Playing Arkham Horror the Card Game involves selecting an investigator, building a deck, then completing scenarios by moving, investigating, and fighting, while managing your resources and health.
Embark on a journey into the terrifying world of Arkham, where ancient evils stir. You want to know how to play Arkham Horror the card game, right? It’s a cooperative game where you become an investigator battling cosmic horrors.
This requires strategic card play and a bit of luck. You’ll need to work with other players to overcome the challenges set before you in each scenario. Prepare yourself for a thrilling experience.
How to Play Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Welcome, brave investigator! Are you ready to delve into the chilling world of Arkham Horror: The Card Game? This game, full of mystery and spooky things, lets you become a detective trying to stop bad things from happening. It can seem a little complicated at first, but don’t worry! This guide will walk you through everything you need to know, making it easy to learn how to play Arkham Horror. We’ll break down each step, so you can start battling monsters and solving puzzles in no time.
Understanding the Basics
Before we jump into a game, let’s get familiar with the core concepts. Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a cooperative living card game (LCG). This means you and your friends work together against the game. You won’t be playing against each other; you’ll all be battling the same evil forces. The game involves playing cards, using skills, and making important choices that affect the story. Every game is different, with various scenarios that challenge you in unique ways. So, let’s look into what makes up this creepy adventure!
The Investigator: Your Character
At the heart of the game is your investigator. Each player chooses a unique investigator with their own special abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. These investigators come with their own decks that you will use to complete scenarios. Think of them as your hero in the story. Here’s what you should know about your investigator:
- Investigator Card: This card shows your investigator’s health, sanity, skills (like intellect, combat, and agility), and special abilities. It’s your go-to reference during gameplay.
- Starting Resources: Your investigator usually begins with a certain amount of resources, which are like money that you use to play cards.
- Starting Deck: Each investigator has a specific deck of cards that suits their play style. This includes event cards, asset cards, and skill cards. You need your deck to deal with the challenges the game throws at you.
The Game Board: The Locations
The game board is made up of different location cards. These locations are where the action happens and where you will do your investigating. Each location might have clues, enemies, or special text that you must follow. You move between these locations during the game. Here’s what to understand about them:
- Location Connections: Location cards have arrows showing which locations they connect to. This tells you where you can move.
- Clues and Shrouds: Some locations have clues, which you’ll need to gather to advance in the scenario. Shrouds make it harder to investigate a location. The higher the shroud number, the harder it will be.
- Special Abilities and Text: Some locations have special abilities or text that you must follow. This could affect your actions or the scenario itself.
The Encounter Deck: The Spooky Stuff
The encounter deck is a pile of cards that throws unexpected events your way, like monsters, strange places, and bad happenings. You’ll draw from the encounter deck each round. It adds a layer of surprise and tension to every game. Here are the things you’ll find:
- Enemies: These are the creepy crawlies and monsters you’ll need to defeat.
- Treachery: These cards throw some bad event at you, making things more challenging.
- Locations: Sometimes you’ll have to draw new locations from the encounter deck.
The Agenda and Act Decks
The Agenda and Act decks are what move the story forward in Arkham Horror. The agenda deck usually makes things worse and moves the scenario towards doom. The Act deck moves the scenario toward your goals. Here’s how they work:
- The Agenda Deck: The Agenda deck represents the evil plans going on behind the scenes. During each round, you’ll add doom tokens to the agenda card and when a certain amount of doom is added, this usually triggers a bad effect.
- The Act Deck: The Act deck guides you on what you need to do to win the scenario. By advancing the act card, you move the story forward.
Setting Up Your First Game
Now that you have a good idea of the components, let’s set up the game.
Choosing a Scenario
Arkham Horror: The Card Game is played in scenarios, which are like mini-stories. You can pick any scenario from the box or expansions you own. For your first game, start with the first scenario in the core set, “The Gathering.”
Selecting Investigators
Each player chooses an investigator. Read the investigator card carefully and understand their special abilities and starting deck list.
Preparing the Play Area
Once you have picked your investigators, follow these steps to setup the game:
- Location Deck: Place the location cards indicated in the scenario instructions face up on the table. Place your investigators at the location given in scenario.
- Agenda and Act Decks: Place the first card from the agenda and act decks face up, according to the scenario’s instruction.
- Encounter Deck: Put the cards for the encounter deck in a pile.
- Investigator Decks: Each investigator shuffles their deck and places it in front of them.
- Resource Tokens and Other Tokens: Place the various tokens (resource, health, sanity, clue, doom, etc) within reach of all players.
- Chaos Bag: Place the tokens in the chaos bag. This is an important part of the game that introduces an element of luck and uncertainty.
