

This all sounds very exciting :'D (I especially liked the one about needing the Captain to do things, a similar thing could be done with Changed) maybe this time you get to make scenarios for me .

I'd love to. Really. And yeah, same stuff for the Changed card. Need to study this stuff a little more, but I've added all of them to my "things to do for Arkham" list :-)