Drawing Thin

I think this card is incredibly broken. When I first saw it, I thought the skill test had to be succesful in order to get the bonus, which would 've been totally reasonable if that were the case. Instead, Survivors now get a card that lets them click for 2 resources once a turn simply by taking an investigate action and using this card and they still have a chance to get a clue. The only downsides I see are when there are negative effects of failing on certain tokens and the negative effects on Haunted locations in TCU. Other than that, I think it's almost an auto-include in non-Dark Horse decks in every Survivor.

What makes this card even better is its notable interaction with Rabbit's Foot and especially its upgraded version. With Rabbit's Foot, you now have even more reasons to fail tests, as you can now click for 2 resources and a card, and what makes this card totally absurd is its combination with Rabbit's Foot (3): With it, you can take an investigate action, proc Drawing Thin to increase the difficulty of the test, fail hard and tutor even further than you otherwise would, plus you get resources for doing so! And you can do this every turn! So, you now have a powerful tutoring engine that can get you all the cards you need while making money in the process!! Absolutely unreal!!

But you won't always have the luxury to draw or make money, right? Sometimes there's a tight race against the agenda, or the situation is rough and you don't have the luxury to juggle around with your deck. So, let's find situations where this is useful in other ways, namely when you have the opportunity to use this during a test you want to pass. These tests are not very common, but such situations can arise and allow you to make more profit out of this card. An example that comes in mind is a Finn Edwards or Wendy Adams with Lockpicks. Both of these characters can use Lockpicks to investigate at high skill value, allowing the use of Drawing Thin during that investigation without failing the test. In the same manner, other cards that test more than one stat that add up to one another can make interesting cases. Some examples are Cheap Shot and Slip Away. Another example is Rita Young. With her high Agility and all those assets that boost it further she has a good chance to pass an evade test even if its increased by 2. But let's be honest, if you have this card early, you can always just click for 2 resources and those cases where you will want to make money during a skill test will be rare, so it's a win-win in most situations.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't like card. I love it, to be honest. But I wonder; how is it possible that a card with such powerful abilities and interactions was released?? Simply amazing...

matt88 · 3242
I just imagine Yorick going bonkers with this card (or TWO) out. — CecilAlucardX · 10
It's a net +2 Fight with Fire Axe in play which makes me think this might be useful even in Dark Horse decks. — RPZip · 1
I pulled off a move with Wendy where I moved to a location, activated the Track Shoes then Drawing Thin to make it a +1 test (with Pete Sylvester in play). I took 2 resources which I spent to play Watch This while also pitching in Quick Thinking. Ended up gaining 4 resources and moving two locations without it costing a single action. That's insanely good. — Sassenach · 189
How would Live and Learn interact with Drawing Thin? Would the +2 difficulty still apply on the re-take of the test? — Cluny · 52
When I first saw this card I thought about Calvin: increase by 2 the difficulty of a test that deals him 1 damage/horror by lacking point and you boost him faster. — AlexP · 297
Yes, Live and Learn and Drawing Thin do have an ambiguous reaction. This was just cleared up by MN earlier today and I'll post the clarification on this page as its own review. But tl;dr: Drawing Thin effects both checks. — StyxTBeuford · 13053
Drawing thin has an op interaction with Streetwise. If you trigger both on a test you basically net +1 on the test for free. — Tsuruki23 · 2590
The funny thing is that, based on some comments by the designers, they actually didn't realize how broken this was going to be. — Zinjanthropus · 231
Vantage Point

Long range clue manipulation is the new game in town. The suite includes cards such as Connect the Dots and Intel Report and while it's still all dependent on incidental Jank, it actually works.

First, what characters?

  • Ursula Downs with her ability to slam a location she just moved into with all 3 actions's worth of investigation can make full use of the shroud reduction.
  • Roland Banks can use this to move clues with him to cheat up.
  • "Ashcan" Pete can move a clue to ensure Duke picks up 2 at once.
  • Rex Murphy can hoist around clues to round things out to even numbers, he can do it reactively to null out a failure to trigger his and try it again elsewhere or ensure that something like 2 different 3-clue locations turn into a 2 and 4 clue location respectively.

Regardless of character, you can skootch a clue off of a location that you don't want to return to or onto an easier spot, or elsewise you might use it to "finish" a location for XP or a scenario requirement. There is also one colossal moving force in the strength/weakness of Vantage Point, player count. Depending on your other card choices you may be so and so able to pick up clues in a count of 2's or 3's, this is where multi clue cards and cards like Intel Report and Connect the Dots come in.

