How to Play Gloomhaven Part 1 (The Basics)

[Music] hey everybody welcome to board online board offline today we're bringing you the first in a what I believe will be three-part series for how to play gloom Haven it's gonna be a very detailed series it's gonna teach you everything you need to know the idea being you can learn from this series rather than reading the rulebook there are time stamps below to help you navigate the video this video is gonna be the basics now the one reason why I say most likely free Parts is the second video is definitely going to run a little long if I can find a way to split it in half and a way that makes sense then I'll do that in then we'll have a four part series but we'll kind of figure that out it's already scripted I've been kind of trying to find a way to break it up but just haven't found it yet maybe while I'm filming the second video something will come to mind and it'll be clear how I can split that into two so with this video we're gonna start with a general overview of everything and then of all the components and the general overview of the setup and then we'll go into a more detailed look at everything so like I said time stands below you can navigate as you see fit I do want to mention our sponsor board game code this is a fantastic website where you can buy sell and trade games they have a great selection for you to choose from they've got good prices over there go go over there check them out they not only can you buy games from them but you can sell games to them they have a very clear concise value system that value system also translates over to their their trade system where you can trade games with them they will link directly into your BoardGameGeek account they'll build a trade list based off of what you want for trade what you have in trade and and compare that with what their inventory is and what they're looking to acquire and build a trade list for you automatically using their website so be sure to check that out board game Co makes it easy to buy sell and trade your way into a better collection alright let's get right down to the table and I'm gonna show you how to play Glu mavin Glu maven is a cooperative game in which each game is meant to be played as part of a massive campaign one two four players will use this scenario book to string together a series of adventures unlocking new content for the game as they progress however each revealed scenario can also function as a highly variable standalone experience the play area should be set up as follows the modular board of map tiles is constructed in the configuration specific to that scenario in this case it's set up for the black Barrow which is scenario number one the necessary doors are laid out between each tile as instructed by the scenario you can see here and here any overlay tiles called for by scenario or laid out only in the first room but not the remaining rooms as you can see there are no overlay tiles in this room but in the second room here there are two damage traps and in this room we have the table as well as a treasure tile here two tables and the treasure tile the same is done with the monsters in this case there's three monsters in the first room but the monsters in the second and third room have not been put out yet we'll discuss setting up the modular board in more detail during the scenario setup section of this video each player will need their character mat their hand of ability cards their health and experienced tracker character tokens a facedown battle goal and any equipped items each character will also need one sheet from their class's character pad gather up all monster statistic cards needed for the scenario along with their ability cards along with their corresponding standees and set all of these to the side make sure the ability decks are shuffled shuffle attack modifier decks for each player as well as the monsters the monster attack modifier deck will have this M in the bottom left corner each player attack modifier deck will have either a one two three or four in the bottom left now this part is important as it is one of the most overlooked rules in the game a standard attack modifier deck consists of the 20 cards shown here the exact number of each of these cards is found at the top of page 5 of the rule book every character class comes with a pack of cards that looks like this and will have that class of symbol in the bottom left corner these are not a standard attack modifier deck however the standard deck may be modified by level up bonuses item scenario effects and the effects of the curse and blessed conditions and many of these situations will allow you to bring cards from this deck which again was found inside the character box and add these cards to the standard deck piles of damage tokens money tokens and status tokens should be kept nearby and finally the elemental infusion table should be set out with all six elements in the inert column so now let's take a closer look at all these different components we've set out on the table when a player begins playing gloom Haven they will select from one of six classes initially available brute tinkerer spell weaver scoundrel crag heart and mine thief only one copy of each class may ever be played during a scenario once the player chooses their class they take the corresponding character Matt character tokens level 1 and level X ability cards and the characters many the many can be found in this small box while the rest of the components we found in this larger box all the character map players will find the character portrait icon and character class name this chart indicates the maximum number of hit points the character has based on their level so in this case the scoundrel at level 1 has 8 head points this icon indicates the character's maximum hand size