Expansion Management in Arkham Horror

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NukeHavoc
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Expansion Management in Arkham Horror

Post by NukeHavoc »

I did some reading on improving Arkham Horror when using the expansion city boards. We've seen with the Kingsport and Dunwich expansions that *nothing* happens there. This is because the expansion mythos cards are shuffled into the larger mythos deck, which can result in very "streaky" behavior where you get *no* expansion gates or you get a lot of them. This is compounded by the fact that the expansions add additional Arkham gates in order to implement the "gate buster" feature there.

One suggetion at Board Game Geek (http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1033007 ... ore-active
) is to have two Mythos decks (base and expansion) and to alternate draws between them. This seems like a reasonable solution as it guarantees that every other Mythos draw will be from the expansion, and that in turn means you're more likely to get a Dunwhich or Kingsport gate location.

Another option is to get the Miskatonic University expansion (http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/827493/ ... -unvisited), which introduces mythos cards with dual gate locations, one in Arkham and one on the expansion board. Gates don't open in both locations; if the expansion is in use, the gate opens there, if it's not, it opens in Arkham.

Regarding Monster Tiles from the expansions, opinions vary (http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/751222/ ... ster-tiles). Some follow the official rule and include them all. As we saw though, this can make the game much more difficult because all the hard monsters from all the expansions end up in the monster cup.

My thinking is we should separate them out. In addition to making the game more difficult, having all the monsters in the cup dilutes the theme of each expansion. Fighting Deep Ones in Innsmouth makes sense; fighting them in Dunwich not so much. The monsters themselves have no expansion markings on them, but fortunately there's a master list on Board Game Geek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/4 ... nster-list).
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EvilGenius
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Re: Expansion Management in Arkham Horror

Post by EvilGenius »

That sounds reasonable. How did the last game go after I left?
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NukeHavoc
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Re: Expansion Management in Arkham Horror

Post by NukeHavoc »

It kept going down hill until the Big Bad appeared and killed us all. :(

I do think that the monsters were a serious problem in that particular game. With Dunwich AND Kingsport monsters mixed in we really couldn't catch a break. We ended up with investigators spending two or three turns bottled up in a particular location (or at the very least, two turns). We also seemed to be short on common and magic items relative to other games we've played; that could be a consequence of the "tasks and missions" cards that Dunwich adds.

I'd like to play Dunwich again but ditch "tasks and missions", strip out the non-core and non-Dunwich monsters, and make the changes to the Mythos draw decks outlined above. I'd keep the conditions cards (those were fun and a nice alternative to losing all your stuff).
"Oh, I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I'll try and be a tad more quiet as I desperately struggle to break free -- and save all creation!" -- Doctor Strange
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EvilGenius
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Re: Expansion Management in Arkham Horror

Post by EvilGenius »

Sorry I had to bail. I'd like to try Dunwich again with the changes you've suggested.
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Jonkga
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Re: Expansion Management in Arkham Horror

Post by Jonkga »

I think the mistake is that there are expansions at all. Instead, each city should be its own base game - play Arkham Horror, or Dunwich Horror, etc.
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erilar
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Re: Expansion Management in Arkham Horror

Post by erilar »

Jonkga wrote:I think the mistake is that there are expansions at all. Instead, each city should be its own base game - play Arkham Horror, or Dunwich Horror, etc.
I can't argue that. Expanding an already very topheavy game is kind of a sketchy approach (unless you work in the FF marketing dept). :D I didn't feel quite as strongly about the non-extra-board expansions. They seemed a little less disruptive.
"This enemy you cannot kill. You can only drive it back damaged into the depths, and teach your children to watch the waves for its return." - Quellcrist Falconer
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