We had a very ‘Gloomy’ Christmas indeed! The Pandemic restrictions meant that Tony and I had a quiet, cosy Christmas at home just the two of us, this gave us a lovely amount of time to continue with our Gloomhaven campaigns!
For those of you who are yet to discover the wonder that is Gloomhaven, 
it is a cooperative, campaign-driven dungeon crawl board game, with developing characters and extensive scenarios. Within the game, players work together to battle monsters whilst also advancing their own individual goals, as they progress through a series of adventures unlocking new content as they go. The game has an individualist element to it, inviting players to create their own story. It can also be played Solo. Gloomhaven is designed by Isaac Childres and published by Cephalofair Games.
Despite owning the game since it was first released in 2017, we only started playing at the end of October last year. As we are currently restricted in what we can do in the outside world due to Pandemic, we have been able to complete a couple of scenarios each weekend. We have enjoyed the varied scenarios and characters, I particularly have enjoyed building up my characters abilities and equipping them with new items. Tony managed to retire his first character (Cragheart) just before Christmas, moving on to his new Brute Character (imaginatively called Toe-Nee). Feeling jealous, I became determined to complete my characters personal quest so that I also could have the experience of retiring and playing with a new character. However, you don’t need to ‘retire’ a character, in order to create and play as another character, this is a great way to test out and discover your favourite.
I really enjoyed my first Tinkerer character. Initially when we started playing I found that I was hanging back, allowing Tony’s Cragheart character to concentrate on attacking. Whilst I supported with healing actions and smaller ranged attacks, as well as collecting coins and treasure. However, over time my Tinkerer gained stronger action cards from leveling up, became equipped with some complementary items and had built a strong Attack Modifier deck from ‘perks’. He soon became more able to hold his own, and there were a number of occasions he led us to victory after his Cragheart missionary team mate.had become exhausted. This also meant that once the Cragheart companion retired, my Tinkerer was able to take on more, whilst Toe-Nee the Brute was trying to find his feet!
This weekend, we completed the ‘Find the cure’ scenario which allowed my Tinkerer to retire, I have now created a new Spellweaver character (Niamharya), I am itching to start the next campaign with her, try out the new cards and develop a new play strategy!
Warning - Gloomhaven is a very captivating and gripping game! You may find yourself craving your next campaign, planning strategies, and daydreaming of quitting work to just immerse yourself in the world of Gloomhaven! When you start referring to yourself and teammates by your character names, you know it's time to take a break!
