Learn more
No featured offers available
We feature offers with an Add to Cart button when an offer meets our high standards for:
- Quality Price,
- Reliable delivery option, and
- Seller who offers good customer service
- 6 VIDEOS
Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- To view this video download Flash Player
Cephalofair Games: Gloomhaven, Award-Winning Strategy Board Game, For 1 to 4 Players, 60 to 120 Minute Play Time, For Ages 14 and up
- Playing through a scenario is a cooperative affair where players will fight against automated monsters using an innovative card system to determine the order of play and what a player does on their turn
- This is a game with a persistent and changing world that is ideally played over many game sessions
- For 1-4 Players. Ages 14+
- 60-120 minute playing time
- Euro-inspired tactical combat in an evolving campaign
There is a newer model of this item:
Top rated similar items
Product information
Product Dimensions | 17.64 x 9.13 x 13.03 inches |
---|---|
Item Weight | 21.6 pounds |
ASIN | B01LZXVN4P |
Item model number | CPH0201 |
Manufacturer recommended age | 14 years and up |
Best Sellers Rank | #184,829 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games) #6,769 in Board Games (Toys & Games) |
Customer Reviews |
4.8 out of 5 stars |
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
Release date | June 17, 2018 |
Manufacturer | Cephalofair Games |
Feedback
Cephalofair Games: Gloomhaven, Award-Winning Strategy Board Game, For 1 to 4 Players, 60 to 120 Minute Play Time, For Ages 14 and up
Share:
Found a lower price? Let us know. Although we can't match every price reported, we'll use your feedback to ensure that our prices remain competitive.
Where did you see a lower price?
Fields with an asterisk * are required
Product Description
Gloomhaven is a game of Euro-inspired tactical combat board game in a persistent world of shifting motives. Players will take on the role of a wandering adventurer with their own special set of skills and their own reasons for travelling to this dark corner of the world. Players must work together out of necessity to clear out menacing dungeons and forgotten ruins. In the process they will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make. This is a legacy game with a persistent and changing world that is ideally played over many game sessions. After a scenario, players will make decisions on what to do, which will determine how the story continues, kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure book.
From the manufacturer
Gloomhaven
Gloomhaven is a game of Euro-inspired tactical combat in a persistent world of shifting motives. Players will take on the role of a wandering adventurer with their own special set of skills and their own reasons for traveling to this dark corner of the world. Players must work together out of necessity to clear out menacing dungeons and forgotten ruins. In the process, they will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make.
This is a game with a persistent and changing world that is ideally played over many game sessions. After a scenario, players will make decisions on what to do, which will determine how the story continues, kind of like a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book.
Playing through a scenario is a cooperative affair where players will fight against automated monsters using an innovative card system to determine the order of play and what a player does on their turn. Each turn, a player chooses two cards to play out of their hand. The number on the top card determines their initiative for the round.
Each card also has a top and bottom power, and when it is a player’s turn in the initiative order, they determine whether to use the top power of one card and the bottom power of the other, or vice-versa. Players must be careful, though, because over time they will permanently lose cards from their hands. If they take too long to clear a dungeon, they may end up exhausted and be forced to retreat
- For 1-4 players
- 60-120 minute playing time
- A game of euro-inspired tactical combat in a persistent world of shifting motives
What's in the box
Videos
Videos for this product
0:55
Click to play video
CLOSER LOOK INSIDE GLOOMHAVEN Board Game Box
Chantel Reviews
Videos for this product
2:59
Click to play video
My Thoughts On This MASSIVE Board Game...
Nathan Earl
Videos for this product
2:33
Click to play video
Gloomhaven Multi-Award-Winning Strategy Boxed Board Game
Merchant Video
Looking for specific info?
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviews with images
This game is absolutely wonderful!
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2020I was super hesitant to pull the trigger on Gloomhaven and boy am I glad I did. The TL;DR is this is an absolutely fantastic game and well worth the money. While it's a tough sell given the high price tag, think of it more like getting a base game plus 10 DLC with it. The developer could easily have made the base game and sold 80% of the content in here as add-ons later, but as is you're getting easily 100+ hours of fantastic gameplay.
I won't go deep on the game 101, but generally this is a persistent RPG deck-builder + tactical grid combat system. Your character persists between sessions and grows as you complete more of the story throughout the campaign. It's akin to any RPG video game. The only difference between this and something like X-Com or FF Tactics, is you control a single player rather than a team or squad as you make your way through "dungeons".
