Arkham Horror - Game Guide - Chapter 6: Game Format

Decided to sticking with us through it all? You’re the best.

Right, let’s get to it.

There are generally three types of card games available in stores: Trading Card Games; Collectible Card Games; and Living Card Games.

• Trading Card Games (TCGs). When buying TCG products, the consumer buys smaller card packs known as “booster packs” containing unkown cards; you never know what you’re going to get. Some cards are rarer than others, and – as the cards are unknown when purchased – therefore allows for great thrills and excitement when a sought-after card is found in pack. As you can imagine however, players can also be left rather disappointed when opening packs, as they may not obtain the cards they were hoping for. Players then collect these cards, trade them with each other, as well as sell them. Some TCGs have been around for a long time, with some cards being no longer produced by the manufacturer. Consequently, the value of out of production cards have skyrocketed over the years. Players typically enjoy the chase after valued cards. However, these types of games typically end up being relatively expensive. Examples of TCGs: Magic: The Gathering; Pokémon TCG; Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG; Flesh and Blood.

• Collectible Gard Games (CTGs). CTGs are by and large the same as a TCG. The names are used interchangeably in the tabletop industry.

• Living Card Games (LCGs). This is where Arkham Horror: The Card Game comes in. The LCG format set itself apart from TCGs and CTGs in that the consumer always knows what they’re buying. There is no randomness; when a consumer picks up a product, they can always find out exactly what cards are in there.

 With that understood, let’s move on to the last section in this chapter and take a look at how the game is bought now compared to only just recently and why this is important for you to know as a player.

Repacked Products

When Arkham Horror: The Card Game first launched back in 2016, the game had five different product types, some of which are still used today. However, two of them are no longer produced, but can still be found in stores around the world. By reading on, I’m hoping you learn what’s worth buying into, and what is best left on the shelf. I won’t go into much detail on the products still being produced, as these will be covered later in this guide, but here’s the quick rundown.

• The Core Set. Unlike the core set mentioned earlier in this guide, the old core set did not facilitate four players, nor did it come with all possible cards needed to create a deck for each of the five investigators found in the old core set. That meant, if a person wanted to host a game session where four players partook, they actually needed to buy two core sets to have enough cards for everyone. Needless to say, this created a bunch of waste, as people were getting doubles of many things they actually didn’t need. Fortunately this is no longer the case, as the old core set (seen in the videos in Chapter 3) has been replaced by Arkham Horror: The Card Game – Revised Core Set, which – you’ve probably realised, I’m just referring to as the Core Set.

• Deluxe Expansions. The old deluxe expansions provided you with the beginnings of a new campaign (but not the entire story), new investigators, and some new player cards. If a player wanted to buy and play an entire new campaign, they would then – after purchasing the deluxe expansion – have to purchase…

• Mythos Packs. These packs followed the deluxe expansions in a numbered series. Each pack contained one chapter from the overarching campaign, and some new player cards. Thus, to obtain the entire campaign and all the newest player cards, customers would have to buy one deluxe expansion and the subsequent six mythos packs. Fortunately, both the deluxe expansions and mythos packs have been repackaged into a new distribution model – yay! Now, as you already know, the contents have been separated into two larger boxes, one containing all the campaign cards, and one containing all the player cards.

Just a quick personal note: once per month, a new mythos pack would be released. If you missed a release, you had to wait months for a reprint. Also, if you jumped into the game late (like I did) it was tough hunting down the deluxe expansions and mythos packs for entire campaigns. I can’t describe how much nicer the new distribution model is. I’ve literally tried to play a campaign, but then missed the initial release of a mythos pack meaning I couldn’t get the chapter, so I had to wait literal months for a reprint of the mythos pack, meaning I couldn’t continue my campaign for a long time. And not just that, I had to drop-buy mythos packs whenever I spotted them in stores; pick up one pack there, another there, well aware that I absolutely couldn’t play the campaign, because I was missing chapters. Those days were rough… now we just get the entire campaign in one single box. That simple. Done. Gosh, this is so… much… better.

• Standalone Scenarios. Still relevant, which is why we covered them in the previous chapter.

• Return To… boxes. Same as above.

Right, here’s the point of it all, and why I think it’s worth for you to know this: not all deluxe expansions and the subsequent mythos packs have been released following the new distribution model. So, there are campaigns that have already been created and released that I’m actually advising you not to buy… not yet. I suggest you hold on and wait for the publisher to (announce and) release the campaigns using the Campaign Expansions and Investigator Expansions. This is also why those specific campaigns aren’t sold in our shop; we’re waiting for the publisher to release them in the new and updated packaging. Rest assured though, as soon as they’re ready, we’ll get them right on here asap.

If, however, you’re feeling adventurous and want to go hunting for deluxe expansions and mythos packs, the campaigns yet to be released in the new format are:

• The Circle Undone
• The Dream-eaters
• The Innsmouth Conspiracy

Right on… here we are then. Now you know how this game is different from certain others as well as which products are which and what might be worth getting and which products – I believe - have become obsolete and are best kept out of your collection.