Overview
Dunwich Horror is the second expansion to Fantasy Flight Games' Arkham Horror, and the first "large" expansion. It includes new cards, tokens, and mechanics for most every aspect of gameplay, as well as a new board representing the village of Dunwich and environs.
Note: My experience with this expansion has included the Curse of the Dark Pharaoh card expansion. This may affect several factors (such as the frequency of gates opening in Dunwich due to Mythos card dilution) to a small degree, but I shall set aside issues particular to Curse in italics throughout this review.
Components
The components of Dunwich Horror are to the generally high standards of Fantasy Flight Games and should be familiar to anyone who has played Arkham Horror. The Ancient Ones, investigators, cards, tokens, and board are all of the same quality as those used in the base game.
There are several minor points to note:
First, the Dunwich board is in the yellowish sepia color used on international and newer editions of Arkham Horror rather than the darker colors used in the original US edition. Apparently this is designed to improve readability, but I prefer the more atmospheric original. Nonetheless, the contrasting boards are not as jarring as I had feared they might be, and still look good together. The board also contains a small misprint; one of the dimensional symbols for an Other World, Lost Carcosa, is printed in violet but should be played as blue (violet is not used as an Other World color, so this issue is mainly an aesthetic one).
Second, Dunwich contains reprinted versions of the Lantern, Healing Stone, and Flesh Ward cards with current errata. These are welcome additions and certainly help in avoiding additional minutiae in an already finicky game.
Finally, there are no new components involving Exhibit Items, the "surprise" mechanic, multi-colored gate cards, or other Dark Pharaoh specific mechanics, so players will not need to be familiar with that expansion to play this one. The implications of this are discussed in more detail below.
Gameplay
Dunwich, for the most part, makes two basic additions to Arkham Horror. 386
The first is increased "experience" in essentially every aspect of the game; this is to say, it includes the proverbial "more of everything." The second is an increase in difficulty.
The expansion expands on the base game in nearly every area: there are new Ancient Ones, investigators, monsters, items, spells, encounters, Mythos cards, locations, and Other Worlds. These breathe new life into the game, greatly increasing the variety of experiences and presenting the investigators with new choices ("Would it be more dangerous to explore Yuggoth or Lost Carcosa?", "Would I be better off purchasing the trusty old Shotgun or the fancy new Flamethrower?"). New items and spells are useful and sometimes quite powerful, and the new investigators in particular, ranging from a soldier to a jazz singer, are generally strong, possessing useful and creative special abilities. Players who enjoy the "RPG-lite" aspect of the game will find a lot of new content here that should keep them happy, especially if this expansion is combined with the previous one.
Certain additions to the game are completely new and demand special attention:
Injury and Madness cards can be drawn both through encounters and when an investigator is knocked unconscious or driven insane, respectively. These are often good alternatives to losing half of one's items and clues, but permanently handicap the player. (For instance, a leg injury may permanently reduce an investigator's Speed, and Agoraphobia will cause an investigator to lose sanity for ending her turn in the streets.)
Tasks and Missions are new types of Common and Unique Items, respectively. They outline errands a player may run (Missions require additional sacrifices of resources along the way) which result in various effects, from gaining a few dollars for the most basic Tasks, to winning the game for the most difficult Missions. These add new and interesting thematic dimensions to the game, and provide excuses to visit some of the less frequented locations in the game, such as the River Docks.
The Dunwich Horror itself may appear if monsters aren't properly managed in the village, and defeating it will likely provide a significant challenge for even a very well equipped investigator. Letting it live is a poor alternative; when it would move, it can instead add a token to the Ancient One's Doom Track. Other new monsters aren't quite as vicious, but are still quite dangerous: Hunting Horrors will track down investigators who stay outside, Rat Things will stalk players and steal their items, and Colours Out of Space are Physically and Magically Immune and have a sanity-blasting horror check.
A common complaint among veteran players was the relatively low difficulty of the original game once mastered, and the monsters are only one aspect of the expansion's significantly increased difficulty. 558