This Cheque Should Cover it - Bob Jenkins Guide (Hard)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8J6Kk0pyHI

Intro

Survivor 0 provides one of the best resource and card engines in the game - Track Shoes + Drawing Thin/Take Heart. Although with the Taboo List you can't start with Drawing Thin, it's still a level 0 card and so Bob can (and should) aim to pick it up ASAP. Bob's stats also make an early fail-by deck attractive, a of 4 means you can reliably hit Look what I Found on most shroud 3-4 locations in the early game, and it scales well into later scenarios with little additional exp investment.

Stella Clark has proved to be one of the strongest investigators in the game following the fail-by deck guidelines (see StartWithTheName's excellent Stella deck here for a detailed fail-by section and a great deck overall), and whilst Bob may not have Stella's amazing unique assets, encounter protection, or action gain on failure, he still gets "4" actions a turn, an arguably better statline with +2 over her, and access to powerful high-end Rogue cards to play with.

Dark Horse?

Why Dark Horse to begin with? Greed will likely hit you hard in the early scenarios, regardless of whether or not you are going Dark Horse or not, and you will just have to deal with it. There simply aren't that many options of efficiently generating and maintaining high resource counts whilst maintaining tempo early on into a campaign. Dark Horse provides an efficient source of stats alongside Madame Labranche, and allows you to be a decent supporting fighter and cluer with Fire Axe and Mariner's Compass. Labranche is also cheap enough to toss to soak Greed's horror damage without feeling too much discontent. If your deck is thin and you know Greed is coming, consider using Labranche to guarantee you have at least 1 resource going into the upkeep phase to reduce Greed's damage by 1.

While Dark Horse is solid early on in the campaign, as you start being able to generate more resources, it's may be a good idea to start swapping them out later on. Cards like Scrapper or Streetwise can provide a resource outlet (to both clue/fight and for encounter protection), or you can go down the money matters route with cards like The Black Fan or Well Connected. Of course, you can also opt to keep Dark Horse in for the stats while using said resource outlets to spend your money.

Earlier in the campaign, Faustian Bargain can also be used to give other investigators money that they can spend using Bob's free action, allowing you to both maintain Dark Horse whilst keeping your fellow investigators satisfied.

Of course, you don't need to go Dark Horse at all if you don't want to and can replace cards as appropriate, detailed more in the below sections.

Where are the Items?

Now, you may notice that the deck itself doesn't actually have all that many items, which may seem contrary to Bob's ability. However, the key is you don't need to be the one with items in your deck for this ability to be useful. Mystics and Seekers are often strapped for actions early on in the game, while guardians are often strapped for cash, and you can use your actions to help accelerate their game.

OVERVIEW:

CLUEING: ....................... Good

ENEMY HANDLING: ...... Moderate

ENCOUNTER PROT: ...... Moderate

DRAW CONSISTENCY: .. High

CASH ENGINE: ............... High

HEALING: ....................... Low

SLOTS:

Hand One ...... 1 Weapon, OR 2H Rogue Weapon

Hand Two ...... Mariner's Compass / Old Keyring

Accessory ...... Rabbit's Foot / Gold Pocketwatch

Body ............... Unused / Leather Coat

Arcane Slots .. Unused / Haste

Tarot ............... Unused

Allies ............... Madame Labranche -> Leo / Lola / Delilah / Gene

Enemy Management:

Bob's middling stats are usually not great for dealing with enemies in the early game. However, Fire Axe + Dark Horse allows you to pump yourself to 6 relatively easily, while Breaking and Entering is a criminally undervalued action-compression card that helps you either dump weaker enemies or evade bosses (it doesn't have a non-elite clause). Later in the game, as you upgrade your weapon out of Fire Axe, you will likely need to find an alternative way to pump, either by tossing in Scrapper via adaptable or adding in Hard Knocks in one of its forms, to reliably hit higher enemies.

Cluing:

Mariner's Compass + Dark horse and Labranche will allow you to investigate a location at a base 7. Bob's decent of 4 also allows you to just investigate without bonuses and use Look what I found to pick up clues on most locations shroud 3 and lower very consistently. Mid-campaign, Lola Santiago can convert your excess money into clues, or you can start swapping in cards like Intel Report and Double Double for testless clues alongside Look what I found.

Resource Generation:

Faustian Bargain early on in the campaign can provide a strong start. Later on, Drawing Thin will be able to provide an excess of resources. Rabbit's Foot and Take Heart/Resourceful remain a consistent source of additional draw.

