I'm a pretty casual gamer, but my friend bought Gloomhaven because it had such a high rating on BGG and he thought it sounded really interesting. Of course he needed me to play it with him. So I gave it a shot, and realized that it's actually really fun. I made him do all of the upkeep, and be the master of the rulebook. I don't think I could have figured it all out without him, but I totally understand why so many people love it now. Of course, he backed Frosthaven, and I'm excited to try it out. With a little help and patience, us lighter gamers can absolutely enjoy this type of deep game as well.

This is just too much for me. I’d find it hard to find the time, space, and commitment. Fingers crossed for Frosthaven: Claws of the Sea Lion or something!

Just a note Tom, i think people wanted reusable stickers in Gloomhaven to resell the game for a higher price, not to replay it themselves. When i sold my copy of Gloomhaven after i was done with it i checked the price with/without stickers and the difference was significant, at least in Sweden where i am located.

Thank you very much for making this video! You described every big difference very well

I am so excited for this to arrive.

Sounds amazing. Once I switched from the board game version of Gloomhaven to Steam, I can't go back...But I will definitely get Frosthaven on Steam when it eventually comes out.

Can't wait for the pc version. Been playing through the entire campaign of gloomhaven online with friends and love it. I wouldn't ever been able to play it otherwise

Great video as always Tom, still waiting for my copy here in Sweden, but also pretty happy that it hasnt showed up yet, haha! Wont have time to really dive into it until february or so anyway :D

Great video. Very informative and engaging presentation. Thanks 🙂

great review, really enjoyed the video as someone new to both games

Great vid. You had a lot to cover as Frosthaven is huge.

Thanks Tom. This was very helpful in regards to my future endeavors FYI, I have come to find out that I don't really like most traditional dungeon crawlers but instead prefer the Euro-style of Gloomhaven more. A lot of folks knock it down for being a Euro, I think it's an advantage.

I haven’t played through Gloomhaven twice, but I *have* had a number of false starts. I both love and hate “legacy” games, as I am one of these weird people who want to keep their games in pristine condition, so considered several ways to do this, before I even opened my game. My solution? I covered the Gloomhaven board with thick, clear plastic, and secured it with paper clips. I double-sleeved the character ability cards, so I could put enhancements on the inner sleeve (this has the added bonus of the enhancement not peeling off during shuffling). I scanned every sheet of stickers, and printed them out on full page sticker sheets. The original stickers are still in mint condition, in the box. I have started fresh four times now. I did finish the game once, but realised I had played so many things wrong, I wanted to go through it again, the “right” way. My first attempt was with other players, but they lost interest, so I decided to start from scratch, playing solo, after around eight scenarios. My second attempt, I lost my characters, and where I was up to, when my app-stored game was wiped during an update - I keep a written record of each character and attempted scenario now. It is so detailed, in fact, that I am considering turning it into a novel (for myself - I have no intention of inflicting my writing on the general masses… :) ). I finished the game on my third run-through, but realised I had done so many things wrong, and made it very easy for myself. I am on my fourth run at present, having given myself enough of a break between playing, that I am still surprised by things that I did in previous playthroughs. So, yes, some of us will play the game more than once. I haven’t figured out how to keep Frosthaven in pristine condition yet, but suspect I will do something similar. I have received the base game, but am waiting on my add-ons (especially the card sleeves), so I won’t think about starting the game until then. Am considering running both games at once, alternating after each scenario, but I think that way may lie madness… Cheers,

We are about 10 scenarios into Frosthaven and I'm loving it. I don't think I would recommend base gloomhaven any more. Jaws of the lion, the Gloomhaven Digital, then Frosthaven for new players.

Love them both - best of the best games of all time.

I'm still waiting for my kickstarter version to show up!

Since you mentioned it. Yes, I have played through Gloomhaven twice with different groups, and have started a 3rd time with my kids now. To your point though, I didn't bother with reusable stickers

Sounds awesome... And I am definitely not going to get it, have fun to all who do!😄

Cool hat!

