Done with Dunwich Terror and Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Take a journey into the terrifying unknown surrounding the town of Dunwich with Arkham Horror: The Card Game.
Onto another campaign with Arkham Horror: The Card Game! I wanted to continue my exploration of the content, which quickly led me to the first fully released cycle: The Dunwich Legacy. With no spoilers for myself, I didn’t know what to expect, aside from the usual level of horror. Not surprising in the least! Into the fray I went, hoping to survive…
Spoiler Alert
Contained here are light spoilers for the full campaign of The Dunwich Legacy, as well as Curse of the Rougarou. The experience of discovering what each scenario offers is part of the appeal. I highly recommend playing through these scenarios first before reading anything in-depth. Just helps make the stories even more surprising and interesting!
Game Overview
Game Name: Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Publication Year: 2016
Designers: Nate French, and MJ Newman
Artists: Many (7 Credited)
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Investigators must work towards defeating monsters, gathering clues, and completing objectives throughout a campaign. Surprises abound, often in the realm of the terrifying! Victory is far from guaranteed in a system where stories focus on the characters and their plights.
First Play
April 4, 2019
Complexity
4
Latest Play
October 19, 2023
Expansions
65
Setup Time
15 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
17
Play Time
1 Hour & 15 Minutes
High Score
N/A
Game Area
34" x 28"
Low Score
N/A
Pete and Duke
If you’re going to think I would pass up the chance to feature Duke in another campaign, think again! He might not have been in his Barkham form, but… Dawgie!
Pete himself seemed like an interesting character. I simply loved how he worked with Duke, though, and there was no getting around that loyal partnership.
He seemed like a pretty versatile character, but I initially built a deck more focused on combat specialties.
But let’s face it: Duke was the star of this duo! He was just awesome in practically every situation. Good boy!
A DareDevil Lifestyle
The other side of this duo was Winifred Habbamock. As one of the investigator starter characters, her deck was generally self-contained and helped me jump right in.
Such an interesting character! Her strengths were about ensuring success with skill tests. But that was all balanced by her weakness… Arrogance. Very interesting.
I enjoy building decks here and there, yet I appreciate having a fairly limited pool of cards to focus on.
After a quick dinner and partial destruction of La Bella Luna, these investigators were on the campaign path!
It All Went Wrong
Investigating a college campus seemed like a pretty simple activity… Naturally, it wasn’t! Pete and Winifred split up a little more than I intended, which was a bit risky.
Just when all seemed to be going well, everything took a sudden turn for the worse. This monstrosity showed up, and it was all they could do to save the college students!
A special concoction helped ensure success, which was right at the very end. Much too close for comfort.
Pete upgraded his deck to add Peter Sylvestre, a student, as an ally… They were henceforth called Pete and Pete!
Coordinated Outfits
What do you need while fighting off evil and possibly losing your sanity in this world? Good clothing. Not the fine clothes, mind you… Just matching leather coats!
It was pretty great when Pete and Winifred had both of these assets out during the scenarios. Most of the time, that happened on the same turn. Coordination!
While at the museum, Pete’s leather coat was necessary when he stepped inside a chilling sort of exhibit. Too cold!
Luckily, Duke wasn’t around to see the flavor text about Winifred being the cat’s meow. We don’t tolerate cats. Ha!
Up, Up, and Away!
I had no idea what to expect during these scenarios, but I knew there was one about a train that often received very positive reviews. All aboard the Essex County Express!
This really was amazing. So much variety, and the ticking time bomb of the far train cars kept up the tension!
Winifred got off to a really rough start, nearly getting stuck and taking a lot of damage at the start. Pete had to race ahead to try to help, which he excelled at.
Peter Sylvestre was knocked out while Pete climbed into the engine car, but all was well. It was a rousing victory!
Not a Vacation Town
Goodness. I figured it would be a lovely time exploring a town out in the country with beautiful scenery and even some local shops. Dunwich was an absolute nightmare!
Mechanically speaking, the hidden chamber and key turned out to be as far apart as they could be. There was no way those clues were going to be discovered by the end!
Pete and Winifred dashed all over the place, to no avail. I finally had to call it and ensure they resigned to survive.
It wasn’t exactly the best outcome, but this visit to Dunwich wasn’t exactly pleasant. Steer clear!
More Dunwich Trouble
Just when it seemed like Pete and Winifred were going to escape, the next scenario kept them rooted to Dunwich.
They had everything under control for a bit, yet I was struck with some really bad luck with both of their decks.
Pete couldn’t escape from Dunwich, nor his nightmares. At the exact wrong moment, he was pretty much out of commission and lost to the terrors of his past. Pete!
It seemed like a missed opportunity to have Duke simply negate those nightmares with his puppy-dog eyes or something. Arkham is always better with the dawgies!
Off to New Orleans
With back-to-back resignations and some unfortunate consequences, Pete and Winifred needed a break from Dunwich. Luckily, I had all of the stand-alone scenarios!
It seemed wise to start at the beginning, so they headed down to New Orleans for reports of a Rougarou.
Ugh! Talk about another problematic vacation spot. Twisting paths and murky swamps were rather awful.
But I had a chance to see some upgraded cards help this pair out! A good bit of luck helped them survive, but it was Pete’s barrage of final attacks that sealed the victory.
