Ch1 True Solo | Hiking on the Moon (TDE-A)

Remarks up front this time since there's extensive spoilers at the bottom:

Remarks

to "celebrate" the end of my learning true solo series I wanted to continue by doing another series of true solo decks. For the first one, here's an actually legal Mandy Thompson for Dream-Eater's Dream-Quest of Kadath Campaign (Side A) - but the deck would work in a few other campaigns as well (see Variations below.) If you want some Forbidden fun, see the Banned Book Week Mandy deck that I published shortly before Halloween.

My goal is cover the rest of the Chapter 1 campaigns that I didn't cover in the "Learning True Solo" series, probably still showcasing 2 investigators per cycle. So I guess I'm committing to another series of roughly 12 decks... Hoping to get that done before the Chapter 2 core launches!

I have some light spoiler suggestions for how to pilot this deck during that Dream-Quest for Kadath at the end, and a more extensive commentary on the finale; please don't read them if you're still blind to this campaign!

Mulligan

in general:

• Dig For: "search cards" (ideally Research Librarian in scenario 1, but keep whatever you find)
• Keep: Hit and Run if you have research librarian, other assets.
• Pitch: All the Research cards, Astounding Revelation

But in Scenario 1:

• Also Keep: / Skills for an early scenario test.

General Playstyle

Investigating Is mostly handled by a mix of Mandy's naturally high (which we'll boost further with an upgraded ally) and search draws triggering occult evidences when we run into a high shroud or a location that punishes actual investigation actions (which are relatively frequent in the dreaming-quest).

Enemy Management This deck is fairly reliant on using for enemy management but when we do need or want to kill something there's some -style damage tricks with Occult Lexicon and "I've got a Plan!" - Try to save these for doom-laden enemies, or victory point enemies.

Basic Setup We want to trigger Shocking Discovery as early as we can safely handle the extra treachery, possibly as soon as turn 1. Hit and Run on a Research Librarian is a pretty efficient way to do this, and assuming the treachery doesn't kill the librarian, we'll get to execute a full search the following turn. Once the Shocking Discovery is out of the way we're free to aggressively search the deck for Research value and to find the other assets.

Notes on Specific Card Selections

Mandy Thompson for true solo has an interesting dilemma regarding which splash to take. I think for Dream-Quest that Rogue is her best splash for this campaign specifically, but see variations below for recommendations if you choose to use Survivor instead.

I like Rogue for this campaign specifically because the ability to take testless evades, extra fast moves, and to delay hunter enemies an extra turn. Especially with the second scenario which is a gigantic map with 17 locations in total it really helps to have the extra mobility that rogue cards can grant you.

0XP Sideboard cards

The Ethereal Slip is an alternative for the Scout Ahead, Ethereal Slip is more conditional but there's several moments in scenario 2 when it's particularly strong. I went with Scout ahead because it's better in scenarios 1 and 4, but there's arguments for both cards.

The Calculated Risk is an alternative for the Plan of Action; Plan is reasonably good in Mandy since she'll usually Evade on the first action if necessary and investigate on the third action, but the card itself is much worse after the rule-clarification reversal that results in it not providing bonuses during the mythos or enemy phases. Calculated Risk on the other hand is a dead card except on the third action, but it is 3 icons on that action. Either one is worth considering. If you do decide to use Calculated Risk, you’ll need to cut one of the events, probably for something like Shortcut but it could be any other Event (or another skill) that you like.

I thought about not including any damage at all (the campaign requires almost not actual fighting) but I found myself wishing I had some for the occasional VP enemy, so I ended up including and "I've got a Plan!" for such eventualities.

I like Old Book of Lore for its effect on Mandy's early rounds while you're still trying to thin down your deck. At some point in every scenario I found myself wanting to replace it though, so that's what Grim Memoir is for. I wouldn't worry over much about drawing cards with it, it's just a nice bonus. this could be Flashlight on higher difficulties.

Upgrades

There's potentially 41 XP available in the dream quest prior to the finale scenario, so despite the 'short' campaign, it's pretty much in the middle in terms of possible XP. However, a more realistic total for actual acquisition during play is closer to 25-28 - there's several VP that are buried in encounter decks. It's difficult to fully clear every VP location of the first two scenarios, and this deck is not really set-up to defeat the VP enemies in the third scenario. (although I was always tempted to try anyway!)

Priority upgrades are the Hiking Boots (1) and [Gené Beauregard (5) which will help immensely in the second scenario; compressing movement, pushing non-elite enemies out of locations we need to access, or making it easier to flip locations to their story side by pushing clues around. Depending on how much exp you earned in Scenario 1, I would consider Charisma (3) before the second copy of Gene - the deck has plenty of search so usually it's not an issue finding the single copy.

After that you've got some choices, No Stone Unturned (5), possibly even two copies are good, as is a second copy of Gene. It's worth dropping the hit and run after the librarians are cut, which could be for more skill cards like Calculated Risk(don't forget to pay 1XP each if you do this swap though), or for something like Farsight (4) - although in both of my test campaign runs I didn't really find room for it. (it does have value in scenario 4 where your hand will end up really full though, compressing the replay on Occult Evidence).

Here's a possible upgrade order, taking into account the likely XP totals you'd see from the scenarios in the Dream-Quest.

