We have been to the town of Dunwich, to Paris and back in Path to Carcosa so the obvious place next is…the Jungle? Setting out beyond the Mexican border our investigators find themselves on the trail of mysterious artefacts, lost civilisations and snakes. Lots and lots of snakes.
Opening the tome
It’s always exciting to crack open a new campaign starter set for Arkham. Not only is it the start of a new campaign and months of new story, but the designers are unleashing their latest ideas around on us. Let’s take a look at the new investigators joining us in the jungle, starting with the one I was most excited by.
Calvin Wright: The Haunted
Yes that stat line is correct, Calvin starts out with 0 in everything. As he takes physical and mental damage his stats get better leading to all sorts of interesting possibilities. For a start Trauma is not something to be feared as much as every point of it just makes you stronger. Cards like ‘I’ll see you in hell’ become more appealing as you can permanently increase your stats through its use. You have to be careful though, as too much damage too quickly can lead to him permanently checking out of the game.
Father Mateo: The Priest
I’m playing this character in my current run through the game and I am really enjoying the change of pace from Survivor and Guardian. He is almost pure mystic, with only 1 card from survivor currently carrying the Blessed keyword, hopefully we will see more of that in Circle Undone. To compensate for his narrow focus you start with 5xp to get some of the more powerful mystic cards into your deck. His signature card allows you to Seal the Elder sign, taking the token from the bag and putting it on the book. You can choose to pop this when you test automatically getting the Elder Sign, which on his trigger is an auto pass and either a card and a resource or a whole extra action. Fantastic effect.
Seal is one of the two new mechanics in this set, and over the course of the packs we will see more and more cards allow us to manipulate the bag and trigger on the various symbol tokens. I’ve built a bag diving Mateo myself for my current run and it is really interesting, if a bit brain burning.
Leo Anderson: The Expedition Leader
Leo is a fairly straightforward Guardian card pool but with a particular emphasis on allies, especially with his signature card allowing for two extra slots, though he does take up 1 himself. A Charisma path with “Leo & Friends” does seem to be the best route for him.
Ursula Downs: The Explorer
I’ve seen Ursula in action and with Pathfinder and Fieldwork down she can really zip about the map, hoovering up clues as she goes. She is perfectly suited to the Forgotten Age with it’s reliance on another new mechanic Exploration. Many of the scenarios as well as having the normal encounter deck, will also have an exploration deck, a set of locations and treacheries. You take an explore action by turning over cards until you either hit a treachery or find a location you can path to: treacheries are discarded, locations you can’t path to are shuffled back in. when you do hit a location you can move to it immediately, meaning Ursula can just dive in and start getting clues. Another really strong seeker character.
Finn Edwards: The Bootlegger
I haven’t had a chance to play Finn yet, but I really want to. His ability is keyed to another mechanic in Forgotten Age, Vengeance. Some creatures have vengeance on them, and when killed go to the victory display. At the end of each scenario you total up your vengeance and add it to an ongoing total, which will have different effects on the campaign. Finn with his ability to evade for free once a round, gets round this by avoiding enemies rather than fighting them. I also really like the flavour of his deck building requirements.
Jungle Fever
The investigators come with a bunch of new cards to add to the pool, from mysterious relics to horrible new weaknesses.
Trusted
With an ally focused Guardian in this set this card should see a good bit of use. Played on a Beat Cop or a Guard Dog to give them more longevity seems like a good choice.
Ancient Stone: Unidentified
Ooh, another shot at the Strange Solution style of cards. An inbuilt ability to get extra clues isn’t too shabby but this time round you have to do as many identifications as you can before upgrading in order for it to be worthwhile. An interesting bit of theme, though not sure how much play it will see.