Taking a Look at the Horror Genre and Me
Although I typically lean more towards the cute and cozy in terms of my solo games, the horror genre isn’t ruled out! I enjoy plenty of scary movies, so it wasn’t much of a leap to start playing through these campaigns. However, I wasn’t prepared for some of the rather grotesque and terrifying elements… It was all a little too much after 9 scenarios!
That’s not to say I won’t play through the rest of the campaigns, but it was hard to find some laughs near the end. Even the presence of Duke wasn’t enough to temper some of the horror. I think the important thing is to understand what’s involved here. Despite knowing what I was in for, I was still rather glad to wrap things up near the end.
Mentally, this made the campaign a little more exhausting than I expected. However, that felt just about right for the sort of game it is! Every scenario was a battle to survive, and Pete and Winifred nearly didn’t make it many times. I may have re-drawn a couple of chaos tokens… Mostly for my own sake. Ha ha! I’m sure I’ll try another campaign one day.
No Escape from Doom
It was with a bit of huffing and puffing that this duo returned to Dunwich. A simple hike up the hill turned out to be a pretty rough outing with way too many paths.
But this team defeated the Rougarou! They desperately climbed up to the top of Sentinel Hill. Much as the name of the scenario suggested, though, doom was everywhere.
Pete took the time to defeat Seth Bishop, which wasn’t too exciting… Most likely because he wasn’t the main danger.
Still, it was nice to not have to resign again! It’s certainly needed at times, but a solid victory feels pretty great.
Treacherous Times
This scenario was one of the toughest because Pete pretty much only had Duke and the other Pete to rely on. No joke: Winifred had pretty much every treachery in play!
I thought it had an interesting tie to the fact that she had the Necronomicon with her… And it seemed like she was on track to be corrupted by it without Pete knowing.
My favorite part of this system is how all of the little events add up to create meaningful character stories.
A very low willpower also seemed to align with Winifred taking risks and being swayed a little too much by evil…
Ready for the End
At last, Pete and Winifred were ready for the finale! They survived up to this point, and I was interested to see how they would fare. But I was also ready to end the campaign.
It might not have seemed that interesting, yet Pete’s strengths remained Duke and his leather coat. You just can’t deny the awesomeness of dawgies and… Fashion?!
Winifred managed to pull out her best upgraded weapon, and also had a chance to pilfer a whole bunch of clues.
This scenario was no joke, though. It was terrifying with shifting paths that closed up way too often. Watch out!
Looking Ahead
Victory! It was very dicey right near the end, where it looked like Winifred was about to be devoured. Pete stuck it out a little longer, which was just enough to win.
But did they win? If there had been a personal epilogue, I think Pete would have figured out how Duke could fight off those nightmares. And that leather coats are great.
As for Winifred, she probably leaned into her arrogance and possibly fell to the lure of the Necronomicon…
Or, maybe Duke solved that, too! Barkham tends to cross over a lot, and Duke’s loyalty extended to Winifred.
Session Overview
Play Number: 9-17
Main Expansion: The Dunwich Legacy
Scenario Expansion: Curse of the Rougarou
Investigator Starter Deck: Winifred Habbamock
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Easy Difficulty Level with 2 Investigators
Outcome: 9 Wins
Such a great campaign! Although it didn’t all go well, Pete and Winifred managed to ensure the safety of the world. I didn’t love all of the graphic horror imagery throughout, yet the story was worth diving in. I made it through!
%
10 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
6
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
7
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
10
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
10
+ Pros (Positives)
- There is a great deal of content in terms of investigators, decks, and scenarios that will always add variety.
- Most scenarios progress along different paths that are unpredictable and often tied into the overarching storyline.
- Investigators have all sorts of options, although it usually isn’t too difficult to choose how to spend every action.
- Stories bring every character to life, often creating personalized tales based on the outcomes of various events.
- Everything about the theme comes through thematically and mechanically with just the right amount of tension.
- Campaigns are both excellent and exhausting, yet entirely worth the effort of playing to find out what happens.
– Cons (Negatives)
- There are some very graphic horror descriptions in the text and imagery that are not for the faint of heart.
- Luck plays a certain role with how scenarios progress and how well the investigator decks work near the start.
- Rules expand to cover many situations with keywords and special sequences, which takes a lot to understand.
- Campaign play is the most enjoyable way to enjoy the content, yet this requires a significant time investment.
Victory Conditions
Complete the Campaign or Scenario
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete the Curse of the Rougarou scenario.
Complete the Dunwich Legacy campaign.
Complete the Night of the Zealot campaign.
Complete The Meddling of Meowlathotep scenario.
Continue the Conversation
What do you like about Arkham Horror: The Card Game? Did the Dunwich Legacy campaign go well for you? Aside from the horror theme that was a little too much for me at times, I loved this experience! The emergent story put my investigators in starring roles, both for the successes and setbacks. So much content to check out down the line!
I tend to feel that if you have an aviatrix and a train you should have daring stunts, hopping over bridges while lowering someone on a ladder, that kind of thing. Perhaps I’m asking too much.
That’s exactly what should have happened! Unfortunately, Winifred got pretty banged up early on and I had to keep her out of harm’s way. Although it probably would have been more thematic to have her take the lead and possibly suffer too much damage… You just can’t stop a daring aviatrix!
Pete nearly lost it when he performed a stunt that he wasn’t quite cut out to do. Pretty sure Winifred was leaning out of a window, shaking her head and knowing she could do it better. Ha ha!