So things were going as usual today, except we started slowing down when clues stopped appearing. Before we knew it, too many gates were open and Cthulhu had woken up.

"Ok, let's do this". Michael McGlen was blessed and unloading 10 dice per turn (Plus 5 clues on the first attack), Joe Diamond was rolling 12, Gloria 8 and Sister Mary... well, 3. Hey, she's a nun! We were blowing through 1-2.5 doom tokens per turn easily. Suddenly, the green giant went down.

Woah, what happened? Why haven't we ever done this before?

"Hey... we forgot his combat modifier..."

Yep, somehow that totally slipped our minds (Might have something to do with just waking up). Alrighty, we do the fair thing and set it all up as normal. This time things go much 'better', with all 4 of us being devoured and Cthulhu only losing 3 Doom Tokens by the end (Stupid regeneration...). It felt normal at least.

So, that's the sad story of how we thought we did something, only to be eaten moments later. How Lovecraftian. The moral of the story? "If you realize that you forgot the GOO's combat modifier, keep it to yourself".

Haha doh!

In our last game we got to fight Nyarlathotep due to having bad luck with the gates, and we missed his "Magical Resistance" ability... granted, this only removed one dice from one investigator out of four, and we all had like 5 clue tokens left, but it still takes some "oomph" out of the victory

/Rickard

I always feel weird when we win..."did we do something wrong?" but funny never ask myself that when I lose horribly! lol

Last time we faced Cthulhu we prepared for the final battle. Joe Diamond had 32 Clue Tokens, Mandy's reroll and the Azure Flame. He got 55 hits on the first round, then he used the bullwhip to reroll a die and got the extra hit he needed to blow Cthulhu away before it could regenerate.

When an old one comes around, you must whip it.

You will never live it down, unless you whip it.

-Frank

Frank said:

This is the second time I've heard of Joe blowing away the AO in one shot. But the first time, it was Yig, 1 Player, with a shotgun. This is much more impressive.

Tibs said:

Gathering 32 Clues just to blow away a GOO in final combat brings to my mind descriptions very different from impressive.

Dam said:

How would one go about getting that many clues in the first place. Granted I am a newbie and am playing my first game solo with 2 investigators, but I use all the clues I can find closing gate. Just does not seem like there are that many....

then again as I said, I am new to the game. I see other posts where players are rolling a ton of dice. I am just happy my PI throws around 10 on his combat rolls.

Peace

Roger

rdw5150 said:

Point is not to use any Clues ever, just collect them and wait for Final Combat to begin. Base game you might struggle getting that many, but gate bursts pop out 2 Clues and then there is Prof. Rice (ally from DH) who adds 1 Clue to each unstable location without an open gate when he's bought/gotten. KiY (I think) adds Press Pass, which you can exhaust when you gain Clue(s) to gain an extra. And so on.

Dam said:

Hi!

I do not know I guess its a strategy for winning, but I am not certain I'd like to play that way. I am trying to close gates and once I realize I will not get enough closed, I will prepare for the final fight. Saving up clues just seems to go against the "feel" of the game (to me anyway), but as long as the players are having fun that is all that counts.

Peace

Roger

Hope you're trying to seal gates instead of just closing them . Merely closing them will get you a win if luck goes your way (many monster surges, few actual gates opening), but that's rare (happened twice for me in 72 games).

Dam said:

Yes I am sealing them... pretty much my strategy has been if I do not have the clues to seal it, I will not close it.....

we shall see if it pays off or not, does not seem to be at the present as I have 6 soon to be 5 gates open.

Peace

Roger

Tibs said:

Just a question; can you kill the Ancient One in one attack? Doesn't it say that after you remove a doom-token you reset the succeses? (I havn't got the rules here but that's how we have been playing it, max one doom token-kill per player per turn. We only play the basic AH with no expansions if this maybe is a new thing or something).

Yes, you can kill in one attack. Successes are never rounded off.

For example, in a 4-player battle against, let's say, Hastur:

If you roll 7 successes in one attack, you remove one doom token from Hastur, and you have 3 leftover successes. Even if it's another investigator's turn to attack, or even if it's a new round of combat, if anyone gets even one more success, a doom token will be removed from Hastur.

If leftover hits were rounded off, it would be impossible to beat Cthulhu in a 1-player game, because you'd only be able to deal one damage per round and Cthulhu heals back one point per round. Even if he didn't heal, most times, the fight is over after exactly 7 rounds, which wouldn't be enough to deal the 13 to kill him.

Tibs said:

This is what my rules say:

"Unlike normal battle, the Ancient One cannot be defeated in a single attack. [...] When the players accumulate a total number of successes equal to the number of players (including any players that were eliminated from the game), remove one doom token from the Ancient One's doom track and reset their cumulative successes to zero ."

Maybe I'm reading it wrong (because that would be a b**** for one player going at Cthulhu)?

FAQ clarifies the wording/intent:

"Q: In combat with an Ancient One, how do cumulative
successes in the “Investigators Attack” step work?
A: To defeat the Ancient One, the players must do a total
number of successes equal to the number of players multiplied
by the number of doom tokens on the Ancient One.
So, if 4 players are facing Yig (doom track of 10), they
need 40 successes to win. For every 4 successes they do,
they remove 1 doom token to track their progress. If the
investigators get 9 successes in the first round of combat,
they would remove 2 doom tokens, and 1 success would
carry over to the next round of combat."

If you could only remove 1 doom token/turn, then 1-investigator final combat vs Cthulhu would be impossible, as you remove 1, Cthulhu regenerates one. After 7 turns you'll die, Cthulhu would still be at 13.

Dam said:

Cool, but then the final battle against a lot of them are pretty easy? We have beaten a few with the reset rule... (but not Cthulhu)

It's still a challenge definately, esp. when you don't prepare (buy Blessing, gear up on Clues, weapons, Allies, etc.) for it. KH adds Epic Battle cards, which I've looked at over on AH Wiki. I've yet to beat Cthulhu or Tsathoggua in final combat and don't think I'll ever beat them either. Against those two it will be close/seal or lose I feel.

Dam said:

Don't look at the KH cards! Yar! You are unworthy! ;')

The Message said:

I knew Cthulhu drove men insane with dreams before devouring them, but this is the first time I've heard of anyone ACTING THAT OUT in actual gameplay. Bravo!

Delightful story! From a Lovecraftian point of view...