A Feast for Wilson Richards

This deck was created for a two-handed solo run of The Feast of Hemlock Vale. The partner deck is for Patrice Hathaway and it can be found here.

This is the list I settled on for my third run through the campaign on Standard. A number of card selections here are campaign-specific, but to avoid any spoilers I won't go into detail other than to say you will want to be able to handle Aloof and Elusive enemies.

Since this is a deck for Standard, in most cases your tests will be safe if you can cover a -4 token draw.

Wilson is more effective than his statline would indicate at first glance, largely due to his +1 bonus for Tool-based tests. I found him really fun to build for and play, and after a couple of false starts I realized two things: 1) his main trick is Ad Hoc, and 2) it's hard to take advantage of it because you can't tutor for it.

The only way to find it each game is to draw through your deck, which is something Guardian generally isn't good at. Fortunately, he's traveling with Patrice, so he can take advantage of At a Crossroads and Patrice's Violin to help him find his signature card, and the action compression provided by Ad Hoc helps make up for the action he loses to At a Crossroads.

For this campaign, Wilson focuses more on fighting and Patrice focuses more on investigating, but each deck has cards to handle both tasks.

Card commentary:

Ad Hoc: This is a very powerful effect when combined with assets like Sledgehammer and Pitchfork, as it allows you to deal a lot of damage at the cost of one action. If that action includes a test, you don't have to succeed to be able to use Ad Hoc, and since Wilson is going to be our combat specialist it will always be attached to a Tool that has a Fight action.

Once you have an asset in play with Ad Hoc attached, you can start feeding it by discarding tools and weapons, which is another reason card draw is so important for Wilson.

Fingerprint Kit: This card is generally too expensive to play but it makes for a good Ad Hoc discard.

Flashlight: This will be your main investigation tool and you can use it to sweep up a two-shroud location if there's no pressing need to fight something. It's better than Old Keyring because of its extra use, and the fact that it can benefit from Cleaning Kit.

If you have a Flashlight in play and keep another one in your hand, you can "recharge" it when you draw an Elder Sign, which is probably the best interaction it provides in the level zero version of this deck.

Gravedigger's Shovel: This is your main anchor for Ad Hoc because it's the most suitable asset for the job, other than possibly an Enchanted Blade. Every other eligible level zero weapon fares badly by comparison because of the lack of the +1 bonus from being a tool, and the cost reduction for tools is important too since it's Wilson's only economic advantage.

Dealing only one damage per attack is a major problem, but with Strong-Armed, Vicious Blow, and Long Shot (from Patrice) it should suffice in the early game for attacks where you don't want to activate Ad Hoc.

Pitchfork: This is a great weapon, and it's also fun to play. Whenever possible you should put it into play using Ad Hoc so as to avoid having to pay for it. Then, if you have Tinker on your Gravedigger's Shovel you can pick it up and start swinging with it.

Note that if you put Ad Hoc onto this card you won't be able to activate it when you attack with it (unless you fail the test) because the timing point where you would activate it will come after you've lost control of of the Pitchfork. You can activate it when you pick up the Pitchfork but you'll probably run into issues with attacks of opportunity if you do that in the middle of a fight.

Sledgehammer: This card is here purely for its Ad Hoc interaction, and its +1 skill bonus over the Pitchfork is pretty noticeable.

Cleaning Kit: The only cards that interact with this in the level zero deck are the Fingerprint Kit and Flashlight, but when you're free to investigate you can run out of charges on them quickly.

Tool Belt: I was cold on this card in my first few games, but I came around on it when I adjusted the Fight/Investigate asset balance in the deck. It's good for putting away your Flashlight when you need to pick up a Pitchfork, and it's good for juggling assets around in general both before and after you draw a Tinker or two (you can also attach Tinker to something in your belt since it's still in your play area).

Tetsuo Mori: This is the perfect ally for Wilson. You can use him to find assets to discard to Ad Hoc or use him to put them back into your hand after you've discarded them. And, of course, you can use him early in the game to find a weapon if you weren't lucky enough to get one in your opening hand.

