Instructions unclear, bought everything. Jokes aside, I already have everything that's available since I preorder every new product, including novels. I love this game. That being said, I think this video was a really comprehensive and helpful guide for new players, so kudos to you for spreading the love.
This video (amongst the many others that you guys have) has been super helpful as I’ve begun my dive into Arkham Horror: TCG. Thanks for the excellent content!
Great video, I liked the format, both written and comented later, and how i can check any cycle to see wich one i would like to buy the most. Also, happy that you dont interrupt each other and explain your point of view alone, mostly, instead .Althought it seems anti-natural at first it lets me review the video easier. 43 minutes it is a long video.
Investigator Starter Decks, I feel, are great for new players because they let them start playing without having to learn deck-building right away. The original 'starter' Roland/Wendy decks were awful so these were great. It's especially good if you want to play 4p but don't want to commit to 2 cores right away.
I don't know if you guys read these comments but thumbs up for your reference to the Phantom of Truth mythos pack. I've gotten into the game relatively late and starting picking up the Carcosa packs back in August. Was able to get all of the other packs pretty quickly but that one particular pack seems to be unavailable, even though I've been checking regularly over the past several months. Kind of frustrating because it makes owning the rest of that campaign kind of useless. I even emailed Fantasy Flight asking if I could get put on a waiting list and got told that they appreciated my interest in the game and that everything would be reprinted over time. Great, thanks. So yeah I totally agree with your suggestion of picking up the newest campaigns first for new players.
The Phantom of Truth mythos pack scarcity is really strange to me. It's odd having one mythos pack being harder to get than others, especially when the player cards aren't even that amazing in the pack. Though I suppose at this point now it being hard to get just makes it harder to get as more people need/want it on reprints.
@@PlayingBoardGames I just ordered the Forgotten Age packs, the very last one had somewhat limited availability (showed out of print on the Fantasy Flight site but it looks like amazon had a few left) but in the end I think I'll be able to get all of those at least. Overall this is kind of a problem with the way they market this game since you really need to be able to get all of the packs of a set to make use of any of them (other than the investigator cards of course).
With so many good products between the investigator decks and expansions, there is no way i could ever recommend a second core box or return to boxes, UNLESS you need it for more than 2 players OR money is no option and its already been decided the person will buy EVERYTHING else. I would much rather buy into a second cycle sooner rather than buying a second core set (or even better if you want player cards just buy investigator decks)
@@tom7050 I don't mean that should be bougth in the release order. But the order which you would buy the products is relevant. (ex: Core set first, then 1 cycle as second order, and so on).
Wish I watched this before walking into a gamestore, panicking and buying "Return to The Path of Carcosa", as my second purchase into the series. /facedesk
Thanks for this. As someone who's just bought the first core set, the game line seems overwhelming. And hearing various places that you need to get a second core just made me want to sell on my core unplayed out of annoyance at FFG's money gouging. So this helped immensely. From the sound of your reviews, as a solo player it would be best for me just to start with Dunwich: Carcosa works best as a second or third cycle; Forgotten Age is extremely difficult; Circle Undone isn't as good as Dunwich; and Dream-Eaters requires a big card collection/more than one player. That leaves Dunwich, or going in blind to the current one.
It wouldn't be a bad call to pick up the Innsmouth Conspiracy, the current cycle, as it comes out. We haven't had a chance to play the scenarios yet, but there is a mechanic that is pretty contained in the player cards in that cycle which means it can work pretty well on its own with just that cycle for player card power.
I think is terrible the needing to buy a 2nd core, considering 90% of the material will be wasted (box, rulebooks, components, cards, etc.). I know that is interesting to FFG for profit, but I think is a really questionable move, couldn't they sell me just the cards I need? (I own a 2nd core, but I think this marketing move was vary bad).
I agree. I feel that with their recent release of Marvel Champions having enough cards without needing a second core, FFG has seen the way. Unfortunately, that came out after Arkham so....
I am glad the core is getting revised. As a new player, that seems like an appealing entry point for me. I do wonder though how it would affect any overlap duplicates with other packs down the road if they don't end up revising the entire collection.
I bought first core, We then bought the whole carcosa cycle and played through that Now we just started Dunwich, finished scenario 1a and 1b, I couldn't bother buying a second core it just feels so bad man. All those wasted cards :( Might eventually do it but idk. A cool addition to this concept is that since we only have 1* of lot of the most powerful cards in the core set we don't feel bad at all not using the taboo list for those. For example Dr. Milan and Machete. Pretty op, yup, but as long as you draw them only half of the time they don't seem as broken! Carcosa had a terrific story. I know Dunwich is gonna let me down a bit on that department but still I enjoy the little flavor in each scenario.
@@PlayingBoardGames Also thanks for doing the pro/con stand points. I think its good to weigh both sides. That really helps us new players out on what type of campaign we want to purchase next. I look forward to more of these kind of videos. Thanks again! Happy holidays!
I just bought second core set when i learned i cant solo multiple investigators that share a color because of limited number of the cards of that color.
Fantastic content. Your videos really support the game and the fan base. New players should get a link to your channel in the core box. Now for a Top 5 suggestion - Top 5 deckbuilding archetypes. My archetype understanding ends at finding all the cards that have the same keyword and putting them in my deck. I don't know if this game has a "meta", in the sense that some games do which have ever-expanding card pools. So, all your advice would help me enjoy the deck building as well as the deck playing.
Thanks for the kind words. That is a good idea for a list video or for an entire collection of videos all on its own. I'll talk with the others and see how we can best approach this topic. I do know we have a guide to deck building in our pipeline that we will be recording too, but that may not explore archetypes as much as its own individual video could.
Something that may not be obvious to anyone new to the game, and isn't covered by your video, is that you do need to buy at least one core set - because it's the only product that includes the tokens you need - contrary to the commentary that almost seemed to suggest otherwise: "I think like these starter decks do a very good job of supplementing the collection -- not to the point where you don't ever want to buy a second core set, but you could very easily buy a couple of these in the colours that you and your friends like to play instead of buying the core sets to help supplement your card pool if there are maybe three or more of you playing." And one other thing worth mentioning is that the core set fails to include a bag for your chaos tokens.
I am so happy that having to choose between buying one or two core decks is a thing of the past. FFG was real jerks for offering incomplete play sets in this and Lord of the Rings. Thank goodness they came to their senses.
Hope to get a second video once the edge of the earth campaign comes out. Maybe with more focus on the return to boxes as well, which I also get for not only the new content but also mostly the storage space.
I would enjoy a video where Travis explains what is happening in the Circle Undone. I don't know much about the mythos, and also the story is a bit opaque.
This video is really very useful! It helped me a lot to decide which cycle I will buy next. However I bought already the forgotten age and I am now afraid to play it because of its difficulty and the campaign notes to make. 😉 Thanks for this video guys!
I have a buddy I play with that sleeved every single one of his scenario and player cards for every cycle up to dream eaters and yeah it was very expensive and made the collection a nightmare to transport.
I was going to say that i would like you to make a video of each cicle following the same pattern of this one but you already had the same idea. Happy to wait for it.
So glad they are finally making a revised core set to avoid the issue of having to buy a second set which I always thought was a rip off since they couldn't even be bothered to make a second core set to give new scenario and characters along with the extra cards.
