Arkham Horror The Card Game - Who Is The Best SOLO Investigator?

 

This question could result in years of debate. I’m not here for that, however, I’d like to throw out some ideas I’ve had to try to answer this question.

I think we need to ask the question first, what makes a good solo investigator? Is it the class? The deck building requirements? The stat lines? We could talk for hours about all of these too! So I’ll talk about a couple of things which I feel are really important to solo play and which investigators are best suited to take advantage of this.

In Arkham Horror, the most valuable resources in my honest opinion are Actions and actual Resources. In solo play, you don’t have tag team partners to rely on should your turn not go according to plan or even to pick up from where your turn leaves you. So actions are more valuable than any asset in solo play, unless that asset gets you more actions of course. The more actions you have in your turn, the more you can do, whether that is combat or investigating.

Now actual resources are just a step behind in value, resources get you the tools you need to get you where you need to be. Whether that’s buying allies or whether that’s purchasing assets. Resources can help boost stats or even allow you to avoid testing altogether.

Once you’ve established that you need actions / money to get by in the game, I would always say it makes the class choice all the more easy, for me this leads me nicely to the Rogue class. I know what you’re thinking, I always talk about how Rogue is my favourite class in Arkham Horror LCG, but please hear me out. The Rogue class has become a lot more prominent in terms of being able to investigate, especially with cards like Lock Picks, Lola Santiago and Intel Report to name but three. Since this stat is one of the two main stats in the game, this faction more than holds its own in the modern card pool.

The other main stat of course being combat, which of course Rogue’s have their own stockpile of ass kickery which they bring to the table varying from the 38”  Derringer, Lupara and Chicago Typewriter. The Rogues are able to bring a good deal of combat skill to the game should they need to especially with tactics such as Sleight of Hand, allowing some of these weapons to slip in as a fast action, let off their ammo and then return to hand to be used again later. Rogues are tricky and sly if nothing else.

Rogues also get cards like Hot Streak, Faustian Bargain and Pay Day, which gives them a huge resource advantage. As already mentioned, these cards allow you to play those investigation and combat assets notes above. Whoever said money won’t solve your problems, never played this game I can tell you.

Actions are a Rogue’s best friend, no other class can get these extra actions in the same way. Let’s start with Leo De Luca, this ally asset grants you an extra action each turn, what more is there to say. Once you start gaining experience points, this progresses further with cards such as Fence, which gives any Illicit card either a -1 cost reduction or the Fast trait, which means it won’t cost you an action to play it. Ace in the Hole, grants you a one off bonus of three extra actions.

Yet one of the most consistent ways of getting extra actions is with the Rogue’s own abilities. Tony allows a combat or engage action, provided they are on his bounty list. Skids can simply buy another action with two resources and Finn can only use his extra action for evading. Still these are great options in all cases. Although lets ignore Tony for now, his investigation stats aren’t much to be desired when playing solo.

This leaves us with Skids O’Toole, Jenny Barnes and Finn Edwards. Let’s look at Skids first. He has a solid stat line with 3 combat and 3 investigation, which will be fine early campaign I’d imagine with the support which is available at that time for you. His deck building allows him to play up to level 2 Guardian cards. This does give you access to some action gaining cards like Police Badge, which also boosts Skid’s pretty poor Willpower stat and even some nice investigation support too, with cards such as Scene of the Crime, allowing up to two clues to be grabbed from a location. His ability to pay two resources to gain an action once per turn is also pretty useful in itself. You may not need this ability each turn but will be incredibly useful when its needed and cards such as Leo De Luca to hand will mean Skids can get an impressive five actions a turn with little effort.

Skid’s weak point is his Willpower stat, at only two it brings terrible peril when facing the mythos. However Guardian do provide some skills which can help buffer this though, so I guess it’s a risk going into the campaign. If the deck is built to truly utilise the actions, you can mitigate this weakness by being able to get through the actual scenario much quicker, therefore, lowering your exposure to the mythos.

His fight stat allows you to be reasonable in combat if needed, but his four evasion stat means he gets a boost when using Lock-picks and can evade consistently. These evasions can allow you to trigger cards like Pickpocket, which being illicit could be played as a fast action under Fence and when you evade allows you to draw a card, so again, utilising that action efficiency to get a free card draw. All these triggers, free actions allow you to take a real advantage during the game and can result in a much quicker win.

Now of course that leaves Finn, who’s use of the Illicit cards can really work towards good action economy when combined with Fence and because he can access a limited number of survivor or seeker cards, he can also gain some action economy.

Finn’s ability is a useful one for enemy management, as he can evade for free once per turn, which maybe a great way of saving combat actions for when they really needed. His dual stat line of four on evasion and intellect mean he can really work the evade angle and the Lock-picks card, by investigating at a total value of eight when using this card. His signature cards are all Illicit so can work with Fence to be either reduced in cost or made to be a fast action, making them free. 

Sadly his Willpower is really low at a stat of one and won’t be helping you no matter what skills you pack in your deck. So you might as well focus on doing the rest well. If you went with the Survivor splash you could include Lucky, Look What I Found or similar card to take advantage of those failed tests to try and succeed instead. However, I think I’d rather go with a Seeker splash and use Working a Hunch and Field Work to sure up my action economy. Working a Hunch allows you to get a free clue with its ability and Field Work triggers when you enter a location and gives you +2 to a stat of your choice for the next skill test you make. Both of these give you stuff for what is essentially free of charge outside of their own resource cost or initial action cost in the case of Field Work.

Very similar to Skid’s Finn can fight if he needs to, but the evasion maybe the better part of valour when dealing with enemies and can also get the effect from Pickpocket if in play, so gets that extra card. Finn with Pay Day can draft a massive amount of resources should he have a great turn. Between his own free action, his standard three actions, a free illicit action from Fence, a potential sneaky free Working a Hunch and a Leo De Luca bonus action, giving a total of seven potential actions. If Pay Day was that free Fence action, you’d get 7 resources, for just playing your turn and I don’t think anyone would complain about that.

