Essex County Express - New cards

Fantasy Flight Games is releasing new Mythos Packs at a very decent pace. Not long after the previous card-discussing post it’s time for a new one. Essex County Express has arrived, bringing 12 new player cards (2 from each class)! I will give cards more a detailed look this time. Please let me know if you found it useful!

There are two new neutral cards with the permanent keyword, granting investigators an extra slot. At a reasonable cost of 3 experience points you can try some fancy combinations of assets. As of now, Charisma is definitely the stronger one. There are multiple strong allies out there (not to mention few you can get during the Dunwich Legacy campaign). There are multiple valid combinations, so I don’t think it’s worth to mention all of them, just please keep an eye on following options. You can have two copies of the same ally in the game (particularly Beat Cop), just make sure it’s not a unique one! You should also be aware of possible using the extra slot to play one time effect allies (Seekers have two at this moment) If you are really planning to center your game on allies, two copies of Charisma might come even more handy.

Charisma is a cool and needed card.
And makes me want having Charlie Kane even more!

There are significantly fewer strong accessories as of now, though one can think of a good use for Relic Hunter. Particularly Waitress-Witch Agnes seems to be the best candidate as of now. I personally wasn’t able to fit any copies of Rabbit’s Foot in her deck, but it seems to be a valid choice, particularly with the new permanent talent around. I have also encountered different ideas, some of which seemed controversial or suboptimal to me. First one was Roland with Elder Sign Amulet and Police Badge – just too much XP invested, in my opinion. The other was Zoey with a Holy Rosary and Zoey’s Cross – rather a debatable idea of filling the out of class slots with Holy Rosary. Accidentally, Police Badge sounds like a decent option for her, if the goal is to boost her Will. With Relic Hunter in the card pool we can hopefully expect to see more accessories in future Mythos Packs.¹

One may just wonder, why being a Relic Hunter gives you an additional neck to hang a necklace on.

The list of “slot adding” cards does not end here. Guardians got Bandolier, an elegant solution to their constant hand – related issues. While not allowing them to reach quite the Kali level, it provides a much needed help. Guardians have been struggling with the hand slot limitations pretty much since day 0. Regardless of what do you need more slots for – to put a Flashlight/Magnifying Glass, or just to be able to pull out both Shotgun and Machete, Bandolier provides a strong help. A requirement to use the extra slot for a weapon is trivial, as you’re going to have one anyway. One extra health is just a cherry on top. Bandolier is in a way a similar card to Book of Shadows – giving a free slot, but occupying another one. However, it fills a rather less useful slot and costs no XP.

The next Blue card is an absolute blast. I was waiting to finally include it in my decks since I’ve seen the preview. You all know, how much I love the team cards and this one is not only playing right into the theme. It is also a very strong one! For one action and one card you get 4 resources and 4 cards. Moreover, usually spreading the gain is much more effective, as excessive cards need to be discarded.² AND it has two Will icons! What a great card and what a headache for Guardians – they have so many great cards to consider already, when leveling up.

Usual graphics rant:
Why is one investigator and ghost?
What kind of strange glasses does the other one have?

Seekers got one upgraded and one un-upgraded card as well. Art Student is rather on the weaker end of the spectrum. Clue for an action is not terribly efficient – unless you need to deal with Locked Door – kind of situation or a tough location, you could just as well investigate. Bit of a damage/horror buffer dos not sound too strong neither, as she occupies the ally slot (more about slots and opportunity costs here). The best idea to use her would be for a character with Charisma, particularly Roland, who needs extra Sanity the most. In this way she reminds a bit of Laboratory Assistant.

The upgraded Deduction is a card we saw coming. Not only because of the previews, but also due to the role it fills. It is nicely balanced; getting full benefit out of it is not too easy. Cost of two XP makes it a viable choice for Roland (and possibly more incoming investigators, who can take cards of level 0-2 from a single second class). With more and more of similar cards, Double or Nothing will get even stronger - can you imagine getting 6 clues with this synergy in a single action?! It also begs the question, if we’ll see similarly upgraded versions of Vicious Blow, Fearless and (tougher to imagine, as the design would have to be non-obvious) Opportunist and Survival Instinct.

