Harrigan Unchained (Hard Difficulty / Guide)

Summary:

This Mark Harrigan deck builds him as an flexible allrounder who excells at fighting enemies on hard difficulty. You will be drawing a lot of cards and take quite the damage because of Sophie´s . In order to offset the damage this deck runs several cards which heal damage and / or horror. Overall this deck is quite simple and straigthforward to play: Hit enemies, pass tests with Sophie and heal if you have time for it.

Basics:

Combat:

As the fighter of the group you want to be able to deal reliable damage to tougher enemies with a of 3 and above. On hard difficulty this means that you want attempt fight tests with a skill value of 3 or 4 above the enemies value. To do so the deck includes the .45 Thompson and the Enchanted Blade. Both weapons deal two damage per hit and boost Mark´s already strong 5 to 7 during fight checks.

With the help of Sophie, Beat Cop and icons from commited cards you should be now easily reaching (fight) values of 9 and above. That puts you +4 above 5 enemies even before you have invested into stronger arsenal like the Flamethrower or the Lightning Gun !

Taunt helps to engage aloof enemies and works well with Flamethrower if you want to upgrade into it. Vicious Blow and Homefront provide the extra damage for 3 or 5 health enemies.

Taking the Mythos straight on:

Your main way to deal with skilltests in the mythos phase are skill boosts via Sophie; for 2 damage she will increase both or to a value of 7 for a single test. However, this quickly drains Mark's health and is not sustainable every round without other support. This support comes in the form of the skill cards and the healing cards in the deck. Special mention here for the Hallowed Mirror as it can also heal horror from Harrigan if he takes too much of it.

Helping with Clues:

You are no seeker but you can still contribute clues with the help of Scene of the Crime and Evidence. If absolutely necessary you can also use Sophie on low shroud locations to pick up clues.

Upgrades: Dog of War

Stick to the Plan + Extra Ammunition

Your first 8 XP are invested into Stick to the Plan and two copies of Extra Ammunition. Ditch two copies of Scene of the Crime to make room for Extra Ammunition.

I would recommend to put one copy of Emergency Cache, Extra Ammunition and Prepared for the Worst under Stick to the Plan to make the deck more consistent. Prepared for the Worst increases the odds that you will draw into a gun if lady luck does not favor you in your mulligans. Emergency Cache will then help to pay for the big, expensive guns like the .45 Thompson on turn one. Last but not least Extra Ammunition helps to keep these guns longer in play before you ditch your weapon with Act of Desperation and refund the ressources.

Gun Blazing Soldier:

Flamethrower / Lightning Gun / M1918 BAR

After these initial upgrades you are spending your XP to get hold of the big guns which replace either .45 Thompson or the Enchanted Blade in your deck. Pick your flavor. Without spoiling the specific encounters, you might not want to replace the Enchanted Blade in some cycles because of its interaction with certain enemies. In these cycles it might be a good idea to upgrade into Enchanted Blade (3) . Moreover, if you do not consider to get Flamethrower, you can get rid of Taunt to make room for other cards.

Late Game:

After you purchased the upgrades above you can go wild with the rest of your XP. Here are some cards which you can easily integrate into the deck:

1. Beat Cop => Beat Cop (2) or Brother Xavier (1)

2. Taunt => Taunt (2) or Marksmanship (1)

3. Unexpected Courage => "I've had worse…" (2)

4. Emergency Cache => Emergency Cache (2)

Mulligan:

Mulligan hard for a weapon and Prepared for the Worst if you have not yet upgraded into Stick to the Plan . If you have a weapon in your starting hand, you are good to go. In my experience you will draw so many cards that you will eventually draw the cards you need.

Last Comments:

I have had a lot of fun building and playtesting the deck in 3 player games there it managed to do well on hard difficulty throughout Return to Dunwich and Path to Carcosa. What I like about this deck is that you feel like a bane to the existence of enemies, while you can still contribute to passing tests during quiet turns without anything to shoot. I have also tested it in solo and it did quite well there even though it might be a bit too slow.

I hope that you have fun with the deck and feedback to deck is of course appreciated!