Arkham Strategy Part 2 - Where to spend Trophies?

What's your favorite thing to trade in Monster Trophies and Gates for?? Do you quickly get Blessed or do you wait to get an Ally?

In most games I try to get 10 Monsters Trophies or 2 Gates or 5 Trophies and 1 Gate before I trade them in. I'd rather wait and get an Ally or the Deputy badge for double the cost. And my favorite item has to be the Deputy badge. Again, I love speed in Arkham Horror so the Deputy badge is my favorite item.

East Coast Strategy: Trading in monster trophies and gates for the Deputy badge. The gun is usually pretty useless. The retainer is nice because you can't lose Deputy retainer like a normal retainer. But the best part about being a Deputy is the Wagon. No longer are you limited to slow movement, having to fight or sneak your way past monsters. If you're down to 1 stamina and you're at Independence Square, you can drive down to Saint Mary's in one turn. If you need to jump through a gate that's across the board, it's no problem. I've had game completely turn around from near loss to victory once I got a Deputy badge.

Minnesota Strategy: Trading in monster trophies for Allies. I have to say Allies are pretty cool. Allies give +1 or +2 on some skill checks. Some allies also give you stuff like a free spell or items. The nice thing about allies is that they're harder lose than money or items. The other thing about Allies is that it's important to get them early in the game before the terror level gets way too high.

For the 1 Gate Items. Here my favorites in order:

#1. The Blessing. If you didn't have to roll to keep your Blessing, the Blessing would be better than an Ally but there's always the fear that I'll roll a 1 during upkeep and lose my Blessing. If the Great One is about to come out and I have a Gate, I'll try to get to the South Church as quickly as possible.

#2. Clues. From MattDP post earlier today we can call this this English strategy. For me 1 gate for 2 clues isn't a great deal. But sometimes you really need clues so it could be worth it. The Grave Digger investigator in Innsmouth is great because he can trade in monster trophies at 1 to 1 bases for Clues.

#3. Money. I think I've only used this once in all the times I've played Arkham.

Yep, we love Allies here. We really should go for Deputy more often, because the Paddy Wagon rocks. I guess it wasn't that useful in the early days, when we were just playing the base set, so we never picked up the habit.

I agree that the clue token deal at the Science Building is poor, but I could see going for the money at the Docks in certain situations, especially if there is a sudden need to take the train or heal a bunch of Sanity/Stamina. And if the end of the world is nigh, a Blessing is a very good idea.

So early or mid-game:

1. Ally
2. Deputy

late-game:

1. Blessing

I would never bother getting the blessing because I always lose it immediately.

I generally trade them in for clues to seal more gates, or if I have enough I trade them in to become a deputy.

Allies are pretty underused in most of my plays.

I only got the Deputy once, so far, but it was very helpful. One thing I've noticed in the game (after about 7-8 plays) is that Jenny Barnes' $1 a turn upkeep is pretty sweet... It doesn't seem like much and originally I thought that was kind of lame to be her only special ability, but it really adds up and any steady income can be very helpful. So the Deputy's income, which can't be lost (unlike a Retainer), is very nice. And the Wagon is awesome while you have it.

I've probably gone for Blessings more often than anything... it's so tempting... but yeah, I can see how that is a dubious prospect unless you know you're going to be fighting a lot of monsters or going into the final battle. A Blessing is great to have, of course, but it sucks to roll that 1 and lose it. Then again, I would always consider buying a Blessing to be worth it to offset someone's Curse.

Spending something on the 2 clues at the Science Building seems more like it's only practical in a "must have" situation... where you really need to get up to 5 clues and there are none within reach.

I don't think I've yet picked up an Ally at Ma's, just from other encounters. But thinking about it now and reading everyone's input, I'm thinking I need to get away from spending trophies on Blessings and focus more on getting the Deputy and Allies when I have some trophies to spend.

The bummer is that in our games there never seems to be TIME or opportunity to spend the trophies in the first place. There always seem to be more pressing concerns. So they're only spent when it's convenient.

Blessings are number one for us. There is always some poor sucker who's cursed and a cursed player is almost always stuck with it forever. Getting a curse while in the Other Worlds is a bitch. Goodbye clues. And if you're emerging from a tough gate to close, forget it. A lot of turns/resources get wasted. You need to get rid of that shit. A blessing tends to save clues for important things along the way and really helps a ton against the tougher monsters. Even if the blessing lasts a couple rounds it tends to have a decent payout.

I think allies are a good deal if you can make it down south. But getting the 2 clues always seemed like a waste of time. Maybe I underestimated it's usefulness and should give that a shot in my next game. I've always preferred to have some random encounter to get clues, or even a nice toy, than do science building. Yeah, it's risky and horrible things can happen but it's more amusing. I like the gamble, for better or worse. Keep in mind this is coming from a guy who will occasionally make "sub-optimal plays" in the early rounds -just to see what happens.

