15:45 Sam : "If they're careful with their expansions..." Sam, I come to you from the future. It is the year 2021 and the world has changed. There is so much I need to tell you. FF released eight expansions for Eldritch Horror. So far. Also, stock up on toilet paper.

Great review! While I know that Tom does kick out games to simplify his collection, for myself I would keep both. Eldritch Horror will be for friends that like the Pandemic type of game and Arkham Horror for those times when my rpg playing friends want to have the adjustable character stats and the additional systems in the mix. I do believe that Eldritch Horror will hit the table more.... Who doesn't like "traveling by map" in a game?

Very good overview of the game, and darn if I can't shake that catchy "Miami Dice" opening jingle. Always a pleasure to hear Tom and Sam talk about a new game, and verifying/dispelling any hype surrounding it. Thank you.

Tom.... how do you manage this? Every day 4 or 5 uploads with really good content. Structuring the explanation of the game rules and making a review out of it. And I guess playing the games once or twice. I throught you had a main job and this is just a hobby. This is madness! Thank you for your hard work! It's incredible

Been waiting for this reviews since the game released. My wife got the game for me for Christmas and her and I have played it twice and I have soloed it once. I was in the process of researching whether or not we should get Arkham Horror when I discovered this game was coming out. The main reason I wanted Eldritch Horror over Arkham was the play time. We have a steady game group of about 4-5 players and many reviews I read on Arkham had games with that many of players lasting up to 6 hours. I think 4 hours is the max our game group would tolerate and want to play the game again. The longest game my wife and I played was about 3.5 hours and that was with us learning the rules. My solo game was maybe an hour. I believe this game scales really will from 1 to 2 players and hope to see how well a 4 player game will go soon. This has quickly become my favorite game.

Dang you, FFG, why'd you have to make an expansion? Tom was going to eat a hat LIVE!

If you are going to get this, you NEED the Forgotten Lore expansion, dont worry it is a small one, so not too expensive. Forgotten Lore functions almost as patch as you see in video games. It adds a bunch of encounter cards for all the decks, something should have been in the core game IMO. The eight card "decks" is just not good enough, you could easily cycle through them in a single playthrough (even multiple times). But in all other respects this is simply a better game than Arkham Horror, and the clear choice if you were thinking of buying either of them.

This game is what Arkham Horror should have been from the start. Less fiddling, shorter gametime, tighter rules and more story. EH also does away with the "cannot do anything"-syndrome of being locked in one location turn after turn since monsters do not hinder movement (due to the differing scale - town vs. The World). I feel there is more to do in EH on each given turn and the sense of Doom is stronger. Shorter setup time, fixed stats, each Ancient One have focused decks... This game is definitely the replacement for Arkham in this house, and my gameclub agrees despite us having the whole AH series. Really look forward to expansions in this one.

I have bought this game and so far only played solo (still trying to find the time to play with some friends). I enjoyed it and never played Arkham Horror. I was waiting for your review guys! Thanks for all your work on these reviews!

Finally! I was afraid you were never going to review this! Love the game in out group :)

The thing to really take note of with EH is that it's very much a one-legged table. The enjoyment is purely from the narrative experience of reading the cards aloud. If players fixate on speeding the game along and "cut to the chase" by summarizing, then the game's going to be pretty boring. The gameplay itself is pretty minimal, as most of the game consists of resolving encounters, and most encounters offer zero choices, just random, luck-of-the-draw skill tests (as with Arkham). The catch here is that there really aren't that many cards in the encounter decks, so repetition will set in very quickly. You won't want people to read cards more than once, as it's rather like being told a joke you've heard before.

I chuckled when Tom said, "point eighteen derringer." The .18 is the diameter of the barrel (or caliber) in inches. So ".18 derringer" is "eighteen caliber derringer." I only mention this because FFG's Arkham-based games have plenty of cards with references to firearms by caliber.

I played this for the first time last weekend and I started as the really OP Chinese martial artist and was the lead investigator. I had the chance to take a Dark Pact for more power so I did. About 2/3s through the game I rolled a one and had the Dark Pact collect on me and I was eaten by Satan! We lost all my gear which very nearly cost us the game! God I love this game lol I'm never gonna forget that moment.

We've been playing Arkham Horror for quite some time now and although it has a lot of randoms it's replayabiility is amazing. We pretty much know every card so we don't read them with slow and deep voices like we used to but due to the random gates/monsters/mythos cards etc. it's a great strategic experience. Has anyone here played Eldritch Horror often enough to tell me how it's like after you read all the great stories and expeditions etc. ??? I fear if the story is the main selling point for this game it's replayability might not be as good as it is with AH

I love how he calls R'lyeh "rill-i-aaaaah"

Quick, let's start a petition to FFG to make them not put out any expansions! I wanna see Tom eat a hat live.

Why isn't there a Legacy version of either Eldritch Horror or (gasp) Arkham Horror?

Nice shirt Tom!

Where part of Miami do you guys work out of?

Some people at BGG have translated the code message in the manual. There will be expansions....first one being about Nyarlathotep.

Looks really fun. How simillar/close is this game to A Touch of Evil. The basic concept seems simillar (alltough this you can play solo.)

Azathoth isn’t really a “bad guy”, apparently his dreams ARE our universe (in the mythos) and he has to stay asleep or reality would disappear. Not really a villain...

