Would playing this help me learn how to play the board game?

[Dan Adelman]

A group of friends and I have decided to block off some time each week to play through the board game. Everyone but me has already played, and I don't want to slow everyone else down. I gather from some of the other comments and reviews that the campaign mode isn't in the game yet, but would you say that by playing through this version I'd be more or less up to speed when playing the board game? Or does the PC version handle so much of the details (calculating HP, levels, modifiers, etc.) that I'd be lost when trying to figure them out myself playing the board game?

[Shimaaji]

I assume that, you being the new guy to the group, someone else will be handling enemy activations.
IMHO the most important thing for new players to "learn" (and biggest entry hurdle" for new players is the card economy. (How to manage your deck and when to play loss cards ... and when not to.) I think for that this digital version can indeed be helpful.

(Hint: Usually you do NOT want to play loss cards early unless there are 'very' pressing reasons. The difficult part of this aspect is, that the negative consequence of playing loss cards early doesn't become noticeable immediately, which is why new / "less-strategically-thinking" players sometimes make this mistake more than once. If you want to read up on the theoretical part of this issue to better understand how loss cards affect he longevity of a character check out http://www.boardgamemath.com/boardgames/gloomhaven/gloomhavenStaminaGuide.html )

Then there is positioning. The balance of trying not to get hit often and still hitting stuff yourself. For that this digital version might also help a bit, but this part is different for every class.

Also: The Early Access version already IS fun. (Not yet as much as the entire box of Gloomhaven with it's campaign and loads of classes to unlock, but fun!)

[Valmar]

You can also experiment with more builds and starter characters combinations, knowing the cards, combos, which ones to use early, infuse managament, etc. I think videogame is great for all of this.


However, you are right about the handling, playing the videogame is a little bad for this one, because you won't be able to handle damage, advantages, monster focus, etc, and I think you won't learn a lot from that aspects. Unless maybe you pause a lot, and try to imagine what theyll do and later watch if you were correct, though there are some bugs also.

[Dan Adelman]

Thanks for all of this feedback! Buying it now. :)

[The Gut]

It is worth it to buy this now. When I paid for it a while back I would say...hmmm.... probably not worth it if you're not a super fan/fanboy of the game. The only thing I will say is that just about every complaint I had with the old version they put out has been fixed. This is rare, and a very good sign for us as players.
These Devs are good people in my opinion.

[Adela]

Nothing can prepare you for just how much Gloomhaven, as a co-operative game, teaches you that your friends are kind of jerks. There are no random battle goals, there are no character retirement goals to unlock new characters in the videogame ... and unlike the videogame, nor the fact that gold isn't split between players, neither is treasure, neither is gear ...

It will teach you the basics of the gameplay... but it won't teach you anywhere near enough to deal with the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that your friends will be like when confronted by their worst natures of wanting to complete goals that only benefit themselves, or actively undermining your attempts at what you want to do in terms of the world state (reputation, prosperity, etc) ...

Gloomhaven is *the best* dungeon crawler game out there... because nothing quite like it actively emulates how mercenary grave robbers even in a fantasy world are likely complete wankers.

Unlike D&D, or Descent, where players begrudgingly work together, have different and specialized builds, and typically look after eachother to move the plot forward.... Nope, in Gloomhaven there is a million and one things that bring out the necessary mercenarial sociopathy that being adventurers in that world would likely foster.

Multiplayer hasn't been released yet, and it'll be a while before all aspects of the game is released. It will teach you the mechanics of all the starter characters, however! But once you start adding other people, prepare to be disappointed things aren't anywhere near as smooth going.

You have to be more adaptable with the board game, as per the rules.

In the board game you can't tell players exactly what you're doing or what cards you're playing.

You can say something short like; "I'll be moving about and attacking some enemies next turn fairly quick-ish into the round..."

You can't (shouldn't) table talk. As per the explicit rules in the book. Nor is gold or possessions split between party members. So don't expect that; 'Ooooh, you got that fancy helm from the chest? Can I have it as it will really make my character shine in combat!' Depending on the rules of your particular table, that may or may not be allowed, but if your friends are explicitly gaming as per the rulebook... Yeah, no charity, no 'loans' ... just greed.

It's still a great game solo... equivalent of the Mage Knight board game in fun (and much simpler to learn) .... But in terms of multiplayer? No... Gloomhaven is far more than merely its mechanics when you start adding deeply flawed people that are your fellow human beings into it that will have their greed weaponized into glorious irritation yet amazing fun.

I would debate it teaches you *all* the rules you need to play with others in the board game.

The random, secret battle goal cards in the board game is typically the way you gain perks, for instance.

And the secretive nature by which characters have retirement goals and secret battle goal cards dictates many times how players will react without obvious motivations. So you have to be a lot more adaptable in the boardgame multiplayer than you do in the videogame.

The videogame is a pretty good way to teach you the AI and how characters can handle, as well as give you starter character build ideas even before you start however.

[Heatshell]

You'll learn roughly how combat works but other than that you're gonna be largely clueless about every other aspect of the game. IMO Gloomhaven is the best boardgame that I have had the pleasure of playing and there are a lot of other little things that come into play outside of scenarios in that version of the game. Plus the video game doesn't even have half of the potential playable characters available atm.