I was hoping to ask those more familiar with the game…  how in hell do you succeed?

I've never played the board game, but I'm a big fan of FFG. I've checked all the tutorials but after my eighth attempt I still can't seem to win a single game. I notice the app got high ratings and I've been a huge fan of Lovecraft for many years so I really want to like this game, but so far it's given me nothing but grief.

Are there any tactics anyone could share or is it purely down to dumb luck?

Any advice would be most welcome.

I would recommend going solo with Jenny.  She has a great ability to get both the yellow and red dice.  Start with the Yig campaign as he is easier than the other elder ones and once you win your confidence will skyrocket.  Here are some points to get you started.

Start slow, try a few easier adventures to get a few trophies under your belt and get a few items in your inventory to tackle some of the harder adventures.

Always calculate your chances of success.  If it looks like a long shot and you might die or go insane if you fail, don`t do it. 

Clue items are amazing.  They will enable you to re-rolll dice.  Having a good stock of 3 or 4 clues can help you tackle most problems.

Remember to focus when you fail and adventure.  That is an instant spell lock ability.

Check out my thread about beating the Chthulhu adventure.  If you can beat him you can do anything…except maybe beat Ithaqua which I am still learning how to do.

peterstepon said:

Oo-er missus…    All jokes aside though, thanks for the advice! I'll try it tonight when I get in from work. So by this reckoning would it be safe to say that it's more difficult if you choose more investigators?

I was actually playing the Yig difficulty, and I still couldn't beat his slimey, other-worldly buttocks. But, I'll take your good advice and let you know if I have any joy.

Thanks again!!

 No, it's no good. I must either be really crap or the unluckiest man alive. Seven games later and I didn't even come close. Think I'll just quit while I'm…  erm…  behind.

Well, I was about to write up some advice but then I found this which gave almost all my advice; boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/5247/what-are-some-good-strategies-for-elder-sign-omens

I would just add "Count the number of glyphs required to complete an adventure (across all tasks) if it is 5+ make sure you have some items that add dice."

Finally! After 18 attempts!! I beat the damn game :D

Mind you it was really close, Yig only needing one more Doom result to steal victory from my grasp.

Thanks for all the advice, it was very helpful and much appreciated.

I have the app for Android and I have won against every single Ancient One Multiple times. I almost always win against Yig, Tsathoggua and Cthulhu. I used to almost always win against Azathoth, but I think a recent patch has made that adventure much more difficult. I haven't played Ithaqua enough to know how I stack up against it yet. until Here is the strategy I use (and some reiteration and rebuffing of what others have written):

Some investigators are worse than others. If you want a more challenging game, you could go with the less useful investigators, but it looks like most people don't need this game to be any more difficult.

• Jenny Barnes: My go to investigator. For my style of play, there is absolutely no better character than Barnes. If you play her right and stay ahead of the curve (staying ahead of the curve is the most important part of my strategy, more on that below), Barnes will face every room with both the Red and the Yellow glyphs. She can use her ability every turn: this is a key point for picking investigators, some cool abilities from other investigators turn out to be not particularly useful.
• Joe Diamond: Although rerolls have been lauded as the key to winning, I think they are secondary to having the red and yellow glyphs. Nonetheless, they are still incredibly good and Diamond gives you the ability to reroll a reroll, which nearly doubles your rerolls (you won't use his ability every time)
• I usually use Wilson Richards (from the Cthulhu DLC) and Monterey Jack as the other two investigators, although I play around with the other characters. Richards ability to manipulate the yellow glyph is incredible, you just need to make sure that he always has a common item glyph. Jack gets you tons of unique items, which give you red glyphs, so hopefully you can roll a red glyph every time he enters a room.

My strategy is very aggressive and based upon staying ahead of the curve: the first turn I take with each investigator is pivotal. Like other Lovecraftian games, the odds looked stacked against you: doom tokens seem to multiply only slightly less eagerly than monsters, terror effects pile up, glyphs lock, stamina and sanity drop precipitously. A defensive strategy seems like putting a bandaid on a lost limb, so I go after items like a veteran D&D player. Jenny can turn any item into the 2 glyphs except unique items and she is the most powerful starting out, so I can send her after nearly any items. Joe goes after reroll tokens (the footprint), while Wilson goes after yellow glyphs and Monterey after unique items.

