Learning to handle things myself - w/Arkham Horror

After getting just one game of Firefly under my belt, I was hooked. I woke up the morning after playing and set out all the bits to play a game solo, it wasn’t AS fun by myself, but it was still enjoyable. I made an impulse decision (the first of many to come as it pertains to board games) to go find another game I could play by myself. I loved the theme of Firefly and the stories that popped back into my head as I played, so I figured I would go looking for another game that would tell me a good story, even if I was playing by myself.

I hopped in my truck, asked Siri for directions, and headed out once more to the game store in Pascagoula that had immediately fascinated me at the possibilities for endless hours of fun in a box. Arriving at the store, I had no Idea where to start; there were so many games, and they all looked amazing, and I quickly realized that I needed a bit of a hand.

“So, I bought Firely here yesterday, and I had a blast, I loved all the cards and I actually really enjoyed how long it took to play! What else do you got?”  I asked the store manager, eagerly anticipating a rundown of a few similar games. 

Well, it turns out my question was pretty vague, “uhhhh…Well if you liked all the cards, and a story is what you’re looking for, there’s no shortage of that here,” he said as he pointed to a series of boxes belonging to a game called Arkham Horror. He continued on to point out that there was a much newer game, called Eldritch Horror and that it was more streamlined, the rules were easier to understand, and it was a bit less complex but still carried its weight. I would hear none of this Eldritch Horror talk. It seemed a whole wall was filled with Arkham Horror and the many expansions, and I even remember saying “I think the more complex a game is the better it probably is!!!”  He tried to warn me that not all complexity equaled excellency, and I would find that to be true with other games later, but right then…I didn’t care, Arkham Horror looked gloriously robust, and was a sure fire way to get me lost in a board game while I sat in my little hotel room.

Over the next several weeks, I would spend a ridiculous amount of time playing this game. I even put my do not disturb sign out on my door for days at a time because I didn’t want hotel services to clean my room and potentially mess up my elaborate setup. I had moved furniture to fit all the components and I could just take my own trash out, it wasn’t worth the risk.

I had just started playing board games, but what I loved about Arkham Horror was that I could play  solo with a variable number of investigators, and also…THE CARDS, there were so many cards, and so many different things to encounter, I knew pretty much immediately that I would be buying expansions sooner rather than later. I will say that I have had more fun playing WITH other people, but the solo experience I had was another major selling point on the hobby itself. I could now buy games and take them underway with me, and if no one wanted to play a game with me, I could still enjoy getting my cardboard fix.

Before I continue on to my overview and thoughts on Arkham Horror I want to talk about solo gaming in general.  Clearly, based on the fact I am writing this blog at all, I enjoy board games and I look for every opportunity to play board or tabletop games. My career and lifestyle has made solo board gaming almost a necessity at times due to the many commitments of my job and the differing watch schedules and work rotation of those I work with. But one of the primary reasons why I have made tabletop gaming such a part of my life is because of the social aspect of it. I used to play a lot of video games, and even when playing with other people, It was easy to get so glued to the screen that it felt like I was playing by myself and the social aspect was lost. Board games have provided a way for me to game with other people and actually interact meaningfully while doing so. I wish that I always had other people standing by to sit around the table with me, but that is not always the case, so I regularly seek out games that can be enjoyably be played with a group, as well as played solo in a pinch should the need arise. I will always choose to play with other people if they are available, but if I must go it alone I have been pleasantly surprised by the options that I have found.

Arkham Horror. What do I think of it? Well I love it..allow me to explain.

For starters, the rulebook isn’t terrible. There are a lot of rules. You will be looking at the rulebook at least a handful of times during your first few games. But there is an index, and it’s not too difficult to understand the flow of the game and know where to reference the various mechanics. Just be aware that there are a lot of mechanics and options at play.

The components. Well, I think I have covered that there are an abundance of cards, it takes up a lot of table space to lay out just the base game with the many piles of cards in addition to your investigator sheets  and  the plethora of cardboard bits. But the components do their job, and the artwork is thematic and engaging. Another caveat, if you plan on buying all the expansion and playing “all-in” your gonna need to break out the table leafs, ITS BIG.