There's also loads of customization options for your character. Between card choice in your deck, unlock-able/findable/purchasable items and equipment, and level up choices, there's plenty to custom tailor your play. It balances player agency and style with character mechanics very well requiring you to adjust to new situations/deck choices without sacrificing your play style.
The combat mechanics themselves are balanced between RNG and strategy, but even the probability of what attack modifier card you'll pick next plays into the strategy. I never felt completely betrayed or out of control with the randomness of events. My fate still felt firmly in my own hands and my demise was solely attributable to my own poor decisions.
The only real flaw of the game is the shear number of pieces that come with it. While it's overly impressive how many cutouts and tokens and map tiles and whatnot come with the game, there's a real need for organized piece storage (hence why you see so many $80+ organizers out there). For those that don't want to spend that kind of scratch on something to hold pieces, I'd recommend doing what I did and using the foam packaging materials to make makeshift piece holders. It takes a bit of time, but it's easy and cheap to use a box cutter to make your own holder. Granted not everything will fit back in the box when you're done, but it'll make gameplay muchhhhh more enjoyable if you can find things easily.
The only other suggestion I have is to use a companion app for battle tracking. There are fantastic ones out there (a simple Gloomhaven search will bring them up in the App Store if you're an iOS user). Dealing with multiple monster cards plus all the things you have to track between rounds would be a herculean administration task if you're using the included pieces. If you really want the full on analog experience and don't mind it, by all means, but for me the free app is a necessity to keep the game loops at a comfortable pace without sacrificing the core analog experience.
If you have a friend or two that also enjoys longer campaigns and weekly sessions (think D&D or MTG), you won't be disappointed with Gloomhaven. Solo play is also great if you don't know any other cool kids that want to reserve 2-3 hours a week for game night. Guessing if you're looking at this page and reading the reviews, you should probably just pull the trigger and purchase it. No regrets.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2021Do you like RPG's (be it video game or pen and paper)? Do you like board games? Okay then, easy enough, buy this game. The only criticism/warning I have, is that it is very complex. There is a whole lot to keep track of, there are a ton of rules to ponder over, and even months into playing, you may suddenly realize you've been playing something the wrong way. This game is NOT easy to learn, and it is not quick to set up or play.
What you get for your effort though, is perhaps one of the best gaming experiences available. The story is fun, the character progression is interesting and customizable, the depth is staggering, and if you have a friend or two who are willing to put the effort in along with you, you will spend hundreds of hours enjoying this exceptionally well crafted game. A wonderful value when you look at it as cost per hour of entertainment.
If you want to "get your feet wet" before investing in the big box, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is only $30-40, and also acts as a prolonged tutorial for the game, while being a fun, if shorter, experience in and of itself. There is also a version on Steam that can help you learn the in's and outs of gameplay, though it's early access, and doesn't follow the same story line as this game currently (the campaign from the core game is set to be released late 2021 as of writing this).
- Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2018My family just recieved the game (2nd printing) last week, and we are instant fans. At first opening, it seemed overwhelming as there are so many components. It did cause me to purchase a 2nd party organizer to help keep everything seperate, as well as cut down on scenario set up and tear down time, but wasn't necessary, just a personal preferance.
My family is a huge fans of cooperative games (Descent - with the available app, Marvels Legendary, Dead of Winter... to name a few), but this took it to a whole new level. While the game can be played solo (you playing two different characters) there is an extra challenge of not fully knowing what the other player is going do on their turn. You play as mercernaries instead of Hero's, so you have personal goals to achieve as well as scenerio goals (like Dead of Winter but without the traitor). It took my son and I a second try to complete the opening scenario as we wasted some turns picking up dropped loot. Who wouldn't pick up that dollar left on the floor? The game mechanics provide your character a supply of "stamina" through the use of playable cards. Run out of cards to play, and you become exhausted and can't continue.
The art and game mechanics are outstanding. I love how additional features are "unlocked" (sealed envelopes and boxes) upon completing specific goals. The additional characters that are unlocked are unique and require different play styles. The new health and experience trackers are a great addition to the 2nd edition game. One of the things that really stand out, is not requiring the same players for every scenario. If you normally have 3 players, but one is unavailable for the next round (lets say, going off to college), the next scenario difficulty can be easily adjusted to allow you to play with two or four players. Please note, there are 90+ scenarios, and if you didn't want to complete a campaign scenario, there is a random scenario generator that can allow your character to earn additional experience or money, and you can always jump back into the campaign at any time.
