Written by Gladwin J. Singh
With the introduction of Trish Scarborough in The Innsmouth Conspiracy (TIC) deluxe expansion, I believe many of us in the AH:LCG community were already deck-building and coming up with various ways to play her character. With an intellect and evade of 4, she truly made investigating fun. With a wide array of player cards in TIC that really utilizes Trish’s abilities and skills, she was THE investigator to play in TIC campaign. Heck, I might just play her character for my other campaigns too. Just maybe not Carcosa for the time being. Yeppp… too many will tests in that campaign. In this article, I plan to share my experiences with using Trish in TIC. I want to discuss her strengths and weaknesses along with cards that synergises well with her abilities. Hence, there will be some mild spoilers of TIC.
A few months back, I wrote my first piece regarding Trish as well, titled “Death Itself” but the focus was primarily on a standalone scenario that I was eager to try. Feel free to check that out too 🙂
Base Skills and abilities
Clearly when it comes to investigation, Trish shines among all rogues. Having the high evade also comes in handy when being faced with enemies, since her fight value of 2 only makes her useful in killing rats (-_-). Therefore, being able to investigate and evade comfortably makes Trish a suitable character for playing True Solo, to an extent. Truly, it has been a blast to use her skills along with her reaction ability (in the next section) to maximize her clue gathering. In my TIC campaign, I was able to speed up the process of gaining clues just with her base skill and her ability. I was able to progress faster in the campaign and while not always successful, it certainly made a lot of difference than controlling other investigators with lower intellect. You see, I can definitely use Rex Murphy or other seeker investigators to gain clues. But what makes Trish so special and dear to me, is how her evade skill and intellect skill syncs in well together, allowing her to gather many clues, whilst being able to evade enemies. Yes, multiple enemies if you play the right cards. 😉
Unfortunately, her will and strength skill of 2 makes her vulnerable to the mythos deck and enemies as well. Evading and all is great but eventually, killing enemies will be necessary to reduce the number of enemy on the table. That’s where Trish struggles, and will be in need of support to deal with enemies. Her willpower of 2 just means that she is going to need skill cards to give her a good willpower boost to hopefully pass or fail by a small margin. Though she has a health of 8 and sanity of 6, mismanagement of dealing with the treachery cards can easily deplete her health and sanity. Nonetheless, 8 health and 6 sanity is decent enough to keep Trish going longer in the game. If you played TIC, you will know that it’s very easy to lose your health in a very short span of time. In my play through, I was mostly concern for her sanity. Yet, I often struggled trying to keep her health at bay. Maybe If I had played with Trish in Dunwich or Carcosa, things might be different, sanity wise.
In terms of her ability, one might consider it as a multitask of an ability that either allows Trish to gain an extra clue or evade an enemy at her location. Both choices are equally great. At first, it may sound confusing because players will assume that this ability will still trigger an Attack of Opportunity (AoO), making it a useless ability, but with the right player cards at hand, this ability will shine.
To be frank, I barely made full use of her elder sign ability, which I felt was just a bland one. It was very situational and rarely did I ever take advantage of the ability other than the +2, which was very generous. Despite all that, if I were to take Trish into ‘Lost in Time and Space,’ or ‘Dim Carcosa,’ her elder sign ability will shine better because most of the locations that come into play in those two scenarios are already revealed.
With a wide array of level 0-2 Seeker cards, I think it’s fair that she has access to that to help her with investigation and surprisingly, willpower tests. Yes Fey! I’m looking at ya. Her signature weakness will definitely prove to be a nuisance if not dealt with earlier. Most of the time, I found that investigating and taking the AoO was more beneficial than trying to evade it.
Card Synergy
I believe it was quite intentional for the player cards in TIC to synergise well with certain investigators, and I’m glad we had that for Trish. Here are some cards I love to use in my Trish deck. Starting with the Cryptographic Cypher, this hand item truly makes full use of her reaction ability. This card allows investigators to investigate without spending an action. Thus, not triggering any AoO. For Trish, this will prove useful to combo well with her ability. Though her intellect of 4 will not necessarily guarantee consistent success, this is where cards like Streetwise come in handy for that extra boost. When I can, I always try to upgrade Streetwise to level 3. Unfortunately, I tend to use it a lot and resources become limited. Hence, I also like to include Faustian Bargain in my deck besides emergency cache.
In my True Solo deck, I primarily focused on clue gathering and enemy evasion. My goal was to move fast and complete a scenario before more enemy spawns. To a great extent, I was successful in doing so, taking Trish all the way Into the Maelstrom and completing TIC campaign with a favorable resolution. With regards to enemy management, I would rely on the .25 Automatic to defeat the simpler enemies, but very rarely do I defeat enemies. I tend to evade more than usual. Plus, having enemies on locations is a double edged sword. Either you have them around so that you can maximize her ability, or you end up getting swarmed by enemies from ever location, especially if you draw more hunters. Just make sure you have cards like Elusive and possibly Shortcut and/or Pathfinder to get you moving faster around locations.
If you have room for other event cards, consider Under Surveillance. The chances of enemies spawning is quite high in all games. Imagine being in a location with a high shroud value and the chances of success is minimal. This card comes in handy then, granted that an enemy spawns of course. This card is also useful to combat Trish’s signature weakness. One of the many reasons I hold back from drawing cards for Trish is because of her weakness. However, with this card attached, I can be reassured of my card draw and should I draw Shadow Agents, I can easily evade and discard it, whilst also gaining clues. The downside of this card is that it is very situational. It’s not always going to work. Eventually you will need to move out and you can only hope that an enemy spawns at that location. Hence, I would say that it’s best to use this card in a campaign that you are familiar with. Though, that may come off a little as “cheating” since you already know where the enemy is going to spawn hahah. Not to forget, as event cards are temporary, it will not hold off well in True Solo. If I were playing dual handed, I would definitely put this card in. However, in true solo, I might hold back and reconsider as the build for true solo is for cards with long lasting effects in the game. Nonetheless, Rogues are famed for their use of tactic and trick cards, mostly event cards of those traits. While they can be costly to play, the effects are somewhat of a game changer. Therefore, you may want to consider adding Chuck Fergus later on in your campaign to help you with the cost reduction and added bonuses!
Skill cards are just as important as assets and events. In my early days of playing AH: LCG, I neglected skills a lot. Most of the time, I would only have 6 skill cards in my deck, which isn’t enough. With Trish’s low willpower and strength, skill cards are a must have, but careful to pick the right ones. I love Plan of Action because of how the skill card changes according to your turns. It’s like a controlled version of Unexpected Courage, with a chance of drawing a card. Other skill cards I find useful for Trish so far are Eureka, Quick Thinking and surprisingly, Fey!
To conclude, Trish has been a fun investigator to play so far. The fact that I can take her on a True Solo campaign of TIC gives me more confidence in using her for Dunwich, Carcosa, or the upcoming Edge of the Earth. If you own TIC, do try using her character. I never had so much fun investigating while being able to sneak away from enemies too, until I used Trish. There’s just something thrilling about the combination of gaining clues and slipping away from enemies as well. It really saves her time to push the Act deck faster than the Agenda. Though she may not have the strength to defeat enemies, evading them will give her an added advantage, as she will now have a license to kill, with her .25 Automatic.
Till the next time.
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