Arkhamites,

I just finished an 18-Mythos game (approximately 3 hours) in which Trish, Leo , Darrell, and Charlie attempted to seal away the dreaded Atlach -Nacha. During the first four turns in my game s, as I use all of the expansions, Gates only open in Arkham…Fortunately, the first several cards revealed Gates at Wizard's Hill (Dunwich) and Devil's Reef (Innsmouth), along with a Double-Doomer (ignored, along with Rumors), though I did have one Mythos card reveal two Gates, but no Doom Tokens added to the Doom Track. However, the Investigators did encounter a Mystic Environment Card which caused them to add one Doom Token to the Doom Track in order to return Act I to the deck.

Over the next four rounds Gates appeared with some regularity around town, but the curious thing was that the Investigators were able to travel so quickly around town and between towns…one of the primary reasons was that both Charlie and Darrell had Retainers from the beginning o f the game (Charlie's Ally allowe d the immediate possesseion of the Retainer ), and Leo had a Relationship with Darrell that allowed one member of the Relationship to gain $1 if the other gained $1 or more. Needless to say, by the end of the game, the group, wile it spent a fair amount on Unique Items , Spells, and travel, still had nearly $60!

Fortunately, as well, the Terror Track never rose above '3' thanks to Charlie and the Investigators either suffered sMonster Surges or new Gates. At no time, did A-N cause a Gate Burst (nor did a single Mythos card!). Around town, the Investigators Passed their Personal Stories, except Leo and sealed Gates at the ones most likely not to return, such as the Historical Society and the Graveyard, along with two Dunwich locations (Gardner's Place and Wizard's Hill ), and one in Innsmouth (Devil's Reef).

The Investigator 's won the game with a score of 20, for those of you keeping score at home…and that's after the team purchased five allies which would have accounted for another 10 points. Interestingly, if the game had gone to a Final Battle , the seven Allies along with at least one Unique Item which the Inve sigators would have used to cancel the AO's attack for o ne round, would have made it a very close combat…but in the end, Trish , Leo , Darrell, and Charlie saved Arkham!