Ends to a Meany - Roland Banks

Introduction

Roland Banks and Daisy Walker are the most specialized characters out of the core set. There are two key components of any successful game of Arkham Horror the Card Game: killing monsters and getting clues. Roland murders monsters in his sleep, ripping them to shreds without breaking a sweat.

Required Sets: Revised Core Set

Daisy's Deck.

Strengths

Roland's has one main goal: killing monsters. His secondary goal of snagging a few clues is accomplished via this first goal.

Killing Monsters. Roland is the only character in the core set with 4 , which makes a huge difference in his ease of dispatching baddies. .45 Automatic, Machete, and Roland's .38 Special double your damage output and make your even higher, which is critical for elites. Vicious Blow adds more damage, and Guard Dog does more incidental damage.

Getting Clues. This is not Roland's main function, but his ability makes picking up a few inevitable and quite helpful. Evidence! can double his ability, and Working a Hunch can pick up a clue without using an action, which is always appreciated. Spending a few actions to investigate with Flashlight and Perception doesn't hurt, either.

Weaknesses

Roland's first issue is his low sanity. Physical Training and Guts can help get you through scary encounter cards. His only low stat is his of 2. There is rarely a reason for you to evade monsters, but if you don't get a weapon out early you can get into trouble if you draw a scary enemy. Lastly, Roland's weakness has a drawback that you do not want. It isn't too difficult to get three clues, but it can be an annoying setback.

Gameplay

Opening Hand and Turn One. Roland has to have a weapon to do his thing. The best weapon to look for when the game starts is probably Machete because it doesn't run out of ammo and does extra damage. Roland's .38 Special and .45 Automatic are both good too if you don't draw a machete. Guard Dog is excellent to start with, too. You want to have enough resources for these cards too, so Emergency Cache is a keeper. Anything besides one weapon, Guard Dog, and Emergency Cache can be mulliganed safely.

Killing everything. Not only should you be trying to kill monsters you draw, you also have to kill monsters that Daisy draws. Stay close to her as much as possible so you can kill things so she can do her thing in safety.

Using your ability. Try to end your turns in locations that have clues in them so you can get a clue if you draw a monster in the next Mythos phase. Don't be afraid to take an attack of opportunity to kill a monster in a location with clues.

Not dying. Dodge is critical for not dying, especially when you get to big bosses at the end of scenarios. Use Guts and Physical Training to get bludgeoned less by horror-dealing encounter cards.

Hot tip. Make Roland lead investigator for the first game. You won't regret it.

What is Out

These commonly played cards are not on this list. Why?

First Aid. Using an action to heal? Why do that when you could do damage? Also, you're often engaged with monsters and finding a good time to use this is pretty tough.

Magnifying Glass and Deduction. Daisy plays these cards better, and your job is not really to take the investigate action. If there is nothing better to do, perhaps investigate is better than gaining a resource, but generally you have no use for either of these.

Beat Cop. This card is quite good, but both Beat Cop and Guard Dog are allies you want to have out for a while, and hence there is only room for one. Beat Cop only does one damage and costs an extra resource, so Guard Dog wins.

Dynamite Blast and Barricade. These cards are too situational. Dynamite Blast is a lot of resources, and Barricade is only nice if there are a lot of hunter enemies and you can get away from them, which is uncommon.

Upgrades

Charisma

Roland has good allies, and all of them want to be out for a long time. Multiple copies of the same ally? Still insane. Get Charisma. This will make you permanently stronger.

2x Knife 2x Beat Cop

The upgraded Beat Cop is much better than the original, doing three damage instead of one. With Charisma, these Beat Cops will always be wanted and they will make your damage consistent and wonderful. You do not need a Knife with so many better weapons in your arsenal.

Flashlight Elder Sign Amulet

You need this. Hits from monsters and treachery cards and [!spoiler!] the 1 mental trauma you take for Lita Chantler [spoiler over] will make this necessary. Also, why hold a Flashlight when you could hold a gun?

Flashlight, Perception 2x Extra Ammunition

Extra Ammunition makes Roland's weapons much more consistent. At only 1 experience each, it's a safe grab. No investigating is necessary for Roland, so cut the other Flashlight and Perception.

Perception Elder Sign Amulet

Adding this makes you that saner that much more consistently. A good add.

Emergency Cache Emergency Cache

You can't really go wrong with this if you have a few more experience laying around.

Bad Upgrades. Shotgun is fun, but not good. 4 experience? Both hands? 2 ammo? Go elsewhere. Police Badge costs 3 resources and 1 action to get a small boost to a stat you don't care about and eventually 2 actions back. Not worth. The other options costs too much experience.

Sample Upgraded Deck.

Conclusion

After many games with just the core set, this is what finally got us a win. Good luck ending meanies.