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Arkham Horror (new version). Arkham horror board game

Board game

Number of players
From 1 to 8

Party time
From 2 hours

Game difficulty
Complex

Arkham Horror is a tabletop role-playing game inspired by the mythology created by horror writer Howard Lovecraft. The original game was released in 1987 by Richard Launis. In 2005, a second edition was published with revised rules. Nominated for Best Game in the world's leading board game forum, Golden Geek Best Gamer's Board Game (2006).

The game is intended for people over 18 years of age. The range of possible players is from 1 to 8 people.

Arkham Horror: The Purpose of the Game

The game takes players back to the beginning of the 20th century, to the mystical town of Arkham and its surroundings, where they will be given the chance to take on the role of detectives investigating mysterious incidents that are literally tearing the city apart. Literally, because one of those creatures, the Ancients, whose power is scary to even think about, is persistently trying to get into our world and erase it from existence.
The goal, accordingly, will be to prevent this catastrophe by closing the wormholes - the gates to an alien world or, if unsuccessful, to fight and defeat the Ancient One.

Board game Arkham Horror: game rules

Features of the game Arkham Horror

Is a cooperative game. This means that players will have to combine all their efforts to fight the game itself. The game will send increasingly difficult tests, the failure of which will result in merciless death and elimination from the game.

There are a number of additions designed to diversify the game, making it even darker and more complex:

Arkham Horror: Curse of the Dark Pharaoh. The main expansion features involve the Ancient One named Nyarlathotep (exhibition items, special cards). The opportunity to meet the Ancient One while exploring Other Worlds. And also new cards for detectives.
The new version of the game has corrected some mechanics that do not fit with the basic set (Exile was replaced by Patrol). Ancient Whispers have been introduced.

Re-released 2011 version

Arkham Horror: Dunwich Horror. 8 new investigators and cards are added to them. The presence of secret tasks and locations for them. Special systems of trauma and insanity. 4 new Ancients and one new monster. New map of Dunwich village.
Arkham Horror: The King in Yellow. Added spells with long durations. New defeat condition related to the King's mysterious play. Infecting city residents with madness.
Kingsport horror. Added map of the city of Kingsport, new harbingers, Ancients new type creatures - Guardians. New monsters are able to move on water. New characters are more challenging to play.
Black goat of the forests. One of the Thousand cult membership cards, Corruption cards and other components. The new, most dangerous Ancient One is Shib-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Forests with a Thousand Young.
The Innsmouth Horror. Another game map, new monsters and Gods. A new feature was “personal stories,” an expanded feature to the horror scale.
Hidden at the threshold. The smallest expansion that complements the game by adding the Myths card, the Harbinger. For the first time, Relationship cards have been introduced to regulate the interactions of detectives. New Dark Pacts mechanics
Miskatonic Horror. With the exception of the presence of auxiliary Institutes, the addition did not bring any serious changes.

Preparing to play Arkham Horror

On a laid out field, on unstable locations they lay out evidence. Also, a corresponding horror token is placed on the horror scale, as well as sets of Activity, Explored, and Closed tokens in the form of a heap next to the field.
The first player is determined by drawing lots. He is given a leading player token. He shuffles and blindly distributes investigator sheets and tokens to players on a stand to track movements around the city.
Each player can get one of eight adventurer detectives, each of whom, as in every role-playing game, has a little background, a set of qualities and skills, as well as useful things

Detective's personal sheet.

The limit of reason. The resource indicates the initial limit of sanity points that the hero has. The limit can be changed during the game.
Health limit. The resource indicates the limit of health points available to the investigator. The limit is subject to change.
Starting location. The place where this character starts.
Property. A list of items with which the player begins his investigation.
Unique property. Typical only for this detective. It has large value V
Composure. The value indicates the total number of spaces by which the character’s paired skills can be shifted without direct ones negative consequences.
Coupled skill system. Three pairs of skills: stealth-speed, battle-will and knowledge-luck - necessary to overcome obstacles and dangers. Each pair has feedback - when the indicators of one skill increase, the other decreases.

Also, the distributor blindly or by agreement with other players determines the Ancient One, from whom the main threat in the party. The selected Ancient sheet is placed next to the field. The deck with the Ancient cards is distributed by topic, shuffled and laid out upside down.

Then each player is given a set of items, spells, special cards, money, as well as a set of personal property cards corresponding to the character sheet. Then the decks with special cards and investigator cards, which are divided into five groups, are shuffled and laid out next to the field in an inverted state. Players are also given Investigator Status Tokens, also indicated on their personal sheet, which are laid out on the sheet in the corresponding columns of limits and skill systems (during preparation, the player has the right to independently choose the value to which the sliders of the Associated skill system will indicate).

If an investigator has an ability that allows him to receive more cards, it can also be used during preparation.

Tokens of monsters that break out into our world due to various game situations are thrown into an opaque container. Monster tokens with the word “Mask” on them are not used if the main Ancient is not Nyarlathotep.
The 16 gate tokens are shuffled upside down and piled up on the board.

Investigator tokens are placed on the board according to the instructions on the investigator sheet. At the end, the first player plays a Myth card (when receiving a “Rumor” card, it is discarded and a new one is drawn) according to the conditions of the Myth phase. He indicates an unstable location in which a gate opens and a monster materializes.

Progress of the game

The Arkham Horror board game is a sequence of rounds, each consisting of five phases. Each phase ends after all players have completed the necessary actions for it.

Phase I. Respite.

A walking investigator has the following sequence of options:

Recovery. There are certain groups of cards, when used, they lose their activity (turned face down) until the end of the turn. At the start of a new turn, during the Recovery period, the card is turned over and can be used again.
Respite actions. If the detective has responsibilities to perform some actions during a break, he is obliged to perform them all in any order.
Changing a skill. Before the end of the phase, the player has the right to change his skills by amounts in an amount equal to the Composure value.

Phase II. Movement

Depending on the current location, the detective has the right to fulfill one of the following conditions.

