Collector

Collector

The new AH dev. team are kicking off the Ch.2 Reward cards strong with Versatile's cousin.

For a lot of you newbies, you might be looking at this thing and thinking: "This thing sucks - increasing my deck size is inherently bad, since it weakens my chances of pulling my key cards/dilutes my deck!"

You'd be right, especially now; Chapter 2's card pool is just too thin for this to be a real option for Current deck-building. As the card pool widens (hopefully!) over the next few years, this card will become more useful, eventually becoming an absolute monster, just as Versatile often was.

But now we have to bring up the elephant in the room: Legacy.

Oh my... For Legacy building, this is really insane. Remember that you're not just adding +5 cards; you're also adding a Charm or Relic from outside of your Investigator's deck-building restrictions. As Versatile Arkham veterans will know, this opens up all manner of shenanigans. The fact that our new toy offers the potential to use cards worth up to level 3 (where Versatile limited us to level 0) does present a few extra options. And it doesn't cost us the 2xp that Versatile does.

Here are a few of the better Legacy options that Collector can enable you to add:

Any of the Hemlock Vale Masks (Wolf Mask, Mouse Mask, Fox Mask, Cat Mask or Sparrow Mask) will help shore up your weakest skill or potentially boost your strongest even higher. The fact they don't occupy the Accessory slot is very strong.

Crystallizer of Dreams is always a good way to get extra value from event-heavy decks. The extra enemy it adds is almost negligible if you're adding it to a Guardian deck.

St. Hubert's Key boosts two skills and offers your low-sanity Guardians a way to potentially heal/avoid dying to horror.

Holy Rosary and its upgrade boost and offer some horror soak. The Blessing tokens on offer from the 2xp version are not to be dismissed.

Lucky Cigarette Case and the upgrade are great options that help mitigate the downside of adding +5 cards. If it's a truism that adding more cards is always bad, then it's also a truism that drawing more cards is always good...

Rabbit's Foot and Wascally Wabbit's Foot do the same job as above, just fail instead of succeed.

Tooth of Etztli boosts two skills and brings draw.

Moonstone also boosts two stats, although it is harder to get into play.

Crystal Pendulum boosts and potentially draws cards.

Hallowed Mirror and the 3xp upgrade are the absolute gold-standard of healing in AH. Carolyn will love it as much as Carolyn and Carolyn did.

Otherworldly Compass or The Skeleton Key can help low Guardians become semi-competent clue-getters.

Last of all; Charon's Obol is a weird option that Collector allows you to take. It is a Permanent, but since it's also a level 1 Relic, the deck-building rules do allow you to use it with Collector. Obviously this means that the Obol won't be one of your +5 cards, and you'll need to add it after your first scenario when you've gained xp (unless you plan on running In the Thick of It?). It's an intriguing option though...

So there it is, a card that already seems like a crazy powerful card to use in Legacy, and one that we'll see warp Chapter 2 around itself as they inevitably print more things that it can work with. Yes, you are hoping to see that one card from 35+, but when it does show up, it can do some truly game-cracking things.

Well, I'm done. I'm off "to enjoy ... Kahless' fornication helmet. Oh, that's fun. Safety first!"

TrevWard · 1

Hunter's Instinct

Hunter's Instinct

Mark my words: This (and its level 2 counterpart) will get the Drawing Thin treatment. I have played extensively with this card, albeit with the full card pool, but that's enough to gain context into the true strength of this monstrosity.

Think of any level 0 event that you find incredibly useful and ask yourself this: "How much stronger would it be if I could recur this as a reaction to something that happens pretty regularly?" Maybe Miguel de la Cruz wants to put a Lie in Wait back into play. Maybe Bob Jenkins is looking to Pay Your Dues to get out of a tight situation. Maybe you just dig up another Emergency Cache because you're strapped for cash. These are all really tame examples I'm putting out here, but you can probably already see the immediate value this card brings to the table.

