Sophie Harrigan’s Guide to Playing the Soldier

True Grit allow us to direct damage away from Mark, making sure he stays alive and away from Sophie, It’s All My Fault.

The Home Front converts damage taken to damage dealt, which is an awesome card for Mark. Emergency Aid gives us two more swings of Sophie, and First Aid gives us three or can be used on horror.

Horror is the real scary part about playing Mark. Yes, Sophie kicks in at five damage and turns to a weakness, but staying above the line is easy, and if crossed you and your allies have a chance to bring it back. But at five horror damage he dies. True Grit can’t soak it (which makes Brother Xavier (1) a fantastic upgrade), and Beat Cop and Guard Dog are defeated if they tank any horror. That’s why we’re running First Aid and "If it bleeds...".

Note: I no longer advise running "If it bleeds...", preferring Smoking Pipe which allows you to trigger card draw, reliably move horror off of Mark Harrigan and onto his assets, and can be used to detonate Brother Xavier once he enters play. A huge thanks to user CecilAlucardX for this suggestion!

Painkillers help us stay at the magical 3 damage, which means that Shell Shock only does 1 horror. When playing Mark, always be sure to understand how much damage Shell Shock will do if it’s still a potential draw.

Mark Harrigan enables his fellow investigators to avoid super crippling turns. Shortcut grants him mobility to move across the map with actions to spare and allies with their threat area and remember that Elusive can be used without being engaged and that the location you travel to only has to be revealed, not necessarily even connected!

The fast action in Taunt ensure you’re not risking damage into a fragile investigator, or allows Mark to deal with enemies. "Let me handle this!" and Sophie dominate the encounter deck, and allow fellow investigators a turn where they don’t have to worry about any new threats. True Grit ensures they stay healthy and ready to answer any future threats!

The goal of the end game is to close out the game by whatever means necessary by healing up and spamming Sophie to pass any skill test Mark and Sophie face.

imgur Upgrade Paths Prioritize Beat Cop (2), followed by Charisma (3)

Brother Xavier (1), Stand Together (3), Taunt (2), and Vicious Blow (2) is a good path.

Mark needs allies to soak damage for him and Charisma (3) is important. Beat Cop (2) is a stellar upgrade which synergies with Mark. Brother Xavier (1) is also incredible and helps soak horror. "I've had worse…" (4) competes with Moment of Respite (3) for the slot "If it bleeds..." occupies and can also act to mitigate horror from your weakness, enemies, or even Sophie or Painkillers.

In multiplayer, Stand Together (3) replaces Emergency Cache, and no one will ever complain about being the recipient (until they draw their weakness!).

Police Badge (2) is phenomenal, and when paired with Ever Vigilant the expensive assets become easy to get into play. The permanent Keen Eye (3) is always great to have if you have extra experience laying around, but Sophie will generally take on the role.