AH LCG: The Wages of Sin

This is a fun game, but I was disappointed in the length of time and the expansion content. The core game comes with three scenarios, I played the first scenario 2-3 times to get a handle on the rules, then I played through the other two. The core game provides 3-4 hours of gameplay with moderate replay value, which I think is fine for the price. However, in order to make all the characters useful you really need the expansion box cards, and the expansions only come with 1 or 2 scenarios. The remaining scenarios are purchased through card packs for $15 each. This means that in order to buy a full "expansion cycle", which contains I think 8 scenarios, you would need to spend around 100-115 dollars. Since each scenario lasts only around 30-45 minutes, you're spending over 100 dollars on 5-8 hours of gameplay. Replay value is moderate, but I'm disappointed in the game model, i think It's designed to be expensive for the time you get out of it, at least compared to similar board games.

Stand alone this game leaves much to be desired. There's only one three part campaign, and that campaign is really just a tutorial campaign since this is just the core set. Another major problem is that even though it says 1 copy is for 1-2 players you really need 2 copies for a full playset of all the class cards and enough neutral cards for 2 players. And if you want enough cards for more than 2 players, than you'll need even more than 2 copies of the core set. I would like to give this game a higher rating, because to me the gameplay is very well designed and balanced, and I personally love Arkham Horror themed games, but I can't objectively give this game a higher rating.I will just end with this, you should definitely do some serious research in to this game before you buy, and if money isn't an issue, then this is truly a great game.

Before you consider purchasing this, you need to know this is a living card game. That is, that the game is not designed to be replayed over and over again (although there is some replayability). Instead, every month an expansion is released for the game that offers new scenarios and some other new pieces. These can add up - the price for all the modules currently released at the time of this release rings up somewhere in the $550-$600 range. These are released in $12-25 packs, so it makes it more palatable, for those who are willing to buy in. However, if investing that much into a game isn’t something you’re interested in, it’s probably best you go somewhere else. If the buy in is something you’re into, the game can be a real blast.The base game is for two players, though buying a second set can expand up to 4 players. It offers three scenarios to play through, each taking roughly an hour and a half to complete. You work in cooperation to overcome the situation you’re facing. These scenarios can be played again without problem, but it does lack the replayability of many other games. There isn’t a ton of variance game to game; the scenarios really are designed to only be played once (and a few times at the varying difficulties) before you move on to another campaign. If you’re looking for something you can play a hundred times, the Arkham Horror board game might be what you’re looking for.All in all, as long as you know what you’re getting into, this game is an absolute joy to play. The game mechanics are very fun, the stories are engaging, and the chaos bag is an excellent way to slide the difficulty of the scenarios and bring a challenge to something you believe you know well.

If you are unfamiliar with the LCG idea, what we have here is a collectible card game, like Magic, except you get everything you need by buying one pack. No rarity, no tradeing, just buy it and play it. Build a deck, and play with a few players cooperatively, trying to survive in the horrific world inspired by H.P. Lovecraft while you uncover mysteries better left covered.Simple to learn by the standards of LCG's and other Collectible Card Games, Arkham Horror combines an interesting setting and theme with surprisingly robust story/RPG component, and core gameplay just as deep and meaningful as big names like Magic, Game of Thrones and Netrunner. Add on a very single player friendly style of play, imaginative use of mechanics as a way to tell a story, a rock solid community, and plain old, nuts and bolts solid design, and you have a game worth getting dedicated to. Quality of components, tokens, and art are all solid, and if you get in now (early 2017), then it will be easy to stay up to date.The downside, as per every Fantasy Flight LCG, is core set waste, and its exasperated here. One Core set is playable for 2 people, but you want 2 to maximize you deck building options for 2 people (And have 4 players be possible), and possibly 4 if you want total control of your deck for 4 players. If you are the one supplying the game to your friends, then you only need 1 core worth of enemy cards and tokens, and maybe 2 core sets worth of neutral cards. Everything else in later cores which you buy for the player cards is pointless, and spending full price when half of what you buy could go in the garbage without you noticing leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and punishes the players most loyal to the game. Seriously, just figure out what you save on materials and printing by eliminating the extras, subtract that from the core set cost, and sell that. I don't care if it saves me 5 bucks, at least it will save a few trees.Note that I have bought 4 of these, and it was still worth it. It's a fantastic game that makes up for this one pointless handicap.