1. Located in Arkham.
- Movement. Movement speed is determined by the corresponding indicator on the stealth-speed scale on the investigator sheet. One move unit is considered to be moving from one area of Arkham to another, provided that they are connected by a yellow line. So, one move point will cost a transition: from a location to the outside, between streets, from street to location.
- Avoiding monsters. If one or more monsters are present at the location along with the detective, the latter’s transition becomes more complicated. The investigator can choose to flee by evading the monsters or to fight. When accepting combat, the investigator loses all saved movement points. The same thing happens when moving to a location with a monster.
- Selection of evidence. Upon completion of the movement, it becomes possible to collect evidence tokens available at the stop site.
2. Located in one of the Other Worlds.
- Other worlds are located along playing field. You can get there through the Gate. Worlds consist of two cells, depending on where you are in which the possibilities for a move are determined.
- First cell. When you are in the first cell of the Other World in the Movement phase, a transition is made to the second cell.
- Second cell. Return to human world possible only from the second zone. To return, there must be an open gate to the world in which the detective finds himself. After the transition, an “Explored” token is placed on the transition location and saved as long as the detective remains in this location.
- If there is no exit gate from the player’s world, then the player is considered lost in time.
3. Detained detectives. The game contains influences that deprive the investigator of the ability to move. In the immediate Movement phase after this effect is applied, the turn is spent overcoming this delay effect.

Phase III. Contacts in Arkham

Only players located in the location (not on the street or in another world) can act during this phase. Possible actions are determined by the presence of open gates in the area.

There is no gate. If the gate is not open or missing at the investigator's location, the player takes a random location card and reads the text on it out loud and performs actions on it. Thus, the detective makes contact.
There is a gate. If there is an active gate, the hero is pulled through into the specified Other World. If there is an “Explored” token on the location, there is no fall into another world.

If the gate pull is due to the action of a card drawn during the encounter, the investigator is delayed until the subsequent Movement phase.

Phase IV. Contact in Other Worlds

Here only detectives who have passed through the gate have the right to move. The cells of Other Worlds are divided by color - these are symbols of contact. According to the color, the player draws a matching gate card (if the color does not match, the card is placed under the deck down).
The map searches for contact descriptions for the world in which the phase occurs. Instructions are read aloud and followed. If there are no tasks for a given world, actions from the “Other” category are performed. The played card is returned to the gate deck.

Phase V. Myth

The player draws a Myth card and meets the following requirements:

1. Arrangement of new gates and monsters. The location on the Myth map is indicated - these are the places of attack of the new enemy. Based on the presence of a gate or sign of the Ancients in a location, there are three possible various development events.

Sign of the Ancients. If there is a reversed Doom token, nothing happens. The sign of the ancients seals the local gates and forever breaks the location’s connection with Other Worlds.
Open gate. Monsters appear in all locations with an open gate. Maximum amount monsters appearing per turn is equal to the larger value of a pair of numbers: the number of players or the number of open gates. The choice of monster is done blindly. At the location from which the influx of monsters began, you should end up with the most large quantity monsters. When the monster limit is exceeded, they are placed in the Outskirts.
No open gates or Ancients. If there is no open gate or sign of the Ancients, the following happens:
- I. New token on the doom track. One Doom token is placed on the Ancient sheet. If the last space is closed, the Ancient One wakes up and the game goes into final battle mode.
- II. Gate installation. An open gate is placed in the marked location. At the same time, all evidence on it is discarded.
- III. Monster Invasion. A token is blindly taken from the monster pool and placed in the appropriate location. If the limit is exceeded, the monster moves to the Outskirts.
When the detective is in the chosen location, he is immediately drawn in. During the next movement phase, the investigator is delayed.

2. Distribution of evidence.

In most cases, the pulled out Myth map indicates locations where new evidence appears. You can only lay out evidence where there are no open gates. When an investigator is in this location, the evidence is taken.

3. Monster movement.

The monsters that appear can move. The Myth map has two icons in the background indicating which monsters can move where. The images on them indicate Other Worlds; if the same symbol is on the monster token, then it should head to Arkham. The background color on which the icons are located regulates the movement of monsters along the white/black arrows on the map.
The presence of an investigator in the same place as the monster during the journey will cancel the monster's further ability to move. In the next movement phase, the player decides whether to run away or fight.
Monsters have five types of movement, which are determined by the color of the frame on the face of the token:
- I. Normal movement (black edge) – movement according to the usual rules.
- II. Static (yellow edge) – the monster is not capable of movement.
- III. Fast movement (red edge) - can use two moves at a time.
- IV. Uniqueness (green edge) – the movement in each case is determined by the description on the token.
- V. Flight (blue edge) – if there is an investigator on the street, they move to the nearest one. If not, it moves to a special section of the sky.

4. Application of the properties of the Myth. Here you complete special tasks from the text on the Myth map. After the action is completed, the cards are discarded. There are several subtypes with their own characteristics.

Title. Millet fulfills the conditions of the text read.
Process. The influence of the card lasts for several rounds. During this period the card lies front side. Each new process cancels the previous one.
Gossip. The influence of the card remains until the events indicated as a refutation or confirmation occur.
Other effects. Tells about the events that prompt changes to the city: players will be required to place “Activity” and “Closed” tokens on the indicated places. After discarding a card, the tokens are removed.

After all phases are completed, the round ends and the first player icon moves along the arrow to the left.

End of the game

There are three winning and one losing endings to the game. For each, certain conditions must be met.

VICTORY

Closing the gate.
- There should be no open gates in the city.
- After closing the last gate, the number of trophy gates must be equal to or greater than the number of players. Spent gates are not taken into account!
Sealing the gate.
- When there are six or more Ancient signs on the map.
Defeat of the Ancient One.
- Victory over the awakened and breakthrough Ancient One.

In all cases of victory, the investigator with the most trophies receives the title of First Citizen (considered the winning leader). If there is an equal number of trophies, the leader is determined by the defeated monsters.

Also, for a team, you can evaluate the greatness of a victory by the following calculation: from the Maximum possible value of hopelessness, subtract the accumulated level of horror, as well as the following modifiers:

-1 each outstanding loan;
-1 for each Ancient card played;
+1 for each gate trophy saved;
+1 for every three monsters defeated;
+1 for every living and sane investigator at the end of the game.

DEFEAT

Despite the fact that there is only one possible option for defeat, it is earned very easily:

Board game " Small world» ( Small World) is a strategic board game that will be interesting to players of any age. This is an amazing fan...

Amazing events await you in 1926 in Massachusetts. Open the game and experience Arkham Horror. The unimaginable world that Howard Lovecraft created. As night falls, frightening creatures inhabit the city, leaving no hope of salvation.

Many people know the gloomy Arkham Asylum, which was mentioned in the Batman comic book series.

