British Bull Dog

This card is the definitive nail in the coffin for Sharpshooter which was already a weak pick to slot into your deck. All the investigators who can get this card are shooting at a 6+, not including any passive boost, and synergizing with any skill commit that has the icon. Compared to the Ornate Bow it also has the added benefit of keeping your other hand free. Great include for both Sefina Rousseau and Wendy Adams for extra enemy management.

Ignoring the aloof is icing on the cake. It allows you to take care of annoying birds of all sizes while saving an engage action, and the potential to put it out for free when you tried to bluff to them that you are also a bird.

Or you can take potshots from the safety of your Hiding Spot.

Ahoge-dono · 17
Wendy is all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipIDeCZJmhk — MrGoldbee · 1402
Rather than a nail in the coffin, I'd sooner think this gun lets sharpshooter decks be a real thing. The problem with sharpshooter as people noted was if you didnt draw it and only had foot you'd be hooped. Similarly one gun isn't going to solve your enemy problem for the whole game. But this way you have four cards in your deck that let you fire guns effectively until you draw into the other one. — Spamamdorf · 1
There are 3 rogues with sub-4 agility and 5 non-rogues with access to Birtish Bull Dog 2 and sub-4 agility. Only just over half the eligible users actually have a good agility stat. — OrionAnderson · 44
Rod of Carnamagos

Since nobody wrote a review of it yet: This card (and to a lesser, but not very low degree it's downgrade) is freaking nuts! Not only because of it's obviously useful ability to make all kind of debuffs to non-Elite enemies, gives a great toy with Abyssal Rot to fellow Alessandra or Trish players and even a nice econ option for yourself with Aember Rot, but it can be triggered in any player window, including during tests (before or after committing cards). This makes for a bonkers combo piece with the Innsmouth set of Spell assets, as the tokens revealed will count for the effect, and you put them back into the bag before the "actual" reveal token step of the test, so you might draw them again. Just notice, that there must be a non-Elite enemy to be targeted on the board.

You can soup up this cheeky trick with Olive McBride. Reveal 4 tokens normal, then for your fifth, with the new level 2 version, reveal 4 and cancel 2 of them. Note, that in case you draw 3 or 4 tokens with Olive, you can only count 2 of them, the cancelled ones are not considered to be drawn for the later effect on your Eye of Chaos or Armageddon. I repeatedly managed to first charge up my spells with enough charges to last an entire scenario, then used the reveals for extra damage or clues. Since you can't discover additional clues on a on your (only a connecting) location, I was less conservative with charges on the Eye than on Armageddon, because I would get extra charges later on, when there were no clues on connecting locations anyway. Obviously, Shroud of Shadows should be similar good in this combo. I did not take it, as I rather used Occult Reliquary for a hand slot for the Rod and did not have the deck slot for another card with additional arcane slot.

Of course, this can be abused for other skill tests as well. Like on the new set of upgrades of DreamEaters Spell events, which I'm pretty sure will foreshadow other Spell upgrades, based on the return on succeed by x design pattern we've seen in . Probably even Song of the Dead might be build around, though I would rather not. Just as I wrote this review, I noticed another one suggesting .35 Winchester as combo piece. As I mentioned in another review, it is a fantastic enabler for macabre depiction on Living Ink. Revealing the token you want on a test has never being easier than with this card.

Susumu · 335
Bring curses of aeons along if you want to play song of the dead to convert the curses to a skull. — Tharzax · 1
Haha, that is cool tech! Though, the longevity of 5 charges of SotD will likely be shorter than 3 on Armageddon, which can easily pull you through a scenario. — Susumu · 335
Nkosi will also work if you draw any other symbol with the rod. But someone other need to do the math if he is better than the olives — Tharzax · 1
Yes, I did consider him, but prefered taking Gabriel instead. And as a third ally with second Charisma, he seemed too expensive. Olive I could upgrade on discound, thanks to DtRH. In retrospect, he would have been worth it as final upgrade for "Fate of the Vale", where replacing Cultist, Tablet and Elder Thing would get additional value, and I would have had the XP for that, but this we did not know on our blind run, and we've won the campaign anyway. — Susumu · 335
With this ruling also the mediocre cards miracle wish and seal of the elders starts getting interesting. I think I need to build a kohaku deck around this. — Tharzax · 1
I think, they gave the Rod it's unrestricted free trigger to enable these cards. But making the Innsmouth spell suite de facto unrestricted by charges is where it becomes busted. EoC (4) becomes basically 6thS (4) PLUS RoS (2) combined in only 1 arcane slot and activated in 1 action, without ever fearing to run out of RoS charges. — Susumu · 335
Living Ink