Nice video, thank you! I’m new to Arkham, as my wife won’t play lord of the rings or netrunner with me :-D we just have one core and looking to branch out, so perfect timing. Do you happen to have recommendations on ‘easy’ decks mechanically? I enjoy building and thinking about new / janky decks, but my partner in the campaigns mostly just wants to have something simple that is also competitive - she is playing the blue investigator in the core set, who seems straightforwardly good at punching guys and getting clues. What others fall into this bucket?
We have a playlist here with deck guides and strategy for a variety of investigators targeted for new players. th-cam.com/play/PLXmf8-Jo8F-uljWTV8z3Wf0BJDxdYU7tL.html I think Ursula Downs is a very good investigator for new players, because her ability is straightforward and leads to a lot of 'a-ha!' moments. Daisy Walker and Zoey Samaras are also pretty easy to understand and play.
I was wondering, I've bought everything except the Innsmouth Mythos packs (yet) and the return to boxes, but I still don't have a 2nd core and with the amount player cards (even not counting the neutral skill cards) I don't see the point anymore. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think it's still valid to grab it or should I just get the return to boxes and call it a day :P
This is bizarre. By all means play the scenarios any way you like, but they are structured to follow a narrative progression. More importantly you earn cards in earlier scenarios for use later one. Eg, the Necronomicon can be gained early in the Dunwich Legacy.
Excellent video, as always I should add! Just wanted to add some questions regarding proxies and order of cycle. Me and my brother got into this game fairly recently and are having a blast with it, we are keeping up with the Innsmouth cycle and actually got the entire Dunwich on a stroke of luck as a small batch was released here in Sweden! Given all this we now have a nice set of cards and we have gotten into the practice of proxying the cards we miss given that we only own one core set. Maybe I am a cheap one bit buying a 2nd core just seems like such a waste in my opinion, we got the offical cards art and printed them to use as our proxies, with an unused card as placeholder in our sleeves. Do you guys still recommend getting a 2nd core or are we good just keeping as is? I really do need some convincing I feel on a 2nd core 😅 Next up, as we now are going to rum the Innsmouth and Dunwich campaigns along each other we are set for some time I believe. But giving my personality I will most likely look to get a 3rd cycle before Innsmouth is finished, given I can afford so. Do you guys recommend any of the four or should we just look to acquire one that is available at that time? Is it worth getting a half cycle, like Deluxe + 2-3 mythos, även that they are in order, and then wait for the rest? Or should one always look to get an entire campaign instead if possible? And is there any campaign you recommend one leaves as a last purchase? Keep up the great work!
It's interesting that you brought that up, as I have the exact same question about picking certain mythos in a cycle. When I read online, it's always about "buying everything", but it's not always possible either from a money or availability standpoint. Maybe i'm still new to the game, but if some mythos are just bad, other than the story continuity, does it make sense to just avoid buying it? And for the Dream Eaters cycle, if it is 2 separate stories, does it make sense to buy mythos for just 1 part of the story and avoid the other?
@@bgy110107 yeah it sometimes feel like you wait and then somethings run out while other restock.. Like is it worth just getting the Deluxe boxes separate first as a "test" run for that cycle and the investigators? That is also a good point can one split the Dream Eaters campaign into two? I have no idea but if possible that could be an interesting approach. I do like continuity though that is why I jumped on getting the entire Dunwich in one go 😅
If you are satisfied with your proxied versions of the core set cards, you could continue using them. The biggest benefit to having a second core in your position would be to being able to play with the physical cards. I prefer the actual cards over the proxies I had, which was a deciding factor in me buying my second core. My top recommendation is Carcosa and then Dream-Eaters. Carcosa is still my favourite cycle. When I purchase content for this game, I prioritize the deluxe expansions so I can get the investigators. Investigator count opens up the biggest general replayability, in my opinion. Buying deluxe expansions without the full cycle is still a fine decision, because worst case you still have new investigators and the some scenarios to play. With Dream-Eaters, you could buy half of the cycle and play that as its own campaign. You miss some of the cross-story between the two halves coming together, but, in my opinion, that's not really too much of a hook to make me feel bad about missing out on it. Hoo. I hope that answered all the questions in this thread?
@@PlayingBoardGames sounds solid, I might just get a 2nd core once I have gotten up too speed with everything else, in a couple of years I'm guessing hehe, I don't really feel the proxies lessen my fun atm. Then I might just move to include all the Deluxe next. That would give us a chans to find which theme interest us as well! But yeah I am eying the Carcossa expansion next... it is just that the mythos packs are always sold out. Hopefully a new batch of re-stock is not to far away! Hehe the answers were great thanks for them!
Hey there! As for me, I pretty much waited on buying a second set. But that being said, once I found one on sale (or used) I bought it because it just made life simpler for me. But that being said, a lot of cards from the core were not even used. I will say that getting the second set of encounter set makes it easy to quick set up. Just my 2 cents :)
Hmmm....why do I always find things like this after I make my purchase....Mind you, I do....do my due diligence lol only after the fact do I find what I sought in the 1st place lol...anywho I have never played Arkham TCG....I plan on playing with either myself or one other...so I bought the core game....didn't have any money left over for Dunwich....then I got to thinking hmmm Investigator Deck...I can wing one of them just in case a 3rd person wanted to play...ultimatly I know I will need another core set for this to happen....guess I wanted something playable out of the box with a little something extra.....I just fear I'll be blowing thru the core stuff rather quickly...hope the investigator deck was a nice lil addon....Dunwich will probably be next on my list....after I get thru the core and having a Harvey Deck to play around with
I am glad that I jumped Forgotten Age only because I didn't got attracted for the characters, I hope that now I have a better card pool to do it. I already think that the last scenarios, of the cycles I played, have a ridiculous difficulty, so I am very worried! lol
Towards the beginning you state that purchase order doesn’t matter, and that you should go for what’s in stock. I believe you were referring to cycle order, and to go for whatever cycle is in stock. If that’s the case, you might want to clarify that. Just by watching, it seemed like you were stating that order of the scenarios doesn’t matter and you just just play whatever scenario in whatever order, which I’d have to disagree with.
Your first assumption was correct. The rules of campaign/stand alone play make the order the scenarios you play by, not the order you purchase them. I recommend players buy what's available, but obviously to follow the rules for campaign play.
I love the game but they are really twisting hands not including second copies of cards in the core set or just creating a pack that offers them separately.
I agree with that 100%. I'm glad they finally changed that system with their release of Marvel Champions, but that game has some if its other problems with its card distribution, but requiring two cores for Arkham is a bad look.
Big Lovecraft fan so was excited to find this game and this guide is really really useful! You say that you don’t have to do the cycles in order... would you have a recommended buying order for someone pretty much brand new?
What do you think of buying the deluxe set of each cycle? It would provide new players a lot of investigators and card pools. Picking up every deluxe edition would also allow players to buy the rest of cycles they find interesting.
I think it's a good idea if you are aiming for getting investigators to play. You'll miss some of the support cards still built for them, but it will give you a huge pool of investigators to play with and, to me, that is what makes the game really fun.
Totally agree across the border. Just finished Dunwich, got rekt, and now am looking into my second core-set. What do you think about the pricing model though? True, there aren't enough colorless cards, but few people would have needed a second core set if there were 2 copies of a handful of cards by default...
I believe that the double core set requirement was a poor choice for consumer's on FFG's part and entirely a good choice for them. We see with Marvel Champions that a slightly more expensive coreset solves the problem of requiring two. It's unfortunately a necessary evil for collection/deck consistency and I wish it wasn't the case.
I’d be really interested in a video of this fashion going over the multiple ways to store AHTCG. I currently use a PirateLab game case but I’d like to know your guys opinions on what you think are the best ways to store/organize all the cards.