Lastly, I ended up purchasing the removable sticker set to add more replayability. We have only played a few of the early scenarios, but we are every bit as excited to play as we were when we first opened the box. This game is a very worthwhile investment and easily my families new favorite game.
Top reviews from other countries
-
EnricoReviewed in Italy on December 26, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Gioco Spettacolare
La mia compagna conosceva questo gioco ed ho deciso di regalarglielo per il compleanno.
È ormai un anno che ci giochiamo e non mi pento dell'acquisto.
Ho aggiunto in un secondo momento un organizer in MDF per facilitare il setting di ogni partita.
Consiglio vivamente questo gioco a tutti gli appassionati di giochi GDR da tavola.
- GrayHReviewed in Canada on August 2, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Best game, but be prepared
This is by far the best board game I (and the people I play with) have ever played. The value for money is literally unmatched - over 100 separate 'missions' each taking up at least 1-3 hours. There are hidden and 'unlockable' characters and envelopes so you're constantly getting excited at the new stuff you're getting over time. The gameplay is fantastic - out of X number of cards (8-12), pick 2 for the round and play a top half of one card and a bottom half of another. This is generally how you'll move and attack, buff yourself or teammates, heal yourselves or give protections. You slowly lose a card over time, repeated until you're out of cards and thus 'exhausted', or similarily run out of overall health and you'll be dead. It turns into a delicate balance of picking the right cards at the right time to maximize your turns before you're dead so that you, hopefully, complete the mission before you and your team are all exhausted and/or dead.
The warning part, however, comes in some KEY info beforehand.
1) One of your group needs to be the 'dungeon master lite'. You need to set up the board and enemies, so you'll see what's in the next room before your team does.
2) Set up takes forever - so much so that you'll want to buy separate products just to help with that. (highly recommend getting a low-profile, many slot fishing tackle box for all the tokens, as well as an accordion folder for all the map tiles) I went so far as to get both of those, as well as a folder with business card protector sheets for the item shop, and health standees off of ETSY for the enemies (substitute with dice - d12 and d20's are best)
3) Organizationally this is a mess - you need to be fastidious and very organized in order to make it work well. The above helps with that, but so does just that mindset of "I need to know where everything is and write everything we've unlocked down and have sandwich baggies for stuff" As well as taking an hour or two BEFORE your game night to make sure everything is where you want it and organized.
4) Due to the above, unless you plan on spending just as long during tear-down as set-up, you'll probably want to have a table DEDICATED to this game for months at a time.
5) A good idea if you're still on the fence about it is to first go with the other product; Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion. It's a much smaller, beginner friendly version of the game. It doesn't have the same unlockable joy as Gloomhaven proper does, but it will let you know if you like the game without the huge invesetment and is 100% a great experience as well.
Overall, despite all of these glaring issues they all really come down to time and space concerns. If you're okay with the above it is absolutely worth it as it is still the best board game I have ever played. ~$150 for literally hundreds of hours of entertainment and excitement and fun and intrigue...I honestly have no idea how they made any profit off of this game, as if I didn't know the price I'd guess it would cost ~$200-$300 easily. It reminds me of the good 'ol days where I'd play a video game that DIDN'T have navigation points everywhere and you'd just explore and find really cool things and unlock something awesome. The feeling of opening a new character box and reading all their cards was literally a hit every time - we'd stop the game and gather around the lucky person and read along with them and be super excited to add that character in to our game.
I don't write many reviews, but for this I had to as I still look forward to playing it today, a year later, despite already beating it. Even then, there's still an envelope we haven't opened and missions we haven't done and items we haven't seen!
- knootewootReviewed in the Netherlands on June 27, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect boardgame
We (me and my friends) were looking for a new coop dungeon crawl.
Gloomhaven was selected, and oh boy. What a game. Such great depth and gameplay.
10/10
- JamesReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 19, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Great game damaged box
This game is as good as people say. But it is not for the faint hearted. It is complex, it takes a while to set up for each play and has intricate gameplay. But if you are willing to invest in learning the rules and have a couple of friends to play with, then it is unparalleled as a boardgame experience in scope and mechanics. If you're new to this type of game I recommend starting with Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion as it provides a great set of early scenarios that gradually builds the complexity and teaches through play.
