Tank Samson | FHV Intro | Deck Guide

Hey everyone, Justin from PlayingBoardGames here for a Hank Samson deck guide. While I don't create in-depth guides on ArkhamDB, I do have a video related to this deck which you can find here. Still, it's only reasonable for me to also write about the deck here, so let's dive in. (Well actually, before we dive in, I want to thank Valentin1331 for organizing all this for me and the other content creators. Links will follow at the end of this post! And sorry Valentin for pronouncing your name wrong at the end of my video!)

Hank Samson

Hank's statline pushes him towards fighting. While he can use the Survivor card pool to flex, that is not what we are going to be focusing on with this decklist. Hank's ability makes him a natural tank and while his low health and sanity pools may look daunting, Hank is secretly a Dark Souls boss in disguise, which provides you a second phase for the mythos.

After being defeated in Hank's normal mode, you become one of the Resolute versions of our favourite farmhand. This changes your stats, adds an additional ability and changes your elder sign for the better. However, be aware that when you change into either version of Hank's second form, you lose the ability to be healed. With only four potential damage or horror in his secondary form, this can be a danger in Hank's hunt for his pa (or parr, if you're feeling spicy).

Hank's signature, Stouthearted, is a powerful card in Hank's arsenal. Notably, moving damage and horror doesn't count as healing, so this card is active in his Resolute form. On the flip side, "Where's Pa?" is a big threat to Hank's survivability. You'll want to always be aware of it and when you may draw it. When drawn during upkeep, "Where's Pa?" will deal your direct horror at the end of the round.

Level 0 Deck and Upgrades

If you're interested, you can find the level 0 version of the deck here.

When it comes to upgrading decks, I like to be adaptable. (No, not that Adaptable.) This means that while I have a suggested upgrade path, please feel free to ignore it and follow your own path. Additionally, instead of having a set order, I have upgrades suggested in batches.

The first five xp in this deck will go towards two copies of Jessica Hyde and 1 Charisma. Jessica will remove the two copies of "Let me handle this!" from the level 0 deck.

The weapon suite of our deck is all about embracing the scrappy nature of the Survivor card pool. Our starting eight weapons in our deck are two copies of Pitchfork, .18 Derringer, Fire Axe, and Baseball Bat. While we'll eventually be cutting the Axe, the other weapons will be upgraded or remain in our deck until the end of this deck's plan. Because of this, Hank's combat style in this deck is less about swinging with one weapon from turn 1 to 16, but to rather swap through his weapons as needed or using what is best for a given situation in a scenario.

The next batch of ten xp can be used to do the following upgrades. Choose to upgrade where you feel you are lacking most first. If you feel you need more damage, grab the weapons. If you feel you need to die less, grab the Big Man on Campus.

• Two copies of Hatchet, cutting the Fire Axes.
• Two copies of .18 Derringer, upgrading from the level 0 versions. *Two copies of Peter Sylvestre, upgrading from the level 0 version.

After that batch of ten xp, we're feeling pretty comfortable with our deck at 15 xp. The last batch of 14 xp for this deck are to round out edges and improve damage, economy, and survivability as needed.

• Two copies of "I've had worse…", cutting the Stand Togethers.
• Two copies of Baseball Bat, upgrading from the level 0 version.
• Two copies of Brute Force, cutting the Overpowers.
• Two copies of Hunting Jacket, cutting the Leather Coats.

And there we have it. The 29 xp Tank Samson deck! Before we talk about some additional upgrades beyond 29 xp, let's chat a bit about Hank and some other aspects of this deck.

When should I go Resolute?

This is an important question in Hank's gameplay loop that I believe is the key to unlocking the investigator. Right now, my theory for Hank is that you want to let the shift to Resolute happen naturally, you don't want to force it. Then, when you are defeated, choose which version is better to shift into. Speedrunning to defeat of your first form will likely lead to a quicker defeat in your second form. Look at it this way: losing on purpose seems like a good way to keep on losing.

No In the Thick of It?

I decided against In the Thick of It for this deck. While it is a powerful card, I believe that there is a bigger risk for Hank than other investigators for that initial trauma. Like Calvin Wright, any trauma that Hank may gain through the campaign will be tough against his gameplan and reduce your survivability. This may be wrong in practice, but that's my current thought on Hank and why you are seeing it in action here.

What is Quick Thinking doing there?

Quick Thinking is a strong skill card that I often run in Silas Marsh and because Hank has Silas's deckbuilding, I wanted to showcase that with this skill card. What Quick Thinking can provide is some mitigation in potential clunkiness that Hank's combat kit can sometimes contain. Take Pitchfork, if you commit a Quick Thinking to an attack against a three health enemy, you can use the extra action you gained that turn to pull the Pitchfork free.

Going Beyond 29 Xp

While I didn't include the cards in this deck both Chainsaw and Fire Extinguisher are great weapons for Hank (albeit a little more consistent than what I included here, which is honestly kind of a plus). Additionally, you can't go wrong with the likes of Lucky! and Nothing Left to Lose.

The Hunt for Parr

And that's all! I'm really excited to dive into Hank Samson for a full campaign and this is likely the deck that I'm going to be bringing to The Feast of Hemlock Vale on our YouTube channel.

Be sure to check out all of the other decks made by the other fantastic content creators, with all the links below. (If you can't tell by looking at how I formatted my guide, I didn't make this. This was made by Valentin.)

• Wilson Richards
  • DerBK from the Ancient Evils Blog
  • The Article about this Wilson Deck
  • The ArkhamDB Deck Guide
• Kate Winthrop
  • ElseWhere from the Strength in Numbers Blog
  • The article about this Kate Deck
  • The ArkhamDB Deck Guide
• Alessandra Zorzi
  • dscarpac from the Quick Learner Youtube channel
  • The Youtube video presenting the Deck
  • The ArkhamDB Deck
• Kōhaku Narukami
  • Valentin1331
  • The ArkhamDB Deck Guide
• Hank Samson
  • Justin from PlayingBoardGames [Youtube & Twitch]
  • The Youtube video presenting the Deck
  • You're looking at the deck now you silly goose!