An (Un)likely Duet

Ladies and Gentleman,  humans and otherworldly creatures, welcome to first installment of the Duet Deck series!

As I mentioned in the introduction I play all my games in a two player setup with my lovely wife. Therefore we strive to create 2 matching decks. You can achieve this result in few different ways. The most straightforward one is to divide two main tasks of the game – investigating and fighting.

The specialization doesn’t necessarily have to be full. First of all, you have to split sometimes, so you need to be able to cover the other side of an investigator’s job, as well. Also, if your main assignment is suddenly not important (no skulls to crush around or maybe sudden appearance of a horrific being made picking up clues definitely a less urgent task) you need to be still useful, at least to a degree. Therefore price for full specialization might be hefty.

First duet to be presented to you might strike you as bit surprising. After all, Roland and Daisy share part of their deckbuilding options. However, for the base set they are pretty much the toughest fighter and the most curious mind. Additionally, as mentioned in my previous post neither of us cares deeply about Skids. 

Both decks are created with a certain balance in mind – with his ability and handful of investigation related cards Roland can pick up some clues (Ability and Evidence enable to gather some even in high shroud locations, read Roland’s part for some tricks). Daisy can dispatch minor enemies or offer some minor support with bosses as well, provided she draws some of the fight-related cards (more about drawing in the Daisy’s part).

Unfortunately, the decks cannot be created without 4(!) copies of Base Set (and also additional Shortcut from Dunwich Legacy) or some proxies, which is one of their major drawbacks.

Assets (13)	Events (8)	Skills (10)	Weaknesses (2)
1x Roland's .38 Special 2x .45 Automatic 2x Knife 2x Machete 2x Magnifying Glass 2x Beat Cop 2x Physical Training	2x Dodge 2x Emergency Cache 2x Evidence! 2x Shortcut	2x Deduction 2x Guts 2x Overpower 2x Unexpected Courage 2x Vicious Blow	1x Cover Up 1x Random Basic Weakness

Overview: Roland works as the main hitter, obviously. That’s why he gets 7 weapons (though 2 Knives are there just to ensure he gets a weapon of any kind and possibly work as a way of dealing damage without using ammo). He still manages clues very well.

Notable weaknesses: This deck is quite expansive, so you might find yourself struggling for resources. This explains some choices made with cards (read further to learn about some decisions I made). Obviously bad luck of draw can screw anyone, Roland suffers mostly if he fails to get a weapon, however this should be mitigatable with Daisy’s help.

Opening Hand: I'd heavily consider mulligan if I draw no weapon, as this makes the team way to vulnerable. 2 out of Beat Cop/Physical Training/Knife should be good enough, though - even more so as muliganing such a hand would hamper chances of drawing them at all. You shouldn’t be too concerned about not drawing any cards for investigating – Daisy should cover it well enough. 

Choices: You might be bit surprised with some selections I’ve made, particularly with the exclusions. Let’s consider them one by one. 

I gave up on Dr. Milan for 2 reasons – Beat Cop is crucial for the deck and while you might consider using both in solo decks or when tasked with picking up clues, here Roland’s main job is fighting. Also, as he is unique, it’d stop Daisy from using it. 

Flashlight was ditched to free a hand, in hopes that Magnifying Glass will prove to be good enough (and it mostly is – though 3^rd scenario complicates matters a bit).

I decided not to include Hyperawareness also for two reasons. First of all, Agility is not very useful for Roland. Secondly, Roland usually lacks resources, thus wouldn’t be able to spare some for boosting his Intellect. 

Dynamite Blast also missed the list due to its cost. I have also found it to be highly situational. You can’t use it to help Daisy with enemies engaged with her, as it’d cripple her health, too. You don’t want to use it on your location, neither. And it’s almost never worth to use it on single enemy, anyway.

Using it is not really a blast

Last, but not least, I chose Knife for the backup weapon instead of Kukri or a Blackjack. I did it mostly due to its second use. You can discard it before replacing with a better weapon/Magnifying Glass for a strong use. Also, if you’re unlucky enough to have to use it as your main weapon, you can always as a last resort throw it at your enemy and hope to get a new weapon soon. Blackjack’s only advantage of not damaging the teammate does not excite me too heavily, I wonder what your opinions are.

