Supt. Raymond Li: "Don't be a cop if you want to live to 100"

Inspector Bill Wong: "You want this line on the recruitment poster?

- I - Deck presentation :

My goal with this Leo build was to make him basically unkillable : avoid any death throughout a campaign run, swarming the board with allies that could soak damage/horror and boost my actions.

Since it's a true solo deck, it aims to beat the game at everything from clue gathering, enemy managment while resisting the encounter deck. Leo Anderson has a perfect statline for solo, with 4 basic , good and a descent . is sometimes a problem when you are not ready to fight enemies early in the game or versus some treacheries, but , it's a small price to pay for having oriented stats like him and I'll present some ways to deal with this.

Note : This deck was able to win Dunwich Legacy on Standard difficulty with a total of 26 xp with a single death in Essex County Express due to too much enemies drawn and bad luck with autofail pulls. The rest of the run was fantastic.

- II - Main Strategy :

POV : You are a grumpy old cop training all the rookies on the field (maybe a bit to harshly sometimes). You main ability lets you grab them and make them work for you at a reduced cost, which is huge on the longterm.

The key pieces of this deck are a bunch of guys with police badges like clue cop, damage cop and barking cop. Since they are still learning, they might get hust pretty often while on duty. No need to panick if some of them die, most of them are non-unique (in order to work with your only true friend Mitch Brown) and can be easily replaced. You will sometimes take some time to heal them by being awsome : I'm the best at everything, a gruesome event and some disposable medical kit lady will let you keep them working longer.

Investigating : Surprising the culprits at the crime scene is a priority for any good police officer, so don't be afraind to keep those gotcha events! for the perfect location (usually some high shroud with tasty victory points) when an enemy spawns or joins you on it. Perception along with Alice Luxley and/or the classic Flashlight should have you covered.

Economy : In order to keep the allies coming, a solid economy is absolutely necessary and Lone Wolf is one of the best cards to play on turn 1 so it's a good thing to mulligan hard for it. Leo's effect is also very good at filtering your deck and grabbing a few allies along. Since Leo is a bit self-centered, you will end up making huge tests with your or your to impress all your students, comitting "Watch this! I'm the best!" and win the lottery. Having more ressources and cards is essential, so Lucky Cigarette Case will be a very tool to have early on. The two Perception also provide some card draw.

Enemy managment : You basically don't need as much weapons as other solo invstigators since your allies can damage foes (damage cop, bark cop, clue+damage cop, but I really like to start with this classic core set weapon. .45 Automatic could also be an option but since you generally face less enemies in true solo, the downside of Machete does not come very often. who cares about enemies event n°1, "who cares about enemies event even more are great tools to avoid dealing with annoying enemies, especially in Dunwich against guardian nightmare. They are also very good at avoiding being swarmed by enemies when that happens.

- III - Campaign upgrading paths :

Early Campaign : The 3 experience points granted by In the Thick of It should always being used to have a starting alopecia problem on the board. This will help you play more allies without the need of being an arrogant politian. Spending 3 more xp early on for another copy of Charisma is not the best option, I usually prefer to bring better allies, especially clue cop, damagee cop and upgraded police doggo. If you fear to have some economy and/or survivability problems, you should also bring some "I've had worse…" since it's one of the best guardian cards for true solo.

Note : I usually grab some nice suits at the begining of each campaign since most early scenarios in campaigns have parley tests. It's a food thing to remove them later if you know that you won't need them (like in Dunciwh legacy). You can replace them by more cops, they are better at talking and soaking.

Mid Campaign : you won the first few scenarios ? Great, now it's time to make the deck more efficient against more powerfull foes (basically enemies with more printed health such as bosses). I would advise for replacing your starting weapons and/or adding more options like this great healing and drawing tool or Counter-punch knife that lets you attack and sometimes kill enemies before they can scratch you. Grabbing another Charisma will become interesting once you feel that you have too many allies sitting in your hand. You can think about replacing Medical Student if you feel that she's too disposable. Just try to keep between 10 and 14 allies. Too much allies might limit yourself if they flood your hand. If you still have problems with enemies, grab some Cat Burglar and you will forget about them in no time. Since it's a non unique ally, it's also great to have him with Mitch Brown.

Late Campaign : Girish Kadakia is one of the best allies you can have on your board during the last few scenarios. It has honestly everything. The healing doesn't seem too strong at first but it's in fact very interesting in long scenarios, especially the finale where horror and damage can add up. If you have enough xp (i.e not playing Dunwich), Cops cops cops is a real scenario winner. If you struggle with clues : Grete Wagner will be your best new awkward recruit. If you really want to prove something, you will also like to show off your superbe Police Badge to everyone, since it untaps allies and let you re-use their ability once more during a round.

- IV - Conclusion :

Overall I think this is a very solid true solo deck. Most of your clues and damage will be testless, which means less randomness and less probability of failing crucial moments. It also is very good at surviving the treacheries with a ton of soak and healing. Perfect to live up to 100 yo as an old grumpy cop.