In 2 player you can play Intel Report or Connect the Dots to clean up a location completely, in 3 player you might move the clue from a 3-clue location and get the other two as mentioned before (style points for using Vantage Point to enable playing Connect the Dots).

Make note of the precise text on Vantage Point, you can play the card when a location is revealed, but also when a location enters play, this little extra window of use might be helpful in certain scenarios.

All in all the card is not particularly strong, moving a clue is an ancillary benefit, barely worth a slot on most characters. A primary clue gatherer in a large party might consider it to enhance their ability to react to clues all over the map via Connect the Dots or an Ursula Downs or "Ashcan" Pete who can move the clue, use the shroud reduction and pick up the moved clue in a flurry of investigation.

Tsuruki23 · 2590
Crack the Case

Solid card. Have tried it in Joe and would recommend not putting it in the insight deck however. It doesn't benefit from the discount and it doesn't help you clear the clues thenlmselves, much better kept in hand so that he can use his other tricks to clear clues and then follow up with this as soon as possible.

The best thing about the card is that in solo it's always a good play regardless of the Shroud value, even 1 extra credit is an action saved and it scales from there. Since he's able to break Shroud 3-4 without breaking a sweat though this is a definite replacement for Emergency Chache in his decks.

skanedog · 70
Roland Banks also loves this card. His ability saves the action of getting the clue and this pays him for it; insane value. This card singlehandedly puts Roland's economy on par with the richer Guardians (Leo, Carolyn, Zoey). Sorry Mark; you're now officially the poorest Guardian. — SGPrometheus · 855
But Mark did get Act of Desperation to help refund midgame. — Death by Chocolate · 1491
Mark probably needs the money the least as he has a base 5 fight and can punch above his weight when the chips are down. Act of Desperation gave him a way to gain some resources to keep fighting and well maintained means that he can keep the fight up. — Myriad · 1226
What I love with this card is that it can be a solid support for the team. I think every Guardian will be happy to be gifted resources to play their expensive weapons! — mogwen · 254
Contraband

This card has been disregarded as too expensive and ineffective. I will have to agree that at low player counts this might be truth for reasons already stated in previous reviews. At high player counts though it can be a strong asset (I mean event), specially on highly specialised investigator teams that rely mostly on 1 investigator to deal most of the damage in the mid-late campaign.

The more ammo/supply tokens you already have on an asset, the more value you get out of this card. For this reason it requires some good teamwork and planing to find the best window of opportunity to play this card. If you time it right you can be adding 10+ bullets to the big gun of your fellow guardian with Contraband. Here is an example how this worked in one of my 4 player games:

  • Mark Harrigan plays Lightning Gun, he uses one bullet to kill a snake-person but then he manages to add 3 bullets with Extra Ammunition. Then Wendy Adams plays Contraband transforming those 5 bullets into 10, then she plays Wendy's Amulet followed by playing Contraband from her discard pile adding 10 extra bullets to the Lightning Gun for a total of 20 bullets. Jenny Barnes also ran 2 copies of contraband and had one in hand meaning she could have transformed those 20 bullets into 40! but she thought 20 was enough and didn't use it, a decision she would later regret.

If used right Contraband is an amazing team combo card that can grant your guardian a big gun with almost unlimited ammo. Someone who doesn't have much experience playing at higher investigator counts may now be thinking "that's unnecessary, you don't need that much ammo". To that I will respond that at 4 players the encounter deck recurs very quickly, which can result in a constant flow of 3 hp enemies every round and if you are on the last scenarios of a campaign you will most probably be facing a boss (sometimes even multiple bosses with 20+ HP!) and maybe, only maybe, also one of those damn enemies that come back from the grave (I mean victory display)! So yeah the extra bullets are not only welcomed but sometimes even necessary.

In conclusion: The main function of this card should be to grant your guardian an almost unlimited amount of ammo for his big game gun. This is a powerful strategy at high player counts because of the constant flow of enemies and specially if you are relaying on a guardian to deal most of the damage for the team. Some cards that are not playable at lower player counts can be amazing at multiplayer...which makes trying different player counts a fun experience.