for each scenario this number is fixed and does not increase when leveling up players find a short reference for the round structure here the mat also includes designated areas for players to place discarded active and lost cards on the back of the character Matt is the back story for the class also at the bottom right corner is one number for each starting class as you see here or two numbers for each unlocked class the number on the right which is what each starting class will have is the road and city event card that is unlocked when that character retires the number on the left is the number unlocked when the class is unlocked for the first time which is why you'll only see that with unlocked classes we'll discuss both retirement and unlocking new classes in a separate video playing ability cards is what allows a character to perform actions in a scenario each round players choose to ability cards and use the top action of one and the bottom action of the other all ability cards are class specific and are gained when a character is created as well as when leveling up that character so now let's take a look at exactly what players will find on the ability cards this is the name of the ability in this case special mixture this is the initiative number this is the level of the card in this case one a starting character's hand is made up entirely of level one card alternatively the player can use their level X cards from the beginning of the game as well however they must then remove an equal number of level one cards from their hand since their hand limit is always fixed as the character levels up more powerful ability cards will become available as well ability cards are split into top and bottom actions often actions will contain several separate abilities such as sinister opportunity where you can see this has move three and then move one we'll discuss in detail how ability cards are used during the character turn section item cards are acquired by spinning in between scenarios and on occasion by looting specific treasure tiles during scenarios any equipped item card is placed below the characters mat and can be used during the battle to augment their abilities item cards are not class specific so any character can use any item however characters are limited in the number of items they can equip and bring with them into the scenario each character can equip only one head body and leg item they can equip to one-handed items or one two-handed item and a number of small items equal to the level of the character rounded up so a level 1 character or level 2 character can carry only a single small item but a level 3 or 4 character could carry two and so on the name of the atom is found here and the cost to purchase the item is found here this symbol means the item is consumed after use in which case it is flipped facedown during a scenario consumed items can only be refreshed by specific abilities however in between scenarios all items are refreshed no item can be permanently consumed this symbol means the item is spent after use which means it is rotated to its side spent items are refreshed after the character performs a long rest which we'll discuss in more detail during the resting section of this video some items are used multiple times before they are consumed or spent these slots on such cards are used to track this with one of the characters tokens each time the card is used the character token moves and when it moves to the end the icon takes effect if a card depicts neither the spent nor the consumed symbols then there is no restriction on the number of times it can be used during a scenario the item card will also clearly instruct when the item can be used and the bonus gained by the card in this case this item can be used when the character is attacked the equipped slide at the bottom of the card indicates which part of the body the item guys some equipped items at a number of -1 cards to the equipping character's attack modifier deca and star the scenario which you can see here the hide armor adds 2-1 cards the -1 cards will be pulled from the deck of cars that has this star symbol and placed into the character's deck this set of numbers right here shows how many copies of this particular card are in the game and where this specific card lies in that count so you can see there are two hide armors in the game and this is hide are number one and hide armor number two and on the back of the card is a reference number for this specific type of card hide armor master statistic cards give easy access to the base statistics of a given monster type for both its normal and elite variants a monsters based statistics are dependent upon the scenario level we'll discuss setting the scenario level in more detail later players should rotate and/or flip the card as necessary to find the right level for the current scenario so for instance if we were playing in level 1 scenario we want number 1 at the top of the monster statistic card the monster card is then slipped into a sleeve so that only the appropriate level is showing let's take a closer look at these muster statistic cards here you'll find the name of the monster the left side of each statistic card is the normal monster variant and the right side is the elite this first number is the monsters number of hit points which is the amount of damage that needs to be inflicted on the monster before it dies next is the movement value which is the base number of hexes that a monster will move with move action next is the movement value which is the base number of hexes a must roll move with the move action next is the musters attack value which is the based amount of damage it deals when an attack action is called for and finally we have the monsters range which is the base number of hexes away that attacks and