The campaign map board gains new stickers over the life of the game and as you discover new locations are all relatively straightforward and clear. Mechanics like line-of-sight, initiative, and even managing enemy A.I. However, everything fits together the way it should, and once players understood those systems, I rarely encountered concepts that werenвЂ™t solid and thoughtfully explained by the rules. I donвЂ™t mean to imply that the game is simple Gloomhaven is a weighty affair of interlocking rules and systems, and it takes a good while to learn. That dilemma extends to the setup and pulldown of the game, which takes a long time.ДЇor a game that has so many components to juggle, and such a complex setup for every session, IвЂ™m happy to say that the game design itself tends toward elegance, sensible and easy-to-learn iconography, and comparatively manageable turn speeds. The huge amount of вЂњstuffвЂќ packed into the game is exciting, but even veteran gamers may balk at the sheer bulk of everything at hand, and trying to find a way to organize it all is a big challenge. Everything is high in quality, from the mini sculpts to the evocative art that depicts your heroes, and on through the sturdy cardboard tiles and the premium cards. Beneath the rulebook and scenario book are the hundreds of cards, tiles, miniatures, enemy standees, hidden boxes and envelopes (to be opened later in the campaign), and other components that will carry you through the campaign.

Gloomhaven arrives in a beefy (but gloriously visualized) box that weighs in at a little over 20 pounds.

ThatвЂ™s the promise of fun waiting for you as you stare down for the first time at the imposing box that contains the game. Scenarios are played on a modular board that must be set up with various components ahead of play The story branches and twists, and your version of the campaign might even include entirely different scenarios and sidequests from another copy of the game, all thanks to your decisions. In between adventures, the world map changes, Gloomhaven grows and changes, and players make choices that affect both their own fate and that of the town. The bulk of gameplay is encompassed by tactical hex grid-based combat through a vast array of ancient crypts and ruins, represented on a modular tile-based board. Ultimately, your real goals are personal to your character, and tied into the loop of character progression. Brought together by necessity, you must work with your fellow adventurers to survive the areaвЂ™s many threats, build a fortune, and explore the area. You are a mercenary fantasy adventurer out on the edge of the world, exploring the city of Gloomhaven and its wild environs. But itвЂ™s also one of the most inventive and rewarding board games in a long timeвЂ¦if youвЂ™re willing to commit the significant time and energy it takes to uncover its bountiful charms. Mixing the story-driven fantasy focus, miniatures, and progression-oriented play first popularized by North American RPGs with the minimization of luck players have come to expect from Euro-style games, Gloomhaven is a complex beast of a project. A centerpiece game for any dedicated playerвЂ™s collection, Gloomhaven is a sprawling cooperative dungeon crawler in a richly imagined and gritty fantasy world, playable across an interconnected campaign that takes many dozens of hours to complete. But few games garnered the kind of intense and constant conversation among hardcore hobbyists engendered by Gloomhaven. 2017 has been a great year for board games, with tons of innovative designs and intriguing themes to discover on your table.

Gloomhaven organizer build video