There was a night when winds from unknown spaces whirled us irresistibly into limitless vacuum beyond all thought and entity.

–H.P. Lovecraft, “Hypnos”

Order your own copies of these Investigator Starter Decks at your local retailer or online through our website today!



Across the five cycles of Arkham Horror: The Card Game, you’ve encountered new investigators in each deluxe expansion, giving you more and more options for building your decks and exploring the mythos. Now, for the first time, you have the chance to invite five new faces to your games with a new type of product—Investigator Starter Decks!

Each Investigator Starter Deck includes a fully pre-built and ready-to-play 34-card investigator deck, as well as 26 additional cards that can be used to upgrade your deck as you play through a campaign. Perhaps you’re entirely new to the game—if your friend has a Arkham Horror: The Card Game collection, no longer do you need to buy your own Core Set or build your own deck to join in a campaign. You can simply pick out your favorite Investigator Starter Deck and start playing immediately.

Even if you’re a veteran player, there are plenty of reasons to pick up these Investigator Starter Decks. All five of these investigators are brand-new to Arkham Horror: The Card Game, and three of them are completely new to the Arkham Horror Files universe! Every starter deck is primarily composed of new cards entering the game for the first time, making these expansions the ideal way to quickly grow your player card collection and discover new ways to play. And of course, they’re perfect for helping a friend get started on their first campaign of Arkham Horror: The Card Game!

Nathaniel Cho

Nathaniel Cho thought he had a career as a prize fighter, but after a run-in with the O’Bannion gang, Nathaniel puts his fists to better use, patrolling the streets and defending others from harm. As a Guardian, Nathaniel Cho (Nathaniel Cho Investigator Starter Deck, 1) is a fearless defender, eager to protect his fellow investigators and bludgeon the monsters of the mythos to a pulp with his bare fists. In fact, whenever Nathaniel deals damage to an enemy with an event or a fight ability on an event, he deals one additional damage.

Accordingly, Nathaniel’s deck is packed with combat-centric events. Cards like Counterpunch (Nathaniel Cho Investigator Starter Deck, 12) let you snap back after an enemy attack, while One-Two Punch (Nathaniel Cho Investigator Starter Deck, 17) has the potential to give you two attacks for a single action! And of course, you’ll want Nathaniel to strap on his Boxing Gloves (Nathaniel Cho Investigator Starter Deck, 5) to boost your combat and help you find these Spirit events every time you KO another enemy.

As Nathaniel gains more experience throughout the campaign, this starter deck offers a full suite of cards that invite you to upgrade your deck. For example, you may choose to shore up your weaknesses by bringing in a card like Lesson Learned (Nathaniel Cho Investigator Starter Deck, 24) that helps you quickly pick up some clues from your location.

Harvey Walters

Professor Walters began as a devotee of the archaic and obscure, but over the years, he has discovered that his knowledge of ancient languages, profane relics, and strange rituals is vital to addressing dangers in the modern day. In Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Harvey Walters (Harvey Walters Investigator Starter Deck, 1) boasts a vast intellect and deep wells of knowledge, which he can share with those around him by granting additional card draw to any investigator at his location.

You can hold even more cards with Harvey’s signature Vault of Knowledge (Harvey Walters Investigator Starter Deck, 3), which increases your hand size and lets you and your fellow investigators draw even more cards. And what will you do with all of the cards in your hand? While, aside from the nigh limitless options they give you, you can use the Celaeno Fragments (Harvey Walters Investigator Starter Deck, 6) to boost your stats for simply having cards in your hand.

Harvey will undoubtedly learn more and more about occult occurrences over the course of your campaign, and you can spend that experience to upgrade your deck. You may take Mind Over Matter (Harvey Walters Investigator Starter Deck, 26) if you anticipate that you’ll need to fight or evade to get past the enemies that stand in your way. Or, you may delve straight into the manifold dark secrets of a Tome—particularly, The Necronomicon (Harvey Walters Investigator Starter Deck, 33).

Winifred Habbamock

Winifred was always one of the smartest kids in her reservation school, but her reckless attitude and lack of respect for authority often got her in trouble. When she found an old biplane in a barn and took it out for a spin, her life was forever changed—and she’s now known as the “woman without fear.” Winifred Habbamock (Winifred Habbamock Investigator Starter Deck, 1) lives her life by pushing the limits, and you’re encouraged to do the same in the game. So long as you commit at least two cards to a skill test, you’ll draw a card from your deck, giving you an incentive to lean into the Rogues’ tendency to pass skill tests with flying colors.

