“You’re quite good, but nobody can catch me.”

Trish Scarborough enjoyed an exciting and dangerous career as a spy for the Black Chamber. She’s no stranger to subterfuge, but she also never expected to be at the center of her own conspiracy when a new director arrived to run the organization. After a series of increasingly menial missions, she was strongly encouraged to “take time for herself.” Suspicious of her director’s motives, she dug into the Chamber’s records and discovered evidence of corruption going all the way to the top: rumors of an organization known as the Red Coterie working behind the scenes. Framed for leaking sensitive information, Trish is now on the run and driven to restore her good name.

Back in October, we revealed the new core set for Arkham Horror: The Card Game, which heralds the beginning of an era we’re referring to as “Chapter Two.” With that new core set comes a new set of five core investigators, and one of those five is Trish Scarborough (Core Set, 7)!

Returning to the scene as the new core’s Rogue investigator, Trish retains her emphasis on sneaking past enemies but does so in a different way than before. No longer (officially) a spy, Trish must now use her skills to solve mysteries while being constantly on the run, and this is reflected in her new playstyle. Her innate ability grants her a bonus evade action once per turn, while her Elder Sign ability can let her slip away from every enemy engaged with her, regardless if she succeeds the associated test or not. Her Elder Sign ability comes with the added feature of letting her move to a connecting location, a feature shared with her signature asset, Covert Ops (Core Set, 8), which pairs well with her free evade action each turn. If you manage to pull the Elder Sign while performing an evasion test, then you could even combine Covert Ops with Trish’s special ability and move two locations at once!

Speaking of movement, many of the other cards in Trish’s pre-built deck can also boost her mobility, her evasion, or both. Take Olivier Bishop (Core Set, 46), for example, who grants Trish a bonus to her agility (and therefore her ability to evade enemies) as well as the ability to move locations as a free action once per round. The boost to agility from Olivier works great with Breaking and Entering (Core Set, 50), which lets Trish combine her intellect with her agility for an investigation. Boosting agility also makes it easier to evade enemies, which you can combo with Sticky Fingers (Core Set, 48) for an extra resource, which you can then spend on Silver Tongue (Core Set, 47) for a bigger boost to your next test. Succeeding a test by 2 or more also gets you an extra card draw with the Lucky Cigarette Case (Core Set, 44), and if you happened to commit Out of Sight (Core Set, 53) to that test, then you can get even more free movement out of it!

Longtime fans of Arkham Horror: The Card Game will know that extra actions and movement are classic features of the Rogue class, and another thing they have in spades is extra resources! We already mentioned Sticky Fingers, but Trish has other sources of extra resources in her deck as well. For example, the Thieves’ Kit (Core Set, 49) can let you use Trish’s agility for an investigation instead of her intellect, netting you a resource if you succeed. While the event Paint the Town Red (Core Set, 51) pulls an enemy out of the encounter deck that you must contend with, it can also grant you multiple extra resources—plus, Trish can always just evade that enemy with her abilities. Finally, though it doesn’t technically grant additional resources, Prestidigitation (Core Set, 52) does let you fast-play an Item asset for a discount, on the condition that you return something to your hand at the end of your turn. This can let you whip out an M1903 Hammerless (Core Set, 45) on an enemy you just evaded, attacking with Trish’s agility instead of her much-lower combat skill.

With how her actions flow together, Trish can adapt on the fly to any situation, which is only compounded by her additional deckbuilding options. Veterans of Arkham Horror: The Card Game will recall that the original version of Trish Scarborough could include Seeker cards in her deck, and this new version is no different. If you’re curious about what sort of Seeker cards you can find in Trish’s pre-built deck, be sure to check out our preview of Joe Diamond and the Seeker class from back in November!

Speaking of seeking, as a former spy on the run, it’s only natural that Trish would be hunted by her “associates” at the Black Chamber. Her signature weakness, the Black Chamber Operative (Core Set, 9), does exactly that, chasing Trish down no matter where she tries to hide. Since the Chamber is fully familiar with Trish’s methods, she’ll have to work a bit harder to give them the slip, leaving clues behind as false leads in order to get them off her tail. It’s going to take all of Trish’s resourcefulness and skill in order to fend off the operatives she once thought were her colleagues, but with quick thinking and a friend or two, she can pull it off while accomplishing the main mission to boot.

A Dashing Rogue

With her evasive maneuvers and ability to adapt on the fly, Trish Scarborough is the perfect example of what the Rogue class has to offer in Chapter Two of Arkam Horror: The Card Game.

Look forward to our previews of the Mystic class in the coming weeks!

Written by Peter Schumacher