By careful selection of rooms based on their rewards, challenges and prices for failure, and even more careful use of the investigators' abilities and starting items, I should end up with more and/or better items than I began with. I don't worry about picking up Elder Signs too much in the first turn or two of the game. The idea is to get enough items that you can use one or two of them on each investigators' turn, every time. Even if I get behind on the doom track, I can make it up later if I am swimming in items and the endgame usually has at least a couple rooms with two or more Elder Signs.

I try not to use more items than I will gain from a room, unless I am getting multiple Elder Signs. With this strategy,. running out of items is more deadly than taking a hit to health or sanity or (sometimes) failing an adventure. This changes in the endgame. When I am near completion, I can blow the rest of my items getting double or triple Elder Signs from the last rooms.

I don't buy items unless a character's inventory is empty. It's a waste of a turn (the doom clock is ticking) and gold. If you save your gold for the endgame, you can buy the last few Elder Signs you need (cost is 10 gold unless you are playing against Tsathoggua). An investigator with 10 gold or above is a virtual guarantee of an Elder Sign.

I know I wrote that I focus on offense and that defense isn't particularly useful, but that changes with locked glyphs and midnight effects. Get rid of these as soon as you can. Locked glyphs are crippling, nothing will kill your offense faster than losing a die (or more). Use the right investigator to clear out monsters or rooms that lock glyphs: Jenny is great when a green glyph is locked, since she can still use the yellow and red, but you may want to consider another investigator if one or both of the special glyphs are locked.

A few last words: The advice on not hoarding items is sound. Yes, you want a lot of items, but that is so you can use them on every turn. Use the items you have to get more items which in turn you will use to get Elder Signs. Pick investigators who can use their power frequently, preferably at least once every turn. A few monsters aren't that bad (it can sometimes make the game easier if the monster is weaker than the task it replaced, as other posters have pointed out), but once they pile up they can start to make it impossible to clear rooms. Try to keep you monster count no higher than three.

Good luck and I hope this helps!

When I bought this app I wasn't surprised how difficult the game tends to be (since I have also played Arkham  Horror). Even when I lose,  as long as I don't get completely destroyed, I have a great time every game. 

WinterInferno23 said:

Yeah me too, I have an absolute blast every time I play regardless of outcome. I have become much better at this once I stopped to think about investigator choice and their abilities. This is what I like about this game, at first I thought it was just luck-based dice rolls, but there's a lot of strategy to it.

I'm seriously considering picking up the actual boardgame now. Would anyone advise against this if they've played the App and physical game?

Mejis said:

Go for it. I did the same and I like it.

The boardgame has easier events (not that much doom+X events, or they are in the vein of "investigators as a group must sacrifice X or gain a doom token"), there are allies in game (same as in Arkham Horror) and the game is only in the Arkham Museum, so no Pacific or Alaska as in ES:O.

Also there are less investigators and every item in game is only in one exemplar - so you won't have two Rubies of R'lyeh as you can have in ES:O, for example.

peterstepon said:

What does this mean? Thanks!

ziggy2000 said:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but focus is when you go to discard a glyph you'll see an investigator icon appear to the right side of the screen (there can actually be multiple investigator icons there if you have had different investigators attempt the same location previously). You can then drag a glyph there (before you roll new glyphs) and it will remain locked on that symbol.

It's just a way of locking a glyph result.

Hope that makes sense. It's really useful. Give it a go during the middle of a puzzle to see it in action.

klaymen_sk said:

Thanks Klaymen, I think I'll be buying the boardgame then :)

Mejis said:

I see, but you cannot do that when you fail an adventure - only when you fail a task within an adventure. The wording used was confusing.

ziggy2000 said:

You can use it right at the end as your last glyph discard, or you can use it midway at any point. 

Mejis said:

Yes, but you cannot use it when you "fail an adventure". Once that happens, you're done and it moves to the next investigator.