Arkham Horror: Innsmouth Horror - Tips & Strategies

The Deep Ones Rising track isn’t something to be ignored. You could be well on your way to winning when all of a sudden that last token is placed on the track and the Big Bad comes out swinging. Keeping at least one investigator in Innsmouth (even if it’s multiple investigators trading off) means people can give up their clue tokens to keep the FBI on track. The Deep Ones Rising Track will bite you in the butt if you’re not careful.

Two of the investigators included in the Innsmouth Horror expansion are well-suited to take one for the team. And by “take one,” I mean get devoured on account of their personal stories win conditions. Based on personal experience, I know it’s easy to get attached to your investigator and want them to survive to the end of the game. Silas Marsh and Tommy Muldoon work well in that traditional sense, can really give the Ancient One a black eye if they are devoured early.

Tommy Muldoon is a solid character in general, as he has good stats and doesn’t have to worry about being arrested. Getting a victory with the personal story cards, though, let’s him remove a doom token, prevent a future terror level increase and drop enough clue tokens on a fellow investigator to close a gate. To do so, Tommy has to get devoured…something that’s fairly easy, considering his ability to reroute monsters to his location. Tommy becomes very useful if you and your friends are just about to squeeze in a close-call win.

Silas Marsh is another solid character, especially if you use him on the Innsmouth board. Using the personal story cards puts him in risk of getting devoured by accidentally getting pulled into the R’lyeh other world. But while achieving the pass condition devours Silas, it also lets you seal any gate you want. Not close, seal. Saving this for the right moment can allow the players to get a victory through sealed gates, or at the very least plug a troublesome gate on the board.

So, while you might lose hard-won items when your investigator gets devoured, Silas and Tommy’s deaths can actually help you win. Something to consider the next time you play with them!

Of the characters that come with Innsmouth the one I’d say is a necessity is Patrice Hathaway. She has the ability to allow other characters to use her clue tokens as their own. She also gains a clue token every time a gate opens and 5 when the doom track reaches 9. Playing Patrice is an important strategy because, as you’ll come to find out, you’ll need clue tokens in Innsmouth to keep the deep ones rising track down.