You played correctly. Encountering the Black Man is essentially trying your Luck. You can't really defeat him, but if you're Lucky enough, he'll offer you some help. If you're not.. well, you were a good supper. Generally speaking, you start any combat by testing Horror. The wording on the token suggests that before anything starts (normally: Combat), you have to test Luck, and if you pass, no combat takes place (and neither if you fail...)

You got a strong party. Did you play with PS as well?

Man, I'm feeling such a deep nostalgia for the time I had to start discovering the game... It's so good to have new forces joining the defense of Arkham-Alamo and reading your stories

You got a strong party. Did you play with PS as well?

PS ?

One thing I've been trying to do since joining this forum is learn all the different AH accronyms. Most of the time it's easy, but this time I'm stumped. What does PS stand for?

Sorry PS = Personal Stories

Yeah, I guess we talk some sort of obscure technical language from time to time, sorry, it's not intended to be for initiates indeed.. oh, well, you joined the cult, didn't you? :p :p

Sorry PS = Personal Stories

Yeah, I guess we talk some sort of obscure technical language from time to time, sorry, it's not intended to be for initiates indeed.. oh, well, you joined the cult, didn't you? :P :P

Ah gotcha! No I didn't use PS.

I did beat Hastur today though. But it took two attempts. The first game started bad and then got worse. I abandoned it in absolute disgust. But a couple of hours later I put Hastur away with 6 seals in 15 turns. An 18 point game.

The star of the game was Gloria Goldberg who evaded 3 Dark Young at the Unvisted Isle to enter the Abyss. A couple of turns later she returned to Arkham and sealed the gate, sending the Three Stooges back home.

Monterey Jack, "Ashcan" Pete, and Dexter Drake performed well too.

Drawing 2 Elder Signs during investigator setup helped quite a bit because clue tokens became very scarce at the end. 8 tokens to seal a gate is a real pain.

Next up: Ithaqua.

Indeed, it's vital to have at least one ES in a Hastur game (otherwise it will take a life gathering the 48 clues needed to seal everything ). Anyway, spectacular Gloria dodging the youngsters at the Isle

Good luck with the refrigerator!

Anyway, spectacular Gloria dodging the youngsters at the Isle

It was the turning point of the game. But she had a little help from +1 Sneak skill, An Evil Fog, and the Voice of Ra.

OMG...... I've just realized that 'An Evil Fog' adds +1 to Sneak checks. But I added that to Gloria's evade checks.

I think I messed up big time.

I don't think so. Evade checks are a subset of Sneak checks, and whatever infuences Sneak, influences Evade as well (unless it's specifically stated on the the card. Telescope immediately comes to mind)

Thanks Julia. Yes you're absolutely right. Special skills (Evade, Horror, etc.) are a subset of the normal Skills. A modifier to a Skill also applies to a related special skill, but not vice versa.

Just when I think I've got the rules down, I get confused. Oh well, it is Monday morning after all.

Yup, don't worry, Arkham has countless nuances and it's easy to get confused Keep playing!

Ithaqua done!

No random investigators this time. All were hand picked.

The A Team: Joe Diamond, Mandy Thompson, Bob Jenkins, and Kate Winthrop.

6 seals in 9 turns. 20 points. Doom track 7. Terror track never moved.

My fastest and most successful game so far. At approx 1 hour and 30 minutes it was at least an hour shorter than yesterday's grind against Hastur.

Next up: Yig.

Well done Lee! Sounds like you're mastering the basics (plus, you had *the* dream team, Joe and Mandy can blast almost everything)

Good luck with the snake!

Yig done............., but not how I expected.

With Yig's short Doom track and the potential for it to fill up rapidly I was expecting to play speed Arkham on steroids, but instead it turned out to be a leisurely stroll. Almost an anticlimax really.

Once again Joe Diamond, Mandy Thompson, Bob Jenkins, and Kate Winthrop were in action. Mandy moved to The Unnamable on the first turn and a gate opened right under her feet. Not long after she was back in Arkham and sealed the gate, with Joe sealing the Graveyard next. Shortly after Bob Jenkins picked up a second Old Journal and went on to seal the gate at the Black Cave, while Kate took care of The Witch House. And after that the game just kind of died.

For a while there was only one gate open at the The Unvisisted Isle, which had a mini Jenga stack of surge monsters on it until they finally dispersed. In the meanwhile everyone crowded into the Science Building to sell their gate and monster trophies. Bob conducted a quick clean up of the Merchant district streets, and with the coast clear, Joe slipped into the Unvisited Isle. That left Mandy and Kate twiddling their thumbs at the Asylum. Joe sealed the gate and another one opened up at Independence Square. Finally something to do! Kate was in and out while everyone else just wandered the streets.

6 seals in 12 turns. Only 6 tokens on the doom track. While the terror track reached 5, but that was due a Disturbing the Dead rumor card. 14 points.

Next: Yog-Sothoth.