heal can reach a - in the range slot means that the monster can only attack adjacent hexes any special traits the monster type possesses will be listed here traits listed in this area are permanent and persists from round to round flying is also considered a trait but as you can see flying will be listed directly next to the monsters name every monster type on the board will have its own deck of ability cards which will govern all the monsters of that type at the same time both normal and elite it should be noted that while some monster types will have ability cards with their very specific name one at living bones living bones other monster types will have a more generalized deck so the city archers and the bandit archers both use the archer deck so let's take a closer look at these monster ability cards the monster type can be found on the back of the card as well as the top of the front of the card this is the initiative number for this particular ability these are the abilities triggered by this card which will be performed in the order listed this is the shuffle symbol if this symbol appears this ability deck will have its discard pile shuffled back into it at the end of the round and will discuss all the similar detail during the monster turn section of this series at the beginning of every scenario each character will receive to battle goal cars in secret they take a look at them and then choose one to keep keep in mind this is a choice made in secret so other players have no input on which of these cards the player keeps once the players made their choice they will return the other one to the box if the scenario is completed successfully and the character meets this criteria then they will earn the indicated number of check marks check marks are used to enhance a player's attack modifier deck and will be tracked here we'll discuss exactly how this works later on if the scenario is in a failure the character receives nothing from the battle goal card it's important that battle goals be kept secret until the end of the scenario any time attack ability is performed by a monster or a player a separate attack modifier card is drawn for each individual attack as previously mentioned it's very important for players to take note that the modifier decks with the numbers one two three or four at the bottom-left corner are the base modifier decks their characters will start with and modifier cards with character symbols can be added to the deck later using perks also it's important to keep in mind that one modifier card is drawn for each target of the attack so if one attack hit three different targets then three different modifier cards will be drawn each player character will have their own individual attack modifier deck however the monsters will always share one collective deck once the modifier car is drawn it is then applied to the attack so let's take a closer look at these modifier cards the value of the modifier is the main large number found right in the center of the card a two times symbol means the attack value is doubled as you may have guessed this is called a null symbol and it means that no damage is done by the attack however it's important to not think of this as a Miss but rather as an attack that simply didn't strike home hard enough to damage the target the reason this is important is thinking this way will help players remember that while no damage is done any conditions or effects of the attack still apply for instance if the archer drew this ability card you can see the last thing that happens is the archer immobilizes the target of the attack this null symbol would mean that none of the damage listed here is done however the target would still be immobilized both the two times card and the null card from the base modifier decks have the reshuffle symbol on them as you can see at the end of the round in which these are drawn reshuffled the entire now often especially once a player has leveled up significantly they may deal multiple attacks on the same turn which could make it easy to forget that you drew the two times or null symbol cards if they get buried in the discard pile something that I have found to be helpful even though it's not listed in the rulebook is if I draw one of these cards with the reshuffle symbol I'll set it aside so that I have it in my view the entire time and then I'll finish drawing whatever cars need to be drawn and then once my attack is over and once the round is over and the time has come to reshuffle I'll still see this which will help me remember to reshuffle because the deck is reshuffled at the end of the round in rare cases it is possible that while attacking the player may have dealt enough attacks that they actually need to draw more cards after the deck has run out in that case players will need to reshuffle the deck and they continue drawing as necessary conditions elemental infusions or other special effects may be listed like this on character specific attack modifier cards when these activate they act as if they had been written directly on the action card use for the attack when these activate the act as if they had been written directly on the ability card used for the attack this symbol is a rolling modifier symbol and indicates that an additional modifier card should be drawn modifier cards are then drawn until a rolling modifier symbol is not drawn at this point all the drawn modifiers are added together these special two X and no cards are bless and curse cards if one is ever drawn from the modifier deck it should not be placed in the discard pile and instead should be removed from the players deck and put back in the box cursed cards also have either an M or star to indicate whether it can be placed in the player's deck or the master deck if the player is unlucky enough to have run out of