Golden Anvil

I promised a review of Arkham Horror, so I'd better get to it. Before I get sidetracked and forget.

Arkham Horror is a cooperative game for anywhere from 1 to 8 players. The game is set in the 1920s, and the general theme and concept is that some vast alien monstrosity is trying to force it's way into our world. Once here, it will destroy everything. Each player has a character who is trying to prevent this unfortunate event.

The game consists of running around town trying to get to the gates (generally one of which opens every turn). Once you get to a gate, you are sucked through into some strange dimension. After finding your way out of this dimension, you are returned to the town where you have the opportunity to close the gate. If you have gathered enough clues, you can spend them in order to permanently seal the gate so that it can't be reopened later. Getting in your way are numerous monsters who come through the gates. Some of these are easily dispatched, but others require proper preparation in the form of equipment, magical items, and spells which can be purchased in stores around the town, or found through various encounters. If too many gates get opened (either all at once, or cumulative since the beginning of the game), then the alien enemy comes through the gates, and everyone has one last chance to try and defeat it in direct combat. Unless you are very well prepared, this usually ends poorly.

The game is designed so that all of the players will need to work together. Some may work at hunting down monsters to keep the streets clear. Others may collect clues in order to close and seal gates. Others might work at keeping the number of currently opened gates down in order to prevent too many gates from getting opened or too many monsters from showing up. Others might collect equipment in order to hand it off to other players to help them with their tasks.

There are actually a stack of possible characters you can play. Usually each player picks one randomly (and the exact type of alien enemy is chosen randomly as well). Each character (and main enemy) has their own special ability and unique stats. This, along with the random encounters both in town and in the other dimensions, ensure that each game plays out in a very different fashion.

We've picked up one expansion, Dunwich Horror. This expansion adds a new town (located on a smaller secondary board) with it's own set of special problems to deal with. In addition, this doubles the number of encounter cards, adds new characters and main enemies, and adds a number of new rules and game concepts.

As you might expect from a horror themed game, you aren't expected to win every time you play. That's ok though, because I have found that the game is fun to play even if you end up losing. In fact, I'd be happy even if I only won 25% of the time. Still, our ratio is probably much closer to 50%.

This game has amazingly high production values. The board is extremely sturdy, and all the parts are well made, and include very nice looking artwork. Everything works together to really capture the setting and theme very well.

The way the game plays out is really almost halfway between a more typical board game and a role playing game. I've found that the game does an amazing job of generating exciting points that you remember afterwords, and can't help but talk about to others. Frequently you are forced to take risks, and in a number of cases you end up with a situation where an important outcome hangs on the result of a single die roll.

I could easily talk a whole lot more about this game, but that's probably enough for now. If you ever come visit, just ask, and we'd be thrilled to play a game with you. Just make sure you've got 2.5-3.5 hours free...