I just photocopy the map and make my own stickers from sticker sheets (by also photocopying)... then I print 5 copies or so and put them in the box.. that lets me replay/restart 5 times and can always print more if needed. I dont use the stuff that comes with the game. I like to restart/replay because after a few years you dont remember what happened, or have new group or want to go down paths you didnt before....

I've read a comment made by the company that does translations for Frosthaven for the German market. They said, it's about 500,000 words to translate. That's MASSIVE!

Cool tie.

Hey! "A person who played Gloomhaven 2 times" at the same time here! Just checking in! 😁

I learned my lesson with Gloomhaven. I don't plan to use the stickers at all. I am just going to get a scratch piece of paper and update. The stickers were confusing anyways and I kind of didn't like that aspect of the game. What I learned to do later is keep a running tally of available scenarios that I hadn't played yet but were unlock (this is at most 4-5 at a time unless you never do the road scenarios). I plan to do sketch of town and just draw the buildings and have a list of completed and available scenarios for the party. This may also save on the weight of the box because I can remove the board and sticker items and store them somewhere else.

I played GH 2 times on tabletop and 1 time on Steam :D

Heres a few things i noticed while unboxing mine(have not played it yet will edit as i wach. The number one let down just from the punch cards alone is overlay tile variety. Almost every tile in gloomhaven was doublesided with different art on each side. Almost no tiles in frosthaven do this meaning they take up more space and it looks like more while being same amount or less. While it does make it easier to find the tiles you need i think a middle ground would have been better. There apears to be insanly small number of standdes (edit sorry standdes is wrong word i mean the plastic part they go in theres not enough of them i think unless theres far fewer monsters in frost then in gloom)og gloomhaven did not even have enough and now theres even less?! Gonna miss picking up gold but loot cards are ok Also not looking forword to all the crafting its one of the things that made me almost not get it but i loved gloomhaven so im giving it a shot There just seems to be less of a few odd things i will count things out to compare later but battle goals, personal quests, and a few other feel really small.

Im on my third playthrough of Gloomhaven (and thats just counting physical, then I also have a digital campaign going).

It's the big one!!!!!

You think Jaws of the Lion would be an okay stepping-on point? Or still too hard.

I know you stated that frost haven is much longer due to more content, but from a scenario to scenario perspective, does it take longer for you to complete a Frosthaven scenario? Also I played numerous hours of Gloomhaven using the Gloomhaven helper app, and I know that app is no longer available for reasons we dont need to get into, but this app simplified the scenario gameplay for me. Do we know if something similarly will be developed for Frosthaven?

do you keep all loot if you lose a scenario?

You touched on it but the 'escape room' parts is what worries me about Frosthaven. The torture devices disguised as "puzzles" in Forgotten Circles were incredibly punishing. So much so it was unanimously agreed to give up. We weren't having fun and we didn't want to replay a mission that took us 3hrs to sit through AGAIN. Yes we replayed the mission and failed AGAIN. Multiple times. The game didnt help us solve its puzzle. Unless we did very specific things, which due to what characters we used or because we just got bogged down with hard to deal with enemies, we weren't allowed the time to solve the puzzle. It was unfair. It's why we didnt back the game on Kickstarter. So far all we're hearing are these new cool things to do, which is all well and good. but what we want to know is if Frosthaven is more Forgotten Circles?

Where do I buy this game? Can't find any where!

I’ve got COVID right now. Nothing to do other than stay in bed isolated from my family. Thank you for putting out good content for me to watch as I recover. I enjoyed your take on frosthaven

The issue with the game not being replayable is not just about getting value for money in terms of hours played. For some the fact it is not resellable/tradable might be a turn off for an expensive game like this. Also it just seems a bit wasteful to have such a large volume of physical content become essentially waste material without some sort of refresh pack to recycle it.

Do you still repeat missions if you lose them, or is it fail forward now?

