Immediate Staple for Chapter 2 Rogues. This is arguably the best 0XP rogue ally even in Chapter 1, providing a bonus stat and an extra action (So long as that action is to move) for a reasonable amount of resources. In the context of "a core set that doesn't cause issues down the line" color me disappointed on this one. I would've preferred to see a card closer in power level to Cat Burglar (1).

With respect to the full cardpool: There are going to be decks that prefer other effects (like gaining resources with Bianca "Die Katz" or getting an extra action to play items like Joey "The Rat" Vigil or boosting with Robert Castaigne. But Olivier has the same advantages of the venerable Dr. Milan Christopher of being a general-purpose slot filler that improves exactly what his faction wants to improve - which is going to make him a consideration for nearly every rogue deck, even if Olivier doesn't ultimately make the cut.

One potentially overlooked card this helps is Old Shotgun. Instead of entering with 0 or 2 ammo, it would enter with 1 or 3 ammo. That's a pretty significant increase and helps a lot to make the shotgun better for investigators. There are other ways to enable the shotgun, for instance Cleaning Kit, but that costs resources and you need to draw it. Locked and Loaded is always there and always ready.

It seems wrong that this card has been around since the beginning of the game and has never gotten a review. In fact, this is the "random" weakness you put in the original Roland Banks starter deck for the original core set, so for many this is the first generic weakness they were exposed to. How does it set the bar for other weaknesses? What does a new player think when they see this card hiding in their deck?

Short answer, it sucks. I find this to be one of the more damaging weakness cards you can get (although I do also tend to play the kinds of decks it punishes the most). That said, I do think this actually is quite a good tool to teach new players some important lessons about Arkham Horror. Let me explain:

This card teaches that some decks have more trouble with certain situations than others. Play a character without a lot of economy who likes to save up for expensive assets (i.e. guardians, especially way back in the core set when guardians didn't have the economy they have now) and this card can be back breaking. Play a character who has good economy, or who usually doesn't play expensive stuff, and the weakness is almost trivial. The fact it's the weakness in the OG Roland deck is kind of mean if you ask me, since that's the exact deck it's the worst in.

This card teaches that you should play around your weakness, but sometimes it's just luck when you draw it. It highly encourages playing things as soon as you can, and not sitting around with resources unspent. If this gets drawn right after a big turn when you spent all your resources on a shiny new gun then it's a non-issue. If it gets drawn the turn before you spend all your resources on a shiny new gun then you are very sad. That's kind of good advice for the game in general. Use your tools to accomplish "good enough" right now. Don't wait around for "perfect" since that may never happen and you're always one bad draw away from getting wrecked. I guess it is a case of smacking new players until they learn to play better.

This card teaches that Arkham Horror is cruel and doesn't care about your feelings. Especially in the first few campaigns the developers made it very obvious that the game hates you and is actively trying to ruin your day. That design philosophy seems to have ebbed over time but is still present to some extent.

All of these are very good lessons for a new player to learn, although learning them can be very un-fun. This card is also bizarrely thematic. When you know it's in your deck you do indeed get paranoid. As my deck gets thinner I often find myself deliberately not triggering my "draw a card" abilities because I really don't want Paranoia to come out right now...

Overall I find this to be a worse than average weakness. The average weakness seems balanced around ~3 actions worth of punishment and maybe an additional small slap in the face. This can easily wipe out 5, 6, or even more actions worth of effort if you draw it at a the worst time (and unfortunately "the worst time" for this weakness happens surprisingly often).

I do think it has gotten far easier to manage over time though, since we have access to many more cards that accelerate economy and we are less dependent on very expensive assets. That takes a very bad weakness and brings it more in line with less horrible ones.

Alternate Pete is the quintessential example of what I believe an alternate investigator should be; someone that is capable of harnessing a niche in a way no other investigator really can. To this end, Pete has 3 core elements that help him achieve this:

1. His Investigator ability is strong, but specific. It's free recursion, but only for cards attached to scenario cards, and only if they are discarded somehow. This means any card (Asset/Event/Skill) that is attached to an enemy, location, or a treachery if that somehow happens, can be sent back to your hand free of charge. Everybody already knows Barricade works with this. It's the most surface level use case, but it's also certainly one of the most powerful, especially when used in conjunction with element 2 (I'll cover that more in-depth further down).

2. The alternate card pool. I LOVE tag based card pools so much, and this one is excellent. Improvised 0-4 doesn't get a lot, but Tactics 0-4, my goodness, that's a buffet of high quality Guardian cards, as well as a few choice Rogue and Seeker cards (Barricade of course). This gives you a lot of options to work with that easily make up for the loss of level 4-5 cards from Survivor. Oh, and the five level 0 Guardian cards are also grand, they give a lot of potential as well.

3. The signature card, Pete's Guitar. It's maybe one of the strongest signatures I've seen in this game. You make an enemy at your location or a connected location move to any location connect to theirs, and then if there's so enemies at your location you get a dollar or horror healing, and all of that as a free action once per round. This is huge, giant, I feel like I don't even need to describe why, but I'll do it anyways; you draw an enemy during the encounter phase, you move them away, now you have money and don't need to worry about the enemy unless they have Hunter or Doom or something like that, which isn't uncommon. If you're playing solo this can be somewhat of an issue, and you will have to build towards dealing with enemies because often times that's just a necessity of certain scenarios. Kill a big guy, kill many small guys, it shows up pretty commonly. But that's easier to do when you can move them around and strategize your approach. Enemy in the distance? Move them towards you, save an action. Hunter on you? Move them out and drop a Barricade, assuming you haven't already. Enemy on your Seeker? Just move em away. It's a very useful and versatile tool, and it comes with free econ/healing for using it.

