Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Call of Cthulhu => Topic started by: pw on October 27, 2015, 07:29:06 PM
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Hi All, I'm about to set up a group to play horror games (for work, believe it or not :)) and I'm wondering if anyone can advise me as to which CoC game to try out? Ideally it'll be playable in an evening, not have too steep a learning curve, and if it's cooperative so much the better. Replayability isn't a huge issue.
My options seem to be Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness, any thoughts?
Or, perhaps the thought might be that there's a better horror board game out there (Zombicide?) that I should try instead. I like the CoC theme but it's not essential.
Suggestions will be very gratefully recieved.
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One game that captures its horror theme and genre perfectly is Camp Grizzly.
It is a homage to slasher flicks that is incredibly fun. It is really easy to learn and full of laughs.
Your players will likely want to play it again immediately after finishing a game.
Sadly, it is not Cthulhu themed, but I think there will be some reference to Cthulhu in one of the upcoming expansions.
Dead of Winter can be fun as well, but is more complex than Camp Grizzly.
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I would chose Eldritch horror over Arkham horror. More streamlined rules and a quicker game.
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Mansions of Madness is like playing the CoC RPG. So each player controls an investigator and together they try to stop the evil in the mansion. It's fun, but not perfect. And it hardly needs the huge amount of monsters in the box which is a shame (but fitting for CoC).
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Here's my take
Arkham Horror - there are quite a lot of expansions available, it can take a very long time (base game: 3 hour minimum with my group, with expansions I've had sessions of 5-6hours). There's a lot of 'bookkeeping' to take care of .
Eldritch Horror - relatively fast playing, a lot more streamlined. I like it a lot, but my group claims they feel less immersed. There are a couple of expansions, which I don't have.
Elder Sign (dice version of AH) - decent filler, but not a real substitute for AH. Perfect for solo-play on the smartphone/tablet app.
Mansions of Madness - more of a RPG feel. This is a 'one against all' game and not 'beat the system' like the three above. You need a 'keeper' who should keep the game flowing. There are some expansions, the 'print on demand' ones are way too expensive IMHO. The miniatures are nice and add a lot to the game. I can recommend the 'Call of the Wild' expansion, this really adds to the game. Some of the scenario's can be a bit obvious and have a 'railroaded' feel, but a good keeper should be able to keep cope with that.
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Many thanks for these helpful and considered replies. I'll have a good look at all of these suggestions. Play time is a significant factor. Two hours, not including set up, would be ideal as we'll need to build in discussion time in addition to gaming time. Tomorrow I'll head to the game shop to browse for these titles.
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I would chose Eldritch horror over Arkham horror. More streamlined rules and a quicker game.
+1
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Getting through Arkham Horror or Mansions of Madness in an evening is...madness. Setup alone can take an hour or more. Eldritch Horror is your best bet, but does lack a little of the atmosphere of AH. I still think it's a great game though.
If you do pick up Eldritch Horror I recommend the first expansion as part of that purchase as it adds extra cards and another great old one as well. I've not played the big box Mountains expansion yet.
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You mentioned Zombicide in your initial post. While not Lovecraftian, it is a pretty fun survival game. Not much on the horror though. I have gotten several of my friends that were not gamers before into that. Easy to pick-up and can be set-up and played in an hour or two. It's a good gateway game for casual gamers.
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Thanks again. I should maybe say more about the purpose. I'm hoping to set up a series of horror gaming events as part of some research into games that might or might not turn into some academic writing (work and fun collide!). I'm guessing I can draw I some regular gamers but also there may be some non gamers which means striking a balance could be a challenge. It's a long term project though, first up I'll just try these things with friends. Eldritch Horror is now on the list 😊.
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I own them all, and Eldritch Horror is the one which, imo, best fits your requirements. It is a real co-op without a need for one player to run the system, resolves pretty promptly, depending on the number of players, easy to learn, and is big fun.
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Shadows of Brimstone should be added. Western heroes battling eldritch other worldly horrors in various dimensions. Fast playing tile-based board game , nice figures and great replay and campaign playing value.
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It sounds like Eldritch Horror is the one for the group (though I now want all of them). Shadows of Brimstone is a new one to me, the pictures I've just seen look great. Could you say a bit about how it plays?
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One thing with Shadows of Brimstone. It is not ready to go out of the box. There are a bunch of models to build. I have both sets, but haven't had a chance to play yet.
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It sounds like Eldritch Horror is the one for the group (though I now want all of them). Shadows of Brimstone is a new one to me, the pictures I've just seen look great. Could you say a bit about how it plays?
I wrote this review a while ago.
http://pijlieblog.blogspot.nl/search/label/Shadows%20of%20Brimstone (http://pijlieblog.blogspot.nl/search/label/Shadows%20of%20Brimstone)
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I'll put in another vote for Eldritch Horror, for the reasons already expounded by others.'Shadows...' is also a great game - there are minis to put together, but nothing that would challenge anyone who's ever been a miniatures gamer or previously made a model. One thing to bear on mind though is that if you have only one of the box games (either City Of The Ancients or Swamps Of Death) it'll only support four players - with both boxes it'll do six (more than that & everything grinds to a halt).
