Handcuffs

An unusual card for ', but not a bad one. One important detail to remember that you can engage the just-evaded enemy and drag them with you (they won't hit you, because they are exhausted).

This suddenly means that Roland Banks and William Yorick are interested in this card: both have effects that trigger when they defeat an enemy. While this is most certainly a case of police brutality, it opens up interesting lines of play.

Roland can drag an enemy onto a high-shroud location to trigger his own and cards like Evidence! and Scene of the Crime. Yorick can use his own to keep replaying this, moving it from enemy to enemy.

The biggest drawback is that this card needs humanoid enemies to work. Sadly, neither of the above investigators can take Adaptable.

Veronica212 · 300
Oops!

A great card, fairly costed in both resources and XP. This card gives a little glimpse of what the 0xp Oops! should have been, it was just missing that clause about friendly investigators.

The expanded failure range and "any enemy" clause in the text is what makes the card worth 2xp. No longer requiring 2+ foes at a single spot is a terrific enhancement, worth the 1xp. The expanded failure range means that you can attack a 3- foe and "automatically succeed", this is definitely worth the other point of XP since there is indeed a lot of 3 fight foes, bosses even.

The only disadvantage to Oops! compared to "Look what I found!" is the net benefit. "Look what I found!" turns an attempt to find just a single clue into twice as many clues obtained, Oops! nets you the 1-to-1 damage ratio of whatever you attacked with, so Oops!'s benefit becomes greater, the greater the base attack is. I'dd say to go and try it out with an Ornate Bow as Wendy Adams, or an Old Hunting Rifle as William Yorick, you will probably be pleased.

Tsuruki23 · 2571
Think on Your Feet

Absolute freedom to run away from danger, anything spawning, walking at you, even being spawned from your own deck, you've got a 0-cost trick up your sleeve to just, walk away, at not resource cost.

I always liked Think on Your Feet, this version just supercharges the strength of the original and adds an icon on top to fuel some archery or evasion. The strategy options are useful, duck a foe without spending actions, net a bonus move to faster get to a location, evade a threat while you aren't equipped to deal with it. The card is stronger in a larger scenario or a particularly small one, where the limited or expansive space is supposed to be a challenge to navigate. The added maneuvering speed is good, especially if you have lots of actions already via Leo De Luca, you can distance yourself from a hunter or focus on those clues or equip that weapon you need to kill the thing you just got away from.

The specific advantage to the upgrade over the basic version is the ability to now automatically duck from enemies who are moving. Say a hunter is sitting on a location with clues, or some kind of boss is getting in the way, suddenly their movement becomes an opportunity for you to get at the locations they occupied quickly, a switcheroo!!

Whatever the specific use you'll find for it, Think on Your Feet will probably not disappoint, but keep in mind that there is an art to when and when NOT to use it. Save it for a moment where the movement and/or escape is guaranteed to be useful, not before.

Tsuruki23 · 2571
Preposterous Sketches

Very nice!

This card is dreadfully simple and ever so effective at what it does, and does it well. You hunt clues, in between grabbing clues you fill your hand, meet the prerequisite on Higher Education and save your hard earned Dr. Milan Christopher resources for the exclusive use of Higher Education boosts.

If you manage to hit 7xp from your first scenario or two, 2xPreposterous Sketches and Higher Education is a perfectly worthwhile investment for a character.

There aren't many partial characters yet, but the one that does exist, Roland Banks, is DEFINITELY going to want this card in his deck at some point.

Tsuruki23 · 2571
Bandolier

The upgraded Bandolier is a pretty nice card, the old version suffered from having a high cost for a minuscule bonus that doesn't actually contribute to winning a scenario but rather enables some very specific deck-tech. Spending 2 resources and an action to -allow- yourself to spend further actions and resources to deploy MORE assets, is'nt particularly useful, especially since 2 resources is quite a lot, considering that the assets filling your hand slots typically cost 2-6 resources themselves.

Bandolier's saving grace is the boost, it's exactly the kind of thing a combat character really needs. Whether you're Roland Banks or "Skids" O'Toole the boost helps combat horror treacheries like Rotting Remains and nasty stuff like Crypt Chill or Frozen in Fear. The additional hand slot is also surprisingly useful, suddently your fully setup hand plan might look something like this: Lightning Gun + 2xMagnifying Glass, Chicago Typewriter + Switchblade + Lockpicks, Shotgun + Switchblade + Flashlight, Old Hunting Rifle + Machete + Flashlight. The extra hand slot also makes deploying the whole build easier since there wont be any cases where you deploy backup weapons and gotta discard one when a 2-handed weapon comes into play, and more usefully, you can deploy two two-handed weapons simultaneously. I found the ability to get both my copies of a main weapon into play simultaneously just as useful as opening space for backups and/or clue-tools, not to mention the deckbuilding freedom that opens up when you can put 3 or 4 2-handers in a deck and not be redundant.

This upgrade doesn't get around Bandoliers core issue, an added cost and time investment to net benefits that don't serve to progress the scenario but are purely defensive or utilitarian. However, the static defense is certainly potent, the deckbuilding impact and increase to combat efficiency can really smooth out a babysitter or allow a focused fighter to contribute clues.

Frankly, I still think the card lacks an active role in beating a scenario, and 2xp (multiplied to 4 for the set, which is absolutely required) is a lot to ask when the plan is to get a bunch of high level weapons, but perhaps if your main concerns at that point are your ability to withstand horror then the Bandolier is your ideal next step. Personally, I think it could have done with an extra pip.

Tsuruki23 · 2571
Being able to wield both the Ornate Bow _and_ Lockpicks seems really solid for solo Skids, especially if he is planning on evading most things. — Zinjanthropus · 230
I assume you could equip both copies of boxing gloves, and therefore get a double stat boost and trigger both cards? Don’t see why not. — Vonwoz · 1
I'm playing Joe Diamond, so the amount of slots I can have in play gets pretty nutty with this card. It feels good to have my 1911s, two magnifying glasses, a spare cleaning kit, plus some old dream diary I found. — Jim_Bob · 17