Become a hero and save the world, but be careful: danger lurks around every corner. Experience what Arkham is like by walking around it in person.

Wonderful organizer!

Game Features

Horror Arkham loved by fans of board games for its special plot development: there is no division into teams. All participants represent a single group that fights against dishonesty and pursues a common goal. To defeat creatures from the other world, you need to coordinate every step with your partners.

Each new test turns out to be more difficult than the previous one, training the players’ intelligence and nervous system. You need to cope with it together, and those who could not resist the Arkham Horrors will face death or punishment in the form of being eliminated from the game.

The difficulty can be increased and the game made more difficult by purchasing add-ons.

The difficulty can be increased and the game more multifaceted by purchasing add-ons. Among the sets you can find:

Curse of the Dark Pharaoh
Dunwich Horror
Kingsport Horror
and many others.

For particularly sophisticated players, the developers have released an adapted version of Horror of Ackham on PC. Feel yourself in the shoes of the character. Run around the city and visit the famous Arkham Asylum. Become a savior and protect ordinary citizens from dark creatures and evil deities who have broken through the gates of the other world.

According to rumors, Arkham is a place where more than one child has disappeared. In addition to the terrifying evil spirits, the place is famous for its sacrifices, of which, according to local estimates, more than a hundred have already taken place.

Unholy City Arkham

Varieties of the game

Arkham Horror: Curse of the Dark Pharaoh

The main features of the addition are that the plot concerns the ancient evil of Nyarlathotep. He is considered the true embodiment of chaos. Something vile and seething. Has thousands of faces. Only real heroes will be able to defeat an unprecedented evil and save the city. In the set you will find things and specials. cards from the exhibition. Detectives will be interested in new tasks and information. Special attention The detectives are called by Arkham, a hospital for the insane, which is located in a frightening city.

Arkham Horror board game Dunwich Horror

According to all the traditions of a mysterious place, secret tasks and secret places appear on the city map. Four Ancient Evils and One scary monster added to the horde of darkness. Eight new investigators now complete the monster hunt. The already familiar town is joined by the village of Dunwich and a map of the surrounding area. Also in the set you will find an interesting system of insanity and injuries received or inflicted. Don't forget to visit the most mysterious place city - the creepy Arkham Asylum.

Arkham Horror King in Yellow

Players can now infect all residents of the possessed city with madness. Long-lasting spells appeared. The conditions under which participants in the battle with evil can be considered defeated have been changed due to the terrible play of the king.

Kingsport Horror

New city with a map of the area. Amazing creatures have been added - guardians, who are classified as Ancients. New harbingers. Now monsters lie in wait for you not only on land: monsters have been added that move on water. New complicated heroes.

Black Goat of the Forests

The deity of perverted fertility has been added to the map - Shub-Niggurath. It is in his honor that the addition is named, because he is considered the Black Goat of the Forests with a Thousand Descendants. The "One in a Thousand" order actively participates in the game, to which are added special cards. New actions that allow you to apply damage.

Varieties of the game

The Innsmouth Horror

The horror scale became larger. The basis for the supplement is considered to be “personal horrors”. Added a new map of the city of Innsmouth. Never-before-seen terrible monsters and Ancient Deities appeared.

Hidden at the threshold

Miniature extension. Mythic story cards and a harbinger have been added to the game. In the process, the concepts of “relationships” and “agreements” emerge, which help regulate the work of detectives.

Miskatonee Horror

The most minor addition, which brought only the Institutes to the board game, is designed to help the heroes of Arkham.

Special version of the game for PC

Online project Vassal turned Arkham Horror into computer game. On the site you can find the game itself and all the additions to it, converted into a program for the PC.

Who is it suitable for?

Arkham Horror board game created for fans detective stories. Explore the area, look for ways out of unforeseen situations, come up with ways to defeat the evil spirits that have come from the opened gates of darkness. The set will be of particular interest to people who love fantastic creatures and stories about other worlds. With the game you will plunge into the world of an unknown and fascinating confrontation between the dangerous Ancient Gods and ordinary residents trying to save their hometown.

The battle with otherworldly evil is available to children from ten years old and lasts an average of one hundred and fifty minutes. The set will be interesting and useful for children who find it difficult to interact with peers. Since the game is a cooperative game, the participants constantly need contact and a single solution, because this is the only way to defeat the darkness and save the mysterious city of Arkham. Lovecraft fans will also appreciate the set.

The gameplay is quite difficult

The board game Arkham is classified as difficult. The set is not suitable for people who need to take first place in everything: here either the whole team wins or the whole city loses.

The game lasts up to one hundred and eighty minutes, so it requires a lot of free time. This kind of entertainment is not suitable as a five-minute break at work. Thus, children much younger than ten years old are unlikely to be able to participate in the battle with evil spirits.

If you are a fan of the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and love board games, don’t hesitate, pick it up.
Everything in the game is cool, except, of course, complex rules, which is sometimes better to check with game experts.
Incredible atmosphere, replay value, design, all this is just ten points.
You often have to think about what to do. And then worry whether you will be lucky or not.
A huge number of characters, monsters and main “bosses” of the game. It's clear that they tried to make the game well. And yet they made it even better than just good.
But for those who are not familiar with Lovecraft, it probably may not be clear. But it’s never too late to read Lovecraft.
More details on Otzovik:
https://otzovik.com/review_5276733.html

Rules of the game

The game Arkham Horror is not considered the simplest game, because its rules take up a little more than one page. In addition to instructions for action, the kit provides special preparation conditions. It’s not enough to just open the box, because it’s always worth preparing thoroughly for the biggest battles. All rules are described in detail on the Arkham Horror Wiki.

Preparing for the game

Lay out the map of Arkham City.

Place one street on all unstable streets.

Place the horror token on the horror scale.

Place the Explored, Closed, and Activity tokens next to the game board.

To determine the first player, dice are rolled. The dice for this test announce who will be the leader.

The player who starts the turn is given a leader token. The selected participant hands out investigator sheets and token stands to display all movements throughout Arkham.

Each investigator given to players has their own story. Adventurers have their own unique qualities and special skills. In their pockets you can find skills useful for battle.

The game takes into account all the features of its characters

Character Features

Rules of the board game Arkham Horror take into account many features of their characters. The detective sheets describe:

Initial sanity limit. This limit may change during the game.

