Lately, it seems like distribution in the UK is more predictable, period! I’m glad someone is getting their orders. 😄 ‘Tis true, it’s a bad time of year, but this has been happening to us consistently since Asmodee changed their shipping system about 5 months ago. They used to ship about 2-3 days after processing our order, using USPS which took about 3 days. Now they ship about 8 days after processing and are using a low priority UPS system to deliver things to the local USPS carrier, which is adding 4 or more days to the delivery. I’m sure it’s cheaper, but it’s almost always a week or more late now. We used to get it early! This month is particularly bad though, probably, like you say, because of Black Friday. They shipped 5 days ago and UPS still hasn’t received them, which is a first. So they could be relegated to the bottom of the heap, which means another week to 10 days, or they could be lost, or maybe they never actually shipped. The last two would be bad, since both are now out of stock! 🤷🏼‍♀️

I’m sure it’s still in the pipeline. But you are right, it’s super frustrating. We always pre order the day of announcements too and although they say these orders shipped Dec 1, as of today, they still haven’t even reached the UPS origin facility. I’m not 100% sure if they actually have shipped. I know UPS is slammed with Black Friday orders and is not even picking up at certain vendors right now, so who knows, maybe it’s all still sitting in the Warehouse. I did send them an email asking if they actually have shipped it. I also mentioned that if they can withdraw money from their customers accounts without fail every month eleven days before the release date, there should be enough time for them to ship the product, so consumers can receive it at least close to the release date and they need to take their new carriers longer delivery times into account. (It’s usually taking 7 or more days for delivery in our case, as opposed to the 3 days of yore) For some reason, where they used to ship 2-3 days after the order was processed, now it’s 8 or 9 days later. Everything has been coming a week or more late for months, which is also frustrating. Who knows when it will get here this month. I suppose they have a lot more orders, but hey I’m willing to pay an extra buck for shipping if it means it gets here sooner!

I’m with you. The first time through is best if it is a complete unknown. I don’t watch the introductory run-throughs on Utube for that reason. A lot of people hate the supply mechanic, but I like it. It is a poorly funded expedition after all and it drives that home. The only issue is, that you can’t un-know the outcome of some of those choices for future re-plays. I wish there was a way to make it more variable. Return To FA helped some.

I feel you! We had Ursula and Leo that first time. She was good moral support. Nellie started the game in play of we were doing any exploring. Although, she stubbornly (or wisely) refuses to go deep underground!

TFA is a great campaign, but hang on to your hat for the first scenario. It’s a doozy! We got so into it the first time we played it, we created an Ally of sorts to carry our gear. Nellie the Prudent Donkey. She is only 0 and 1. So no real soak or anything. She was mostly there to snort at us in bafflement when we did something stupid or dangerous, or bray indignantly, if we had the temerity to put her in danger!

If you are looking only to read them, there are the Kindle versions...

Devil Reef shipped today, but side it’s taking about 6 days to get here because of their new UPS delivers to USPS, it’s another month when we won’t get it till several days after release. Sigh.

Our War of the Outer Gods shipped today, which is several days later than usual, and still no word on Devil Reef.

Has anyone who orders through Asmodee received shipping info for Devil Reef and/or War of the Outer Gods yet? It’s been a week since they took the money out of the account. They usually ship a day or two later. Even with Thanksgiving it should be shipped by now.

You are the best!!

I don’t believe we’ve gotten your “hot takes” on the Innsmouth cards yet...

Me neither. I would somehow manage to delete everyone, or cause chaos the token pool couldn’t even imagine!

Are you volunteering...

That is a bummer. Is this shut down the same severity as it was in the Spring?

Mine are processed too! Arkham campaigns always release on the first Friday of the month for us, though Standalones and Novels sometimes don’t. Unless there is a snafu, mine usually come about 4-5 days early, but there is a Holiday next week to take into account. I wish we could all get together and play War of the Outer Gods somehow.

I got mine on Amazon before I realized it was back in stock and it was delivered in 3 days.

I am dying. 😂😂😂😂 It’s like you can see right into his head...are you using Scrying? By sheer coincidence (or is it?) my husband actually bought a new Kitchen Aid this week and now I’m going to have to hide it.

Same! Mulliganing is key, although it’s backfired for me too. Sefina is fun to play just for the opening hand!!