I am a new player and into the Dunwich legacy 3/4 of the way and having a blast playing Jenny Barnes (learned to appreciate Agility in Undimensioned And Unseen). In playing through the scenarios they seem to get more difficult and being able to upgrade your deck with experience makes a big difference. So in this video you suggested it was all right to play random scenarios and I was wondering how you handle deck construction for a random scenario. Do you use only level zero cards or do you give yourself some amount of XP to use higher level cards?
There are standalone rules included in the rulebook, so if you check those out, they'll guide you on deckbuilding for those. However, playing the scenarios in order as a campaign is the best way to play Arkham. We have a video coming out this Sunday giving guidance for deck upgrading. Scaling your deck with the difficulty is a challenge at first, but the more you play, the less difficult it will be.
Question if my gaming group has five people should we buy a third set for the 5th player? Can this be played with 5? GREAT FEEDBACK!!! This is s very good guide.
I think buying what is readily available is still the best option. One thing that was recently announced is that they are changing how cycles are done. Because of this, I recommended NOT buying a cycle unless you can buy everything for that cycle. Essentially, cycles are being changed from Deluxe/Mythos packs (7 purchases) to a player card box/scenario box (2 purchases). Less stress for shoppers, but the game is at a weird crossroads where it's about to change. We'll be covering this in a future video, but I wanted to pass this on! The point still stands to buy what is available but I *highly* recommending only buying something if the entire cycle is available to you at once.
Great, great synopses. Much appreciated as a potential new player. Planning on getting two cores and Dunwich as first purchase for three players. Can we use only the two cores to get through their scenarios or would we have to break into Dunwich? Also, with reference to deck building, do you or can you take investigators with you through new expansions?
Two cores should be good for the core set scenarios, though there isn't too much of a reason to not break into the Dunwich stuff just for the player cards. You can continue playing investigators after finishing a campaign with them, keeping all their experienced cards, but you also have to keep their trauma.
@@blinxy511Thanks for input. Re: breaking into Dunwich, mostly concerned about spoilers :) Is there value in taking old investigators through new expansions or are you better off starting fresh? We play Call of Cthulhu so RPG experience is there.
@@robhamper6001 For the spoilers, I wouldn't be concerned about it. The player cards are basically unrelated to the story, so if you can resist looking at the scenario cards you'll be good. In my experience, there's so much to experience in terms of deckbuilding that I'm always excited for the opportunity to try a new strategy and a new investigator with each campaign. That being said, there is an allure to see how far a weathered and grizzled investigator can survive.
My question is what is the point of the return to? The way you guys explained it was that it is an update (pretty much) of the cycle but why do you need an update? Does it change it that much to warrant actually getting it? Because isn't it kind of boring to play through a scenario again when you already know how it plays and ends?
The Return To provides variety most often. It gives new location, enemy, and treachery possibilities. I personally have no problem replaying scenarios because I think the game is fun and the variance of what you draw and when can make it a challenge, not to mention trying different decks is also a blast. That's why Return To's aren't heavily recommended, because it depends on how much you expect to replay a campaign. But if you do feel you'll replay a campaign, they are really worth it.
A second core set provides more consistency, which will make decks better. If you want that consistency, a second core is recommended. However, you can get by with just 1 with only 2 players.
Ah man, great video guys but I’m concerned about spoilers now... Was just about to buy the Carcosa cycle but now I know the final battle is against “Hastur”... is that a legitimate spoiler and will impact my experience/the story unfolding?
I don't think it's a spoiler. There are twists and turns in the campaign, but very little of them have to do with the identity of the ancient one involved. As an example, there are rules texts that reference him, such as an encounter set used frequently from the core set called "Agents of Hastur."
@@PlayingBoardGames unless it’s something you’d know from reading the prologue then in my mind it’s at least a minor spoiler... Hastur isn’t referenced in any general descriptions of the deluxe box elsewhere I get it’s a hard balance to strike on these videos, of how much detail to provide and how generic the advice is, but I would have really appreciate a warning of minor spoilers at the outset
Good video. Maybe you can explain something to me. My wife and I are new to this game and only own a core set. I like it, but I was somewhat unpleasantly surprised after playing the first scenario and realizing that we were fully a third of the way through the campaign. We've played the second scenario also, and it feels like after the next, when we have finished, we will still be far from fully appreciating the complexity of the rules and we'll have only used half of the investigators that came with the core set. Having played legacy and campaign games, it feels extremely short. Are we approaching it wrong? Is this sort of thing meant to be replayed, and is it enjoyable to do so when we already know the storyline?
I find a lot of fun in replaying through campaigns I have already completed. Whether it be trying out a new investigator or trying to do better than a previous run (this is very notable on Midnight Masks from the core, for example). Albeit the core set is very short in terms of its campaign length, the cycles are where the really meat of the game is. The downside is picking up an entire cycle isn't cheap. The standalone Murder at the Excelsior Hotel is a good stand alone scenario purchase, but it doesn't provide any new player cards. And I feel the new player cards are also what really open this game up for replayability.
I've just bought this game, the problem is that there is no stock for most of it. You can buy some of them, but never all of them. Is every pack a part of the bigger story? If so, buying just one mythos pack seem like a bad idea, no? Also, I've heard that trying to do a newer story with only the card in the base game is almost impossible, is it true? As of now, I'm desapointed with it because I feel like I'll have to work way too much to get components.
Each mythos pack is a part of the larger story. We recommend that you just pick up whatever cycle you can find all of at once. The later cycles are fine to play with the core(s) and the cards from that cycle; we even have a series of decks on the channel to help with that. You could also pick up whatever packs you can find when you can, and grab some of the standalone scenarios to play until you can complete a cycle.
Hey guys, great vid! I have a couple questions. My collection contains one core set, all of the cycles and mythos packs, and all of the stand-alone scenarios. I really don't think I have a need to get the return to boxes. My questions are, is it worth it for me to get the investigator starter sets? Also, based on what I do have, am I really missing many cards and do I really need a second core set to play with three people. Grazie!
With your collection you could likely get away with having 3+ people without any issue. Apart from the core stuff like emergency cache/guts/etc. And I will highly recommend anything with more investigators to anyone wanting to collect this game and the other great player cards in the starter decks are also a great bonus.
@@PlayingBoardGames Thanks, Justin. I'll consider adding some of the investigator starter sets... assuming they are cards that either aren't in the regular sets or are backup's of well needed cards. Cool!
Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror 3rd Edition both come with everything you need in the base game to play with two players. There's a video where I cover more of these games here: th-cam.com/video/zQZw9JH1iVQ/w-d-xo.html
Do you guys build new decks with whatever cards you want when starting to play with a new character or get a new scenario or want to experiment with a new deck idea? Or do you always start at the beginning of the starter campaign and earn experience points and just upgrade cards/decks when your xp allows it? Thanks
We always play campaign mode. So eight scenarios with one deck. We have played standalone mode and just tested fully upgraded decks, but mostly just to try cards we hadn't really played with before our reviews for them.
So, whenever you start a new campaign, you start off with the basic, starter set and you upgrade it via the campaign? Or you pick more powerful/upgraded cards to build your deck first and then start the campaign? I just have the starter set and dunwich legacy and two mythos packs from that set. Thanks.
@@jlfons Playing campaign you start with all the cards in your deck being level 0, then as you get experience throughout the campaign you purchase better cards between scenarios. For standalone mode (playing only a single scenario, not as part of a campaign), you can include cards of any levels, but add more basic weaknesses to your deck depending on how much total experience you have added.
