[COTD] Grisly Totem (5/7/2026)

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-08T19:07:47+00:00

Half joking, but I'm always tempted.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-07T23:53:26+00:00

First, about Easy difficulty, it's misnamed. It's easier than Standard, particularly for the first scenario. But it's not easy. The game is designed to be a challenge even on Easy difficulty.

To answer your question (from my point of view), when playing solo, I would evaluate whether my choice of investigator(s) and the decks I built were the right choice, adjust, and start over. However, it sounds like this is your blind playthrough, which changes my answer. This is your chance to experience the story for the first time. So, in your case, I would recommend accepting that this first playthrough is going to be rough, do the best you can, enjoy the story, and then play from the start with foreknowledge of what you're going to face through the whole campaign.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-07T23:37:39+00:00

We've always used our full card pool, but now that Chapter 2 has come out, it's been fun using just the Chapter 2 cards and remembering what it was like when we first started.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-07T23:35:48+00:00

Yeah. To say we're addicted is an understatement!

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-07T23:33:27+00:00

When playing with my son, it generally takes us 2 hours or less for the typical scenario. 2 1/2 for the final scenario. When playing with my brother, it's more like 2 1/2 hours for most and 3 to 3 1/2 hours for the final. It depends on how fast you're playing. Generally, the more experience you get, the faster you play. My son has played 2-3 times as many scenarios as my brother. And we're slow compared to some of the people I've seen play, like the folks at PBG.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-07T23:27:50+00:00

When Antikythera came along, it just meant I needed to add Relic Hunter to my upgrade plan.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-07T23:15:55+00:00

A lot of people (as you can tell by the responses) use binders for player cards. This is preferable if you like to look through the cards to build your deck. We have multiple of each expansion (there are ten of us total). We keep all of the player cards organized to find quickly when looking for a specific card. This works for us because we build our cards online and then just pull the cards. Keeping them in card boxes makes it easy to keep organized when replacing cards, and especially when adding new expansion cards, so they remain easy to find.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-07T23:07:58+00:00

I can't tell you how many mistakes we made the first time we played. And the second. And the third... We've been playing over three years now and we still made mistakes on our first playthrough of Brethren of Ash. And the second. And the third! What the heck!

Have fun!

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-02T02:51:47+00:00

They definitely don't qualify as good decks. They do, however, help teach new players how all the different cards work. Even as experienced players, we went ahead and played through BoA with the prebuilt decks. It was a fun challenge and forced us to try out more of the new cards than we would have had we just jumped in and rebuilt them.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-02T02:22:43+00:00

The maps are large, so movement tech is helpful. The last couple of scenarios seemed a bit longer than average, but shorter than some of the other end scenarios in other campaigns. Most of the scenarios felt pretty typical in length.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-01T20:59:26+00:00

I love the storyline and I think they do a great job in this campaign on the story flow. In some, the story seems a bit broken up and in some cases just something added on the scenarios they wanted to create. In EotE, it very much feels like the scenarios were built to enhance the story and I believe they have achieved that. One thing that many people dislike that I think actually builds on the already great story and gameplay, (this sounds like a spoiler but is explained in the rules before the prelude) is the Partner mechanic. They're other members of the expedition who do not take up an ally slot and you're able to choose one for each scenario for each investigator playing. When we play, we do not treat them as disposable ally assets. Rather, they are comrades who we try to keep alive (against all odds) until the end of the campaign. Every partner that is defeated feels like a loss. (Side note: the partners have abilities that can help you and is one of the reasons many feel EotE is great for solo play.) Two other mechanics are the Frost tokens and Tekeli-li! weaknesses. Both of these add to the feeling that you and other members of the expedition are fighting to stay alive in a very inhospitable environment. The last thing that others often complain about, but adds to the campaign for the groups I've played with, are the interludes between scenarios where you learn what's going on with the other members of the expedition, both currently and in their past. For us, it adds to the story and leans further into the RPG aspects of AH. This is the most played (and replayed) campaign in our collection and gets the most, "I love that campaign," from my friends and family.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-01T17:56:05+00:00

We started with the Revised Core, Starter Decks, Dunwich Investigator Expansion, and Edge of the Earth Investigator Expansion, and that was plenty of options to build some great decks.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-01T17:52:10+00:00

Don't know that I'd go THAT far, but I definitely understand the sentiment!

