From all the classes which were revealed, I felt a certain kinship to the Rogue class, which from first glance appeared to be a class focused on avoiding trouble and picking their spots to fight or clue gather. This really attracted me as generally in card games I’m a very basic player, I like simple plans and you would think this would draw me to the Guardian class of investigator or the Seeker class, but no. I liked the almost “criminal” aspect of the Rogue cards, the artwork also caught my eye more so than the other cards too, the images were in an almost noir style which was cool. Cards like Pickpocket, Sneak Attack and Burglary have great artwork which reminds me of the styles featured in Dick Tracy.
Some of the themes on the cards did deter me slightly, cards like the Switchblade and 41 Derringer were only good if you were successful by two or more in the relevant skill check and with the ever-looming randomness of the Chaos Bag, I was not a fan of either of these cards. Despite this I do feel like both fit into the overall Rogue theme of picking your spots, so you wouldn’t bother using them until you had a clear knowledge that you would win. However, the Rogue class brings us a few little gems such as Sneak Attack, Elusive and Lone Wolf. Sneak Attack allows you to deal two damage to an exhausted enemy which is just phenomenal in a class which really likes evading enemies, which in turn exhausts them and you don’t have to worry about making a skill test to do the damage either, another bonus. Elusive allows you to evade those tricky enemies and make a swift escape to another location, great when used in a combo with Dynamite Blast….. Ha. Lone Wolf allows for some extra resource generation when you are off on your own doing your thing, great with Skids ability or Jenny’s unquenchable lust for resources.
From the level 0 cards to the Rogue upgrades, there are some nifty options currently available. One of my personal favourites is adaptable, the ability to change two level 0 cards in your deck for free between each game is awesome and really does allow you to adapt to each scenario, yes, on first play through this card may not be as effective but on replaying a campaign I think this is a must. Big bonus cards such as Hot Streak are also critical to the overall Rogue game, paying 3 resources to obtain 10 resources (netting 7) allows you to build a huge stock pile of resources, which is never a bad thing.
In my solo campaign, I have just added the Exceptional card Lucky Dice to my deck, although I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, I am really looking forward to being able to mess with the token draws from the Chaos Bag. The upgraded version of Switchblade is also a great addition to the upgraded card pool, combining the fight stat boost of the 41 Derringer with the unlimited use and fast play of the level 0 switchblade makes for a staple upgrade in my opinion. I am also quite partial to the Lock Pick, adding your evasion value to your investigation stat is great and that the resources on the card won’t always be spent is great, this fits into the theme of picking your spots to make sure you don’t lose those resources.
I know I have missed a few bits off, however you can appreciate to discuss all the cards available to Rogues would take a bit of time. I would like to mention the characters available to Rogues. First is the Core starter, Skids ‘O’ Toole, who despite is awful willpower value has the facility to be the most action efficient character in the game, his ability to spend two resources to have an additional action once per turn is phenomenal. When combined with cards like Ace in the Hole, Leo De Luca and the Guardian class card Police Badge, you could end up with an insane number of actions in one turn. Skids can splash Guardian cards up to level 2 and with his 3 fight value he can be a contender when handling the bad guys of the encounter deck. As discussed before a critically played Elusive and Dynamite Blast can be a wondrous thing to behold…. HA. Sorry. His willpower is concerning at a 2 value, but in the right team this low stat can be mitigated. What I love most about Skids, is that he is an ex-con, out of the “joint” and looking to do some good. This really is what attracted me to the Rogue class, this character’s “story” and how the Rogue cards fit into this tale of a guy who is using his criminal background to do some good was really enticing to me.
The second Rogue character is Jenny Barnes, the dilettante. A character released for the Dunwich Legacy campaign who I was not sold on at first due to all her stats being 3 and her ability to simply gain 1 extra resource per turn not really filling me with any ideas on how to play her or which direction to take her. I was writing a piece about her which went into a bit of detail about how very wrong I was about my original take on Jenny Barnes, however I will resign myself to this piece to go into it. I have also picked up the Hour of the Huntress book which contained an alternative art card for her and two cards you can use to replace her standard signature cards. To summarise her ability and stat line allow her a vast array of potential builds, making her flexible in solo or group games. Her back story is quite cool too, the Hour of the Huntress novella briefly revealing a bit more of her adventurous nature and just how tough she is. Again, she fits smoothly into the rogue character build with her being very tactical, picking her spots to achieve maximum impact and I am greatly looking forward to seeing how my solo campaign with her ends.
The third and most recent character is the artist Sefina Rousseau, this character really intrigues me because she is very event heavy due to her ability to house up to 8 events under her character card which can be accessed using an action once per turn. My concern here is that she has poor investigation and combat stats, despite being able to work around these with the cards available to her from the Rogue and Mystic classes, I am not sold on this investigator yet. But saying that I was not sold on Jenny Barnes at first, but now I am her biggest fan. I do like how the Rogue class and Mystic class are put together for her character’s story, the idea that she forges paintings but this has sent her into the mystic world is rather unique. Since her Willpower and Evasion are her highest stats, her ability to use the Mystic spells should mitigate her other poor stats while maintaining those cool Rogue events which deal damage or allow you evade enemies. I am sure I will give her a run out at some point, sadly with not being to play much, it is a challenge to get through the characters, I have been playing the game since release day and I have only used Roland, Skids, Jenny, Pete and Daisy so far. Leaving so many characters to try out and play.
To summarise once more, the Rogue class offers some of the coolest characters to play as, with their back stories and play styles all being so very different. This class has some of the coolest artwork and card effects available in the Arkham Horror card game. All of which fall into a cool theme of careful planning, cunning and tactical strikes to make the most of the situation you are in.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
I’m Big Boss, I’m out…. Peace.