For anyone uninitiated, Arkham Horror is a Call of Cthulhu game based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. In AH, players will team up as 1-8 investigators and set out in the city of Arkham, along with various other worlds, to attempt to seal gates, defeat monsters, acquire a gambit of items and spells to help along the way, and, if necessary, face off in a final showdown against one of the Great Ancient Ones. The theme is immersive, and the options are limitless. I have played this game A LOT and it has never felt the same twice, never have I thought “yeah,yeah I’ve been here before…lets just get to the next part.”  In fact, there are still some of the features that I have yet to fully experience, which is part of what makes this so appealing to me, If I were actually involved in an attempt to save the world from the likes of Cthulhu or another horrible Ancient One, I wouldn’t have time to experience everything the city of Arkham has to offer. While some turns have obvious things that need to be done, the players are always looking ahead and being forced to make tough decisions about what they can actually do and what needs to be sacrificed in order to get the job done.

The game is played with each turn consisting of 5 phases. First, a mythos card is drawn that will trigger a gate opening at a listed location, along with a monster (or monster at every open gate if a gate already exists at the location), monsters on the board will move based on their type and symbol, doom may be added to the doom track (getting you closer to waking up the ancient old one, and an event of varying consequence and duration will occur). Players will then perform an upkeep phase, where they can adjust their skills, collect any bonuses they are entitled to during the upkeep, and refresh exhausted cards. After upkeep, players will take turns moving around the board base on their allotted speed, stopping to fight any monster they occur. After all players have moved, any investigator that has not traveled through a gate will face an encounter at their current location. Each neighborhood of 3 locations has a deck of cards to draw from and face an encounter for the specific location and several locations have specific encounters you can choose to do instead of a random encounter, such as buying items at the general store, getting blessed at the church, or healing health and sanity. Once investigators in Arkham itself have all completed their encounters, those in other world locations will draw from the other world encounter deck and face an encounter there. During encounters and monster battles players will have to pass skill checks based on their equipped items and skills, requiring them to roll some dice and meet specific requirements as outlined on the encounter card or monster stats. Once all 5 phases are complete, if the ancient old one has not been awakened, a new round will begin and the players will continue on their investigation. There is much more to discover, but one more thing I will mention are clue tokens. Clue tokens are also spawned during the mythos phase and gathered by investigators during their investigation. These clue tokens are used to reroll dice on skill check, spend during various encounters, or most importantly permanently seal gates getting the investigators closer to saving Arkham, and the world.

Arkham Horror isn’t for everyone, and you will find that most people nowadays will recommend Eldritch Horror over it. I will admit that Eldritch Horror does do a good job of serving the theme and still carries enough complexity and depth for most folks to get their fill. You will hear that Arkham Horror is overly fiddly, and I can’t completely discredit that, there are a lot of pieces and a lot to manage, but saving the world isn’t supposed to be easy.             Arkham Horror was my first real exposure to solo board gaming and the replayability continues to excite me every time I break open the box(es). I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a great cooperative game that can enjoyably be played solo.

As my time in Mississippi drew to a close, I packed up my bags and headed to Texas to pick up my wife at the airport. She had flown down to meet me for the drive back up to Washington and I was eager to share this new hobby of mine with here and hopefully get her as excited as I was. On the trip back, I dragged her into a board game store, for the first of many times we would walk around deciding together on our next game to add to our budding collection. After two gaming stores now I had enjoyed both, but not every gaming store I have visited since has been of equal quality and there are several things that I have noticed that both contribute to a good experience as well as turn me off to visiting again. In my next post, I will talk about what I look for in a gaming store, and what I feel have been the failures of some of the stores that I have been to. Additionally, I will talk about the first game I purchased together with my wife, Forbidden Island.  So until next time, keep gaming and…?stay dry?  (This whole transition into the next game thing is a bit tough for some games!).

A cardboard oasis in humid Mississippi w/ Firefly:The Game

No Power in the ‘verse can stop me!

 Today I’m going to be writing about the events that definitively set me on the path towards my infatuation with the board game world. With that, I’ll also be talking about my first heavier game purchase. Firefly: The Game.