Yep, I most often burn trophies for clues. I'm happy to have a strategy named after my country Clues are just to useful, so versatile and so essential for winning the game that I find it hard to see why other people don't value this trade. I can see the logic in going shopping before you pick up clues in the early game - shops close, and having heavily tooled investigators right off the bat will make you feel a lot more secure moving around Arkham. But how can you not trade up for clues when you get the chance?

Blessings I don't value at all. They last, on average, six turns and if you're properly prepared you shouldn't really need them anyway. They're unstable and have a nasty habit of running out just when you need them. I buy them only to remove curses.

Allies are too much pot luck. Some are very good, others are not and it's a risk to burn trophies on them. I prefer a concrete return. Besides which many allies can be got from chance encounters.

The one thing I will buy in preference to clues it the deputy job. The wagon is brilliant as is the retainer, especially if you're playing with an expansion board since it offers free passage to the other villages and money for others to use the train. The ability to teleport past monsters is also a game-saver. I value the revolver too - this is probably partly because I'm so obsessed with clues that I don't often go shopping for hand weapons. In addition the person who gets the job is often whoever gets two gate trophies first - and since that person is likely to be a "gate closer" type of investigator he or she is often under-armed and the revolver can be a big bonus. It stacks up nicely with Withering, especially.

Matt, I'm interested do you trade in trophies for clues even when there's clues on the board or after the clues on the board have dried up? I probably under use trading in for clues than I end up with 2 or 3 gates left to close, investigators with lots of weapons and spells but with few clues and no clues on the board.

KingPut wrote:

Matt, I'm interested do you trade in trophies for clues even when there's clues on the board or after the clues on the board have dried up? I probably under use trading in for clues than I end up with 2 or 3 gates left to close, investigators with lots of weapons and spells but with few clues and no clues on the board.

I usually only trade when the board is low on clues, or the remaining clues have become difficult/impossible to reach. But I actively hoard trophies in anticipation of needing them to trade for clues later in the game. It's actually quite handy to have a few trophies in your back pocket as there are a few encounters which can secure you a very favourable outcome if you've got one to spend.

Our group tends towards trading for Allies and the Deputy job. I've never seen the River Docks used for its ability. Blessings are useful but our group seems to magically find the "1" on the first Blessing roll.

Retainers seem to last forever though.

We haven't played too many times yet, but so far I've mostly been a gate-closer and have grabbed the Deputy's job a couple of times - only to lose the van on the '1' roll first time and then second time. I think eyes will roll if I go for it next time.

Does anyone keep enough trophies to be the 'winner' at the end ?

Southernman wrote:

Does anyone keep enough trophies to be the 'winner' at the end ?

Yes, I was just going to ask this too. We actually do count points and denote the "most valuable citizen" at the end. I overlooked that aspect as a (rare) reason we might not spend the trophies. It's a wierd carry-over from the original edition that I stuck to for some reason. Not that we play competitvely or anything stupid like that. But it can add interest to look back at our "Hall of Fame" log and see what characters lived and how well we did.

It's kind of odd since the scoring method is... kind of funky.

Hex Sinister wrote:

Southernman wrote:

Does anyone keep enough trophies to be the 'winner' at the end ?

Yes, I was just going to ask this too. We actually do count points and denote the "most valuable citizen" at the end.

I forget this rule even exists. The game is hard enough without getting all weird about the ending. Let's help each other out---until the last 30 seconds!

jeb wrote:

Hex Sinister wrote:

Southernman wrote:

Does anyone keep enough trophies to be the 'winner' at the end ?

Yes, I was just going to ask this too. We actually do count points and denote the "most valuable citizen" at the end.

I forget this rule even exists. The game is hard enough without getting all weird about the ending. Let's help each other out---until the last 30 seconds!

Same as Jeb.

I don't use a scoring system but if I did I'd modify to reward people that get screwed:

20 points for being devoured
10 points for each injury/madness (they're a badge of honor when you play with KingPut)
5 points for being cursed (again its a badge of honor)
5 points for sealing gates
3 points for each 3 toughness monster you kill (no points for kill stupid cultists and stuff)
3 points for joining the Cult, Shelton Gang or Inner Sanctum (because all the cool kids are doing it)
3 points for getting arrested
1 point for getting a whiskey card
-5 points for texting while playing AH
-10 points for whining when bad shit happens to you

Southernman wrote:

Does anyone keep enough trophies to be the 'winner' at the end ?

Fuck no, those rules are ignored by me.

As far as spending trophies go - deputy is a favourite, Or the ship and shit from Kingsport. Otherwise I just spend them on whatever takes my mood at the time.