Ah, the core set asset skill-boosters. there was a time spending two resources to play something to pay more resources to boost your skills seemed... well, okay. It was never really great. Then the permanent skill-boosters came out and the people that still used the core set cards probably dropped them quite quickly.

This card is unfortunately stuck in the same class as Higher Education, a card that is bonkers good and only 3XP. This means that most with access to Higher Education will skip this card. However, there is a use for it.

In , the card Well Prepared gets a major boost from assets with two or more matching icons. The in-class asset, Physical Training is good, but provides and , so you'll need a way to boost and . In addition, the permanent asset, Keen Eye has had mixed results. Perhaps this is good... though keep in mind that you are still paying 2 XP per copy of this, 2 XP per copy of Physical Training and 2 XP per copy of Well Prepared...

Roland Banks would be the investigator to take this setup, but some part of me wonders if there's nothing better to do with the XP, especially since you have to exhaust the Well Prepared.

I think my next chance at playing a Guardian in a campaign will be Roland Banks running the full Well Prepared package. Contrary to the other opinion, I don't think the XP cost of the package is too prohibitive.

If you run the entire suite of cards that allow you to skip on investigating at high shroud locations (Scene of the Crime, Evidence!, Art Student, Working a Hunch) you can fairly safely rely on Magnifying Glass and Flashlight to cover low shroud locations. These cards notably don't really have an upgrade path; they're just 0 XP heroes.

With your clue package dealt with, you're limited on hand slots to take the big two-handed damage monsters without Bandolier when you can fit it. So you're largely limited to one-handed options, like .45 Automatic, Roland's .38 Special, and reigning champion Machete.

You don't need a lot of XP to grab Reliable, which you may not even need if you can keep your Well Prepared bonuses on . .45 Automatic becomes a much more realistic option when more than 2 XP is hard to find and you don't necessarily have Beat Cop to depend on. Besides, there's a lot of Retaliate in The Forgotten Age.

So why this review here, and not on Roland Banks or Well Prepared? Well access to this card is unique to Roland in this strategy. There are only four investigators who at this time can run this package with two different 2 XP core talents, and Roland is the only one who has all 4 stat coverage ( is the missing link for the other 3).

Or just spend 10 XP on 2x Key of Ys 4Head.