Cthulhu Wars: Masks of Nyarlathotep [CW-U10] (Kickstarter Special) Petersen Games

Board Game Geek Rating: 7.18
Board Game Geek Avg Player Rating: 8.06
Players: 2 to 4
Published: 2018
Content Notes: Cthulhu Wars: Masks of Nyarlathotep Expansion. Includes Bloated Woman figure, Shadow Pharaoh figure, Haunter of the Dark figure, 9 Dark Demon figures (one per Faction), Loyalty Cards x4, Spellbooks x2. From the Onslaught 3 Kickstarter campaign. Please note: unless otherwise stated paid add ons from the Kickstarter Campaign are not included.

Masks of Nyarlathotep Includes:
👾 The Bloated Woman figure,
👾 The Haunter of the Dark figure,
👾 The Shadow Pharaoh figure,
👾 9 Dark Demon figures, 
👾 4 Loyalty Cards,
👾 2 Spellbooks.

The multiplicity of the Crawling Chaos! 

The Dark Demons 
The dark demon is a form of Nyarlathotep which manifests itself by literally engulfing and transforming his summoner. When the avatar departs, the victim’s body is left transformed, forever a hideous monster. In the box, we provide Dark Demons in every faction color: nine total figures! When you recruit the Dark Demon, all the enemy factions also get one, but theirs is a burden and weakness to them, while yours is more of an asset.

The Shadow Pharaoh 
This manifestation is Nyarlathotep’s Egyptian connection, well-known from many stories. The figure itself is a sort of combination of sphinx, scorpion, mummy, pharaoh, and tentacled horror. I really like it, and I think you will too. It has an especially nasty ability which drives cultists off gates, making the gates vulnerable to be captured once the Pharaoh leaves.

The Bloated Woman
First popularized in the well-known adventure Masks of Nyarlathotep for the Call of Cthulhu system, the Bloated Woman is Nyarlathotep in a rather repulsive female form. She steals killed enemies, and later transforms your gates so they produce Elder Signs rather than Power.

The Haunter of the Dark
The Haunter of the Dark is a full-on Great Old One. It is awakened as with most independent Great Old Ones – you need a Gate with your own Great Old One. In the Haunter’s case, you spend 6 Power to get the loyalty card, putting it in the same high-end category as game-changers such as Atlach-Nacha, Cthugha, or Daoloth. (Most Independent Great Old Ones only cost 4, or even 2.)

If you’re Crawling Chaos, you can awaken the Haunter for just 5 Power, and you don’t need a Great Old One, so obtaining it is a lot easier, BUT every other faction does get an Elder Sign when you do this.

The Haunter is explicitly a combat critter. It has a combat of 1 per enemy spellbook (so in theory 0-6, but in practice usually at the high end). I wanted to reflect the fact that one of the Haunter’s best-known characteristics is that it can’t survive well in the light. Therefore, it actually starts with a weakness, representing this disability – Fly The Light. This “ability” states that post-Battle, if the enemy scored only 1 Kill, it MUST be applied to the Haunter. If the enemy scored 2 or more kills though, you can target them normally.

The Haunter’s spellbook is really easy to get – just spend 1 Power as an action. Trivial. In fact, normally this is the first thing you’ll do after awakening the Haunter, which gives your enemies a one-turn window to try to take it out, before you get this frightful pre-Battle ability. It’s The Shining Trapezohedron. Before rolling combat dice, your enemy has to roll 1 die per unit he has in the battle. For each Kill he rolls, he must eliminate a unit (his choice).

— from the publisher

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