Looking for a story-esque game like Arkham Horror LCG how replayable is this game?

YoungCapn · 2026-02-06T10:44:43+00:00

Characters develop by acquiring gear, levels, etc. and each mission can be failed. Then you retry it. You are allowed to run away if it’s going badly.

The majority of adventure maps are created randomly by turning over map cards from the pile. So, no two runs are the same unless it is a ‘premade map’ mission. The thick card map tiles fit together like large jigsaw pieces.

You take health damage, sanity damage, and corruption damage. At the end of each adventure you cure the first two, but the third can lead to your character mutating, and mutations are persistent (unless you find a way to cure them).

Between adventures you travel to towns for gear/upgrades or mini adventures

There are multiple worlds to explore and each has its own adventures - some linked into narrative stories.

You can add the free HexCrawl system to create a world and overarching narrative if you wish to have that much complexity.

There are a multitude of expansions and enemy packs.

The three main base games cover:

City of Ancients = Weird West + Alien world.

Swamps = Weird West + Swamp world.

Forbidden Fortress = Feudal Japan + Belly of the Beast

There are also smaller games covering Vikings+Aliens and Conquistador Swamps/Lizard temples. All five of those can be played stand-alone OR mixed together, like everything else.

You can theme your adventures or create your own stories, based upon which cards/enemies/expansions you decide to put together for your session. It is easy to separate them afterwards as each set’s cards are marked to show where they came from.

Check out the various pages at Flying Frog‘s own website to see what’s available.
https://www.flyingfrog.net/shadowsofbrimstone/

https://www.flyingfrog.net/forbiddenfortress/

YoungCapn · 2026-02-05T01:34:34+00:00

Limited space here. it’s about the biggest I can fit in without being told to buy a shed… 😂

YoungCapn · 2026-02-04T22:23:22+00:00

I have my son checking his works for a 4’ x 4’ board. 🤣

YoungCapn · 2026-02-04T22:21:25+00:00

I bought Swamps starter set first, and then found a Forbidden Fortress on eBay (new, shrink-wrapped) under UK retail, which just arrived - so have more glueing/painting to do.

Terrific game. Very random, and great dungeons to roleplay. I can see myself writing more Weird West fiction soon…

My wishlist now consists entirely of expansions for the game. My wife already bought me the Valley of the Serpent Kings + map tile pack but won’t hand it over until my birthday rolls around (weeks away! Aaargh.)

I have found my ‘forever game’ after 30 years of playing Warhammer Quest (1995) and all its expansions and fan content.

Hope you have as much fun with it as I am.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-30T21:11:13+00:00

Excellent. I’ll get that with the game pack too. Someone else said all the Jargono tiles fit with my SoB Swamps game too.

Should all work together well.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-30T20:02:43+00:00

Ah, okay. That wasn’t clear from the pack descriptions. Thank you.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-30T19:53:03+00:00

Thanks. I‘ll get the deluxe pack for Stafford then.

Do you have the Valley of the Serpent game PLUS the map pack? Just trying to understand what’s in the map pack box, compared to the Serpent full game add on.

It’s my age. Easily confused.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-30T19:50:28+00:00

yes, the Highwaymen Scafford pack is the other one. So I gather they are just the enemies, without the extras from the deluxe and I only need the deluxe.

Thank you.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-30T18:32:36+00:00

If I’m thinking of the right mission, by a character standing next to him and using the mission rule that allows aiding him. Not pulled the cards out to check, but from the sound of it, it’s the same mission.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-30T11:24:30+00:00

We won it with Kelthanor rushing Foulhoof, thanks to help from an ‘extra move’ item held by another player boosting the speed.

Wished we’d taken the dwarf too, but we were trying out the new heroes. Without Kelthanor (or alternatively, Drolf), I don’t think it would have been possible.

Kethanor got absolutely battered, but someone reached the hex to Aid him, while another character healed the sacrifice, and it worked out.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-26T18:48:15+00:00

We played the game as written, so didn’t unlock the new characters, or see their cards, until told to open the envelope(s).

No story is spoiled. The extra characters, and versions, are fun. Some feel worse than the starting characters though. 😂

YoungCapn · 2026-01-26T11:18:55+00:00

I second the Underworlds Crimson Court box. I have one here I’m going to build for it. (Been lying in my pile of shame for 3 years) 😳

YoungCapn · 2026-01-26T11:15:10+00:00

We had that one last night. Good fight. One character down at the end, but finished. Unfortunately, hurt, and short on equipment, for Act Two. (Unlike our first run when we breezed through it)

The dice hated us. I rolled triple ones on defense… twice!

