Game Objective

In Eldritch Horror: Mountains of Madness, investigators take part in the Miskatonic Expedition to Antarctica. The goal is to explore this uncharted region to uncover the history of the Elder Things, an ancient alien race that was once the dominant species on Earth. Refer to the rulebook for details on specific victory and defeat conditions.

Setup

To set up the game with the expansion, follow these steps:

• General Components: Add all expansion components to their respective Eldritch Horror decks and piles, except for items specific to the auxiliary board and adventures.
• Prelude: Before setup, players draw a random Prelude card. The effect must be resolved immediately unless the card indicates another time (such as "after setup").
• Assets: Shuffle the Unique Assets to create the Unique Asset deck and place it next to the Asset deck.
• Tokens: Add the Focus tokens and the Adventure marker to the general pile of tokens and markers.
• Antarctica Auxiliary Board: This board is used only if the Ancient One is Rise of the Elder Things or if the Prelude card is Herald of Doom Coming from Antarctica. If so:
  1. Position the auxiliary board near the main board.
  2. Add the six corresponding Clues and three Gates to the Clue bank and the Gate pile, and shuffle them.
  3. Remove the following Monsters from the Monster Repository and set them aside: 1 Elder Thing Monster, 1 Giant Penguin Monster, 1 Protoshoggoth Monster, and 1 Shoggoth Monster.
  4. Separate and shuffle the Outpost Encounter, Mountain Encounter, and Antarctic Research Encounter decks, positioning them near the auxiliary board.

Game Flow

Refer to the rulebook for details on the complete structure of turns, rounds, and phases. The context provides the following information regarding environmental interaction:

• Action Phase: The time when investigators can perform movements and actions, such as the new Focus Action.
• Encounter Phase:
  • If in the Miskatonic Outpost, Lake Camp, or Frozen Wasteland, draw an Outpost Encounter card.
  • If in the Snowy Mountains, the City of the Elder Things, or the Plateau of Leng, draw a Mountain Encounter card.
  • When finding a Clue on the auxiliary board, the player resolves an Antarctic Research Encounter instead of the encounter for the chosen Ancient One.

Actions and How to Play

Player Actions

• Focus Action: As one of their actions, the investigator receives a Focus token. They may spend this token to reroll a die when making a test. The maximum limit is two Focus tokens per investigator.
• Movement to Antarctica:
  • Local Route: An investigator may move from Antarctica (main board) to the Miskatonic Outpost (auxiliary board), or vice versa. This does not require an action, but can only be done once per turn and cannot be performed by a Delayed investigator.
  • Acquire Assets: When performing the Acquire Assets action, the player may spend two successes to move to the Miskatonic Outpost.
• Local Action: Local Action abilities present in the auxiliary board spaces can only be performed by investigators in that space, limited to once per turn.
• Exchange Action: Can be used to exchange Assets, including Unique Assets and TASK-type Assets.

Cards and Special Mechanics

• Adventures: Used only with the Herald of Doom Coming from Antarctica Prelude. They are divided into three stages (I, II, III). When drawn, resolve the "when this card enters play" effect. When completed, resolve the "when this Adventure is completed" effect (which usually involves drawing the next Adventure) and discard the card.
• Unique Assets: These are double-sided items (the back is secret). There is no limit to the number of these an investigator may possess.
• Mystery: When instructed to advance the active Mystery, the active investigator resolves effects such as: placing Clues, Gates, or Monsters on the card; placing Health tokens to reduce the Resistance of an Epic Monster; or placing Clues for investigators to spend later.

End Game and Scoring

Refer to the rulebook for details on this section.

Tips for Winning

• Focus Management: Use the Focus Action to mitigate failures in critical tests, remembering that there is no limit to how many tokens can be spent to reroll dice in a single test.
• Attention to Resistances: When facing Monsters with Magic Resistance, do not use bonuses from MAGIC assets or Spells. Conversely, against Physical Resistance, use only bonuses coming from MAGIC assets or Spells.