I had just finished serving three years on shore duty and was preparing to rotate back to a sea going command. Prior to checking in to my new command, I was required to attend a 3-month school in Mississippi on Electromagnetic Spectrum Management (Being an IT in the Navy doesn’t always mean fixing network problems and working on computers).  So as the date of my travel approached, I packed up my truck and prepared for the 3 day, 2800 mile drive from Washington to the southern coast of Mississippi. As I finished loading up the truck, my wife fished out our copy of Settlers of Catan and asked, “Do you think people at the class would want to play this with you?” Remembering how much I loved playing it and how excited it got me about board games, I packed the box into the backseat of my truck, hoping the opportunity to gather around the table and bond over an ice cold six-pack and some casual gaming would present itself during my brief visit to Keesler AFB.

The Monday after arriving, class began, and as the days progressed, we all came to know one another through various interactions, meetups and study groups. One day, during one of our many breaks (endless PowerPoint presentations require frequent pit stops), I casually asked if anyone had ever played Settlers Of Catan. Many in the class had, but upon further inquiry, I was met with a myriad of responses that all boiled down to, “We’re not underway bro” or “Yeahhhh…maybe, I don’t know, probably not.” The conversation shifted, and I was left feeling a little disappointed, I had looked forward to playing with a new group and it now seemed my copy of Settlers of Catan would simply gather dust for the next three months in the backseat of my truck.

Little did I know that the weekend to follow would open my eyes to a whole new world and firmly place me on the path of My Cardboard Journey. Waking up Saturday morning, I received a text from one of my classmates from the Air National Guard, he was headed to a gaming store in Pascagoula to pick up some new miniatures for one of his Warhammer armies. I had never really been into Warhammer, but I wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity to get out and explore the local area a little bit. On the way to the store, he revealed to me that he had been part of a board gaming group at his last command and briefly told me about a few of the games he had played while there, I thought I may yet get to play a game or two with someone. Arriving at the store, we walked through the front doors, and I was immediately smitten. I had played MTG in the past and been to smaller stores, but they were always centered solely on MTG or Warhammer. This store was outfitted with a full lineup of products to cater to all types of tabletop gamers, and littered throughout the rows of cafeteria style tables were several groups of gamers playing board games, MTG, RPGs and miniature war games. I immediately walked to the rear of the store and began to take in the wide selection of board games traversing every theme I could possible imagine. I even sent a picture to my wife, relaying my amazement at the cardboard oasis that had just been revealed to me. 

  I looked over several games until my eyes locked onto a beautifully displayed copy of ‘Firefly: The Game’. Shiny! The price tag was higher than I had seen for the board games I was used to, but after a quick review of the box, I called the boss and requested permission to make a purchase, my wife begrudgingly approved my request and I excitedly purchased the game that would change my entire outlook on board games. To put it mildly, I was excited. Not only was the Firefly logo plastered across the front of the game, it could’ve been a box of nails and I still would’ve bit, but it actually looked like a game that would be enjoyable regardless. There were so many components and the sprawling layout on the back of the box did a good job of making me feel like the game was full of depth and theme.  Before leaving, I took some time to look over the many other offerings on the shelf and spoke to the manager at the desk about the different gaming events they would be hosting in the coming weeks.  I was certain that I would return, the fire had been stoked and I wanted to know more, but that night, I was heading back to my small hotel room to misbehave while traveling the ‘verse in my very own Firefly Class ship.

So How did it go? I’m glad you asked! Let’s get to it.

As I opened the box the first thing I noticed was the rulebook. It was longer than I expected, but I hadn’t played many board games and I would soon find out that the length was pretty commonplace in hobby board games. Despite my initial shock due to my lack of exposure, I found the rules easy to understand and, with only some sporadic referencing during gameplay, I was able to read through them once and enjoy the game while simultaneously teaching someone else.