For example, you may take aim with a Mauser C96 (Winifred Habbamock Investigator Starter Deck, 6), a new Firearm that packs quite a punch—however, you can only shoot it once per turn, unless you can ready it by succeeding at your skill test by two or more. Or, you may commit Nimble (Winifred Habbamock Investigator Starter Deck, 17) to a skill test, allowing you to quickly slip away from a sticky entanglement.

Once you start upgrading Winifred’s deck with the experience you earn, you have a full range of options to choose from. You may boost your skill test potential with an upgraded, Rogue version of Manual Dexterity (Winifred Habbamock Investigator Starter Deck, 25). Not only does this skill card boast more icons, it lets you draw more cards if the test succeeds by two or more. Alternatively, you may grab Copycat (Winifred Habbamock Investigator Starter Deck, 30), a new skill that lets you copy a skill from the discard pile of any other investigator!

Jacqueline Fine

Every night, Jacqueline’s dreams are filled with things that have not yet come to pass. At first, she thought of these dreams as a terrible curse. However, as she began to control her visions and observe the events within in greater detail, she now understands they are no curse, but a calling. In fact, Jacqueline Fine (Jacqueline Fine Investigator Starter Deck, 1) has more ability to manipulate the fate of chaos tokens than almost any other investigator. When an investigator at your location would reveal any number of chaos tokens, you may choose to reveal two additional tokens and cancel two of the revealed tokens!

Obviously, Jacqueline’s prescience is useful during any skill test, but it also comes into play with a full suite of new Spells introduced in this expansion, such as Azure Flame (Jacqueline Fine Investigator Starter Deck, 7) and Clairvoyance (Jacqueline Fine Investigator Starter Deck, 8). These Spells are highly efficient, but if you reveal some of the most beneficial chaos tokens, you must pay a price. Fortunately, Jacqueline’s ability can help ensure that you pass the test even while avoiding the consequences.

As you look to purchase new cards for Jacqueline’s deck with your experience, you may take a look at Robes of Endless Night (Jacqueline Fine Investigator Starter Deck, 22), an asset that reduces the cost of the Spells you play and keeps you from provoking attacks of opportunity by playing them. Or, you may play Recharge (Jacqueline Fine Investigator Starter Deck, 29) to quickly reload the charges on your Spells or Relics, keeping you in the investigation even once you exhaust your invocations.

Stella Clark

Delivering the mail six days a week in all kinds of weather wasn’t an easy job, but Stella loved knowing that she was helping people connect with one another. Then, she started finding the letters from Kingsport, calling her to eldritch mysteries—a call she chooses not to ignore, but to chase down. Stella Clark (Stella Clark Investigator Starter Deck, 1) is well accustomed to failure, but she’s also well accustomed to pushing past it. As Stella, if you fail a skill test, you gain an additional action that you can take during your turn this round, giving you just one more opportunity to prove people wrong and push onward.

Like Stella herself, this starter deck is packed with cards that can reward you even when you fail. Grimm's Fairy Tales (Stella Clark Investigator Starter Deck, 6), for example, lets you heal one horror from an investigator when they fail a skill test at your location. Failure also gives you the chance to play Grit Your Teeth (Stella Clark Investigator Starter Deck, 15) and boost all of your skills for the remainder of the round—something that’s certain to be useful with the extra action you gain from Stella’s ability.

No matter what campaign you’re playing, you’ll start gaining more experience and you may decide that Stella needs more ways to take down the monsters in her way. If that’s true, you could do much worse than picking up an .18 Derringer (Stella Clark Investigator Starter Deck, 22). This trusty little pistol deals good damage, and if you ever fail your test, you reload the spent ammo and increase your combat for your next attack! Stella Clark is also well suited to invest in Quick Learner (Stella Clark Investigator Starter Deck, 30), a permanent asset that increases the difficulty of your earlier actions in exchange for decreasing the difficulty of your later actions. Naturally, this card is best if you’re getting more than three actions, and it also doesn’t hurt to have plenty of ways to reward yourself for failure.

Choose Your Class

Five Investigator Starter Decks are coming to Arkham Horror: The Card Game, and whether you’re a veteran player or you’ve never played before, they’re the perfect way to start your campaign. Look for these expansions early in the third quarter of 2020!