I think the FAQ

Any investigator at the same location as "Ashcan" Pete with Wracked by Nightmares in his threat area may trigger the to discard it, as per the FAQ [V1.0, section 2.1].

Is wrong, first it's section 1.2 in the newly released FAQ (V1.2), and it does state

An investigator is permitted to use triggered abilities ( , , and abilities) from the following sources:

• Any card that explicitly allows the investigator to activate its ability.

which it does not since Wracked by Nightmares reads

: Discard Wracked by Nightmare

and further

• A scenario card that is in play and at the same location as the investigator. is includes the location itself, encounter cards placed at that location, and all encounter cards in the threat area of any investigator at that location.

which also does not apply here, since this is not an encounter card.

This may seem scary because it targets Mark's sanity, which is low. But I think that, on balance, this is one of the mildest weakness any investigator has. I would never trade this for Cover Up, The Dirge of Reason, or even Smite the Wicked were the option available.

Of note here are a few things:

1) Since it says "for every 2 damage," Shell Shock rounds down. 1 damage on Mark = 0 horror from Shell Shock. The great majority of the time, this card will deal 0 or 1 horror. Not scary at all.

2) Mark was already incentivized to keep the number of damage on him to a minimum because of how Sophie works. 6+ damage is the point at which Shell Shock starts to get awful, but Mark can avoid ever getting into that position. He should be aggressively killing monsters before they attack him, he should run healing cards, he should be playing assets to soak up damage for him, and he should be judicious in his usage of Sophie. If you're playing Mark sensibly, it's very rare that Shell Shock will deal more than 2 horror.

3) Shell Shock is extremely predictable (unlike, say, Final Rhapsody.) You know exactly how much damage it would do if you were to draw it. That means if you're ever in the death zone for Shell Shock you will know that ahead of time. You or a teammate can then heal some damage and/or horror (and most Mark decks are full of cards that do this), or Mark can play an asset that soaks horror.

4) Shell Shock doesn't deal direct horror (unlike Abandoned and Alone). All Mark decks are going to want to play horror-soaking assets, and quite possibly two or more of them. This means Shell Shock can still be manageable even if Mark has accumulated a lot of damage.

5) All in all, Shell Shock is one of the most likely of any player weakness to be discarded for no effect (other than wasting a draw, as all weaknesses do) or a very minor effect.

A terrifically powerful card, and at the right price. At lower difficulties, this can allow you to auto-succeed a Fight test by spending 2 ammo and pitching (Vicious Blow) or pumping (Physical Training) enough to beat any negative token in the bag. At higher difficulties you can still do this, it just takes more ammo/pump. Additionally, the cost to play is within affordable margins for any non-Zoey Guardian, and the xp cost is super reasonable. The icons are significant as well, since they buff the two ways an investigator deals with enemies (good for evading if the enemy can't be killed), and as a Tactic card, it can be placed beneath Stick to the Plan (although personally I feel there are better options for those precious slots, like Emergency Cache, Ever Vigilant, and Extra Ammunition).

As some people mentioned, this card is a good replacement for Manual Dexterity. Same number of icons. It's worth remembering that Resigning does not provoke attacks of opportunities. If you are engaged with ennemies, have low health/sanity and are about to die, you can play this card even if you have no resources left to avoid getting a Physical or Mental trauma. That said, will not work with all scenarios. Would be interesting to see stats per campaign.

Since his first appearance in Dunwich Horror, the expansion for Arkham Horror: the Board Game, Mark Harrigan has possibly been my favourite character from Arkham Files universe. Needless to say, he was the first Investigator beyond the Core Set ones I ever built a deck around. I've been playing as Mark for a while now - and given how there are still no reviews on this page, I thought I might give it a shot.

There are several merits to being a heartbroken, PTSD-ridden, cigar-chewing war veteran in a brown trenchcoat, which make him a very strong alternative to Roland Banks or Zoey Samaras, although in a different, unique way. Let's start with the obvious, slowly making our way to the less obvious.