Now lets up the ante by just a smidge by looking at what this can do with some older cards as well: Darrell Simmons starts recurring Shed a Light, Rita Young starts recurring Grift or Sneak By for wild econ value, and both of these people recur Hunter's Instinct when it runs dry with a Do-or-Die. But of course this is a level 0 card with a level 2 variant, so we can't forget that Zoey Samaras and Tommy Muldoon can take this, and they can start recurring any of their nice Guardian cards, like the shiny new Bounty. Guardians get a lot of mileage out of this, to nobody's surprise, though it can work well with any investigate that manages enemies in some capacity. Agnes Baker can use it to recur all sorts of fun stuff like Deny Existence or Spectral Shield or even Fight or Flight.

And then there's William Yorick, who I refuse to elaborate on beyond simply linking the page to his investigator card.

It also discards itself so you can more easily recur it to begin the cycle anew, and NONE OF THIS is to speak about the absurdity you can perform with the level 2 version (I've been using it with "I've had worse…" to disgusting effect) All of this, ALL of this, for one action and two resources, with an additional 2XP if you want the upgraded version.

I love this card, I really do, but it's not gonna last in its current form. They're gonna make it cost extra XP, but that won't change the fact that this card will shape countless decks by the virtue of existing within the scope of level 0-2.

ClassyD · 12
Drawing was a 0$ turn an action into a hard action. This is turn $2 into three recursions. — MrGoldbee · 1573

The Great Work

The Great Work

What about Preston take versatile to play alchemy? His signature card is permanent, which cannot be swapped, his ability is negative and has the worst base skills

after taking enough exp and upgrade, can he just commit suicide to become a better person which gain 5 resource each turn (although keep at most 1 per turn, but it still can take an action to keep all), gain +1/+1/+1/+1, all player cards gain resources don't place on Family Inheritance anymore, spell skill tests gain +2 (although there are few spell cards from green and red)

spells with test he can take : Blur (good evade), Earthly Serenity (good heal), Enchanted Bow (good fight), Ríastrad (curse fight)

it seems like the rich second generation pass his all Family Inheritance to rich third generation i haven't yet construct a deck about this, but i will, maybe few days later i will make it and test it lol that was so fun

Lumina637 · 11
According to the rule you can loose permanent cards if instructed. I stick to the spirit of the great work and follow the instructions to replace my inheritance with the permanent weakness indepted. From riches to rags. — Tharzax · 2
must it change to permanent weakness? or it can be other weakness — Lumina637 · 11

Boa Constrictor

Boa Constrictor

This is the worst enemy in the entire The Forgotten Age campaign by design and one of the worst designed enemies in the entire game, who's text could as well read: Revalation: Restart the campaign, if you draw him early on in the pl.arkhamdb.com scenario. And the best part is that his forced ability does not matter at all, but his stupid hunter effect and even more stupid Vengeance 2.

He is a massive disproportion in comparison to pl.arkhamdb.com and completly changes the playthrough of the rest of the scenario, and perhaps the campaign.

When you draw him, unless you do not have pl.arkhamdb.com as your teammate, you have two options.

OPTION ONE: Kill him.

This itself is not the end of the world, even though it can be hard with his 4 attack, but in most cases it just takes two actions from your fighter. The real problem is his venegance effects which are:

  1. The skull tokens now gain additional -2 which is quite a big deal, and if you also happen to kill a Pit Viper or two, then the effect is even worse. Lets also do not forget that there are not a lot of tokens in the chaos bag in the first scenario, so skull tokens are drawn often.

  2. The pl.arkhamdb.com now gains +2 attack, and there are 3 of them. Killing one enemy with 4 attack is not a big deal, but 4 enemies in total who potentially can have even more attack from the Pit Vipers now can become a huge problem.

  3. The pl.arkhamdb.com now gains his two shitty effects out of three, and if you so happen to gain another venegance point, he becomes almost unkillable and he also attacks for a LOT. Not only you will most likely not squeeze out one more Victory point, but this enemy can potentially ruin your playthrough, if you do not have an anwser for him.

