Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

2020

Experience the excitement of Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, a more casual prequel featuring a simplified rule set, an interactive scenario book, and a mysterious campaign filled with new characters and monsters.

120
minutes

1 - 4
player(s)

14+

Medium Heavy

About the game

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is an immersive, cooperative, campaign-driven board game set in the bustling, gritty city of Gloomhaven. As you delve into its rich narrative, you’ll find yourself in a world of sword-and-sorcery, brimming with adventure, intrigue, and fantasy.

The game’s unique setting places you and your fellow players as members of the Jaws of the Lion mercenary group. Your task is to navigate the chaotic streets of Gloomhaven, solving mysteries, combating menacing creatures, and revealing hidden treasures. Each game session is a new chapter in your ongoing story, making every choice a consequential part of your shared narrative.

Game components Unboxing the fun!

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a cooperative campaign game with a branching narrative. The game includes an array of components, each with a specific purpose and interaction within the game. Here’s a list and description of each component:

1. Scenario Book: The scenario book contains all the information you need to set up and play through the game’s various missions. It details the layout of the map, the enemies you’ll encounter, the objectives you need to complete, and the rewards you’ll receive.

2. Four Player Character Mat: These mats represent each of the four characters in the game. They provide information on the character’s abilities, health, and equipment. Players use these mats to track their character’s progress throughout the game.

3. Character Miniatures: Each character in the game has a corresponding miniature. These miniatures are used to represent the characters on the game board.

4. Monster Standees: The game includes various monster standees. These represent the enemies that players will encounter throughout their missions. The standees are placed on the game board according to the instructions in the scenario book.

5. Monster Stat Sheets: These sheets provide information on the different monsters in the game. They include details on the monster’s health, abilities, and attack strength.

6. Battle Goal Cards: At the start of each scenario, each player draws a battle goal card. These cards provide players with a personal objective for the scenario, offering a bonus if they succeed.

7. Attack Modifier Cards: These cards are used to determine the outcome of an attack. They can either increase or decrease the strength of an attack.

8. Ability Cards: Each character has a set of ability cards. These cards represent the various actions a character can take during their turn, such as attacking, moving, or using a special ability.

9. Item Cards: These cards represent the different items that characters can acquire throughout the game. Items can be used to enhance a character’s abilities or provide them with new ones.

10. Damage Tokens: These tokens are used to track the amount of damage a character or monster has taken. When a character or monster’s damage equals or exceeds their health, they are eliminated from the game.

11. Condition Tokens: These tokens are used to indicate various conditions that can affect a character or monster, such as being poisoned or stunned.

12. Element Infusion Tokens: These tokens are used to represent the six different elements in the game. Characters can infuse and consume these elements to enhance their abilities.

13. Loot and Treasure Tokens: These tokens represent various types of loot and treasure that characters can find during their missions. They can be exchanged for items or used to complete certain objectives.

Game setup Lay it out, line it up, let’s go

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a cooperative campaign-style game for 1-4 players. The game involves strategy, careful planning, and overcoming obstacles. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set up the game:

Step 1: Choose Your Characters

Each player chooses a character to play with. Each character has unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. It’s best to choose a character that complements the rest of the team. The characters include:

Red Guard: A melee tank and damage dealer
Demiurge: A support and control character
Voidwarden: A manipulator who can control enemies and assist allies
Hatchet: A ranged attacker who is good at hitting targets from a distance

Step 2: Set Up The Game Board

Open the scenario book to the page of your current scenario. This will be your game board. The book will show you where to place enemies, obstacles, and other elements. Place the corresponding stickers on the board as instructed.

Step 3: Prepare Your Character Mats and Decks

Each player gets a character mat, a set of ability cards, and a set of modifier cards. At the start of the game, players will only have access to a subset of their characters’ abilities. As they progress in the game, they can unlock more powerful abilities.

Step 4: Set Up The Monster Decks

Each scenario will have specific monsters. For each type of monster in the scenario, set up a corresponding deck of monster ability cards.

Step 5: Set Up The Initial Resources

Each player starts with a number of hit points determined by their character, a number of gold tokens, and a number of experience points. The game also starts with a set amount of time, represented by a tracker.

Step 6: Prepare the Random Elements

There are several decks of cards that introduce random elements to the game. Shuffle these decks and place them face down on the table. These decks include:

Random Dungeon Deck: This deck is used in the game’s random dungeon mode.
City Event Deck: This deck is used when the players return to the city of Gloomhaven.
Road Event Deck: This deck is used when the players travel to a new location.

Now, you are ready to play the game. Good luck!

Game flow Round and round we go

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a cooperative game of tactical combat in a unique, evolving fantasy world. Each player will assume the role of a hardened mercenary with their own personal motives. The game is structured into a series of rounds, each consisting of a number of phases. Here’s a detailed walkthrough of each phase:

1. Preparation Phase:

Setup: In this phase, players will set up the game according to the Scenario Book. This includes setting up the board, choosing characters, and selecting the corresponding character decks.
Card Selection: Every player will select two cards from their hand to play for the round. The top action of one card and the bottom action of the other will be executed during the turn.

