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The multiplicity of the Crawling Chaos!
Components:
9 Dark Demon Miniatures
9 Loyalty cards
2 Spellbooks
The Shadow Pharaoh figure
The Bloated Woman figure
Haunter of the Dark figure
The Dark Demons
The dark demon is a form of Nyarlathotep which manifests itself by literally engulfing and transforming his summoner. When the avatar departs, the victim’s body is left transformed, forever a hideous monster. In the box, we provide Dark Demons in every faction color: nine total figures! When you recruit the Dark Demon, all the enemy factions also get one, but theirs is a burden and weakness to them, while yours is more of an asset.
The Shadow Pharaoh
This manifestation is Nyarlathotep’s Egyptian connection, well-known from many stories. The figure itself is a sort of combination of sphinx, scorpion, mummy, pharaoh, and tentacled horror. I really like it, and I think you will too. It has an especially nasty ability which drives cultists off gates, making the gates vulnerable to be captured once the Pharaoh leaves.
The Bloated Woman
First popularized in the well-known adventure Masks of Nyarlathotep for the Call of Cthulhu system, the Bloated Woman is Nyarlathotep in a rather repulsive female form. She steals killed enemies, and later transforms your gates so they produce Elder Signs rather than Power.
The Haunter of the Dark
The Haunter of the Dark is a full-on Great Old One. It is awakened as with most independent Great Old Ones – you need a Gate with your own Great Old One. In the Haunter’s case, you spend 6 Power to get the loyalty card, putting it in the same high-end category as game-changers such as Atlach-Nacha, Cthugha, or Daoloth. (Most Independent Great Old Ones only cost 4, or even 2.)
If you’re Crawling Chaos, you can awaken the Haunter for just 5 Power, and you don’t need a Great Old One, so obtaining it is a lot easier, BUT every other faction does get an Elder Sign when you do this.
The Haunter is explicitly a combat critter. It has a combat of 1 per enemy spellbook (so in theory 0-6, but in practice usually at the high end). I wanted to reflect the fact that one of the Haunter’s best-known characteristics is that it can’t survive well in the light. Therefore, it actually starts with a weakness, representing this disability – Fly The Light. This “ability” states that post-Battle, if the enemy scored only 1 Kill, it MUST be applied to the Haunter. If the enemy scored 2 or more kills though, you can target them normally.
The Haunter’s spellbook is really easy to get – just spend 1 Power as an action. Trivial. In fact, normally this is the first thing you’ll do after awakening the Haunter, which gives your enemies a one-turn window to try to take it out, before you get this frightful pre-Battle ability. It’s The Shining Trapezohedron. Before rolling combat dice, your enemy has to roll 1 die per unit he has in the battle. For each Kill he rolls, he must eliminate a unit (his choice).
—description from the publisher
The Bloated Woman, Shadow Pharaoh, Dark Demon, and Haunter of the Dark sculpts are credited to "Tidal 4".
| Ages | 14+ |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players, 5 Players, 6 Players |
| Play Time | 90m – 120m |
| Designer | Lincoln Petersen, Sandy Petersen |
| Mechanics | Action Points, Area Movement, Dice Rolling, Variable Player Powers |
| Theme | Expansion for Base-game, Fighting, Miniatures, Fantasy, Horror |
| Publisher | Petersen Games |
Desaix
(2023 updated rating after 30 CW games) The Shadow Pharaoh (2 doom + 2 pwr. Terror / 2 combat): Prevent gate control in 1 area. Not worth the cost as all players benefit from uncontrolled gates. Useful against factions that need a specific gate control. - 4 The Dark Demon (2 doom. Cultists): Gives you an extra cultist and hinder power production for all other players. Unilaterally and permanently hinder the general game-play of all other players - 2 . The Bloated Woman (4 pwr- GOO 1 combat ): capture dead units for power reward + elder sign from gates. Artificially accelerate game's ending after 6 spellbooks - Do not seem tested and very balanced - 5 The Haunter of the Dark (6 pwr- GOO): Expensive mediocre fighting GOO - 4
rseater
Most are too weak to ever be summoned. Others are too complex for what they add to the game. I'm somewhat interested in the one that just de-controls games it encounters, but that may be too king-makery since you have to pay VP to slow down someone else. Overall, a weak expansion, but since the use of the stuff is voluntary, it doesn't really ruin the game, it just fails to affect it.
Necroblaster3000
So a thing I do is usually just put down an expansion or promo item as previously owned because I don't like the way it clutters my collection. I usually rate expansions the same as base game.