We have written a bit on Gloomhaven in the past, mainly due to it being so popular, but we thought that Mistakes in Gloomhaven was probably another good addition to the current articles that we have written. The rules are pretty easy to follow for Gloomhaven, however due to the sheer amount of them there is the problem that you may get a few of them wrong, especially in the early scenarios. Given that the game is a legacy game and that all of the rules that you play mean that there is an impact on the following plays it is important to get the rules right.

Mistakes in Gloomhaven

Using the Modifier Cards from your Character box – the cards in your box are for your perks and other conditions to be applied to your damage modifier deck. The Damage Modifier deck that you should be using are the ones that have a 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the bottom left hand corner of them and with crossed swords on the back.

Null and Curse Card – these are the cards with the circle with the strike through them. They mean that your attack didn’t do any damage, but you still need to apply any other effects that your move may have generated such as Disarm etc.

Splitting Up your turn – Everyone plays their initiative card as their leading card. Let’s say your leading card is a 15 and your other card is a 73. This means that your entire turn occurs at the time that the ’15’ initiative is played. You DO NOT play the 15 and then wait for the 73 to come up.

Forgetting you could just move or attack – Each card also allows you to either Move 2 or Attack 2. This means that if any of the moves or abilities on your cards are not satisfactory for the current condition of the map, you can just take the simple approach.

Not losing cards when taking damage – This one is an optional one, but if you are running low on health it is important. If you have taken damage from an enemy you can choose to instead lose a card from your hand and not take any damage. This is especially important in your first plays of Gloomhaven, as taking damage is a quick way to get exhausted. So make sure that you balance the loss of cards against how many moves you think that you may have left.

Setting up the whole board – I mean if you really want to, go for it. But there are several things that go against this. First is that there should be some element of surprise when you enter room, sure you can see the scenario, but it loses atmosphere if you know exactly what you are up against in the next room. Secondly, it takes up a ton of time in setup that you could otherwise be playing, and what if you don’t even make it to some of those rooms?

Not using Gloomhaven Helper – Seriously, this is a game changer – set up the app on your phone, pad or on a desktop. The app does away with all of the Monster cards and allows you to input initiative, track effects and damage all without having to fiddle around with 5 different card types. You can find Gloomhaven Helper here.

Read the Cards – Monsters ONLY conduct the attack that is on their flipped card. This means that if they have a Move and Shield, they do not attack that round.

Not reading the end of a scenario – Due to the narrative of Gloomhaven and the ability to make different decisions throughout the game, the completion of a scenario does not mean that you unlock the next in chronological order. The end of Scenario 3 may open several others that are not Scenario 4, make sure you read what you achieved and where to place the new stickers out.

Make sure that you add comments below to tell us what other mistakes people make in the early scenarios of Gloomhaven