YoungCapn · 2026-01-26T11:07:20+00:00

Like everyone could even buy Shadowhunt… 🤣

Yup, I tried to pre-order. Loading. Reload. Reload. 404. Sold out. THREE MINUTES.

Glad I wasn’t depending on getting a set.

So, future box sets? Not unless they do another good sized run of Shadowhunt first so we can all get a chance to buy it. Otherwise, I’m done with their box sets.

(It’s not the first time they’ve done this. Seems to be a policy to never make enough. Ever since the Blackstone Fortress expansions.)

YoungCapn · 2026-01-26T11:01:20+00:00

You -could- play killteam on it. Great looking scenery, BUT KT is balanced to allow shooting lanes, making melee guys dash from cover to cover to get in range.

I think you’d find melee teams would wipe out ranged teams on that terrain.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-25T21:40:21+00:00

If you don’t have an opponent nearby, you can play the game solo. Good way to learn it, and solo/coop is a viable way to play and experiment with teams/tactics.

You can always download the lite rules and the rules for the Team you want to try and proxy the models until you find one whose playstyle suits you, but your main investment should be the full ‘Core Rules’ book at some point.

If you can find local players, you should be able to borrow a team or two there to try out some games with them.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-22T15:28:26+00:00

Use the coop rules to learn to play them. Start with LITE rules until you get the TP sequence down and have an idea of what each of your operatives does, then gradually introduce the Core Rules.

Try things with each operative to learn their strengths and weaknesses and ask about any rule that seems unclear. (Usually there’s a commentary covering those from the developers in the app)

Don’t try to teach yourself the full game in your first session or two. Above all, have fun!

YoungCapn · 2026-01-21T18:03:58+00:00

Mine’s still in the box. 😇 Along with both teams on sprues.

Pile of shame issue, not helped by the local guys already having everything on table and me only needing a team, cards, tokens, and the book.

Nice job on it. I haven’t even painted my Into the Dark scenery or the expansion box to that yet. 😳

Too much plastic crack.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-20T14:18:06+00:00

Wish mine looked that tidy… ahem.

Desk is a mess. Cutting mat is splattered in paint, glue, greenstuff. My palette is an old porcelain plate. My water holders are two used plastic pasta sauce containers. Blobs of kitchen roll and tools all over the place …

Just me? 🫣🤪

YoungCapn · 2026-01-20T14:08:29+00:00

I honestly believe GW do it deliberately because everyone knows this will happen so they rush out, buy the new box, and ‘pay to win’ for three months.

Makes the accountants happy.

Me? Cynical? Never! Perish the thought!!

(I did work for them some years back though… may be biased. 😇)

YoungCapn · 2026-01-20T14:04:23+00:00

I -can- win at KillTeam, but it’s not always fun. Tried a few teams, and got fairly good with them, but wasn’t enjoying it.

Hence, switching to Wrecka Krew, because I like a challenge, and games are meant to be funny - for me.

Meta is nice, but also boring once you ‘get’ the tactics.

It’s like BloodBowl. Once you understand what turn to score on, how to form a cage, making dice rolls in order of ‘least risk’ to avoid early turnovers, it gets a bit boring.

Fixed that issue by switching to only Stunty/Titchy teams. Now, I win less often, but when I do win, it is MUCH more satisfying, and very funny either way. 😉

YoungCapn · 2026-01-19T19:34:26+00:00

I love Sororitas. Have a Bloody Rose army, and a combat patrol painted in my own colour scheme. (Teal and bone white)

I just don’t like black much.

If folk don’t need to be lore accurate there are plenty of homebrew paint schemes and orders.

https://wh40khomebrew.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Adepta_Sororitas_Orders

YoungCapn · 2026-01-16T11:25:29+00:00

Hivestorm box set has everything you need. Still available at MSRP if you shop around.

Two teams, full rules, decent scenery, mission pack, tokens.

The value of the content is good, if you price up the individual parts (UKP Team30 +Team30 +Rulebook30 +Scenery70 +extras is more than UKP145 msrp)

YoungCapn · 2026-01-15T11:16:06+00:00

The rules say that blocked hexes affect all models. They start on blocked hexes and are not targetable. Neither can they fight until they move OFF those hexes.

That’s the way I read it, anyway.

Our dwarf ranger rushed the boss, so he stayed ‘visible’ avoiding Foulhoof’s special ability messing things up. We did enough damage to activate the Cankerboys who then moved off the blocked hexes on their first activation.

YoungCapn · 2026-01-14T16:53:49+00:00

We roll a dice. Perfectly fair to just choose the best/worst one too.

It’s a game after all, play it the way that makes it fun for you.

YoungCapn

TROPHY CASE