Just beat Ithaqua for the first time. Whew! That one's a mutha. I noticed FF changed the difficulty from Very Difficult to Insane. True that.

I'm probably not qualified to give tips, as it took me at least 50 tries to win. The tips in this thread are good. I agree with the majority that you need 15 supplies as opposed to 20 or more. Also make sure that the mobster will face Ithaqua last.

I insisted on playing with a full 4 player team (just like it that way). The one I settled on for the last 15 games or so was; Gloria (Mystic?), Jenny (Debutant), Kate (Scientist) and McCleary (Mobster). I don't see many posts suggesting the scientist. As monster control is crucial, I think she is a good pick.

There's real satisfaction in putting The Windwalker away, finally. Also the prize character is quite good. So hang in there!

Oh yeah, I agree that the game punishes you for doing well. In particular, it will try to cut you down a bit if you get to Alaska with a bunch of items. If I'm doing well, something awful happens if I'm in the last leg of the journey too long. If I'm limping to the finish, hoping for a miracle against Ithaqua, then it will often give me a provision and hold off on the wolves. I usually try to open a gate before the last leg that has 2 or 3 Elder Signs. Then I use Gloria to blow (hah!) through that last screen, setting up the mobster for the last battle.

I got it after several teams and different strategies.

Joe Diamond + Jenny Barnes + Carlyn Fern + Vincent Lee: Healers wont win many adventures, and most of the times it was like heales were wasting my turns... so I discarded this team after some tries.

Kate Winthrop + Aschan pete + Rita Young + Wilson Richards: Good team, I had used in other bosses, but not good enough in Ithaqua campaign.

Leo anderson + Jim Culver + Mandy Thompson: Leo was buying lots of supplies, while Jim and Mandy had abilities to solve difficult adventures. Defeated Ithaqua but without saving Ashley.

Dexter Drake + Bob Jenkins + Monterey Jack + Kate Winthrop: Always had plenty of items to use... I picked the adventures according to success or failure conditions. Noticed I needed a smaller team.

Kate Winthrop + Rita Young + Sister Mary + Joe Diamond: Defeated Ithaqua but without rescuing Ashley... I was convinced about number of investigators was the key, because I got to the final stage of the campaign wit not many items, and I was about to defeat Ithaqua if I had some more clues.

Final team:

Jenny Barnes + Kate Winthrop:

Had monsters and terror controlled with kate and difficult adventures controlled with Jenny, I had the right number of items because I had a small team and I was able to pick quickly the adventures according to success or failure so I controlled sanity/Stamina risks when entering an adventure and what I was getting when I succeded. Kate was the key since in Alaska I had lots of terror adventures or monster spawning when wining/losing an adventure. Went to Alaska with 24 supplies and when I was 1 elder sign away from entering the final battle I spent some turns buying healing and some clues and common items. started the 3 stages of final battle with Jenny, then Kate and then Jenny again to defeat Ithaqua.

I came to this thread to thank @ Gillman for suggesting to solo Marie. Before reading this thread, I was convinced that Ithaqua was virtually impossible. Afterward, I've beaten him 4 times recently, and now I am just aiming for the highest score I can get. I still need to restart from time to time but he is not nearly as difficult as I thought.

I was wasting so much time trying to create the perfect 4-player team but the fact that you can't share items makes that ineffective. The key to soloing Marie is choosing those early adventures very carefully. You need to succeed to have trophies (money) to use her ability.

As others said, prioritize locked dice, then midnight effects, then monsters. Try to open as many Other Worlds as you can and always save the Other World action just before midnight (many times you will complete an adventure and then an adventure with midnight effects pops up before you can do anything about it).

I tend to have 20 supplies at the minimum, but I found that I have too many supplies at the end, and win with 10 or so remaining (however, I've had a random effect that removed -13 supplies, so keep that in mind). Again, I am aiming for high scores (8968 is my best) so my supply count is probably too high.

When you travel to the second area, do your best to avoid winter effects (unless you have to) and adventures that take your items (unless you don't have that type of item in the first place). Again, open, as many Other Worlds as possible. Save your ability for when it is only absolutely necessary and if you play long enough, you will be going up against Ithaqua with 20+ trophies. Avoid healing yourself, unless it is absolutely necessary. I tend to gamble my damage until I am nearly dead in both Sanity/Stamina to make a healing turn (which costs 4) as valuable as possible. If you are regularly opening Other Worlds, and choosing adventures carefully, I've won games where there were 7 or 8 packs of wolves near the end and it didn't matter.

Ithaqua is not that bad if you solo (or perhaps a team of 2).

Cheers!