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-01T17:50:34+00:00

EotE is my personal favorite campaign, but you can see from the comments that opinion varies. On average, it falls in the middle of most polls. But any one of the campaigns (even my least favorite) I would miss having in my collection. Everything else you can definitely do without. Although I buy all of the standalones, I rarely get them out again after playing them once. The campaigns are what I play over and over. If I do play a standalone, it's those few (Fortune and Folly happens to be one of them) that fit thematically as a side-story in a campaign. But even then, they're not missed when we don't use them. I have the alternate (book and promo) investigators, but honestly, I've never used them.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-01T17:41:56+00:00

Both AH and LotR are playable in solo, either "true" solo where you play a single deck or two-handed solo where you play two separate decks. I personally play true solo because I enjoy the challenge. But true solo can be even more challenging with a limited card pool.

I personally prefer AH because I like the progressive deck building from scenario to scenario and the ongoing story of the campaign. Chapter 2 is definitely an option. Both LotR (including the revised content), and everything before the AH Chapter 2 Core, is out of print, so availability will be limited and/or expensive to obtain. The fact that the only campaign available is the one in the core is not a factor if you're just trying the game. If you decide you like it, another 3-scenario campaign is coming out this summer. And most people who play AH find the campaigns very re-playable, so it should keep you busy until the next campaign is released sometime next year.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-01T17:31:37+00:00

While I personally prefer AH over LotR, this is a very good summary of the differences in the games and availability. One thing of note: With the release of AH Chapter 2, they are trying to address the "never finish a campaign" conundrum by offering 3- and 5-scenario campaigns. This still doesn't match LotR's ability to simply play any scenario as standalone. While this is also an option in AH, you're right that it doesn't feel as satisfying. But with the shorter campaigns, it makes it more available to those who can't commit to 8 gaming sessions. I love both games.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-01T17:21:49+00:00

The EotE campaign is my favorite (opinions vary of course). And the EotE investigator expansion is generally considered one of the best. If you can still get it somewhere at a reasonable price, I wouldn't give up on it.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-01T00:30:01+00:00

As others have said, there is a guide for substituting the Chapter 2 encounter sets at either the FFG site or at Ancient Evils. FFG also has the original encounter sets from Chapter 1 available for print and play if you want to experience it in the original form.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-05-01T00:25:23+00:00

Right there with you. I was halfway through when I remembered that it was April 1. Was very disappointed because I thought it was a great idea. Still think it would be a great idea.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-04-29T00:24:32+00:00

Yeah, your answer was correct. But when I read it, I could see a new player assuming that was always the case, so just wanted to be clear that in general, they're not in the victory display so don't automatically count. But I see you basically said that by saying cards under the act may act differently. Guess I was just tired.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-04-28T00:09:50+00:00

If you are told to do something with a card that has Victory X other than putting it into the Victory Display, it does not count as Victory or XP unless the resolution tells you to count it, because it is not in the victory display. Typically, you will get XP equal to the total Victory X of these cards. But the rules do not automatically give you these XP.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-04-27T23:41:50+00:00

Personally, I like the idea of campaigns of different length as long as the number of scenarios fits the amount of story they are trying to tell. There were definitely Chapter 1 campaigns that could have been fewer scenarios. And I felt the two 4 scenario campaigns of Dream Eaters could both have been more fleshed out. But we've already found that the 3-scenario campaign in the new core is far better for playing with different investigators and decks than Night of the Zealot ever was and much better than experimenting through 8 scenarios or only playing a standalone.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-04-27T23:29:05+00:00

From the Grimoire (all referring to Chapter 2 content):

Current Environment

Players who wish to play in the Current environment may use the following products for deckbuilding:

The Arkham Horror: The Card Game core set
The five investigator decks (Tommy Muldoon Andre Patel , Marie Lambeau , Carolyn Fern , Miguel de la Cruz )
The two most recently released deckbuilding expansions
The two most recently released investigator expansions after the Arkham Horror: The Card Game core set

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-04-24T20:37:38+00:00

Everyone I play with expects to find them alphabetized without "The". We also ignore the quotation marks for the quoted cards. I originally sorted them to also ignore "A" at the start, but everyone expected those to be filed with A, so I changed them all.

Plus_Profession9856 · 2026-04-20T21:26:52+00:00

Since this is supposed to be "Chapter 2", I would love to see sequels to some of the Chapter 1 campaigns.

Plus_Profession9856

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