Do all of these packs have identical cards or is there a chance for certain rare player cards? (Similar to like Magic or Pokemon) I know this is an LCG and not a TCG but not sure if they throw some of the rarity level cards into an LCG especially something as cool as Arkham..
I should've specified further with this point in the video. This 'wrong decision' is really only one key decision in the campaign, but it has ripples over the entire campaign. The campaign itself has amazing replayability both in its structure, but also the way the scenarios are designed. With a few exceptions, they all vary wildly from playthrough to playthrough due to the awesome design of the scenarios.
I am throwing my history with Arkham horror here. I bought core Box about 1.2 years ago. Played it, hated it. Becouse i am into theme i played eldritch horror and i loved it and then read few novellas from ffg. So i went back to Arkham few months ago, how can everybody love it and i hate it, bought 2nd core and loved the game. Sad that i ruined my first experience ( it IS still mostly magical on first run) Having 1 copy of cards made it fustrating for me, had turns where I just used whole turn to draw cards, becouse you have nothing useful in your hand.
I love the video, BUT hahahaha: "Literally any cycle can be your first one" - Carcosa should definetely be played as your second one because it breaks the meta - Forgotten age is very hard and you need a large collection - Circle undone is the least good of all - Dream Eaters needs 4 decks so you need a large collection - Innsmouth conspiracy is not yet finished. So basicallly you're saying that you DO NEED Dunwich first, right? Hahahaha
No, any cycle can be your first cycle. Tons of people have started with any cycle available to them. Dunwich is the one with the least entry issues, but every cycle has their issues, even Dunwich on a balance level for scenarios.
@@PlayingBoardGames I only have Carcosa available to me. Do you reccomend maybe to run Zealot 2-3 times to make that 1st run great? Or am I fine with 1 and go? (I already bought it so I am thrilled to start, but scared to miss out on its best parts).
I'd say running Zealot a few times is nice, mostly just to learn a bit more about the strategy of the game. Midnight Masks is especially replayable and offers a great gauge for how much you've improved from play to play of it.
So if you wanted complete build options for 4 players being able to play any combos of classes with any card ... would you need like 8 core sets ? and 4 of each pack ?
Assuming players don't play the same classes (which is not a wise choice to play the same class), two cores and one of each deluxe and mythos pack are enough for 4 players. We played with one collection and two cores for the majority of our Arkham lifetime.
So, I guess this is 'technically' correct, due to the one-ofs in the Core and assuming all of your players want to use the same player cards. But I can't really imagine why you'd want to do that, outside of the all-yellow/all-blue/etc groups that some TH-cam channels have run. For a balanced group, who all play investigators with different strengths/styles, there wouldn't be any need for more than 2 cores and 1 of each other expansion (even if there's some overlap in factions).
That'll depend on if you feel like you want multiple copies of cards like level 0 Ward of Protection/Lucky/etc. I personally enjoy having a playset of the class core cards, but other players may not view that as a requirement.
So, I have the core set, Dunwich legacy expansion, and Path to Carcosa expansion, would you say that some of the experience is lost in not getting the mythos packs for those cycles?
Oh for sure, without the mythos packs you can't run the whole campaign which, for me, is the prime selling point of this game. Have your investigator go through the entire campaign, getting better (or worse) and finally either emerging victorious or be blasted into oblivion is what makes this game great for me.
@@jerewii3797 It's always unclear when stuff will be back in store, I personally don't use ebay or amazon, because I live in the Netherlands :P I use smaller board game stores. They usually have some if not all of them. When I wanted an entire campaign I needed to buy at about 3 or 4 stores to get them all. It's a bummer, but it is what it is :(
To play with two players you'd need baseline a core set. You can play limited decks with just one core. Picking up investigator starter decks are the best way to cheaply increase player card pool, while grabbing a deluxe expansion or two will provide with more cards, more investigators, and more scenarios to play.
I'd say that depends on the cycle. In Carcosa I know that Phantom of Truth is pretty hard to find and luckily that scenario is more of an interlude than a necessary piece of the story and progression of the campaign. Missing a scenario can be a bit tricky in both the XP and the story progression, so looking through the story setup and all resolutions of a scenario you want to skip may provide a better example of how necessary it is to the campaign (but then you'll be spoiling yourself, it's a tricky line to walk.) What pack are you missing? Is it Phantom of Truth?
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Buying Guide:
All of it
Appreciate your advice. 🙂
Instructions unclear, bought everything.
Jokes aside, I already have everything that's available since I preorder every new product, including novels. I love this game.
That being said, I think this video was a really comprehensive and helpful guide for new players, so kudos to you for spreading the love.
Thanks for laying this out for new players in the community!
Very well explained, my friends. This will help a lot of people.
- The Innkeeper
Unfathomable depths of quality on your channnel. This one is no exception. 5 out of 5 cyclopean edifices.
This video (amongst the many others that you guys have) has been super helpful as I’ve begun my dive into Arkham Horror: TCG. Thanks for the excellent content!
Great video, I liked the format, both written and comented later, and how i can check any cycle to see wich one i would like to buy the most. Also, happy that you dont interrupt each other and explain your point of view alone, mostly, instead .Althought it seems anti-natural at first it lets me review the video easier. 43 minutes it is a long video.
Investigator Starter Decks, I feel, are great for new players because they let them start playing without having to learn deck-building right away. The original 'starter' Roland/Wendy decks were awful so these were great. It's especially good if you want to play 4p but don't want to commit to 2 cores right away.
Should I get investigator deck before getting into cycle ? Or I can just jump into cycle after basic game
I don't know if you guys read these comments but thumbs up for your reference to the Phantom of Truth mythos pack. I've gotten into the game relatively late and starting picking up the Carcosa packs back in August. Was able to get all of the other packs pretty quickly but that one particular pack seems to be unavailable, even though I've been checking regularly over the past several months. Kind of frustrating because it makes owning the rest of that campaign kind of useless. I even emailed Fantasy Flight asking if I could get put on a waiting list and got told that they appreciated my interest in the game and that everything would be reprinted over time. Great, thanks. So yeah I totally agree with your suggestion of picking up the newest campaigns first for new players.
The Phantom of Truth mythos pack scarcity is really strange to me. It's odd having one mythos pack being harder to get than others, especially when the player cards aren't even that amazing in the pack. Though I suppose at this point now it being hard to get just makes it harder to get as more people need/want it on reprints.
@@PlayingBoardGames I just ordered the Forgotten Age packs, the very last one had somewhat limited availability (showed out of print on the Fantasy Flight site but it looks like amazon had a few left) but in the end I think I'll be able to get all of those at least. Overall this is kind of a problem with the way they market this game since you really need to be able to get all of the packs of a set to make use of any of them (other than the investigator cards of course).
With so many good products between the investigator decks and expansions, there is no way i could ever recommend a second core box or return to boxes, UNLESS you need it for more than 2 players OR money is no option and its already been decided the person will buy EVERYTHING else.
I would much rather buy into a second cycle sooner rather than buying a second core set (or even better if you want player cards just buy investigator decks)
Disappointing that Dream-Eaters doesn't sound like the structure lends itself to solo play. Great video guys!
My buying guide for AKH LCG - buy everything;)))
Just buy everything
Circle except ^^
Yeah, But the order is relevant
@@MatheusVenti nope , not after carcosa
@@tom7050 I don't mean that should be bougth in the release order. But the order which you would buy the products is relevant. (ex: Core set first, then 1 cycle as second order, and so on).
