When Gloomhaven was released it was received with much hype
and praise from the boardgaming world, but I quickly realised that it was game
I was unlikely to play. My wife, Elaine, is not enthused by high fantasy, RPG,
combat, dungeon crawl types of game, so spending a three figure sum on a
monstrosity like Gloomhaven would not be prudent. It would just sit on my
shelves glaring down at me! I did read up about Gloomhaven and the mechanics
used, and I therefore did have an inkling about how it played. This summer,
Gloomhaven – Jaws of the Lion (JOTL) came out, a streamlined, scaled down
version of the original, that apparently could be viewed as a prequel for the
main game. A strong point (for me) was the price, less than a third of the full
Gloomhaven; so I decided to gamble and hope Elaine would play at least a few
games before consigning the experience to a dusty shelf.
Fortunately Elaine did stick with the short tutorial games
and gradually began to enjoy the game more and more. We played a few games a
week intermittently over the next months and finally completed the adventure last
week! I played the ‘Hatchet’ character and partnered with Elaine using ‘Red
Guard’. Both characters reached level 6 at the end, with very similar
experience points. We did fail 4 or 5 scenarios, but always succeeded on the
second play (occasionally we did downgrade the level, as suggested in the
rules, if we considered the game too tough; but this was rare). So, I now feel
able to give my thoughts on JOTL:
The components of the game are good; a lot of card chits,
counters and standee’s etc. The playing card quality is good, especially the
main character cards, although the type face on the event cards is a bit small.
The smaller combat cards, NPC action cards etc. are glossy and shuffle well.
The plastic figures are nicely sculpted (I have not been tempted to paint them).
The rule book is excellent and the tutorial games introduce the rules and
mechanisms in a very clear way. This is an ideal way of bringing players into a
‘complex’ game such as Gloomhaven; I don’t think Elaine would have endured
reading a detailed rule book before playing, so the ‘drip-drip’ method of adding
progressively to the rules works really well. In fact, Elaine has never read
the main rulebook! The printed book of scenario maps is excellent and I’m sure
will inspire many other games to mimic this format. One of the common
criticisms of the original Gloomhaven was the set-up and take-down times
involved, but using this booklet solves this issue.
From previous knowledge of Gloomhaven, I had high
expectations of the game storyline, character and theme. I was sadly
disappointed in this aspect of the game. I did not expect a literary
masterpiece but the story telling supplied can be described as ‘adolescent’ at
best. We never felt engaged in the story, nor had any empathy with any
characters (even our own). The introductions to each scenario could be best
covered as “blah, blah, blah, kill all enemies”. There were no hidden clues or
hints in the text to be used to unlock a puzzle in the upcoming game, or the
campaign as a whole. This is reflected in the scenario goals which never varied
beyond kill everything, or kill/destroy a named opponent or artefact. I suppose
for a combat based boardgame this might be OK, but I was hoping for much more
sophistication in scenario design and objectives.
The game mechanics is where JOTL/Gloomhaven excels! The
split action cards, using the top of one card and bottom of another, is
brilliant! The card selection prior to game play into a limited hand size
provides a key decision point for players requiring thought and difficult
choices. The variety in action cards nicely delineates different characters, so
that Hatchet was very different from Red Guard. As characters develop, more
powerful cards become available to each character, but often these cards have a
sting because they are single use, rather than re-usable, cards. How many of
these ‘powerful’ cards do you take? The more you have, the less time is
available because the limited hand size provides an internal ‘clock’ within the
game that needs to be managed. ‘Rests’, and the replenishing of hands, need to
be taken at the ‘correct’ times within the game, and of course, each rest
results in the loss of one more card from your available hand! The additional
equipment cards you purchase between scenarios also fit with above (i.e.
single/multi-use, what to take and what to leave behind etc.), although I would
have liked a more wide ranging use of the gold you accumulate, maybe paying for
healing, possibly buying a temporary increase in hand size for the next game
etc.
The action cards for the NPC monsters again works really
well, so as players you can never be sure what the opposition will do. The
initiative system is excellent, so turn order is never certain, and the limited
communication between players means plans can (and do) go awry; I found the Red
Guard was much faster than Hatchet in terms of initiative. Some monsters were
spritely compared to others who were lethargic. I liked the variation between
monsters and the way some were fast/slow, some were hard-hitters whilst others
caused an averse condition (poison, wound etc.), and some were tough to wound (shielded).
The only disappointing aspect of the monsters was the over-simplified way of
balancing the improvements of the player characters by just increasing the
characteristics of the same monsters; maybe a ‘Blood Imp’ should always be the
same and not simply become tough versions paralleling the improvement your
character has achieved. Instead I would have liked to see either (or both) an increase
the number of monsters in the scenario, or the addition of more powerful ‘new’
monsters?
The combat mechanisms worked well. I like the absence of
dice and their replacement with a combat card deck, which again can be improved
as a character gains experience. The cards, especially the curse/blessing
cards, do introduce a strong luck element in combat and players have to accept
this. For example, when playing Hatchet, you have a powerful ranged attack-6
card and this can be combined with a double damage card, but both these effects
are single use. I nearly always kept these cards in my hand, but frequently
failed to use them together because I needed the ‘time’ more than the effect.
In fact I only used the combo twice in the campaign; the first time I drew the
‘curse’ combat card, so I did no damage and had lost 2 cards from my hand (and
failed the scenario)! But, in the final game where the opposing ‘boss ‘ needed
many hits to take down, I made sure to have these cards available and when I
played them I drew a +3 combat card, and thereby inflicted a massive 18 points
of damage in one turn. When we reflected on this last game, it was apparent the
only way to succeed was to have the right card combo, at the right time, and
draw a strong positive combat card.
The mechanic that did not work smoothly for us was the
‘element’ effects. We frequently ‘forgot’ to decline the element markers at the
start of turns and I feel this was because the excitement and pace of the game
drove us to want to move ever faster. My character, Hatchet, was not heavily
influenced by the elements whilst Red Guard utilised them more (and I suspect
other possible characters use elements a lot).
In summary, Gloomhaven JOTL provides an enjoyable game with
good components and excellent mechanics that is quick and easy to play, and
forces players to make tough choices before and during each scenario. On the
downside, the storyline and setting is disappointing, and the scenario design
becomes rather tedious.
Now we have completed the campaign we plan to stick with our
characters and play through the few remaining scenarios we have not yet
encountered, either because of ‘forks’ in the campaign or event cards that were
not drawn. Then, I will spend an afternoon re-ordering the cards etc. so that
the game returns to its starting condition, replacing figures back in their
boxes etc. Then, I think I will sell on the game at a B&B stall at a
convention (assuming we ever return to normality). The thought of replaying
JOTL with the 2 unused characters is possible, but I feel we have had our
Gloomhaven experience and it is time to move on.