Now let's talk about Macabre Depiction for a while, as it has not been done before. This customisation has become extreme valuable at the latest with the Hemlock Vale Investigator expansion. I played Kōhaku Narukami with Living Ink, Rod of Carnamagos and Olive McBride, and after I purchased Macabre Depiction (which I did before scenario 3), I never dropped below 3 charges. I always draw at least one symbol token, the turn I played it, so it got 4 charges at that point. Then, if I draw a symbol during the Mythos Phase, it might max out at 5 charges, at the start of my turn it dropped at 4 or 3 charges. In retrospective, my built would have been viable for a Torrent of Power, to be committed for 5 or 3 , and still being safer not to "break" than a Lockpicks (1) on an Easy bag. This is not a hyperbole.

Now of course, this build requires to go into blurse, but who with the Rod of Rot would not go into curses at least? Note, that you kind of have to take Olive (2) as well, as you can't use the Rod, while there is no non-Elite enemy on the board, because you need a target for it.

Kōhaku can check 6 boxes, so I took Shifting Ink and Eldritch Ink (, with being my initial skill of course) as well, the first was a bit of a wasted experience. I never played both copies, as Alessandra much preferred the feel of silk against her skin to an ordinary tattoo, and I never draw the second copy in time to spend it on Hank anyway. But the later was quite useful. With Gabriel Carillo and the tattoo, I got a base of 6, so was not solemnly depending on Eye of Chaos to investigate, although it was of course my main way to do.

Susumu · 335
The glasses feel like the final peace, to get to +8 and 2 clues once per round. — MrGoldbee · 1402
I did consider "Prismatic Spectacles", there is sure a solid build with them, too. But as a flex, I wanted the willpower buff from my accessory, so I ended up with the Guardian Rosary, which was tbh not ideal in TFoHV, as it has more often other stats tested on treacheries than usual, but this I didn't know, as it was our blind run. — Susumu · 335
Toe to Toe

Hank Samson wants, at least that's my believe, flip his investigator card as soon as possible. Since this is done by taking dmg/horror Toe to Teo may be of great use to him. Not only it gets the job done → kill/damage enemy but also gets him closer to flipping his investigator card.

bugiel_marek · 12
You want to flip your card LATE...because you do it too early, you lose. — MrGoldbee · 1402
So long as you properly set up some soak, when you flip your card shouldn't be much of an issue. Survivors have both infinite horror and damage soak in their allies so it shouldnt be hard to stay alive after flipping early. — Spamamdorf · 1
Depends of the campaign. FoHV has quite a bit of direct damage and horror. — Susumu · 335
I think I agree with @Spamamdorf here. Having 5/5 asks to be ready for an early flip anyhow. Luckily survivor got tools for it (Peter & Jessica) and couple of prevents in the form of events. But @Susumu has a point, campaigns with a lot of direct dmg/horror may pose some problems to this - rush to flip - approach. — bugiel_marek · 12
And if you find this approach: flip asap feasible, then you can speed it up with In the Thick of It. This allows you to grab 2 copies of Jessica for the very first scenario. — bugiel_marek · 12
Old Hunting Rifle

You will never jam if you run this with Ancient Covenant and Favor of the Sun, though that only works once per round. The funny thing is that if you run this combo, .35 Winchester is a better gun if you can take it. It costs one more resource but has 5 ammo and is a level 0 card (plus 1 less but that shouldn't matter).