  4. The pl.arkhamdb.com now gains +2 extra shroud which is definitely not nice, if you are holding your testless clue getters such as pl.arkhamdb.com or pl.arkhamdb.com on pl.arkhamdb.com and of course pl.arkhamdb.com to prevent drawing more encounter cards.

  5. 2 points of Yig fury from one enemy is a lot. Not only if you kill this guy and two Pit Vipers or explore with the pl.arkhamdb.com , if you are playing the return, in the first scenario, and then one of you does not make it out of the pl.arkhamdb.com alive, they die. Also it limits the numer of agendas in the pl.arkhamdb.com which can also be deadly.

OPTION TWO: Evade him or/and ignore him.

  1. He attacks for 1/1 which is not nice once it stacks up for a couple of times.

  2. If you want to evade him continuously for the rest of the game you will either take hits from him, or waste one action every turn on evasion, or potentially more if you fail. This becomes less of an issue if you have pl.arkhamdb.com but it only has 4 uses, and even with +2 evasion it is possible to fail, especially if you happen to be Poisoned, then you have two auto-fails in the chaos bag. In total for the rest of the game you are forced to waste 33% of your turn for him until the end, which often is a cause of fail or unsatisfactory XP gain from the scenario.

  3. Even if you have pl.arkhamdb.com you may fail the test, especially when you are Poisoned. And even if you succeed, there is no guarantee that he will not be shuffled on the top of the encounter deck to be drawn two phases later.

  4. Having one enemy forever on you is a dangerous game to play, especially when you draw another one, and you have no more actions to evade him forever.

Both of those options absolutely suck. And whenever I draw him my eagerness to play the game drops to zero. I played the Untamed Wilds a lot of times and i noticed massive difference in how successful i am when Boa gets drawn and when he does not. I would risk a thesis that your success in the scenario is completly dependant from when will you draw him and how many pl.arkhamdb.com will you draw during the scenario.

Overall, this is a awful card that completly kills the fun from playing The Untamed Wilds alongside the 3 Ancient Evils, and i wish it was replaced in the Return.

