Jenny Barnes's Charity Gala

Introducing an updated version of my Jenny Barnes's Charity Gala deck, now with upgrade path and field-testing, along with minor changes.

With an item focus as it's base, this deck turns you into a full support character, bank-rolling your fellow investigator's items and providing additional funds/assets through the use of two non-rogue splashes: Charles Ross, Esq., and Teamwork. Jenny's accelerated resource aquisition, combined with an ultra flexible stat-line, makes this strategy viable, though I'd recommend playing it in a 4-player game only; 3-player in a pinch, and definitely not in a 1/2-player game.

Secret Santa

Charles Ross, Esq. can be thought of as an extra resource per turn, kind of like Lone Wolf, except he encourages sticking by your team-mates, not the reverse. While this may seem less valuable to Jenny, given her already prodigious income, once you've tried paying for four investigators' worth of items, you'll find even that might not be enough.

And you really should be gunning for financing everyone's stuff. A significant limiter on deck-building is the cost of one's deck, and a constant risk in a scenario is running out of resources. Charles Ross, Esq. provides a bit of breathing room for both, potentially saving actions that would've otherwise been used to gain resources, and allows your friends to get that upgrade they've had their eye on, without needing to first invest in their economy.

Of course, to guarantee Charlie's continuted use, his has gone hard on items, and item synergy.

Professionals Study Logistics

Backpack gets items out of your deck, Joey "The Rat" Vigil gets them down fast, Teamwork distributes them to the investigators that need them, and Charles cheapens the whole process. Getting as much of this logistical process done is your second priority in any scenario, second only to winning. These eight cards, plus a bunch of item assets, will reliably keep you busy in whatever scenario you'll play.

To maximise the 'hit' rate of Backpack, we'll also include both supply cards available to Jenny: Emergency Cache and Contraband. Both are decent inclusions for what we're trying to do. Contraband (and Joey for that matter) is quite pricey for its effect, but Jenny is one of the few investigators whom this is not as severe a problem. Even so, it is fortunate that both have cheaper versions as upgrades (Joey "The Rat" Vigil (3) and Contraband (2)) that we'll absolutely be taking.

Pick and Mix

Now that we have the item card engine running, what items should we include?

First things first; if you own the replacement asset and weakness (Green Man Medallion and Sacrificial Beast), you should definitely include both them and her default signature cards, since both Green Man Medallion and Jenny's Twin .45s are items, and powerful ones at that.

Any asset that boosts an attribute by two is very useful on Jenny Barnes, due to her stat-line; getting an attribute to 5 is the absolute minimum to be competent at tests that using that attribute, since it makes difficulty 2 tests trivial and gives difficulty 3 tests a fair chance. So: Flashlight, .45 Thompson, and Tennessee Sour Mash go into the deck (Unexpected Courage goes in for the same reason).

After that, we can consider what the fifth non-rogue splash card is going to be. Right now, the deck has Hallowed Mirror, a neat supportive accessory that compliments what this deck is going for. However, there are other contenders for that slot; the other limit one asset with bonded cards, Occult Lexicon, is viable for a more aggressive play-style. Bandolier is a third option, since is allows you to carry a flashlight and one of your three two-handed weapons together.

At this point, you'll have 11 items in your deck. Combined with 4 supply events for a total of 15 potential Backpack targets, and you're in good shape. While I did include Decorated Skull, Trench Coat, and Smoking Pipe, these are more placeholders for whatever your would prefer to fill them with. They don't even need to be item assets; you'll have enough with 11.

Your choices won't be permanent either; Adaptable will be the second exp card we get, at laided out in the upgrade section. For now, lets round off the rest of the deck with some staples.

Plan B, C, and D

Well Connected, Money Talks, and Cunning are the 'rich' suite of cards standard-fare in decks and investigators with large incomes. The caveat here is that it's entirely possible that you'll never get to 10 resources, since you'll be spending them like crazy.

What these cards act like then, instead of a core play-style, is insurance. Should you find yourself in a situation where you can't get the item factory going (the encounter deck has asset hate, you don't draw Charles early enough, etc...), these cards ensure you're not dead in the water and unable to do anything.