(View at arkham-starter.com)

Variations & Other Campaigns

Survivor Splash

If you want to play Survivor as your splash, I'd recommend Lucky!, Live and Learn, Will to Survive, Scrounge for Supplies, and Bait and Switch or similar effects, with a plan to upgrade into Alter Fate (1) for the later scenarios.

Mystic Splash

I don't think Mystic is a good splash for Dream-Quest specifically, but if you did want to go that route, I'd be looking at effects like Astral Travel, Ethereal Slip, Explosive Ward, Read the Signs and the high-impact -skill Promise of Power

Other Campaigns

Dream-Quest of Kadath actually requires very little monster killing, which is a trait it shares with The Forgotten Age, although for TFA I think it'd probably be prudent to include additional damage effects, like Strange Solution: Acidic Ichor or Occult Invocation since there are more enemies you'll want to actually defeat in that campaign (and you'll have the extra XP to take those upgrades). Segment of Onyx (1) is also very good in Mandy in general but the taboo makes it less exciting than it used to be.

I would probably avoid taking this into one of the heavier fighting campaigns, like TCU, or the B-side of Dream Eaters. Campaigns like Carcosa or Edge will be do-able, however some adjustments might be necessary to accommodate those specific campaigns, left as an exercise for the reader.

A Different Investigator

I don't think anyone else really does this 'search my deck for all the research cards' style concept quite as well as Taboo Mandy Thompson does, but a 30 card version of this in Daisy Walker is certainly feasible (she just won't be taking any of the events.)

Piloting Advice for the Dream-Quest (Spoilers)

Scenario 1 is relatively straightforward, but don't go too crazy on the searching (it tends to fill your hand up) until you reach the forest. Speaking of, try to reach it as fast as possible since every turn before you reach it counts double against you doom-wise.

I like to go for two parleys to advance Act 2, so I'd try to find Manual Dexterity or Unexpected Courage in the opening mulligan if you can. You shouldn't have (much issue) handling the Parley with your native skill.

Ideally you get all the XP in this one, but the two VP enemies are rather bulky and one of them is in the encounter deck anyway, so if you can't put together enough damage it's fine to advance the final act with just 10VP rather than get defeated.

If you intervene during the resolution you can get more VP during the setup for scenario 2, but you'll have a slightly harder time in scenario 3. I usually didn't intervene.

Scenario 2 I recommend going to the Timeless Isles first, since they will probably take the longest, but one could easily leave them for last too to avoid the risk of getting bogged down. Remember that Gené Beauregard (5) reads non-Elite enemy, there's several enemies in this scenario that happen to be Elite despite their relatively modest stats. Knowing which Veiled locations are the ones you actually want to flip helps this scenario go smoother, so I recommend carefully reading flavor text for hints. Remember that Occult Evidence is a discover effect and not an investigate effect (And it ignores shroud) both features which can be very helpful in this scenario.

Scenario 3 The most important thing to do in this scenario is keep moving and keep your alarm level low, the splash will help with this. You may be tempted to fight the Moon Lizard for his VP but each time I playtested this I was always being chased by some hunter enemy at this point and found it more expedient to just move on. (But Occult Lexicon is in the deck specifically so you can tangle with those VP enemies if you want to.) Remember that Occult Evidence is a discover effect and not an investigate effect (And it ignores shroud) both features which can be very helpful in this scenario as well.

Scenario 4 This deck is expecting to use the scenario effects to clear the Priest. Don't dawdle in the early acts, you're under an incredible amount of (unfair) time pressure in this one as a true solo and every additional action you have for the final act will matter.

Commentary on the Final Scenario of the Dream-Quest of Kadath

Mechanical spoilers follow, suggest not reading if you're blind.

Unfortunately this scenario is one of the few that suffers from 'reverse' scaling: the fewer investigators you have, the worse the scenario functions. (you get fewer clues but the encounter deck does not get any smaller). Mandy's Investigator ability can be used to extend the encounter deck search - which is very helpful. It basically doubles your clue spend effectiveness in the final act. But, because the scenario cards all take actions to use (including the one to spend the clues!), you're still under more action-economy pressure than a 2 Player team would be.

And then you have fewer clues to even search with, so even with Mandy's search prowess you might find it hard to dig into the deck far enough to actually find what you need.

Further, you've got the same number of hidden cards you need to hold regardless of player count, but in true solo you're working with just one player worth of handsize.

Personally, I recommend embracing the suffering. It'll make finally beating this campaign all the sweeter when you do succeed.

If you don't want to do that, I do have some suggestions for how to improve the situation. (I guess by the nomenclature in the 2.4 FAQ this is a "refraction").

• Setup: remove the 3 copies of Law of 'Ygiroth and 3 copies of Restless Journey from the game, do not include them in the encounter deck construction.

This leaves just the actually necessary hidden cards in the deck during the fourth act, while also thinning the encounter deck by 2 clues worth. Even with this change it's still possible to just lose to the encounter deck deck order, but it reduces the likelihood.

If you wanted to replicate the difficulty of the 3-4p version of the scenario, you'd want to further:

• Hidden Encounter cards do not count against your handsize in this scenario
• When you Search the encounter deck via the action on the 4th act; search the top 6 cards instead of the top 3.