Rogues finally got a good weapon! While stocking on different interesting little cards, they have been so far lacking a pure power, easy to use means of fighting and investigating. We’ll have to wait more for the later to come; a strong weapon has finally arrived, though. Switchblade’s 0 level version is very poor, the stronger 2 XP one is definitely superior. The Combat boost provides a decent shot at succeeding and – more importantly – at doing some serious damage, further expanding the “succeed by 2 or more” Rogue theme. While still not a perfect weapon (it’s basically a fast, unlimited uses version of .41 Derringer), it finally gives Rogues a chance to deal with enemies at cost of 2 XP. It will definitely be an auto-include for me.

Easily the last taken Green card.

 "I'm outta here!" sparked quite a discussion on a Polish AH:TCG group I am member of. A very strong observation has been made – many cards with two icons can be seen primarily as committable ones. Option to play them for their “real” effect is merely a nice addition. One can compare them with the neutral skill cards – they also primarily offer two icons. So is the new level 0 rogue card – you will use it very rarely. You can, however just commit it at any Agility test for juicy 2 icons.

There is one problem with this view – skill cards allow you to draw a card, if you pass the test. It is a very strong effect, basically a FREE ACTION. It is not to be easily disregarded. In fact, it costs 2 XP to upgrade Lucky! to a stronger, card drawing version! Therefore, having a non-skill card, that will be used just for icons, in most of the cases sounds like a poor choice to me. You could theoretically want to have more 2-icon cards and choose I’m outta here! or Oops! For this purpose, but it’s rather unlikely. 

Resigning is sometimes a valid option (and in rare cases even a way to win a scenario!), however the card seems very situational. I am not sure if I’d include any copy without knowing in advance it’d be useful in a particular scenario. And I rather prefer not to optimize decks for scenarios (as mentioned here). The card deserves some extra credit for being a very thematic one (by thematic I mean – very character – suiting one, having a strong RPG feel).

My favorite class (Mystics) did not get any obvious powerhouses this time, though they do not have a reason to complain neither. Level 3 version of Shrivelling, offering an extra Will boost is a decent card. While Agnes might not need the bonus too heavily, it’s a life-saver for Jim. Along with Book of the Dead he can become a very proficient fighter. It is bit unfortunate, it is not a level 2 card – Daisy and other future characters limited to 2 level cards could really use the bonus. 

*SPOILER ALERT* The card makes much more sense, when put into long term perspective. We happen to know there will be level 5 version of Shrivelling. It makes sense to take a lesser one on your way (due to the rule, allowing you to pay the XP cost of level difference only), not to have “saved XP” not yielding any benefit. *SPOILER ALERT*.

Hypnotic Gaze is another card, gaining an extra edge when used by Jim (told ya huh?). And another one, allowing players to use symbol tokens to their advantage, which is a nice design touch – not everything has black’n’white effects on the gameplay. At first sight It seems bit costly, compared to Dodge. However, it is mostly due to it not exactly being a Mystic-themed card (avoiding damage is not a typical Mystic thing), while Dodge fits perfectly in the Guardian archetype. To get beyond your usual capabilities, you must pay a higher price. While Jim gets an extra token he can use to trigger the second part of Hypnotic Gaze, it has added value for everyone. Daisy is particularly interested in avoiding damage and should consider having a copy or two. Agnes will be very happy about the “Spell” trait.

The only high level Survivor card.

Survivors once again got a nice interesting card. Newspaper is a very unusual boost to investigating – only working if you have no clues. It is very hard to establish how useful this card is, without knowing a particular scenario. There are scenarios like “Midnight Masks”, in which it might help you a lot. There are also quite a few, during which you only spend clues once or twice – it would make Newspaper significantly weaker than a Flashlight.

Newspaper is obviously weaker than Magnifying Glass. It is to be expected, though – Seekers excel at gathering clues, hence their clue related cards have to be the strongest ones out there. It is much more interesting (and useful!) to compare it with a Flashlight. They both provide a boost of two. Flashlight’s Shroud reduction is a bit more handy, though. First of all, reducing the Shroud to 0 all but guarantees succeeding (only auto-fail chaos token would cause you to fail the test). Secondly, it provides a stronger help, when using Double or Nothing!. Finally, it helps with locations which are not investigated using Intellect. Flashlight is a bit more expensive. Most of the value difference will be decided by how many times you are able to use them. For Flashlight the answer is simple, it has 3 charges. Newspaper’s uses, as I mentioned before are uncertain – in some scenarios you can definitely use it more often than 3 times. In some, just once or twice (particularly if drawn later). A good item for both Agnes and Pete to get their first clue (Pete can use it first while investigating on his own, using Duke at the 2^nd try.)

