I got Arkham Horror 3rd Edition last weekend and played it a couple of times with friends.
This is quite a departure from 2nd edition. It has the main board split up into sections that you build manually for each individual scenario.

It feels more stream lined in as far as turn process than earlier editions of the game and definitely feels more story based vs earlier editions which were more about "Get as many clues as you can and react to cards you draw"
Overall, I prefer this edition to earlier editions.

If you're new to the Arkham Horror games, you'll defo need to play the guided playthrough first, as no matter what, there's a lot of setup required and the rules are a little complex at first glance, as within the guided sequence, there's various permutations of outcomes depending on what cards are active.
It's not as bad as it sounds though. Once you've played through once, you'll pretty much get it.

If you're an Arkham Horror veteran, it's easy enough to pick up the many changes.

Would score it 4 out of 5. Mainly as I feel the icons on cards could be a little more obvious, as the rules can be subtle, so missing icons on cards will cause problems.

Here's a pic of the payout last time I played with 2 friends playing the "Ryleh rising" scenario.
It was a very close run game. Lots of fun.

Anyone got this and/or played it?  Opinions?

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I've never played any edition of Arkham Horror other than the 1st, which I had as much fun playing as any game ever, for about a 3 month period in like, 1991, I think. So I don't have any opinions about the newer editions, but I do have a question.

Does this one retain the random encounter where if you get unlucky, you wander off with a sly Moonbeast who beckons from the shadows, and you're never seen or heard from again? Because I think that one thing was kind of the heart & soul of the original game.

I'm not aware of a Moonbest, but I've only played this latest edition 2 times. So probably not encountered everything.

It wasn't an actual monster you fought, but the 1st edition had a little mini-game where you would go through gates to places like Dreamlands, or maybe the Great Library of Celeano and roll to determine various random effects (including your character being instantly removed from the game courtesy of the aforementioned Moonbeast). I was wondering if later editions retained something like that.

Possibly 2nd edition might have that, as it retained the gates to other dimensions/planes.
3rd edition no longer uses gates to Dreamlands etc. So presumably it's not present in 3rd edition.

I suspect there WILL be an expansion at some stage to add dimensional gates though, as the maps are modular in design, so it makes sense they would add such things at some stage.

Lost in Time and Space. That was in 2e. Not sure if they kept it for Eldritch. From reviews seems not. 3e draws heavily from EH.

From one review.

QuoteThat said, it is quite a different game from AH 2nd Ed A lot has changed. The investigator stats have been changed to match those in Eldritch Horror (lore, strength, observation, influence and will), and focus sliders have gone. Characters start with no random gear, only their unique items. The map is modular. You take actions on your turn as well as moving around Arkham. Clues are not just picked up, but must be found through encounters, and subsequently the 'research' action is required to make them useful. The Mythos cards have gone, to be replaced with tokens. These are drawn from a cup, at a rate of two per player per turn, and each token has a different effect - add doom, add a monster, gate burst, headline, spawn a clue, etc. So they contain all the elements of Mythos cards, but the distribution is less random and less streaky.

QuoteIt's not all that different from Eldritch Horror If much of the above sounds familiar, that's because fairly significant elements of EH have been incorporated into this game. Investigator stats. Focus. Accumulating clues on mysteries, and having to balance gathering clues and progressing towards the win with keeping a lid on doom/gates/monsters. Reckonings and double sided condition cards. Clue cards tailored to the scenario, and finding clues through encounters.

In fact, when I was trying to think of how EH differs meaningfully from AH 3rd edition, I was struggling. AH 3rd edition has an even stronger focus on the scenario, while I think that the EH mythos deck set-up allows for greater strategy (more below). But they are very similar in many ways.

Someone else summed the game up as now more a crisis management game with some story glued on. More akin to Pandemic in some aspects.

I've played AH 3e several times now. It's a strange game. Individually, all the rules work really well (except for Newspapers), however, taken all together the game just feels bland. Maybe it's because the doom tokens don't really represent anything; we refer to the Ward action as "sweeping up the trash". Or maybe how some parts of the game don't fit the story (the aforementioned Newspapers). Or because so many of the rules are taken from other, similar, games.

I describe the game as "The new Arkham game that you've already played."

There is one expansion that was released a few months ago. It doesn't really change anything, just adds extra cards and two more scenarios. But it's still only 10 story cards per scenarios. I feel this number should be at least doubled. And that the newspapers should either be ditched entirely or replaced with scenario-specific cards.

[EDIT] At this point I think that the Arkham theme is dragging these games down. There is so much you could do with a game like Arkham Horror: The Card Game that you can't do because every mythos cycle has to be about some nut-job trying to destroy the world. Same with AH 3e.

