Harvey Walters - the professor - Arkham Horror

Harvey Walters - the professor

Professor Walters began as a devotee of the archaic and obscure, but over the years he has discovered that his knowledge of ancient languages, profane relics, and strange rituals is vital to addressing dangers in the modern day. He is both an avid collector of prehistoric ephemera and a fount of knowledge regarding the bizarre primordial religions that worshipped nightmarish gods eons ago. There is perhaps no sane person alive who knows more about the occult than Harvey. When a supernatural event occurs, Professor Walters brings his considerable resources and experience to bear.

Okay we know this professor will pull out all the stops when it comes to the occult world. Not only does he collect these relics, he also wants to make his world a bit safer, even if he has to go to the edge.

His stat of 4/5/1/2 makes him the ultimate clue-finding weapon. Not only is his willpower above average, but also his intellect is insanely high. So you're in good hands if you have to research something with this professor. We have to tell you that if you play a campaign mode or a stand alone scenario with Harvey, you make it easy on yourself, because his health and sanity are also above average. You do have to play with another class, because this professor is not strong enough on its own.

He is an absolute disaster in fighting monsters and enemies he only has 1 fight skill and we don't even want to look at his evade skill of 2 point. This old man can't run or dodge at all. He can fight but it's only temporary. He can summon his special occult power. He just can't use this forever.

Let's take a closer look at his response ability, this deck is based on the fact that Harvey (not Harvey but you as a player) needs a lot of cards in his hands. You only make a chance if you keep drawing cards. So his natural reaction is that an Investigator at your location may take an extra card if you have to take a card in the Investigator phase. So two for the price of one. So if you play Preposterous Sketches in the Investigator phase, you take 4 cards instead of 3. This way you quickly build your handsize and Harvey becomes even stronger and smarter.

His SSA (Super star ability) is plain and simple. +1 for the skill test and +1 card draw and if this skill test is in the investigator phase you will trigger it's response ability what means +1 extra card.

This was the first deck we bought from the expension investigators. So it's a pleasure to tell you that we haven't tweaked this deck yet, because it plays great on its own. We went through the entire dunwich legacy cycle with him and what a cool adventure it was. If you have collected enough victory points you can make this deck really cool.

special card

Vault of Knowledge

The hole game of playing with Harvey is to get as much cards in your hand as possible. Know you now what we think of talents, haha. But this card is the second talent card that we must en needed to play. They other is Hard Knocks from the rogue class. This card has 3 skill icons so that you also can use this card in a skill test, but you probably already know that's one of the mistakes you will not make. Play this card as it is, a talent. Your hand seize increase by 2 so you can hold up to 10 cards in your hand and that's where the power of Harvey is. But you will read about that later. This response ability helps you draw cards. For every successful investigation you may exhaust the vault and draw a card.

weakness

Thrice-Damned Curiosity

Ok this one is a killer for Harvey. The main goal with Harvey is to collect as many cards possible in your hands. Because that where the magic begins for Harvey. This card at they other hand tries to destroy Harvey for that. So the sooner you draw this card the better. For every 3 cards in your hand take 1 damage. If you play Harvey right you will always have a minimal of 10 cards in your hand. With simple math this card will deal 3 damage at least. Later in the game when you already take some damage this can be end of Harvey.

Obsessive

Another weakness card special for the Harvey Walter deck. It brings some extra ambiance with it. But also another bad way to get rid of your hard earn cards. Every turn you lose a card at random from your hand. It's a non weakness card so everything goes. For 2 actions you can get rid of this card. So do it fast because you need all your cards in hand.

event

Now let's have a look at the event cards. This will stir things up if you play with Harvey. It makes new pathways or not depending on your play style and off course the scenario you play.

Burning the midnight oil / Free resources plain and simple. You will get +1 evade of +1 investigate.

Cryptic Writings / Also real simple, free resources only this time you will have to play it if you draw it in your turn. So you gain 2 free resources or you play it as a skill card. The choice is yours.

Extensive Research / WOW 12 resources!! No haha, this card reduces -1 for every card in your hand. And the standard hand we had many times is 10. So 2 resources for 2 clues. It's like the clues are for sale.

Occult Invocation / Ok you can play this card for free. No not really free but you can sacrifice 2 cards from your hand to play this one. We do not recommended but if you have no resources to play this card and you are in a bad situation where you have to kill something. Then this is the best way to do it. Fight use your intellect instead of your fight skill and get +1 skill and do +1 damage. If you do play this card with discarding cards from your hand it does +1 damage extra for each card discarded. So you can discard 1 card and pay 1 resource and do 1 extra damage or discard 2 card and do +2 damage. So you are the spell caster and make the choice an how much damage you deal.

Preposterous Sketches / 2 resources for 3 card. Cards are up for sale. Only if there is a clue on your location.

assets

We are arrived at the asset cards. These are the powers of our special investigator named Harvey Walters. Investigators of the seeker class don't use ammo, they use secrets! Let's find out what they can do with secrets.

Arcane Enlightenment / This ritual gifs you +1 hand size and a extra hand slot (so magic create a extra hand) Only you can use it for tomes. With the cost of 2 it is a pretty fancy card.

Celaeno Fragments / Ok you read a lot of 10 card in your hand or even more. With this card you know why. For 5 cards you get +1 intellect, 10 you get +1 willpower and 15 you have +1 intellect. So if you have 15 cards in your hand you will get +2 intellect and +1 willpower. It's a tome so with Arcane Enlightenment in play you will still have 2 hand slots. And all of that power will only cost you 1 resource.

Disc of Itzamna / The amulet that will kill! For 3 resource you can hang this disc around your neck and if there is an enemy or a monster spawning at your location just discard the disc to kill it for 2 damage or to evade the enemy. Harvey isn't a fighter so this necklace is pretty powerful in the eyes of Harvey.