Jaguaq_ · 3
I am a person very biased about Forgotten Age, and I expressed before, in multiple occasions, my complete undying hatred for the campaign and all of its design choices, including the nature of Vengeance, so people should absolutely take my words with a grain of salt. Even so, I do mean it, from an objective design standpoint, making an enemy with Vengeance also an Hunter is a complete failure in campaign design, because it defeats the whole point of what Vengeance exist for (punishing fighting, rewarding evasion). Having an enemy that will keep getting in the way and drain your actions in a campaign about avoid confrontation is beyond moronic. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
*avoiding — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
Existential Riddle, I guess? — AlderSign · 470
@AlderSign That is a solution and it is like one ItToI away, but unless you knew about this enemy ahead, there is no guranteed you would have bought that card or would be playing as someone with access to it. Another option is Fend Off. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
Mind blank or Kymani solves this guy. — MrGoldbee · 1573
Transmogrify, for all your Non-elite enemy solving needs ! They Cannot beat CANNOT ! — aurchen · 480
@HeroesOfTomorrow Yeah sure. I was gonna say there are always solutions to the problems this game presents you, but at the heart of it you need to account for it to screw you over without mercy. That is what separates this particular game from others. It is meant to be unfair at times. Otherwise, why would they put an auto-fail into the bag? I also often don't like it but keep remembering that's part of the design. — AlderSign · 470
Kymani and Transmogrify are better solutions, as they have immediate availability, but even then Kymani has to deal with potentially drawing this guy multiple times, because the stupid ass encounter discard pile shuffles into the encounter deck THREE TIMES in the first scenario. Also keep in mind, Kymani is from Scarlet Keys and Transmogrify is from FoHV, which are late expansion in the lifetime of LCG. Those WEREN'T options on FA release, nor were Riddle of Fend Off — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
Like I hate with a passion the argument "oh you can use this card to trivialise this enemy/treachery/part of the scenario" because 1) usually the card discussed wasn't part of the cycle the criticized aspect of the campaign is, in fact it almost always come from a later one, which you can make an argument for power-creeping 2) Using those cards means you are not engaging with the intended mechanic, but getting around to avoid dealing with it. If the best strategy to counter Boa Constrictor is to make it a non-factor that can't hassle you, then that means it is mechanically a disaster. Those cards should be tools at the player disposal, not requirement to avoid getting screwed by bad RNG, especially because the likelihood anyone has access to stuff that can neutralise the Boa significantly decreases the less Investigator there are in the game, and forces you to play as someone JUST to have answer to what FA throws at you. Like, what a Guardian can do to this guy? The best ideas that come to my mind are Bola and Sweeping Kick (which again, are cards that came much later). — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
I know that Kymani is a solution yall, i said it, this is why around 70% of my playthrough in the Forgotten Age was playing Kymani, as evasion is very rewarding in this campaign. I also know about Transmogrify, but just as Persuasion it's a card you have to find, and a test you can fail. — Jaguaq_ · 3
@Alder Sign Auto Fail is a balance token to what otherwise would be a certain rng. Also autofail token affects one test and the chance to draw it are slim. This enemy if you choose not to kill him, which is what i always do, requires an anwser every single turn. Also speaking of autofail the player cards mentioned in our discussion could be very easily tarnished by Autofail, especially that they are potentially two of them in the Untamed Wilds. You can like the unfair design of the game and this enemy, but in my point of viev, if I am playing two games of the Untamed wilds and in one of them i wasted 10 actions on dealing with Boa and won the scenario with 6xp and in the second one i didnt draw Boa and won the scenario with 11exp, then something is very wrong here. Just as if the scenario's result was dependant on dumb luck, and not the actual ability to properly play the game. This is why i feel this enemy is such a spit to the face. It's just a restart factor. — Jaguaq_ · 3
@HeroesOfTomorrow It wasn't more of an argument than the other card/solution suggestions. Regarding the availability of these options: The game was way better at communicating its ruthless nature (pun not intended) when it started. Nowadays it strongly suggests the pulp heroism genre via player cards, which is in turn often not reflected in the scenario design. — AlderSign · 470
@Jaguaq_ Okay, I honestly cannot follow your logic about the auto-fail and its application here, but in the end its up to you how to play the game. TFA is known to be a harsh campaign, but I am certain it is not impossible to win it without avoiding Vengeance all the time. It's a pick-your-poison mechanic, and it's not the only one in this game. — AlderSign · 470
