cbax44 said:

Or when you want to go for Join the Winning Team . Solo is also faster. Last game with my friend took about 2.5h, my solo (4 investigators) games with IH are averaging well below 2h.

Very doable. I have played it with 3 investigators every time, got my ass handed to me but that's besides the point. Playing alone streamlines everything so good. I think I actually prefer this now. One thing I did notice is that you might as well ditch one expansion board since you'll never get there. When playing with 3 investigators, you need to focus on the main board. I ditched Kingsport but you might as well ditch Dunwich, although at least something happened there. You might want to pull out all the cards not relating to the expansion you removed, but that's personal. Me, I just draw another card after putting the one with the irrelevant stuff on the bottom. Saves hassle when changing back to 4 players wanting to play many expansions.

I play this 1 player, 1 investigator. I don't win much ... but very rarely, and with good playing I manage the odd one.

The only problem is, when I do play with 3-5 players, I find myself teeth grinding as I wait during all the decision making from my less experienced playmates.

Fabs said:

I have a bit of this problem too.  I find that the best way of dealing with it is trying to pick people who will have some commitment to the game (that way you don't just spend time training them for nothing).  Also, hopefully you're playing with people you like ;') that way you won't hate them when they make you lose.

I just played my first game of AH solo the other night to learn the rules and I personally can't see how you can win with one character. Resources dwindle too quickly and gates and monsters jsut seem to pop up too fast, especially when it takes you three turns to close a single gate! In that time, you can find another three gates and monsters added to the board!

I think the next one I play will be with multiple characters so one guy isn't running all over the place to close the things without a chance of regaining his stamina and sanity.

Looking forward to a multiplayer game...

Luther said:

It sounds like you are playing just the base game.

You can win, in some cases quite easily, with one investigator by final combat except against Azathoth.  But it is very difficult to seal the Old One with just one investigator.

Once you get a few seals down, if you do, then there's a good chance that future gate openings will "bounce" off the sealings.  Many players use 3 or 4 investigators which gives you a pretty good chance to seal the Old One in most cases.

Multi-player games are best!

I have to agree that for solo games, 2-3 investigators is preferrable. Perhaps play with one investigator if it's your first game or are still learning... IF you have the option, it's a good way to get up to speed before tackling a multi-player game. I play solo games when I don't seem to be able to put a group together. I love this game either way!

I played solo several times.  I never used just one investigator however because I thought it was tough enough using 2.  Using 3 and 4 investigators is managable, you generally have enough material to get gates closed,  it can either be a short or long game I discovered.  The advantage with playing solo is that you have your own plan for all characters you control so there is no debate, the tranistion from character to character is seamless and  it actually plays for a more advantagous game for a single player I feel.  The disavantage however is that you do not have that social interaction that makes the game more fun and comical.  I would prefer the latter, I would rather have fun with a group then play the game by myself :)

This game can be incredibly fun when played single player.  One variant that I will include is having the investigators that i play move in small groups.  They get to fight monsters like mini ancient one battles, and split up for encounters exploring larger areas and allowing for multiple encounters at locations you may only see once in a game.  It even seems to tell a more cohesive story this way.  definately full of house rules though.  Like for movement, the group can only move as far as the slowest person.  And certain encounters require rulings on the fly.

I would recommend it more for learning new item and spell combos, or trying out new house rules more than i would for learning the game though.  It's been my personal experience that when learning a new game it is best to have more than one perspective, as different interpretations of the rules are sure to arise.  I like to get all that nailed down early.

If i intend to play this game solo, with 1-2 investigators, what expensions will add value to my game ?

(I believe that some expansions are ment for a bigger crowed and not just 1 player)

Well I used to play AH solo, when I first opened the game. I decided to do this to learn rules and game mechanics, after I read all the rulebook. And it went very well. Ofcourse, I lost the game but still got a lot of fun. SO, playing single is not that boring at all. If you just got the game and want to understand all rules and mechanics - go solo! It will do the job.

I play solo sometimes now too, just for fun. Though I'm happiest AH owner in the world, since I always have 3-5 commited friends available to play with me, we all love board games and we all just LOVE Arkham Horror. I don't even play pc or texas holdem poker now - we mostly spend our time together solving Akrham City problems.

Wish ya all the same!

After buying the game boxing day I just finished the game for the first time as a solo player/1 investigator to learn the rules and it went okay ( I don't think I messed up anything too badly - I should have added a couple of Doom tokens when LiTaS but it didn't have any real impact). I came close to sealing 6 gates (4 with one LITAS while in an Other World and one where I needed 3 clue tokens to seal when I went in but back to 5 tokens by the time I got out and I was short).  I also came close to winning on turn 3 from no open gates (a monster surge on the first turn while I was through a gate). If I read this correctly it's possible to do this with one character if you get 2 surges, correct - only one open gate closed on turn 3. Not likely but possible.

Defeated Yig in solo combat with Mandy (fortunately I had a lot of clue tokens left and got pretty lucky with her reroll ability).

I will say that with 1 character, terror goes up fast due to outskirts limits.

I am looking forward to playing with multiple investigators (and even other people!) but it was fun solo too.

I like solo games very much. They are quite fast .  I can't imagine sealing 6 gates in 1 investigator game. I think the conditions of winning by sealing should be proportional. For 1 investigator - 3 sealed gates to win, for 2 investigators - 4 sealed gates and for 3 inv. - 5 sealed.

When I play solo I prepare to combat form the beginning of the game (in my opion, I haven't got an option). Expansions in solo (1 inv.) game are deadly, so, to balance game I prefer main board without expansion (but I add skills, items, spells from the expansions). I also add Hypnos to help my poor investigator. My best game was with Quachill U. - a race between collecting clue's and escaping from deadly dust deck, very fun. I won in final battle. Also I had a very fun game with Tsathoggua - only 2 additional successes were needed to win in final combat by Mark Harrigan - I lost, but game was very exciting.

This is the reason why I signed up to these boards (and question about other games). I wanted to know how this game played solo and after reading this thread I will be getting it. Also, after reading, it would make a lot of sense to play solo and grasp the rules and than go play with some of  the 'expert' AH players at my old shop.

Thanks. I'll tell you how my solo experiences are.

Sigismond said:

One investigators three seals...  That sounds like a very good variant.  How smoothly does it work?