The Shuffle out of Space - my blog about AH:TCG

[awp832 447]

He seems really good,  to me he is the easiest to play of all the investigators.  Maybe because what he is good at also happens to be what you need to do.   There are two basic things you need to do in AHLCG and that is find clues and kill monsters.   Roland is good at doing both, and he's good at doing both *at the same time*.  And the more cards we get the better he is going to be just *at the game* and that isn't going to ever change.   So I expect Roland is going to be a strong choice for  a very, very long time, and maybe one of the best choices for soloers.  

I think Cover-Up is supposed to be somebody *else* doing a cover-up and Roland uncovering it.   Like here is Roland investigating the goings-on in Arkham or whatever, only to find out that his best buds at the FBI are in on keeping this quiet, and so he has to spend a bit of time taking care of business and exposing the corruption within the FBI.   So I think it's very thematic.  It is, I would agree, incredibly annoying to deal with, especially if you draw it late game.  
 

[Eruantalon 17]

I guess we cannot be sure, what the developer(s) had in mind, when creating "Cover up". Unless, of course, they decide to ler us know (in this thread, maybe? ; p)

[Doma0997 72]

Roland solo I feel is going to start struggling with the 8 scenario campaigns. Not only will you possibly lose sanity a couple of times to defeat, but with 7 scenarios, there runs a high risk of cover up coming out at a bad time, and the sanity loss will snowball

[Network57 561]

I think a lot of the back story pieces together that he's covering up some preternatural crime that the higher-ups in his legalistic agency would ridicule him for believing in.

[iGniGhted 113]

uhhhh. i think without a doubt that "Cover Up" refers to the FBI raids of Innsmouth when they discovered the truth, and the vast government conspiracy to cover up the existence of the Order of Dagon and the origin of the people of Innsmouth. As a G-Man, Roland's basically required to hide the truth to keep things in order, as his investigator card says, every i dotted, every t crossed... till now

[Eruantalon 17]

I'm glad we discussed the thematic side of the game. As you know, I believe it to be a very important one. So a post about the most thematic (in my opinion) investigator so far fits very well.

 

On a side note, I'd love if you added some comments directly on the blog for all to see, not only ffg community. Does the commenting work in some bad way, preventing you from doing it? Let me know, I'll do my best to fix it!

 

Behold, Daisy Walker: The Librarian!

 

http://shuffle-oos.blogspot.com/2017/01/daisy-walker-librarian.html

[iGniGhted 113]

not to nit-pick, but you keep calling "Intellect", "Lore"... a mistake i often make as well

[Eruantalon 17]

Ha! Great catch, let's correct that at once!

[Eruantalon 17]

Feel very welcome to read my post about Skids. I take a very harsh approach, do you want to defend the poor guy?

 

Spoiler: I share an idea of my own for a better design. Will you like it?

 

http://shuffle-oos.blogspot.com/2017/01/skids-otoole-ex-con.html

[awp832 447]

I sort of like Skids,  but I can see where you're coming from.

 I agree with you 100% on his signature card, which is pretty lame, and usually ends up in a skill check.  But I like Skids,  he just doesn't seem to fit in very well onto the current Arkham team.  Skids is more of a backup fighter,  a 2nd tier fighter rather than your front line of defense.  He can fight if he has to,  sometimes he can manage to pack a wallop,  but really he's better at evade than he is at fight,  better at dodging around than he is at direct combat.  In the base game the natural pair with him is Daisy,  and Daisy can't fight and she can't evade either.  Which leaves poor Skids trying to do all the combat which he's really only built to handle a little bit.  You could pair Agnes and Skids together,  but you run into pretty much the same problem, and Skids has to do all your investigating too.

As an investigator (meaning the guy who is looking around for clues),  he is middle of the road as well.  He can do his job with a flashlight or on locations with lower shroud values.  Higher shrouds are hard for him and so again, skids is a guy who can pull his weight,  but he's not strong enough to take over the role completely.  And once again this means it's hard to team him up with anybody and have all your bases covered.

 

Where Skids excels is at getting a lot of actions.  Between his ability, burglary, Leo de Luca, and maybe a Police Badge, Skids can get a LOT done when the chips are down.  Even if things aren't too critical, Skids can get some extra actions each round pretty easily, so where he excels is at doing stuff that needs to be done but isn't too difficult.  Easy shroud locations, easy monsters to defeat in annoying locations (I'm looking at you Cultists), getting resources and cards (possibly sharing them via Teamwork if you have Dunwich expansion).   I think as the card pool expands Skids is going to be one of the better investigators around.  He just needs some more cards to be released so that he can focus a little more.  

