Tom, I’ve never personally used it, but many people have said the chat on their website is best for a quicker response. As far as I recall, I’ve always eventually received a reply to emails, but sometimes it has taken a couple of weeks, depending how busy they are. I imagine they are pretty buried right now.
I did order a couple of games during their sale, and it seemed to go through okay.
!!!
A couple of weeks to reply to an email is a pretty poor track record, especially when the email is time sensitive. If GMT is that lackadaisical about customer support, I’m even more concerned they’re going to ship my order and cost me an extra $100 by not applying the code.
At this point, I can’t even get GMT to confirm the order has been canceled. From where I’m sitting, I threw $250 down a hole two weeks ago and have gotten nothing in return despite repeated attempts to contact them via email. If this is how they handle customers in advance of the holidays, I don’t have much hope for getting better treatment during the holidays.
And they finally cancelled my order this morning rather than apply the 50% off code. I didn’t even get a response to the multiple emails I’d sent. So I’m officially done with GMT for now, and I’m getting my P500 pledges refunded.
I’m just not willing to support a company that takes my money, ignores me for two weeks, and then just pretends I never even tried to buy something from them. There are just too many other games to play to put up with this kind of treatment. : (
That’s generous. They’d be dead to me forever and ever if I went through that.
I just got my P500 order of Skies Above Britain (a solitaire-only game, so appropriate for this thread.) It came in timely fashion (like the next day) once the P500 cleared and shipped.
Yeah, it’s so strange how deprioritizing customer service can cost a company customers. FWIW, I usually have good luck buying GMT games on Geek Market.
Okay, it’s Arkham Horror: The Card Game time!
I know, I know, I said this half a year ago at the start of summer. Back then, I got the game all set up on my gaming table but then I decided to write a horror movie instead. (Which kind-of amazingly satisfies a lot of the same gamer appetites I have for puzzle-solving and imaginative exploration.) So I stupidly left the cards and tokens out and they gathered dust for months on end. At one point, my daughter and her friends messed things up when they used some Arkham cards and tokens as props while filming a social studies video. (?!) Yesterday, I painstakingly went through and rebuilt the various decks by examining the tiny card numbers. I’m ready to get into it!
I guess I’m asking for solo play tips or videos that might help me get started playing. I’ve been watching Rodney Smith’s Watch It Played video. He’s setting up a game with two investigators for solo play, Roland Banks and Alice Baker. I feel like it would be easier to start with just one investigator but what do I know. Any suggestions for how I should approach an initial solo play-through?
Gonna do it this time! If I enjoy the game, maybe Santa can bring me Dunwich or Carcosa.
If you just have the one core deck, you may want to make some duplicates of some of the cards, because the suggested starting decks are a bit crap.
Edit: Actually, I realise you may have the new edition, which may have changed that aspect.
Yeah, I have the newer, revised edition. I accidentally got the outdated release first but then my good ol’ reliable gaming buddies on the Quarter to Three forums set me straight and I bought the proper box.
It’s possible to play true solo, if you just want to get rules and phases and whatnot down. It’s not the recommended way to play for a reason though, since a lot of the game is the interplay between characters’ abilities. Also, I found it quite a bit harder. You need to build a deck such that one character can fill all or most of the roles. It’s not easy.
I’d just start with two.
Yeah, don’t play “true solo”. That way lies madness. You’re going to playing two characters, so get used to it early and often. And don’t feel the need to watch any dumb instructional videos by smarmy explainers. Arkham Horror is a pretty simple game to learn by playing.
One caveat: unless you play on the easy mode, don’t expect to win. Arkham Horror is simple to learn, simple to play, and difficult to win. So when you start playing, think of it as a game about how these two investigators are going to die, and you have only to find out how. :) Then it won’t be as frustrating.
Also, feel free to use default decks as you’re learning the game or trying different scenarios. Don’t let yourself get dragged into deckbuilding instead of playing. Deckbuilding will come anyway, when you work through a campaign.
Are you starting with Night of the Zealot? Which characters? If you tell me what you’re playing, I’d love to play alongside you and maybe compare notes. I co-played with Mike Cathcart here on the forum a while ago and I’d love to get back into it with an internet buddy.
