Mano a cardo is an article series that takes a look at one particular player card in Arkham Horror: The Card Game. Whether it’s a well-known staple, a hidden gem or even a coaster, the article will take a focused look at the many or negligible uses of the card.
Spoiler warning: this article contains some spoilers for Curtain Call (Path to Carcosa) and Undimensioned & Unseen (Dunwich Legacy).
Suddenly, without warning, I was thrust into the midsts of a very long drive; in between the aggressive tones of the Scottish pirate metal band Alestorm and the popish hits of Fleetwood Mac my mind turned as it sometimes does to Arkham Horror: The Card Game. I began thinking of my recent Rogue decks and wondering where Narrow Escape fits in and… what, Narrow Escape? From what I’ve seen, Narrow Escape hasn’t received that much attention relative to the other cards from Black Star Rises; even Guidance has received more attention as people are stunned in disbelief at the prospect of a potentially bad Seeker card (say it ain’t so!). Narrow Escape has seemed to, ahem, narrowly escape some peoples attention, and what attention it has received has been a little mixed. Yet, the more I think about it the more I believe Narrow Escape may very well be one of the best cards released in the Path to Carcosa cycle.
The power of Narrow Escape comes from the fact that it captures three effects found elsewhere in the card pool but safely contained all in one package. While Narrow Escape is more conditional than any of the cards I will compare it to, much like Captain Planet, by our powers combined it will save your green. The mechanics are pretty straight forward; Narrow Escape cancels an attack of opportunity and grants a +2 to the next skill test you perform this turn. Let’s break up and examine those effects shall we?
First up, it’s a Dodge. Much like Dodge, Narrow Escape cancels an attack which includes Elite enemy attacks. Unlike Dodge it can only cancel an attack of your own making, that is, an attack of opportunity. I’ll get to its other benefits momentarily, but this in and of itself is worth a look. How often do you wish you could do an action without triggering an attack of opportunity? Whether you’re trying to clear the last location and end the scenario or drag an enemy over to the rest of the group, Narrow Escape is there to cancel the attack. The second example is particularly relevant in Path to Carcosa where you may want to drag the Man in the Pallid Mask to a more shroud friendly location, but you’re also a little antsy about taking his horror hit because it’s also the Path to Carcosa. Massive enemies are also worth a mention, as Narrow Escape lets you walk away from them scot free.
Second, it’s a poor man’s Sleight of Hand in that you can safely play an asset. Alright, the asset still costs an action, its resource cost, and Narrow Escape doesn’t grant you extra uses out of it. What Narrow Escape does share in common with Sleight of Hand is that it lets you play an asset reactively. As I have covered elsewhere, one of the main problems with combat is that it is often proactive; unless you want to take an attack of opportunity, combat necessitates you paying the [resource + action] cost of a Weapon or Spell which provides no immediate benefit. Enter Narrow Escape. So long as you have both cards in hand, Narrow Escape lets you wait for an enemy pop out before you need concern yourself with playing a Weapon or Spell. This is particularly notable for Sefina Rousseau decks using Shrivelling, a card that cannot benefit from Sleight of Hand. The end result is that Narrow Escape lets you keep up your tempo during the early game by letting you focus on what matters now: getting clues and completing your current objective.
Third, it’s an Unexpected Courage. +2 to your next skill test? For zero resources? Yes please. Let’s break this down further; the +2 stems from two actions: a non-combat/evasion action, and a test to sink the +2 into. There are no shortage of reasons to take an action that would otherwise incur an attack of opportunity. Want to play a weapon to fight? Draw a card to play for battle? Move to a more suitable location (perhaps to trigger Evidence or Snare Trap)? Play Emergency Cache to boost your skills? Investigate to grab a clue? The list goes on and on.
Whatever it may be, it’s in preparation for an action that can take advantage of or needs that +2 skill. This can contribute towards triggering succeed by X or more effects (e.g. Cheap Shot, .41 Derringer, and “Watch this!”) or just a tough test (especially if you are playing around with Double or Nothing). Even if you don’t need help with combat/evasion, you can put that +2 towards something you do need help with. For example, if you’re at a high shroud location, you can use Narrow Escape to help you Investigate and then you can deal with the enemy. If you’re wracking your brain for reasons why you would want to play Narrow Escape, it can perhaps help to think of your turn in reverse and think where could +2 skill help? Instead of ordering your turn as [Fight]>[Investigate]>[Move], switch it up to [Investigate]>Fight]>[Move].
The worst part about Narrow Escape are actually its icons. You could do a lot worse than double agility pips, but often when we want to use our agility (i.e. evasion) we are also presented with the opportunity to spin those agility pips into wild pips. Even if you are planning on evading the enemy, there is probably a better way to leverage that +2 other than sinking it into a pure agility evasion test.
Narrow Escape in action: a few examples
Picture Jenny Barnes with .41 Derringer(2) and Narrow Escape in hand. She chooses not to play the Derringer because she has more important things to do for now. All of a sudden, a Ghoul Minion assails her, oh no! Have no worry, she Narrowly Escapes the Ghoul’s attack so she can pull out her .41 Derringer(2) (paying its cost). Brimming with confidence from her figurative daring maneuver, she now takes a Fight action at 3+2+2 (base + derringer + narrow escape) combat. With the Ghoul’s respectable 2 fight test difficulty, as long as Jenny doesn’t draw a -3 or worse she will trigger the Derringer’s succeed by 3 or more ability, granting her an additional action this turn.
Here’s another example using Wendy in Curtain Call. Wendy just advanced to Act 3A, meaning she now needs to get to the Lobby and defeat the Man in the Pallid Mask (passing an Investigate test of 6 difficulty) so she can Resign. She made it to the Lobby, but unfortunately she has a pesky Royal Emissary threatening to crush her small child frame. No problem, she Narrowly Escapes the Royal Emissary’s advances to take a stab at the Investigate test with 3+2 intellect; while she will need some help from other sources (likely her skill cards), she is now in a better position to end the scenario now and avoid another round of attacks, encounter cards, and whatever effect Act 2B is hounding her with.
One final example. Undimensioned & Unseen throws two problems at players: (1) deadly Massive enemies (Brood of Yog-Sothoth) who love to aimlessly wander into you whom (2) can only be defeated by tough willpower tests. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a card that did both? Narrow Escape has your back. Ideally, you could use Narrow Escape to safely move away from a brood only to enter a location with another Brood and attack it using the +2 bonus; alternatively, you could just try to get a clue using the +2 bonus.
Conclusion
I’m not prepared to say Narrow Escape is an auto-include, but for a zero cost event that mitigates surprise enemy attacks and provides an effect +2 wild pips it’s hard to say no. Sefina Rousseau, always hungry for more event cards, in particular should take note, as should any Rogue looking to shore up one of their stats; its condition is fairly easy to trigger, and when the opportunity passes you it’s hard not to find somewhere you could use the boost. If you haven’t given Narrow Escape a shot yet, I highly recommend slipping it into your next Rogue deck.
The Strange Solution 