Tricks: My favorite trick is luring enemies on locations with clues. It can accomplish a variety of goals. Obviously, it allows you to use Roland’s ability. Moreover, it also enables play of Evidence (1 shot to kill the enemy AND get 2 clues!). Finally, you can use it to take full advantage of Roland's .38 Special. I do it on a regular basis in The Gathering – leaving just one clue to get an extra edge against Ghoul Priest. The clue is not even wasted – you pick it up upon killing him, securing location’s victory point! If you “just” aim for clues, you should obviously target high shroud location (or in other ways tougher to investigate as explained in post about Roland)

To spot this card's true potential I had to force myself
to put into into my deck for trying out

  While luring hunter enemies is easier (though comes at a price – they attack you upon meeting) you can very well use Shortcut to move when engaged at cost of 0 resources and 0 actions! It also doesn’t cause any Attacks of Opportunity. If needed, you can also move Daisy with the enemy engaged with her. Otherwise Shortcut provides a way to “store” an action and use it whenever necessary and turned out to be very effective, much more than I anticipated upon seeing the card.

Beat Cop can be used not only to finish off bigger fishes, but also to snipe out weak enemies without spending an action (especially the upgraded one).

Upgrades: First picks for me are 2 XP versions of Beat Cop, as it triples (!) the amount of damage you can deal with this card. For me, Police Badge comes in next; with a Will of 4 all regular encounter deck threats should be dealt with quite consistently.

Monsters devouring civilians? Not on my watch!

Upgraded Magnifying Glasses come very handy, too. Reduced cost is a plus, as with such an expensive deck every resource comes. Additionally, freeing hands whenever needed might provide you with a free slot for a weapon. Even if the hand won’t get free, you can commit the Magnifying Glass and gain some extra clues. Out of the low-cost cards Extra Ammunition is very useful for Roland, as he has 3 guns in his deck - I'd put it, removing Knife, or two.

You should definitely consider an Elder Sign Amulet, even before 2nd copy of Extra Ammo (if your experience allows it). It competes with the badge for a slot, but it's not a huge issue. Even if you happen to draw both, you’re not stuck with a dead card. You can either commit one of them (quite strong set of a Wild icon and a Will icon) or use Badge’s ability first. Roland’s sanity is on the lower end, the amulet comes handy especially if he suffers a mental trauma (due to a defeat or failing his terrible weakness). To make room for both badge and amulet, you can get rid of Guts.

Shotgun is hard to pull off, as it occupies both hands.

Assets (16)	Events (9)	Skills (6)	Weaknesses
1x Daisy's Tote Bag 2x Magnifying Glass 2x Medical Texts 2x Old Book of Lore 2x Shrivelling 2x Holy Rosary 2x Dr. Milan Christopher 1x Research Librarian 2x Arcane Studies	2x Blinding Light 2x Emergency Cache 2x Mind over Matter 1x Shortcut 2x Ward of Protection	2x Deduction 2x Guts 2x Unexpected Courage	1x Random Basic Weakness 1x The Necronomicon

Overview: Daisy’s deck is heavily focused on clue gathering and support. It’s filled with tomes, out of which Old Book of Lore is the key one, allowing picking up missing cards.

Notable weaknesses: Deck relies quite heavily on pulling Old Book of Lore early on. Once you have it, you can mitigate lack of luck for both you and Roland, but you need to get it first. Therefore…

Opening Hand: I almost always mulligan if I don’t get OBoL (Or Research Librarian) . If you draw an otherwise asset full hand and Roland was also lucky enough to secure a strong weapon, you might keep it. I’d still spend an action for drawing a card every now and then until one of above is secured.

Almost a custom made card for Daisy

 

Choices: I went with bit of a spellcasting thrown into the mix, hence Arcane Studies (truly for Will mostly, as Daisy consistently manages even shroud of 4, thanks to her other assets), Guts and Holy Rosary are added to ensure successful casting. Daisy’s Agility is very low, so I decided to give up on any Evade attempts (unless with Blinding Light) so no boosts for Agility are included (No Hyperawareness, Manual Dexterity etc.) You should be able to either draw some means of dealing with minor opponents or wait for Roland to come and help.

Guts in both decks can be used on either of Investigators, sometimes helping the other in need. I chose Guts over Fearless, as the extra icon comes in handy much more often (Daisy’s Sanity is high anyway). Being able to for sure pass the test for Shriveling is of higher importance.

