Arkham Horror Base Set: Survivors

BEHOLD!




Wednesday Addams...er, Wendy Adams...the default Survivor of the game! Not only the best character in the game, but the best character ever written! Ever! Except Rogue! And Number Ten Ox!

With that out of the way, let's objectively review the best character ever. 4/3/1/4 is probably the most extreme stat line in the starting set, because that big fat ONEsees there means Wendy needs, on average, a +2 Skill increase to Combat to even hit an average enemy. For 1 damage. That is...well, that's really bad. Luckily she has 4 Agility, which means evasion-stunning is her preferred method of fighting -- or, to be more precise, her only method of fighting, because when you're down that low to begin with, including cards to make your Combat worthwhile means you're spending a hella lotta deck space to make your character average. Ick.

Likewise, 4 Willpower would be/can be/is be great, if Wendy could cast any spells. But she can't, because she's Survivor/rogue. That does give her a random leg up when the encounter deck throws Willpower tests at her, which is fine, but most turns of the game, that's a dead stat, because Survivor/rogue doesn't care about Willpower.

So that leaves her a 3 Intellect, making her reasonable at investigating, and a 4 Agility which will have to pull a hell of a lot of weight to keep her alive. Her durability is also arguably the best in the game, as a perfectly balanced 7/7 means most monsters take the longest to kill her. Yes, Roland-ites, Wendy is actually a better pure tank than Roland, because she takes the longest to get eatens up by the nasties.

Her ability is the best one in the game, period. It's not dependent on board position like Roland's, being able to self-inflict Horror like Agnes', or having already played a particular card type like Daisy's, and while it requires spending a fundamental resource of the game like Skids' (cards vs. resources), it costs 1 less "resource". And it can be used unlimited times per turn, as long as you have cards to pitch. I'd like someone who stayed awake longer in stat class than me to address how negating a pull from a 1/16 chance bag, and then repulling, affects the odds of her getting something. I know each pull is a unique event, but getting a -4 twice in a row seems a lot less likely than a -4 followed by a -1 or higher. I do have a feel that gives her a better chance to avoid the Tentacles (instant fail), -3s, and -4s of the world and ups her chance for an Elder Sign, or even a 0 (which is frequently all you want).

One thing this does point out is that Wendy likes drawing cards. A lot. Since she doesn't have any offensive ability beyond stun-locking foes, that seems to be something she should be concentrating on.

Her Elder Sign is utterly thematic and totally worthless at the same time, even more so than for the others. It's another 0 *unless* you have her signature item in play (which is, as long time Arkhamites know, an Elder Sign itself), in which case you auto-succeed. So you need to grind through your deck to both fuel your very useful top ability and then find your personal Elder Sign. Aggressively mulliganing to find your signature item seems pretty much how Wendy rolls. As well as drinking, as shown in Hard Knocks. Speaking of Hard Knocks, her back text informs us she is, indeed, secondary Rogue, as mentioned above.

Wendy is the Queen of Arkham. The rest suffer under her just, if eccentric and gin-fueled, rule.



Wendy's Amulet carries the most weight of any of the signature cards. First off, it has a wacky 2 Wild icons! I don't know what extreme situation you'll be in when you have to discard this instead of playing it, but when you do, that comes through hardcore. Most importantly, it fuels her *entire character concept*. Daisy's Tote Bag just makes her better, the Heirloom of Hyperborea is useful but not vital, but Wendy's character doesn't even work fully until you find her Elder Sign. It lets her recur Events which she has discarded for repulls, and it lets her autosucceed on said pulls. It's stupid. Dig for it.



Even Wendy's signature weakness is arguably the mildest of all. Yes, it removes your discard from the game. That usually won't matter, and half the time when you reveal this you won't have found your Elder Sign yet anyway. It does 2 Horror, which is dangerous, but hardly fatal. It doesn't cost her future actions. It doesn't ruin her stats in the next adventure. She suffers, it's gone, it's over.

I will note that in future adventures, if for some reason they come out with just the grindiest of grinding hardcore long-ass super-adventures, where you will be expected to go through your deck numerous times, Abandoned and Alone becomes far, far more dangerous. Every time you reshuffle your discard into your deck, you take 1 Horror, and Abandoned and Alone is making your deck a variable amount smaller every time you hit it, thereby not only increasing the reshuffle Horror frequency, but doing 2 Horror again as well. Ouch.

For new players, "direct" damage (direct Horror, in this case) is damage you have to apply to your main character. You can't slough it off on possessions.

Shall we view the land of Red next?

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Survivors are apparently meant to be the jack-of-all-trades and high-variance, high-reward faction in the game. And also be hard to kill.

There are two Survivors right now, Queen Wendy, Gin-Fueled Tyrant of Arkham, and someone named Agnes.



This XP Level 1 ally is pretty fascinating. She is very expensive for 1/4 stats; you'd prefer your allies to be more even-statted, because then they are staying around longer before they are eaten. Her ability is powerful, but only works if there are two monsters at the same location. Which definitely happens, and not all too rarely, but, again, that's not something you can rely upon.