That is ridiculously expensive
Wish I watched this before walking into a gamestore, panicking and buying "Return to The Path of Carcosa", as my second purchase into the series. /facedesk
Thanks for this. As someone who's just bought the first core set, the game line seems overwhelming. And hearing various places that you need to get a second core just made me want to sell on my core unplayed out of annoyance at FFG's money gouging. So this helped immensely.
From the sound of your reviews, as a solo player it would be best for me just to start with Dunwich: Carcosa works best as a second or third cycle; Forgotten Age is extremely difficult; Circle Undone isn't as good as Dunwich; and Dream-Eaters requires a big card collection/more than one player. That leaves Dunwich, or going in blind to the current one.
It wouldn't be a bad call to pick up the Innsmouth Conspiracy, the current cycle, as it comes out. We haven't had a chance to play the scenarios yet, but there is a mechanic that is pretty contained in the player cards in that cycle which means it can work pretty well on its own with just that cycle for player card power.
I think is terrible the needing to buy a 2nd core, considering 90% of the material will be wasted (box, rulebooks, components, cards, etc.). I know that is interesting to FFG for profit, but I think is a really questionable move, couldn't they sell me just the cards I need? (I own a 2nd core, but I think this marketing move was vary bad).
I agree. I feel that with their recent release of Marvel Champions having enough cards without needing a second core, FFG has seen the way. Unfortunately, that came out after Arkham so....
I am glad the core is getting revised. As a new player, that seems like an appealing entry point for me. I do wonder though how it would affect any overlap duplicates with other packs down the road if they don't end up revising the entire collection.
Fantastic video, I love the breakdown of everyone's thoughs.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I bought first core,
We then bought the whole carcosa cycle and played through that
Now we just started Dunwich, finished scenario 1a and 1b,
I couldn't bother buying a second core it just feels so bad man. All those wasted cards :(
Might eventually do it but idk. A cool addition to this concept is that since we only have 1* of lot of the most powerful cards in the core set we don't feel bad at all not using the taboo list for those. For example Dr. Milan and Machete. Pretty op, yup, but as long as you draw them only half of the time they don't seem as broken!
Carcosa had a terrific story. I know Dunwich is gonna let me down a bit on that department but still I enjoy the little flavor in each scenario.
I would have really appreciate a slimmed down core set with just the essential cards
I really appreciate your guides fellas. It really helped me as a new AH player. Greatly appreciated!
Glad to help! Thanks for commenting!
@@PlayingBoardGames Also thanks for doing the pro/con stand points. I think its good to weigh both sides. That really helps us new players out on what type of campaign we want to purchase next. I look forward to more of these kind of videos. Thanks again! Happy holidays!
I just bought second core set when i learned i cant solo multiple investigators that share a color because of limited number of the cards of that color.
I think it's worth adding that a second(or first) core set is going to be by far the easiest thing to pick up second hand.
I´m new to the game. I will wait for the revised version of the core set.
I just proxy everything needed from a 2nd core set since I only play solo.
I proxied important cards from the core set because buying 2 disgusts me. I'm so happy they are releasing a proper core set
Great overview guys! I totally agree with your comment about the campaign cycles. Get the ones that interest you.
Fantastic content. Your videos really support the game and the fan base. New players should get a link to your channel in the core box.
Now for a Top 5 suggestion - Top 5 deckbuilding archetypes. My archetype understanding ends at finding all the cards that have the same keyword and putting them in my deck. I don't know if this game has a "meta", in the sense that some games do which have ever-expanding card pools. So, all your advice would help me enjoy the deck building as well as the deck playing.
Thanks for the kind words. That is a good idea for a list video or for an entire collection of videos all on its own. I'll talk with the others and see how we can best approach this topic. I do know we have a guide to deck building in our pipeline that we will be recording too, but that may not explore archetypes as much as its own individual video could.
Guys this is just what I after. Thank you for all your valuable advice.
Something that may not be obvious to anyone new to the game, and isn't covered by your video, is that you do need to buy at least one core set - because it's the only product that includes the tokens you need - contrary to the commentary that almost seemed to suggest otherwise: "I think like these starter decks do a very good job of supplementing the collection -- not to the point where you don't ever want to buy a second core set, but you could very easily buy a couple of these in the colours that you and your friends like to play instead of buying the core sets to help supplement your card pool if there are maybe three or more of you playing."
And one other thing worth mentioning is that the core set fails to include a bag for your chaos tokens.
I am so happy that having to choose between buying one or two core decks is a thing of the past. FFG was real jerks for offering incomplete play sets in this and Lord of the Rings. Thank goodness they came to their senses.
Just discovered your channel. Love the content! Best I’ve found.
Thank you. :)
Hope to get a second video once the edge of the earth campaign comes out. Maybe with more focus on the return to boxes as well, which I also get for not only the new content but also mostly the storage space.
I would enjoy a video where Travis explains what is happening in the Circle Undone. I don't know much about the mythos, and also the story is a bit opaque.
I got a buy guide for you..
ALL OF IT!!!
They should do an ultimate edition like mage knight and put everything in and some copy of cards from core deck 1.
Just got the core set, thank you for explaining!
Nobody said to sleeve your cards and xerox+replace cards in the core deck so you don't have to buy a 2nd
They need to keep the real pro-tips for the comments. :) Also, less problematic - someone might think "piracy".
Ohh thank you so much. It was so helpful!! Great job!
Great content. I found it hard to take you seriously at first because I thought you were Glenn from Superstore wearing a Lionel Richie disguise
I prefer print at home for 2nd core set hahaha
This video is really very useful! It helped me a lot to decide which cycle I will buy next. However I bought already the forgotten age and I am now afraid to play it because of its difficulty and the campaign notes to make. 😉
Thanks for this video guys!
Look at this way, if you start with Forgotten Age, everything else will seem like a cakewalk afterwards. You'll be an Arkham master!
I have a buddy I play with that sleeved every single one of his scenario and player cards for every cycle up to dream eaters and yeah it was very expensive and made the collection a nightmare to transport.
I was going to say that i would like you to make a video of each cicle following the same pattern of this one but you already had the same idea. Happy to wait for it.
I'm not sure when we'll get to them, but my hope is that we can start rolling them out in January.
Thank you for this great buying guide.
Glad it was helpful!
Very nice overview :)
You guys are amazing! Keep it up!
Thank you! Will do!
So glad they are finally making a revised core set to avoid the issue of having to buy a second set which I always thought was a rip off since they couldn't even be bothered to make a second core set to give new scenario and characters along with the extra cards.
That didn't age well :(
Nice video, thank you! I’m new to Arkham, as my wife won’t play lord of the rings or netrunner with me :-D we just have one core and looking to branch out, so perfect timing.
Do you happen to have recommendations on ‘easy’ decks mechanically? I enjoy building and thinking about new / janky decks, but my partner in the campaigns mostly just wants to have something simple that is also competitive - she is playing the blue investigator in the core set, who seems straightforwardly good at punching guys and getting clues. What others fall into this bucket?
We have a playlist here with deck guides and strategy for a variety of investigators targeted for new players. th-cam.com/play/PLXmf8-Jo8F-uljWTV8z3Wf0BJDxdYU7tL.html
I think Ursula Downs is a very good investigator for new players, because her ability is straightforward and leads to a lot of 'a-ha!' moments. Daisy Walker and Zoey Samaras are also pretty easy to understand and play.