[Eruantalon 17]

Your point about expanding card pool is an important one. I am wondering myself, what approach will be taken with the extra cards, probably gonna write a post about it later on.

 

I guess Skids might be more valuable in big teams. He could handle assignments that are to easy for main fighters/investigators, while still a challenge for guys with revert specialization. In 2p, however, I have managed to enjoy 1 (!) game playing him. And it beats my wife's experience by 1 full game, anyway ; >

Edited January 23, 2017 by Eruantalon

[Doma0997 72]

He tends to really do well in specific scenarios. I really liked his speed in curse, midnight masks, and even devourer. The fact that he has access to so many actions means that he can do the basic move action more than anyone else, while everyone else falls behind. I'm really hoping Finn comes into this game with his classic super traveling speed abilities, but until then, skids is great when you need to cover ground. Plus he has the ability to backstab, which is one of my favorite cards.

[Eruantalon 17]

So far Finn is the only investigator, whom I dislike and consider weak in both Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror. Maybe AH:TCG will change my mind.

[Doma0997 72]

I've always liked Finn, he's second to me only to rex, but then I like movement based play styles. I imagine he'll either move locations quickly, or choose not to lose assets when he doesn't want to? (Never loses a shipment sort of deal)

[Eruantalon 17]

If I were to let my imagination loose, I'd picture Finn as a Rogue with a Survivor subclass. Probably 3/4 Intellect and 4 Agility. His Elder Sign effect would allow him to move to a connecting location, disengaging with all enemies, if drawn. Ability, just as you say, would prevent him from discarding assets (if you think it's sort of weak, maybe he could also move for 0 action at cost of discarding a card?).

 

His signature card should be similar to Skids - maybe "Fast. Play at the start of your turn. No enemies can engage you until the begging of your next turn, unless you choose to."? Weakness should relate to him being pursued by police, I believe - maybe some nasty enemy?

[Goseki1 637]

Like the blog a lot and really appreciate the deeper dive into each characters background /theme. My only suggestion would be to maybe proof read a couple of times as there are a few words (mostly "and" and "the") missing from some sentences. If you had an option to change the theme to white with black text my poor eyes would also appreciate it XD.

[Eruantalon 17]

This is the sad fate of a non-native speaker. In fact, I proof-read each text twice and keep adding "the" and "a" every time ; (

[Goseki1 637]

No worries man! Your writing is excellent but I know how easy it is to miss small stuff like that when it's a second language. I'm looking forward to reading more

[Eruantalon 17]

Here comes more!

http://shuffle-oos.blogspot.com/2017/01/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html

(sorry for the unfriendly direct link)

In this installment I share first of my duet deck pairs.

[Goseki1 637]

Shortcut definitely seems like a fantastic addition to Roland's deck. Makes luring enemies to locations with clues much easier. Really enjoyed the duet deck analysis and it's made me definitely want to try Daisy (though I won't be buying more core sets...) 

[Limboduck 8]

On 1/25/2017 at 6:33 AM, Eruantalon said:

This is the sad fate of a non-native speaker. In fact, I proof-read each text twice and keep adding "the" and "a" every time ; (

To be honest, I hadn't realised English was your second language, so I wouldn't  worry too much. It's better than many English people. 

You're wrong about Skids, though - he's awesome 

[Eruantalon 17]

My (subjectively) favorite character - Agnes!

http://shuffle-oos.blogspot.com/2017/01/agnes-baker-waitress.html

Also hope you had a look at my opinion regarding latest preview - http://shuffle-oos.blogspot.com/2017/01/undimensioned-and-unseen-preview.html

[Goseki1 637]

K don't really understand Agnes' weakness. How do you discard it? 

[Network57 561]

It's an Event, so you choose to play it. If you don't, it stays in your hand another turn and its Revelation effect triggers.

Edited January 30, 2017 by Network57

[Daft Blazer 291]

Roland and Daisy were my go to power couple - and my decks were very similar to yours. I've found Encyclopedia, used with Daisy's free action to be tremendously powerful. My new duet is Roland and Ashcan. Dukes ability to move and investigate is just so good and he can fight too. 

Trouble is, I,m hooked on Roland, I can't see past running a pair of investigators without him!