Wolf Mask: Cheap, effective, and easy to recharge.

In the Thick of It: Two physical trauma.

Ever Vigilant: There is a campaign-specific reason why it makes sense to take this in your starting deck, but it makes sense for Wilson regardless because even if you draw it late, chances are you've been holding onto a bunch of assets and you might gain an advantage by putting some of them into play with a single action.

Glory: As discussed, Wilson needs card draw to find Ad Hoc and to fill his hand with assets to feed it.

Prepared for the Worst: This can find you a Gravedigger's Shovel at the start of the game, and later on it can find you a Sledgehammer or a Pitchfork for Ad Hoc or Pushed to the Limit.

Pushed to the Limit: This is a fun card to play because it feels like you're breaking the rules when you use it on a high-XP weapon like Sledgehammer. In the level zero deck it serves two main purposes: 1) deal damage with Pitchfork and Sledgehammer (as with Ad Hoc itself) and 2) put those assets back into your deck so you can draw and make use of them again.

Tinker: One of Wilson's weaknesses is his lack of hand slots, so this card is essential for managing his toolkit.

Daring: Wilson appreciates the +3 boost and the card draw effect.

Strong-Armed: This card provides extra damage but, more importantly, it provides protection for when you're discarding an asset to Ad Hoc.

Hasty Repairs: This is absolutely brutal for Wilson as the only way he can accomplish anything is by using one of his tools. It must be removed immediately.

Alternative card choices:

Dynamite Blast: I don't always take the level zero version of this card but I often take one of the upgraded versions in my Guardian decks, and in this campaign it gains some extra value thanks to all the Elusive enemies. I would probably swap it for the Fingerprint Kit in this deck if i was going to take it.

Take the Initiative: Wilson is fairly vulnerable during the Mythos phase, so this card offers some resilience against treacheries. I usually include it in all my Guardian decks, and I did try it here, but I took it out to fit a second Sledgehammer in alongside Prepared for the Worst.

To make up for the lack of treachery resilience, when Tetsuo Mori wasn't in play I generally kept Wilson closer to Patrice (especially when she had Granny Orne out).

"Let me handle this!": There is a campaign-specific reason why you might want to take this if your partner is Patrice. I decided not to but, either way, it's a decent card to include in any multiplayer game where you may end up doing the lion's share of the fighting.

Microscope: This is actually quite good if you get it out early and can afford to keep it in your hand, but it's useless for Ad Hoc and Pushed to the Limit so it didn't make the cut for this list.

Jury-Rig: I took this initially and it's very good for ensuring success (note that there's no "one use per test" limit), but after a few key upgrades it felt less important. It also felt a bit like Wolf Mask was eating its lunch, so I got rid of it to make room for other stuff.

Self-Sacrifice: Wilson really wants to draw cards and this is certainly one way to do it. I haven't actually tested it, but notably he could use it to take Patrice's Watcher from Another Dimension off her hands. I'm not exactly sure what he would do with it afterwards, but the option is there.

Upgrades:

Stick to the Plan: This is your highest priority upgrade if you can afford it right away. It reduces your deck size so it increases the chance you'll draw your most important cards, like Ad Hoc or your primary weapon.

The three cards to place under it are Ever Vigilant, Prepared for the Worst, and Pushed to the Limit.

Fire Extinguisher: This is a much better anchor for Ad Hoc than Gravedigger's Shovel, but it lacks efficiency against mid-to-late game enemies when compared to the Chainsaw, which only costs one more XP. Its secondary discard effect is very useful and a great option to have in your toolkit though, so one copy of this may be affordable.

Chainsaw: This is an excellent primary weapon. Wilson tests at 6 without any other boosts, which is fine for Standard.

Cleaning Kit: A very solid upgrade. It allows Wilson to perform one 8 Chainsaw attack per turn, and it turns Fingerprint Kit kit into a reliable source of clues on 3-shroud locations.

Emergency Cache: This is a good card to put under Stick to the Plan and it's best used on Cleaning Kit.