So Jenny Barnes, at first look she doesn’t seem like the perfect solo investigator. She has a three stat line across the board and doesn’t scream a specific route to play. However, that makes her unbelievably flexible. Her ability means you get an extra resource each turn which is action saving if nothing else, so like Preston she can gain a good resource pool quicker than most investigators. She can also play up to five level zero cards from any other faction in her deck as part of her deck building requirements. Some useful contenders would be Dr. Milan Christopher, he gives you that extra intellect and allows you to gain a resource when you successfully investigate a location. Of course you lose Leo De Luca in the process, but the resources and be levied against tests in the game to provide a substitute to the extra action. 

Cards such as Lucky from the survivor class are an option, as they can sure up her rather bland stat line, but truth be told the potential is endless for those five splash cards. Arcane Studies from the Mystic class allows her to boost her non Hard Knocks stats (Intellect and Willpower) using your resources too and was a choice I went with when I made her for a solo campaign. Between cards like Dr Milan, Lone Wolf, her own ability and other resource generating cards, she can get herself a good resource pool. Then adding the standard array of Rogue upgrades, she can get massive stock piles of cash to use as she wishes and additional actions to make them more effective. 

Throw in the Rogue cards which give you bonuses for having lots of resources, these include Money Talks and Well Connected which give you better benefits the more cash you have. So, although she doesn’t get the standard extra free action the other two offerings have, she makes up for it with having the highest Willpower to tackle the Mythos and being able to generate an insane number of resources, should you get the engine going.

I think outside of the Survivor class and Ursela Downs, you’d be hard pressed to find a better solo play investigator, than from these Rogue class heroes. With their action generating cards and resource generating cards in abundance, they allow for tremendous economy in solo and multiplayer games. However, in solo, where this is even more critical, it shines the brightest.

Thank you so much for reading. I hope to get a few more articles done moving forward and you can also check out my new podcast, the Big Boss Book Club on Spotify, Anchor and Google Podcasts.  

I’m Big Boss…. I’m Out…. Peace

Classic Game Deck Review: Warhammer 40,000 Conquest – Packmaster Kith

Was sitting at home enjoying the weekly Throwback Thursday live stream posted by Team Covenant on YouTube, if you are into card / board games, I would recommend checking them out on their channel. This week’s stream was a throwback to an LCG which hasn’t long been out of production and that’s Warhammer 40,000 Conquest by Fantasy Flight Games.

Now anyone who knows me, knows how much I was pumped for this game to be released. I’m not the biggest fan of the 40K table top, but the storylines in the back, I’ve always enjoyed and the chance to get those stories in a format I could enjoy, was well received. The game started with 7 factions initially and added 2 more over the life span of the game, which sadly was only a couple of years as Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight parted ways.

The aim of the game was simple, you had to fight for victory on multiple planets until you obtained 3 symbols of the same kind which were located on each planet (3 symbols to choose from) or kill your opponent’s Warlord. Both plans are great fun to try and accomplish and some decks are more focused on one of those win conditions than others.

My favourite deck going into the game was the Dark Eldar faction starter commander, Packmaster Kith. Eventually she would be the top tier Warlord and take home multiple national, local and world championships. Each deck was able to take 1 of 2 sets of allies, Dark Eldar could take either Chaos or Eldar allies as part of their deck construction. An interesting element of Conquest was that each Warlord had to take a set of 8 cards specific to them before any other cards could be added to the deck, when listing the decks I’ll put a * next to those.

I originally went with Eldar as my allies, they had a couple of really good board control cards which would allow you to win Command Struggles pretty consistently, with Command being the way you get your extra resources and additional cards. From a thematic angle, I don’t believe Chaos and Dark Eldar would team up, they kind of have conflicting goals. Yet, before I went to the Midlands regional event for Conquest, I had spoken with my mates who play and a few folks who were on the online forums and they convinced me that Chaos allies were going to be better overall to give me slightly more firepower.

On the back of that, I changed to the deck and went to the Regional event. I went 5-0 in the swiss rounds and then got past the quarter finals to the semis, where sadly, my day ended and I came in 3rd. However, this deck was so consistent throughout the day and I felt so much more confident with how it played in comparison to the previous incarnation. So without further delay, please see the list below.

 

Packmaster Kith

10x Khymera Tokens

 

Army - 27

4x Kith’s Khymeramasters *

3x Rogue Trader

3x Void Pirate

3x Klaivex Warleader

3x Murder of Razorwings

3x Sllyth Mercenaries

3x Chaos Fanatics

3x Bloodied Reavers

3 x Incubus Warriors

2x Syren Zythlax

 

Events 12

3x Archons Terror

2x Pact of the Haemonculi *

3x Gut and pillage

2x Raid

2x Warp Storm

 

Attachments 6

1x Agonizer of Bren *

3x Promotion

2x Suffering

 

Supports- 3

1x Khymera Den *

2x Archons Palace

So a pretty box standard list for Kith at this stage, I would imagine there would be very little difference in any Kith deck if you did any research into it. So I’ll go into a breakdown of what the cards are needed / used for.

Pack Master Kith

This Dark Eldar warlord has 6 hit points, 2 attack power and the ability to deploy a Khymera token to the same planet she commits to during the commitment step. This is where each player sends their warlord to a planet they wish to have a combat round on. This ability means you get 2 units for 1 when she commits, which is never bad and when a warlord arrives on a planet, unless there is another warlord there, they will automatically win the command struggle on that planet. If there is another warlord there, it’s based on how many command icons are at that planet instead.

Kith gets a reputation as the best Dark Eldar warlord, which isn’t without merit and following the game being discontinued, you’d be not far off saying she had more big tourney wins than any other warlord. A couple of times at the Midlands regional event, when my opponents saw who I was playing, they just sighed. *sorry guys*

Compulsory cards – (cards with * by them)

Khymera tokens

This token is mini card which is kept separate from the main deck and will appear on the field when certain card effects activate. It’s got 2 attack and 1 hit point, so won’t be around for long, but should do some damage in that time or at least provide fodder so your other units can fight. No token cards in Conquest supplied Command icons, so contributed nothing to the command phase.

