Gloomhaven released in 2017 is established as one of the all time great tactical dungeon games, with a huge interlinked campaign, unlockable heroes and branching paths to the story. It has been redeveloped in 2020 with a smaller introductory set called Jaws of the Lion, and then followed up by a more complex edition in 2022 called Frosthaven.
The game is crafted around your character and their deck of cards which will contain abilities and skills suited to their unique play style. In each scenario you will choose which cards form your deck from a pool, and your hand size effectively represents your health, so once you run out of cards you will be exhausted, and cannot continue to participate in that encounter. You will be balancing off saving your most potent abilities for the right moment, as using these will require you to discard the card. You can also lose cards if you take excessive damage from enemies. During each turn of the game you will select two cards to play, using the top ability of one and the bottom ability of another.
After each scenario is completed, your party will visit a town where they encounter an event, and can purchase new equipment and weapons. In Frosthaven this part of the game has been developed significantly, as you will be adding new buildings and crafting potions from the loot you collected, increasing what you can then do within your settlement. It added a layer to the game that was undeveloped in the original Gloomhaven. The components of the games are good, but can be a little more basic with standees for enemies and tiles lacking in significant artwork features.
This game has always been one of the best group games i have encountered, as the interaction between characters is relatively high, as what one player does in their turn will have effects on others. It offers great card strategy, with involvement and discussion between players, and whilst these games are often classed within the dungeon crawler category, they are not randomised encounters and explorations, but are a linked progressive story comprising a series of scenario challenges, or puzzles that you must overcome with your limited resources. Game balance is well executed, scenarios are closely fought and monster difficulty is easy to change using statistics discs. Combat is card based with a small deck of modifiers that provide an edge of randomness and can be customised over time. As a tactical campaign adventure with branching storyline pathways, this game is amazing, and my Virmling Mindthief will be fondly remembered forever.
Even though Gloomhaven is such a great group campaign game it was not perfect, as its storyline thread could easily be lost as the campaign branched out. Jaws of the Lion as an introductory stand alone box set contained 4 starting hero characters and 16 monster types along with a more successful and focused campaign story. The maps are also played off a couple of books rather than having separate tiles which was a big improvement, with better artwork and scenery. Frosthaven was another huge box released in 2022 and added a new layer of complexity to the characters, together with the building up of a frozen outpost. The story was indeed easier to follow than Gloomhaven due to its player aids, however the downtime between adventures drag on a lot longer and with a lot more administration required, that we eventually longed for a return for the quicker style of its predecessors.
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Expansions
There are expansions you can add to enhance or change the gameplay (my additions highlighted green = own, blue = part owned, red = not purchased) :
Core Sets
Gloomhaven is the original and has a set of easier characters initially to play and offers a huge gaming expierence. Jaws of the Lion is an introductory set, with a focused story and smaller number of heroes and content, and is arguably going to be the best version of the game for most players. Frosthaven offered more complex characters for those that experienced and needing more challenge, but the greater town admin could be considered a hinderance to some. The forthcoming 2nd edition of the original will hopefully be a definitive edition.
Solo Scenarios
A set of scenarios and reward cards specifically designed for strategic solo play highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each class from the original Gloomhaven and Frosthaven. Meant to be played with hero characters at least level 5. A nice addition if you want to solo play.
Forgotten Circles
A small box expansion for the original Gloomhaven, and features a new storyline of twenty scenarios taking place after the events of the original campaign and involves one new character class called Aesther Diviner. The expansion also features four new monster types, three new bosses and fourteen new items. However, I feel you are much better off getting Jaws of the Lion.