Caveat Emptor indeed. It wasn't at all clear in the ads or even on Fantasy Flight's own website, both of which -in both product descriptions plus the fact the original set is out of print- give the impression this is a revamped and complete version of 'The Dunwich Legacy'. But the fact is this is NOT everything you need to play any version of 'The Dunwich Legacy', so if you do not have that box set already -and it is not easy or cheap to get (Fantasy Flight themselves are out of stock and the cheapest -only!- english-language edition on Amazon costs over £50: fully twice the rrp!)- this is not a recommended purchase.However. What 'Return to the Dunwich Legacy' is, is EXACTLY what the title says: no more, no less -pedantically, a number of cards (a LARGE number) that CAN be used in place of cards that were already included in the core 'Arkham Horror' set and the 'The Dunwich Legacy' expansion set, but which both those products will still play fine without. And a nice box you can keep them all in, with headed separator cards to help organize them by scenario (for the scenario cards) and by set (such as 'rats', and 'creeping chill' etc). There are even titled separator cards prepared for the other expansion sets ('mythos packs') such as 'The Miskatonic Museum' and 'The Essex County Express', none of which cards are included in 'Return''.The marketing stategy is clear -to maximize income from each scenario set while at the same time maximizing replayability for the existing playerbase: a win-win for all in the final analysis, but 'all' defined as only FFG, lcg retailers and those long-time players. (The Ancient Ones?) New players -like myself- meanwhile are presented with an obstacle that may deter further investment/exploration of the hobby if they buy the product thinking it appears to be a new 'deluxe' edition of the otherwise largely unavailable (or at least elusive) 1st expansion and then it arrives and turns out to be merely an expansion of the expansion, so to speak.Having said all that, if I can track down a copy of the original expansion for a reasonable price (and at time of writing I think I may have) I suspect the 'Return'' box will be well worth it, hence the generous 4 stars for a product that I cannot make use of as yet.[Edit] I revisited the FFG website and checked and while the description for the 'Return to The Night of the Zealot' box does in fact make it clear the contents still require a copy of the original 'Night of the Zealot' from the core set, the description for 'Return the The Dunwich Legacy' entirely fails to spell it out. Which is the wrong way round: Zealot was the non-optional core set (you couldn't play the game without it), so any and all purchasers of 'Return...Zealot' would already have the cards they needed -the same is not true of 'Return...Dunwich Legacy' as the original 'Dunwich Legacy' was an optional expansion. Therefore they should be making it explicit in the promo material for 'Return...Dunwich Legacy' (and all future 'Returns') that the original expansion sets will be required to make use of the cards in 'Return...' [end Edit]

Initially, I was in doubt if spending that much on a standalone expansion would be worth it. However, all doubts were blown away when I started playing. It feels like a completely self-contained game. There are at least 10 different scenarios that all add a different flavour to the game, e.g. a murder mystery vs an encounter with a cult. There is also sufficient challenge to keep even seasoned players on their toes. The design of all of the cards is also extremely well done and very coherent within this scenario pack. I want to play it again just to see all of the different cards. One technical note: I saw some description that mentioned that the core set and the circle undone expansion are needed to play this. This is definitely incorrect. I played it with only the core set and was not missing any cards.

Eventually arriving today, the plastic packaging the cards came in was found to have been opened, and the cards within rearranged -the title card and the first couple of scenario set up cards were found buried partway through the pack, while the remainder of the set up cards were found moved to the rear of the pack. I have yet to double-check the description of the product for the number of cards supposed to be in the pack before counting what has arrived, but I'm at a loss to explain why anyone at Amazon would open the pack. Someone curious about the pack content or the card narratives? Or do these stand-alone 'mythos packs' sometimes contain extra-rare 'unique and special' cards (frankly I'd heard nothing to that effect) and someone with light-fingers, no moral compass and way too few IQ points (c'mon, you're going to get caught you eedjit!) opened the pack to chance their luck? Disappointed that it was opened at all, but at first glance it doesn't look like playability has been affected so no reason for complete despair. That will come when my character tries to work through the scenario without going insane or the world ending...

Arkham Horror is a wonder trip into the strange mythos of the Lovecraft universe. This module is another great expansion to the game.

Love the Arkham Horror LCG. The designer try to make each adventure different and very challenging.