Prior to setting the game up, I examined each of the components as they were laid out on the table. The board is pretty, the colors are engaging and the spaces are nowhere near cluttered. There are some miniatures representing your ship, as well as the Alliance Cruiser, and Reaver Cutter.  The cardboard tokens representing fuel and cargo are pretty standard fare, but I do really like that the cargo/contraband and passenger/fugitive tokens are simply printed on double sided tokens. It’s a minor detail, but it stands out because it eliminates a lot of clutter and frees up valuable space on the table. But what really makes this game come alive and establishes the theme for me are the cards. There are a lot of cards, but they are easily differentiated, serving specific roles and never seeming overwhelming. The cards are filled with characters and scenery from the Firefly show and universe and they really dragged me into the game and gave me a really strong sense of immersion.  Overall, the components were appropriate and felt neither overproduced nor underdeveloped, for me it was a perfect balance to put me in the game.

During setup, a scenario was chosen, and each player received their starting package of a ship, captain, and some credits before choosing a spot to place their Firefly on the board and start their adventure. There are a few decisions to be made during setup and the components take a bit of time to get laid out all nicely, you should be prepared to spend a good chunk of time on this game when you pull it off the shelf.

The game is played with turns rotating around table, each player taking 2 actions during their turn. On their turn the player can choose from the following actions:

Move:  A player can choose to conserve fuel and safely mosey through space or travel much further but at the cost of fuel and potential encountering events of varying consequence.

Buy: If located on a supply planet, a player may use the corresponding supply deck to purchase equipment, upgrade their ship, or hire new crewmembers.

Deal: This is how players get new contracts. If a player is docked on a contacts home world, they can deal with that contact (via their contact deck) and choose a new job to work.

Work: The contracts you earn are mostly of a pick-up and deliver nature and this action allows the player to complete the tasks listed on their job cards. As long as a player meets the prerequisites listed to work their job, they can choose and equip members of their crew to work a job.

Shore Leave: Sometimes your crew will get disgruntled (For example, having moral crew members working an immoral job). Instead of working, you can give your crew a day of shore leave in order to restore faith in their captain and remove their disgruntled tokens.

Players continue taking turns and working towards the goal satisfaction until one player has completed the scenario goals and is crowned the victor. There are three main attributes that you will acquire throughout the game, Tech, Fight, and Negotiation. Different crew members and equipment  will contribute to your overall level in these skills, as well as providing keywords that fill prerequisites for various tasks.  These skills are used to pass different skill check encounters in the Misbehave Deck, some job requirements, and certain goal completions. There are a lot of neat mechanics that contribute to the theme and gameplay. I view this game not as a retelling of the Firefly show, but rather, it places you in the Firefly universe and your own unique story is created as you start alone in the big black with nothing but a few credits and an empty Firefly.

Final Thoughts: Let me start by disclosing that I am huge fan of Firefly, it is definitely one of my favorite shows and had it continued, it would’ve probably left everything else far behind in the dust on my favorites list. Because of this, I went in with high expectations, and I wasn’t disappointed. Even if the universe was different, I would still rate this as a very good pick-up and deliver game with some nice additions to the core mechanics. But the theme is Firefly, and for fans of Firefly you will delight at all the Firefly moments packed into this box.

However, the game is not without its flaws. For one, the base game is severely lacking in player interaction. For the most part, you’re all just doing jobs throughout the galaxy and only checking the news feed occasionally to see how your competitors are doing. This could be a good thing for some players, I personally didn’t mind, and it does get fixed with the Pirates and Bounty Hunters Expansion. Another thing that felt kind of clunky to me was the movement mechanic. When you aren’t moseying, you have to draw a navigation card after each movement to see if an event happens, there were several times that I revealed a card, went to keep moving and had to ask, “Wait, how many spaces have I moved, I lost track.” But for me, the flaws are pale in comparison to the strengths and I love this game. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who fancies the idea of taking command of a ship, completing jobs, and causing trouble all while making a name for themselves as the best Firefly captain in the ‘verse.

Later in the week after I reading about some board games that could be played solo, I returned to the game store in Pascagoula,  and it was then that I first discovered the horror that never dies... In my next post, I will be talking about my first exposure to both a favorite game of mine, Arkham Horror, as well as my experiences with solo gaming and how I feel about it. Until next time, Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

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