Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion rules refresher

Read the refresher

You are working together to complete the goal printed at the top of the scenario page, and you fail if every character becomes exhausted.

On setup, the things easy to miss: each character brings a number of ability cards equal to the hand limit in the top right of their character mat, their attack modifier deck, and their hit point dial set to the red maximum below the white number for their current level. Monster stat cards go into envelopes rotated so the correct level shows, and monster level equals the scenario level, which by default is the average character level divided by two, rounded up. Place money tokens, treasure tiles, and trap tiles as marked, with a damage token on each damage trap according to the scenario level. Set up only the monsters in the room the characters start in, using the rank indicator: the top row for two characters, the middle row for three, the bottom for four, where black means no monster, white a normal, gold an elite. Randomise the standee numbers. Put the six element tokens in the Inert column of the element board. Shuffle the battle goal deck, deal two in secret to each character, and each keeps one and discards the other. Remember the item limits you bring in: one head, one body, one feet, two hands, and small items equal to half your level, rounded up.

Each round runs in the same four steps. First, card selection: everyone secretly and simultaneously picks two cards from their hand, or declares a long rest instead. One of the two is the initiative card, placed underneath so its initiative number is visible when revealed. You may talk generally about what you plan to do, but you may not show your cards or state a number or a card title. Then cards are flipped, and one ability card is turned over for each monster set on the map, which sets that set's initiative and its abilities for the round. Order all initiative tokens from low to high. On a tie between a character and a monster, the character goes first. On a tie between two characters, compare the initiative of their second card. Long rests always act on initiative 99.

On a character's turn, you perform the top action of one of your cards and the bottom action of the other, in whichever order you like. Never two tops, never two bottoms. Instead of what is printed, either half can be used as the basic Attack 2 as a top action or basic Move 2 as a bottom action. Abilities within an action happen in the order written, and any ability or whole action may be skipped. Cards then go to your discard pile, or straight to the lost pile if the action has the lost icon, or into your active area if it grants a bonus. At the end of your turn you automatically loot your own hex, and any element you infused moves to Strong. A long rest is your whole turn: choose one card from your discard pile to lose, return the rest to your hand, perform a Heal 2 on yourself, and upright your spent items.

Monsters act with elites first in standee number order, then normals in number order, and each finishes its whole turn before the next one starts. A monster focuses on the character it can attack using the least movement, ties going to the character earlier in initiative order, then performs only what its card says. If the card has no Move, the monster does not move. Then the round ends. Shuffle any attack modifier deck or monster ability deck that revealed a shuffle icon, all infused elements wane one column to the left, and round bonus cards leave your active area, going to either your lost or your discard pile depending on whether the action contains a lost icon. This is also when you may short rest: if you have at least two cards in your discard pile, shuffle it, lose one card at random, and take the rest back into hand.

Here are the things people often forget. Immobilize, Stun, Muddle, Strengthen, and Disarm all stay until the end of the affected figure's next full turn, but Poison is only removed if the figure is affected by a heal, and Wound only if the figure is healed. When you suffer damage from any source, you may instead negate all of it by losing one card from your hand or two cards from your discard pile, and remember the two cards you chose for this round are not in your hand. You cannot infuse an element and then consume it on the same turn, because the infusion only happens at the end of the turn. A ranged attack against an adjacent enemy gains Disadvantage, and Advantage and Disadvantage never stack and cancel each other out. Shield reduces damage from attacks only, after the attack modifier card is applied, and does nothing against trap damage. And on a short rest, if you would rather keep the card you randomly lost, you may suffer 1 damage to lose a different random card from your discard pile instead, but only once per short rest.

A character is exhausted when their hit point dial reaches zero, or when they cannot play two cards at the start of a round because they do not have two cards in hand. The scenario ends at the end of the round in which either the goal is completed, which is a success, or all characters are exhausted, which is a failure. In a boss scenario the goal is simply to kill the boss, and at the end of the round in which it dies the scenario is complete so long as at least one character is not exhausted. On success, read the conclusion and rewards, mark the scenario complete on the city map board, and record your gold, with each money token you looted during the scenario converting at the rate for the scenario level, two gold per token at level one. Tokens left on the map are not collected. Record the experience you gained from actions plus the bonus scenario experience, six at scenario level one, and a check mark if you met your battle goal. Every three check marks earns a perk, up to a maximum of eighteen check marks. When your total experience reaches the threshold on your sheet, forty five for level two, you mark the new level, add one new ability card of a level equal to or lower than your new level, gain a perk, and increase your maximum hit points. Then you encounter a city event before the next scenario. If you failed, all money and experience earned up to that point are kept, and rewards from looted treasure tiles are kept, since a treasure tile can only ever be looted once, but everything else in the scenario resets for the replay.

A turn, played out

It is round 6 and you hold 5 cards. You pick two. One has Attack 3, Range 3 on top. The other has Move 3 on the bottom, and you slide it underneath so its initiative of 22 shows. The monster set on the map, 1 elite and 2 normals, flips an ability card that also reads 22. A character beats a monster on a tie, so you go first. The elite, standee 1, stands right next to you. Shooting it from there would give you Disadvantage, so you play the bottom action first. You move 3 hexes away and stop on a money token, now 3 hexes from the elite. Then comes the top action from the other card: Attack 3 at Range 3, with no Disadvantage. Your modifier card shows plus 1, so the elite takes 4 damage. Both cards go to your discard pile, which now holds 4 cards. At the end of your turn you loot your own hex, and the money token is yours. Now the monsters act, elite first. Its card says Move 2, Attack 2. You are the character it can attack using the least movement, so it walks 2 hexes and strikes. With its modifier it would deal you 3 damage. You have only 5 hit points left, so you lose 2 cards from your discard pile and negate all of it. Then normal standee 2 finishes its whole turn, and standee 3 goes after it. At round end your discard pile holds 2 cards, just enough to short rest.