Kith’s Khymeramasters

This card is Kith’s signature unit, when its deployed to the field it brings a Khymera token with it. To put this into context, Kith spams these Khymera tokens to bolster the decks weak overall attack. This unit only has 1 attack and 2 hit points and provides 1 command hammer, which is better than nothing and will help secure the command win in some instances.

Agonizer of Bren

This attachment provides the attached unit +1 attack for each Khymera token you have out. Now that sounds great, but it can’t be attached to your warlord, which is crazy. If I’m honest I only ever used this card for its shield value. So this card can block 3 damage when discarded from your hand when damage is dealt to a unit you control, hence “shield”. Most events / attachments have shield icons, which can be used to help your units in combat.

Khymera Den

This support or “location” is a massively useful piece of the Kith arsenal. Once per turn you can exhaust this card to move any number of Khymera tokens from any location to 1 location. Now when you have built up a massive force of tokens on 1 of the planets and you need reinforcements on another, this card brings them.

Pact of the Haemonculi

This card for ages didn’t feel right in the set, for the cost of 2 resources and sacrificing one of your units, you get to draw 2 cards and discard a random card from your opponent’s hand. However, when this deck gets going, the aim is to restrict the number of cards your opponent is drawing during Command, so they have little to no options on their turn. So this card does assist in that, on top of that, when using Murder of Razorwings, the discarding effects mount up. This also gives 1 shield icon, should you need it.

So that’s the Warlords compulsory card pool. It brings a nice flavour to the build and gives a base for the deck to develop into a command heavy and control heavy deck. If you read my last Classic Game Deck Review (https://bigboss010-genesisblog.blogspot.com/2020/05/classic-game-deck-review-vs-system.html) you’ll know that control builds are a favourite of mine, only this time, instead of giving my opponents loads of cards they can’t use, I want to stop them getting cards outside of the standard draw phase each turn.

So lets take a look at how that tactic comes together. First I’ll look at the command cards, these are the cards that allow me to win the command struggles on each planet during the game.

Chaos Fanatics

This 2 cost unit, has 2 hit points and 1 attack. So is a cheapish unit with an ok amount of health, but more importantly, it has 2 command icons. Although it has no ability, the 2 command icons will go far when determining who wins the command on the planet this unit is deployed to.

Void Pirate

This is a 1 cost, neutral unit, so this unit can go into any deck, other than Tyranids from what I can remember. This unit has 1 hit point and 0 attack, however provides 1 command icon and if this unit is present when you win command at the planet, you get to draw 1 card. So as an example, if you win command at a planet which gives you 1 extra card and 1 extra resource, this card will increase the card value by 1, so 2 cards instead. Not a bad thing to have when you are trying to get those combo cards.

Rogue Trader

This is the same as the Void Pirate, however, this unit will give you an extra resource instead of a card. So again, not a bad thing to have when you are needing to spend resources to get out those combo pieces. 

Promotion

This 0 cost neutral attachment, can be placed onto any Army unit (non-token or warlord) and it bestows 2 additional command icons. Add this to your Rogue Trader or Void Pirate to boost its ability to win command or any other unit in fact if it’s the difference between you winning a planet’s command and losing it.

Sllyth Mercenaries

This is the last card in my “Command” card package. This Dark Eldar unit costs 1 to bring out, it has 2 command icons, 2 attack and 2 hit points. I know, what could possibly go wrong. Well. They are mercenaries, so as an Action, any player, can pay 2 resources, to move these guys to their side of the board. Although I think I’ve maybe seen someone do that once or twice, it’s never been an issue. This would be your last card played in a round, to ensure your opponent can’t buy it or when your opponent doesn’t have the resources to buy it. So overall, you’d play the previous cards first, but this is a great back up plan or final card each round.

 

So those are the Command cards in the deck. They form the groundwork for the deck to work, they allow you to win Command, while stopping your opponent from doing so and in some ways, that’s actually more important to the overall plan.

This deck relies on disruption, to stop cards being played and to make sure Command struggles are being won. So the deck has a couple of little tactics in that department, so they are up next.

Archons Palace

This Support card is amazing in this build and really is key for reducing the command wins your opponent may get during the game. Its 2 cost and when your opponent wins a Command struggle on a planet, you can cancel either the card rewards or the resource rewards obtained from that command win. This deck will focus on the cards being drawn, the less cards your opponent has, they less they can play and the less they can shield during combat.

Murder of Razorwings

This 1 cost unit brings 1 attack and 1 hit point to the table. It has 0 command icons, however, its ability forces your opponent to discard a random card from their hand. This fits in nicely with the Pact of the Haemonculi card and the plan overall, if the opponent has 3 cards in hand, discarding even 1 can be critical to you winning.

Raid

Now this doesn’t fit exactly into the above in terms of stopping card draw, but this 0 cost event allows you to steal 1 of your opponent’s resources if they have more than you. Because this deck focuses on stopping the card draw, your opponent can be left with a heft amount of resources. With you being able to spend all yours, being able to nab 1 or 2 of your opponents, massive help. This card also supplies 2 shield icons, which is never a bad thing.

Archons Terror

Again, another card that doesn’t directly fit into the mould regarding stopping your opponent draw, but this 2 cost even allows you to rout an opponent’s army unit. Routing is where you exhaust the target unit and move it from the planet it’s on, to the opponent’s HQ, where it is out of action till next turn. So if you’ve choked your opponent’s card draw enough they can only get 1 or 2 units out in a turn, this card can massively impact their plans and help you pick up the win.

So I think that covers it for “disruption” cards or the cards that loosely link to that plan. The next step is our combat package, it’s great to be able to disrupt your opponent to a point they can’t do anything, but in this game, you need to get combat wins either to take planets or to kill the opposing Warlord. Dark Eldar are a little bit of a glass cannon, they hit hard, but they cannot take a punch back.

Incubus Warrior

This card pulls a bit of double duty, it’s a 2 cost army unit which has 2 command icons, 3 attack and 1 hit point. So it’s not only one hell of a hand in combat with that 3 attack, but it’s got 2 command icons to help with that all important command phase.

