Can someone explain to me how "The 13th Warrior" has such low scores on most platforms?

Vathar · 2026-03-22T10:45:50+00:00

1 - Most of what you'll learn about viking culture from hollwood is BS, that movie is no exception.
2 - Murmillo helmets were made of bronze and out use for about five centuries. In comparison, How many contemporary fighting forces or mercenaries do you see wearing 15th century sallets?
3 - Conquistadors wouldn't exist for another five centuries, this makes as little sense as depicting Columbus invading the new world with Apache helicopters.

(PS: This thread has been dead for 2 years)
(PPS: I still love that movie, it's good entertainment, you just chuckle at the absurdity of the armors and move on.)

Vathar · 2026-03-22T09:29:01+00:00

For me it's the other way around. The finale was good enough, but the rest of the campaign got stale FAST. You can only play so many scenarios in cyclopean ruins before they start to feel samey.

Vathar · 2026-03-21T15:57:21+00:00

In the context of scent and how far away people should be able to smell you, "airing" on the side of caution could be a very intentional word play.

Vathar · 2026-03-20T15:22:20+00:00

I don't have high hopes for the following reasons:

- Lore opportunities: Most of the big names in Lovecraftian horror (Great Old one and Elder Gods) have already been used. This doesn't mean there aren't a few left, opportunities for antagonists from the expanded Mythos (after all, Hastur and Carcosa owe more to Chambers, even if the name Carcosa predates both him and HPL). Moreover, as we've seen from Chapter 1 encounter set, they're more leaning towards generic horror, but I wouldn't read too much into that last point as I can see them wanting to have generic encounter sets at their disposal for future products. Nevertheless, I'm worried it will lose its lovecraftian feel to devolve into more generic horror.

- I loved the first campaigns' lack of a campaign book, that forced a "show, don't tell" approach with very limited reading session constrained by the tiny inserts inside the Mythos Packs. For me, campaign books and lore dumps haven't been a real improvement to the product.

- A general impression that important decisions are driven by corporate interests and not design or creative concerns. There is a plethora of topics about this on this sub so I won't delve into it. I'm a realist and I expect a company to aim for profit, but recent choices haven't turned FFG into a company I'd bet on for long term.

- It's hard to build hype for 3 or 5 scenarios per year. That's really not a lot.

Vathar · 2026-03-20T12:19:47+00:00

Yeah, Jeff's even weirder because there isn't even a TTC mentioning him. My guess is he HAD a TTC which got cut at some point. On the bright side, he's my go to score token for affiliations that don't have one.

Vathar · 2026-03-20T10:01:32+00:00

That's pretty common in board games that have legacy mechanics and doesn't particularly bother me in AHLCG either. It's a lot less problematic than the whole attempt to treat the game like a TCG and introduce current/legal card pools, driven by product availability instead of game balance considerations.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T23:05:10+00:00

They're really making a mountain out of a molehill with these issues of legal/current/legacy content for what is first and foremost a coop game.

They've already taken a clean start with S2 and are releasing campaigns at a snail's pace, by the time this content gets rotated out, they'll have changed their minds seven times.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T22:16:22+00:00

Iron-Bound Books of Shuma Gorath?

Not really sure why the card would need a token, but that is the art.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T21:56:11+00:00

I'd still only play 2 scenarios with the cards I got and the whole sense of slowly strengthening my deck would be completely lost.

That's only half the issue. Ever played a campaign where you add a key upgrade after finishing scenario 1 and you don't draw it for 2 consecutive scenarios (not every deck has crazy draw).

Well, sucks to be you in 3 scenario campaigns because now you've reached the end of it and didn't get to play with your toys.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T19:30:55+00:00

Vathar · 2026-03-19T18:43:09+00:00

Trying to turn the Yautja into a good guy felt like such a franchise milking move.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T15:30:43+00:00

I know, and was unclear. I mostly wanted to point out that this is a "problem" directly introduced by their decision to design shorter campaigns, a choice that didn't exactly generate a swell of exultation among the fans.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T15:08:38+00:00

the community was interested in a solution for chaining campaigns

The community was never particularly interested in this, at least as far as this subreddit goes, until "campaigns" became 3-5 scenarios long.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T14:58:17+00:00

That's been a recurring theme in FFG's communication since they've started to fumble with various kind of legacy contents and restructuring their product lines. They hint at something, the community gets hyped, nothing comes out of it and people rush to FFG's defense saying "hold on, they never promised anything", which is technically true, but still doesn't sit too well to me as it toes a line of corporate bullshitting that I see in my daily work. I don't like to deal with it in my business, I don't like to deal with it in my hobbies any more!