His skills, 5 , 3 , 3 , 2 , give a very strong indication of what Mr Harrigan is good at: awesome firepower. You're a soldier. Fragging things is what you do. You can reliably switch from .45 Automatic to .32 Colt, which is cheaper and lets you kill more things before you have to reload. And, frankly, you do little else - although your willpower and speed are decent (enough to pass most horror checks, with some effort, and to do a tactical retreat from time to time), you rarely would find yourself searching for clues - these things are best left for other, more knowledge-focused Investigators. This makes Mark a tough choice for playing solo, but an excellent one for playing a smartass-hardass duo.

What else is there? A reason that you are not going to spend your actions drawing cards, possibly, ever. The first time each turn a card under your control gets assigned damage (either your Investigator or one of your Assets), you may draw a card as a reaction - so you basically get rewarded for getting into fights, soaking damage for others and acting recklessly. The first thought when picking an Ally for Mark should be Guard Dog, the second: upgraded Beat Cop, possibly even both, because these will expire quickly - you really want to trigger them every turn.

Mark already comes with a card that should give you a vague idea on how should you synergise your actions: enter Sophie. On the healthy side, your dead girlfriend gives you a sizable bonus to any skill check you might be doing while providing you with direct damage necessary to draw cards. In some locations, this could even suffice to discover a clue or two, in case you really needed to. But there is a catch - overdo this one and you will be reduced to a self-pitying wreck of a man. In this state, Harrigan really becomes only good at one thing, as all his scores are lowered (still, 4 combat is nothing to sneeze at, so even left in bitter tears you can dish out the pain) and the ability to buff any test is lost. So yeah, you will want to get wounded - but not too much, for several reasons. Keep your stimpack handy, soldier.

Your ability really makes you shine when already accumulated some wounds. Imagine drawing a blue token while blasting your Shotgun and a bit beaten... Heck, you might even consider buffing your barrage of lead with a memory of Sophie getting devoured to get this +2, additional +1 in an event of Elder Sign being drawn AND a card. And to increase your chances of blue popping up, consider the upcoming card from Dim Carcosa, "Eat lead!". I could go on with what Extra Ammunition could do here, but I won't. But I could.

Your deck comes with The Home Front. I doubt this requires an additional commentary. Four fists. FOUR. And if you succeed - you WILL succeed - you not only deal damage (with a firearm of your choice, hint hint), but also effectively deal bonus one, heal one. This lets you trigger Sophie one more time before you reach the danger zone.

As a Soldier, your deckbuilding options are somewhat limited - Guard and Neutral, but also 0-level Tactics. Now, the most useful of these are already in your faction as a Guardian, so I won't cover these up - pick whatever you need here. Considering your multiclass options, there is one that definitely deserves a mention: Shortcut. You can use it both as a free move action (to unleash a three-attack fury at whatever moves behind this door) or means of evacuating civilians from the combat zone. Excellent, versatile, handy and dirt cheap. Other than that? Elusive when you need to regroup before you reengage, Barricade for bottlenecking (or setting up for Dynamite Blast) and Sneak Attack for free two damage when the party nerd has already exhausted that Massive fellow and you want to go full Doomguy on his buttocks. The horror, I mean. Not the nerd.

Shell Shock is a serious weakness for a character with 5 sanity, which in theory should discourage you from using Sophie too much. You can get up to 4 sanity damage in one go if you're not careful, which is as close to an instakill as it gets. Triggering Sophie once and having your assets soak the rest of the damage should be a pretty safe way to manage it, though, if you don't mind your doing pretty much nothing. Alternatively, you can wait for your weakness to pass (easier if you secure some Ally early in the game and start drawing) and then begin beating yourself over how it's all your fault that she was devoured.

In case you didn't know that already, Harrigan is crazy. Most of his abilities revolve around you hurting yourself, which opens up for some amazing combos and give you a delectable taste of vengeance when this blue token spills out from the bag while you're already hanging by a thread. An immensely strong and fun to play, although very much specialized, high-risk high-reward character - this is Mark Harrigan.