I was wondering, I've bought everything except the Innsmouth Mythos packs (yet) and the return to boxes, but I still don't have a 2nd core and with the amount player cards (even not counting the neutral skill cards) I don't see the point anymore. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think it's still valid to grab it or should I just get the return to boxes and call it a day :P
The joke at 39:40.
I kinda already did that 😂
Thank you I was SOO LOST!!!!!
This is bizarre. By all means play the scenarios any way you like, but they are structured to follow a narrative progression. More importantly you earn cards in earlier scenarios for use later one. Eg, the Necronomicon can be gained early in the Dunwich Legacy.
Agree with your thoughts on 2nd core.
Excellent video, as always I should add!
Just wanted to add some questions regarding proxies and order of cycle. Me and my brother got into this game fairly recently and are having a blast with it, we are keeping up with the Innsmouth cycle and actually got the entire Dunwich on a stroke of luck as a small batch was released here in Sweden!
Given all this we now have a nice set of cards and we have gotten into the practice of proxying the cards we miss given that we only own one core set. Maybe I am a cheap one bit buying a 2nd core just seems like such a waste in my opinion, we got the offical cards art and printed them to use as our proxies, with an unused card as placeholder in our sleeves.
Do you guys still recommend getting a 2nd core or are we good just keeping as is? I really do need some convincing I feel on a 2nd core 😅
Next up, as we now are going to rum the Innsmouth and Dunwich campaigns along each other we are set for some time I believe. But giving my personality I will most likely look to get a 3rd cycle before Innsmouth is finished, given I can afford so.
Do you guys recommend any of the four or should we just look to acquire one that is available at that time? Is it worth getting a half cycle, like Deluxe + 2-3 mythos, även that they are in order, and then wait for the rest? Or should one always look to get an entire campaign instead if possible? And is there any campaign you recommend one leaves as a last purchase?
Keep up the great work!
It's interesting that you brought that up, as I have the exact same question about picking certain mythos in a cycle. When I read online, it's always about "buying everything", but it's not always possible either from a money or availability standpoint.
Maybe i'm still new to the game, but if some mythos are just bad, other than the story continuity, does it make sense to just avoid buying it? And for the Dream Eaters cycle, if it is 2 separate stories, does it make sense to buy mythos for just 1 part of the story and avoid the other?
@@bgy110107 yeah it sometimes feel like you wait and then somethings run out while other restock..
Like is it worth just getting the Deluxe boxes separate first as a "test" run for that cycle and the investigators?
That is also a good point can one split the Dream Eaters campaign into two? I have no idea but if possible that could be an interesting approach.
I do like continuity though that is why I jumped on getting the entire Dunwich in one go 😅
If you are satisfied with your proxied versions of the core set cards, you could continue using them. The biggest benefit to having a second core in your position would be to being able to play with the physical cards. I prefer the actual cards over the proxies I had, which was a deciding factor in me buying my second core.
My top recommendation is Carcosa and then Dream-Eaters. Carcosa is still my favourite cycle.
When I purchase content for this game, I prioritize the deluxe expansions so I can get the investigators. Investigator count opens up the biggest general replayability, in my opinion. Buying deluxe expansions without the full cycle is still a fine decision, because worst case you still have new investigators and the some scenarios to play.
With Dream-Eaters, you could buy half of the cycle and play that as its own campaign. You miss some of the cross-story between the two halves coming together, but, in my opinion, that's not really too much of a hook to make me feel bad about missing out on it.
Hoo. I hope that answered all the questions in this thread?
@@PlayingBoardGames sounds solid, I might just get a 2nd core once I have gotten up too speed with everything else, in a couple of years I'm guessing hehe, I don't really feel the proxies lessen my fun atm.
Then I might just move to include all the Deluxe next. That would give us a chans to find which theme interest us as well!
But yeah I am eying the Carcossa expansion next... it is just that the mythos packs are always sold out. Hopefully a new batch of re-stock is not to far away!
Hehe the answers were great thanks for them!
Hey there! As for me, I pretty much waited on buying a second set. But that being said, once I found one on sale (or used) I bought it because it just made life simpler for me. But that being said, a lot of cards from the core were not even used. I will say that getting the second set of encounter set makes it easy to quick set up. Just my 2 cents :)
Hmmm....why do I always find things like this after I make my purchase....Mind you, I do....do my due diligence lol only after the fact do I find what I sought in the 1st place lol...anywho I have never played Arkham TCG....I plan on playing with either myself or one other...so I bought the core game....didn't have any money left over for Dunwich....then I got to thinking hmmm Investigator Deck...I can wing one of them just in case a 3rd person wanted to play...ultimatly I know I will need another core set for this to happen....guess I wanted something playable out of the box with a little something extra.....I just fear I'll be blowing thru the core stuff rather quickly...hope the investigator deck was a nice lil addon....Dunwich will probably be next on my list....after I get thru the core and having a Harvey Deck to play around with
I am glad that I jumped Forgotten Age only because I didn't got attracted for the characters, I hope that now I have a better card pool to do it. I already think that the last scenarios, of the cycles I played, have a ridiculous difficulty, so I am very worried! lol
Don't be worried! They're very challenging, but nothing impossible.
wow what a video ,thank you
You're welcome. Thanks for commenting!
Towards the beginning you state that purchase order doesn’t matter, and that you should go for what’s in stock. I believe you were referring to cycle order, and to go for whatever cycle is in stock. If that’s the case, you might want to clarify that. Just by watching, it seemed like you were stating that order of the scenarios doesn’t matter and you just just play whatever scenario in whatever order, which I’d have to disagree with.
Your first assumption was correct. The rules of campaign/stand alone play make the order the scenarios you play by, not the order you purchase them. I recommend players buy what's available, but obviously to follow the rules for campaign play.
I love the game but they are really twisting hands not including second copies of cards in the core set or just creating a pack that offers them separately.
I agree with that 100%. I'm glad they finally changed that system with their release of Marvel Champions, but that game has some if its other problems with its card distribution, but requiring two cores for Arkham is a bad look.
Please Explain the difference between Cycles and Scenarios.
Big Lovecraft fan so was excited to find this game and this guide is really really useful!
You say that you don’t have to do the cycles in order... would you have a recommended buying order for someone pretty much brand new?
I'd recommend brand new players buy the current cycle as it's easiest to keep up with and have the packs be in stock.
What do you think of buying the deluxe set of each cycle? It would provide new players a lot of investigators and card pools. Picking up every deluxe edition would also allow players to buy the rest of cycles they find interesting.
I think it's a good idea if you are aiming for getting investigators to play. You'll miss some of the support cards still built for them, but it will give you a huge pool of investigators to play with and, to me, that is what makes the game really fun.
Totally agree across the border.
Just finished Dunwich, got rekt, and now am looking into my second core-set.
What do you think about the pricing model though? True, there aren't enough colorless cards, but few people would have needed a second core set if there were 2 copies of a handful of cards by default...
I believe that the double core set requirement was a poor choice for consumer's on FFG's part and entirely a good choice for them. We see with Marvel Champions that a slightly more expensive coreset solves the problem of requiring two. It's unfortunately a necessary evil for collection/deck consistency and I wish it wasn't the case.
I’d be really interested in a video of this fashion going over the multiple ways to store AHTCG. I currently use a PirateLab game case but I’d like to know your guys opinions on what you think are the best ways to store/organize all the cards.
We are planning on releasing a storage video soon. I'm not sure when, but it's on our shooting schedule.
@@PlayingBoardGames sweeeeeet!
I got so lucky and found a second core in full in good condition at a Goodwill for $3.99.