Lure makes me a bit worried. It’s a 3^rd Survivor level 1 card in a row, which means there are not too many high level red cards to take. It’s made even worse by Flare and Fire Extinguisher being Exile-based cards. Moreover, Lure is not too strong of a card, neither. To use it efficiently you need a triangle of locations, one of which contains hunter enemy, one with the character himself and a 3^rd one, where you plan to go. As already discussed earlier, two icons do not make a situational card good by themselves. Lure would be definitely a better card if it lasted one more turn, effectively keeping the monster trapped or at least making him to chase it for longer. It hurts even more, as the card costs 1 XP, I wouldn’t be sure if I’d include it even if it was a 0 level card.

TL;DR version:

Strongest/Weakest card: Stand Together/Lure 

Most/least thematic cards: "I'm outta here!"/Relic Hunter

My favorite/ least favorite card: Switchblade/Art Student

¹I am also still waiting for a cool Tome for Daisy! Even a stronger version of Encyclopedia or Old Book of Lore wouldn’t be too bad.

²Not to mention the law of diminishing marginal utility, which just as applicable in board games as in real life.

Miskatonic Univeristy - New Player Cards (vol II)

Hello again my dear readers. As promised on Sunday, I am providing an analysis of selected cards. I have decided to include Pathfinder in the article as well, as it deserves few more words, given the general comparison one can make based on it. 

Instead of "ora et labora" Brother Xavier's motto is
Pray and shoot!

The first one, however, is Brother Xavier. I do have to agree, it’s not a terribly powerful card. The reason for it is the alternative cost – he takes up a slot usually taken by Beat Cop. Particularly its upgraded version is a powerful ally – increasing Combat and allowing for some test-free damage. In case of Skids’ Leo provides another worthy alternative. Most of the priest’s usefulness comes from being a damage/horror buffer. Unfortunately it’s not as big of a buffer as one would imagine. Barely one Sanity more than Beat Cop. He can, in fact, deal just as much damage as the beat Cop (2) does, you cannot control the timing though, which limits the tasks he’s capable of performing. Bonus to Will, while very thematic, has limited applications. Two main ones coming to my mind are protection against the encounter deck and helping Zoey becoming a more proficient spellcaster.

The alternative cost is the key. Please consider cards like Bulletproof Vest or Elder Sign Amulet – they provide less protection and no other benefits, yet cost more experience and can easily be considered better cards. The reason for it is – they do not take an ally slot, the alternatives are much weaker. There are barely any cards for the body slot. There are few necklaces. However, they rarely compete with Elder Sign, as they have different users. Generally speaking, the most powerful assets can be found among the allies.

I am very happy, though, with the team work approach the ally has. I am a big fan of all the cooperation elements. Shielding your teammates from the dangers is a classic. Just as a classic is the tank character, absorbing all the damage – it seems designers include this sub-class within Guardian class. It’s worth noting, Guardians are low-Sanity characters and are usually paired with low-Stamina ones, making Xavier a useful damage absorber for both team members! With "I've had worse" added to the mix, the Tank sub-class seems to slowly emerge.

Is it Jack Montrey on the picture?

Card that can be considered in relation to Brother Xavier is Pathfinder. You can ask, why? They are nothing alike! This is a true observation. Let me try to explain. Pathfinder is a powerful card, basically providing a free action per turn. Still it wouldn’t be considered as powerful, was it occupying the ally slot. Just as Brother Xavier would be a solid card, if he wasn’t.

The idea I’m trying to implant in your mind is – a vital part of cards strength is the alternative cost. And vital part of alternative cost is the slot it occupies. If a card takes no slot, even a weaker benefit might make it worthy including in the deck.

Pathfinder is obviously blast of a card. For 1 XP (!) you get a talent allowing you to have an additional action once per turn. Granted, it has restrictions (only a move action, only if you are not engaged with an enemy, only during your turn). But a free action means doing 1/3 more stuff per your turn – this is truly what you’re missing the most – actions. And move action is one of the most universal one – performed multiple times in basically any scenario. 

Out of 3 characters, which can include Pathfinder in their deck, I believe it’s the strongest for Rex. Having the card allows him to use his double-powerful investigation action more often. He also clears locations from clue tokens quicker, hence having to move more often in general. I’m not trying to say it’s not an obvious choice for Roland or Daisy, though – it clearly is a very good choice for both of them, too.