Gameplay: A Round-by-Round Guide
A single round in Arkham Horror consists of five phases. You must complete these phases to move forward in the game. Here’s what each phase looks like:
Mythos Phase
The Mythos Phase is usually where bad things happen. You draw encounter cards, add doom to the agenda and make checks. It’s where the horror comes to you.
- Add Doom: Add doom tokens to the agenda card as instructed.
- Draw Encounter Card: Each player draws one encounter card. Resolve its effects, which may include battling enemies, dealing with treachery or having to go to new locations.
Investigation Phase
This is the phase where you take your actions. You’ll be exploring, fighting, and using your skills. During the investigation phase you can perform 3 actions.
- Move: Move to a connected location.
- Investigate: Try to find clues at your location.
- Fight: Attack an enemy at your location.
- Evade: Try to move past an enemy without fighting it.
- Draw a Card: Draw a card from your deck.
- Gain a Resource: Gain a resource token.
- Play a Card: Play an asset or event card from your hand.
- Engage: Move into combat with an enemy.
Enemy Phase
During the Enemy Phase, monsters will attack or move around. This phase usually involves dealing with the results of the monsters around.
- Ready Enemies: Enemies that are exhausted become ready.
- Enemy Attacks: Enemies attack investigators who are engaged with them.
- Enemy Movement: Enemies that are not engaged move towards investigators using their movement abilities.
Upkeep Phase
The upkeep phase prepares you for the next round. You get some resources and draw cards again. This also marks the end of the round.
- Ready Cards: Ready any cards that were exhausted.
- Draw Cards: Draw cards up to your hand limit.
- Gain Resources: Gain resource tokens, usually one per investigator.
Skill Tests and the Chaos Bag
A vital part of Arkham Horror is skill tests. Whenever you investigate, fight, evade, or use certain cards, you will have to test your skills. This is where the chaos bag comes in. When you make a skill test, you will pick a token from the chaos bag. The value on the token will add to or subtract from your skill value.
How Skill Tests Work
Here’s a breakdown of how skill tests work:
- Determine Your Skill Value: You’ll see a value of your skill on your investigator card, like intellect or combat.
- Modify Your Skill: You might play skill cards or use some abilities to increase or decrease this value.
- Draw from the Chaos Bag: Randomly draw a token from the chaos bag. Each token has a value or a special symbol.
- Calculate Your Result: Add the value of the chaos token to your modified skill. If the resulting number is equal to or greater than the skill value that you needed to succeed on the test, then you have passed the test.
The Chaos Bag Tokens
The chaos bag contains various tokens. These tokens add randomness and challenge to every skill test. The tokens typically have negative values, a +1 value and a special symbol that has some unique meaning based on the rules of the scenario. Be careful of these tokens as they can greatly affect your success!
Winning and Losing
Like any game, Arkham Horror has conditions for winning and losing. How you win or lose will vary by scenario. The Act Deck usually tells you how to win the scenario.
Winning the Scenario
To win, you have to complete the objectives listed on the current Act card, such as collecting a certain number of clues or defeating specific enemies.
Losing the Scenario
You lose the scenario if the Agenda deck advances to its final card or when all the investigators are either defeated or insane. It is important to understand the different ways that you can lose and take steps to avoid them.
Tips for Playing Better
Here are some important tips to enhance your Arkham Horror gameplay:
- Plan Together: Arkham Horror is a cooperative game, so discuss your plans with the other players.
- Manage Your Resources: Use your resources wisely. Don’t spend them all at once.
- Understand Your Investigator: Each investigator is different. Play to their strengths.
- Look for Clues: Clues are needed to advance, so make sure you take actions to get them.
- Don’t Be Afraid to Fail: Sometimes, you’ll draw a bad chaos token. That’s part of the game, and it’s important to keep going even if things don’t go your way.
Playing Arkham Horror: The Card Game for the first time can feel like a big task. Remember to take it one step at a time. Start with the basics, focus on playing the scenario, and don’t worry too much about winning. The most important part of Arkham Horror is working together and enjoying the spooky world of the game. With some practice, you’ll be a pro investigator in no time.
Arkham Horror: The Card Game – How To Play
Final Thoughts
To play, you must choose an investigator, build your deck, and confront scenarios. Players take turns performing actions, drawing cards, and battling enemies. Remember, cooperation is vital for success in this game.
Understanding the core mechanics, such as skill tests and encounter draws, will assist you. Manage your resources wisely. Learning how to play arkham horror the card game involves constant adaptation.
Focus on teamwork and plan your moves. This will allow you to overcome any challenge that this game throws at you.