2. Round Phase:

Initiative Order: Each player reveals their selected cards. The player with the lowest initiative number on their chosen cards goes first. The monsters also draw an ability card to determine their initiative and actions.
Player Turn: On their turn, a player can perform the top action of one of their chosen cards and the bottom action of the other in any order.
Monster Turn: Monsters act according to the drawn ability card in the order of initiative. Each monster of the same type will perform the actions listed on the card.

3. End of Round Phase:

Clearing the Board: Any summoned creatures that have zero or less health are removed from the board.
Card Recovery: Players decide whether to rest or continue playing by drawing two more cards. Resting can be either short (losing one random card from the discard pile and recovering the rest) or long (recovering all discarded cards and regaining two health, but giving up a turn).
Resetting the Round: The round tracker is advanced, the element board is adjusted, and any end-of-round effects are resolved. Players then start a new round by selecting two more cards.

This structure continues until the scenario’s objective has been met, which typically involves fighting through a series of monsters. Most scenarios also have special rules and goals which are detailed in the Scenario Book.

Players'turn One turn to rule them all

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a cooperative game of tactical combat in a unique, evolving fantasy world. Each player will take on the role of a wandering adventurer with their own unique set of skills and reasons for travelling to this dark corner of the world. During a player’s turn, there are a range of actions and strategic choices to make which significantly affect gameplay.

1. Beginning of the Turn: To start a turn, players choose two cards from their hand to play. One card will determine their initiative for the round (lower number goes first), and each card will provide two options for actions – a top action and a bottom action.

2. Taking Actions: Players can choose to take the top action of one card and the bottom action of the other in any order. They can also choose to use a card’s default action instead of the action printed on the card. The default actions are Attack 2 (top action) or Move 2 (bottom action).

Move: The player moves their character up to a number of hexes equal to the move value. Some moves may also have additional effects like Jump, Fly, or Push.
Attack: The player targets an enemy within the range of the attack and draws a modifier card to determine the final attack value. If the enemy is within melee range, the player can perform a melee attack. If the enemy is not within melee range, the player can perform a ranged attack.
Heal: The player can heal themselves or an ally within range, increasing the target’s hit points by the heal value.
Loot: The player picks up all loot within a specified range.
Summon: The player places a summon token on an adjacent hex. The summoned creature acts immediately after the player in the initiative order.
Special: Some cards have special actions that do not fall into the above categories. These actions are fully explained on the card.

3. End of the Turn: Once a player has resolved their two actions, their turn ends. They put any active cards into the active area in front of them, and any discarded cards into their discard pile. If a card was lost during the turn (as indicated by a lost symbol), it goes into the lost pile instead. Cards in the lost pile cannot be recovered for the rest of the scenario.

4. Strategic Choices: The choice of cards to play, the decision to use a card’s default action or its printed action, and the order in which actions are taken can all greatly affect the outcome of a scenario. Players must work together, planning their moves and attacks in coordination to effectively defeat enemies and achieve their goals.

End of the game All good games must come to an end

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a cooperative game wherein victory is achieved by fulfilling the specific objectives outlined in each scenario. The game ends when one of the following situations occurs:

Victory: The players successfully complete all objectives detailed in the scenario book. The objectives may range from defeating a specific enemy, protecting a certain character, or reaching a particular location on the map.
Defeat: All players become exhausted. Exhaustion occurs when a player can no longer perform any actions due to lack of available cards or a character’s hit points falling to zero.

Before final scoring, players should carry out the following actions:

Experience Points: Players calculate and record their total experience points earned during the scenario. Experience points are gained through playing certain ability cards and achieving battle goals.
Gold: Players convert any remaining lootable money tokens on the board into gold. The conversion rate is determined by the scenario level.
Checkmarks: Players record any checkmarks earned from battle goals. Three checkmarks earn a perk, which can improve a character’s ability deck.
City and Road Events: If the scenario was successful, players often draw and resolve a city event card before selecting a new scenario. If players travel to a new scenario, a road event card is drawn and resolved.

Note: The game of Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is persistent. This means that certain actions and outcomes in one scenario will affect the gameplay in future scenarios. Therefore, tracking all changes accurately is crucial for maintaining the continuity and integrity of the game.

Scoring Did you outsmart your rivals?

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a cooperative game of tactical combat in a unique, evolving fantasy world. The scoring system of the game is based on the completion of scenarios and accomplishing personal goals.

Scenario Completion:

Each player earns Victory Points (VP) by successfully completing scenarios. The exact amount of VP awarded depends on the difficulty level of the scenario.
Additional VP can also be earned through the completion of Battle Goals, which are personal objectives that are drawn at the start of each scenario.

