It was pretty exciting. My friend (who also owns the game) came over, and we drew a random Ancient One. We got Hastur. We decided that, since neither of us had ever killed an Ancient One, we would each choose two investigators we thought gave us the best chance against him in final combat. I got Jenny and "Ashcan" Pete. My friend went with Lily and Lola. We wanted to use Jenny to farm money to give to Pete so he could buy magical weapons at the Curiosity Shop. We went with Lily and Lola because they combined a nice combination of Fight, Luck, and Sanity. Our overall plan was to close gates without sealing them because we wanted the doom track to fill quickly to avoid as much terror as possibly. The game almost went off without a hitch.

Our initial draw of items was pretty good, and Jenny and Lily got Business Associates which seemed pretty awesome. We drew one +4 magical sword, a shotgun, and a rifle. Lola got Fight for her skill, so she was really stacked. We did not have great luck at the Curiosity Shop, but we did get the +6 magical, two-handed sword.

Like I said, everything went almost as smoothly as possible. We were at six gates open on the board. Lily was coming out of a R'Lyeh gate, so we knew we were on the edge of awakening Hastur. Jenny was in an Other World and Lola was going to grab a Blessing while Pete worked his way down to the church to get his Blessing on the next turn.

Lola got her Blessing and Lily came back to Arkham. She only got two die to close R'Lyeh. She failed. One Clue Token spent and another unsuccessful die. Bummer. Hastur is coming if we do not get a Monster Surge.

Jenny was next. She drew an encounter that was a Luck -1 check. If she passed she got two spells. Failure meant Lost In Time and Space. Her Luck was at five, so I felt pretty comfortable going for it. Of course I failed, but that was OK because I had five Clue Tokens. Surely I could roll a success with five more chances. Nope. Nine die and no success meant Lost In Time and Space. We could still hope for the Monster Surge, and Lily closing her gate next turn.

Mythos Card drawn. Seventh gate open. Jenny is dead.

That was, fortunately, the end of the bad luck. We managed to not get the Terror Level up at all. That meant Hastur's combat modifier is -0. Pete is rolling eleven die with his Fight of five and his +6 magical sword. Lola is rolling ten Blessed die with four Fight, Fight +1 Skill, Her pistol giving +1 after the physical resistance, and a +4 magical sword. Lily is going barehanded and throwing nine die.

We killed Hastur in three rounds of combat. No one took damage. It was really awesome. I am pumped! WOO!

Well done! Its a great feeling eh? It is unfortunate for the base game Hastur that players see him as an invitation to wake him up quickly and kill him. Hastur waking up and laying waste to only parts of the world never seemed to me to be a complete victory, and I have won by both sealing and closing against him, so both are possible (though not much fun). Many of the players now use the Arkham Nights version of Hastur, one of the freebie AOs that are given away to visitors at the Arkham Nights weekend at the event centre every fall. He does not have this weakness and presents a genuine challenge.

If you want a real challenge, you could try beating Azathoth in final battle

You know, it's astounding that a board game can create such a tense sense of action, even in just describing the general outcome. I was actually very invested and able to follow your every move as you played the game--I think this is something very unique to Arkham Horror, and you should be awesomely proud for taking down Hastur!

If you want a real challenge, you could try beating Azathoth in final battle

I already faced him in final battle once. It did not turn out so well. Haha!

I hate Hastur. Mostly because he takes what is already a long game and makes it even longer. Winning by sealing locations just becomes painfully drawn out. I'm just not brave enough to let him wake up. Maybe next time I'll bite the bullet and let him come.

You should give Faster Hastur a try then!

You should give Faster Hastur a try then!

Looks interesting. By interesting I mean fearsome, with the reduce max San/Sta for every seal. Thanks for the pointer.

You're welcome :-) Aye, new Hastur is a killer :-)