Health. The number can be changed during the game.

Place, in which the player begins his investigation and fight against evil.

Things, which are in the property of the detective.

Unique Feature Arkham Horror character, which can be key in some game situations. Such a property exists only in the detective whose card it is described in. For example, Kate Winthrop's ability is The science.

Composure investigator allows you to shift paired skills without any negative consequences. The total number of divisions indicates the number of possible offsets.

Paired skill system. When one parameter changes, the associated parameter also changes. There are three pairs of skills in total: speed and stealth; will and battle; luck and knowledge.

Ancient, the greatest danger comes from it.

Each game determines the Ancient One from whom the greatest danger will come. The host determines which deity will be the most terrible in this horse. The sheet of the selected monster is laid out next to the playing field. All Ancient cards are grouped by theme, shuffled and laid out across the city in an open form.

For each character sheet, the presenter gives out everything you need: skills, spells, money and things. Special cards and investigators are shuffled and placed next to the board. Detective status tokens are distributed among the players, the readings of which are initially indicated on the cards. If an investigator has a special ability listed in his skills that allows him to draw more cards, he can use it during preparation for the game.

All tokens with otherworldly monsters that break out into the world through the gates of darkness are put into one container. The vessel should be opaque. Arkham Horror is a game that constantly throws new challenges at its participants. Therefore, all monsters break out at the most inopportune moment, depending on different game situations. Tokens labeled "Mask" are not used unless the battle involves the Dark Pharaoh expansion, in which the Ancient Deity Nyarlathotep can be specified as the "main villain".

Progress of the game

The Arkham Horror board game has several stages. In each of them, participants must perform certain actions. The transition to the next stage is allowed only when the players have done everything necessary according to the conditions of the round. More detailed description rules can be found at Arkham Horror Wiki.

Phase I. Respite

Each Arkham Horror detective has three types of actions during his turn:

Some cards have a cooldown period. When used, they are turned face down. When the Cooldown period occurs, the card becomes available again and can be reused.

If a Breathing Period occurs, the player must do the actions of his duties. You can perform them in random order.

During the Change Skills phase, characters can change their characteristics as much as the investigator's composure allows.

There are many characters in the game

Phase II. Movement

The actions of detectives in the city of Arkham are based on the following principles:

He can take the Move action. It is counted if the character moves between locations connected by a yellow line. Movement between streets, from an outside location to outside, and from street to location or vice versa is counted.

The Detective can perform Escape from Monsters and gain movement points. The difficulty of escaping different quantities evil spirits vary. If the battle takes place with monsters, then all points received for this achievement are burned. When you escape from monsters to another location with monsters, you lose the ability to use movement points.

When a player completes a movement, evidence tokens become available for him to collect. Only finds from the place where it is currently located are considered.

The rules are complicated and treacherous

In the second phase, all possible actions depend on which cell of the Other World the character is in:

During Movement, investigators located on the first cell can move from the first division of the world to the second.

Eichort's special move (Kingsport) "Brood"/"Hatching of larvae"

The text of the special move states: "All allies leave the game. For each of them, Eichort returns one awakening token to the track."
Do you mean those allies who are participating in the battle with us? Or even everyone who is still left in the Ally deck?

Clarification of the rules

There was a discrepancy regarding the battle with the Ancient One.
We play together, fight with the Ancient One. The first player rolls 4 dice and rolls 4 successes, how many tokens are removed? 1 or 2?
If three successes are rolled, then 1 token is removed and the third success goes to the second player or is reset to zero?

With two players, each token requires two successes. Unused successes accumulate, so for simplicity you can think of the Ancient's health as "number of tokens" x "number of players", and one success removes a point of health.

That is, with 4 successes from one player, 1 roll will remove two tokens at a time?
That is, in theory, if there is large quantity evidence and luck, the first player can kill a dead Ancient One in 1 round?

We played that everything is reset to zero and the player in his battle phase will not be able to remove more than one token, which complicates...

100+ pariahs in my wonderful Arkham horror.

This is my first “big” board game, a practical gateway into the world of Twilights, Feuds and Gloomhavens. I am ready to sing odes to this game and praise it to the uninitiated. This is a very high quality, crisis, atmospheric america.

But is everything so good about it? The phases of myths are loosely connected with each other, sometimes it turns out beautiful story, next time, damn it. Fighting monsters is also a downtime generator, especially if the player actively uses items and changes clothes during battle rounds. The game is kind of cooperative, but we still hit monsters one at a time and we can’t attack one monster together. There is a lot of feeding in the game. The time is approximately 1 hour per person, although this is subjective and depends on the company. And this pushes me away from playing this very UA.

On the other hand, the atmosphere in the game is fantastic, you are oppressed more and more with each myth card, you suffer while playing this game with each dice roll, you are enveloped in darkness and horror from death in other worlds with 1 life and 5 clues in your hands. I'm attracted to this atmosphere of hopelessness in this game, but I'm afraid I won't be able to play it again...

Arkham Horror is a must try, I highly recommend playing this game at least once, but I cannot recommend it for purchase in 2019. If you want a good story, buy MOM. The plot will be much better, more coherent. If you want a sandbox in the world of Lovecraft, buy a remote control, it’s simpler (that doesn’t mean worse), it’s more elegant.

For me personally, UA has become like a World Of Warcraft classic. I love it for the emotions that it gave me at the time, just like the 100+ games in UA that I played 2 years ago and now it lies on the shelf.

It’s hard to say which is better than UA or DU, DU is easier in terms of rules, but it’s also not simple in terms of play, it’s more dynamic, maybe for some this will be an undeniable advantage in choosing. UA is more atmospheric.

The game is great, but for its 2005 year. Pay attention to the location of the PTO and remote control. On the other hand, if you are a fan of Lovecraft, the general atmosphere is important to you, you are not afraid of a lot of rules, nuances, errata, 4-5 hours of games on 4x, then undoubtedly take UA.

Localization claim

The well-known publishing house involved in the localization of the game, which we will henceforth call “Nameless” for the sake of atmosphere, screwed up again. Their edition is not compatible with English specials: the card backs are of a different shade. Moreover, they are also half a millimeter wider than the English ones.
As a former printing house worker, it’s not clear to me how careless one must be about one’s work in order to allow such defects, and even on blue eye steam it. Or is this a marketing ploy - in light of the publication of Russian special editions, to make sure that players buy only their boxes, and not English ones?
Due to this sadness, I am changing my Russian base in Moscow to an English one - write in a personal message if anyone is interested in such a barter. Or to the old Russian edition, in which, although it is a game in terms of translation, it seems to have maps of the right shade.