So is the Forgotten Daughter worth it? She's a huge Sanity bank if nothing else, which appeals to Agnes (places she can dump Horror when there's no monsters to kill are always useful to the waitress), and her power actually works wonderfully with Agnes as well, handing out more damage across a field of beasties. Yay! Wendy tends to stun-lock her foes, but that does mean it's easier to accumulate monsters in her location, which means Aquinnah can gain more targets.

I think she's definitely worth 1 XP, I'm just concerned about the 5 resources. She's still useful to the default playstyle of both Survivors, so I say a cautious thumbs up!



Here's Wendy's best weapon, period. The touchy Rogue-specific weapons can't guarantee a hit, which is what Wendy needs with her 1 Combat. This gives her a +2 Combat (making her average) and a vitally needed consistent +1 damage, and she has her base power to mitigate the bat breaking at a bad time, and it doesn't require ammo.

This is a fine backup weapon for Agnes, if she doesn't want or hasn't drawn her Shriveling yet. Also comes with a Combat icon, which both ladies don't mind having.



This directly nukes a monster from the board. A non-elite monster, sure, but that's most of them, and Wendy should have no problem evading them.

Yes, it goes back into the encounter deck. You may not ever see it again. Or perhaps Roland will draw it instead of you this time. Or perhaps some effect will discard it. Or Scrying can then deal with it. In short, there's lots of times that just punting a monster back to the deck saves many actions and pulls that would take to kill it, or just clears up a messy room long enough for someone to drain the last few clues and get out of there. It can turn a multi-monster feeding frenzy into a manageable 2-3 monster brawl. And so on. Heck, tag team with Skids and play this on the monster HE just evaded.

It is expensive for XP buy-in, but it gives Wendy a very unique form of board control. This works fine for Agnes too, but she's not nearly as reliable at evading monsters as Wendy, and Blinding Light is an Event instead of an Asset as well, so she can't evade consistently with style very often; I could see Agnes not being interested in this one.



Like the other five-cost Level 0 cards in the game, this one is a game-changer. Auto-evading all enemies at a location means all monsters on everyone fall off and lie stunned, on the floor. It doesn't matter who they were engaged with, or what they were doing, they're now lying in a heap, and the party has a full turn to run rampage and do whatever they want to. Sneak Attack for days. Set up your Close Calls. Just grab all the clues and run the hell out of there. This card, played as first action in the party's turn, buys them the entire turn. And it works on elites. It's amazing, and both Wendy and Agnes should value it highly.

5 resources is not particularly cost-effective if you're only using it on 1-2 monsters, which is why you don't do it on them. Use normal evades instead.

Oh, and it has a Wild icon. Stupid!

I'm not exactly sure what those flying gibbons are supposed to be from Lovecraft lore. Perhaps the basted turkey is so darn delicious Demogorgon has sent his representatives for a fine holiday feasting all the way from the World of Greyhawk?



Dig Deep is the Survivor skill-boosting Talent, so apply all previous comments. I think the name and concept are fine, but I have trouble seeing how the lady in the picture isn't trying to boost her Combat, not Willpower or Agility.

This is far better for Agnes than Wendy, because Wendy will probably never normally need to boost her Willpower, and that's Agnes' main Skill. Wendy *could* use this to get +Agility, which she likes, but why not just cut straight to the gin bottle and skip the middleman?



One action to get 2 HP. That's it. Simple, to the point, and dirt cheap. Tough to complain about this card. It probably will be the first one cut once your deck can actually be built along a theme or a particular build, but it's still useful for now, and probably much later. 0 dollars for 2 HP is pretty darn good.



Let's talk about "speccing to fail," which some of my friends are loudly prone to do when a card like Lucky! comes around. "You shouldn't include cards that only work when you lose," they say. "Include cards that will increase your plan instead!" Fair enough, but Lucky! isn't speccing to fail, it's just dealing with the realities of a 16-point resolution system. Without considering the iconographics in the CHAOS BAG!!!, Lucky will give you a +2 to anything you draw if you fail, which effectively on an equal or +1 above-Skill target test turns a whopping 50% of the CHAOS BAG!!! into a hit. That's an opportunity cost of holding 1 card in hand and 1 resource aside for a huge increase in reliability. And that's speccing for success.

Heck, Lucky! is better than Sure Gamble (the advanced Rogue event that actually dares cost you XP to play it). Except for two tiles in the bag, Lucky! does the same thing Sure Gamble does, only cheaper (again, this only holds true if playing on Standard difficulty on the original campaign; check your local CHAOS BAG!!! for updated probability distributions).

That being said, Wendy's ability to pitch bad draws makes Lucky! either not quite as useful for her or a second tier of even more resolute probability defense, depending how you see it. Agnes will see it as more generally useful, but it's good for both ladies. Be warned that it does not have any icons! (effectively it has 2 Wild icons, of course, but you have to pay a resource to get them).



