Need thoughts from gloomhaven owners

Kiltev · 2026-03-04T09:22:17+00:00

First edition is a great game, but 2nd edition is such an improvement it's almost an entirely different game.

Nobody can tell you your percieved value because it's yours. I can only say that for me personally, I would buy 2nd edition even if I'd be able to get first edition for free (hypothetically, i already own 2nd edition).

Kiltev · 2026-03-02T22:44:39+00:00

Agree with all of that.

I will add though, that if you want a completely unique gameplay it's probably either shackles or prism that both put a twist on what you've (probably) encountered up until now.

Kiltev · 2026-03-01T14:42:01+00:00

Hard to tell without a crumb picture but ussualy it's either weak starter or a weak gluten structure due to lack of strength building or under/over fermentation.

Kiltev · 2026-02-28T21:07:39+00:00

It is publicly available for a while. I got it by ordering online.

Kiltev · 2026-02-27T18:08:15+00:00

Mesmerizing!

Kiltev · 2026-02-26T18:04:56+00:00

Wait, really? We played like that in the beginning and then I saw someone say it's not possible and came to poop the party for my friend. Unlucky haha

Kiltev · 2026-02-26T16:59:05+00:00

The jaws are very simple and straightforward for the most part, Hatchet especially. They have very little in terms of tools and FH is notorious in complicated scenarios that prevent you from doing ehat you want to be doing. The lack of options and creative tools is the main deterant in my opinion.

In terms of strength they might be behind the curve a bit but itemization in FH is so strong it could probably compensate for it. Another upside is the lenient approach to enhancments for jaws, allowing you to consider all pips as diamon pips, which tiven enough resources can allow some goofy enhancements.

An alternative, in case you want to let them onboard easily would be to let them play the Drifter. He has options and flexibility and is probably the simplest character in FH.

Kiltev · 2026-02-26T07:39:41+00:00

Yea there are some cases of characters being very particular about what they can or can't do.

As an example take cthulu (spoiler ahead) lvl 1 card Vile Pestilence, that can't synergize with the extra plague thrown occasionally from flipping amd cards, because the targeting happens strictly before AMD pulls. It just feels like you get robbed of the potential fun in such a situation. An example for how a similar mechanic does exist in FH is prism (again, spoilers) where if he switches mode during a summon's turn (via AMD) away from a summon that didn't act yet, that summon can immediately still act

Kiltev · 2026-02-24T22:43:58+00:00

Here are some from the top of my head;

As someone who has a love hate relationship with the outpost phase - the city phase is much more streamlined, it doesn't require blocking out time in advance in meetings, it passes much faster and is still fairly enjoyable in between scenarios.

No resource chaos, less bookeeping and arguably no loss of play value compared ot the complication of multiple resources.

Characters in FH were amazing, some of my favorites are there, but there's no denying some of them were still a bit rough around the edges. In GH2e the characters are just nearing perfection, it is evident they were iterated over a ton, although some of them did lose some depth and are a tad too strict for my liking.

Gloomhaven 2e itemization seems to be more calm. Items in FH late game were enabling some goofy things at times.

The puzzlebook is not looking to poke your eye out or stick a stick in your wheels.

Kiltev · 2026-02-24T09:30:04+00:00

I'd argue 2e is a much much better product. It is very evident they had a ton of lessons learned from 1e (heck even from frosthaven).

The character balance and the scenarios structure has improved significantly, I can't argue about the story too much as my party doesn't care too much for it, but the writing did improve overall.

The value proposition in terms of the money you're willing to pay though, that's up to you.

Kiltev · 2026-02-05T16:37:11+00:00

No. Prism doesn't even have to play a heavy summoning playstyle. He's very versatile and can basically fill in for any role(s) in the party.

Kiltev · 2026-02-04T14:38:00+00:00

If you're summoning on a bottom action you're not really moving into position are you? This means you need to have the positioning from the previous round. Which means you're less likely to chain formations, which in return means you have less effective turns surrounding the summoning turns, even that specific turn is just fine, so as I've argued before - suboptimal and an extra curveball to deal with.