As the owner of 9 boxes of UA (half original English) I can confirm this thesis. The quality is quite mediocre, localized cards are very often not centered, and the differences in the colors of the backs are glaring. If you look at a deck of cards from the outside, you can easily determine by the edge of the card which extra card it belongs to. Also, from time to time there are mistakes in translation, which are also frustrating.

One good thing is that all these bugs (except for the rules) do not have the slightest effect on the gameplay.

I have 2 localized boxes - the basic one and the king in yellow, and even they do not have the same sizes or colors. And if on large cards In principle, it doesn’t matter - they have protectors, then they are small - it’s infuriating, they are without protectors and getting them in the way is a real problem, I can’t imagine how to solve it. I also want to buy Kingsport, but if everything is different there again, I’ll go nuts...

Haven't played Arkham Horror, but have played Ancient Horror.

To give a more or less accessible and intelligible answer, I will ask about the additions. Are you planning to purchase a complete set (or some of its parts) or just a basic box?

It’s also worth keeping in mind (and researching this issue for yourself in more detail) that the current version of “Horror of Archkem” (localized) is the 2nd edition. But, as far as I know, it will no longer be translated, because the 3rd edition comes into force.

“Ancient Horror,” on the contrary, so far, as far as I know, has stable plans for the release of the current edition and will not suffer from restarts in the near future.

I have both games in my collection (2nd edition Arkham and ancient horror) with additions. Despite the fact that everyone says that supposedly ancient horror is Arkham brought to mind, I cannot agree with this. Still this different games. Ancient horror has been simplified in terms of mechanics, all controversial issues have been removed, the literary part of the text has been reduced, and more balance has been added both between the ancients and the complexity of the game as a whole and between the detectives. All contacts are now practically equivalent - when making contact, the investigator must pass one of the skill checks with certain consequences. The game itself plays much more cheerfully, faster and more clearly. Suitable for those who like less hassles, but still want to experience a full-fledged adventure. As for Arkham with additions, it is full of mechanics and rules. Very often it is difficult to decide what to do, especially when you have several spells in your hands, some of which are quite difficult to understand. The difficulty of the game is quite situational - ancients and detectives different levels forces, myths and contacts can be both positive and negative. In some you can get bonuses or wounds without any checks, and in some you need to go through one, two, and sometimes more checks. It is very difficult to predict what awaits the players on the next turn. All this is seasoned with a fair amount of literary text. The game is often played for a very long time - up to 6 hours per big company and it frankly drives some people into boredom, but at the same time it is much deeper and more varied. The course of the games varies greatly compared to the ancient horror. In our gaming cell we periodically play both games. But Arkham is more common and leaves behind much more emotions, but after each game you feel tired and overworked. After the ancient horror, there is vivacity, but also the absence of such a refined aftertaste. For me personally, ancient horror is too simple and obvious, and Arkham, on the contrary, in some places is too complicated and overloaded, but if I were choosing one of the games for myself, I would personally choose Arkham because... it is deeper and darker, more of a Lovecraftian spirit. But this is a matter of taste. As for the 3rd edition of Arkham, this is a completely different game, I would say something new, third. Perhaps it will become that golden mean between ancient horror and Arekham 2nd edition. But as the practice of FFG shows, games without additional add-ons are much fresher, so for now I have not considered purchasing the 3rd edition for myself. At the same time, the second edition is gradually starting to sell out and its price on the secondary market is dropping significantly. so draw your own conclusions.

I think the most reasonable option would be to first find a Hobby Games store in your city (if it is more or less large), for example, and ask there about the upcoming gaming sessions of both games. Most likely, someone has already purchased it and would not mind playing with a group of interested people. This way it’s easiest to get acquainted with both projects without much loss.

The year is 1926. City of Arkham, Massachusetts. All over the city, gates began to open to terrible places that defied either description or imagination. Sinister creatures emerge from these gates onto the night streets of the city. To make matters worse, when these gates become larger, a being of immeasurable power will descend upon the world. This invasion is confronted by a small squad of detectives determined to curb the careless forces of the universe. They will have to delve into the mysteries of the Myth and use all their skills, weapons and spells if they want to stand any chance of successfully completing their hopeless mission to save the world.

Adventure right at the table

The Arkham Horror board game takes players into the world created by H. P. Lovecraft. This is not even a world, this is a Myth: Great Ancient otherworldly deities, outlandish parallel dimensions, inhumanly cruel, strong and invulnerable monsters - this is the epic surroundings that the famous writer built in the multidimensional space around New England. A few decades later, Richard Launius staged his drama, the first edition of Arkham Horror, in this setting. A game long years remained one of the most exciting tabletop horror adventures, but time is inexorable. Since 2004, Fantasy Flight Games, a leading American publisher of board games, has begun collecting its collection of the best board games for re-release in a modern format. One of the games that received the attention of Minnesota tycoons was Arkham Horror. Richard Launius eliminated the identified shortcomings of the game, and together with Kevin Wilson, he also developed new rules.

Plot

You are one of the detectives, inhabitants or guests of a provincial American town in which something supernatural is happening. You feel it, and maybe you even know for sure what is happening, but you are either afraid that they will not believe you and will hand you over to the local prison for the insane (famous in narrow circles Arkham Asylum), or you are used to relying on your own strengths in the investigation. Before you is the whole of Arkham with its bank branch, police station, river docks, church and newspaper, Miskatonic University and the haven of homegrown mystics - the Lodge of Silver Twilight. Nine districts of the city with three locations in each create an extensive web of streets and houses in which you need to find as many clues, spells, allies and weapons as possible: without a friend covering your back and a decent arsenal of conventional and magical weapons, there is something to do in Arkham there’s nothing to do, let alone meddle in Other Worlds.

