Arkham Horror LCG - First Thoughts on The Feast of Hemlock Vale Campaign (Spoiler-Free)

In this video, I'm explaining my first thoughts after having played the campaign The Feast of Hemlock Vale for the first time. This spoiler-free video contains an explanation of the campaign's characteristics and my subjective opinion after my blind playthrough, separating the good and the bad aspects and leading to a conclusion.
0:00 Introduction
0:48 Characteristics (Theme & Structure)
5:41 What I Liked (Positive Aspects)
10:52 What I Disliked (Negative Aspects)
16:52 Overall Thoughts (Conclusions)

[@alexanderpopov3587]

Appreciate the spoiler-free review. The campaign seems quite interesting, looking forward to play it.

[@WayOfHaQodesh]

Thank you brother for a thoughtful and well made spillet free review.

[@bernardgodfrey3499]

A very good reflection of what I thought after a blind playthrough. A slight spoiler here, but nothing spectacular, I do think that you need a Guardian to break even in a multiplayer campaign during Hemlock. Agreed entirely on the table space and timing, it is a hog, but for the timing it's more about strategy. I would say this isn't far behind Carcosa for reflection on what to do next. I thought the NPCs were the best of any campaign so far, out lasting the stooges in EotE and actually having influence on the campaign. Unfortunately, the NPCs in EotE were basically freebie meat shields. Agreed also on the non-linear scenarios. In two play throughs of Scarlet Keys, I felt I was going through the motions and constantly wondering why I was doing something, whereas in Hemlock you know why and what you're aiming for. I two handed solo with Hank and Alessandra, Next I'm going with Mark and Minh, my go to investigators.

[@TheArkhamSeeker-ln2il]

Thanks Bernard! I agree with the advantage of Guardians in this campaign. In particular, ranged attack cards like Telescopic Sight, which are hard to use well in general, can be game changers in this campaign. Especially in The Longest Night. Also, despite I like the Edge of the Earth campaign, I also much prefer the characters from Hemlock Vale. They are more helpful. Cheers!

[@magnusadermark3474]

Thanks for the video! Which scenarios did you choose?

[@TheArkhamSeeker-ln2il]

Day 1 - The Thing in the Depths Night 1 - The Twisted Hollow Day 2 - Written in Rock Night 2 - The Longest Night Day 3 - The Lost Sister Night 3 - Fate of the Vale As you can see, I more or less followed the "intended" path. I only diverged from that path on Day 2, as I wanted to check on Simeon after what he told us in the Preludes. Cheers!

[@blindpd84]

Where is the video background from?

[@TheArkhamSeeker-ln2il]

I can't remember. I found it when the spoiler season began. It's probably not even official, but I thought it resembled the mood and theme of the campaign quite well.

[@cognitiveresonance339]

I hate to ask for a specific spoiler, but the expansions I buy are based on the final boss. Could you tell me who the big bad mythos entity is at the end?

[@TheArkhamSeeker-ln2il]

It's great. Reimplements an old final boss mechanic, but with a very unique twist. For me, it's a good one, although the scenario is too long for my taste.

[@cognitiveresonance339]

@@TheArkhamSeeker-ln2il Cool. Can you say who/what the boss is? Glaaki? Dagon? Tsothaggua?

[@TheArkhamSeeker-ln2il]

​@@cognitiveresonance339 It has no explicit name. Kind of a cosmos emissary. The lore of the campaign is inspired from The Color Out of Space, and the elder one and its minions have the "Color" subtype.

[@halforange1]

You mentioned 2-3 hours per scenario. How many investigators were used? Hopefully not true solo

[@TheArkhamSeeker-ln2il]

3-handed solo. I think that an actual 3-player group would take more or less the same time, as the first 30 minutes are spent on the Prelude and setup. Then, the scenarios tend to be long, but it's more or less the usual trend of the last campaigns. The finale is very long, close to 3 h. Other scenarios take around 2-2.5 h. Of course, less players would take less time. Two players/investigators would be around 2 h, and true solo even less, although I usually discourage true solo play as the game is not balanced for it. For solo, 2 or 3 handed gives a better experience, but you need a bit of experience with the game, especially if you go 3-handed.

[@halforange1]

@@TheArkhamSeeker-ln2il Good to know. I’ve been playing true solo for 4 years, so I’m well aware of the limitations. True solo can be so much faster than 2 or 3 handed solo. That matters when you can’t dedicate a table to Arkham.

[@TheOldMan-75]

@@halforange1 The preludes are quite a hassle and don't add much to the game, which is kind of a shame. It's basically a lot of reading with some fairly pointless card play in between. It just doubles the amount of setup you have to do.