How to play Gloomhaven

How to play

Setup: Each player picks one of the six starting classes and opens its boxes: a miniature, a character mat, ability cards and a character sheet. Draw two personal quests and keep one. For a scenario, build the map from the scenario book and set up only the first room's monsters, overlays and coins. Each character draws three battle goals and keeps one, chooses items to bring, and takes ability cards equal to the hand size on their mat, which is fixed by class. Set hit points to maximum and all six elements to inert.

Choosing cards: Each round, everyone secretly picks two cards from hand and chooses one as the initiative card. You may discuss plans, but not exact numbers or card names. If you have at least two cards in your discard pile, you may declare a long rest instead. Then reveal, and flip one ability card for each monster type on the map.

Taking turns: Figures act from lowest initiative to highest; a character acts before a monster on a tie. On your turn, use the top action of one card and the bottom action of the other, in either order, or use any card for a basic Attack 2 on top or Move 2 below. Spent cards go to your discard pile, to your lost pile if they show the lost icon, or stay in front of you while their effect lasts. At the end of your turn, loot any coins or treasure in your hex.

Monsters: Each monster type acts on its card's initiative, elites before normals. A monster focuses on the enemy it can attack using the fewest movement points, then moves and attacks as its card and stat card say. Every attack, yours or theirs, draws an attack modifier card that changes the damage, doubles it or misses.

Elements: Some actions infuse an element at the end of your turn, making it strong. At each round's end it wanes, then goes inert. Other actions consume a strong or waning element for a bonus.

Resting: At the end of a round, if you have two or more discarded cards, you may short rest: lose one at random and return the rest to your hand, or suffer 1 damage once to lose a different random card. A long rest is your whole turn at initiative 99: lose a discarded card of your choice, return the rest, heal 2 and recover spent items.

Damage and exhaustion: To ignore damage, lose one card from your hand or two from your discard pile. At zero hit points, or if at the start of a round you can neither play two cards nor rest, you are exhausted and out for the rest of the scenario. If everyone is exhausted, the scenario is lost.

Ending a scenario: Meeting the goal completes it at the end of that round. Win or lose, you keep your experience and looted gold. A win adds bonus experience, battle goal checkmarks and rewards; after a loss you replay or return to town.

Between scenarios: In Gloomhaven, resolve a city event, then level up when your experience allows, buy and sell items, and enhance cards. Completing your personal quest retires your character and unlocks a new class.

Strategy

Your hand is your clock: Every rest costs a card, and every lost action is gone until the scenario ends, so your hand holds only so many rounds. Count them early. Save the strongest lost actions for the fights that decide the scenario, and treat losing cards to cancel damage as an emergency measure, since it shortens your run. Choose initiative on purpose: A low initiative lets you strike or reposition before monsters act; a high one lets you react after they move. You choose which card sets your initiative, so pair a card whose number suits your timing with the action you want. Tell the party roughly when you'll act, early or late, so a healer or a crowd-controller can line up with you. Control monster focus: Monsters go for the enemy they can attack with the fewest movement points, breaking ties by who is closest and then who acts earliest. A sturdy character such as the Bruiser can step forward to draw attacks, and doorways, obstacles and allies' bodies can keep fragile characters out of reach. Read each monster's revealed card before you move: it tells you how far it goes and whether it attacks at range. Chain elements: An element infused this round is strong for everyone who acts after you and still usable, waning, next round. Agree who makes which element and who spends it; a steady fire or ice pairing adds damage every round. Share the loot and the experience: Coins and treasure count only if a character loots them, by ending a turn on them or with a loot ability, and experience comes from specific card actions rather than kills. Spread both around so nobody falls behind, because gold buys items that change what you can do and experience brings new cards, hit points and perks. Match the difficulty to your party: The recommended scenario level is the party's average level halved and rounded up, but you may set any level from 0 to 7. If a scenario keeps beating you, drop a level; if it feels easy, raise it. Pick classes that suit you: Of the starting six, the Bruiser, Silent Knife and Tinkerer are rated low complexity, the Spellweaver and Cragheart medium and the Mindthief high. Aim for a party that can both deal damage and take it.

Tips

- Only your chosen initiative card sets when you act, so pick it with care. - Count your rounds: each rest loses a card, so a hand holds a fixed number of turns. - Save lost-icon actions for the fights that matter; they stay gone until the scenario ends. - A short rest at the end of the round costs no turn; if it takes a card you need, suffer 1 damage once to lose a different one. - Long rest when you want to pick the lost card, heal 2 or recover spent items, but it uses your whole turn. - Losing one card from hand or two from your discard pile cancels a hit, but it brings exhaustion closer. - End your turn on coins and treasure: that is when characters pick up whatever is in their own hex. - If a scenario keeps beating you, lower the scenario level; you may set anything from 0 to 7.

Player count & time

1–4 players; Cephalofair lists 1–2+ hours per scenario, with setup and the city phase on top, and the campaign spans 101 scenarios, though you won't play them all. The rules are written for two to four players with one character each. Solo, you control two or more characters and use a tougher scenario-level calculation. Casual mode lets you replay any unlocked scenario without affecting the campaign.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion

A smaller standalone game set before Gloomhaven, with 4 classes and a 25-scenario campaign that opens with a five-scenario tutorial, bringing in the rules a few at a time. It is still the gentlest way into the system. Cephalofair's free crossover character sheets let its classes join a Second Edition campaign.

Frosthaven and add-ons

Frosthaven is the standalone sequel, released in 2023: 17 new classes, a campaign of more than 130 scenarios, and a northern outpost you rebuild between scenarios with resources you gather. Its characters and items work in Gloomhaven too. For Second Edition there is a book of 18 solo scenarios, one per class. First-edition owners can buy a class upgrade pack with all 18 redesigned classes, while Forgotten Circles works only with the first edition.

Common beginner mistake

Spending lost cards early. New parties burn their strongest lost actions in the first room, then run out of cards before they reach the goal. Count how many rounds your hand gives you, rest before you're forced to, and keep a big lost action in reserve for the end of the scenario.