Arkham Horror: Kingsport Horror

Some people dislike this second of the “big box” expansions to Arkham Horror (AH). Probably the largest complaint is that Kingsport Horror (KH) doesn’t seem to fit as well into the flow and balance of previous expansions.

Personally I don’t think this is true, because KH adds dynamics to the game that frustrates the typical “just seal the gates and kill the monsters” (and ignore everything else) strategy of other expansions.

Like Dunwich Horror, KH introduces a new board, but this board has no unstable locations on it, so the investigators don’t have worry about gates opening there. It does, however, generate dimensional Rifts – which are bad gate-like things that move around spewing out monsters and adding tokens to the doom track. Rifts are not difficult to close, but doing so can be very time consuming.

Rift maintenance, that is, making sure they don’t open, is a task that keeps one or more investigators tied up in Kingsport checking out locations to keep the Rifts closed. These investigators appear to be out of the action (while the others are killing monsters and closing gates) and it can seem tedious if their activities aren’t used effectively (e.g., by swapping them out with other investigators as needed).

Investigators relegated to “Kingsport duty” should make the most of it since there are a number of useful location encounters there, plus it’s a (relatively) safe area for weaker/hurt investigators to collect clue tokens. This isn’t to say that the Kingsport board is boring, just that it’s different from the Arkham and Dunwich boards that are always overrun by monsters and gate openings. The threat of a Rift opening should be a very real concern to all investigators and this contributes quite nicely to the feelings of pending doom, helplessness and urgency we love so much about the AH experience.

There are two special locations in Kingsport of interest. The North Point Lighthouse can provide one investigator with captaincy of the White Ship that allows movement into Other Worlds (and between them), and the Kingsport Head (a challenging quest of 3 locations) that can provide one investigator with an unbreakable gate seal and a permanent boost to stamina and sanity.

KH also introduces some really nice new features useful with or without the board:
* Challenging Ancient Ones (like Atlach-Nacha and its auto-gatebursts)
* Heralds & Guardians that hinder or help the investigators
* Useful investigators (like Wendy who never fails street Evade checks)
* Epic Battle cards (in case an awakened Ancient One isn’t tough enough)
* Aquatic movement of monsters between towns
* Plus more monsters, skills, items, spells and other cards

Bottom line:

KH is a must-have for the AH fan. There are just too many good things included in this expansion to pass up. For those who don’t like the new board and the Rift maintenance mechanic, I’m sorry, but like anything, some things don’t appeal to everyone. However, most of the rest (investigators, AO, heralds, cards, etc.) can be added without reservation and with great challenge/enjoyment into other Arkham Horror games.

I’m a big fan of Arkham Horror and all of its expansions, and highly recommend them all. Kingsport Horror is a solid addition to the game, though perhaps my least favorite of the seven expansions. The new guardians, ancient ones, investigators and heralds are all great, and the gameplay in Kingsport is the most unique of the four boards.

My only real complaint about Kingsport is that the Rifts can cause Kingsport to really dominate other aspects of the Arkham Horror game. Unlike the Dunwich Horror or even Innsmouth, Rift activity in Kingsport is pretty much a given and often feels like a constant issue to take on. I often find in most games that one investigator ends up relegated to almost permanent assignment in Kingsport to keep the Rifts from getting out of control, which effectively takes them out of the equation in terms of closing/sealing gates and can hamper their ability to really gear up. By comparison, the Dunwich Horror is comparatively uncommon (in fact I have played games where almost nothing happens in Dunwich, depending on the card draws)

I think Kingsport is a really good component to the Arkham Horror game, but some players may find the Rift system to be distracting or frustrating. It may not be as popular as the other expansions, but still tons of fun.

It’s no secret I am a big fan of Arkham Horror, but I can understand why even other fans might not want to pick up this expansion.

One of the biggest selling points for these big box expansions (I am no exception) is that they come with a new board to be played along side the original, and the new board usually adds new mechanics for the game. Although the Kingsport board does indeed add new mechanics, it doesn’t give the game an exciting variant, but rather just makes the game very trivial for at least one member of the team.

See, the board has NO unstable locations, meaning no portals open in kingsport at all. Instead, there are 3 rift tracks on the board. Over the course of the game, the rift tracks begin to fill up. For each one that fills up, a rift opens somewhere on the board, and basically acts as a moving portal that cannot be entered. The rifts can be closed or prevented by spending turns on various spaces in Kingsport.

Although the idea of rifts sounds interesting, how it plays out for the group is one member is assigned “Kingsport duty” in which he/she travels to Kingsport and spends the majority of his/her turns on the necessary spaces. This easily keeps the rifts from opening, but results in a rather boring game for one of the members who is stuck in an area full of safe locations.

However, Kingsport isn’t a total loss. The expansion comes with 2 heralds, which act kind of like a permanent environment card that really increases the difficulty level (something I am always wanting to try in Arkham Horror). It also comes with 8 new investigators, 4 new ancient ones, and Epic Battle cards. Epic battle cards basically make each turn of the combat with the ancient one tip in favor of either the ancient one or the investigators. The fight is still mostly balanced, it’s just each turn feels more “epic.”

This is a $40 expansion. Because of the board, I strongly recommend you get the Dunwich and/or Innsmouth expansions before this one. If you can live with the disappointing board, I’d recommend it to strong Arkham Horror fans due to the Investigators, old ones, and heralds.