2 XP and Lucky! turns from a pretty great card to an awesome one. You get the same CHAOS BAG!!! stability boost, and you get to draw a card as well! Which helps Wendy dig for her Elder Sign! And Agnes draw more good stuff, but not as good as the Elder Sign! Anyway, great investment.



Now here's a card that's a bit more speccing for failure, because it only triggers when you lose. It is dirt cheap, and has a Wild icon, but being limited to one card a turn is a bummer. Yes, you are going to fail a lot of tests in this game. Yes, it's nice to draw a card as consolation from that. And perhaps for our two Survivors the Rabbit's Foot could be seen to be of very dubious value, because it uses the vital Accessory slot that their signature items want to sit in! Aieee!

However, it's so very cheap to play you could easily play it out first and use it to help dig to find your Elder Sign or Heirloom, and then you don't mind so much replacing it. The earlier you can play a card that pays you for failed pulls, the more value you get out of it! And if you draw it after you have your Elder Sign in play, then you get a Wild icon for your troubles. And especially for Wendy, it's a reasonably semi-reliable means of card draw to fuel her basic design concept. This is a good Accessory to keep on hand until you find Wendy's Amulet.

For Wendy, always thirsty for gin and cards, this seems pretty easy to go with. Agnes can use it to get her Heirloom...which probably will draw her less cards? Hmm. Well, it's quite good for Wendy, and has a wild icon for Agnes, then.



Now this card. This card is the only card that makes the Item keyword matter so far in the game, and it's...well, neither of the Survivors are better than acceptable at investigating. Which means they can get by at Shroud 2 or so locations, but then so can anyone. And to pass by 2+ requires a lot of effort and set-up to get back...what? Your Baseball Bat? Recurring Rabbit's Foot for Wild icons? I guess the Leather Coat gives you a non-ending stream of 2 HP quasi-heals. Grabbing a big Grotesque Statue back would be a pretty good way to recur a significant XP investment for Agnes. Still, best bet would be to recur your Flashlight, which will give you boosts to your investigate to recur back...more Flashlights. Yay?

I'm not saying the effect isn't good; card recursion always is. And the price of 1 resource certainly can't be complained about. I'm just saying given the current state of items in the game, setting this up for Wendy or Agnes will take a bit of work, and your payback won't exactly be format-defining. The endless stream of Flashlights is probably the best current combo we can get, which isn't exactly power-tripping down the highway of brokenness.



Do you want an extra HP? Do you want to evade something without testing? Do you just like cats? All of these desires of yours can be met for the utterly low price of only 1 box of resourcy stuff!

It's tough to complain about something as cheap and useful as the cat. It's a thin coat of catgut armor, or an autoevade to set off Wendy's Rogue secondary Sneak Attacks and etc. Or just saving an action to stun a monster for a turn is good too.

Agnes has allies she'd rather be seen with, I'm thinking, but this is still a fine option for her. She can use some extra evading, and 1 resource for 1 HP is excellent.



The Survivor skill is Agility-iconned and helps with evasion, unsurprisingly. I like it for the action compression (a free move with no monsters on your tail is well worth a card), but Wendy has more stuff interacting with stunned critters than Agnes does, which ups the odds the Queen will like this more than the Waitress. Still, you can use it on any investigator at your location, of course. A nice solid skill.



The Wendy-only Survivor card ain't bad, but in some ways is more expensive but less useful than either Lucky! or even Sure Gamble.

Look, it is fast, which is a requirement (it'd be unplayable without fast at 4 resources cost). It has a Wild icon and a Combat icon, both of which are great. And for your next three actions, you know exactly what your test results will be, because they will be your stats (plus any boosts from commitments or board, of course).

The thing is, without a developed board, this means you won't be able to pass tests that you have a lower stat than the target number of, because you can't draw the +1 or the Elder Sign from the bag. Very sad. However--if you are playing with the Skill-booster talents, and if Wendy has been saving a mother lode of resources to not only pay for this, but to make it deliciously broken, this is the card you use to seal shut a big turn. Play this, and then Hard Knocks your way to victory over anything and everyone. Play this and discard your hand full of Wild icons to pass whatever vital important test is holding up the whole party.

In fact, I'm going to bet that Will to Survive will become a defining deck archetype for Survivors. You amass large quantities of skill-boosts and resources (not too tough for Wendy, with her being off-Rogue), and then power out your Wills to win big over two turns.

It's a great card, but it requires considerably more set up than nearly any other card in the game to fully utilize. Be careful out there! And don't forget the gin.



This card might win for best flavor awesomeness. Aside from that, it's a "fail-spec" style card along the lines of Lucky!, only I actually like it more than Lucky!. Lucky! wins you a lot of failed tests. "Look what I found!" doesn't even care if you win the test. In fact, it expects you to fail. And if you fail, you pay 2 resources to get two clues, which is, y'know, how you win the game. A perfectly valid exchange rate, and a great way to force your way through nasty high-Shroud locations. I'd recommend it for both ladies.

And that does it for the colored cards! Thanks for putting up with me for so long.

But don't worry, we'll take a look at the neutral cards (good and ill) next...