I gave up on Drawn to the Flame, as it typically only saves one action (Daisy should be able to pick up clues using regular means anyway), only generating issues. Flashlight wasn’t included as with Daisy’s high Intellect it would have been an unnecessary overkill.

Tricks: Use Old Book of Lore at all times. Use it to secure Dr. Milan as early as possible, with his boost and the resources he provides you’ll be set-up for a whole scenario. Whenever possible, help Roland dig for weapons, Vicious Blows etc. 

Also ensure to have some means for dealing with enemies, also using OBoL.

Later on you can use Encyclopedia, even taking a hit for it, to boost your Combat and kill an enemy. If enemy-free, you might boost Roland’s Combat (if he’s face against a boss, or found himself without a weapon and surrounded by enemies or even Intellect (so you both will vacuum-clean all the clues lying around.

Quick look into the book and Daisy gets super strong for few minutes.

 

Research Librarian serves multiple purposes, increases chances of drawing OBoL, works as a Wild Card book to be summoned from the deck according to your needs and provides extra Stamina. Once he’s out, sacrifice him at the first opportunity, to make room for Dr. Milan.

You can play Shortcut to move into Roland’s location with impunity, even if engaged with an enemy.

Upgrades: First picks are 2 Encyclopedias. Upgraded Blinding Light is also a strong choice due to increased damage output. I wouldn’t consider taking 1 XP version of Magnifying Glass, it basically only reduces the cost, you’re going to run with it in your hand anyway.

Later on you have to choose between Cryptic Research and Bulletproof Vest. I’d pick at least one copy of each.

It’s not easy to give up on anything to make space for new cards. I ditched one copy of Medical Texts and Guts for Encyclopedias. To decide, what to get rid of next, you must check yourself, which cards didn’t prove useful enough (In my case it was Shortcut and later on the librarian, as Cryptic Research provides enough deck searching capabilities and he’s quite useless, if drawn after playing Dr. Milan, anyway).

Extra Notes:  On one hand Roland can benefit dearly of Daisy’s toms and Cryptic research. On the other, they are both versatile enough to manage even if split. Therefore you have 2 options of playing them and should adapt your approach based on what the current game status is. 

Teamwork and planning are the key!

 It is, surprisingly, the most efficient team we’ve used so far. Stay tuned for next ones, though! Should you decide to try them out, let me know the outcome! 

 All images are courtesy of cardgamedb.com and fantasyflightgames.com

Roland Banks: The Fed

Roland is a federal agent, who stumbled upon a strongly unusual investigation. Faced with the unexplainable he decided to re-evaluate his past approach and pus the FBI code of conduct aside. After all, you won’t find appropriate instructions how to deal with Great Old Ones, faceless monsters or entities summoned from other dimensions in the FBI code of conduct.  

Legacy: Unlike most of other Arkham characters, Roland has not been featured in many of the Arkham Files games so far – in fact, he’s been only included in Innsmouth Horror expansion for Arkham Horror.  He’s depicted there as sort of versatile guy, having average stats. He also, sort of surprisingly, starts with an ally.

His original character is still preserved in the newest installment – in both games he’s slightly focused on gathering clues. In Arkham Horror due to his slightly higher Will he can set his Fight to a decent value – there’s just a move towards more of a fighter (or, in game terms, Guardian) in the Card Game. Also his wide choice of cards and capability of covering both intellectual and physical part of the game preserve his versatility, to a degree.

Choosing Guardian class for him bothers me slightly, to be honest. I’d rather imagine Roland as a Seeker, maybe with a Guardian subclass. I understand FFG designers needed a Guardian (and a one that would be part-time Seeker, on top of that), given classes of the other characters from the base set. However this feels bit not thematic to me, FBI agents are mostly investigating, not shooting. I also favor keeping the theme of a character unchanged through the Arkham Files. Finally, primary choice of the class leads to few more bit questionable choices (from the theme point of view) when it comes to Roland’s abilities – necessary to keep up with the overlying idea of him.

First, original Roland - still my favorite

Addendum: A preview has just been published for Elder Sign, introducing Roland and Daisy. Roland has a clue related skill again. So on one hand there’s even more of a consistency with the clue theme. On the other, it makes choice of his class even more questionable.