Quote from: hedgehobbit;1113468I've played AH 3e several times now. It's a strange game. Individually, all the rules work really well (except for Newspapers), however, taken all together the game just feels bland......

I felt a similar way about 2nd ed Arkham Horror.
It starts as a pretty pointless jaunt around the board, hoping something will happen.
I've had some great times with 2nd ed, but mostly when it's been heavily modded to make it more interesting
3rd ed feels really tight with a storyline and actually has some tension when playing it.
I've played 3 out of the 4 scenarios so far and overall, I'm pretty impressed.

The Doom counters are there to act as a sort of "Timer" (along with the news) for the game and to progress the plot points (which are often checking doom counts). It's supposed to represent the growing sense of dread and doom and more and more weird stuff happens.

The rules are laid out really well too, which is nice. So easy to find a ruling on something.

I much prefer the modular maps and hope some decent expansions come out for this game.

A downside of the embedded story is I wonder what the replay value of each scenarios is like.
There are a fair few branches on the decision trees to explore, so it may well be OK. It's hard to tell at this stage.

QuoteAt this point I think that the Arkham theme is dragging these games down. There is so much you could do with a game like Arkham Horror: The Card Game that you can't do because every mythos cycle has to be about some nut-job trying to destroy the world. Same with AH 3e.

I own Arkham Horror, the card game and overall, I was pretty disappointed. It feels really messy and just hard work to play without a decent level of enjoyment.
For me at least, Arkham Horror 3rd ed feels like it's doing what the card game was trying to do, but did it well.

I can't speak for the expansion box, "Dead of night" as I've not really seen it. But it looks like it adds a couple of maps, stories and adds some criminal elements and so on.
I'll probably end up getting it if I can get it cheap. Don't think I'd pay full price for it though.

Anyway, Overall, I'm pretty pleased with 3rd ed and feel it's an improvement over earlier editions. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Quote from: Omega;1112760Someone else summed the game up as now more a crisis management game with some story glued on. More akin to Pandemic in some aspects.

Yeah, it's very story heavy. The whole game revolves around progressing the story and managing issues that arise as you play.

Quote from: danskmacabre;1113572I can't speak for the expansion box, "Dead of night" as I've not really seen it. But it looks like it adds a couple of maps, stories and adds some criminal elements and so on.

The expansion doesn't add any new map tiles. It adds four investigators, two scenarios/bad guys, and 8 more generic encounter cards for each map tile. As well as a few monster cards for use in the new scenarios.

Quote from: hedgehobbit;1113582The expansion doesn't add any new map tiles. It adds four investigators, two scenarios/bad guys, and 8 more generic encounter cards for each map tile. As well as a few monster cards for use in the new scenarios.

OK. Yeah I agree. It sounds like a pretty average expansion for the full price tag.
I'll probably get it if/when I can get it really cheap. Maybe 2nd hand or something.

Quote from: danskmacabre;1113573Yeah, it's very story heavy. The whole game revolves around progressing the story and managing issues that arise as you play.

For me that would be a not bad thing. I can enjoy those sorts of board games when done well. And it can be done well. Still waiting for my order to come in at the local game store as it was out of stock. Meanwhile bemusingly EH languishes on the shelf still.

Quote from: Omega;1113619For me that would be a not bad thing. I can enjoy those sorts of board games when done well. And it can be done well. Still waiting for my order to come in at the local game store as it was out of stock. Meanwhile bemusingly EH languishes on the shelf still.

Yeah I found the tight storyline quite appealing.
Once you know the rules, overall, the game speed is faster than earlier editions too, which can get bogged down.

So, how are your impressions of the game now that dust has settled @Danskmacabre ? I got the expansion recently. I like it that it just adds more of the same stuff to add variety and replayability. The next one probably will be more ambitious. The modular board screams for new locations like Innsmouth or other worlds like Carcosa.

Also, only after finishing the Azathoth scenario for the second time (I lost the first one), I noticed the nice twist at the end:

Spoiler

it ends in a loop putting the protagonist back at where it all began

Did you notice that? Found it neat.

Quote from: hedgehobbitMaybe it's because the doom tokens don't really represent anything

Doom tokens represent the supernatural occurrences that lead the populace to panic and distress. Their specific nature will vary from scenario to scenario.

In Approach of Azathoth they will be temporal anomalies like frequent deja-vu or time loops.

In Feast of Umodhoth they will be people disappearing and signs of cannibalism around town.

In Echoes from the Deep they will be strange dreams and nightmares and episodes of sleepwalking around the neighborhood.

In Shots in the Dark they will be episodes of extreme and unecesary violence spreading on the populace

Etc.