Encyclopedia / 2 resources for yet another powerful tome. With this tome you can spend 5 secrets. The investigator at your location gets +2 skill for the skill test he or she wants to preform. What a power! Go Harvey!

Feed the mind / Knowledge is the best power a seeker can have. So feed the mind comes into play for 3 resources. You will get 3 secrets. Use an action to use one of those secrets. Then test 1 intellect what is a peace of cake for Harvey. For every point of succes you may draw a card. So this card is key to get a lot and I mean a lot of cards. It's a key card for playing with Harvey.

Higher education / Yes, here's the talent card for Harvey Walter. You must have 5 o more cards in your hand to spend the resource you need for an extra boost. Because that's what a talent card is. Boost the skill you needed. You can boost your skill for 1 intellect or 1 willpower.

Laboratory Assistant / Yet another key component for this deck. Your hand size increases by +2 and if the assistant enters play draw 2 cards. She has a stat of 1/2 so she also can absorb some damage or sanity. The cost of 2 is awesome.

Whitton Greene / Harvey also got a companion, or that's what we call our beloved Whitton. If you controle a tome or relic what is very easy in this deck you get +1 intellect. She has a cost of 4 and you will need to bring her in play as fast as you can. Because for each new location or a location that comes into play exhaust Whitton and search the top 6 cards for a tome or relic card. Then put that card in your hand. Suffle the rest back into the deck.

the forbidden tome

Okay, this is a special card that requires some extra attention. This card has a lot of text but it is an easy card. By triggering this action you get an extra card and a secret disappears from this card. What immediately triggers your response ability and so you can take an extra card. The goal is to get rid of those 5 secrets and to have 10 or more cards in your hand. Then you can write in your log that you deciphered the book.

This is very important for upgrading this card in the future. You get the chance to use this book for other purposes. With this book you can go in 2 directions, let's see what you can achieve with this deciphered books.

Forbidden Tome - Dark knowledge (upgrade)

This expansion of your Tome allows you to deal extra damage to your enemy or monster. For every 4 cards in your hand, this ability will cost you one action less. So it's an expensive card to deal damage, but we already knew Harvey wasn't a fighter.

You can exhaust this card and then deal damage from one player card to an enemy. There must be a player card with damage on your location, otherwise you cannot use this card.

PRO TIP: This is not the card expansion we would advice you.

Forbidden Tome - Secrets revealed (upgrade)

Well this is the card you need in a real Harvey Walters deck. This card has helped us in many playing sessions. I have to say that it is a very expensive card. Not only does it cost you a lot of effort to decipher the first Tome, this card also costs you quite a few victory points. With a cost of 3 victory point I will postpone this card until a later scenario. It is best to decipher the first Tome and then buy the expension card at a later stage. This way you can make the ultimate Harvey Walters clue finding deck faster.

With this card you can perform a number of actions which costs one less with every 4 cards. If you use this ability you will deplete the card and you may move harvey to a adjacent location where you immediately find a free clue.

PRO TIP: Only use this card ability is you have 8 cards in your hand! Because of its high action cost.

skill

Deduction

The most played skill card in our play session history. Use this card in a investigation skill test and if you succeeded you will earn a extra clue. So with this card you can maintain your TEMPO trough out the game. It's also grand you with an extra + 1 skill point for an investigation action.

upgrade cards

Last but at certainty not the last. We bring up the upgrade cards. The upgrade cards for the expansion investigator decks are usually more than the normal classes bring you. This because of there are designed for a hole playing campaign experience.

Whitton Greene / Asset and ally. This upgrade version brings only joy! You will get +1 willpower and intellect. And if you review a new location or a locations enters play, you may exhausted our Miss Greene and search the top 9 cards for a relic or tome card. The card cost is cheap. 2 victory points.

Farsight / Simple, this cards let you play an event card if it was a FAST card. Only when it's your turn and if you have a minimal of 8 cards in your hand. High cost for 4 victory points. But it's worth all the points.

Espteric Atlas / Cost 4 victory points or experience points, you name it. You will get 4 secrets, 1 action and secret cost and you may move up to 3 revealed locations way from you. Now that's what we called the Indiana Jones move. And it will cost you only 3 resource to bring this card in play.

The Necronomicon / Alright the book of books! This is worth al the victory point it cost. It will cast a lot of spells. You can also use this book for a skill test and you will get 5 yes you read that right 5! intellect icons. Now that's not what I will use it for but for the spell you can unleash. You can deal damage, draw cards, collect clues, get +2 for a skill test. Wow! It's the number one card to ad to your Harvey Walter deck asap! It's so powerful you can only put one in your deck.

Miskatonic Archaeology Funding / Harvey has his special permanent* card. You have 2 additional ally slots. So from the beginning of your play session you can play up to 3 allies. Only 2 of them need to have the Miskatonic trait. The only downside is that you only can give these additional allies 1 damage or sanity at the time. So they don't soak up all your damage.

library Docent / Swap a tome, that's what this card will do. And even better it will reduce the cost by two. So you can play an expensive tome cheap or a cheap one for free. They other one that was in play will return to your hand.

Perception / A skill card that will give you +3 intellect and if you will succeed in the skill test you get 1 card draw. If you succeed in +2 for the skill test, you will draw 2 cards.

*permanent cards, means that this card is in play right at the beginning of your play session. So these cards are expensive but you will use these cards right from the start and have a massive advantage.

That's it! Harvey Walters at his best! We hope you learnt a lot about Harveys cards! And if you hadn't bought it already you should have. What a amazing character! Leave a comment if you spot something wrong or just leave your thoughts about this expansion pack.

Jeroen - dutch blogger company

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