Good. As you see, once you know how to move your investigators, vanilla Arkham is rather easy. Sealing high frequency locations gives you a lot of time to respite. Additionally, with only 11 unstable locations on the board (hence, a max of 11 doomers), if you close gates only when you have enough clues for sealing, it's almost ever game over. The nastiest stuff that could happen is the No One Can Help you Now Mythos, but if you have some seals on the board already, you can focus on a victory by closing gates.

Yog is interesting. Certainly the most difficult from the core set. Break a leg, and let us know

Thanks Julia. Yes you're absolutely right. Special skills (Evade, Horror, etc.) are a subset of the normal Skills. A modifier to a Skill also applies to a related special skill, but not vice versa.

You remind me to invoke a mantra of these parts so ancient that only the gods could remember the fiery crack from whence it came (Millmaster): "Special checks are skill checks but skill checks are not special checks". Iä!

You remind me to invoke a mantra of these parts so ancient that only the gods could remember the fiery crack from whence it came (Millmaster): "Special checks are skill checks but skill checks are not special checks". Iä!

Thanks for the reminder!

Yog is interesting. Certainly the most difficult from the core set. Break a leg, and let us know

Actually Yog wasn't all that bad.

The same team as before. 6 seals in 14 turns. Doom track 8. Terror 0. 21 points.

The game would probably have ended a couple of turns earlier, but Bob Jenkins slipped while exploring the Abyss and lost all 6 points of stamina due to an unlucky dice roll. Fortunately Kate Winthrop entered Another Dimension on the same turn and passed through without incident to seal Independence Square. Slamming the gate in Yog's face!

Last but not least: Shub-Niggurath. I tried Shub when I was still very new to the game and got absolutely hammered. But I'm feeling confident about the rematch.

Congrats for the victory!

Allow me to ask you a question (since it's quite a common error, it's just a way to help): have you played correctly Yog's ability? Often people tend to read the increase in difficulty for closing gates by 1 as an increment in the modifier (R'lyeh from -3 becomes a -4); instead it's meant you need an extra success to close that gate (so R'lyeh becomes -3 [2], which is not that easy)

All cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is cognac...

Yes I was playing correctly. In fact before the game began I rechecked the FAQ (page 12) just to make sure.

Thankfully I didn't draw R'lyeh from the stack. Gates to Yuggoth -2[2] and The Abyss -2[2] were tough to close. But Mandy's Reasearch ability came in handy on several occasions. She really does help compensate against Yog's gate modifier.

Edit: I should also add that Kate stayed at the Science Building on turn 1 reading a tome. The lucky girl was Blessed by the panicky professor in the Alchemy Department and kept it for the entire game.

And while we are on the subject, I do realise that Shub-Niggurath's slumber ability is very similar to Yog's. It requires on extra success to defeat a monster in combat, but their combat ratings are unchanged. For example a Ghoul -1[1] becomes -1[2].

I still subtract 1 die from my combat dice, but need to roll 2 successes to defeat the Ghoul.

Aye, correct on both points Glad you got the nuance

And wait to see the marvellous split gates arriving with the Lurker at the Threshold... The R'lyeh / The Abyss split gate is -4, with Yog in play becomes -4 [2], and with Yog and R'lyeh Rising becomes a -4 [3]... NIGHTMARE...

And actually, Mandy does help a lot Maybe you could consider playing some game with random investigators, as you finish this AOs rotation?

Maybe you could consider playing some game with random investigators, as you finish this AOs rotation?

Will do.

Picked at random: Dexter Drake, Vincent Lee, Amanda Sharpe, and 'Ashcan' Pete.

Hardly an inspiring line up. With useless Vincent and 'bland' Amanda in the same team I think Arkham is doomed. I will give it a shot though.

G'd luck with that. It's not a bad team, though. Amanda could be an interesting character if you're willing to invest in her skills, and Ashcan is awesome to recover King in Yellow from the bottow of the pile Focus on gates You can beat it

Shub-Niggurath done!

6 seals in 15 turns. Doom 7. Terror 4. 19 Points.

Early seals on Independence Square and the Witch House came in really handy this time. One thing I noticed during the game was that even though clue tokens dried up on the board they were never difficult to obtain due to the raising of the monster toughness. Reaching the 5 toughness mark was a regular thing. I've never made so many trades at the Science Building before.

Ashcan is awesome to recover King in Yellow from the bottow of the pile

In my case it was the Old Journal. Ashcan discarded and reaquired the same one 3 times. His ability to draw from the bottom of the deck is so useful. It's really changed my opinion of him. Before I was a little put off by his slow movement.

Unfortunately he met his Waterloo in the Southside streets fighting an annoying Elder Thing that had been floating around the board for some time. I decided to let Ashcan take the sanity hit and put his Fight to max. With the Sword of Glory I thought it would be a mere formality. Instead it was a one way trip to St. Mary's, minus the Sword.