I've had the privilege of trying the upgraded Switchblade in several games recently, and it is a really neat weapon. It's got the good points of the basic one - it's fast, so you can get it played in an emergency quickly, and it's cheap. However, it's got +2, so you actually stand a reasonable chance of doing extra damage.

Basically, it's like a .41 Derringer, but fast, cheaper, and not limited for ammunition. Compared to one of my other favourite weapons, the fine Machete, it's cheaper, a bit more likely to do damage, but more chancy about doing extra damage. It's also still useful if you're engaged with more than one enemy.

The only down side - it costs 2 XP. Each. It's a bit of an investment of experience. But otherwise, it's probably the best weapon available (as of the Essex County Express). "Skids" O'Toole and Jenny Barnes are both awesome with it. Something like a Beat cop would fit nicely too, making that extra damage just a smidgen more likely. It's likely to be my weapon-of-choice for rogues for a while...

The basic Switchblade is, I'm afraid, the lamest weapon in the core set. It's got a couple of nice features; being fast saves an action, and it's low cost makes it feasible to play in a hurry. Sadly, though, it doesn't offer much. A strength bonus is a big part of the reason for playing a weapon - and this offers none. The damage bonus is nice - but how are you going to manage consistent successes by +2? Weak enemies with high-health are pretty rare. Honestly, you're not going to make that +2 often; and so it is a bit of a waste, unless you can find some strange combination in the future. It doesn't even offer decent skill icons.

However, it's major redeeming feature is it's upgraded version - the Switchblade - which is worth a look.

Despite the heartbreaking imagery and flavor text, Abandoned and Alone is not that critical a weakness like some of the others are. Yes, taking two DIRECT horror could be game-ending, but knowing that this is in your deck, you basically make plans to ensure you have that two horror buffer (and with Wendy's starting Sanity of 7, this should not be TOO hard). Of course, sometimes you just have to take all that horror, which results in you being scared of being defeated by drawing Abandoned and Alone.

Abandoned and Alone removing all of your cards from your discard pile can range from inconsequential to devastating; the primary determination of which is whether or not you were planning to play Wendy's Amulet, or if you had something to pull out with Scavenging. Scenarios in Arkham Horror are generally so time-limited that you rarely draw through the entirety of your deck; making the reduced number of cards in your deck when you reshuffle a non-issue. As more investigator cards come out, we may see cards that interact with the discard pile, which may be an issue for Wendy decks.

There are not many solutions to the discard problem, but there are solutions to deal with the Horror aspect. Probably the best solution in the current Dunwich Legacy cardpool is to have Wendy put out her best ally buddy, Peter Sylvestre, to help deal with other sources of Horror (to ensure she has the buffer needed to take that direct damage). If Wendy has other allies she'd like to have (Leo De Luca and Cat Burglar to name a few) without investing in the additional ally slots that Charisma has to offer, then she could instead use a Smoking Pipe to help convert that excess horror away.

Found on BGG forums and credited to FFG...

There’s a couple reasons why the Flooded Square can be useful. Keep in mind that evading an enemy means two things: disengaging that enemy from any investigators, and exhausting that enemy. An enemy doesn’t have to be engaged for it to be evaded.

So, like you suggested, if you are in Flooded Square and have a friend in the location counter-clockwise from Flooded Square, and he is engaged with an enemy, you can spend an action to automatically evade that enemy.

However, another situation is, if you are in Flooded Square and you are being followed by a Hunter enemy, and that enemy is in the location counter-clockwise from Flooded Square, you can evade it which will exhaust it and prevent it from moving that round!

boardgamegeek.com

One of the best cards in the game right now in my opinion. Its closest analogy are the neutral skill cards that give 2 icons, but

• they only cover one check type, this covers any check
• they have to be played before the draw, which makes a huge difference

Pass the check? No need to play it Fail by more than 2? No need to waste it

Its almost as if you are playing it on every check, but can choose to take it back if it wasn't needed or wasn't enough.

It lets you go for much more marginal checks with more confidence. If you get lucky in real life, you keep it and can keep it until your real life luck runs out and you need to actually play it.