Hello there! I’m a big player of Arkham LCG and Eldritch horror, and I just finally picked up a copy of mansions of madness (base) a couple days ago after finding a fantastic deal on Facebook.
Now that I have played two games, Cycle of eternity and rising tide, I have decided I love this game, though perhaps not as much as Eldritch horror of course.
Naturally like most Arkham players, I want everything, so I’m curious about these out of print map tile and investigator expansions from the first edition. What exactly are my options for purchasing?
I see there are conversion kits out there, though my copy did not come with one, which I assume some later releases didn’t have, though I did purchase it used, but the fact everything else was in pristine condition makes me doubt it was missing from the seller.
—Is the best option to find the original first expansion set and get a conversion kit? OR —buy the rereleased versions made specifically for second edition?
I am aware that both likely will require an expensive purchase, is eBay the best/safest option or are there other places I could consider buying it from? I am NOT interested in proxying the pieces as I am not a crafty person whatsoever.
Additionally, are there any mechanical downsides in future scenarios (official or Valkyrie) to NOT using the minis? I really don’t like the minis, and would prefer to use the investigator pawns from Eldritch horror, and the monster tokens inside the bases instead, but I’m not sure if the game has any crazy innovative things that will require the minis. I suspect the minis might be much more appealing painted but alas, I am not crafty once again.
Any other information would be super helpful, I definitely plan to purchase the other official expansions soon, before they go the way of the Arkham LCG chapter 1 items, but as the 1e sets add the most investigators, I thought they should be first priority. Thanks so much and any additional advice or info is super welcome, whether related to my questions or just being a new player in general!
(Also sorry if my typing mannerisms seem a bit strange, I wanted to convey the information well enough.)