Review
By far the greatest horror board game ever - Arkham Horror the Board Game is intelligent, beautifully designed and is generally in most board gamers top games list of all time. Prepare for the horror board game review to end all disputes - Arkham Horror is the ing of the underworld, hands down.
You will lose mortal
Seriously though, you will lose - a lot. Perhaps more than you will actually win. This game is hard and it has been designed to be just so. But we shouldn't get so caught up in winning anyway, should we? It's only a bit of fun? Hmmmmmm...
Don't get me wrong many have mastered this game but not within their first couple of games that's for sure, unless they are secretly akin to the Ancient Ones themselves. So the bottom line of this game is practise makes perfect. If any board game is worth the time and effort it's this one.
The Lovecraftian World of Cthulhu
You have perhaps already noticed there is a large gathering of people who are huge fans of everything Cthulhu - H.P. Lovecraft's work is now legend, but even if you're fairly new to all this you'll soon be fully immersed in Arkham Horror's dark and imaginative world. Your characters include an eclectic group of historians, wiseguys, hookers, librarians, drunks - who all share one common cause: "to save the goddamn world seeeee?" Everyone else in town may not have the stomach to stand up to the worst thing since Big Brother, things like winged demons, possessed zealots, taxmen, okay no taxmen, but these likely and some very unlikely heroes laugh in the face of evil and drink hard liquor to settle the nerves when thinks get a little hairy. Booze is also great for hiding the smell of urine...
Monsters, lots of monsters
You never know what will pop of the next portal, as each turn monsters will be randomly taken from a cup, skull or pumpkin (why not be creative with the container?) and placed on the board. Get yourself some guns, occult books, etc to blast those malevolent beasts back to the unknown or sneak, cower and run like any smart academic would do! Bravery is for the dumb in this town, how many times must they punish you to get the message across, puny mortal!
Arkham Horror Terror Track
My favourite bit about this game is how tension increases gradually over the course of the game. After each round there will be an event, normally involving some sort of horrific incident meaning the towns people become more and more paranoid each time the 'Terror Track' is increased until they are quite literally scared sh*tless! People going missing, strange sightings, cultists growing numbers - it's enough to make you lose your marbles, or your bottle. But not this bunch of floosies, gangsters, and bums - these guys n gals aint scared o' nuthin' I tells ya! "Lemme at em, lemme at em!"...
Depth, Depth, Depth
Arkham Horror is most definitely not a quick, simple board game - you're in it for the long haul. Like the many areas of the board game, there are many elements to keep you engrossed. The result - pure depth of gameplay, once you begin playing you want to be disturbed, and don't be surprised to find yourself playing on into the night (this is quite cool as it adds to the spooky ambience).
To be played around Halloween only?
No way, but this is the quintessential game for the Halloween season. What could be better than getting your mates round, watching a horror flick then breaking out the most highly recommended horror board game of all time? Not much I say. Or you could go the cinema on the 31st of October and have the shuffling fool behind you kick your seat every time a good scene comes up... it's up to you really. Taxi!
Stylish and elegant
Fantasy Flight got it right with this game (they normally do), the artwork is excellent and the overall feel for the game is very well fitted to a boot-legging, monster-ridden town of the roaring '20s. Authentic, high quality eye-candy is what we want and boy do we get it.
Arkham's Conclusion
No better game for the Halloween season. Fact. There's so much much more to talk about really but I hope you can see from the points above that Arkham Horror the Board Game is the Horror Board Game. Fact. Like all the best board games there are enough expansions out there to keep the game fresh until you're well into your 90s "...aye you don't what a board game is 'til you've played Arkham Horror wee lad..." You'll want to play it more than once, you may even get hooked, so get your mates round, get a scary film on in the background, keep the lights low and have fun going to the bathroom on your own...
If you have already played Arkham Horror and want a new experience you may also want to try the Witches of Salem, A Touch of Evil and Betrayal at the House on the Hill board games. And don't forget Call of Cthulhu the Living Card Game.
by David 07/10/2010
