Boardgaming in 2019!

Sadly, the game fails in the flavor/theme department too. All the cards you play are just stats (suits) numbered 1-3, and you draw one at the beginning of every turn. Most of them are just bland one sentence affairs (and it feels like half of them are just “you play cards”).

I forgot to mention another aspect of the terrible design: there are about 3 “you lose” cards in the deck. They’re so strongly negative that drawing one effectively knocks you out of the game. There is zero you can do to avoid or mitigate them. You draw one of them, you lose.

You can definitely judge a book boardgame by its cover, and I’m judging this one to be excellent.

Get your rare games here!

https://portcitydaily.com/local-news/2019/09/13/wilmington-store-wins-rights-to-1-million-rare-game-collection-from-estate-of-early-internet-developer/

If i can get a solo tour before anyone else…im there!

Thats a cool collection. But why did they have to move the lot from Seattle to North Carolina!

It was recommended to me to maybe check out the Arkham Horror: TCG

I’ve been watching some playthroughs on YouTube and I’m really intrigued by this game to play with my buddy and I who like co-op gaming.

I also see there are what… 5 expansions so far that are available? My question is the mechanics of the expansions and the game.

Do you craft your deck ahead of your scenario? If you get the expansions, does that introduce a host of new cards that can be used even if you play a scenario from a previous game version?

What type of flavor do the expansions add?

Also, the player count on this game says 1-2. How does this game play solo?

Yes, you build decks before tackling a campaign. it’s my least favorite part of the game. Then you earn experience and can swap out cards for better ones through spending experience.

Yes, you get more player cards with every box (except the standalone scenarios, but those are pretty clearly separated) and can use them in decks for any campaign.

The game doesn’t have expansions in the sense that Arkham Horror or Eldritch Horror does. There are campaigns and standalone scenarios. Campaigns are one starter box and six individual scenario packs and tell a roughly 8 scenario mostly linear campaign with some in-campaign branching. Each campaign is about a different aspect of the Mythos - there’s a Yellow King/Carcosa one, an archaelogy/Yig ish one, etc.

The game technically supports up to 4 if you buy a second core box but it doesn’t feel designed for it. It is super viable solo.

I play Arkham LCG in a 4 player group, we have played all the campaigns and are nearing the end of the current campaign.

Although we are having a great time playing with 4 in a “more the merrier” way I personally think the sweet spot is probably two.

It is also very good solo and playing two-handed solo is also very viable.

I would say though that if you don’t enjoy making decks then why would you want to play a game that heavily involves this mechanic? There is a website called ArkhamDB where people post their decks: it is a great resource I find.

It is also quite the money sink, each full campaign of eight scenarios has cost me around £90. But I have so many different cards now I can make some quite fun and varied decks.

Because it’s a really cool game with neat mechanics and storytelling that are in no way enhanced by me personally having to assemble decks to play it. Like basically every LCG/CCG, as far as I am concerned. But yes, I use net decks.

I don’t mind the investment, but I know that there is only person who would be interested in playing this with me, and i see him once a year for games. Thus, it would need to be something that has some legs solo.

Is the only legacy mechanic the post scenario experience that is used to ‘purchase’ new cards for your deck?

I love deck-building, so that sounds like it is right up my alley

Within a campaign, what happens in game 1 will potentially influence what happens in game 2 and what cards are available for your deck. So your decisions can carry over.

As far as I know, the main leveling up mechanism is indeed picking additional cards you can use.

But I’m still stuck playing the original campaign as the people I play it with usually disappear after a couple of scenarios and so I haven’t finished it yet.

Thanks for the answers and humoring me.

My last question - is the leveling up mechanic specific to the character or the player?

To the character. Each character earns experience separately and has character-specific limitations on what kinds of cards they can include in their decks.

It’s specific to the character. At the end of each scenario (assuming your party survived), each character will be assigned a certain number of XP (usually somewhere between 1 and 6) depending on what ending you saw and what actions you took during the scenario. You can use that XP to “buy” higher-level, more powerful cards (higher level is denoted by the little pips that are around the cost of the card).

All the deckbuilding requirements are the same, so any cards you buy have to be replaced by taking other cards out of your deck, and naturally, weakness cards can’t be removed.

Here’s an example from the first expansion: Zoey Samaras.

She must have 30 cards in her deck, not counting the 3 cards listed under Deckbuilding Requirements (Smite the Wicked, Zoey’s Cross and 1 random weakness.) She can use level 0-5 Guardian (blue) or Neutral (gray) cards and up to five level 0 cards from any other class.

Also, the XP and levelling are specific to that run of that campaign, not a general legacy style unlock or anything in that vein. You always start a campaign with base cards only, but can use any you own that are legal for a character’s deck.

We have a thread, too. :)

I’m not big on deckbuilding as a mechanic at all, but I see the appeal.

With that said, the things that malkav pointed out make this one of my very favorite games ever. The storytelling is wonderful, the leveling up feels robust and satisfying, and it captures very vividly the feel of actually being in this Lovecraftian horrors world.

There’s also no real penalty to not building a perfectly efficient deck. If you just want to play through the story, change the difficulty to Easy.

More importantly, unlike other AH games, you don’t just lose in the card game very often. You may not get the “optimal” ending and you may have done permanent damage to your character, but the story carries on.

EDIT: anyway, I’d argue that building a perfectly min/maxed and efficient deck isn’t really in the spirit of an AH game. You’re supposed to be a flawed and ultimately probably doomed character fighting impossibly powerful cosmic forces. Always having the appropriate answer to every problem right at your fingertips isn’t really very true to the theme.

Yes the mechanics are great so I understand why people just want to play the game and not have to deal with the deckbuilding aspect.

I played a campaign on a harder difficulty solo two-handed and netdecked. Had a great time but always had this nagging feeling in the back of my head that the guy who made the decks was winning, not me.

Still, great game, however you approach it.