Embarking on a new adventure
We finally dusted off Frosthaven and started the campaign for the very first time 😍 - even though it has arrived from Kickstarter many months before. 🙈 We have been looking forward to playing, but it really needs a dedicated space where you can leave it up and play every now and then. Even though the default storage solution is much improved compared to Gloomhaven, it’s still a huge hassle to set up everything. So many decks, tokens and other bits and bobs - but I guess that’s the beauty of the game too at the same time. 🙃
I think the success of the game (both Gloomhaven and Frosthaven) lies in the brilliance of its action cards. 👉 It’s so elegant but so interesting how you pick 2 cards every turn, performing a top and a bottom action. It gives flexibility but also many difficult decisions to make, and the situation in the dungeon keeps changing with every monster action.
Of course the other main features are the huge legacy-esque campaign structure, the inherently satisfying RPG level up system and unlockable characters that all have their unique action decks and abilities. Plus the clever AI decks that make decisions for the monsters in the game that work wonderfully - if you know the ropes… 😶
Our first scenario of Frosthaven went a bit wobbly. Even though we finished Gloomhaven and played more than a 100 scenarios, we now struggled with the ruleset and finding monster AI focus. It also didn’t help that we chose 2 of the utility characters and literally didn’t stand a chance. 😵 We ended up going with the 2 low-complexity characters while we ease back into the game.
The main new thing in Frosthaven is the Outpost phase. 🏘️ After scenarios you go back home and get to activate buildings, build new ones, and use them to craft items or brew potions among other things. I am a bit wary about this whole system and we are hoping it doesn’t get too grindy, especially as buildings could be wrecked by raids. 😨 We will see in the long run.
Oh, and look at those cool condition tokens on the monsters from @buythesametoken that you can simply clip onto the standees! 🤩 The health dial is cool too, but the magnetic element board definitely takes the cake! 😉
