"Which Would You Recommend, Arkham or Eldritch Horror?" Topic

The title probably explains itself. I mean, of course, the board games by Fantasy Flight Games.

Going by Amazon reviews alone, it sounds as though EH is a later incarnation, simpler (with shorter play time), more streamlined and the possibility to play solo. If true, these points would probably sell it for me. But I just thought I'd check.

Also, do any of you play either of these games with minis? Painted by yourself? Do you find it adds to the game? This is a project that has tempted me for a long while: it would be the chance to paint up some investigators, creepy-crawlies, and yet remain relatively focused – less open-ended than most wargaming projects.

Thank you for any help!

Disclosure: This query is inspired by a post currently on LAF.

I have not played Eldritch Horror. Arkham is a good game especially when at least a couple people know how to play already. It does have a fairly long set up time, takes up a good deal of space and can be pretty long.

I'm anxious to try EH since I think it would be a better match for my personal tastes in game length and complexity.

I own both and both can be played solo easily.

Opposite of Rodrick C, here. Never played Arkham, too many horror stories (pun not intended), but have played Eldritch and quite enjoyed it!

That's helpful, gents, thank you. Sounds like Eldritch Horror is the way to go.

If anyone has tried one of the supplements, I'd love to hear what you thought of it. Project juices are bubbling…

The origianl Arkham Horror ( Cthulhu Candyland )

I prefer eldritch. i had both, but got rid of Arkham. it was fun, but eldritch has some nice new mechanics, and it makes more sense to me to have mythos threats popping up all over the globe, rather than all sorts of random monsters running around Arkham all the time.

as for expansions, i own the mountains of madness one, and like it alot. it has different ways to incorporate into the base game. so it can either just a set of new locals for events to pop up in, or it can be the focus of the game.

the smaller card based expansions seem worth while, since they add new cards to the mythos threats that come with the base game.

Re painting minis for these games, it would be cool, but you'd have to buy an awful lot of minis to make a complete set. I play Pulp Alley, so could easily come up with some investigator figures and some appropriate monsters, but it would be tedious and expensive to get and paint everything.
The Mansions of Madness game has plastic minis, many of which work with these games.

When I first played Eldritch Horror, I knew that my copy of Arkham Horror would never again hit the table.

Thank you all!

Whemever: point taken. Maybe it's impractical. I just want an excuse to paint up a bunch of the monsters and have a game to use them in. Might have to re-think this.

Chick: that's all I need to know!

Very appreciative for all the input.

I own both with expansions and love them both for different reasons. Two weeks ago I played a 3 player game of EH and had a blast. I don't use miniatures. I find it's easier to spot who is who using the portrait standies.

A common knock on AH is the randomness. We always use the scenarios that you can download from FFG's website. They are the key to playing the base AH game. Ironically no one complains about the same monster randomness in EH, I guess because EH is the world?

If you get EH, I suggest getting one of the small expansions asap because you will want more variety in the cards pretty quickly.

I have both and enjoy both. EH is a cleaner and quicker play but still retains the flavor and feel of Lovecraft's work.

Eldritch Horror for me.

It is faster to play than AH.

Well, there's definitely a consensus. Thank you!

One more question (still stewing on painting the figures): I see that EH involves a good deal of globe-trotting. Do the investigators meet different creatures of the mythos in various locales? Are there creatures tokens in the game (that could be replaced by lead figures)?

Also, certainly not expecting a comprehensive list, but can anyone tell me what beings figure in the game? Is it pretty much everything? Are there Mi-Go, Deep Ones, Sand Dwellers, Snake Men, Ghouls, Dimensional Shamblers, Shoggoths…etc.? Shopping fingers are quivering, you see.

I appreciate the responses!

"Are there Mi-Go, Deep Ones, Sand Dwellers, Snake Men, Ghouls, Dimensional Shamblers, Shoggoths…etc.?"

I haven't seen any Sand Dwellers, but all the rest, Yes !! Check out FFG's pre-painted "premium" monster figures which can be used for Arkham Horror, Eldritch Horror, Mansions of Madness, etc.

link

65 different monsters, bad guys, and eldritch gods.

Im curious as well. I have AH and all the expansions and love the game. Playing it is a challenge granted but gives a sort of epic feel to it – play area covering an entire dining room table, hundreds of bits and pieces everywhere etc. Should I even try EH? Is it that different ie. better?

Well, I didn't like how a monster could block you for a few turns, so that was taken care of in EH.

EH's Forgotten Lore is a must, since the base game doesn't have enough generic encounters for repeated play. Mountains of Madness is a pass, since you don't use the big board outside of one of the Ancient Ones. Dreamlands was criticized for not having as much content compared to other big boxes. See BGG for comparisons.

FFG AH prepainted miniatures aren't as good as competitors. They're OOP, so hard to get a complete set, which isn't enough for AH or EH (missing a few sculpts for AH).

7.7 rating for EH and 7.2 or so for AH. Both good scores for a board game. Guess it what type of game do you prefer overall. I dontvthink you could go wrong either way. According to the comments here and the overall rating EH is the game to start with.

I own Arkham Horror and all the expansions, both board and card. I love the game. All the expansions add something unique and cool to the experience. I guess you could play with all at once, but you'd probably never get anything done. I limit myself to one card and one board expansion per game.
I haven't played Eldritch Horror. I figured why buy in when I have everything already for AH?
I played regularly with the same group of guys and we all learned the rules fairly quickly.
There is a long setup time for sure. I never played with miniatures (too expensive for FF prepainted set). I just used the tokens, but I imagine miniatures would look nice (check out Mansions of Madness!).

This one

I sold all of my Arkham Horror stuff.

Eldritch is a better game.