That's amazing!
I am a new player and into the Dunwich legacy 3/4 of the way and having a blast playing Jenny Barnes (learned to appreciate Agility in Undimensioned And Unseen). In playing through the scenarios they seem to get more difficult and being able to upgrade your deck with experience makes a big difference. So in this video you suggested it was all right to play random scenarios and I was wondering how you handle deck construction for a random scenario. Do you use only level zero cards or do you give yourself some amount of XP to use higher level cards?
There are standalone rules included in the rulebook, so if you check those out, they'll guide you on deckbuilding for those.
However, playing the scenarios in order as a campaign is the best way to play Arkham. We have a video coming out this Sunday giving guidance for deck upgrading. Scaling your deck with the difficulty is a challenge at first, but the more you play, the less difficult it will be.
i think i go to my shop in a few hour
Question if my gaming group has five people should we buy a third set for the 5th player? Can this be played with 5?
GREAT FEEDBACK!!! This is s very good guide.
This game cannot be played with 5, unfortunately.
Hi guys, great video and a lot of info. I'm new to the game and just started. Any recommendations for a buy order?
I think buying what is readily available is still the best option. One thing that was recently announced is that they are changing how cycles are done. Because of this, I recommended NOT buying a cycle unless you can buy everything for that cycle.
Essentially, cycles are being changed from Deluxe/Mythos packs (7 purchases) to a player card box/scenario box (2 purchases). Less stress for shoppers, but the game is at a weird crossroads where it's about to change.
We'll be covering this in a future video, but I wanted to pass this on! The point still stands to buy what is available but I *highly* recommending only buying something if the entire cycle is available to you at once.
@@PlayingBoardGames thank you. This really helps. Looking forward to your next videos. 👍🏼 Greetings from Bavaria
Carcosa has been out of stock for me for a long time, so I've just stopped buying. I play solo most of the time so I just play on TTS.
Shame I missed out on the starter decks (hello pandemic) now they’re out of stock everywhere
Shhhh everyone. Nobody tell him about Barkham...
Great, great synopses. Much appreciated as a potential new player. Planning on getting two cores and Dunwich as first purchase for three players. Can we use only the two cores to get through their scenarios or would we have to break into Dunwich? Also, with reference to deck building, do you or can you take investigators with you through new expansions?
Two cores should be good for the core set scenarios, though there isn't too much of a reason to not break into the Dunwich stuff just for the player cards. You can continue playing investigators after finishing a campaign with them, keeping all their experienced cards, but you also have to keep their trauma.
@@blinxy511Thanks for input. Re: breaking into Dunwich, mostly concerned about spoilers :) Is there value in taking old investigators through new expansions or are you better off starting fresh? We play Call of Cthulhu so RPG experience is there.
@@robhamper6001 For the spoilers, I wouldn't be concerned about it. The player cards are basically unrelated to the story, so if you can resist looking at the scenario cards you'll be good.
In my experience, there's so much to experience in terms of deckbuilding that I'm always excited for the opportunity to try a new strategy and a new investigator with each campaign. That being said, there is an allure to see how far a weathered and grizzled investigator can survive.
I really hate the core set. I wish you can just buy the tokens and starter cards and just buy a deluxe expansion
Great Job Guys ! Quick question.. can you play Dream eaters solo ? With 1 character ? Thanks guys !
You'll need two investigators to play both halves of the campaign with them impacting the other.
@@PlayingBoardGames Awesome THANKS ! ! !
My question is what is the point of the return to? The way you guys explained it was that it is an update (pretty much) of the cycle but why do you need an update? Does it change it that much to warrant actually getting it? Because isn't it kind of boring to play through a scenario again when you already know how it plays and ends?
The Return To provides variety most often. It gives new location, enemy, and treachery possibilities.
I personally have no problem replaying scenarios because I think the game is fun and the variance of what you draw and when can make it a challenge, not to mention trying different decks is also a blast.
That's why Return To's aren't heavily recommended, because it depends on how much you expect to replay a campaign. But if you do feel you'll replay a campaign, they are really worth it.
I'd buy a second core set used but I can't even find enough gamers to warrant a second.
Is a second core set needed if you will always have only 2 players?
A second core set provides more consistency, which will make decks better. If you want that consistency, a second core is recommended. However, you can get by with just 1 with only 2 players.
Ah man, great video guys but I’m concerned about spoilers now...
Was just about to buy the Carcosa cycle but now I know the final battle is against “Hastur”... is that a legitimate spoiler and will impact my experience/the story unfolding?
I don't think it's a spoiler. There are twists and turns in the campaign, but very little of them have to do with the identity of the ancient one involved. As an example, there are rules texts that reference him, such as an encounter set used frequently from the core set called "Agents of Hastur."
@@PlayingBoardGames unless it’s something you’d know from reading the prologue then in my mind it’s at least a minor spoiler... Hastur isn’t referenced in any general descriptions of the deluxe box elsewhere
I get it’s a hard balance to strike on these videos, of how much detail to provide and how generic the advice is, but I would have really appreciate a warning of minor spoilers at the outset
Good video. Maybe you can explain something to me. My wife and I are new to this game and only own a core set. I like it, but I was somewhat unpleasantly surprised after playing the first scenario and realizing that we were fully a third of the way through the campaign. We've played the second scenario also, and it feels like after the next, when we have finished, we will still be far from fully appreciating the complexity of the rules and we'll have only used half of the investigators that came with the core set. Having played legacy and campaign games, it feels extremely short. Are we approaching it wrong? Is this sort of thing meant to be replayed, and is it enjoyable to do so when we already know the storyline?
I find a lot of fun in replaying through campaigns I have already completed. Whether it be trying out a new investigator or trying to do better than a previous run (this is very notable on Midnight Masks from the core, for example).
Albeit the core set is very short in terms of its campaign length, the cycles are where the really meat of the game is. The downside is picking up an entire cycle isn't cheap. The standalone Murder at the Excelsior Hotel is a good stand alone scenario purchase, but it doesn't provide any new player cards. And I feel the new player cards are also what really open this game up for replayability.
@@PlayingBoardGames Okay. Thanks! I'm sure I'll pick up some more game content, but a limited amount, so it's helpful to have some advice like this.
What about the revised core set. I have 10 copies of many neutral cards like emergency cache
We will be making an updated buy guide to discuss the changes to the releases and the updated core.
I've just bought this game, the problem is that there is no stock for most of it. You can buy some of them, but never all of them. Is every pack a part of the bigger story? If so, buying just one mythos pack seem like a bad idea, no? Also, I've heard that trying to do a newer story with only the card in the base game is almost impossible, is it true? As of now, I'm desapointed with it because I feel like I'll have to work way too much to get components.
Each mythos pack is a part of the larger story. We recommend that you just pick up whatever cycle you can find all of at once. The later cycles are fine to play with the core(s) and the cards from that cycle; we even have a series of decks on the channel to help with that. You could also pick up whatever packs you can find when you can, and grab some of the standalone scenarios to play until you can complete a cycle.
Thoughts on Innsmouth Conspiracy and its pros/cons?
We haven't played it yet due to being distanced by the pandemic.
Hey guys, great vid! I have a couple questions. My collection contains one core set, all of the cycles and mythos packs, and all of the stand-alone scenarios. I really don't think I have a need to get the return to boxes. My questions are, is it worth it for me to get the investigator starter sets? Also, based on what I do have, am I really missing many cards and do I really need a second core set to play with three people. Grazie!