This video does me no good.. my wallet going take a hit… can I wait until retail or do I get the KS version now for lots of money? Oh the addiction is strong and Frosthaven play sounds fantastic!

Never got through Gloomhaven. It made a great first impression but got a little samey after a dozen or so encounters. Plus, it is extremely fiddly and a bear to set up and break down.

One is orange and one is blue.

Bannerspear is "easy"? The positioning seems like it would be difficult.

The reason Gloomhaven didnt hit the table as much as i wanted, was setting up games, but at least, I could set up a scenario in one go. Now this section book thing, I'm going to have to stop playing and set up more map... I'm going to end up playing even less with this.

Re: Removable stickers - I know this may be difficult to believe, but some of us get rid of (sell, give away) our campaign games when we finish them. Being able to start fresh is good for that reason alone.

How does it integrate characters from Gloomhaven and JOTL if at all? Is it just "you can pick those character from the start" or do you unlock them like the new characters?

I think your glasses came from Frosthaven.

No mention of the app? I feel like both are unplayable without the app.

After watching this and the review I don't think this sounds like a better game, if I am right or wrong I'll find out when we pick it up and play it. A bit sad that it isn't as easy to replay though.

Was hoping they'd implement the map layout style of Jaws of the Lion(spiralbound book) instead of the cumbersome having to find scenario tiles for every mission you do. Huge pass for me

Huuuuuge boxes wow, did you buy a new closet to store the games?

Frosthaven is kind of a prequel to Gloomhaven. Do you recommend playing it before Gloomhaven? Or doesn't it matter?

I enjoyed Gloomhaven and was mildly optimistic about Frosthaven, but Oathsworn has murdered Gloom/Frosthaven for me.

I dont know why, but I didnt get on with GLoomhaven. Its just the same thing over and over with some story bolted on. GO in this room, kill the things, go to another location, kill the things.. Retiring characters kept things fresh when I thought I was getting bored.. but after my second retirement... I was so done. WHat am I missing :(

You forget one thing about reusable stickers. It is the fact that after you realize that you do not like the game after 5 plays you can still sell it for basically full value at the second hand market.

About the 'stickers', while the chances of people playing Gloomhaven or Frosthaven twice is small, when people finish playing the game, they can sell the game... I tend to not sell my games, but many, many people do. I'm seeing a LOT of Gloomhaven on the secondary market, in many different states. Frosthaven being a $250+ game, I would have expected to see a LOT of in a year or two. But if the game chews up components like there is no tomorrow, then the game becomes virtually useless. While that might ensure more sales of the game, it's horrible for the people who bought it and honestly a bit wasteful of 30+ pounds of paper...

Sound is pretty fried

$250+ to play through a game once? No thanks. I have purchased a few games for this price over the years I have never played for lack of opponents. Pass

Hopefully the story and writing is really good, because for me the story/writing in Gloomhaven is crap, boring and replaceable. Actually I would say there is NO story in Gloomhaven.

I am curious why this is a versus. This is within the same franchise, it would be like comparing Skyrim vs Oblivion, when the majority of fans are going to play both.

The moment I listen to this compare to contrast, the more I already felt it is same game. Yes I get it, it is more content. But for a new game to come we expect more…after Gloomhaven there were so many other good dungeon clawler game which I was once excited if there is any complete revamp of the game. And also, jaws of the lions was so successful that I can’t even believe they went back to doing something like the original Gloomhaven… Anyway that’s only me. I am sure tonnes of you out there would enjoy this.

Finally first viewer 😂

I can't stand the dual books. It was just stupidly annoying with Forgotten Circles. Honestly who cares if you see the whole scenario?! If you're an honest player you'll ignore whatever you need to. Or use a piece of paper to cover something up. Switching between books is just unnecessary.

Wow, this sounds SO unattractive :D There is no way I would ever be able to play that game (as a hobby gamer!)

Absolutely no interest in both games! Donno why they are so high in rankings! This is really a mad mad world LOL!

Tom's rocking the Stan Marsh colors with that hat.