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Box art via BoardGameGeek
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
All the Gloomhaven you wanted, none of the table-eating sprawl.
Designed by Isaac Childres · 2020
This is the smartest way into the whole Gloomhaven world, and honestly it might be the version most people should own. It earns its #12 spot by being deep without being a chore to set up.
Best for: A steady group of two to four who want one campaign to chip away at together for months.
What it is
Here's the pitch. Jaws of the Lion is a co-op dungeon crawler where two to four of you each run a mercenary, playing two cards a turn to move, hit, and survive. The trick is that every card you burn is gone for the scenario, so combat is a slow-tightening puzzle. Isaac Childres took the famous Gloomhaven engine and shrank it. The board now lives in a spiral-bound book instead of a hundred tiles.
The catch
That book is the whole reason this version exists. Reviewers keep saying the same thing: setup used to be the worst part of Gloomhaven, and here it's a couple of minutes. The first five scenarios are a tutorial that hands you one rule at a time, so you're not reading a manual at midnight. By scenario five most groups feel fluent, which the original never managed.
Who it's for
Be honest with yourself about weight, though. It's still heavy, and players who hate planning ahead call it tiring rather than fun. You can't pool gold for items, and a board that goes sideways at the 90-minute mark stings. But for a committed group, this is the one I'd hand you first. Cheaper, faster, and nearly all the good stuff intact.
What other players say
This write-up is grounded in real reviews and player discussion, not just one opinion. A few worth reading:
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