arkham horror the card game release date 401 Games Canada - Arkham Horror: The Card Game

arkham horror the card game release date 401 Games Canada - Arkham Horror: The Card GameStrange disappearances haunt the city of Arkham, Massachusetts. With each object, building, or person that vanishes, they are erased not just from physical existence, but from history and memory as well. Only a select few investigators remember those that vanishedor so they believe. Before long, the mystery unravels into an international conspiracy, and our wary investigators find themselves recruited by a shadowy government agency whose sole purpose

Strange disappearances haunt the city of Arkham, Massachusetts. With each object, building, or person that vanishes, they are erased not just from physical existence, but from history and memory as well. Only a select few investigators remember those that vanished—or so they believe. Before long, the mystery unravels into an international conspiracy, and our wary investigators find themselves recruited by a shadowy government agency whose sole purpose is the collection and research of paradimensional implements they call “Keys.” However, they aren’t the only ones searching for them…

This pair of separate-but-related expansions take the game around the world, and we mean that literally! Six new investigators from The Scarlet Keys Investigator Expansion embark on a globetrotting adventure in The Scarlet Keys Campaign Expansion. Just like with Edge of the Earth, you will find only player cards in the Investigator Expansion and only scenario cards within the Campaign Expansion. Whether you want one expansion or both, the world of Arkham Horror just got bigger!

New Faces, New Places

To kick things off, The Scarlet Keys Investigator Expansion brings a massive spread of new player cards to the game, including six (that’s right, six) new investigators!

First off is Carson Sinclair (The Scarlet Keys Investigator Expansion, 1). As a skilled butler of the Webb family, Carson comes to Arkham LCG as a Guardian investigator specializing in support. All of his abilities are geared toward helping other investigators, from his innate ability to give other investigators additional actions to his signature asset, "As you wish" (The Scarlet Keys IE, 2), which gives other investigators a boost during a skill test. With such a focus on others, you could say that Carson is Selfless to a Fault (The Scarlet Keys IE, 3).

That said, Carson can do more than just support. As a Guardian, he can include cards like Hunter's Armor (The Scarlet Keys IE, 21) and Runic Axe (The Scarlet Keys IE, 22) in his deck. These cards have the new “customizable” keyword, allowing you to spend experience to grant them increased stats, reduced cost, or entirely new abilities. For example, the Hunter's Armor can be “Enchanted” so that it takes up an arcane slot instead of a body slot, while the Runic Axe can be given additional properties depending on what inscriptions are engraved on its haft. With the axe in hand, Carson can inflict a Grievous Wound (The Scarlet Keys IE, 27) on an enemy, dealing steady damage to it over time. When the need arises, Carson can continue his supportive theme with a Helping Hand (The Scarlet Keys IE, 31), ensuring that he or another investigator passes a skill test in a crucial moment.

Joining Carson in the struggle against the Mythos is Amina Zidane (The Scarlet Keys IE, 11). While working as an operator for the Miskatonic Valley Telephone Company, Amina caught snippets of strange, eldritch words and other oddities between phone calls. As she sought answers, she eventually found the right extension, connected to the line, and listened in. While she didn’t understand a word of the alien language on the other side, she could tell those words held real power.

A brand-new character to the Arkham Horror Files universe, Amina arrives as a Mystic investigator whose playstyle revolves around doom. Her innate ability allows her to reduce an asset’s resource cost in exchange for placing doom on it when it enters play. This synergizes well with one of her signature event cards, Word of Weal (The Scarlet Keys IE, 13), which can give her a significant power-up during an important skill test. Her other signature event, Word of Woe (The Scarlet Keys IE, 12), lets her use an asset’s action ability while ignoring all costs (including the action itself, exhausting the card, spending a charge, etc.) in exchange for a bit more doom. If you feel like you’re dooming your assets a little too much, then Amina’s elder sign ability can transfer that doom to an enemy you’re about to defeat. Just be wary of encountering Deafening Silence (The Scarlet Keys IE, 14) before you have a chance to do so!

As a Mystic, Amina can pack some potent magical punch with cards like Summoned Servitor (The Scarlet Keys IE, 80) and Power Word (The Scarlet Keys IE, 81) in her deck. Summoned Servitor calls on an eldritch servant that can move on its own, and upgrading it can grant it the ability to take damage for investigators, attack enemies, or more. Meanwhile, Power Word can curse an enemy to force it to obey your commands, and you can upgrade it to expand that list of commands. Amina’s balanced stat spread and innate abilities can let her get lots of use from cards like Ceremonial Sickle (The Scarlet Keys IE, 82) and Dowsing Rod (The Scarlet Keys IE, 83), which have their own methods of adding/removing doom from themselves. Clearly, this operator is not to be trifled with!

As we mentioned earlier, the Investigator Expansion comes with six investigators instead of the usual five. Among those six is the game’s second-ever Neutral investigator, Charlie Kane (The Scarlet Keys IE, 18). This politician’s playstyle is all about allies; while his own skill levels are low, Charlie can use the skill icons of his ally assets to help him pass a test, and he can have up to 4 allies in play at a time. With indispensable allies like Bonnie Walsh (The Scarlet Keys IE, 19) at his side and a Motivational Speech (The Scarlet Keys IE, 28) or two to get more allies into play, this is one politician that is sure to get things done. That said, Charlie will have to take his job seriously, because the Burden of Leadership (The Scarlet Keys IE, 20) will always loom over his shoulder.

Around the World

Whether or not you decide to pick up the Investigator Expansion, you can still look forward to a thrilling new adventure in The Scarlet Keys Campaign Expansion.

The tale of The Scarlet Keys begins in Arkham with a spread of mysterious disappearances. As objects, animals, and people vanish, so too do they disappear from the memory of those left behind. Only you and your fellow investigators remember them—or so you thought. When an enigmatic letter arrives, its author claiming to also remember those who disappeared, it marks the beginning of an epic journey that will take you across the globe and under the scrutinous eye of the mysterious and deadly Red Coterie.

When we say “across the globe,” we mean that literally. The Scarlet Keys Campaign Expansion introduces the game’s very first completely non-linear campaign. After the prologue concludes, you and your party choose where to go next, and wherever you go determines what scenario you play. This means that, with the exception of the prologue and the finale (which always occur first and last, respectively), all of the scenarios in this campaign can be experienced in any order. However, you may not experience all of them in a single playthrough, since one of the greatest threats in the campaign isn’t the Mythos: it’s time.

After all, it takes a while to travel around the world, and there are mysterious organizations at work in the shadows every step of the way. The longer you take to unravel the mystery of the disappearances and the titular Scarlet Keys, the more time those organizations have to advance their shadowy agendas. When you reach the finale—either through time running out or through your own efforts—your choices, actions, and the places you visited throughout the whole campaign will come to a head in a truly epic conclusion.

As for what sort of things you’ll be doing in your globetrotting adventure, we’ll go over that in a livestream closer to the expansion’s release, so stay tuned!

The Secret War

There has never been a campaign for Arkham Horror: The Card Game of this scale and this scope, and only you and your fellow investigators can travel the globe and unravel the mysteries of the Scarlet Keys before it is too late. Set off on this grand adventure when The Scarlet Keys Investigator Expansion and The Scarlet Keys Campaign Expansion both release this fall!