An overview of the Eldritch horror board game
An overview of the Eldritch horror board game
“Horror seekers haunt unusual places. For them, the catacombs of Ptolemaida and the carved mausoleums of the nightmare countries. They climb the moonlit towers of ruined Rhine castles and melt under black cobwebs under the scattered stones of forgotten cities in Asia. Persecuted wood and desert are their sanctuaries and linger around sinister monoliths on uninhabited islands. "
–HP Lovecraft, Picture in the house
Fantasy Flight Games presents some pretty amazing cooperative games in the Lovecraftian universe. It all started with Arkham Horror , then came Elder Sign and finally Eldritch Horror. They spent a lot of time in the Lovecraft tradition and flipped around Necronomicon enough to really know what they were doing.
Eldritch Horror learns from previous games in space to create a highly streamlined and story-oriented adventure. Read the full review of Eldritch board games below.
- SUSTAINABLE GAME OF TERROR AND ADVENTURE: Ancient evil upsets ...
- SCARY STRATEGY GAME: Defeat terrible monsters, travel to other worlds ...
- COOPERATIVE MYSTERY GAME: Brave investigators come together to ...
A brief overview of the horrors of Eldritch
Ancient evil is mixed. You are part of a team of unlikely heroes who get involved in an international struggle to stop the accumulating darkness. To do this, you will have to defeat ugly monsters, travel to Other Worlds, and solve the obscure mysteries that surround this unspeakable horror. Effort can deplete your health and cripple your body, but if it doesn’t, the Ancient One will wake up and the rain will condemn the known world.
The older gods have been dormant for millennia and are now beginning to mix. When they wake up, the eldrich cultists and monsters come out of the darkness to destroy the world. The only thing that hinders the complete destruction of the world is a handful of investigators who are united in their efforts to solve the mysteries of the occult and prevent the awakening of the ancients.
Variations and extensions
Eldritch Horror created Fantasy Flight Games, and if you know anything about FFG, you’ll know they love extensions. Eldritch Horror is no exception. There’s a huge expansion and some brave souls have been trying to play it all at once ... and so, friends, let the madness sink.
Unpacking the horror of Eldritch
Most players will have at least a little experience with the horror film Lovecraft of Fantasy Flight, simply because there are so many games and versions. The artwork is usually very similar (if not the same) between games, but the mechanics in each game will be different. With this in mind, many enemies and investigators will be very well acquainted.
I really enjoy unpacking Fantasy Flight games, mainly because you get so many components. Unlike other games, you will actually use most of them at some point! There is something cathartic about ousting about 1,000 cardboard tiles and chips. I'm weird, I know.
Investigators and the ancients
The basic game has 12 investigators and 4 ancient. That way, most players will be busy and entertained at multiple games. But if you're a freak like me, you'll eventually collect all the expansions and end up with about 50 investigators to choose from ... and they'll be murdered by about a dozen older gods.
In the basic game, you will start with 12 investigators. My personal favorite has always been Jim Culver.
Each investigator will have their basic statistics at the bottom of the character card, showing Lore, Influence, Observation, Power and Will.
On the back of the card you will get an amazing history of your character and there will be two different sections that you will be able to read when you remove them from the game due to loss of sanity or health. I highly recommend resisting the urge to read extra sections until you need to be in the game so as not to spoil the atmosphere. Some are really sad.
How to Play Eldritch Horror |
Eldritch Horror uses a system similar to previous games in the Fantasy Flight genre. Investigators will need to verify their success to carry out the actions successfully. For example, if they need to pass a will test, they will look at the investigator’s sheet to find their will. Let’s say it’s 3. Then they have an element that adds +1 bonus to Will (3 + 1) and so adds up our group to 4. The player will then roll 4 dice. Every 5 + 6 roll is considered a success and everything else does not count.
This can really define the rules really well, but most of the game is about doing various checks with the help of investigator statistics. Once you understand this, the game stays in place. In fact, it is not as difficult as it seems at first glance.
Each round of the game will have several stages:
1. Action (Actor's actions)
2. Meeting (Fight against monsters)
3. Mythos (Bad things happen to you)
Actions of the actor
It will be the turn of each player to perform 2 actions.
