New Cards

[friskers96]

Once I managed to get my deck well shuffled I haven't had an issue. I shuffled it a ton with all the cards I had at first and I still had clumps. It's better now, just takes a little time and use.

[StayPuft]

(05-29-2013 02:31 AM)samuraitrev Wrote:  I never thin the deck down, I just don't see the need. Having bigger decks doesn't make the chances of finding scenario search items more remote because the expansions are balancd with other cards like Just What I Needed etc. Plus I've always thought losing a game for running down the Hero deck a bit of an anticlimax anyway (in theory). I've never seen it happen.

Glad to hear that. Coming from you, especially, Samurai, I take that to heart. You seem to be one of our more experienced members, so I certainly think you would be very likely to know.

I also have to agree with you. Even though I have yet to ever see it happen, I also always find running down the hero deck to be kind of a lame, anticlimactic way for the game to end. Though, it only happens if the Zombies Player(s) specifically cause the last card to be discared. Still, though, I never liked it as a zombie win method. I'd rather see the story end rather than to just abruptly stop for seemingly no reason.

[Achtung Panzer]

Running the deck down actually favours the heroes as it helps with pickup. I'm glad a win like tat is unlikely to happen.

[StayPuft]

(05-30-2013 10:24 AM)Achtung Panzer Wrote:  Running the deck down actually favours the heroes as it helps with pickup. I'm glad a win like tat is unlikely to happen.

Well, it depends. If you have the right pick-up locations on the board, then it can definitely be a big help. In some cases, though, it can be bad for the heroes. If a pick-up location that would help you in some way is not on the board and you wind up discarding something you need, it leaves you very little chance of getting it back. There are still chances, but it is harder. ;-) So running through the hero deck is one of those mixed bag type of things. Could mess the heroes up badly, or give them an even better chance to win.

[spiritusXmachina]

(05-30-2013 10:24 AM)Achtung Panzer Wrote:  Running the deck down actually favours the heroes as it helps with pickup. I'm glad a win like tat is unlikely to happen.

That's one of the reasons I am more for finding a way to keep the deck thin (to let's say 80 cards?). Running the deck down is clearly one of the game creator's built in ways to win the game. And even if it should not be the easiest way it should be possible imo. And there should be a motivation for the Z-player to thin the deck down as it normally is more of a help for the H-players (not only places like the junk-yard, also some built-in abilities profit from it).

My idea at the moment is to restrict the additional cards to the supplements we are playing, i.e. SotF + Pillage cards...
But if someone has better ideas (recommended card lists...) I'd like to hear them.

[The Guvnor]

The bigger the better gets my vote, LNOE is so balanced I haven't found playing with all expansions makes any difference even though I thought it would, In fact I love how it makes for more twists and turns in each game. That said I always split my decks up after playing for storage. I think that comes from playing Arkham Horror though. That way I can still play with just one or two expansions if my group wants to.

[Spidey NZ]

I have spent a couple of months finding the balance of all my cards. I have started to sub out some cards from hero and zombie deck. i have experimented a lot and even gone back and added some back in. I have all the cards, except for survival of the fittest.

I have tried to customise my experience based on what a lot of the players find fun and exciting.

for example, i have subbed out my 'new spawning pit cards', because there is a taken over card that puts a spawning pit in aswell. i have tested games, and even asked the players afterwards if it was fair, and how did they feel.

[ForestRunner]

I don't thin the deck down... well everything before TP that is.

As already discussed, all is well balanced. My main reason/rationale is maximising variety and replayability, whilst reducing predictability - I find this crucial to any game I get involved in. This game plays best without restrictions and limits anyway.

[ATOEtalGeek]

We really like playing with all the cards because it adds so many twists and turns to the game. The qty of cards nagged at me a little though as I was concerned about breaking the base pillage rule. What we do now is multiply those Zombie cards by 3 as our total number of cards is 171 (or roughly 3 times the starting base deck).

But that didn't really solve what I felt was an issue with finding Scenario Search Items. We had played a Burn It To The Ground! scenario and I felt the game really suffered because the number of Gas cards was really watered down. It seemed it was getting kind of monotonous with the Heroes just doing search after search trying to get through this triple sized deck. And then after the Heroes discarded the Gas card there were less cards by percentage allowing the players to pull it back out.

So I did a little study to see what the math showed as far as the percentage of certain cards as they are in the base deck, compared to what they are with all cards added. I looked mainly at the Scenario Search Items and coupled each of them with the four Just What I Needed cards:
Gas + JWIN = is 10% of base deck
Dynamite + JWIN = is 13.3% of base deck
Fire + JWIN = is 13.3% of base deck
Keys + JWIN = is 10% of base deck
First Aid + JWIN = is 13.3% of base deck

With all cards added in these numbers fall as follows (now there are 10 JWIN, or similar, cards), and a total of 166 cards:
Gas + JWIN = is 9% vs 10% (base game)
Dynamite + JWIN = is 9.6% vs 13.3% (base game)
Fire + JWIN = is 11.4% vs 13.3% (base game)
Keys + JWIN = is 7.8% vs 10% (base game)
First Aid + JWIN = is 10.8% vs 13.3% (base game)

By setting up a quick table I was able to determine mathematically how many JWIN cards were needed to bring the percentages back to what they were in the base game. The magic number is 5. So I added 5 JWIN cards making our total deck 171 cards. The percentages now look like this:
Gas + JWIN = is 11.7% vs 10% (base game)
Dynamite + JWIN = is 12.3% vs 13.3% (base game)
Fire + JWIN = is 14% vs 13.3% (base game)
Keys + JWIN = is 10.5% vs 10% (base game)
First Aid + JWIN = is 13.5% vs 13.3% (base game)

I tried it with just 4 JWIN cards but the Dynamite really fell off - to 11.8%. So it seems 5 is the best number.

Now the JWIN card I added is not actually the JWIN card - it's a homemade card that is very close to the I Know Where It Is! card from Hero Pack I. I like the mechanic of that card requiring the Heroes to get to a particular building in order to get the card. It's not just a freebie. My card just adds a clause for the scenario search item. I called it The Last Place You Look!

[Termite]

My group has never removed any of the cards, and we play with all the cards that have so far been produced. It has always worked fine. It's true that the zombies don't win by making the heroes run out of cards, but the game is still plenty fun.