With your collection you could likely get away with having 3+ people without any issue. Apart from the core stuff like emergency cache/guts/etc. And I will highly recommend anything with more investigators to anyone wanting to collect this game and the other great player cards in the starter decks are also a great bonus.
@@PlayingBoardGames Thanks, Justin. I'll consider adding some of the investigator starter sets... assuming they are cards that either aren't in the regular sets or are backup's of well needed cards. Cool!
Starter decks have a *few* reprints, but the majority of them are all new cards.
What is the card portrayed in the thumbnail? I don't recognize it.
The card is Ikiaq, a Mystic asset from The Lair of Dragon.
They forgot the special characters available only in the novella.
Less forgot and more don't really view them as recommendable purchases at all for players just starting out.
Are there similar games (probably also with lovecraft theme but not a must) that can be played with more than 2 players?
Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror 3rd Edition both come with everything you need in the base game to play with two players.
There's a video where I cover more of these games here: th-cam.com/video/zQZw9JH1iVQ/w-d-xo.html
Do you guys build new decks with whatever cards you want when starting to play with a new character or get a new scenario or want to experiment with a new deck idea? Or do you always start at the beginning of the starter campaign and earn experience points and just upgrade cards/decks when your xp allows it?
Thanks
We always play campaign mode. So eight scenarios with one deck. We have played standalone mode and just tested fully upgraded decks, but mostly just to try cards we hadn't really played with before our reviews for them.
So, whenever you start a new campaign, you start off with the basic, starter set and you upgrade it via the campaign? Or you pick more powerful/upgraded cards to build your deck first and then start the campaign?
I just have the starter set and dunwich legacy and two mythos packs from that set. Thanks.
@@jlfons Playing campaign you start with all the cards in your deck being level 0, then as you get experience throughout the campaign you purchase better cards between scenarios. For standalone mode (playing only a single scenario, not as part of a campaign), you can include cards of any levels, but add more basic weaknesses to your deck depending on how much total experience you have added.
@@blinxy511 thank so much for your detailed reply. I get it now. I appreciate you taking the time to explain this to me. Have a great day!
@@jlfons No problem! Hope you enjoyed the video.
Do all of these packs have identical cards or is there a chance for certain rare player cards? (Similar to like Magic or Pokemon) I know this is an LCG and not a TCG but not sure if they throw some of the rarity level cards into an LCG especially something as cool as Arkham..
No rarity in the packs. Each pack with the same name is the same as all other packs with the same name.
@@PlayingBoardGames Roger that, thanks
Must I buy investigator decks before I jump into first cycle? Or I can start playing first cycle after finishing the core game
You can jump into your first cycle before investigator decks.
does The Path of Carcosa impact replayability, if there are decisions to make, but are wrong to make are likely won't be chosen?
I should've specified further with this point in the video. This 'wrong decision' is really only one key decision in the campaign, but it has ripples over the entire campaign. The campaign itself has amazing replayability both in its structure, but also the way the scenarios are designed. With a few exceptions, they all vary wildly from playthrough to playthrough due to the awesome design of the scenarios.
I am throwing my history with Arkham horror here. I bought core Box about 1.2 years ago. Played it, hated it.
Becouse i am into theme i played eldritch horror and i loved it and then read few novellas from ffg.
So i went back to Arkham few months ago, how can everybody love it and i hate it, bought 2nd core and loved the game. Sad that i ruined my first experience ( it IS still mostly magical on first run)
Having 1 copy of cards made it fustrating for me, had turns where I just used whole turn to draw cards, becouse you have nothing useful in your hand.
what about game mats and nice to have card holders and such?
We can do a video on this in the future. I don't have much knowledge on it, but I know Travis and Bryn like picking up accessories for the game.
I love the video, BUT hahahaha:
"Literally any cycle can be your first one"
- Carcosa should definetely be played as your second one because it breaks the meta
- Forgotten age is very hard and you need a large collection
- Circle undone is the least good of all
- Dream Eaters needs 4 decks so you need a large collection
- Innsmouth conspiracy is not yet finished.
So basicallly you're saying that you DO NEED Dunwich first, right? Hahahaha
No, any cycle can be your first cycle. Tons of people have started with any cycle available to them. Dunwich is the one with the least entry issues, but every cycle has their issues, even Dunwich on a balance level for scenarios.
@@PlayingBoardGames I only have Carcosa available to me. Do you reccomend maybe to run Zealot 2-3 times to make that 1st run great? Or am I fine with 1 and go? (I already bought it so I am thrilled to start, but scared to miss out on its best parts).
I'd say running Zealot a few times is nice, mostly just to learn a bit more about the strategy of the game. Midnight Masks is especially replayable and offers a great gauge for how much you've improved from play to play of it.
So if you wanted complete build options for 4 players being able to play any combos of classes with any card ... would you need like 8 core sets ? and 4 of each pack ?
Assuming players don't play the same classes (which is not a wise choice to play the same class), two cores and one of each deluxe and mythos pack are enough for 4 players.
We played with one collection and two cores for the majority of our Arkham lifetime.
So, I guess this is 'technically' correct, due to the one-ofs in the Core and assuming all of your players want to use the same player cards. But I can't really imagine why you'd want to do that, outside of the all-yellow/all-blue/etc groups that some TH-cam channels have run.
For a balanced group, who all play investigators with different strengths/styles, there wouldn't be any need for more than 2 cores and 1 of each other expansion (even if there's some overlap in factions).
So does this new Revised Core Set act as 2 core sets basically?
From what we know, yes. :)
If I have all the expansions to date do I need a second core set for 4 players?
That'll depend on if you feel like you want multiple copies of cards like level 0 Ward of Protection/Lucky/etc. I personally enjoy having a playset of the class core cards, but other players may not view that as a requirement.
will this all change with the up coming 2 box sets?
Yes, we're planning an updated buy guide when we know more.
So, I have the core set, Dunwich legacy expansion, and Path to Carcosa expansion, would you say that some of the experience is lost in not getting the mythos packs for those cycles?
Oh for sure, without the mythos packs you can't run the whole campaign which, for me, is the prime selling point of this game.
Have your investigator go through the entire campaign, getting better (or worse) and finally either emerging victorious or be blasted into oblivion is what makes this game great for me.
@@PixelatedPlanco Any word on reprints? I'm especially interested in the Carcosa cycle, but I've some MP's going for $50 on eBay
@@jerewii3797 It's always unclear when stuff will be back in store, I personally don't use ebay or amazon, because I live in the Netherlands :P I use smaller board game stores. They usually have some if not all of them. When I wanted an entire campaign I needed to buy at about 3 or 4 stores to get them all. It's a bummer, but it is what it is :(
Or what do i need to play Arkham Horror Card Game with more than 2 players?
To play with two players you'd need baseline a core set. You can play limited decks with just one core. Picking up investigator starter decks are the best way to cheaply increase player card pool, while grabbing a deluxe expansion or two will provide with more cards, more investigators, and more scenarios to play.
Can you still play a cycle even if you are missing one of the mythos packs. I have all but one mythos pack for paths to carcosa.
I'd say that depends on the cycle. In Carcosa I know that Phantom of Truth is pretty hard to find and luckily that scenario is more of an interlude than a necessary piece of the story and progression of the campaign. Missing a scenario can be a bit tricky in both the XP and the story progression, so looking through the story setup and all resolutions of a scenario you want to skip may provide a better example of how necessary it is to the campaign (but then you'll be spoiling yourself, it's a tricky line to walk.)
What pack are you missing? Is it Phantom of Truth?