Bloodied Reavers

This little 2 cost unit has 2 attack, 2 health and 1 command icon. Its ability is where it shines, as when it’s on a planet with a Warlord, yours or the opponents, it gains 2 extra attack. So very handy when you’ve got that big fight on a planet, and with 2 hit points, you are more likely to keep this guy around longer than an Incubus warrior. Plus in the right situation, its got more attack than them too.

Syren Zythlax

This unit is a little star in its own right. It’s a 3 cost unique army unit, which means is has a certain level of protection from a lot of card effects. It’s got a nice 2 attack and 3 hit points. A solid 2 command icons and its ability is one of my personal favourites. When an opponent deploys a unit to the same planet as the Syren, it exhausts. Which means it’s useless in the first round of combat and it doesn’t get counted towards the command struggle. So I guess this also slips slightly into the disruption bracket too.

 

Klaivex Warleader

You want a unit that’s worth every penny, this is it. Its 4 cost, 3 attack, 3 defence and 2 command icons. Its ability allows you to automatically kill a target unit which already has damage when it enters play, on top of that, it has the Ambush keyword. This means you can pay to deploy this unit from your hand, during the combat phase and that is what makes this unit the MVP of the deck. All you need to do is hit that big unit for 1 damage elsewhere and then drop this guy to finish it off and still get an attack out of it. 5* card.

 

Warp Storm

I’ve left this till last as it’s the only real combat event. This combat action is 3 cost, has 1 shield icon and allows the player to deal 2 damage to every unit (which hasn’t got an attachment on) at a planet, or at a HQ. So this card, played carefully can really hurt an opponent’s forces. I’d never play it on a planet where you have units, but targeting an opponent’s HQ at the end of the combat phase, can result in a lot of units being killed.

 

That leaves just the left over cards. I guess these are utility cards, they have their own benefits which can really help you over the course of the game.

 

Gut and Pillage

This 0 cost event has the ability to net you 3 resources should you win combat on a planet that has a RED icon (don’t ask me what their actual names were). So with some pricey cards in the deck, you need to make sure you’re getting the resources to pay for them. Between this and Raid, you’ve got the tools you need. With 1 shield icon, you can also use for a little bit of protection too.

 

Suffering

Now this attachment is used for 1 reason, it has 2 shield icons. That’s it. Its ability is to lower the attached units attack by 2 and costs 1 resource. However, the ability is useful in certain situations, but I’ve never used it for anything else than a shield.

Packmaster Kith was the character that caught my eye and got me interested in Warhammer 40,000 Conquest, I never knew it would become the Phenom that it was in tournament play, but that never bothered me. I love this character, the art work, the cards and the decks I built with them. Even when the released the next 2 Dark Eldar warlords, I just never got into them in the same way and it’s because of just how cool this character was.

The game itself was a very good game, mechanically and thematically. It’s just a shame it got cut short before they were able to balance out the board. Chaos and Dark Eldar were just large and in charge by the time the game ended. Yet I felt Space Marines and Tau were really catching up. The Necrons also hadn’t long been released, so they had very little support by the end, which is also a shame because they had great potential.

If you want to see the game in action, I managed to get myself on YouTube when playing online and the video is still there at this link: https://youtu.be/vsjwlOI1ks0

This is right up there with the original Vs System in terms of games I truly miss and I still have all my cards, play mats, covers and tokens for this game. I’ve rather enjoyed delving back into these out of print games, I do have another couple in the back and I’m going to get something written about them too.

You can keep following all the action on Cheap Shot Entertainment on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. There is the YouTube channel and BlogSpot too. Also check me out on BlogSpot (I posted a link to that above, but just in case, https://bigboss010-genesisblog.blogspot.com)

I’m Big Boss….. I’m Out……. PEACE! 

Twitter @bigboss010 and Instagram at Bigbosstp010.

#BigBossBookClub

#EndOfEverything

 

Classic Game Deck Review: Vs System – Golden Age – Injustice Gang

So due to the lock-down, I’ve had plenty of time when not working from home to sit and look at some of the older card games I’ve played. The original version of the Vs System pitted comic book characters from the Marvel and DC franchises against each other in a team vs team format. So you could have the Avengers vs Justice League, X-Men vs Legion of Superheroes and even bad guys such as Dr. Doom vs Secret Society. I truly loved the game and it was a shame when the game was discontinued. Although re-birthed in a new format as the Vs System 2PCG, it doesn’t quite have the same magic the original version did. So I wanted to do a retrospective look at a deck which I was greatly fond of.

This deck was my absolute favourite deck to play in the original version of the Vs System game. Not just because it seemed to beat everyone locally all the time, but because of the characters that were in it and how the deck actually worked. If the deck were in Yu-Gi-Oh, it would be considered a “Burner” deck, a now archaic build, but still one I love to this day. The aim is to attack your opponent’s life points directly, with effects and abilities instead of actual attacks. This mean the deck was rather defensive in nature and focused on locking your opponent down so they could play very little and do very little each turn.

To those who do not know who the Injustice Gang are, it’s a super villain team with Lex Luthor at the helm. The roster included many of the well-known villains of the DC universe. This deck contains mainly Batman enemies to be honest. We have Penguin, Joker and Scarecrow making the bulk to the roster. This is then enforced by IQ, Owen Mercer’s Captain Boomerang, Abra Kadabra and of course, Lex Luthor.

So let’s get to the list:

Characters:

4 x Penguin – (DCL-128)

4 x IQ - (DJL-088)

4 x Owen Mercer * Captain Boomerang - (DLS-220)

4 x Lex Luthor - (DJL-090)

4 x The Joker - (DJL-089)

4 x Scarecrow – (DJL-097)

3 x Abra Kadabra – (DJL-076)

Plot Twists:

4 x Criminal Mastermind – (DJL-103)

4 x All Too Easy – (DJL-102)

4 x Secret Files – (DJL-111)

4 x Power Siphon – (DJL-109)

3 x Political Pressure – (MOR-209)

4 x Acrobatic Dodge – (MOR-173)

3 x Gang Up – (DCL-147)

3 x Evil Genius – (DCL-146)

Equipment:

2 x Laughing Gas – (DCL-140)

Location:

2 x Injustice Gang Satellite – (DJL-107)

Now to breakdown why these cards are in the deck and how critical they are to the plan working.

