"You found the murderous purple meteor? I'll be there in 5 minutes!"

Some of you who remember the wonderful Maniac Mansion know how a simple item like a lost police badge can save an atomic plant from immediate self-destruction!

In Arkham the threats are seldom as grave, but the Police Badge is still a mighty object. Firstly, it grants you a permanent +1 Willpower boost, while secondly, for guardians, it does not take a valuable slot in their inventories. Granted, there exists the Holy Rosary as huge competitor, but Police Badge is in-faction for guardian characters. Besides, as a third and maybe it's biggest pro, it instantly grants you or another investigator 2 additional actions to pull off a mega combo.

On it's own, the badge is like some extra ammunition in your pocket - nice to have, but it feels like there are plenty of more useful assets to solve the problems at hand. But in multiplayer and with a plan in your mind, it gives you a passive bonus while your team works hand in hand towards the same goal, Police Badge enables epic stories. A dedicated 5 actions token-free turn perhaps? Maybe empty Shrivelling in one turn on one target and cast Blinding Light as a finisher? With thoughtful planning, the badge is great, if you play with a new (group of) player(s), do not spoil the fun and deliberately try to make one up!

Pros

• Permanent +1 Willpower boost
• Fast ability can target other investigators at the same location and is not subject to Attacks of Opportunity.
• Occupies the accessory slot, which is uncontended for in-faction.
• Enables various comboes.
• Nice icons to commit to skill tests.

Cons

• If anything expensive asset, Roland will have trouble to afford it.
• Can not be tutored for.

"Hey, Mischa, any chance you could use these for your Lightning Gun?"

Most people would argue that Extra Ammunition is a superfluos card and add an extra weapon instead. While most people are not wrong with their assumption, real heavyweights would sneer at their faint-heartedness and put in the Extra Ammunition anyway.

Extra Ammunition does not do anything on it's own, it costs 2 resources and 1xp. Compared to Contraband it not only saves you 2 resources while providing roughly the same effect, as most firearms bring 3 initial ammunition, but, even better, playing it is not time-sensitive. You can restock an empty firearm as well as a fully loaded gun, bringing it above it's initial value.

The Shotgun is unquestionably the most economic use for Extra Ammunition, closely followed by the Lightning Gun. Then there is also this unique combo from FBones, the only deck here on ArkhamDB that heavily relies on reloading the Chicago Typewriter. The more expensive the weapon, the more value extra ammo gives you!

And, of course, Extra Ammunition gains a little extra value in multiplayer games where you can charge your fellow investigators' weapons!

Pros

• Cheapest and most reliable ammo boost available (at the time of this writing).
• Can target other investigators at the same location.
• Best for sniper decks, there is a fine pool of firearms: list

Cons

• You have to find a firearm before this event becomes playable.
• Reloading your gun is no fast action, so it is dangerous to do while under attack.

Recursion of things in any game is incredibly important and always worth looking at.

Resourceful is such a great card. Being able to recur any Survivor card of your choice back into your hand is just amazing. The fact that it applies +1 to three stats means it can be flexibly thrown into just about any skill check (short of helping Mystics out with their spells or trying to avoid most Encounter cards).

Resourceful acts as copies number 3 and possibly even 4 of your favorite cards. More Lucky! to help spike tests you are just about to fail? More Look What I Found? for fast clue gathering? More Will to Survive for even more insane turns? Actually, the best time to use Resourceful is right after you play Will to Survive to guarantee you can pull it back into your hand for the next turn.

Resourceful has a slight bit of trouble with Wendy's Amulet, as her Amulet will force event cards to the bottom of her deck. Timing when to play her amulet can be tricky given the presence of Resourceful. Regardless, you shouldn't anticipate this to happen, and should even use it if just to pull back other skill cards or asset cards that she can use to boost more stats.

Worst case scenario, you can throw this into a skill check to pull back another card with the intent of throwing it into another skill check. Sometimes, when you're low on cards, being able to push through a little more value in your tests is worth it.

EDIT: Is your name Silas Marsh? Do you sometimes draw Elder Sign chaos tokens? Do you just want to absolutely destroy the game? Talk to your Mythos Doctor and ask if Resourceful is right for you (Spoiler Alert: It is!).