So what can you really do with this Pete? What can he do that others can't do nearly as well? We'll examine this by examining the primary method of interacting with the game: cards.

Barricade: Simple, easy, effective. Costs no resources, just an action, and it keeps non-elites from moving into your location. Great for dealing with pesky hunters, at least temporarily. If you are playing multiplayer, the Barricade makes you everyone's best friend. You'll notice people huddling around you at all times, looking at you expectantly as the Guardian digs around for their weapon that they SWEAR is just a few cards deeper. It's great, little else needs to be said about Barricade on its own. However, when paired with the Pete's Guitar you can use it to completely obliterate the threat level of hunter enemies. See, hunter enemies ACKNOWLEDGE YOU when looking for valid targets, despite the Barricade. This means if you're right next to a big pile of seven enemies looking to hunt, they just bang on your door. This pairs well with cards like On the Hunt (and its upgrade), First Watch, or even "Let me handle this!", as it means you can control the flow of enemies during a scenario.

The Book of War (4 resources, 3 uses, exhaust as you play a Tactic to return it to your hand at end of turn): This is a bit pricy, but if you're running high level Tactics it's good recursion for them, and there are a lot worth using. It's rather pricy though, so you wanna have a plan as to what you'll be using it for, as it's certainly not a "splash in" type card.

On the Hunt: This card attaches to enemies, so it synergizes with your investigator ability. It also lets you pick your encounter card, which is always nice. You can move enemies away with ease, so it's pretty much "free", though obviously if you're playing multiplayer you need to consider if you already have enemies to contend with before using this. Alternatively, if there are no enemies left, you get to just skip an encounter that round. I'd honestly never use it for that because I'd rather have the money, but typically you don't know there's no enemies till you fail to find.

Dynamite Blast: Survivor has great econ cards, from Take Heart to Nothing Left to Lose, and Drawing Thin if you're into that kind of thing. On top of that the guitar can earn you a resource each turn as well. Mix in the fact that with your Barricade you're likely amassing enemies outside of it, and the conclusion is obvious. Dynamite Blast is a great card to run, if a bit pricy. Its upgrades make it cheaper though, and even fast if you're willing to spend the XP. I always run Alt Pete with Dynamite Blast from the first scenario and always manage to play it multiple times. Now, on top of this, you know what else is a Tactic you can run? "Let God sort them out...".

Kicking the Hornet's Nest: A clue, money, and an enemy. The first two are great, and the third is secretly just more money. Definitely not an "always" card, and I have never failed to upgrade out of it, but it can do a lot when you have the wiggle room, and convinces people you're doing something useful while you sit in your Barricade and amass wealth.

Ever Vigilant (Multiplayer Only): Now, lets say your team starts complaining. Sure, you keep all the enemies away from them, but they notice you start dedicating a few turns to building up enemy piles so you can get right with god, or that you've been digging greedily for Pelt Shipment a few too many scenarios, and they realize you have 12 more XP than them. You need a method of making them forget this fact, and that's where Ever Vigilant comes in. An all-star econ card that gives your team actions (which avoid attacks of opportunity) and resource discounts. Now they can't complain, because you needed that XP to be a better team player. Of course, playing it once won't be enough to silence the braying of the jackals that wish for you to starve yourself of the XP you deserve.

Shrine of the Moirai: Recursion is supposed to be hard, because it's really strong. Shrine of the Moirai is one of the strongest recursion cards, but it also comes with a few hefty costs. Firstly, 3 XP. Secondly, when you play it it's bound to your location, not you, which means you have to stay in one place. Thirdly, it makes you draw an encounter card to activate it. In exchange, you get up to two cards with a combined total level of up to 5. Now, as I've covered, alternate Pete doesn't care about 3 XP costs, being bound to a location, and barely cares about drawing encounter cards. Enemies can be moved away, Horror can be healed, Resources regained. Your major weakpoints are damage, asset loss, and Doom, but after playing a few scenarios you'll be familiar enough with the encounter deck to know what you need to fear and how to guard yourself against it. Pete has access to pretty much everything you'd need to deal with those threats, so after a few purchases Shrine of the Moirai is just free. Also, it's unique, which makes it stronger for Pete than if it wasn't, because when you play your second one it discards the first, which you then recur. What can you do with all this power? Whatever you want.

The Future For Pete: This isn't really about any specific card, but more for the upcoming cards. I obviously haven't played with them, and for those who want to avoid spoilers I won't mention them specifically, but lets just say that Alternate Pete only stands to become more powerful with these upcoming releases, with cards that synergize rather strongly with his strengths. He gains more ways to deal damage and get clues with cards that fit him so well I swear the person who designed them must be an Alternate Pete main.

In conclusion: Alternate Pete is pretty good, at the very least okay, give Stick to the Plan the Tactic trait you cowards. Thank you for attending my TED talk, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed presenting it.

A funny card for Patrice, as she is basically turning from 4-2-2-2 into another slightly weaker version of 4-2-2-2.

I am already waiting to play the homunculus himself, to see if he can manage the card pool with Forced Learning.