Mechanics

"Arkham Horror" - team game. Up to eight people can form a team of detectives to prevent the threat looming over Arkham. Numerous components and rules create an aggressive and dynamic environment in which the detective character simply cannot survive without the help of others. To win the game, investigators must collect clues and equipment, defeat monsters, and seal the gates between worlds. The mechanics of the investigators' actions are based on three pairs of skills, checks of which allow them to overcome obstacles. The skills of stealth and speed, battle and will, knowledge and luck are related inverse proportion: the higher the knowledge, the lower the luck, the better prepared a person is for hand-to-hand combat, the worse he will have when he is attacked by the magic of other worlds, suppressing the mind. In this case, the character can change the values of skills in a certain phase of his turn, trying to predict the development of events. However, it is useless to guess: almost everything that happens is subject to a single rule - the law of probability. That is, a player with experience in the game can remember what events are in the Myth deck, what contacts can await him in a particular location, and on the field in the locations there are even special symbols showing the type of most likely events, but in each new game the plot will develop in its own way, and your character will have to overcome new obstacles on the way to the gate.

The final

Why, in fact, go to the gate? Well, portals open to other worlds, who doesn’t? Maybe they will collapse on their own? And the monsters in Arkham will devour everyone and die on their own - the people here are lousy... No, guys, Arkham needs to be saved and the gates sealed, because this is “z-z-z” for a reason. Somewhere beyond the boundaries of reality, the Great Ancient One is dozing and tossing and turning before awakening! When the number of gates reaches a critical limit, the Ancient One will finally wake up, and our entire world will then be reset. The investigators will be able to take the final battle with the Great Ancient One (and with scant chances of success), but it’s better not to let it come to that. So the detectives dig up Arkham in search of evidence, destroy annoying monsters and collect trophies in order to better understand the nature of the phenomenon that has arisen and seal the last gate before Azathoth or Cthulhu awakens. The game has a choice of nine Great Ancients, and it’s good that only one of them awakens: here one is enough for the eyes. After all, the deity will not only herald the end of the game and the world, but the sleep of the monstrous mind constantly affects Arkham. Cultists worshiping To the ancient god, interfere with the detectives' investigation, and nightmares and ferocious monsters drive the residents of Arkham crazy and force them to flee the city, which is why many establishments useful to detectives are closed. But the coordinated actions of a team of detectives with a little luck will help players tip the scales in their favor.

Summary

Thoughtful rules, excellent design and high pace of the game create the necessary atmosphere of tense anticipation of a big catastrophe, racing against time, and responsibility for the fate of the world. The Arkham Horror board game has received a new life: Fantasy Flight Games has released several large-scale expansions for this game, which are no less successful than the original game. The company's website hosts the Arkham League competition, a team game in which a team must complete ten progressively more difficult scenarios with minimal losses. Anyone could take part in the game - we speak in the past tense because last scenario The League has already been published; however, this was already the second League, and it is possible that there will be a third. The fact that the game lives and develops for 4 years, in our world of fleeting encounters and constant impermanence, speaks of the tenacity of the army of fans of Lovecraft, Cthulhu and Arkham Horror.

Other games in the series

A great game that hates you. You unite against the game because otherwise you are finished. It's cool when you can't win just because the game is programmed that way. And a huge number of mechanics. Lampy and atmospheric. Good game. The rules are a little difficult to understand. One of my first games.
Ivan Maslikhin, Moscow coordinator

I played for the first time, I didn’t work in Mosigra yet, I lived in a dorm. We skipped classes and stuck to playing for seven hours. We continued the game and decided to play again. And so on four times until they won. Then they said never again. We spent two days looking for a winning strategy. Then I thought it was wow! It was 2008, I guess. Now it seems dull to play for so long. The game has a good setting. Lovecraft fits well into it. Good mechanics for moving monsters around the city. A good old skill test. Good story, good art. There are a lot of final bosses in the game, and the game itself changes frequently. Good replay value. But the entrance is difficult, you can’t just play with friends and parents.
Maxim Polovtsev, developer

good difficult game with a good setting. People are hooked. Usually they buy add-ons.
Sergey Abdulmanov, head of marketing

Arkham Horror is an exciting board game that takes players into a world created Howard Lovecraft. Thoughtful instructions and beautiful design create a magical atmosphere. Parties require a considerable amount of time - 180-240 minutes.

Difficulty level: above average

Number of players: 2-8

Develops skills: logical thinking, deduction

What's included?

book with rules;
playing field;
bones – 5 pcs.;
sheets, chips " Detectives" And coasters for them - 16 pcs each.;
tokens with " Detectives» – 196 pcs.;
cards " Detectives» – 189 pcs.;
leaflets " Ancients» – 8 pcs.;
tokens with " Despair» – 20 pcs.;
cards " Ancients» – 179 pcs.;
tokens with " Monsters» – 60 pcs.;
tokens with " By the Gate» – 16 pcs.;
marker " Activities» – 3 pcs.;
marker " Researched» – 3 pcs.;
marker " Closed» – 6 pcs.;
Horror marker – 1 PC.;
first participant token – 1 pc.;
skill sliders – 24 pieces.

Ready for some horror?

Outside 1926 Fictional town Arkham in state Massachusetts. Gates to wild and terrible places that cannot be described in words began to open everywhere. Frightening creatures are hitting the streets. But then it will be even worse, because “ portals“will become even larger, an entity of incredible power will fall on the world. Invasion of evil There is resistance from a small group of Investigators who are determined to rein in the terrible creatures. They will need to delve into the mysteries of the Myth and use knowledge, all kinds of weapons, and magical spells if they want to successfully complete the goal of freeing the entire world from evil.

Arkham City

Welcome to Arkham at the peak " roaring 90s" The taverns are filled with dancing girls and bandits. Suddenly, black shadows began to fall on the city - this began to take effect. They are hiding in the void and are about to break out of the gates that separate the worlds. When the gates do open, they must be closed urgently, otherwise they will take over the real world forever.

Besides terrible monsters The main role in the game "Arkham Horror" is played by. They carefully examine the corners of the fictional city, meeting with other people - all this in order to identify evidence that will help weaken the threatening evil.

On initial stage characters avoid encounters with terrible creatures and move to Arkham in search of evidence. Next, the detectives try to close the gates and seal the active doors for monsters.

Once the weapons have been purchased and the spells have been collected, you can begin sealing the last portals. If everything works out, the world is saved, but a mistake could awaken the Ancient One for the final battle.

Investigator Options

Everyone in Arkham Horror has individual stats that can be useful in some areas:

Indicators. The character is given a fixed limit of Health and Sanity, which can be varied.
Starting location– the place where the character starts.
Characteristic possibilities inherent to individual players. Sometimes an ability gives an investigator an advantage, or can even cause harm.
Personal property– a value that includes evidence, money and more.
Resources– Simple, Unique things and Spells.