Probably the best Investigator in the game to use this card would be Wendy Adams. Wendy's Amulet allows her to recur events from the discard pile. Due to the wording of her amulet, Events that end up attaching to locations do not end up going to the discard pile (and, therefore, do not end up going to the bottom of her deck).

When Hiding Spot would expire at the End of the Enemy Phase as a result of a ready enemy being at an attached location, Hiding Spot would be discarded straight to the top of the discard pile. There's a Player Action window at the start of the Upkeep Phase that allows Wendy to use the Amulet's ability to play Hiding Spot out again to a location.

Unfortunately, that small gap in time allows any enemies at a location to immediately engage with any Investigators there (and playing Hiding Spot does not cause them to dis-engage, they just gain Aloof). However, playing Hiding Spot to the same location will help keep out MORE enemies drawn from the Encounter Deck, while your team deals with the enemies currently on them.

At first glance, Uncage the Soul seems to be a great 0-cost card able to lower the cost of any Spell or Ritual by a substantial 3 resources. A closer look reveals that its usefulness varies depending on whether the spell/ritual played with it is an asset or an event.

For spell assets, Uncage the Soul appears to live up to its promise. With 1 action (i.e., the play of Uncage the Soul) you can play a spell asset from your hand and reduce its cost by 3 (to an unstated minimum of 0). This saves an action over playing Emergency Cache then that spell. Also, as a cost reduction rather than a resource gain, it bypasses any effects that may prevent you from gaining resources. Another benefit over Emergency Cache is that, if drawn late in the game when you may not need its resource acceleration, Uncage the Soul can be used for its substantial 2 icons, while Emergency Cache would be a dead draw.

On the downside, unlike resources from Emergency Cache, Uncage the Soul is limited to Spells and Rituals, but this shouldn't be a problem for most Mystics . Also, whereas you would still have 1 resource left over if you used Emergency Cache to play a 2-cost spell like Clarity of Mind, Uncage the Soul won't give you a refund if the spell played costs less than 3 resources. So, to maximize its potential, you will want to use Uncage the Soul with spell assets costing 3 or more. Currently (as of The Path to Carcosa), the only such spells are Shrivelling and Rite of Seeking, in their various versions.

For spell events, the effectiveness of Uncage the Soul is hit-or-miss. This is largely because Uncage the Soul itself does not have the Fast keyword, nor is its effect a action. So, using it to play a Fast spell will still cost you an action, making it no faster than using Emergency Cache [though, Uncage the Soul may still be preferable to Emergency Cache for its skill icons]. It also means that using it to play a spell--like Blinding Light or Bind Monster--while you're engaged with an enemy will trigger an attack of opportunity before that spell resolves. Play of Uncage the Soul is also limited to the Investigation Phase, so it can't be used for cards typically played in other phases, like Hypnotic Gaze which would usually be played in the Enemy Phase, or Marie Lambeau's Mystifying Song which would normally be played in the Mythos Phase.

So what spell events does that leave us that can benefit from Uncage the Soul? Basically, any non-Fast spell event played in the Investigation Phase while unengaged, and preferably costing 3 or more resources. Soooo... Astral Travel, or maybe Agnes Baker's Dark Memory weakness. Lastly, using Uncage the Soul with Sefina Rousseau's The Painted World (which itself is a spell) raises the question of whether it would lower the cost of a non-spell event copied by The Painted World. I think the answer to that is "no" because The Painted World doesn't have a cost until it becomes an exact copy of the event it's representing, at which point it is that event for all intents and purposes. So if that event is not a spell, Uncage the Soul won't reduce its cost.

In general, Uncage the Soul seems to be less useful than first hoped. For Mystics or other spell-casters with expensive spell assets--namely Shrivelling and Rite of Seeking--in their deck, it is a good replacement for (or addition to) Emergency Cache or other resource acceleration for Uncage the Soul's action advantage and 2 icons. Since the pool of pricey spell assets is only likely to grow with future releases, Uncage the Soul should become more useful over time. On the other hand, its usefulness with most spell events seems limited. Though that spell pool--and presumably Uncage the Soul's usefulness--should grow over time as well. Or maybe we'll get an experienced version that makes Uncage the Soul more like what I had hoped for--a seamless action advantage and cost reduction for any Spell or Ritual. Perhaps something like: "Fast. Play immediately before you play a Spell or Ritual from your hand to reduce its resource cost by 3."