Roland through Dunwich, play and analysis - Episode 2: 1-A

Continued from Roland through Dunwich, play and analysis - Episode 1: 1-B.

Extracurricular Activity. Scenario 1-A.

Starting hand initial draw:
Magnifying Glass, Art Student, Evidence!, .45 Automatic, Guts.

Thoughts:

I decided to keep the entire hand. .45 Automatic and Magnifying Glass I did not consider discarding. Guts could have been mulliganed, but I liked the idea of a safeguard against at least 1 of the nasty treacheries. I felt the same about Art Student and Evidence!. Pathfinder for instance would have been an improvement, but both cards added some clue gathering redundancy and I did not think the average redraw would improve the hand.

Turn 1:

1. Play .45 Automatic (1 Resource)
2. Move to Humanities Building
Play (Fast) Magnifying Glass (0 Resources) 3. Investigate (draw '0' succeed by 1). Gain 1 clue (1 Clue)

Upkeep: Gain 1 Resource (1 Resource). Draw: Beat Cop

Turn 2:

Mythos: Doom +1 (1 in play). Draw: Whippoorwill

1. Engage Whippoorwill
2. Fight Whippoorwill (draw '-1' succeed by 1) Whippoorwill dies. Gain 1 clue (2 clues)
3. Move to Orne Library

Upkeep: Gain 1 Resource (2 Resources). Draw: Cover Up

Turn 3:

Mythos: Doom +1 (2 in play). Draw: Yithian Observer

1. .45 Automatic (3 ammo) (draw '' succeed by 0) 2 damage to Yithian Observer (2 damage).
2. .45 Automatic (2 ammo) (draw '-1' succeed by 0) 2 damage to Yithian Observer (4 damage). Yithian Observer dies. Gain 1 clue (3 Clues)
Play Fast Evidence! Remove 1 clue from Cover Up (2 Clues remaining)
Act advances
3. Move to Miskatonic Quad

Upkeep: Gain 1 Resource (2 Resources). Draw: Vicious Blow

Turn 4:

Mythos: Doom +1 (3 in play). Draw: Terror from Beyond: Event, nothing happened.

1. Move to Student Union
2. Investigate (draw: '' succeed by 2) Gain 1 clue (1 Clue).
3. Rice's Whereabouts: Discard: "Jazz" Mulligan, Beyond the Veil, Offer of Power, Light of Aforgomon, Visions of Futures Past, Whippoorwill, Thrall, Ancient Evils, Pushed into the Beyond, Terror from Beyond.

Upkeep: Gain 1 Resource (3 Resources). Draw: Beat Cop.

Thoughts:

4 turns in and "Jazz" Mulligan hits the table, a very solid opening indeed. Of course I would have preferred not drawing Cover Up at all, but the timing made it feel like a slight inconvenience and not a major hindrance. At this point I thought I would have enough time both to clear Dormitories and kill The Experiment.

Turn 5:

Mythos: Doom + 1 (4 in play). Draw: Locked Door

1. Draw: Working a Hunch
2. Parley: Commit Working a Hunch (draw '-1' succeed by 1). Take control of "Jazz" Mulligan. Act advances
3. Move to Dormitories

Upkeep: Gain 1 Resource (4 Resources). Draw: Emergency Cache

Thoughts:

The math seemed slightly daunting, but my deck has a lot of icons so on that basis I decided that one parley action with commited would yield better results than two parley actions.

Turn 6:

Mythos: Doom +1 (5 in play). Draw: Visions of Futures Past (draw '1-' fail by 3). Discard: Roland's .38 Special, Preposterous Sketches and Machete.

1. Investigate (draw '' failed by 1).
2. Investigate (draw '+1' succeed by 4) Remove 1 clue from Cover Up (1 Clue remaining)
3. Investigate (draw '-1' succeed by 2) Remove 1 clue from Cover Up (0 Clues remaining). Discard Cover Up

Upkeep: Gain 1 Resource (5 Resources). Draw: Laboratory Assistant

Turn 7:

Mythos: Doom +1 (6 in play). Draw: Locked Door

1. Play Beat Cop (1 Resource)
2. Locked Door (draw '' succeed by 0). Discard Locked Door
3. Investigate (draw '-1' succeed by 2) Gain 1 clue (1 Clue)

Upkeep: Gain 1 Resource (2 Resources). Draw: Dr. Francis Morgan

Thoughts:

The icon for breaking down the door on Locked Door is incorrect, it should be a icon.

I was slightly worried about the pace of events, but I did not deviate from the plan I had mentally sketched out around turn 4. In retrospect, I believe this was the biggest mistake I made in this scenario. I should have reevaluated my chances at completing both of my 'goals' during turns 5 through 7. Had I done so I could have abandoned one and focused on the other. By not reconsidering I inadvertently ended up choosing to rescue the students by default instead of by design.

Turn 8:

Mythos: Doom +1 (7 in play) Agenda advances. (1 horror on "Jazz" Mulligan) (1 horror). The Experiment moves to Science Building. Draw: Thrall

1. .45 Automatic (1 ammo) (draw '-1' succeed by 3) 2 damage to Thrall (2 damage). Thrall dies. Gain 1 clue (2 Clues)
2. Investigate (draw '' fail by 1)
3. investigate (draw '-2' succeed by 1). Gain 1 clue (3 Clues).

Upkeep: Gain 1 Resource (3 Resources). Draw: Working a Hunch

Thoughts:

At the end of turn 7 I was convinced that even though it might be theoretically possible to kill The Experiment it was not a realistic option. I decided to try to stall for as long as I deemed safe in order to find another Yithian Observer and at the last second save the students.

Turn 9:

Mythos: Doom +1 (1 in play). Draw: Offer of Power. Draw 2: (Haunted, Art Student). Doom +2 (3 in play). Agenday advances. The Experiment moves to Miskatonic Quad

1. Resign!

Thoughts:

I could possibly have kept going for 1 more turn, but the chance of drawing another Offer of Power made me resign.
In most cases I would have been satisfied with 3 victory points and 0 trauma, but I felt a bit dissapointed considering how well the initial turns had gone. Also I wished I would have switched gears earlier and focused on killing The Experiment instead.
As for the deck I have some reservations. I feel it is still too early to tell whether or not I will end up appreciating the heavy focus on allies but I believe that I have invested in the engine behind it prematurely. I simply do not have the resources to make Charisma and Calling in Favors useful yet. Similarly I have not found the card draw of Laboratory Assistant and Preosterous Sketches particularly needed but then again, the encounter decks over the past 2 scenarios have left me relatively unscathed and I think I will appreciate having the card draw if I find myself in a situation without a weapon or something similarly vital.

Resolution:

professor warren rice was kidnapped. the students were rescued.
3 victory points (Orne Library, Yithian Observer, Dormitories)

Interlude 1:

The investigators rescued Dr. Henry Armitage *added to deck.

To be continued ...