It's a dungeon crawler a la Descent, but doesn't need someone to take the evil side, the game mechanic handles all the interactions with the monsters. Your characters improve over games, gaining experience & finding loot/equipment & have the opportunity to go to town between quests in order to buy stuff (improved weapons, medicine, dynamite - you will need someone carrying this !) heal injuries or mutations & other character related things.
The minis supplied are pretty good, with the monsters being more so (they get plenty of use in other games, such as Strange Aeons) - in general I'd say it's a blast & has proved popular at the game club I attend.
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I'd say that Eldritch Horror is a great game as well.
There are some things that bugs me about the game as well as my gaming group. And I think those things need mentioning.
1.) There are occasions where you simply draw the "wrong card" and die as a consequence. (You can still participate in the game with a new investigator though.)
2.) Many times you are just too far away to participate in solving the mysteries. And that can feel like you are left out of the game.
3.) It's incredibly hard to win the game. And if you do, it always feels that you've won because you are lucky rather than that you played a good game.
But these are just my opinions.
Edit:
I see that no one has mentioned Cthulhu Wars. There's an ongoing kickstarter here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1816687860/cthulhu-wars-onslaught-two
Check it out!
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Thanks everyone, and thanks for the review Pijlie, very helpful. Cthuhu Wars I like the look of too. It looks like I'm going to need to apply for funding at some point to get all of this gaming goodness!
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I knew I shouldn't have clicked on this thread. This is going to cost me, I just know it.
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Haha!
I hearhear you guys! I own all the stuff mentioned in this thread (including all the Arkham Horror minis). And it costs a fortune!
Cthulhu wars is an expensive game, but the minis alone makes it worth every cent/penny. Just browse through this forum and you'll see some really awesome paint jobs. Gameplay is really really good as well. It's one of the top 100 boardgames on bggbgg (if I remember correctly).
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Arkham Investigations is a Cthulhu-themed version of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. It's free and you can play a game in an evening. It's less horror than criminology.
Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror take *hours* to play. But you can play the game until you complete one mystery instead of three. While you won't be able to say that you won the game, you can certainly experience quite a bit of game up to that point.
Cthulhu Wars is an asymmetrical power area control game. The designer, Sandy Petersen, was the author of the Call of Cthulhu RPG. There's not that much horror in the game, and each player plays their own faction, and there's a learning curve to learn how each faction plays.
Call of Cthulhu RPG one-shot scenarios can be played in an evening, and the scenarios are well written. Chaosium has a free QuickStart rulebook and scenario. You can also play my rules-light Cthuilhu Dice RPG on RPGGeek if you want a more cinematic experience.
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I play Arkham Horror because my son and I like its immersion. Eldritch Horror might be quicker but doesn't do it for us. We play AH using custom scenarios, which can be downloaded. They play quicker, but make thematic sense since you only play with monsters that make sense for the scenario. Some of the scenarios are easier, some harder. It's a blast that EH really can't reproduce IMO. A game this way takes only a couple hours. YMMV.
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Arkham Horror is mechanically flawed, but it's theme and immersion more than make up for it. For the few times I managed to play, it has always been great. Few, very few other games could hold my attention for six hours and still have me want to play it again the next day.
Eldritch Horror is mechanically improved/streamlined but it takes away nearly all of the aformentioned theme and immersion. It feels more like a 'system' or a puzzle instead of an ancient godlike being you fight and it feels a lot more gamey. Game the system and win.
Elder Sign and Cthulhu Realms are fillers, but I'd still play them over Eldritch Horror. While Cthulhu Realms is a true filler, I'd rate Elder Sign as more of a 'meaty' filler type game. It's beautifully represented too.
My personal preference lies with Mansions of Madness. Perhaps it's the human, unpredictable aspect that the randomness in Arkham Horror has, the beautiful presentation, miniatures and it oozes with atmosphere while it's playtime is relatively short. Opposed to the above four, I'm always willing to play Mansions. I feel it depicts Lovecraftian Horror best.
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I'd be interested to know what parts of AH you consider mechanically flawed? I agree that Eldritch Horror feels more abstract. I would also be interested in those thematic downloads for AH.
Mike D
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I'd be interested to know what parts of AH you consider mechanically flawed? I agree that Eldritch Horror feels more abstract. I would also be interested in those thematic downloads for AH.
Mike D
You can get them at FFG's website below. Look for the League 1 scenarios under Player Resources for the pdfs. Those are the base scenarios. They also have more scenarios there. I hope you enjoy them.
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/arkham-horror/ (https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/arkham-horror/)
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I'm really interested by the abstract (game-the-game) vs immersive gameplay. Which is great because it means that now I need both AH and EH! Thanks for the very interesting comments.