Core Upgrades:

Charon's Obol (If you dare)

Adaptable

Faustian Bargain->Drawing Thin 2x

Relic Hunter

If you're feeling a little brave, take In the Thick of It for either an early Charon's Obol + Adaptable/Lockpicks/Counterespionage or a Drawing Thin to speed up your start. Just be aware that Greed will likely hit you for 3-4 horror if you draw it, making your starting life pool potentially as low as 6/4, add in the 2 trauma from In the Thick of It and you may find yourself rolling a new character very quickly. The core of the deck is honestly so EXP-lite that neither the Obol or In the Thick of It are totally necessary. Short Supply also does have a ~36% chance of discarding greed, for what it's worth.

Next steps:

Fire Axe -> Mauser C96(s) or Timeworn Brand(s) or another weapon of your choice

Mariner's Compass -> Old Keyring(s) (Via Adaptable)/Lockpicks*

Madame Labranche -> Leo De Luca (Lower difficulties) /Lola Santiago (More Cluing) /Delilah O'Rourke (More Fighting)

*You can also opt for a 2-handed weapon, cut the compass and go for event-based cluing instead if that is your preference. Use either Act of Desperation + Scavenging to get back your money/weapon, or reload cards like Swift Reload.

Luxury Upgrades:

The Gold Pocket Watch (Amazing in 3+ player games, priority in 4 player games)

Another Day, Another Dollar (Consistent money to help get your team off to a good start)

Unscrupulous Loan Gets you started off on money matters versions of the deck

Streetwise Money sink

You Handle This One!-> Counterespionage (Expensive but powerful)

Well Connected If you're going down the money route

Charisma(s) If you want to add in another ally

Ace in the Hole Always good

Gené Beauregard Good ally, but expensive to get him to enter play. Great to pair alongside Lola with Charisma

Haste Good if you're either able to boost your up high or if you have plenty of assets with abilities

Garrote Wire (if fighting)

Double, Double / Chuck Fergus (If you are going down an event deck path w/ cards like Hot Streak, Intel Report, or tricks)

The Red Clock (Generally worse than pocketwatch at higher player counts, and very exp intensive, also kind of terrible if you don't draw it early, and competes for the already tight relic slot since Rabbit's foot is just so good. Not a bad card, but unlike Ursula/Trish you lack a way to keep it at 3 charges to truly abuse it)

The Skeleton Key action intensive to use, but if your team is full of low investigators it may be worth to get

Backpack If you're looking to go a more item-centric build

Lupara + Joey "The Rat" Vigil/Sleight of Hand/Scavenging for an alternative weapon combo

Other starting card options:

1x Leather Coat A way to use your body slot and use your ability. Gets better if you start taking extra physical trauma.

2nd Meat Cleaver If you need to be the main fighter, don't want Dark Horse, or want the horror recovery to patch up after Greed

1x Cherished Keepsake (If you're worried about Greed, take an extra Relic Hunter later)

2x Winging It (if you need more cluing)

1x Scrounge for Supplies (if you're nervous about Short Supply)

2x Overpower (if focused on fighting)

2x Schoffner's Catalogue (if your team really wants you to just be their piggy bank)

1x Gravedigger's Shovel (for testless clues and a reliable way to use your "free" action later in the game)

1-2x Scavenging (better if you're going a Old Keyring/Shovel build to recycle them. Also works well with Leather Coat, Cherished Keepsake, or Schoffner's Catalogues if you choose to go those items)

2x Lonnie Ritter - alternative ally paired alongside Leather Coat to tank through things early on

Mulligan Guide

Priority Keeps: Rabbit's Foot(s), Drawing Thin(s), Weapon of choice

Secondary Keeps: Track Shoes (If you have Drawing Thin), Ally of choice, Shrewd Dealings (if you have assets in hand), Take Heart (If you have Drawing Thin)

Ending Thoughts:

Bob may not be the strongest solo-investigator, but he can certainly still pull his own weight with at all stages of a campaign with his unique deckbuilding and ability to accelerate his teammates along. He shouldn't just be viewed as a piggy bank for other investigators to cash out on (most classes nowadays have solid ways to generate their own economy). Even alone, Bob can save himself a couple actions in the first few turns setting up cards like Rabbit's Foot or a weapon, allowing you to accrue value earlier or just save 3-4 actions of playing assets per game.

Survivor 0 is a great toolbox, and Bob has the highest base at 4 amongst his other survivor competitors, allowing him to be more active from the early turns. Bob doesn't require much exp to get started (with In the Thick of it you can easily have 2x Drawing thin at the end of the 1st scenario), and scales well because... high exp rogue cards are good.

There are also plenty of different routes to take Bob later on in the campaign, whether it be big money (Well Connected), event (Double, Double), ally (Charisma), asset (Scavenging), or even skill focused (All In), allowing for a diverse variety of decks to try and test. While Bob will likely need other teammates to show off his true potential, he's certainly capable of running a one-man show.

TL;DR: Bob won't ever be as good as Trish, Mandy, or Stella, but he's still pretty good and can be fun to experiment with.