This week I'll be diving into a game I started playing this past Saturday on Halloween.... Arkham Horror, The Card Game. I played the original years and years ago and enjoyed it, but there was so much stuff available out there that I didn't even know where to begin when it comes to buying in. So I decided to pass.

But then earlier this year Fantasy Flight announced a new Chapter 2: Core Set which created a jumping on point for new players and collectors. This was perfect for me because it meant I wouldn't have to sell my home to afford all the older Arkham Horror content. For anybody unfamiliar, this is a game of fighting evil in a Lovecraftian horror setting...

Because there wasn't much stuff released yet, I picked up the new Arkham Horror, The Card Game: Chapter 2 Core Set, the Children of Blood small expansion, the Marie Lambeau investigator deck, and I pre-ordered the Traces to Nowhere scenario pack which just arrived last week...

I told myself that if I end up loving the game, I'll buy the remaining investigator decks (Tommy Muldoon, Carolyn Fern, André Patel, and Miguel De La Cruz). So let's take a look, shall we?

The game itself can be fairly complex and things can get really big very quickly. Usually I find myself playing two-handed solo rather than true solo when it comes to cooperative games like this, but the prospect feels a bit daunting. So I started out with the core set's first scenario... Brethren of Ash: Spreading Flames using the recommended core box investigator pre-built deck: Joe Diamond...

I ended up winning the scenario... barely. Probably because I have such limited experience with the game and it was quite a while ago (I'd imagine it wouldn't have been very challenging to experienced players). I'm looking forward to the second scenario: Smoke and Mirrors. And I can already see how I will want to try the first scenario again using a different investigator.

Ultimately this is a fantastic game. Suitably spooky, nicely immersive, and there's a puzzley aspect I enjoy about it. The art is mostly okay and the cards are quality. About the only disappointment is that the cards have to lay down in the box because the included dividers are too tall...

This makes zero sense, and I don't get why they wouldn't have just made the box taller so you can use the dividers as intended. As if that wasn't bad enough, if you sleeve your cards they are a bit tight in the box tray, which is also kinda stupid. You have to wonder what they were thinking. It's as if the people designing the packaging don't understand the hobby.

Fantasy Flight has laid out their plans for future Chapter 2 releases, and it's not without controversy...

• SMALL CAMPAIGN EXPANSIONS. The heart of Arkham Horror: The Card Game is the campaigns. These are overall story arcs which are made up from scenarios. Small campaign expansions will have three scenarios. Children of Blood is a small story in three parts.
• LARGE CAMPAIGN EXPANSIONS. These are much like the campaigns from the original Chapter 1, but instead of having eight scenarios, they will now have only five scenarios. This is upsetting to a lot of existing players who like the longer-form narrative which 8 scenarios can give you. And I totally get that. Why would Fantasy Flight Games cut down on the core concept of the game which players love so much? Probably just being cheap (and it's like... WHY?!? it's just a bunch of cards!). Apparently the small and large campaign expansions will alternate on the release schedule.
• SCENARIO PACKS. This is a short single scenario belonging to no overall campaign, like Traces to Nowhere that I bought above.
• INVESTIGATOR PACKS. These are the player cards which allow you to play (or replay) a campaign from a different perspective, a different difficulty, and having different powers, like Marie Lambeau that I bought above.
• DECKBUILDING EXPANSIONS. The most interesting concept of deckbuilding games is the ability to mix-and-match the cards in your player deck to suit your playing style. Mix objects. Mix abilities. Mix allies. Mix everything and anything within the rules of the game to play the way you want to play! It's why I've been loving Marvel Champions so much. I'm not quite there with Arkham Horror yet (having just started!), but hopefully by the time they release some deckbuilding card sets, I will be.

Because Arkham Horror LCG and Marvel Champions are both designed by Fantasy Flight Games, there's some similarities how the game works. In many ways, Arkham feels like a more grown-up, challenging, and difficult version of Champions, which is kinda nice. If I'm up for a challenge? Arkham. If I want to decompress and enjoy myself? Champions.

What I'm wondering is whether or not some independent amateur game designers will bring back 8-scenario campaigns to give away for those players who miss a longer, more engrossing story. It seems a safe bet. Whenever the publishers drop disappointment on a beloved game, the community seems to step up when needed. All you need to take advantage of it is a way to print and cut cards, and there's lots of places for that.

   
POSITIVES: Tried and true gameplay that is loads of fun. Everything about the way it's been designed is made to flow nicely and make sense. The immersion is great, and the writing in the campaign book is atmospheric and impressive. The replayability takes a hit since the campaigns are always the same, but being able to play through with new investigators will give you a new experience, and being able to design your own decks gives it much better replayability than you'd think. And when you get bored of it, you you can just buy new content.
NEGATIVES: The art is mostly okay, but sometimes not very good at all. You'd think for a game with horror in the name they would come up with creepier, darker, and more inventive art than they did. Maybe it's cost-cutting to hire newer and less-experienced artists... but that just makes cheaping out on the campaign length even more inexplicable. That being said, it's all perfectly playable... unlike the box and tray, which fail at the one thing it's supposed to do. There's also a lingering feeling that you just didn't get your money's worth given how expensive the game is, which is why I've dropped the score a point.
   
Arkham Horror The Card Game, Chapter 2: Core Set (Fantasy Flight Games)
★★★★★★★★★☆
BLOGOGRAPHY GAME WEEK WEDNESDAY SCORE: 9 out of 10.

This is very disappointing. Where is the horror? My comment on the intro video is this: "A deckbuilding expansion to play with what? I started playing Arkham Horror LCG with Chapter 2, and all I have is the 3 scenario introduction, a 3 scenario mini campaign, and a single scenario pack. Everything from Chapter 1 is sold out. — This is Marvel Champions all over again. Absolutely no consideration for new players just getting into the game. Put your old stuff back in print so people who want to play have options other than spending a fortune on eBay for the stuff you've abandoned."

Maybe I should knock off another star? Couldn't we have gotten a new campaign before deckbuilding cards?