I am looking forward to the digital Gloomhaven full release, because that will allow me to play the full campaign digitally. In early access, the “guildmaster” mode also provides some sort of campaign experience, but with less story and different rules for the character management part between battles. With the release version having both of these modes, that is a huge amount of content. You get more content than the core board game version, but for a fraction of the price, so that is a really good deal. For me the main attraction of the digital version will be solo play. For playing the game again with my wife, I’d go back to the board game version. A board game on a table to me has far more charm than two people having to share a mouse, keyboard, and screen.

One reason we don’t play this all that often is that the core Gloomhaven box is such a huge thing with 2,600 components. It is the only one of my board games where I went and bought an insert system for orderly component storage. With my other games I either didn’t need anything like that, or could just 3D-print a simple token tray. Given that we don’t have the table space to keep Gloomhaven built up for a longer period, this means that every session requires extensive set up and take down periods.

So for anybody who wants to try out the board game version, I would very much recommend starting with Jaws of the Lion. It is exactly the same tactical combat system, but easier to learn, and easier to set up. For solo play, I’d recommend the Steam version. I can only hope that at some point in the future Asmodee Digital will make a digital version of Frosthaven. Because that will be another game using the same great tactical combat system, but in an even bigger box, that I don’t currently plan to buy. With board games, “too much game” is actually a thing.