Using right set of notes you can make dead dance

 Last, but not least, I’d like to have a look at Song of Dead. I absolutely adore the design of this card for 2 reasons.

First of all, it has a non-obvious design. One can easily create a stronger Shrivelling, adding more damage, charges etc. to it. Song of Dead is a combat spell, which works differently. It has many small advantages – its costs is lower, it has more charges (hence one charge costs 0.4 resources compared to 0.75)^1, never causes you to lose sanity (arguably this might be minor flaw for Agnes) and gives a slight bonus to the test. The only (though a hefty) shortcoming is the damage output – it basically only deals one damage per attack. Randomly getting a skull token is not a result you can reliably count on getting…

…unless you help your luck a bit. This slowly brings us to the other reason why I like this card. It is a very thematic, custom made card for Jim. At the same time it is still a card other characters can consider to use – particularly Daisy with her low Will can consider having a copy or two to face minor enemies.

Speaking about Jim – our jazz musician can dearly benefit from playing the Song of Dead. His Will is slightly lower than Agnes’. Therefore the boost is appreciated, giving him higher chances for succeeding the test. The critical piece focuses around drawing a skull for the added damage. Jim not only has an added chance to get a token, as he can treat Elder Sign as Skull. He also very often uses the Grotesque Statue a lot (more about it in upcoming post about him). Using the statue increases chances of getting a skull even further! Here is some useful piece of math for you:

If there are 2 Skulls and one Elder Sign tokens in the bag, chances of drawing at least one Skull/Elder Sign token are²- 37% for 15 tokens in the bag, 35% for 16 tokens in the bag, 33% for 17 tokens and almost 31.5% for 18 tokens. Of course matter of damage is not so easy – sometimes one damage is enough (in this situation Song of Dead is actually superior to Shrivelling), sometimes you need 2 (the opposite is true). When trying to maximize the damage (trying to take down some major threat) even a 15 token chaos bag yields a worse average damage (1.84, not counting increased chances of succeeding due to a boost to Will). Last piece of pure math-stats³ – total damage done with all charges – 9.2 on average, compared to 8 of Shrivelling. This includes using Grotesque Statue on every attack though; so we’re talking 0XP against 6.

I hope I didn't bore you with too much math.

Taking math into account card does not look too powerful, taking into account the XP cost. Suddenly it becomes a tool to deal only with 1HP opponents (or enemies who only have 1HP left). Unless, of course, you’re playing Jim and can alternate between standard use and boosted by Grotesque Statue attempts at dealing 3 damage.

What cards are your favorites? Do you have more interesting thoughts about cards discussed above? Please share'em with me and don't forget to visit Delve Too Deep's posts about new cards (links in my previous post about Miskatonic cards) 

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

1 It’s bit of an oversimplification, obviously. Card costing 20 resources for unlimited charges would have an even better cost: however being so costly would almost totally prevent you from playing the card at all.

2 This is by far most common scenario. All calculations are rounded and delivered in percent, even though I personally prefer simple fractions.

3 As in point 1, math approach is bit of an oversimplification here, just providing some insight into actual usefulness of the card.

Jenny Barnes: The Dilletante

Jenny is a character, who has had the smallest personal Mythos related experience (hence her “occupation”). It is limited to learning about a bizarre disappearance of her sister. She’s been presented as a daring, adventurous and self-confident woman. An important part of her image consists also of being both rich and charismatic. 

Legacy: Jenny’s design has always been centered on her wealth – be it seemingly infinite amount of money in Arkham Horror or high influence and an asset acquiring related ability in Eldritch. She was also given fairly fight – leaning stats (which is only slightly kept in AH:TCG through her signature card).

Old Jenny graphic is bit to slutty for my taste¹

Skill values: She has a surprising set of all-average stats. While it makes it hard for her to be very proficient easily at any area, she has quite some ways of adapting (very rogue-ish thing, ain’t it?). You must approach the stats in connection with her deckbuilding options and the special ability – they allow hr to use lots of different, even very expensive assets to boost her stats. She can be designed to fit almost any role in the team, as well as play a wild card, if desired. This is why her skills are on the stronger side, despite (usually detrimental) lack of specialization.  

While I would expect her design to be more consistent with the previous installments of Arkham Files, it provides an interesting and thematic twist to the idea of character. Her adaptability and wealth come stronger into picture, putting more of an individual mark.

Strength

Theme

New graphics - guns and hat are still around
And so classy!