The Penguin * Gentleman of Crime

So this level 1 character is a hidden character, and whenever it attacks a player directly, both players draw a card. This is used for many things in the deck, as its hidden, I can exhaust it for the effect of Criminal Mastermind multiple times without worrying about him being KO’d and as pretty much no one I know uses level 1 characters, the extra draw comes in real handy when he attacks turn 1. This character is also great when teamed up with the All Too Easy plot twist late game when it’s attack can go up to stupidly high levels.

IQ * Ira Quimby

This level 2 character is the cornerstone of this deck and only gains more value as the game progresses. Every time your opponent draws a card, they lose one endurance. This deck will have your opponent drawing a lot of cards throughout the game. I think at a point, I’ve had my opponent drawing 6 cards per turn on average and this can be more depending on the cards you have. Thanks to it having Ranged too, it can stay on the back row to keep him around as long as possible.

Owen Mercer / Captain Boomerang * Diggers Son

This level 2 character was a bit of a last minute throw in and replaced the original Captain Boomerang IG character. I found that my opponents were using the power-up ability to ditch cards from their hands to decrease the power of Scarecrow when he hits the table turn 5 or 6. So Owen’s ability to hit the opponent for 1 endurance for each card in their hand when they power-up, can really impact this and make the opponent think twice.

Lex Luthor * Nefarious Philanthropist

So, sexy Lexy hits the table turn 3 and supercharges IQ’s ability as of turn 4. Your opponent draws 2 additional cards and then can only play 1 Plot Twist on that turn, this ability isn’t optional. So, we have a great combo piece with IQ here and is another key piece to the strategy of the deck. Due to the restriction placed on Plot Twists, your opponent is left with cards in hand they cannot use, waiting for Scarecrow to land on the board. On a separate note, this is my fav Vs System character card.

The Joker * Headline Stealer

Level 4 sees the Joker making his debut, this version of the character is similar to the same level Doctor Doom from the Marvel Origins set, but to me, a lot cooler. He has a good set of stats for a level 4 at 8 attack and 7 defence. His ability means your opponent can only play Plot Twists from their hand that cost more than the number of cards they have in hand. So you team this with Level 3 Lex Luthor and you’ve got your opponent playing 1 Plot Twist a turn and it has to be from their resource row. With the defence and boosts given by plot twists and equipment in this deck, Joker can be hard to get rid of.

Abra Kadabra * Citizen Abra

This was also a last minute throw in too, due to his ability to stop an opponent who has 5 or more cards in hand from being able to discard cards for abilities. My Cousin would play his Sentinel’s deck against me and come level 5 would bring out a character (I forget the name) which would allow him to discard any Sentinel to power up any Sentinel. This pushed me to add not only this character to stop him using the ability, but also Owen Mercer, in case I couldn’t get this guy out. As this guy then draws a target on himself, his second ability to KO an adjacent character to move to the hidden zone, really made him worth it. A very TECH card and would only see play if needed.

Scarecrow * Psycho Psychologist

This is the star of the show come turn 5 generally. Paying 3 of your endurance to have your opponent lose X endurance, where X is equal to the number of cards in their hand. With your opponent only able to play limited cards each turn, this character will end the game generally on his first turn on the board. After IQ has well and truly worn down your opponent, Scarecrow will quickly finish them off. His ability to also come out turn 6 and make everyone draw 3 cards extra, also makes him viable to keep hold of an additional turn should you need to. Not gonna lie, this pretty much never happened.

So that wraps up the line-up of evil doers in the Injustice Gang for this deck. Now to move onto those critical Plot Twists, Equipments and Locations.

Criminal Mastermind

A 1 threshold cost Plot Twist is one of the bases on the deck. For the cost of exhausting an IG character, both players draw a card at the start of the Build step each turn. With Penguin sat in the hidden area, you have a quick expendable character to use for this cost and the benefits are amazing. Teamed with IQ and later Scarecrow, this can really cause problems for your opponent, the more you have out. If you have all 4 down, with Lex Luthor on the board, your opponent is drawing 8 cards per turn. That’s 8 damage from IQ and adding 8 to the damage done by Scarecrow later. Just a key card in the deck

All Too Easy

This is the main offensive card for this deck, adding X attack and taking away X defence from one of your IG characters, where X is equal to the cards in your opponent’s hand. Although it guarantees your character will be stunned in the combat, since you have a level 1 Penguin in your hidden area, this can result in a big character of your opponents being taken out with limited cost to you. Isn’t useable till a bit into the game though, as it is 3 threshold cost, but you aren’t using this generally till later anyway.

Secret Files

So, when most players are going for the old Mobilize card, I’ll stick to my secret files. Not only do I get to go grab an IG character from my deck, but my opponent gets to go grab an affiliated character too. So adding a character to my opponents hand is a risk, but with them being unable to discard for abilities and losing some major points if they power up, I’ve never once hesitated using this card to go get a character I need. 2 Threshold cost, so useable pretty much straight away and if I don’t have IQ in my hand, this goes and gets it for me.

Power Siphon

This 1 threshold cost defensive gem of a card is another key to keeping around those characters like Lex and IQ until you can get Scarecrow out on the board. Ok, you have to exhaust the defending character, but as I mentioned early in this article, the aim isn’t to really do much standard combat with this deck. Your character gets – X attack and + X defence where X is the number of cards in the opponents hand. So the opposite of All Too Easy.

Acrobatic Dodge

The original defence card. Giving basically a – 3 attack and + 3 defence stat to any character who is defending, this is another easy pick for the deck. This card was released in the original Marvel Origins set and has been a staple to me ever since. Would play 4 of these in all my decks if I could.