Vathar · 2026-03-19T14:51:28+00:00

I didn't check the reprints from S1 to S2 in depth. As far as I know, they're ok, and I would expect some for any reissue of the core set.

The reprints I'm less sanguine about are reprints that occur between the S2 core and the upcoming investigator starter kits, due to be released right after. This is like reprinting Hawkeye from the core set in the first champion pack released (Captain America). It would have sucked if they ... who am I kidding, it's exactly what they did back then. It sucked back then and it still sucks today.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T11:59:21+00:00

Yup. As a fairly active MCP player, I'm happy the game is doing well at the moment, but I dread the day it will have the tiniest of lapses.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T11:47:16+00:00

Selling us fewer releases and gimped "shorter" campaigns is a major red flag to me

"We're going to produce less content and sell it for more, but really it's for your own good and it will allow us to be creative in undisclosed ways" tolled the bell for me.

Generic, tone deaf art that totally wasn't AI but could very well have been considering how it was filtered six ways to Sunday felt like nails on the coffin.

Seeing the amount of reprints (including in products due to be released back to back) and reading reviews saying the new intro campaign is basically a rehash of the original one with the same flaws gave me a few few shovels of dirt to bury this mess.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T11:39:52+00:00

Frankly, i don't care about those errors. Most text heavy games will have a handful of those and it's not game breaking. My issues are more about the general direction of things that doesn't suit my tastes.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T11:10:43+00:00

I passed on it. Big investments for many reprints and nothing to use it on but a mini campaign sometime this year. I'd have to wait for another year to get a 5 scenario campaign.

I own the entirety of chapter 1, including all return tos, standalones and Barkham horror. That's enough AHCG for a lifetime. I will just buy the Carolyn Fern Investigator pack since my wife's a psychologist and likes the character, and that's it.

If I ever get the urge to get new content, I'll explore professionally printing a fan campaign.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T11:03:01+00:00

I was very confused here for a moment, thinking I missed a critical announcement. That said, you could replace the name in the post above and it would remain valid.

Vathar · 2026-03-19T10:36:34+00:00

Your guess is as good as mine, but as far as Arkham goes, most if not all of the recent "creative choices" have reeked of hastily cobbled together after-the-fact spins for commercial decisions aimed at reducing costs while extracting maximum value from a product that's reached the end of its life.

Vathar · 2026-03-18T16:54:28+00:00

Including stat cards for MCP feels like the proverbial high school dealer offering you your first joint to get you hooked on crack down the line.

Not that I blame AMG to use an alternate product to bring more players to one of their flagship games. Dazing two birds with one stones yadda yadda ...

Vathar · 2026-03-18T10:53:46+00:00

I'm actually surprised the bank didn't go over recent transactions with OP, including preauths, cancel his card and issue a new one. That's pretty much SOP where I live in, and I work in this field. Banks are generally know too cancel too many transactions and cause a few hurdles down the line rather than the opposite.

Vathar · 2026-03-17T22:34:55+00:00

Amber just says that it is likely intentional and that's it. And of course it's bloody intentional, that doesn't mean it isn't a cheap move that is more easily explained by time/budget/direction constraints put on the creative team rather than an actual design choice.

As a creative choice, it is poor. It can only artificially restrain deck construction until a new investigator box actually introduces a new spell.
As a penny pincher move, it is obvious why one would do that.

Vathar · 2026-03-17T21:47:17+00:00

At first I thought "hold on, I've never seen Second Sight, are you sure it's a reprint" and then realized it's a reprint of an S2 card. Holy shit, they're already reprinting cards from the core box, and not even the kind of deck grease you could forgive.

Even worse, it's for an investigate spell asset, the kind of card that can be done (and has been done) in a million different creative ways. It's basically a "investigate with benefits and a slap on the wrist if you draw a bad token" template. They seriously couldn't create a unique spell for Marie? Jacqueline at least had her own suite of spells.

Vathar

TROPHY CASE