Ancient gods

The Ancients are terrible powerful entities from other worlds and time limits. They awaken in Arkham Horror after a long period of inactivity. The detectives will have to work hard to stop the awakening! The Ancient One's sheet contains parameters: strength, battle parameters, minions of the creature. Before the start of the game, a terrible Ancient One is randomly selected, who this time threatens Arkham.

And among the ancients there are well-known names from the world Lovecraft:

The mechanics of the Ancients in Arkham Horror are four points: the track of hopelessness, horror, the emergence of the Ancient and the Final Battle.

Monsters

The tokens with them represent the creatures that found themselves on the streets of the mystical Arkham. On the front side, the detective will find the answer to what direction the opponent is moving, on the back side - how strong he is in battle. When the entity in Arkham Horror passes through the city, its token is facing, and at the beginning of the fight it is flipped.

Myths

Myth cards tell Arkham Horror participants where and under what conditions unprecedented forces or ordinary circumstances operate. In any round, the map opens, changing the situation: gates open in unstable parts of the city, new evidence is revealed, and events affect the characters that facilitate their going out on the hunt.

Rules of the board game "Arkham Horror"

The mystical board game Arkham Horror is a challenging team game designed for up to eight participants in a group of investigators. The rules are drawn up in such a way that the player will definitely need the help of others to survive, and even more so to defeat evil forces.

The mechanics are designed for several pairs of skills, checks of which make it possible to overcome obstacles:

speed combined with stealth
will combined with battle
luck with knowledge is inversely dependent

This means that the more prepared a character is for hand-to-hand combat, the worse it will be for him when attacked by magic Other Worlds.

Guessing in Arkham Horror is useless, because all components are subject to random factors. Therefore, an experienced player imagines what awaits him in the games.

Preparing for the game

Prepare the playing area by opening the field on it. Keep in mind that there needs to be some space around the board to accommodate the card stacks, investigator sheets, and any necessary dice and tokens. Don’t forget to place the “horror” token in the zero compartment of the tracker of the same name.
Place the starting clues one at a time in any Arkham Horror location with a red diamond at the top. These are unstable points in the city where the Gates open and terrifying entities awaken.
Find out who will start the game, give him the first player token.
Sort out the available investigators. The first player mixes 16 sheets of paper, without looking, and distributes one to the others, including himself. It is allowed and agreed to choose individually, then the choice will be made first by the first player, then the rest in a clockwise direction. Every self-respecting player needs to have a detective.
Open the sheet with the Ancient One. The first participant interferes with the indicated sheets, without looking, selects one and places it near the field. The sheet needs to be opened. It is the Ancient One who is the fear of all of Arkham throughout the game. You don’t have to choose an Ancient One at random, but appoint a specific person responsible for the fate of Arkham. This method is good when time in the game is limited.
Separate the cards for the Investigator and Ancient decks. The decks are placed close to the Arkham Horror game board.
Receive the first part of the property, which is listed on the detective’s sheet with the note “always with you,” which means “at the beginning of each game.” Property is given in turn: the first participant finds the necessary cards in the pile, then passes the deck to the next one, according to the list of property on his card.
Thoroughly shuffle the investigator stacks and place them next to the playing field. If a participant is ordered to take or receive a card, he takes the end card from the required deck.
Load up gear that can be picked up at the start of Arkham Horror. One by one, players draw the required number of cards from the equipment piles according to the “can take” lists on their cards.
Get Mind and Body tokens with the highest Mind and Body scores. The values are written on the investigators' sheets. Tokens are placed in separate areas of the sheet. Players also purchase three sliders for use and place them on existing skill tracks.
Place the monster tokens in the container and stir thoroughly. In the Arkham Horror instructions, the opaque container is called a pool, which can be like a coffee mug or container. When a monster appears, the first participant, without looking, selects a token from there and places it on the playing field.
Shuffle the Gate tokens and Ancient cards and place the corresponding piles face down near the board.
Place the investigators on a section of the Arkham Horror board using the location tokens shown on the sheet.
Play the Myth card with the help of the party starter. Having pulled out Rumors, you should discard the card and continue to draw until something that is not Rumors appears. It is she who will indicate in which of the unstable places the Gate will open, and a terrible monster will appear. Once the Myths card has been played, you can begin the first round.

Start

Once preparations for the Arkham Horror entertainment are completed, the game begins with the drawing first Myth. The top card from the corresponding pile will indicate at what point in the city a random gate will open and a random monster will appear. When opening the gate, you must place the token at track of hopelessness, if it is completely filled – The Ancient One will awaken.

Turn sequence

A round in Arkham Horror is 5 phases. The participant, in turn, performs the actions inherent in each phase. When all players complete a step, the next phase begins. At the end of the last phase, the first player to move passes his token, and the next round begins.

The steps in the Arkham Horror fun stages are:

A break.
Moving.
Various contacts in Arkham that involve specific actions.
Contacts in Other Worlds.
Phases of myths with several points.

Respite

The stage implies:

Return of used cards. Using some cards, the Arkham Horror participant must temporarily remove them from the game. Show that their properties have worked and there is no possibility of using them for some time. Such a card is turned face up and is said to be “involved.” At the initial stage of the Respite, they return to their initial state. If a card is face down, it cannot be counted on until it is face up in the next Respite.
Actions. When completing tasks with cards used, Arkham Horror participants are required to check the cards for the existence of Respite for all rounds. Actions are carried out in a disorderly manner. In the first phase, when participants receive cards with the names Loan, Curses, Companions and Blessings, they do not require a respite roll.
Change skill. Any participant is allowed to change the investigator's skill by moving tracks on the investigator sheet accordingly.

Movements

During this phase, the Arkham Horror participant must perform one of a pair of actions based on the character's location: Arkham or Other Worlds.

If one's investigator is stationed in an urban area of the game board, then he gains a number of movement units equal to the investigator's Speed placed on the tracker. The player has the right to move from one location to another if the two zones are connected by a yellow stripe. It gives the character the opportunity to go outside from a point in the city, move from one to another, or get from the street to any other location in a unit of movement.

