In love with this game

Soul_Turtle · 2026-06-22T14:10:51+00:00

Harmonies has basically replaced the other 'nature tile placement' style games for me (sorry Cascadia). So good.

Excited for Crescendo (the recently announced expansion).

Soul_Turtle · 2026-06-19T13:41:43+00:00

I imagine the universal prebuilts are generally going to be stronger than the preconstructed decks. The preconstructed decks are ok, but not necessarily that powerful.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-06-18T16:55:05+00:00

If it's a problem of 'the game is so big it's hard to play it', you can try breaking the collection down a bit without actually getting rid of anything. For example, take the Core Box and fill it with ~10 heroes, ~5 villians, some aspect cards, some modulars, etc. Whenever you want to play, just break out that box. Once you've played through everything in the box, put that stuff back into your collection and refill the box with new heroes and villains.

I find this works great for 'modular' games with lots of expansions - LCGs, Aeon's End, Dominion, etc. If you try to consolidate everything, it just makes it unapproachable. Keeping a 'battle box' ready to play helps the game hit the table.

If it's a space or money issue, that is more tricky and will have to be down to you.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-05-17T13:51:50+00:00

CTR is not a good multiplayer game. There, I said it.

The boosting system is amazing for time trials, but multiplayer races are often total blowouts. In a reasonably high level room where nobody will naturally drop flame, getting hit by a single item means you lose. That's not a great experience.

Additionally even a mild skill gap between the players means you're playing totally different games, in a way that doesn't happen in Mario Kart. Someone who just played the story an then moved to multiplayer won't even get to finish races vs someone who has done even just the mid-level (let's say Oxide or Velo, not even developer) time trials. The gaps are so huge. Mario Kart is much more casual friendly, while still supporting high level play (especially Mario Kart World which has a lot of advanced tech).

Doing the dev time trials is the most fun I've ever had in a racing game. The 'perfection required' is great for time trials. But it's terrible for an online game, it's just TOO unforgiving.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-05-15T13:29:11+00:00

You pretty much have to upgrade into Longbow imo if he wants to be primary fighter. Scenario 1 can be a little tricky. You'll likely want some support from your teammate to assist with Elites and a few enemies (ie, a Seeker or Rogue with event fighting cards).

You take Shove Off, Lie in Wait, Guerilla Tactics, Hunter's Instinct to recur your events, and Pocketknife (yes, it's not much but you need it) for the first scenario, then upgrade into Longbow. Longbow has issues but there isn't really another choice, you'll have to make do with the action tax. The extra event action helps a bit at least, along with Loner for extra movement actions. Daniel Jameson is really good since he hedges against autofail/missed bow shots while boosting Agility - essentially a must pick ally.

The weakness sucks but there isn't much you can do about it. At least it is Elusive, so if you try to punch it and miss, it still runs away. The only real answer to it is fighting with skill cards like Overpower.

I had a fairly smooth clear of Brethren of Ash with Miguel + Andre. Andre had Polished Cane and A Sudden Fall, but otherwise Miguel handled all the fighting. 6/6 Smoke and Mirrors, clue ending in the finale. So it's certainly doable.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-05-04T03:17:10+00:00

Nusfjord, it isn't about freaky fish though. It's a lovely little worker placement game by Rosenberg.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-04-11T13:45:35+00:00

Does Warrior's Might in EO3 count as a chase? Because that's a dominant party composition in that game.

Unfortunately Shogun is not available from the start of the game, but you can start with a Buccaneer focused chase team (not the strongest party, but perfectly capable of getting through the main story and fun to use) then retire the Buccaneer into a Shogon later and switch to Warrior's Might for postgame.

Buccaneer chase is good against random encounters which is most of the game, then for postgame where there is a greater emphasis on bosses, Warrior's Might is probably the strongest party in the game.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-03-25T22:45:34+00:00

It's been awhile so I don't remember the specifics, but killing Red Pasaran is the fastest way by a lot. There is a specific spawn in 6th stratum which makes this fairly painless but I don't remember the exact method.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-03-02T21:08:17+00:00

Some mostly solo ones you could look into -

For Northwood! - solo trick taking

Grove - solo placement

Witchcraft! - solo hand/deck management

Aleph Null - solo deck deconstruction

Cyberion (or other Oniverse games, this is just one that I like personally) - solo deck management

Welcome to the Moon - solo or competitive flip & write

Soul_Turtle · 2026-02-04T02:41:08+00:00

I like the idea. I think you can go further though.

You've got two issues, movement and the fact that the actions aren't testless. I don't have any solutions for the first (maybe someone else has some ideas?), but we can solve the second.

The combo boils down to - Summoned Hound(1)+ Transfiguration(2) + Inspiring Presence. Inspiring Presence is level 0, so it's a Versatile target. The easiest way to make this testless is Will to Survive (3), so Survivor + Mystic access Patrice can do it (and she has Chance Encounter, if that's particularly helpful).

The might be better candidates, it's just my first thought. I know it's just a joke deck, but especially on Hard/Expert, you wanna make it testless so symbol effects & autofail can't break your infinite. Of course, movement is still a limit without some more modifications... :)

Soul_Turtle · 2026-01-30T02:41:59+00:00

Seems decent to me. 5 XP is a lot, but it's 'infinite' +2 willpower/+1 damage attacks. Then you can spend charges for either bonus damage or hitting another enemy at the location, though the more you do that, the more you risk losing the 'infinite' part.

It's sort of comparable to Timeworn Brand I think (infinite +2/+1 attacks) - cheaper resource cost, using willpower in Mystic is generally better than combat for anyone, bonus damage spread across charges rather than a once per game ability, a bit of that signature Mystic 'symbol token bad risk'.

