Arkham Horror LCG

I’ve owned a copy of Arkham Horror: The Card Game for seemingly over a decade, without it ever getting to the table. It’s been difficult finding both the time and the right people.

But recently I pulled together some trusted compatriots, who were also in the same situation, and we got a game going. Between all of us, we had a lot of material to choose from, but we chose a one-off to learn the ropes.

There’s a lot going for this game. At first glance, it’s a beautiful horror: gorgeous artwork, obtuse symbols, complicated rules, three rulebooks. It definitely asks a lot of the player – not only with setup and rules understanding, but also strategy and narrative. Its a tough game to ‘win’. Luckily, the Lovecraftian theme allows for loss that fits in the overall narrative.

There’s also some standout mechanics – I was surprised at how flexible the format is, allowing for new micro-rules for particular scenarios, all while staying in the overall mechanical vibe.

After only one game, it’s tough to assess the character progression/deck building aspect of the game. There sure are a lot of people who get into it, though.

Ultimately, we were all very keen to go again. I would be very interested to see how the design team went about balancing both the player decks, and the scenario progressions – because although we didn’t do very well, the narrative worked amazingly.

Key Mechanics

• The chaos bag. Allows for different probability distributions and outcomes, difficulty levels, and even changing mid-game. Like dice, but better?

• Clues vs. doom. A cool way of having both a positive and a negative progression for each ‘act’. Makes for a very effective race.

• Locations. Opening and closing locations, travel between, and the way flipping a location can provide further narrative and mechanical opportunities.

• The setup and takedown times are horrendous, but so far the enjoyment from the experience has been worthwhile.