these star curse it's because all of the cursed cars with that symbol are in their decks currently then the player simply does not place another cursed card if called upon to do so any curse and blessed card still in the modifier deck at the end of a scenario should be removed and returned to the box now let's go into detail about setting up a scenario the first thing the player is going to want to do pretty obviously is find the correct scenario in the scenario book players will find listed exactly which map tiles they'll need for that scenario one piece of organizational advice that I found to be incredibly helpful is to get one of these alphabetical accordion binders since all the map tiles have a letter as the first part of their individual number set up all map tiles including the doors any map overlay tiles called for or monsters called for should be left off the map except for those that belong in the first room rooms are always separated by doors which means it is possible for a single room to consist of multiple tiles prepare each monster type listed in the scenario description including their ability cards and also their standees should be kept nearby as well next read the introduction and if there are any special rules as you see here for scenario number to apply those now also keep in mind the introduction ends if you see a break like this the text underneath this will be triggered at a later point in the scenario what's the introduction has been read and players have a general idea of what they'll be doing during the scenario to battle gold cards are dealt to each player as previously mentioned these are kept secret from all other players and the player will choose one while returning the other to the box characters then choose which items they currently possess that they will equip for the scenario players then select from their card pool all the ability cards they wish to use for the scenario it's recommended that players only use level 1 cards when they're first starting out and there are a number of level one carts equal to the hand size of the player however the players card pool does consist of level one cards and level X cards at the beginning of a game and if they wish to switch some of them out they can do so now so let's say it closer look at what players will find on the scenario page this is the name of the scenario and the grid number where it can be found on the world map the scenario number is here and this checkbox can be used to be marked when the scenario is completed any achievements required to play the scenario will be listed here sometimes a scenario will require a particular treatment to have not been obtained as well the victory condition is listed here next to goal the introduction is rather the beginning of the scenario as we've mentioned and any additional story points are read when the player's character enters the corresponding hex on the board so this story point here will be read when the player's character reaches this point on the board this text is read when the player successfully completes the scenario some scenarios will unlock new locations which are found under the new locations section here any other rewards will be listed in this area as well including both party achievements and global achievements party achievements will be written down here on the party sheet while global achievements require a sticker to be placed onto the world map if the scenario is linked to other scenarios that will be noted here in this case black Barrow is linked to Barrow layer which is scenario number 2 the specific scenario tiles are found here every monster on the scenario page is listed here and on the actual map they have three indicators each colored either black white or gold which indicator a player looks at is based on the number of characters being played the top left is for two characters the top right for three characters and the bottom indicator is for four characters if the indicator is black then no monster is placed white is a normal monster and gold is an elite monster also to distinguish between elite and knurl monsters there are white bases and gold bases this symbol here shows the starting character locations players may place their character on any of the available starting spaces any other type of overlay tile is listed here as well including treasure and traps it's important to be very clear on what types of traps will be in the scenario traps will only cause the effects and damage listed so if a trap only says poison then it does not deal any damage in this case it's a damage trap for this scenario every treasure chest that appears on a map indicates the reward the player received for looting it when a treasure chest is looted the player flips to the back of a scenario book and finds out what she's found treasures begin to be listed on page 119 of the scenario book and these icons indicate spots on the map where money tokens are placed so we've mentioned to overlay tiles several times at this point let's take a look at the various types of player may encounter a door overlay separates two rooms the moment a character moves on to the door it is opened players flip it over to reveal an open version of the door and the next room is revealed at this point players should place all overlay tiles money and monsters as indicated in the scenario book it's important to note that closed doors do not hinder character movement whatsoever however monsters and any player summons will treat a closed door as a wall this means that if a player had a push ability they could not force a monster through a closed door door artwork can vary greatly depending on the environment but they all function exactly the same corridors are placed on the connection between two map tiles to cover walls and form a single room corridors act like