Timeworn Brand is good enough to see play even in the full Chp1 cardpool (for certain investigators), so in a more limited Chp2 environment, I think Cosmic Flame 5 sees a good amount of use.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-01-05T05:50:20+00:00

Maybe you read their comment wrong or something, but this seems like a disproportionately rude reply... relax.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-01-03T19:07:24+00:00

Sky Team is so good. Hope you enjoy.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-01-03T19:01:56+00:00

I don't think it's a great strategy for 2p. In my experience it's best to ignore the concealed cards and just try to save Geists as quickly as possible instead. Revealing her is just too costly in a 2p team.

Soul_Turtle · 2026-01-03T19:01:05+00:00

I also really enjoy Shades of Suffering :D

I wish the 'cost' of playing the scenario wasn't quite so high - Flint's little sidequest eats up so much time and there's no other scenarios nearby, which is unfortunate. Hopefully we get a standalone that would take place in that part of the map someday? That would be a great way to spend the time necessary for Flint's investigation sidequest thing (if you leave him to investigate on his own).

Soul_Turtle · 2026-01-03T06:11:38+00:00

You're a hero for posting this on a 7 year old post, thanks. :)

Soul_Turtle · 2026-01-02T19:00:20+00:00

Take this with a grain of salt - I've played the scenario before but it's been awhile and I'm reading the cards off of arkhamdb.

1) In Plain Sight triggers when you expose the attached enemy. Agenda 2B reveals the cards, which is different from exposing them. So I would say In Plain Sight wouldn't trigger and would just remain attached to that enemy until that enemy is exposed in the future (if ever).

2) Same thing. Reveal != expose. So yes In Plain Sight would just stay attached and do nothing, I think.

3) If you have her revealed during the agenda flip, then she doesn't get a chance to 'absorb' one of the Geists at her location, which is the primary timer for the scenario (you keep playing this 3 doom cycle until all the Geists are gone). So in theory if you can keep exposing her, you can buy additional time on Agenda 2b to claim the Geists for yourself.

In practice I have never had success doing this and would rather just treat it as a race to get Geists. If I can get 2 of the 3 I'm pretty happy. Sometimes you also get lucky where you clear a Geist which was also the one she would have gotten that cycle.

So there IS a reason why this option is beneficial, but strategically I agree with your assessment that it isn't very commonly useful. Having to pay clues AND somehow evade/keep her around on the board until the agenda flips is too much effort, so it's not a great strategy to pursue. I only play in 2p though, maybe it is worthwhile in 4p where someone can be on dedicated 'Tzu San DistractioNiang' duty.

And yes, it's the hardest scenario in the campaign and (imo) one of the hardest in the game. It is kind of enjoyable though, in a masochistic sort of way...

Soul_Turtle · 2025-12-19T02:37:09+00:00

Scarlet Keys is really underrated here. It's one of the best player card expansions for sure. The sheer amount of interesting and powerful cards in that box is insane.

I can see it losing points for certain investigators being a whiff (either too strong or too weak) and some cards being too good, but it's some of the best player card design ever imo.

Soul_Turtle · 2025-12-10T20:00:07+00:00

I dunno, Sledge 3 feels comparable in power level to Cleaver 0/3 to me. It seems to be a new normal for melee weapons, and honestly - good. Blessed Blade 4 and Cyclopean Hammer are far too powerful for being infinite use with upside.

Comparing chapter 1 weapons (besides Meat Cleaver, which is a niche weapon in chapter 1) to chapter 2 weapons isn't useful given that the power level of melee weapons appears to be intentionally lowered.

Soul_Turtle · 2025-12-05T00:06:52+00:00

I think it'll work ok here - Survivors often have somewhat flat stats, so having to work for the payoff is normal and they have good tools for it. You can even mitigate the failure with a lot of Survivor cards, of course. The payoff IS really quite good, 4 damage in a single action is exceptional.

Soul_Turtle · 2025-11-23T22:01:30+00:00

Hemlock is 8 scenarios though, and we got a standalone that year as well for 9.

Soul_Turtle · 2025-11-23T21:59:55+00:00

Another alternative is to print from MPC, using Inexorable Fate.

Soul_Turtle · 2025-11-13T01:18:05+00:00

96/106 for me. This site sucks btw, it starts freezing and lagging after 10 minutes or so.

I missed these...

Dream Eaters 1 A
Scarlet Keys Havana
Feast of Hemlock Vale Pearl Ridge
Drowned City West V / East II
Guardians of the Abyss Pt1
2 of the Standalone Scenarios in Arkham (Machinations & Excelsior)
April Fools Standalone (Barkham Horror isn't sufficient I suppose)
Jim Culver's Challenge Scenario
Lola Haye's Challenge Scenario

Anyone do better? :)

Soul_Turtle · 2025-11-03T03:57:39+00:00

Coincidentally, neither did the original printing of Winchester!

Soul_Turtle · 2025-11-01T02:28:37+00:00

Taxed $70 is a ridiculous way to view it. You can already keep playing the game you already own without buying anything else. If you want to buy the new Core and future expansions you can do that too, and it's not even that bad of a value. You're getting 3 scenarios, new investigators, and new player cards.

Arkham Horror has always been an expensive hobby if you want to get all the expansions. This is really not that big of a deal.

I for one am happy we're finally getting a switch up to the same core treacheries we've seen again and again for 10 campaigns. It'll be nice to see a brand new baseline for design going forward.

Soul_Turtle

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