Gloomhaven: Forgotten Circles
Expansion of: GloomhavenGloomhaven: Forgotten Circles, the first expansion for Gloomhaven, features twenty new scenarios that take place after the events of the original Gloomhaven campaign and involve one new character class — the Aesther Diviner — and her attempts to prevent an approaching calamity.
The expansion also features seven new monster types (including three new bosses) and fourteen new items.
60m - 120m
1 - 4 Players
Ages 12+
anno527
Features twenty new scenarios that take place after the events of the original Gloomhaven campaign and involve one new character class — the Aesther Diviner — and her attempts to prevent an approaching calamity.
afriestman
I'm ambivalent about Gloomhaven, it's fine but the rest of the table enjoys it so I can find my own fun amidst it all. But this expansions has been miserable to play through. The cross referencing and staggered setup makes the game slow down constantly, there's tons of mid-game translation that's important in the moment and slows everything down while one person works on it, the scenarios are all needlessly overwrought and fiddly without any actual complexity to them. I hate it so much. It's like they took ever scenario that got cut from the main game for being unfun and sold them as a pack. Special mention to scenario 106, for a terrible riddle with no clear answer that you have to translate in parts during different turns. I will never buy any game from the dude that wrote that one ever, it's that bad.
albcann
This rating is after only 4 plays, but I can't see it changing. This is a well crafted expansion, lots of effort went into it, and GH fans will not be disappointed. My issue is that it is way too involved. It is a massive slog. The first 4 scenarios took me on average about 3:45 each, and that did not count the 20-30 minute set up time. Fortunately, I have the luxury of keeping the game up on my table in the basement. Bent the rules to win scenarios 1 and 2, won 3 legitimately, lost the ridiculous scenario 4 (99) and I was not about to play it over. This game, this expansion, needs a better story, and a different path if the scenario is lost, so it doesn't have to be played multiple times. When GH was fresh, I didn't seem to mind playing a scenario multiple times, but now I won't repeat failed scenarios. Perhaps I burnt out on the game, but I will not purchase GH 2, if it ever comes out, if there isn't a mechanism in place to prevent repeating scenarios. EDIT 11/22/19 -- Played this 10 times solely to complete my 10x10 Hardcore challenge and would have stopped earlier otherwise. At this point in my gaming life, 50 something, mostly solo, it is too much. 4+ hour long scenarios, lots of flipping through the manual, sprawling setup, frustratingly difficult at times, I didn't enjoy it all that much. That said, there were some very innovative concepts that freshened up the base game's reliance on "kill all monsters" for most of the scenario goals. I did not complete the module getting to the final scenario and stopping. I had had enough at this point. It is solid gaming, many will like it, but for me, it wasn't something that I enjoyed playing and or that I will play again. The story, like the base game, was not compelling and falls far short of the richer story based games currently on the market like Folklore: The Affliction and Middara. The fact that I had no desire to see the story to conclusion, even getting to the last scenario, attests to my opinion that this is a bland story. My rating remains the same, meh.