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Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion is the younger sibling of the big-world, campaign multiplayer cooperative that is Gloomhaven. Since its release in 2019, Gloomhaven has won countless board gaming awards for its clever play mechanisms, varied and interesting story lines and all-round brilliance.
A few years later, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion hit the board game scene and it’s firmly become a favourite of new and seasoned Gloomhaven players alike. It’s a smaller game with a more linear story and play-through as you work to discover the identity of a mysterious villain terrorising the town of Gloomhaven. This game works brilliantly as an introduction to Gloomhaven where you can get a feel for the play mechanism and rules before jumping into the bigger version, or as a fun offshoot with new content for experienced Gloomhaven players.
Having poured countless hours into both Gloomhaven, and Jaws of the Lion, and completed just about every scenario, I have compiled some tips and tricks to share with you if you are just starting out, or are looking to up your Gloomhaven game.
Initiative - It Makes A Difference!
Initiative determines the order of play and is dictated by the values on the cards chosen at the beginning of each round. You choose two cards, so there will be two numbers and turns are taken in ascending order, players and monsters included. When choosing your cards, it makes a huge difference to consider not only what your move and attack strategy will be, but also how your initiative will impact the round; you can decide to go quickly with a low number, slowly with a high number or somewhere in the middle. You can’t outright tell your co-op team what your initiative will be (or your plan for your turn) but you can allude to it with statements such as ‘I’m going to start late’ or ‘I’ll be going early this turn.’ The reason it makes such a huge difference is all down to the timing - at this point it will be decided through your choices, and also down to the card drawn with your enemy attack and initiative, how the round is going to play out. For example, if you or your team are doing multi-target attacks, you’ll want to have as many enemies close together as possible, so you want to make sure you time your turn to when enemies are going to be within range (either before or after they move in pursuit of the player closest or with the lowest initiative.) You might also choose a low initiative to make yourself the target of attacks if a member of your team is low on health. Some enemies have notoriously fast/slow initiatives, such as slow-moving Stone Golems and fast-moving Giant Vipers - so you’ll want to plan your attacks to move either closer or further from these enemies during your turn, depending on your health, attack strategy and movement available.
Choose Your Cards Wisely
Generally, you’ll be quickly attached to the new, exciting and stronger cards that you get for levelling up and you’ll choose these for your hand for most rounds. But it’s also important to consider the scenario and objective before choosing your cards. Some scenarios have more ground to cover than others, so you’ll need to choose cards with more movement points available. Or the objective could be to escape, so you need to make sure you won’t exhaust/run out of cards before you make it (or worse - hold your team mates up and leave them exposed!) You’ll also need to consider the types of enemies on the board (although you won’t necessarily see them all as you start the scenario!) but generally if you’re in an icy terrain, a dungeon etc you’ll start to get a feel for the kind of enemies you’re likely to experience and which cards are most effective. For example, Imps can carry out strong attacks at a distance, so you’ll want to make sure you pick up ranged attack cards to tackle them, so you’re not wasting time chasing Imps around the board whilst your health takes a hammering. Similarly, if you’re fighting a boss you know it’s going to be an endurance test, so choosing any healing cards you have in your hand would be a wise move!
Perks Are For Life…Not Just This Round!
You are able to choose perks for your character once they have completed three individual tasks (such as the individual scenario goal chosen at the beginning of the round) or when levelling up. These only benefit your character, so there’s no negotiation to be had with your team. It’s an understandable knee-jerk reaction to want to choose the most awesome-looking perk with a big, hard-hitting modifier or new ability. As tempting as this is, considering streamlining your modifier the deck nice and early – by removing some of the +0s or -1s you’ll have a much better chance of pulling good modifiers which will pay dividends in the long run!
Some Characters Work Better Together Than Others
As the title suggests – some characters in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion make more cohesive pairs than others. This could be down to elements charged and used by characters (for example, more than one player regularly needing to use Ice to boost their attacks could hinder the whole party, as it can generally only be used once in a round, so only one player will get a boost.) If you’re playing two player, having two characters that both cannot heal, have low health or less cards can also up the game’s difficulty. But this leads nicely into the next tip…
Not Vibing With Your Character? Change It!
One of the features that keeps Gloomhaven interesting is variety, and this is true for Jaws of the Lion, too. The campaign begins with a choice of four starter characters, all with unique abilities and strengths. Some are ‘stronger’ with higher attack values and slower initiatives, and some are faster with ‘weaker’ moves - but generally all characters are equally weighted making the game fair and enjoyable. Characters level as the game progresses and you achieve the scenario objectives. But, if you have chosen a character that doesn’t suit your play-style or preferences (for example, a character that focusses on ranged rather than melee attacks) then do not fear! – in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, you are able to change character at any time and the difficulty level will scale down so you can jump straight back into the action with your team.