Gang-Up * Team-Up

Pretty easy to justify this in the deck, it’s a quick “each player draws 1 card” with a 2 threshold cost. I’ve multiple affiliations in this team to warrant it and the drawing just fits in with the theme.

Evil Genius

A specific card for Lex Luthor, where I can exhaust him to have all players draw cards equal to his cost. So in my case 3 cards, not a bad way to fuel IQ and of course, Scarecrow later on. Easy include at 3 copies. Didn’t see a point in 4 as id never use that many and 3 makes it more likely to draw.

Political Pressure

This card really was added again, due to my cousins Sentinel deck. Having an opponent play multiple characters per turn is a big no for this deck. We need to keep you locked down as much as possible. So this really ties into that and paying 4 endurance to turn it face down in your resource row means its replay able. So due to this, I’ve only included 3 copies and at 1 threshold cost, its useable right off the bat.

Injustice Gang Satellite

So only the 1 location in this deck and I’ve just gone with 2 copies. It’s a cool location with the ability to KO a stunned character costing less than the number of cards in your opponents hand by simply discarding an IG character once per turn. 4 threshold, means it isn’t seeing play till late game, hence the low number of copies. Most of the games will end turn 5 when Scarecrow comes in. So you’ll get maybe 1 or 2 uses from this.

Laughing Gas

A 0 cost equipment and at a low 2 copies in the deck too. Although I love the ability on the card, essentially turning my level 4 Joker into Scarecrow should he deal any breakthrough damage, this card doesn’t usually see much use, as mentioned, I’m not too focused on doing standard combat. However, should the tactical situation arise, this card can be a great way to end the game turn 4.

So there it is. I’d looked at multiple replacements for some of the cards in this deck to try and make it more combat ready, but felt like when I did that, it took from the focus of the deck. Which is simple. To give my opponent loads of cards, as I’m a generous guy, but, to make sure they could never use them, while I work “behind the scenes” to beat them. All in the name of Injustice.

As I said to my cousin after I beat his Modern age Horsemen of Apocalypse deck…. Better luck next time.

I’m likely to do another one of these classic game deck reviews, as I’ve quite enjoyed going over some older tactics and playstyles. I’ve got games such as WWE Raw Deal and YuGiOh which I can draw from to look at. Plus I’ll continue to post about Arkham Horror LCG and other games I’ve got going on, plus any wrestling I fancy taking on.

Thanks for reading, you can catch me on my Genesis BlogSpot, the Cheap Shot Entertainment BlogSpot, on Twitter @bigboss010 and Instagram at Bigbosstp010.

I’m Big Boss, I’m out….. Peace.

#BigBossBookClub

#TheEndOfEverything

Resident Evil 3 Remake - First Thoughts

I wrote a little quick piece for the Cheap Shot Entertainment Facebook page and my own Instagram (bigbosstp010) regarding the demo for the remake of Resident Evil 3, so I wanted to write a little first impressions piece following its release. Please be warned, there may be some mild spoilers, nothing too story impacting though.

The beginning is 100% different to the original PlayStation One version, with some minor nods to the original though are slyly woven into it. The biggest thing for me was the debut of Nemesis within 3 minutes of game play and as expected, this mother k’nucker enters with a bang, setting the tone for the first frantic 5 minutes of the game. A portion of this will be played in a 1^st person view too, which shocked me.

It’s worth pointing out that the Racoon City demo released previously as a comparison to the Resident Evil 2 demo, both start at similar points in their respective main games. Essentially when the main body of the game begins following the introduction to the surroundings.

I was a little sad to see that Brad Vickers gets even less screen time than the original Resident Evil 3 and his fate feels almost a sad let down considering how he gets killed in the original. In his fleeting appearance, he becomes nothing more than a poor man’s Hodor (Game of Thrones reference there) so Jill can run away. This is funny in its own way, considering Brad was portrayed as a complete coward in both his previous “alive” appearances in the Resident Evil franchise.

We are very quickly introduced to Carlos too, however, what an introduction! This Carlos feels like a good evolution of the original, gone is the slicked back hair and rubbish accent. Instead we have a rougher around the edges character, who manages to maintain some of those cringe worthy lines of the original, with considerably more annoying hair and who clearly hits the gym more than the original ever did. Yet, I’m very excited to say that Carlos gets way more screen time in this instalment, he gets 2 playable segments from what I can tell so far. His first adventure is the RPD station, pre Resident Evil 2 timeline of course and this segment answers some questions I’ve had since I first played Resident Evil 2 (the damage in the 1^st floor bathroom for example).

I know this may cause a polarising opinion, but I don’t like the knife…. I enjoyed the knife in Resident Evil 2 and was a staple of my item pack throughout the game. I loved that if an enemy attacked you and you had the knife, you could use it to defend yourself, same with grenades too. Knives were plenty in the Resident Evil 2 remake, so it wasn’t difficult to restock it should you lose it or break it. However, I’m sorry to say that Resident Evil 3 loses this feature. Replacing it with some rubbish button bash to reduce damage instead and keeps the knife as a 1 of. That’s right, in a WHOLE CITY, you get 1 knife…. I understand that the remade dodge feature is expected to keep you safe in this game and allows you to hit a cheeky counter attack if timed properly. But, anyone who knows me, will tell you that I’m more of a stand and shoot player (I’m not the stealth player on Metal Gear Solid).

Resident Evil 2 remake kept the ammo crafting feature introduced by the original Resident Evil 3, so I’m glad they have continued that here. Also the unlockable safes etc which crept in the Resident Evil 2 remake also stick around. Just trying to get those pesky unlock codes is the annoying part, however, these add to the longevity of the game play, which I’m feeling from other things I’ve read, is really limited this time round. Where Resident Evil 2 had 4 campaigns to play, this game has a grand total of 1 and due to this, I’ll be really drawing out my play through here.

Not having played a big portion into the game as of yet, I can’t comment on how the story will evolve by the end in comparison to the original. Yet, already I’m seeing huge differences and not all of them are bad. Remakes will always get stick for moving away from the original material, however, this is the nature of a remake and I for one, am kind of enjoying this as a standalone piece currently. I’m looking forward to seeing how Nemesis factors into the game later on and if he is truly more anxiety inspiring that his predecessor, Mr X.