It is also possible to travel through Other Worlds. You can find creepy places and strange dimensions that the world is teeming with. Participants get there when exploring the Gate. If the player character is initially in the described phase in the Other World, he will not receive any movement points. Its action is related to its placement:

when the character is in the first zone, the character moves to the second in the Movement phase;
if he is in the second zone, then in the indicated phase he finds himself again in the terrible Arkham.

Contacts in Arkham

Here, a participant in the Arkham Horror game, holding an investigator at a point in the mystical city, takes a certain action. It depends on the gates opened at that moment.

When there are no open gates the character receives contact to the location. The participant shuffles the pile with the points of the area where his character is located and takes a card. Next, the player reads the text on the card and finds the character’s location on the map and does everything ordered in the message. The card may announce that “a monster appears,” and the investigator will immediately have to leave it or fight it. Next, when the actions are played, the card is returned to the pile. Entities and gates cannot find themselves in closed points of the city, even if the map requires this. And monsters never stay on the field after contact is completed.
When the gate is open The investigator moves to the first Otherworld zone.

Contacts in Other Worlds

In this particular phase, investigators who are located at that moment in Other Worlds, their fields are marked with multi-colored circles - contact symbols. The player draws cards from the gate stack one at a time until they draw a card whose color is identical to the color of any of that world's contact symbols. Those that do not match the color are placed at the bottom of the deck.

After successfully finding the Arkham Horror participant, he looks for a separate contact text for Other World, where his character is located. If there is one, the player reads it out in front of all the players and carries out all his orders. If there is no text, the participant fulfills the requirements of the text under the heading “ Other" Also, the text can cause a monster to appear, and the investigator must fight it or leave. The played card is returned under the deck.

Myth phase

The participant in this phase of Arkham Horror draws an Arkham Horror card and follows the steps:

Open the gate and multiply the creatures.
Lay out the collected evidence.
Go monsters.
Apply Mythic properties.

How to beat the game?

The Arkham Horror game ends in two ways: investigators defeat the mystical threat or die in battle.

Detectives can win in three cases:

tighten the spontaneously arising gates;
seal the gate forever;
defeat the Ancient creature.

The greatness of victory in Arkham Horror can be assessed using a special scheme. You need to start with the highest value of the hopelessness tracker of the most dangerous entity, subtract the degree of horror, and add:

minus 1 for any Loan that is not repaid;
minus 1 for an old seal used during entertainment;
plus 1 for each gate trophy;
plus 1 for three trophy monsters that survived;
plus 1 for any living investigator.

Impressions from the game

The game is definitely not for those who are just getting acquainted with the world of board games. Although the rules are relatively simple, they contain nuances that sometimes need to be clarified even on forums. Also, “Arkham Horror” requires concentration, attentiveness, interest and complete immersion in the atmosphere from party participants.

The game "Arkham Horror" can provide many exciting evenings in a circle of pleasant company, but sometimes the brain can melt and you want to burn the game. If you are a fan of creativity Lovecraft, then the game is definitely worthy of your attention. There is also a version " Ancient Horror", however, the base Arkham Horror game is more varied and contains more components.

A dozen add-ons have been developed for the Arkham Horror game, introducing new cards with events and characters. Fresh ingredients add originality to basic entertainment, which dilutes routine games.

"Curse of the Dark Pharaoh" (re-release)

This modification was released in 2011, and it is full of innovations:

Ancient Whispers can still be heard throughout the city. At the end of the movement, the investigator draws a card from the set of “exhibition contacts.” This step involves obtaining content from exhibitions.
Instead of exile (a map inherent in the 2006 edition) - Civil Patrol.
The package now includes a leaflet of the harbinger of the great “Dark Pharaoh”.

"The Dunwich Horror"

The next addition to Arkham Horror, which introduces different mechanics for pursuing monsters: Trauma, Circumstance and Whirlwinds. Also included in the package are detectives and Ancient Entities. When a hero loses a decisive health point, he has the right to discard evidence and half of his things, or take a card from the “Madness” pile inherent in the application.

Certain options involve the inclusion of a creature - the Dunwich Horror, which is many times stronger than monsters, but will not defeat the Ancients.

"The King in Yellow"

This Arkham Horror app only contains maps. The appearance of the “Harbinger” card, a powerful creature whose goal is to bring about the awakening of the Ancient One, has become a rarity.

"The Kingsport Horror"

The basis of the modification is the city of Kingsport, located near Arkham. Here newest maps Ancients, Guardians and a unique stack - “Epic Battles”. Monsters now have a different type of movement, including movement through water, and terrible creatures also appear that avoid encounters. Cracks in space are included, allowing new terrible creatures into the mystical Arkham.

"Black Goat of the Forests"

The Arkham Horror card expansion includes status cards in the One of the Thousand cult, changing contacts in the Black Cave, Woods to contacts with the cult. There are also new “Corruption” cards that have a bad effect on researchers.

"The Innsmouth Horror"

The location of the events is the town of Innsmouth. There are also new cards, Ancient, Horrible Entities, as well as “Personal Stories”, an “Innsmouth View” card and a unique “Terror Scale”.

"Lurking at the Threshold"

This Arkham Horror application is based on the book of the same name by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth. In addition to the new cards, a deck has also appeared - Relationship cards, which describe the possible relationships in which the detectives may have with each other. There are different mechanics for making Dark Pacts and Ancient creatures.

"The Miskatonic Horror"

The main innovations of the Arkham Horror expansion are the appearance of institutions that provide the necessary assistance in exchange for various resources.

Miskatonic University: a researcher has the right to be a student, benefit from this, launch exciting expeditions to a nearby town, and purchase library books.
Bureau of Investigation: All investigators now recruit agents for evidence found to help destroy terrible entities.
Fighting crime: Before the start of the game is announced, you can receive a deposit or become a member of Sheldon's gang. If arrested, he has the right to hire a lawyer, pay, or ignore the arrest.

A game for combining efforts and for coordinated interaction. Participants will have to create unique strategy applying the strengths of various Center experts to the game until the moment when diseases attack the whole world.

« Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game"

Role-playing entertainment with villains who threaten danger and death. Events take place on a field that represents a map of the world. Players become treasure hunters traveling the globe in search of ancient artifacts.

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Compared to Arkham Horror, in this game everything happens according to a certain scenario, basic version counts five. Some player gets the lot of the “Guardian”, and his task is to be able to resist rivals who try on the role of researchers, and to fulfill the plan. The goal is to survive, be able to stay sane and guess all the secrets.