@AlderSign No: Vengeance is not a pick you poison mechanic, Vengeance is just poison. There is no reason or benefit to gain Vengeance at all, it is strictly negative, unlike other Arkham expansions where such mechanics are to either catch up with a group that is doing exceptionally well while easing up on people that are failing scenarios and falling behind. Alternatively it takes the form of choosing your disadvantage as you move forward, and what is easier to stomach depends on your group. Vengeance is not like that at all: it just makes everything permanetly worse as you move forward if you accumulate too much f it, which you are likely if you are not prepared to deal with it, and only makes everything worse and creates a downward spiral that is really not fun to play with. And the best way to deal with Vengeance is avoiding it completely: again, the same issue I mentioned before of mechanics that are so annoying and crippling, it is just better not engage with them period. FA does that A LOT, where to even get the best ending you need to pass up on getting two story allies, which is so dumb. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
Perhaps my phrasing was sloppy. Vengeance is indeed one of the poisons to pick. The other one being, in this case, "wasting 10 actions on dealing with Boa". It's not unique for a tradeoff between short- and long-term benefits to exist. Victory fulfills a very similar purpose - that might be why Vengeance is layouted in the same way. You trade resource investment in the scope of a scenario for campaign benefits. In a way - although agreeably balanced to be less punishing - Apocalyptic Presage is similar to our Boa Constrictor here. — AlderSign · 470
I think a better comparison to the Boa is a much better designed enemy in my opinion from a far more enjoyable campaign: the Deep One Bull from Innsmouth Conspiracy. Another chunky enemy with high health and fight, but low evade. In fact their stats are identical beside the fact Deep One Bull trades one horror to deal an extra damage and has 1 more health point. That is another enemy a lot of the methods you can disable the Boa with you would like to use on the Bull as well. The key difference here, is that if you don't have those tools, you can still evade and leave it behind because it isn't a hunter: he can follow you if you defeat other Deep Ones and if he engages you, he makes you discard a card, but you can play around that by not killing any other Deep Ones that aren't hunters and wouldn't get in the way. Or you can defeat him if you have the firepower to do that. What I am getting here is that you have OPTIONS on how to deal with this enemy and you can handle the situation in different ways, unlike Boa "Have one of these cards or be this Investigator or eat crap" Constrictor. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
Another Investigator can even slay a Deep One to lure Deep One Bull away from an Investigator they are engaged with. It's brilliantly designed, because you can engage with the game with different strategies and on different levels. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
@HeroesOfToomorow It's an interesting comparison and i can surely agree how the Deep One Bull is a way better designed enemy, because as you said yourself you actually have options for a positive outcome, because he actually does not punish you in such a pathetic way as Boa for doing what you are actually supposed to do in the game, which is to overcome the challenges of it. And even if the Deep One had hunter instead of the movement after another deep one dies, he would still be so much more reasonable then Boa, because you are not punished for eliminating the threat. The Basilisk from the Heart of Elders in the forgotten Age is the exact same shit as Boa, and even worse as he Has 4 evade. But for example The Snakes of Technotichlan from the 4th scenario, who also have hunter and venegance 1 also have victory 1, which gives player an option to recieve something for something. With Boa and Basilisks its nothing, but pure frustration. And even though i do not despise TFA as you do, in fact really enjoy it, but Boa is such a terrible way to utlize Venegance, because it brings pure frustration, out of a forced terrible way to deal with him. — Jaguaq_ · 3
Besides Kymani and Transmogrify, there are also Rod of Carnamagos (Abyssal Rot and Virescent Rot), Wayley, and Finn and Trish (for not losing tempo). But the best way to beat TFA would still be powering through it with 50+ Vengeance, haha. — liwl0115 · 57
Also Ward of Protection (lv. 5) comes handy. — liwl0115 · 57
I played TfA only once and we didn't make it past with, but I think this enemy is proper designed. The hunter keyword ensures this enemy stays a threat the group needs to take care of. The stats of this enemy offers you the option to spend a part of your resources/actions every round or to handle the problem in exchange for vengeance. So back the days we need to discuss how to handle it. I like, that it's not a enemy you simply spend an action and a card and it's done. If you know the campaign complaining you don't get full xp or have to take care of an angry yig is a luxury problem. If you don't know what lies before you in the depth of the jungle survival is your goal. — Tharzax · 2
So we have two opposing opinions. That's fine, we're humans. Good points were raised on both sides. The winner is Yig. Man, this discussion makes me really wanna play TFA again. — AlderSign · 470
@liwl0115 Waylay isn't an option, it defeats the Boa, so you still get vengeance. Max upgraded Ward of Protection is also something you won't have in the first scenario without chaining campaigns toghether. So far the ONLY option that could reasonable deal with the Boa on release is Finn and Mind Wipe. I shouldn't need to get more expansions just to make a campaign less asinine to play — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