No doubt once I have completed the full game, I’ll be able to bring you a more full on account.

Thank you so much for reading, you can also check out more from Cheap Shot Entertainment via their BlogSpot (https://cheapshotentertainment.blogspot.com/) and more from myself at my BlogSpot (https://bigboss010-genesisblog.blogspot.com/)

I’m Big Boss, I’m out….. Peace

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) Review

I managed to get some time to myself to watch this movie, so I took full advantage. Although boasted as a Birds of Prey movie, I’m not too sure that was the correct title, as their combined screen time wasn’t close to Harley Quinn’s and it felt as if their characters were always last place to everyone else in the movie. This is further emphasised by Harley very rarely being off camera and even taking on the role of narrator too.

Another person who seems to get more screen time than the titular characters is the villainous Roman Sionis, played by Ewan McGregor. Now, I enjoyed his performance as the comic book gangster, however, one major failing for me was that he was never really referred to as Black Mask and he maybe wore the mask for about 3 minutes of screen time. Considering in the comics he is never really seen without it, this kind of bugged me. Despite that nag, his performance was probably one of the stronger elements of the film. His campish extravagant performance mashed well with a sudden flip to extreme rage.

One character which I felt was let down was The Huntress, initially made to look like a bad ass and this soon got knocked on its head. Made to look like a bumbling fool, which to me, lowered her danger level massively. In all honesty I found Rene Montoya a little forgettable too; I wasn’t getting the “ass kicking” detective vibe I was really hoping for. Again, another character thrown in, but ends up lost in the shuffle with very little development considering she is an actual Bird of Prey.

The use of the Cassandra Cain character was interesting, a far cry from the comic variant, who becomes the second Batgirl. Instead used as a teenage pick pocket. Which I understand they are well within their remit to do, yet I didn’t feel this was needed and they could have used any name for this character. Then added the actual Batgirl into the squad in a later movie, or even introduced this character at the end of this movie. 

It sounds like I’m being very down on this movie; but actually, I quite enjoyed it for what it was. I’m always interested to see how these movies play out and how they fit into the grander DCEU. Just remember this film is set in the same universe as Justice League, Shazam and Wonder Woman. The movie does still try to keep itself linked to DCEU, with a quick shot cameo from Jay Courtney as Captain Boomerang, one of my favourite Suicide Squad characters.

When going to see a comic book movie, people are now expecting that post credit scene. This movie doesn’t fail to deliver a post credit morsel. Yet if you were looking for anything other than a quick giggle, don’t feel obliged to stay in the cinema once those credits start. I wouldn’t say I regretted it, but could have lived without doing it.

The Black Canary was amazing in this movie, loved her look and how her character felt developed. Starting off as the lounge singer with a conscious, hiding her powers away and eventually embracing a more heroic persona. That, I liked. Also took me ages to figure out where I had seen Jurnee Smollett-Bell before, she was in an episode of the TV series House. Mystery solved. HA!

One big plus of this movie was the fight sequences; the big brawl at the end of the film is a great example of a good choreographed fight. Set in a whacky fun house, you see all sorts of random bits used in the fight, such as giant hands. This scene also does a good job of giving all the main characters some screen time, chance to shine and this felt lacking in the rest of the movie.

Outside of Ewan McGregor’s Roman Sionis, you had the sinister Victor Zsasz. A more less known member of the Batman rogue’s gallery, a serial killer who scars himself every time he kills someone and they kept this very close to the source material for the movie. Although demoted to a gang land hitman, he still came across as a legitimate psycho and this fit in well with the instability portrayed by Ewan McGregor.

I’m not one to disagree with my tag team partner (Luke), however, I think I preferred Suicide Squad to this movie overall. I believe the characters in that film had purpose and all fit into the narrative somehow. This movie didn’t feel that way to me; the Birds of Prey were just stage hands for the Harley Quinn story.

Yet this movie did what it needed to do, it gave a nice filler between Suicide Squad movies so that we didn’t forget about DCEU’s seedy underbelly. With big hero movies like Aqua Man, Wonder Woman and Shazam, folks may have forgotten about the hard working villains of the DCEU. I also hope it leads into an actual Birds of Prey movie, minus Harley Quinn.

So in conclusion, Birds of Prey, is well worth a watch. Doesn’t take much thinking on your part and delivers a fun paced comic book jaunt. 3 out of 5 fist rating for me I think.

I’m Big Boss.......... I’m out....... Peace!

Arkham Horror: The Card Game - The Circle Undone Chapter 2: On Death’s Doorstep

I haven’t written anything Arkham Horror related in some time, so I wanted to put together something about our most recent game. Solely because of how much I enjoyed it. This scenario was tough, yet it felt like everything came together really nicely and we saw some awesome little moments. One that jumps to mind is Stuart managed to end the game with 34 resources as Preston Fairmont.

To set the scene for you. The prologue to this campaign involves 4 characters which essentially are destined to be defeated; no one gets out alive in this story. Following this the wealthy philanthropist Preston Fairmont (Stuart) decided he wanted to learn more about what happened. Then having discussed the matter in depth with his psychologist Carolyn Fern (Shaun), it was suggested that he put together a team or professionals to look into the strange disappearances. Preston proceeded to hire the services of Joe Diamond (Josh), a private investigator with a great reputation for solving tough cases and Tony Morgan (Me), a bounty hunter whose tracking skills have resulted in some well known fugitives being brought in.

After we encountered a coven of witches trying to cast a spell, we have been left puzzled as to what is going on and how these disappearances fit into this. Luckily our wealthy patron Preston has managed to get our names onto the guest list for the next big event hosted by the Twilight Lodge.

So, we have found ourselves at the Silver Twilight Lodge’s latest charity ball, only a short time after their previous event resulted in multiple attendees disappearing without a trace (see prologue chapter of campaign). Our goal was to snoop around to locate any evidence to help in our search for those 4 missing people and perhaps an indication of what happened to them.