There are a couple of things we have learned, which help us in time sensitive missions when you’re hectically running all over the place to accomplish a million things. You may already be incorporating them, but if not... It’s all about “economy of action.” One thing we (well mostly me) struggled with early on, was my infatuation with assets. I was putting too many in my deck and spending too much time putting them into play. There are a lot of great assets, so it was easy for me to get greedy and the more I had, the more protected I felt. I have learned, less can be more. If I play four assets out as opposed to seven, I have saved 3 actions. So I pick fewer well chosen assets. I generally choose ones that accomplish more than one thing. Holy Rosary, skill boost and horror soak, spells that deal extra damage, or scoop up extra clues, Allies that do more than just give you soak, etc. Fast events also free up actions, especially if they are played because of an action. Crack the Case, for example is an absolute must in my seeker decks, because it gives me resources as a result of my location being cleared of clues with no action. Two birds, one stone. Lone Wolf automatically gives you a resource if you start your turn alone at your location, Mr Rook searches your deck and find cards without taking actions. Eureka searches and let’s you draw for committing it to a successful skill test. Mists of R’lyeh lets you evade and move with one action. Cards that save actions, grant actions, have lightening actions or reactions, increase movement, give extra damage or clues, can be game changers in time sensitive scenarios. You may also have noticed that Guardians have a tendency to want to defeat every enemy in sight! But sometimes it’s more “economical”action-wise to evade them instead, especially if they have no Victory anyway. Instead of using their whole turn to defeat an enemy, using one action to evade frees up two actions to accomplish other things that need to get done. In the course of a scenario, all those little extra actions can stack up to the equivalent of having a couple extra rounds to accomplish your goals. It’s not perfect, because you can’t always maximize them, but it can make a palatable difference.

I agree that different investigators can yield different results and be better suited to different campaigns and a deck build that worked before, may not work in a different setting. Decks should also take into account your fellow Investigators. We learned early on that if you don’t have a solid clue gatherer in your party, you will suffer. It isn’t always the most glam job, but essential to getting through scenarios. If it’s a disaster, we re-play too. As a matter of fact, we are re-playing Finding Elena Harper again with our group, because I somehow omitted reading a sentence in set up that had a major impact on being able to get anything done. Even after years playing, silly mistakes still happen. (I’m pretty sure it was the rancid fish stink and creepy bus driver that had me all in a dither) That said, we do have a house rule which has helped us avoid some, though not all, of what you are describing. It can be really hard to know exactly what kind of deck you will need for a campaign, if you’ve never played that campaign before. We have learned that the first scenario will generally give you some valuable hints to at least some of what is in store, since the all the new encounter sets show up in the expansion, and usually several are included in that first scenario. Sometimes, we make assumptions about what our deck needs and are dead wrong. We started playing a couple of years ago, so our first time through the campaigns were in order of release. After NotZ, Dunwich and Carcosa, we were convinced we had to have spectacular Will or at least lots of Will icons to survive encounter card skill tests. Then came The Forgotten Age and that assumption died a horrible and painful death...4 times. We were all defeated in our original run at the opening TFA scenario and that experience became the catalyst for the following house rule. In between the first and second scenario of a new campaign, and only between the first and second scenario, if your deck build is obviously not going to cut it and needs tweaking, you are allowed to swap out up to five 0 level cards for 0 level cards within your build requirements, without paying the XP. Sometimes you may discover you have the wrong tool for the job, or not enough tools for the job. Sometimes if you are playing a new Investigator, you realize you don’t really know how to maximize their ability without a trial run. We decided we didn’t want there to be a big XP punishment for some minor deck tweaking right at the beginning, in order to help make an investigator work better for the campaign, or work better with the other Investigators in the group. Swapping out a few 0 level cards early, can make a lot of difference down the road and help mitigate some of what you are describing. At least, it has helped us be a little more prepared for what’s ahead, although obviously nothing is guaranteed! I love this game to be challenging. If I had never tasted defeat, my successes wouldn’t have been as sweet, but it should at least be possible to succeed, even if just barely.

Royalfa“As you write then is to assume the team B spend a lot of time (eons) in the "other dimension" and when the team A rescue them their psyches were shatter to a point ofno return. lol” Either shattered psyche’s, or they simply couldn’t be talked into going back. Group A is there in the flesh and made that choice to rescue their friends, so may have a better grip on reality. Group B is there in their heads and were swept into the Dreamlamds while they were in a susceptible state. I think they’re struggling more with what is and isn’t real. We just played it as a mini campaign with only the dreamers and they are all currently gloriously insane, (but loving their alternate realities...and really, who can blame them?)

I mentioned that too! Always good to be in sync with my favorite fine feathered friend!

Spoiler for The Cirlcle Undone. We had a similar experience, but it wasn’t really bad luck. It was just the route we went. I really don’t want to say more, but it was very unexpected and a little unnerving!

You are right, it does say that! Now as I remember, the two that were left we couldn’t do anyway. So it was same outcome. I just remembered it being because of the back to back card draw!🙂

Thank you. She is a stubborn German so hanging in there. I never thought about Sword Cane with Gloria. It is perfect! Especially with the “Miss Marple” sort of persona.