@Tharax Get that enemy in 2 players and watch how much bogged down you get for the rest of the game. This is, by the way, is also a scenario where there are Ancient Evils AND the discard pile get reshuffled in the the deck for 3 times. If you don't pack answer to either, you WILL lose by dooming out before you know what is going on, which is terrible design in my opinion. The players gets to play less of the game for no fault of their own simply because they didn't have the foresight to deal with some of the most vicious time wasting enemies and treacheris the game had to offer. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
That's a weak argument. Like with other mechanics (e.g. the auto-fail), the less players there are in the game the less likely it is to produce certain results (e.g. drawing Ancient Evils or the Boa). ESPECIALLY when the encounter discard pile is shuffled into the deck multiple times during the scenario. — AlderSign · 470
@AlderSign No, it's not. While having less players means you do draw less encounters, which does lower the odds of drawing the Boa, if a player draws it regardless, a team of 2 gets punished much harder than a team of 4, because that means, unless you kill it, only one player will be left unhindered by the Boa, instead of three. This really shows the absolute worst flaws of Arkham's scaling: the odds of this happening are lower compared if there are more players, but if it happens regardless, a smaller groups gets punished hard than a bigger one. — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
*punished harder — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
And a scenario being more volatile depending on players counts isn't a merit. is a serious flipping flaw that gets in the way of any enjoyment, because last thing I want to do, when playing a scenario alone or like with one partner, is having to go "Oh, I hope I don't draw this enemy and just lose I guess" — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
@liwl0115 If you want actual solutions, there is as Binder Jar (if Vengeance enemy get attached there it isn't put in the victory display) and Exploit Weakness (discards a non-elite enemy, it doesn't defeat them: the alternative damage effect CAN defeat Elites however) — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
Or just kill it and eat the vengeance. Isn't the lowest penalty at 10+? — MrGoldbee · 1573
@Tharzax You are missing the point. You are not taking care of Boa, you are just choosing the way how he will wreck your game. I described them in my reviev. If you enjoy not being able to complete all objectives in the scenario, because the design of an enemy prevents you from doing that, since as with Boa, you have to take care of him every single turn and waste X actions and X cards that can be used on making progress, then you do you i guess. But like AlderSign said, people have different takes on this game. I just do not like the fact that a game forces a mechanic of doom onto you, which is venegance, while giving the message that you should not have a lot of venegance, because something bad will happen once it adds up. Also the game presents you the opportunity to max out your profits in the Untamed Wilds, while then spitting you in the face when drawing Boa, and making you unable to 100% what the game offers. But like i said its just my viev. I enjoy maximal completion in games, and i dislike when a games mechanic forbids you to complete the other. — Jaguaq_ · 3
@liwl0115 Possible, but its an XP Mystic card and we are talking about the first scenario. So you either play with Mateo or take In the Thick of It, which gives you two traumas. And with that in mind you have to take two traumas to be able to deal with Boa. Really puts into the perspective with what level of terrible design we are dealing here. — Jaguaq_ · 3
@MrGoldbee In the Depths of Yoth, yes. The penalty from killing him comes right after killing him, which i described above. Also if you are one day rooting to complete the 0 Venegance campain achievement, then thats not an option :) — Jaguaq_ · 3
@Jaguaq The best part is this the scenario where the Encounter discard pile gets reshuffled into the encounter deck TWICE (I thought it was three times, but no, I misremembered), once by the agenda and once by the act. So anything that discards the Boa isn't great either because there is a non-zero chance you could stop it from spawning or get rid of it, it gets reshuffled and spawns later anyway! The only way that works if you advance to both Act 2 and Agenda: it's incredible how much talking about FA reminds me why I DESPISE it will all my being — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104
* Agenda 2 — HeroesOfTomorrow · 104

Luger P08

Luger P08

Now that we've had plenty of time to digest, I can confirm that the Luger is one of my favorite weapons. Even if it doesn't have raw damage output, a fast Fight option is pretty amazing in allowing you to polish off a low health enemy or attack at unusual timing points. A Luger in one hand along with a 'primary' weapon in another means you can often hit a 3 HP enemy without needing to spend an extra action or waste an ammo on your primary weapon, and you can frequently handle a little more fighting through a Luger-Reload-Luger sequence if one of multiple enemies isn't engaged to you. It's very effective on lower difficulty enemies or low-health aloof enemies, and even if you only have a Luger, you always have the option of squeezing out a couple of damage using it and basic fight actions.

The fact that it's Illicit only helps when it comes to things like Underworld Market and Fence. It may not be as good at spiking damage as some of the other weapons around, but I find it's more than good enough to earn its hand slot on both primary fighters and flexes.

Ruduen · 1067
Also don't forget the hidden pocket, which also works fine with this illicit weapon — Tharzax · 2