normal empty hexes a trap is sprung when any figure whether it's a character or a monster enters the hex with the trap for any reason if a figure has flying or jump they're unaffected by traps when moving through them however a failure with jump would be affected if they ended their movement there but flying creatures are unaffected even if they in their movement on the trap when the trap is sprung it inflicts the negative effect indicated on a scenario page after the effect is applied the trap is removed from the game if a traps effect includes damage it will deal damage equal to two plus the scenario level which is reflected on this chart on the back of the rulebook so T is for a trap damage scenario level one means the trap would deal three damage if a character is able to create a trap on the board with a different effect that that listed in the scenario setup then they should place the token for that effect on top of the trap as well if a figure enters a hex with hazardous terrain for any reason at all each hex of hazardous rain will inflict half the damage of a trap routed down as with traps characters moving through hazardous terrain with flying or jump are not affected but characters with jump are affected when they end their movement on hazardous terrain unlike traps hazardous terrain remains permanently on the board even after its effect is applied a character starting their turn on hazardous terrain or exiting hazardous terrain has no effect a figure that encounters difficult terrain will need to normal movement points to enter a hex of that terrain type as you might expect flying and jump are both unaffected by difficult terrain moving out of difficult terrain applies no penalty obstacles have varying artwork but they all have the exact same function a figure may not move through an obstacle with normal movement but can move through them with flying or jump obstacles also have no effect on ranged attacks it is possible for certain character abilities to create or move obstacles and in these cases the player may never completely cut off one area of the map from the other so in this case creating an obstacle here would be illegal because now this area of the map is cut off however a player is welcome to force a monster through hazardous terrain or a trap by building an obstacle like this treasure tiles can be looted by a player for a variety of X looting will be discussed in more detail in a later video now there are two types of treasure tiles gold tiles and numbered tiles gold tiles are important for the completion of scenario and specific girls for looting them will be specified by the scenario in the scenario setup instructions gold treasure tiles will be reset every time that scenario is played numbered tiles on the other hand can provide a number of different benefits and on rare occasions detriments when one is looted the looting player should merely reference the number in this case 7 and check the treasure index in the back of the scenario book to discover what was looted if a specific item name is listed find this item in the deck of unique items and immediately add it to the players pool of items if it wasn't I am designed then find all copies of that item and add them to the city's available supply number treasure tiles can only be looted once and after they have been looted should be crossed off in the scenario book as you see here and also in the treasure index as a reminder monster based statistics trap damage the amount of gold received from money tokens and the amount of bonus experienced for completing a scenario are all dependent on the level of the scenario being played this area level is chosen by the players before the scenario begins and is based on the average level of the party and how difficult the players want the scenario to be a scenarios level can be set anywhere from zero to seven but it cannot be changed once the scenario begins now there is a recommended scenario level players should take their average party level divide that average by two and round up this will be considered the normal difficulty level difficulty can then be adjusted to make it easier or harder so let's say there were three characters one of them level two one level three and one level four the average of these three characters is three players will then divide that by two and round up and so the normal difficulty level would be two players could subtract one to get easy mode and play a level one or they could add one to play hard mode or add two to play very hard mode if a player plays solo or if multiple players wish to play with open information then it's recommended that the game's difficulty is increased by one since part of the game's difficulty is supposed to come from not knowing exactly what the other players are going to do this chart can be found on page 15 of the rulebook and on page 16 of the rulebook is an altered chart to reflect open information and solo play so there you go that is part one of our gloom Haven series be sure to come back for part two coming up here in just a little while I'm gonna have a couple of videos in between then and now but we're gonna get down to gloom Haven part two before you know it so thank you again for watching I hope you enjoyed this video please be sure to check it out or check us out over on Twitter and if you don't own glue Haven you think it might be for you please check the link in the description below and you purchase glue maven through that link and just a little bit of the proceeds would go to this channel as well and it's all next time if you're bored online bored offline [Music]

Channel: Bored Online? Board Offline!

Views: 44,625

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Id: U9aB5LzMHR0

Length: 33min 57sec (2037 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 16 2020