Alogon · 1151
I run a copy of this under Leo’s Stick to the Plan in my all blue 3’s game. We love playing this on my Flamethrower or Caroline’s First Aid, especially if I’ve gotten to trigger Venturer a few times first! And yes, we use every drop! — Death by Chocolate · 1491
Now, with the upcoming Sixth Sense, Sefina will not necessarily need her hands for Lockpicks, making Ornate Bow a more desirable option. — mogwen · 254
I agree...but what has Sefina and the Ornate Bow to do with this review of Contraband ? :P — Alogon · 1151
Maybe because something strange happened because I was commenting on Ornate Bow! ;) I was surprised not to find my comment on Ornate Bow, now I found it! — mogwen · 254
On contraband I like your review, it shows how rogues can use their wonderful resource generation into something useful for the whole party! Rogues don't have to be selfish investigators, they can be good support characters. — mogwen · 254
Correcto :) — Alogon · 1151
Also combos well with the M1918 BAR. Get 16 ammo for one and then multiply that to 32 ammo with the second one O_O — Zinjanthropus · 231
Oh my, I missed the Supply trait. This is perfect for Leo! — thinsilver · 14
Ornate Bow

The Ornate bow has to have been one of the most impactful cards in the Forgotten age Cycle, simply because it is the only weapon that straight-up fights via . Here's my experience with it:

Ornate bow is fantastic. But bear in mind that it has severe limitations that drastically change the way you approach combat.

  • It has "infinite" uses but only ever one loaded shot at a time.

At once a big problem and incredibly flavourful. As an character sneaking around the periphery taking shots is exactly what you would be doing, the design of the bow achieves this in how carefully you must approach combat. You need to be ready to evade when you fight big threats, you take your time to load and plot shots.

To be effective with a bow, NEVER forego reloading it. The characters who put the bow to the best use need high , but more importantly they need a synergizing cardpool. A 3 character with the right cards is a way better archer then a 4 one without. The cardpools in question are: and .

The bow has a worthy bonus to hit, a 3 character is making shots at +5. The important part is being able to supplement the accuracy with cards that magnify the hit chance or "arrow efficiency". Live and Learn and Lucky! are HUGE backup cards for when you draw a really bad token while Sleight of Hand and Double or Nothing help you get a little more out of your bow. Narrow Escape lets you reload under pressure. Leo De Luca helps you get more shots inbetween evades. Lola Santiago, Peter Sylvestre and Track Shoes all help you net hits, not to mention several skill-pump talents, Cornered or High Roller. If you can play cards then Shrivelling covers you while the bow is empty and Premonition helps land big hits. The bow as an weapon cannot use Vicious Blow but Venturer will keep your bow loaded for you!

Watch out for the resource cost. 4 is quite a lot, but the bow is absolutely worth it. The double hand slot is much more a nuisance because it blocks Lockpicks.

So. Who can use it best?

  • Wendy Adams, Silas Marsh and Rita Young all have good cardpools for it and great stats, especially Wendy whose accuracy is unmatched thanks to her ability.
  • Agnes Baker has a good cardpool for archery, once you combine the bow, spells and her ability she's easily the strongest combat in the game and very flexible too.
  • Sefina Rousseau, "Skids" O'Toole and Finn Edwards all have great cardpools and stats for the bow, it really shines in Sefina who can supplement it with spells and attack events and can afford to land headshots every now and then.
  • Rex Murphy, while the cardpool has next to no synergy with the bow, Rex can just borrow some cards, his limitations block Lucky! and Double or Nothing but he can do Track Shoes and Live and Learn. The shoes are pretty great for a .
  • "Ashcan" Pete and Jenny Barnes both have nice cardpools for archery but both also have other techniques to fight, bringing in the bow is viable but will result in rather complex decks that double-dip and .

Thats it. I've used the bow to dig through surprisingly densely packed hellholes, now you go do the same! Remember this mantra: Shoot - Evade - Reload.

Tsuruki23 · 2590
Rex and Ursula (who I think is also a good candidate for the bow) can both field Eli Horowitz who provides a triple threat of helping find the bow, paying for it, and freeing up your hands. — Death by Chocolate · 1491
This weapon is serving me quite well with Preston Fairmont. As Rogue weapons are all (or nearly all) Illict, Preston is forced into neutral to look for good weapons. He also can't use Lockpicks anyway, so this item occupying two hands is not a big issue. The cost is easily paid for by his trust fund. Since he is terrible at doing skill checks when he doesn't spend resources or cards to boost them, it is quite good for him that the weapon deals a lot of damage when it is actually used - even if it requires an additional action to reload. — kalmakka · 1
I agree that Preston bow is really cool. Inheritance + Streetwise, plus the fact that he can't run Lockpicks anyway. — Blackhaven · 9
Really hope FFG gives us a neutral Quiver (body slot) with maybe 3 arrows, that doesn't discard itself, so it could be refilled with various cards, depending on whether they wanted to count arrows on it as supply or ammo. I'd love me some quiver builds. — Quantallar · 8