Stats: To fill the boots of a Guardian, Roland is well equipped with Combat value of 4 – any of the basic weapons, granting +1 bonus to the fight skill check provides him with a fair chance at fighting. This cannot be matched by any other character from the base set – and rightly so, he’s a Guardian (even if it disappoints me)! Moreover, his other skills are quite reasonably spread – with Intellect of 3, providing good investigating abilities and 3 Will to avoid all the horrors, only his Agility is on the lower side. However, since he won’t use it for evading enemies (he’s supposed to dispatch them, not flee from them) it’s not much of an issue. All together it makes him very well suited for solo play, as well as for more of a spread approach for team efforts (meaning, not staying to close to each other) – he will handle both eliminating enemies and picking up the clues. In fact, these are the very areas he excels at. If he only had higher Intellect at cost of Agility, his stats would be perfect.

Hello Ma'am, have you seen any robbed figures lately? How about half-man half-fish?

Unfortunately for Roland, while his health is strong, his psychological stability is not.  Sanity of 5 makes him quite fragile to the mind-shattering experience awaiting him during his investigations. It is bit unfortunate, as enemies tend to attack mind almost as often as body and if he fails to dispatch a strong one, he can succumb to madness surprisingly easily. It strikes me as slightly surprising for Roland’s mental stability to be lower than Skids’ (and not very in-line with their legacy stats), but oh well, instead of complaining, I’d rather stock on Elder Sign Amulets.

Strength

Theme

Special Ability: Surprisingly many special abilities can be seen as extra action per turn¹. Roland does not differ too much here – he discovers a clue after killing an enemy (once per turn). It perfectly ties his Guardian side with his Seeker side – he can generate clues while dispatching monsters. And since he’s very proficient at the latter, his ability gets used quite a lot.

Outside of sheer action effectiveness he also can spare himself (and his fellow characters) quite a lot of trouble. Is there a clue on high shroud location? Let’s send Roland, he’ll have a look at the corpse instead. Is investigating of a location hampered by the encounter deck (we all hate sudden and unexpected occurrences of obscuring fog, don’t we? Not to mention locks on doors, which lead to the urgently needed clue on a location also providing Victory Points, appearing seemingly out of nowhere)? - Roland is here for the rescue.  

I slightly dislike how Roland’s ability is exactly the same as effect of the Evidence! card – I just really prefer special abilities to feel unique.² While I understand the idea of checking dead enemy for evidence, ability itself seems to fit William Yorick, the Grave Digger, nicer (he didn’t get it in Eldritch Horror neither, but it’s a different story, I suppose), it all comes back to Roland being Guardian, though.

The group of the Elder Sign effects, Roland’s belongs to has already been criticized by me here. It’s worth mentioning, though, it seems quite related to his underlying theme of clues.

Strength

Theme

Signature cards: To do his job of a monster killer, Roland is equipped with a pretty strong weapon, as his signature card. Thrilling bonus of +3 (provided there is a clue) and additional damage help him to deal with the enemies. Moreover, they naturally boost his special ability, giving him an extra edge on the locations with clues, he can pick them up while benefiting from strong weapon bonus.

If you’re happy enough to draw it, you might consider luring hunter enemies into location with clues for a double benefit – both an extra clue and additional punch. Same approach works if you have to defeat a particular enemy (like the Ghoul Priest). It also gives you even more reason to use my favorite Roland’s tactic – if you have a spare action, instead of playing a less needed asset or drawing extra card, I prefer to move him to a location with clues – if an enemy spawns there, he might pick some evidence after defeating it.

It’s also worth mentioning, the weapon is incredibly cost-effective – you get 4 uses for 3 resources (compare it with .45 Automatic). All the advantages add up to a very strong card. While you might struggle a bit with explanation, while it suddenly becomes so deadly if there’s evidence lying around, you must agree that it helps to build a very consistent vision of Roland’s character.