Our party started in the Entry Hall, with us quickly splitting up to search the rooms where the missing victims had last been seen. The Balcony, The Office, The Victorian Halls and the Billiard Room. The Act deck would not advance until we were instructed to do so, therefore, we opted to hurry to discover as many clues as we could before a sudden game effect would cause us to advance.

The agenda deck would advance first, causing us to read the scenario’s interlude chapter. Following this we were on the trail of 3 of the 4 missing people, I have a feeling we may have lost one of them to the powers of the mythos. After the interlude, the Act deck advanced, causing us to become prey to the horrific circumstances that the prologue investigators fell victim too, although this time, we are more prepared than they were.

Carolyn managed to convince the senior Twilight Lodge member Josef Meiger that we were not responsible for this situation, slowing the doom piling up. I then focused on holding off the Spectral Watcher, the recurring villain from the prologue scenario. Meanwhile Joe and Preston worked hard to find a way out of the estate. Luckily with Carolyn’s assistance, we managed to find an exit to the estate and began directing the remaining members of the Twilight Lodge out the exit. Once we secured their escape route, we followed them out the door to obtain resolution 1 of this scenario.

Following our escape we were confronted by the leader of the Silver Twilight lodge and his entourage.  Following them identifying Preston as one of their own and Josef Meiger promoting us as his saviours, we were offered the chance for us all to become members of the Silver Twilight Lodge. We listened to the advice of our lead investigator, Preston (Stuart), who recommended we join their efforts to get to the bottom of this whole mess and we opted to join the lodge.

We managed to walk away from the game with 7 additional experience points each, 5 from the scenario itself and an additional 2 bonus experience after rescuing Josef Meiger from the perils of his own house.

I am actually really excited about this campaign, the story is really cool so far and it feels like we may have just got ourselves caught up in a rivalry between a coven of witches and the Silver Twilight Lodge. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this story plays out and how us joining the lodge will impact our ability to move forward when bumping into the witches again.

I’m Big Boss...... I’m Out...... Peace

Marvel Champions - The Card Game: Initial Thoughts, Feelings and Emotions

So when this game was announced I was really excited. As an avid player of the Arkham Horror LCG (living card game), I was super happy to see Fantasy Flight Games were going to make a similar co-operative card game using the Marvel IP. I quite enjoyed moving away from competitive games to focus more on co-operative playing games instead, as I have always enjoyed team work and being able to be more relaxed when playing games. This game is also unique as it breaks away from FFG’s usual sales tactic of only releasing enough cards in a core box to give you a taster, if you want a better experience you need to purchase multiple core sets instead. With one of these core sets, you have enough to play the game with 4 people.

First Impressions:

Well the box looked pretty standard. However, upon opening the box did I get the huge surprise to see an actual plastic insert instead of the usual throwaway cardboard insert.

In terms of content though. We have plenty of tokens, lots of cards, a rules reference guide, a quick play guide and I can’t get over that plastic insert. I was legitimately worried about storing these cards and it’s so refreshing to see the box have more use than with previous Fantasy Flight Games releases.

The one thing that did strike me here was the dials, the holes feel almost too small, and I actually think I did damage to them while putting them together, which could have been avoided. The tokens themselves feel pretty standard; I can see these lasting a bit longer than my Arkham Horror LCG tokens, if only because this game won’t see as much play as Arkham Horror LCG. However, if you are planning to really get into this game, I would consider finding some acrylic tokens somewhere to replace these ones pretty sharpish.

In terms of value for money, this game was £45 with postage. I don’t need to buy another core to get a full set and this sits just fine with me. I can pick up odd packs here and there to get specific heroes and villains that I want to play too. 

Set Up:

Well the box comes with 2 pre-built decks for you to trial the game. Spiderman and Captain Marvel are your weapons of choice. The game also comes with pre-built bad guy for you to tackle too, Rhino. I opted to play as Spiderman, only really because I don’t like Captain Marvel that much and with the bad guy being Rhino, Spiderman felt more related story wise.

The quick play guide included with the game was really well done too; I didn’t get confused or lost during the games set up, as it made everything really clear for me. The only thing missing from the learn to play guide was what to do when your deck ran out, luckily this is noted in the main rule book. The game actually looks a little bare once it is ready to go, however this was due mainly to me playing solo.

Game play:

This game certainly makes you think in terms of game play, having to discard cards to pay for cards is a challenge in itself. However does bring a level of urgency to the game, you have to decide what’s more important for your strategy at that time. I pretty much went for damage dealing abilities and abilities that let me generate resources, which worked well, for a time anyway.

The different effects in the game flip from your “alter ego” and your “hero” personas, so it’s also important you are balancing which abilities can be used with each part of your character. There was a couple of instances where I had to flip from Spiderman to Peter Parker, so I could heal up and get another couple of costly cards out. However again this feels right as it’s not uncommon for the hero to take a time out to recoup and rethink their plan when dealing with a certain enemy.

How did it all go?

Well, I lost. Ha. I would however like to say that this was so close, had I lasted one more turn, I would have won. I think this also is a nice thematically to how the stories sometimes go. The first part of the game was going so well for me, and then the encounter deck started hitting me with some nasty effects and boosting Rhino’s stats. I would have limped into another round, however the encounter deck forced me to spawn my hero specific nemesis cards and this spelled doom for me at this stage sadly.

The combination of Vulture and Rhino was just too much for Spiderman to tackle. So Rhino managed to complete his evil scheme to win the game.


I even went as far as replaying the game with Captain Marvel to see how she played out, I’ll say that I either played it wrong, or she is insanely good using the Aggression aspect. I was dealing out up to 15 points of damage in one turn, quickly disposing of Rhino and his fiendish schemes.

Final Thoughts:

Despite the first game loss, I am excited by this game; it was simple and flowed really well. It felt very thematic in terms of a comic book story or movie, and having to alter from hero to alter ego emphasised this too.

For the price you pay you get a game for 1 to 4 players, based on an IP that most people will recognise or know about. The game is really simple with the learn to play guide doing a great job of teaching you how to play and keeping it simple for new players. Highly recommended.