Further: if you don’t enjoy deck-building, I’ve found the starter decks that FF sells to be perfectly credible decks. They’re not gimped in any way, as those kind of products can sometimes be.
LOL, tibbs! And thanks for the suggestions, Tom and charm!
I’m glad to hear the game is difficult to win, as it should be with horror. I never minded losing in Final Girl so I’m sure this will be the same. Deckbuilding sounds cool but I think I’ll stick with the pre-made decks.
Yes, I’ll be playing Night of the Zealot. I’d love to co-play with you and compare notes and ask dumb questions. I’m hoping to start tomorrow but I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to play or how long it’ll take me to learn or even how long it takes to play.
And if you’re looking for some video rules help, there are options now.
When FFG put out the new version of the starter set last year, they also commissioned Mr. How To Play himself, Rodney Smith, to do a brand new full rules video. So that’s here:
And as ever, though it’s obviously going to be a bit spoily, this “let’s play” is easily my favorite on Youtube. Two new players who are learning as they go, and one player who knows the rules inside and out helping them with rules stuff, but not otherwise quarterbacking or pushing them to make certain choices.
I would also be up for a play-along, though I won’t get going until Friday at the earliest. But if that’s cool, count me in!
Happy to see AH: TCG getting some activity on here! I would also be interested in a NotZ play-along if one is happening.
I very much did not enjoy the deckbuilding aspect when I started playing, but it has since become my favorite and most time-consuming part of the game. The biggest thing that made me more interested in it was watching the PlayingBoardGames Youtube channel’s new player deck guides (I’ll try to link to the playlist below.) Find the video for an investigator you’re interested in trying, and watch them build a generic deck for them. They start with only core set cards, and recommend more effective or specific alternatives that come in each expansion.
Another thing that makes deckbuilding (and playing the game) much more enjoyable for me is the Arkham Cards mobile app. Seriously, it is astonishing that an app of this level of quality exists as a free boardgame support tool. The app tracks your campaign for you (including all of the rules, errata, narrative text and conditional setup instructions thay may be spread across multiple books and folded one-sheets.) It tracks the campaign log, contents of the chaos bag, experience points, deck upgrades, situational encounter actions, and more. And it has a better deckbuilding interface than ArkhamDB, in my opinion. I cannot recommend it enough.
PlayingBoardGames New Player Guides Playlist
Arkham Cards
Good lord! That app sounds impressive. Thanks for the info.
I’m starting to wrap my brain around the rules and it looks like the game mechanics share a lot in common with Sleeping Gods. This makes me feel better since I don’t have a lot of boardgaming experience.
I’m surprised a bunch of you want to replay the base campaign Night of the Zealot. Guess this game offers a lot of replay value!
I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me, I don’t really care which scenario I play. I’m just looking for a little group encouragement to get back into it, kinda like going to the gym. I’ve been playing a lot of Arkham Horror Third Edition lately, so that’s the inertia I have to overcome. From the regular Arkham Horror to the card game version. That’s not as easy a leap as you’d think!
Also, you should know that some of us have the remastered version of the base campaign that we haven’t played yet. :) One man’s Night of the Zealot is another man’s Return to The Night of the Zealot!
Also also, I think I’m going to pull out one of the weird later characters they added in the later expansions, to pair with a more vanilla character. So this might be a rude surprise for me.
We should get our own thread! Or hijack the old one!
Yeah, I’m mostly interested to see how quickly I can kill off a couple of investigators I’ve never played, in the Return to Night of the Zealot…which I’ve never gotten around to, but which I guess ups the difficulty.
One of my local FLGS was quitting a bunch of the original LOTR LCG stuff. Basically the 2nd edition and FFG’s plans for re-release aligned to 2nd edition meant that nobody was buying 1st edition stuff.
Muahahahaha! Except for me!
They had heaps of 1st ed stuff marked down 50%! I picked at 30 or so assorted adventure modules and expansions to significantly grow out my collection for a steal! (For those not familiar, there is practically no difference between 1st and 2nd ed, other than packaging and release methodology).
I now find myself with around 75% of the released 1st Ed content. That’s a LOT of solo goodness content to get through!
That is a nice haul! Congrats!