Travel - Move Investigator
Rest - Heal 1 Health and 1 Mind (Can't Rest If Monster is in the Same Room)
Shop - Swap items with another player in the same room
Prepare to travel - If you are in a city with a ferry or train path attached, you can get a train or ferry ticket that allows you to move along these routes when in use.
Get Funds - Shop at the Asset store, where players can get a common set of useful cards.
Component actions - special abilities of individual investigators or map effects.
Meetings
After the movement and actions, all players must resolve the meeting.
If there are no monsters in their universe, the players will save the location encounter. Check the name of the space you have turned on and read from the color-coded maps in the maps with the appropriate space name. Many thematic elements of the game appear here.
If your investigator ends his turn in a space shared by a monster, you have to fight him. If they end up in a room with multiple monsters, they have to fight each one, but you have to at least choose the order in which you fight them.
When all the monsters meet, the player has the opportunity to meet the location as well.
Fight
This is going to happen at some point. You will have to face your fears and try to hit the hunting horror in the face.
On the back of each monster tile is all the stats you will have to deal with. During a duel, you will usually need to do two checks to complete the fight.
The first thing is to check to see if you will survive just by looking at it. Will will check to see if your investigator has the mental ability to confront the monster without whizzing. This check requires Will storage. If you fail, you will suffer damage and continue to fight. Not all monsters are scary enough to drive you crazy. For example, a culturist is not scary and therefore does not need to be checked.
The second part of the fight is actually hitting the face. The monster tile will tell you how much success you need. If you meet all the required successes, you kill the monsters. Failure to do so will rather hit you in the face and injure you.
Loss of reason
If you lose all sanity or endurance, you will go crazy or become effectively lame. This would then remove the investigator from the game. This will force you to choose a new investigator, place the old one on your side inside the city, and the DOOM track rises. I kind of enjoy having an investigator removed like that, not because I’m evil, but because he adds some really interesting elements to the story. Any investigator can now visit a mad or crippled investigator and meet him by reading the text on the back of the investigator’s card. If they pass the meeting, you will usually be able to lower the destructive track or gain some benefit. Some encounters can be really sad, but I think it adds a lot of story to the game.
with
A lot of potentially bad things can happen in the Mythos phase. At the end of each turn, you will draw a Mythos card and start solving all the actions, which can be many.
Here are some things you might see:
- Tree tokens
- Pre-DOOM track
- Spawn monsters
- Network doors
- Speak
- Mythos Events
The rumors are bad. They are creating new events on the board that, if you don’t confirm them, will cause devastation on the board. This can be by advancing the DOOM track, spawning monsters, injuring investigators, and more.
Keep an eye on what is read on the card, and you shouldn’t have too much trouble detecting them.
DOOM
The song Doom is like a game timer. When it comes to an end, the Ancient One will wake up. Turn the card over and resolve the entire text. If the investigator loses all sanity or health at this point in the game, he is dead. You can’t pick a new one and the player is eliminated from the game, making the game even harder to win.
He wins the game
Every ancient has a deck of Mystery cards. During installation, you will choose the antique and draw the first secret. This is a goal that everyone will strive for. Once 3 mysteries are solved, you win the game. Soup! If the Ancient One wakes up and doesn’t kill everyone right away, you’ll have to solve the Fourth Mystery, which usually ends with a showdown with the Ancient One and is much more difficult.
Loss of game
When Ancient Awakens, everyone has different criteria that will make you lose the game, so it’s in your best interest to solve 3 secrets before that happens. If the Ancient One wakes up and kills everyone ... that's a pretty common loss.
If the Mythos deck is empty when you go to draw ... it counts as a loss.
Rumor cards on board Mythos sometimes also have a penalty for defeat. It goes without saying that you should have an advantage when they come out.
Your first game of horror Eldritch
Setup
Step 1 is to squeeze all the chips and monsters out of the cardboard. Separate all tokens and parts and make sure they are easily accessible. I usually use small bowls to keep everything organized on the table. The next thing is to create a monstrous pool. Grab some bag, cup or bowl and put all the monsters in it except the epic monsters (red colored). This will be your monster pool and every time you are asked to create a monster, you will randomly choose one from a cup to place on a board.