Roland is unfortunately kicked in the nuts with his weakness, for multiple reasons. First of all, it simply forces him to waste multiple actions for no benefit. And time, ladies and gentleman, is a scare commodity in the universe of Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Secondly, when attempting to deal with his weakness, he might fail the test(s) and trigger some negative chaos bag token effects on top of the additional action loss (adding doom to enemies, losing sanity, etc). This still is not the main issue, though. After all, personal weaknesses are supposed to be tough. What really makes it easily the worst weakness so far (at least out of the base investigators) is… it might very easily not be doable. You might draw it, once all clues have already been discovered (or due to the progress of agenda you won’t have enough actions to complete it), which is a very pesky random effect you have very small influence on.  To add an insult to the injury, the consequences of failing to cover up the otherworldly interventions are very dire! If Roland leaves some traces behind, he suffers mental trauma – for an investigator with only 5 Sanity to begin with, it’s a very hefty price to pay. Therefore, you should always beware of drawing this card towards end of the scenario (Scrying might come in handy, if a fellow spellcaster is kind enough, you should also consider limiting card draw) as well as seriously consider some damage mitigation, should you draw it. In scenarios with a more scalable success rate (like “The Midnight Masks”) I would even give up on some goals in order to avoid failing the weakness. Even more so if this is the beginning of a campaign.

Burn, baby, burn!

I have to admit, I have mixed feelings about the thematic aspect of the card. I mean, name of the card and its relation with clues make sense. Roland is a federal agent, so might feel compelled to hide the proof of Eldritch Forces’ existence out of public sight. However, the further we delve into detailed card design, the less sense the card makes. Roland does not literally destroy the clue; he just investigates with no result. I understand it is supposed not to make scenario completion impossible (thus having a very good game play justification), but why than is he forced to do it only on location with clues? Seems like a way to get out of the questionable design choice to me. Furthermore, suffering mental trauma due to failing his task seems to be barely linked to the theme – does he suffer permanent damage to his mental stability, because he didn’t cover up the facts? Is his remorse SO STRONG?

I would much rather imagine the weakness as imposing some sort of penalty to investigating that could be dealt with by sacrificing actions/passing a test at the end of the turn (see: “Wrecking Nightmares”). Or maybe each investigation attempt should be tougher and cost extra action (because he’s just as focused at investigating as on cover up, which hampers the progress and makes it more difficult?) until he discovers certain amount of clues (burying some evidence in the process, thematically speaking).

Strength

Theme

Deck-building options/Class: As I have already mentioned, Roland’s class is bit different, than I would imagine. I don’t think there’s a need for me to repeat it again. It is, however, a very effective mix, allowing for quite some customization (even more with upcoming expansions and wider card range).

He obviously has access to all the Guardian cards, so can come to scenarios armed to the teeth. He can also stock on some amount of cards helping with the investigation, depending on your play style. I have tried more of a balanced build as well as a rather “Guardian-ish” approach and both work, if paired with an adequately prepared partner. On top of that, upgraded Magnifying Glass seems almost to be created for investigators, who need free hands for fighting. It can be returned, when needed and re-used later on and it is within his deck-building restrictions – in other words, looks like custom made for Roland (did he order some custom made investigation tools at the office?)!

 He can also use some of the more support type cards (Old Book of Lore, First Aid). Based on the previews we can expect more of a “team-focused” Guardian cards to be released sooner or later, so you can also make him bit of a support character, if needed. Plus, with Physical Training and Hyperawareness he can boost any of the 4 skills by spending resources!

Strength

Theme

All in all, Roland is more than a Guardian. He’s a very versatile character with few “builds” available to specialize him, if desired. He is definitely designed with a leitmotif in mind – clues. Therefore he does have unique “feel” of his own. On top of it, he’s rather easy to play – you don’t need to pull out any complicated schemes nor rely on combos to play him efficiently. Just kill the monsters and gather evidence.

His Achilles’ heel is low sanity combined with his personal weakness, capable of permanently lowering it even more. For me personally, one of his strengths is also a slight disadvantage – he feels sort of too straightforward to play, not leaving too much room for improvisation and finesse – just play him “by the book” (wasn’t he supposed to give up on “the book”?) and expect it to pay off.     

Strength

Theme

¹ Skids’ ability is literally an extra action, just as Daisy’s. Wendy’s ability allows her to redo a test, which often simply allows you to “save” the action you spent (more about it in a separate article about her). The trend continues through Dunwich Legacy, too – Zoey, Jenny, Rex, all have abilities, which more or less imitate an extra action. It’s not a bad choice per se, since most of them are still unique enough and not too obviously aimed at being “just an extra action”. Also, some of them clearly have nothing in common with being a free action (see: Pete).

² It is, while we're on the subject, one of few minor things annoying me in Eldritch Horror – many cards being carbon copies of characters’ abilities.

 All images are courtesy of cardgamedb.com and fantasyflightgames.com