I've hardly ever used them in a showdown, played the game about 15 times in all and only taken them a handful of times, not on any of those times did they make a difference to the outcome of the game
They can help. The odd +1 combat or soaking up a wound can be useful.
That's ok if yo know they are safe to take with you, but not worth the risk otherwise
I have lost the game because I took the elders with me. It is only when the shadow track was at 3 or less when the showdown started.
The ones that add +2 attack against certain types of villains are great. Also, Lady Hanbrook lets you ignore 1 wound every round, and the doc lets you ignore wounds too. That rules. I always try to take 1. The only one I haven't ever used is Sophie. Rarely does one need to cancel mystery or event cards during the showdown, and it isn't even guaranteed. Maybe she is more useful in competitive mode; I have only done co-op.
(02-13-2013 11:53 PM)vikinglad Wrote: [ -> ]The ones that add +2 attack against certain types of villains are great. Also, Lady Hanbrook lets you ignore 1 wound every round, and the doc lets you ignore wounds too. That rules. I always try to take 1. The only one I haven't ever used is Sophie. Rarely does one need to cancel mystery or event cards during the showdown, and it isn't even guaranteed. Maybe she is more useful in competitive mode; I have only done co-op.
Sophie is
essential against the shadow witch- the shadow witch gets +1 combat for every mystery card that remains in play- removing them from the picture is a huge deal. In fact, if the villain is benefitting from a lot of combat buffs such as 'ancient evil' or 'growing power' or some of the more brutal mystery cards such as 'something wicked' are in play, she can make a huge difference.
A valid tactic can be to bring sophie to a showdown you have no intention of winning just to sweep the mystery cards away.
Depending on the circumstances, I almost always take 2 Elders with me. As long as I've Investigated them & there's enough space left on the Shadow Track, why WOUDLN'T you?
As for Sophie, yeah, I usually have a hard time finding an effective way of using her, & will pass her over in favor of other Elders with out fail.
---MS
MoonSylver is right...if you do your due diligence on them, why wouldn't you take a pair of non-evil Elders?
Last time we played, Lilliana destroyed The Unspeakable Horror in no small part because of Reverend Harding's support...and the irony was not lost on us.
When I played with my group of friends, the person who ended up winning did take two elders that we had proved to be good (they had secrets that instructed the person reading them to reveal to the group, so we all knew their status).
I have to agree with MoonSylver and Tommy. As long as you already investigated their secrets and are sure they are good, why would you ever not? Heck, even if they don't wind up helping that much, or their specific abilities aren't terribly helpful, they still take each take one fight dice from the villain that is now no longer rolling against your hero. So, it gives you just that much more of a chance of surviving the fight.
As it is, I was trying to make my way to a showdown at the time, and was definitely planning to bring either those two, or one of them and the other elder I had personally investigated and revealed to myself to be good. When I play, if and when I go into a showdown, I certainly plan to bring them so long as I know they are not evil.
You're gonna love the co-op version!