P.s. this game can be played solo. But it is a challenge to run two characters and manage the monsters. Also I recommend using an app like Gloomhaven Helper to automate some of the admin (particularly if playing solo).
P.p.s My box came a little damaged - but didn't effect the internal components and didn't feel the need to drop a star for it
-
R. T. PascalisReviewed in Mexico on October 14, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars De lo mejor en juegos de mesa "Legacy" en los últimos años!
Un juego que evoluciona y crece en base a las desiciones de los jugadores a lo largo de más de 50 sesiones de juego por lo menos. Se estima que podrás terminar la campaña del juego dedicándole 100 horas a explorar el mundo de Gloomhaven. Recomendaría que participaran los mismos jugadores durante toda la campaña de juego pero el sistema y las reglas te permiten que entren y salgan sin problema. Incluso te permite jugar este juego en solitario. Gloomhaven se centra en las aventuras de este grupo de "héroes" conforme exploran la región al rededor del puerto/ciudad que lleva el mismo nombre del juego. Cada jugador toma el papel de uno de estos aventureros mientras exploran el mundo, creciendo en reputación, habilidades y experiencia. Cada personaje tiene sus propios objetivos que, llegado el momento en que se concreten, podrá retirarse de esta vida de aventurero y darle oportunidad al jugador a poder escoger otro personaje "secreto" de los que ofrece el juego empacados en cajas selladas y que solo pueden ser utilizados hasta que se den ciertas condiciones como lo es el que un personaje básico se retire. El juego tiene 2 planos de aventura. Por un lado, está el mapa general de toda la región, en la que los personajes viajan de un punto a otro y al hacerlo, pueden tener eventos aleatorios que se revelan en base a tarjetas de "encuentros". Generalmente estos eventos los obligarán a tomar desiciones que generalmente afectarán la historia con consecuencias menores o en ocaciones mayores en el mundo al rededor de los aventureros. El otro plano de juego es el de los escenarios. El juego incluye más de 50 escenarios y es en este plano en el que la mayor parte del juego se lleva a cabo. Los escenarios se irán "abriendo" conforme los jugadores van interactuando con el mundo. Es posible que algunos escenarios nunca se lleguen a jugar pues las desiciones de los jugadores irán abriendo o cerrando muchos de esos escenarios. Gloomhaven tiene un sistema de reglas complejo que podría parecer abrumador en un inicio pero la estructura es lógica, dinámica y fácil de manejar una vez comprendidos los componentes del juego. Hay varios tutoriales en internet donde explican muy bien las reglas. Una vez que uno de los jugadores conozca estas reglas, será muy fácil poder explicarle a los otros jugadores con algunos ejemplos de juego. La mecánica básica es en base a tarjetas de habilidades o acciones que cada personaje domina. El jugador tiene un "deck" de cartas que podrá administrar durante su turno. Las tarjetas le permitirán a su miniatura el poder moverse, explorar, pelar, curar a otros personajes o incluso efectuar maniobras más complejas como si fueran combos de video juegos como Diablo o Skyrim. El deck de cartas es también la energía o vitalidad del personaje. Si un personaje se queda sin tarjetas, se queda exhausto y no podrá continuar explorando con los demás personajes. Ya se les unirá después cuando sus compañeros terminen de explorar ese escenario. ... Gloomhaven comenzó como un kickstarter exitoso y no tardó en encontrar un lugar como uno de los mejores juegos de mesa de todos los tiempos. En conclusión: Este juego es una muy buena inversión en entretenimiento para aquellos que gustan de video juegos como Baldur's Gate, Diablo o incluso Skyrim. Más que un juego de "hack & Slash" o que un juego de rol, Gloomhaven es un juego de administración de recursos y exploración muy bien balanceado y que requiere de estrategia y trabajo táctico en equipo. Si eres amante de los juegos de rol, este podría ser una buena opción pero el lado de rol tienes que aportarlo y alimentarlo tú con tu grupo porque las mecánicas del juego suelen encimarse en la narrativa del juego. Frecuentemente me encuentro en mi grupo tratando de alimentar esa parte del juego para no perdernos en la mecánica de administración del deck de acciones. Recomiendo hacer lo mismo :) Gloomhaven es de lo mejor que hay en juegos tipo "Legacy" en el mercado mundial. MUY recomendado!