If they didn't, they should release a Dead of Winter-like expansion which can, but doesn't have to, make one (though not neccessarily limited to only one) player into a secret servant of the gods.

The excitement on Sam's face makes it all worth it

I don't think Sam's idea that Arkham Horror is too burdened with expansions isn't a big deal. Just don't play them at all... or just play one or two. Nobody said you have to play them ALL in the same game. That's nutso, if you ask me.

This was the review I was dreading! I own all of Arkham Horror and I love the game, granted it's fiddly but I've managed to mitigate a lot of that and mates of mine like the game, but yes it doesn't get a ton of play due to its length and I've done many solo games of it. Eldritch Horror I played in December courtesy of a friend who is the quintessential Arkham fanatic and I admit, I liked the game which is why I'm so torn as to what to do. Do I buy this and keep Arkham for a different itch? Do I sell Arkham and buy this (going to be difficult to sell a complete collection of Arkham Horror online!) Do I ignore this game, stick with Arkham, but enjoy it if anyone brings it to the table? ARRRRGGHHHH! I've only owned Arkham since May this year!

Oh man, I hope there are no expansions. I really wanna see you eat a hat! XD

Tom, you didn't tell us if this would make it in your top ten for 2013...

Sam has the best poker face ever!

For those guys who complain about repetitiveness i can only say that there will be expansions. Other than that great game, best way to play this game is to have someone else narrate your encounter and only tell what will happen based on their results. Fear of the unknown =]

I thought it was an easy, light and cool version of Arkham Horror. But, in my opinion Arkham horror is still better. I know that Arkham Horror is a very heavy game and it takes so much time but I still enjoy it more. I hate how you move and buy tickets in EH, you buy new tickets all the time and it's such a monotone process! Arkham Horror is still my favorite Cthulhugame!

Cool! Now how about an Elder Sign: Unseen Forces review? :)

This, arkham or mansions of madness? can anyone make a suggestion

You asked Sam if this would make his list but did not yourself. So would it make it and what number would it be

Do you eat a hat live when they do not release a second expansion?

And then they went and made 8 expansions...

Hehehehehehe, eating a hat was a pretty safe bet

hahaha mermaid is evil. that got me . . i was watching seriously and then that happened. LOL

This looks like the game "A Touch of Evil"....which is better?

MURMADER!!

So, you want to play the game, but don't want to pay nearly £30 for a set of basic dice, Blessing Dice and Curse Dice sets? Easy, do what I did. Get yourself some 16mm dice in red, blue and whatever colour you want for the basic dice. Now, for the basic dice, get a permanent marker and colour in the white dots for the 6 and 5's. For the cursed dice, as above, but just do the 6's. For the blessing dice, as above but do the 4, 5, 6's. In the UK, the price of a full set of 15 official dice costs up to £30. I got 3 sets of 12 dice at 16mm and did the above. Cost - £6.00.

Yes...we know EH is more streamlined than AH, but so what? If I am going to play a heavily-themed game, based on and/or inspired by well-known and popular licensed material...I want the gaming experience to be as deep, complex, and long-playing as possible. I *want* the extra steps in game play, as well as the alleged random or meaningless moments. Life is chock-full of "extra steps" and such moments. If I wanted slimmed-down and simplified, I would play "Lord of the Rings: Tic Tac Toe." :-)

I thought the last version was the most overrated game I've ever played. Long and more complex than a miniatures game, but with none of the depth. The rule changes look cool, but unless the game time and complexity have halved it will still be for fanboys only

I like this game, but it's not AH its an Arkham Horror flavor type game like Elder Sign is. If Elder Sign is an entry level game, this is a middle level game and Arkham Horror is for the advanced player. Eldritch Horror is not a bad game but I can't see it replacing Arkham Horror for me.

3:27 don't say that one out loud XD The real monsters will come for you

You should really go back to the image of the game as the thumbnail...I never watch your videos anymore because what intrigues me is the game itself...not the name.

Get Eldritch Horror over Arkham Horror. Mansion of Madness is a story dungeon crawler.

The game takes too long to complete for the amount of effective decision making the player gets. Not only are there too few decisions to be made, most of them amounting to little more than movement, the high degree of randomness in the cards often undoes those moves, leaving players with a lot of wasted turns. The variation is so extreme that you can have your entire team destroyed/bogged down in the first few turns, or conversely, be well ahead of the game curve and execute a win without tension. Pandemic is much better designed. The more predictable nature of the game lends itself to real planning and victory or defeat are usually within a turn of each other and often dependent on player skill, rather than luck. Most importantly regarding Eldritch Horror, the cards don't really connect to the overarching narrative in any way. I find that the "story" that everyone praises is often non-existent.

3:27 Racism!

Arkham Horror is way too clunky, slow, uneventful and a huge DRAAG! By todays standards, is it reasonable to pick up Eldritch horror today as a replacement? It sure seem more tight, and a timer that puts down endless game sessions from occuring (as it always does in arkham horror)

This game is awful! This is not a "streamlined" Arkham Horror! This is a Eurotrash version of the Cthulhu Mythos! This game has LOTS of fiddly rules, It has only 4 elder gods to play against. So it has limited replay-ability. It gets easier the more players you have. Takes roughly 3 hours to play. This is really a solo game and the 2+ players is the variant. Many errors, was not polished before releasing it. After roughly 5 games with the same gaming group you will feel empty inside and this game will sit on your shelf. Good solitaire style game. Expansions will increase play-ability.