Arkham Horror The Card Game The Miskatonic Museum mythos pack unboxing and review

As a big fan of the Arkham Horror card game its always exciting to see the first few expansion products, to get a feel for where FFG are going with the game.  The first expansion we got to see after the main game was the deluxe Dunwich Legacy pack, and that was a cracker! but now where to go from there.....


Well here... the first mythos pack in the Dunwich cycle.  Do you need to own the Dunwich Legacy set to use it? no..... you can use it as the start to your campaign, or you can add to one you have already started, or play the pack as a one off adventure.

"Almost eight feet tall, and carrying a cheap new valise from Osborn’s general store, this dark and goatish gargoyle appeared one day in Arkham in quest of the dreaded volume kept under lock and key at the college library—the hideous Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred in Olaus Wormius’ Latin version."
     –H.P. Lovecraft, The Dunwich Horror

It begins with a book… Somewhere in the Miskatonic Museum, Olaus Wormius’s Latin translation of a book called the Necronomicon lies hidden away, kept locked and secret so that those individuals who shouldn't gain access to it do not. When recent events at the university and the Clover Club lead you to believe that someone may now be searching for this strange and ancient tome—someone who should not be permitted to delve its secrets—you make your way to the Museum. The hour is late, and the front door is locked. But you know you must recover the book before anyone can access its arcane secrets for dark purposes....... lets take a look inside see what we get, and some looks at the cards, no spoilers for the encounter deck, just player cards!

So we get 60 new cards, and the scenario guide with its backstory, dififculty levels, and explanations on it.  not all of the new cards are of course player cards, but it is those we will be focussing on, so as not to spoil the story for others.


The cards and adventure from The Miskatonic Museum grant you access to the Museum and its many exhibitions. Whether you conduct your investigation as a relatively simple book recovery or incorporate it into the campaign from The Dunwich Legacy, you'll find it marked by a frightening urgency. You aren't alone within the museum's darkened chambers; something else stalks the exhibits…

Artifacts on Display

The Miskatonic Museum offers plenty more than a book hunt, and as you navigate its halls in search of the dread Necronomicon, you may find yourself tempted in plenty of other directions.
The Miskatonic Museum contains twenty-six player cards, ranging from levels zero to two, and their secrets may help you unlock new Talents and Tactics. They may afford you new Insights, or you might equip them as Tools. Altogether, you'll find that artifacts on display in The Miskatonic Museum suggest plenty of ways to spend the experience points you accrue over the course of your The Dunwich Legacy campaign.
Some of these cards will even adjust the ways you gain and spend your experience, making them quite unusual in the realm of customizable card games.

Exhibit: Adaptable

Among the other things we find on display in The Miskatonic Museum is the first card in Arkham Horror: The Card Game with the Permanent keyword. Unlike most keywords, Permanent has no impact on gameplay. Instead, it's a special deckbuilding keyword with a set of abilities outlined in the game's rules:

• A card with the permanent keyword does not count towards your deck size.
• A card with the permanent keyword still counts as being part of your deck and must therefore adhere to all other deckbuilding restrictions.
• A card with the permanent keyword starts each game in play and is not shuffled into your investigator deck during setup.
• A card with the permanent keyword cannot be discarded by any means.

Accordingly, an experience point investment in the Permanent Talent Adaptable (The Miskatonic Museum, 110) is just what it sounds like—an investment in your investigator's ability to adapt to the mysteries he or she uncovers over the course of a campaign. And given how much the card may allow you to adapt your deck to the challenges you could never predict at the campaign's outset, you'd be wise to consider Adaptable among your very first acquisitions once you have a point or two of experience in hand.  You do get two copies of each player card to help with deck building.

 The guardian class get the emergency aid event at 2 cost.  It lets you heal 2 damage from an investigator or ally at your location, pretty handy, since things are getting tougher all the time, and staying alive, is well.. pretty important!

Brother Xavier is a 5 cost ally,  who gives you +1 intellect and has a healthy 3 hit points, and 3 sanity.  He can alway be assigned damage or horror that other investigators in the same location may receive, so useful for keeping your other playing partners who may not be so strong around.  He also has the free reaction, that when he is defeated you can deal 2 damage to an enemy at your location.

 The seeker class the 3 cost event Ive got a plan!.  This is used in fight, and lets you use your lore for your fight value, and you deal +1 damage for each clue you have, so it can really allow you to hit something super hard.

Pathfinder is a 3 cost asset, that as a free action can be exhausted if you are not engaged with any enemy to allow you to move to a connecting location.  Excellent for action economy, and enhancing your mobility.

The Mystics get the 1 cost event Delve too Deep, (my winner of art of the pack award) which works very well for more than 1 players, but still has its uses..... Each investigator draws a card from the top of the encounter deck, and then this card is added to the victory display for 1, so really 1 player gets the least scary option of only 1 card.

Song of the dead is a 2 cost spell with 5 charges, now for me, there is only one blues playing musician mystic investigator that should get this, (in theme anyway!)

The Rogues get a 4 cost event, so its pricey, but its great... Contraband lets you double the ammo or supply tokens on an asset, im thinking perfect for Jennys guns to get crazy ammo.  Its best used early so you can get most use from it.

Adaptable we looked at early, but again im thinking perfect for Jenny!

survivors get 3 new cards.... Oops! is a 2 cost event that is fast, so it doesn't cost you an action.  You can play after you fail a skill test by 2 or less whilst attacking an enemy engaged with you.  You can then deal this attacks damage to a different enemy at your location, so at least you still get to do some.

The Fire Extinguisher is a 2 cost asset that has a couple of uses.... you can fight with it to get +1 melee for the attack, or you can use an action and exile it (remove it from the game) to give you a +3 evade test that lets you evade ALL enemies at a location if successful.  Its nice its multi purpose

Then we have Flare which is a 2 cost event that lets you pick one of two options....

you can use it in a fight action to get +3 fight and do +2 damage before exiling it, making it pretty brutal.  Or you can search the top 9 cards of any investigators deck for an ally and put it into play, a real useful versatile card.

Lastly for player cards we get 3 neutral cards to chose from.

Smoking pipe is a 1 cost asset that has 3 uses. you can spend 1 supply to take a damage but heal 1 horror... makes sense thematically to me.

The Necronomicon is a 2 cost asset that gives you  a plus 1 lore, and as an action lets you gain 2 resources, so great for action economy.

Lastly in player card we have Painkillers, a 1 cost asset, that has 3 uses, you spend a supply to heal a horror, but take a damage, so a nice counter to the pipe.

Not Your Ordinary Museum

With cards like Adaptable and Delve Too Deep that explore the effects between your games—rather than within them—Arkham Horror: The Card Game is leading you to places you will have never previously explored within customizable card games. It's half card gaming and half roleplaying, and it's all moving toward something deeper, darker, more profound, and more horrifying than you could have ever imagined…


If you like Arkham Horror the card game, this is a no brainer, you NEED to get it, it adds a lot of much needed options for deck building, which with only the core, and the Dunwich Legacy currently out, it is much needed for variety and of course a great new scenario to play through in one of the classic settings (if you love Elder Sign). Its also great that you don't have to have Dunwich to enjoy it, you can play it standalone.  I love the variety of quest styles already starting so am looking forward hugely to the next pack

It comes in with an RRP of £14.99 so head on over to your local game store and grab yourself a pack.

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