And that's insurance not just for yourself; in such situations where you find yourself with spare actions, the master-of-none stat-line that Jenny has lends itself to galvanising whichever task is currently more needed in any given situation. In optimal circumstances, your cluever should be cluev-ing and your fighting should be dispatching enemies with aplomb, but really when does anything go optimally in Arkham Horror LCG?

This is where Teamwork pulls double-duty; if you can, use it to provide for the team, but if you need to pull your own weight, ask for a stimulus package from whoever might have spare resources (to be paid back of course, have a little trust fam).

That completes the 0xp deck, now about upgrades...

Permanents, My Boy!

With two unique allies playing vital roles, it should be no surprise that Charisma is first on the menu. The power couple that is Charles Ross, Esq. and Joey "The Rat" Vigil needs to be seen to be believed.

Then comes Adaptable, as alluded to further up. The first pair of cards you'll be swapping in (replacing either two of the three place-holder items, or two of the six card in the 'rich' suite, your choice) is Calling in Favors, now that you have two ally slots. This improves your chances of getting Charles Ross, Esq. out earlier, when he'll be the most impactful.

In all futher windows to use Adaptable, be... well, adaptable. If you know the scenarios well, you'll know which you'd stand to benefit taking Fine Clothes to. Trauma starting to hit hard? Stock up on Thermoses (or take it early if someone's taken two Arcane Researches). Don't forget that any item you take can find its way into the play area of other investigators, so take requests from people who had a 31st card in mind.

And if two permanents wasn't enough, we're rounding off the first 10xp with two Another Day, Another Dollars. Now this might seem odd for an investigator that already has a constant drip of extra resources, but bear with me, for there is one truism to this deck; the absolute best time to get the Charity Gala going is in the first investigative phase. Everyone is in the same place, everyone has assets that they've likely mulliganed for in order to get out early, and it is in this golden hour that Jenny's extra resources haven't yet shown up, hence, Another Day, Another Dollar. By now, you should be hard mulliganing for good old Charlie as best you can (and occasionally Calling in Favors for a second chance), so strike while the iron's hot in the first round with a whopping nine resources to give away.

Joey "The Rat" Vigil (3) and Contraband (2) form the next 10xp worth of cards. They become cheaper, Contraband will have far more targets than just .45 Thompson, and Joey "The Rat" Vigil (3)'s second ability will further reduce the operational costs of this assembly line of items. You can even Teamwork all used up or dead assets from the whole party to yourself and pawn them off to Joey (3)! (serves him right; selfish git).

All these discounts and and rebates have one goal in mind; I mentioned how the 'rich' suite of cards is an alternative use of those resources. Well, once you've reached 20xp, you should be able to do both; be a generous benefactor, and a semi-competent, flexible investigator. And they're are other places where those excess resources can go; Green Man Medallion is a supremely feel-good one, converting money into exp. Streetwise could be another (though not recommended if you're playing with the taboo list),

For the third set of 10xp, Tennessee Sour Mash (3) and Emergency Cache(2) are good shouts. By now the encounter deck and chaos bad should be ramping up the difficulty, and so testing at higher will rarely be a bad investment. And Emergency Cache (2) adds some much needed card-draw to this deck, plus it improves Backpack by proxy.

You might notice that .45 Thompson (3) isn't being suggested. IT's because Jenny's 3 is unlikely to trigge the already situational extra effect of the upgraded version, and so is not really a consideration.

Now, the most exciting xp sink has been left to the end. I estimate a standard campaing will provide 35-40xp by the end on a good run, so if you've gotten this far and need one final upgrade, take one of the exceptional items: Lucky Dice, Skeleton Key, or Gold Pocket Watch, depending on what you can afford xp wise. Son't worry about the money sinks that are Lucky Dice or The Skeleton Key; resources going to Green Man Medallion will now find a far better home in these exceptional items come scenario 7 or 8. The Gold Pocket Watch is the top-tier prize, but you'll have to make a judgement call as you whether you'll settle for the other two, instead of holding onto up to 7 exp.

Summary

Money, items, and camaderie. Rogues have a bad rap for being selfish, self-serving, conniving tricksters. Show them that not all rogues are like that! By ensuring they have the means to play every card that they draw, regardless of how absurdly expensive their deck is! Make everyone else's deckbuilding and scenarios an even more fun experience than it is when shackled by 'moderation' and 'frugality'. You'll have done your job when someone around the table asks 'could I get a discount from Charles?'.