Choose an investigator
Then everyone has to choose their investigator. The instructions give you a specific way, but honestly, it doesn’t matter. Choose who looks cool, choose randomly, it doesn’t really matter. Each character has different starting gear and stats, but everything is well enough balanced to be able to win with any combination of characters.
It’s also fun to read the investigators ’suggestions aloud before you start. I think it really contributes to the theme of the game.
Choose an ancient one
For the first game, it is recommended that you fight Azathoth. This by no means means that he is the easiest, he is the one who has the simplest rules. There is nothing complicated in his rules, he will just kill you so you will at least have it.
The pros and cons of the Eldritch horror
Advantages
- Simplified rules compared to other Fantasy Flight games
- Extremely thematic elements
- Totally- cooperative and great for players who love to participate.
Against
- Rules can be very intimidating for new players (not as bad as you think)
- It is designed to be difficult
- Some players may be excluded by the topic. Personally, I haven’t seen anything that would bring me a goat. Personally, I found Lovecraft very boring, but I love board games.
- Designed for up to 8 players, but best with about 4-5 players. What’s more and the game drags on.
TL; DR
For those of you who have played Arkham Horror, you will be here in very familiar territory. Arkham Horror was one of the first games made in this world, and in Eldritch Horror they perfected many elements and simplified a lot of gameplay.
Eldritch has a much more story than Arkham. The common story that the actors are building is much more interesting in Eldritch.
If you’re looking for an exceptional story-driven adventure game with high repeatability, you’ve found it.
conclusion
I’ve been trying all along in this article not to compare Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror, but if you’ve come this far, you’ll know I failed. Both are Lovecraft-inspired games, use the same artwork and many of the same mechanics, and are made by the same company.
It is almost impossible to talk about one and not the other.
With all the similarities, they still play and feel different. If I had to summarize very quickly, I would say that Eldritch is a more refined version. Storytelling works better and while playing you will actually start building stories around your characters, making it a much more interactive experience. In Arkham, they have characters of history, but they are more recognized by their abilities and equipment than anything they actually do.
Fighting and movement are also much more streamlined in Eldritch Horror. Several sets of sign and slider statistics have disappeared from Arkham in favor of one set of numbered statistics. Buying items in Eldritch is much easier and the money is completely removed from the game. Instead, you’ll need to accomplish a number of successes when you go shopping for items, with top-notch items requiring more.
Let it move
All the mechanics are geared towards moving things in and that’s great.
I’ve mentioned several times now that Eldritch plays and feels like a more themed version of Arkham Horror, but I didn’t really wonder in detail why, and that’s mainly because I don’t want to ruin any surprises. So instead of details, I’m going to explain how they felt and hint at some scary and scary things that are going to happen to your investigators.
In Arkham Horror, objects are one-dimensional. If you have a Blessing card, you get an extra reel. If you have a credit card, you lose money. When they leave, they leave. That's it.
FTW theme
Most of the cards in Eldritch have a secondary thematic element that connects everything into an amazing narrative for your characters. If you are blessed in Eldritch and gain another blessing, you will be able to turn the card around and gain tremendous benefit. Maybe an older god is watching over the investigator, which could mean extra booty or healing.
If you have a Debt card and are forced to turn the card over, you may (unknowingly) find yourself in the debt of powerful cultists or even more mundane mobsters and thieves.
Almost all cards use this mechanic and it works so well. Instead of saying “ Ashcan Pete is injured, he lost 1 health and is in Arkham hospital late. ” Ashcan Pete was attacked by a monster while searching in the jungle, which left him with a lame headache, which eventually led to his untimely death in Buenos Aires, where investigators found him mortally wounded. "
- SUSTAINABLE GAME OF TERROR AND ADVENTURE: Ancient evil upsets ...
- SCARY STRATEGY GAME: Defeat terrible monsters, travel to other worlds ...
- COOPERATIVE MYSTERY GAME: Brave investigators come together to ...
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