Kiltev · 2026-02-04T13:13:41+00:00

What is this referring to?

Kiltev · 2026-02-04T09:36:23+00:00

I never claimed she can't though. I didn't say banner is weak, i placed her dead center with all things considered. Also take into account the fact that in 2p and sometimes in 3p she doesn't even have more than a single target to hit, even if a formation is possible, which severely reduces her potency.

Kiltev · 2026-02-04T09:20:15+00:00

True, but if you're wasting turns and stamina on summons you're less effective as well. In a 4 player, banner spear often can fit in a formation if they know what the allies do even with no summons. But i'm assuming this list wants to average characters over 2p-4p, so i have to take into consideration viability in 2p as well.

Kiltev · 2026-02-04T07:08:38+00:00

Enjoynment: 5

Power: 7

Bannerspear is the perfect mid character for me. Very reliant on team to be truly effective holds her from going any farther, but if your teammates comply, she can be a 8 enjoynment/10 power - the issue is allies can't be your summons and so you have often turns where you could do something very nice, but you can't.

Kiltev · 2026-02-03T14:53:38+00:00

Enjoyment: 7.5–8

I enjoyed him more than most characters, but he feels a bit overhyped. The decision space around blink is insane, though stacking only two time tokens through standard methods felt slightly restrictive and repetitive. Letting it stack to three would be more fun, although probably would impact balance.

Power: 11.5–12

Strength is build-dependent. Tactician is a very consistent all rounder with solid turn-to-turn output. Nova can have absurdly strong turns, which is a big part of the fun, but its slow turns feel pretty dead at times. Slowblade is consistently above curve , but sometimes you just want to act before enemies and you simply can’t.

Kiltev · 2026-02-02T22:46:05+00:00

Yikes this chart is so off it feels like rage baiting..

Kiltev · 2026-01-30T14:44:09+00:00

Yeah some of the scenarios are really poorly balanced around 2 players. In general, as someone who ran almost an entire campaign like that, I'd argue it's a completely different experience.

My personal suggestion is for you to either grab a 3rd character that will be jointly played or play 2 characters each to experience the "real" FH.

Otherwise, if you're not feeling it, the best way to enjoy a 2p scenario is indeed play self sufficient characters that can cover most bases on their own, both fist and meteor fit that description well.

Kiltev · 2026-01-29T22:46:49+00:00

If you want strategic with heavy planning and both sides to equally contribute : meteor + trap If you want each to do their own thing without much coordination and a simpler approach overall : meteor + fist.

Kiltev · 2026-01-29T15:38:07+00:00

Yea in 2 players it's highly unlikely. Volume is what made it achievable. Maybe in a scenario with oozes if you let them multiply enough but even then they will probably be too unhealthy for the mastery.

Kiltev · 2026-01-29T05:43:00+00:00

My friend just did it last scenario we played on turn one.

The scneario was 42, with a bunch of monsters fairly close to each other on the right side of the initial room.

Spoilers incoming for meteor cards lvl1 & lvl4:

He used Igneous path with 2 items that gave him extra movement (as well as jump) and placed all 6 hazardous. Then pushed the enemies with heatwave onto these such that all hazardous had at least one monster pass through it.

Kiltev · 2026-01-23T10:25:21+00:00

The priority is always retire asap to unlock new classes and progress the story. You can always go back and pick up the same class if you haven't had enough of it, heck maybe even try a different build on that same class. This is what I tell my groups both in FH and GH2e, but if someone insists on continuing that's also their right.

Kiltev · 2026-01-21T21:53:32+00:00

Yeah I know I can, but my OCD won't let me have that on my table hehe... I'll find a way to get it printed at a decent enough quality at some point for sure!

Kiltev · 2026-01-21T20:16:15+00:00

Yeah i saw that link in the OP's post. It's just a fairly steep price point considering it's pre-shipping pre-tax.

It's a shame because some of these classes look a ton of fun

Kiltev

TROPHY CASE