 
Special Ability: Like most of the Dunwich characters, Jenny possesses a strong special ability. An additional resource each turn is pretty much a free action each turn. On one hand, it’s true, that taking a resource is bit of a slightly subpar action. On the other, it is an action, which usefulness might come in handy delayed – a free move action is either useful this turn or not at all and hence completely wasted. Free resource might pay off in 2-3 turns. It also opens new deck-building capabilities (as already mentioned before). You should definitely consider it, when building Jenny’s deck in many ways – you can take more expansive assets, use a lot of “spend resource” talents (Hard Knocks etc.), maybe give up on Emergency Cache’s?

Jenny’s ability is quite a straightforward design choice, once again – like in Rex’ case – nicely tied with her original Arkham Horror ability.

Jenny’s Elder Sign effect is one of many “+ a lot” effects, hardly useful, though due to the link with resources, rather thematic.  

Strength

Theme

Signature Cards: Jenny gets a very powerful weapon. +2 paired with her decent Combat and some ways to improve it (Hard Knocks, Physical Training) she can become a formidable fighter. And topped with Double or Nothing! it can easily deal some damage in one action. Unfortunately it’s only one card in a deck and Jenny has a hard time getting all the extra buffs for damage (Vicious Blow) with limited capabilities for Guardian cards. So she still has a hard time being the main fighter.

The pistols have two main drawbacks. Firstly, they have limited uses. This is a minor drawback, as they have one bullet for each resource you spend, when playing the card – and you can expect Jenny to have plenty! If planned right, she can have enough ammo for the remaining of a scenario. The biggest drawback is taking 2 hand slots. It is not a huge issue if despite Jenny’s limitation you design her as the main fighter. However it comes in a way, if you plan to use some other items – Flashlight or Magnifying Glass for investigating, for instance. And in all honestly, I don’t think she’s best suited to be the main fighter, hence her weapon, while having its merits, is also a bit problematic.

Since Arkham Times players around the globe see Jenny with her favorite guns in her hands. I enjoy using them a lot, since it really does feel like being Jenny just as much as the extra resources do. They are neatly tied with her resources ability (having a consistent character design is always a plus in my book).

All The Dunwich Signature cards use the same pattern for the skill icons.

Jenny’s weakness is for me a place where theme unfortunately won with the pure game. Why? Well, the card is incredibly thematic – not only because of the relation with Jenny’s story and relating it to her original personal story mission from Arkham Horror. It is also thematically harsh – you need to go to the farthest location, spend time investigating and do it well enough to convince Jenny her sister is not there. For sure. Nothing was overlooked. Keep going.

I believe the weakness is too harsh, though. It requires spending at least 2-3 actions for running to the location. On the way Jenny¹ might be forced to deal with enemies she would have otherwise skipped. Once there, another 2 actions are spent on an investigation attempt, which might fail (and Jenny is not a master of investigation)… The only silver lining is – Jenny can afford a mental trauma if needed, but it’s hardly a significant comfort.

Strength

Theme

Deckbuilding/Class: Out of all Dunwich characters Jenny seems to suffer the most. Rogue deck has some pretty cool cards, increasing the efficiency of actions (Opportunist, Double or Nothing, Elusive) or second choice weapon (.41 Derringer). However they lack any means of investigating and basically any reliable means to consistently perform decently at any area. She can attain some level of competence with the out of class cards, but it usually feels bit subpar. She does still feel bit stronger than Skids due to far higher adaptability, though. I strongly advise to take some talents, depending on the needs to make best use out of her special ability. Biggest strength of her options are many, many directions you can take when designing her deck.

I don’t feel Jenny fitting the shoes of a Dunwich character too strongly. I would expect her to have some wider choice of cards due to her flexibility as well as riches. Seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Strength

Theme

Jenny is a very thematic character, with perhaps the most interesting design of all of her Arkham Files incarnations. She also seems to personalize the Rogue archetype better than her ex-con colleague, as she can play any required role with solid efficiency or act as a versatile support character. She has a very high replayability, as she offers multiple different builds. I hope expanding card pool will make her even more playable.

Strength

Theme

¹ Why do so many female characters be necessarily sexy? I understand most of the gamers are man,but does anyone buy a game because of suggestive graphics of woman? REALLY?

² Or, technically speaking, another investigator. Why does Jenny believe that they did everything they could and looked very carefully for all the possible evidence? I guess the trust in the team is a huge one.