Experience Points:

Players also earn Experience Points (XP) by using certain abilities during combat. XP is used to level up your character, which in turn grants you access to new and more powerful abilities.
While XP does not directly contribute to your VP, leveling up your character can make it easier to complete scenarios and achieve Battle Goals.

Gold:

Gold is earned by looting treasure tiles during scenarios. Each piece of gold can be used to purchase items that can help in future scenarios, potentially leading to more VPs.

Tie-Breaking Rules:

In the rare event of a tie in VP at the end of a campaign, the tie-breaking rules are as follows:

The player with the most total XP (earned over the course of the entire campaign) wins the tie.
If there is still a tie, the player with the most gold wins.
If there is still a tie, the player who has completed the most Battle Goals wins.
If there is still a tie, the player with the highest character level wins.

Particular Cases and Exceptions Wait… is that legal?

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a unique game with many intricate rules. Here are some special rules, exceptions, and clarifications.

Monster Focus: One of the most confusing elements of the game can be determining a monster’s focus. Remember, a monster will focus on the enemy it can perform its current attack against using the least amount of movement. It’s not about which enemy is closest in terms of hexes, but rather about the path to reach the enemy.

Shield and Retaliate: Another rule that can be confusing is the interaction between Shield and Retaliate. It’s important to note that the Shield value of a character or monster does not reduce the damage from a Retaliate. Retaliate damage is not an attack, and therefore it’s not affected by the Shield.

Scenario Difficulty: The game suggests starting at difficulty level 1, but if the game is too easy or too hard, you can adjust the scenario level. The scenario level affects the strength of the monsters and the rewards you receive at the end of the scenario. The difficulty is not fixed and can be adjusted before starting each scenario.

Level 0: For an easy game, less experience and gold.
Level 1: Normal game, normal experience and gold.
Level 2: Hard game, more experience and gold.

Elemental Infusions: A common mistake is forgetting about the elemental infusions. When an ability with an elemental infusion is used, the element is not immediately available. It moves to the ‘Strong’ column at the end of the turn, and can only be consumed in following turns. If not consumed, it will wane and be moved to the ‘Waning’ column, and if still not consumed, will be extinguished at the end of the next round.

Summoned Creatures: Summoned creatures act on their own and do not have an ability card. They perform a basic move and attack each round, and do not perform any other actions. Importantly, summoned creatures cannot open doors.

Advantage and Disadvantage: When a player has Advantage, they draw two modifier cards from their deck and use the better result. If they have Disadvantage, they draw two cards and use the worse result. However, if one of the drawn cards is a null or x2 card, that card must be used regardless of Advantage or Disadvantage status. This is a major exception to the Advantage/Disadvantage rule.

Tips and tricks Play smarter, not harder!

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a cooperative campaign-driven game that requires strategic planning and smart decision-making to succeed. Here are some strategies, tips, and common mistakes to avoid to optimize your gameplay.

Advanced Strategies

Plan Your Actions: Before you choose your action cards for the turn, discuss with your team what you want to accomplish. Having a coordinated plan can be the difference between success and failure.
Manage Your Cards Efficiently: Your cards are both your actions and your life in Gloomhaven. It is important to manage them wisely. Avoid using the burn actions on your cards too early in the scenario as it could leave you exhausted and out of the game.
Utilize Elements: Many abilities create or consume elements. Coordinating with your team to consume the elements they create can lead to powerful combos.

Beginner Tips

Start on the easiest difficulty level and gradually increase as you gain experience and familiarity with the game mechanisms.
Always remember that Gloomhaven is a cooperative game. Communicate with your team, share your plans, and work together to overcome challenges.
Take time to understand the unique abilities of your character and how they can benefit the team. Each character in Gloomhaven has a unique play style, and understanding this can greatly enhance your game.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Ignoring the Scenario Goals: It’s easy to get caught up in fighting monsters and forget the main objective of the scenario. Always keep the scenario goal in mind and make sure every action you take is working towards that goal.
Forgetting to Refresh Consumables: At the end of each scenario, certain items are refreshed. Forgetting to do this can put you at a disadvantage in the next scenario.
Not Accounting for Monster Actions: Monsters draw their own action cards each turn. Forgetting to account for these actions can lead to unexpected surprises.

Ways to Optimize Gameplay

Pace Yourself: It’s not always about killing every monster as fast as possible. Sometimes, it’s better to pace yourself, conserve your resources, and strike at the right moment.
Upgrade Wisely: When you have the opportunity to upgrade your character, consider what will benefit the team most. Sometimes, increasing your own power is less beneficial than enhancing a support ability that benefits the whole team.
Learn from Your Mistakes: Every loss in Gloomhaven is a learning opportunity. Analyze what went wrong and adjust your strategy for the next game.