It’s a first look into Frosthaven as I got to play last Tuesday for the first time. It is very much a first look though because we are yet to fully dive into the town phase, and that’s a big part of the game, or at least the most obvious change to the game. But let’s talk about Frosthaven and initial thoughts thus far around it. Plus my one big complaint.

Initial Frosthaven Thoughts

There are a ton of things I’m already liking about this game. I expected that because it is Gloomhaven’s sequel and I love Gloomhaven. Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t have some quibbles with it. But also doesn’t mean that I don’t have some things I really like about what I’ve seen thus far.

Firstly, I think the story feels like it is better. Is it great yet, no, I think it’s below the level of story and writing, for example, that I’ve seen thus far in Isofarian Guards and definitely below Tainted Grail. But when I get into it, it’s intriguing where it is leading.

Next, I like that I can play a pretty complex character to start. I went with the Blink Blade, no spoilers in that. And it uses a mechanism of basically building up speed and then using said speed. How you plan that out affects how fast you go on a turn. That is definitely a ramp up in complexity than some of them, but they offer different complexities in the starting characters and tell you what they are.

The one annoying thing and this is something from Forgotten Circles as well, is that you need to use two books for setup. I don’t mind the fog of war feel to it, but it slows down the game. It’s harder to get in two scenarios in the evenings. You need to pause mid scenario and then setup more, that is less fun.

The Highlights

So two big highlights for the game, both things that Cephalofair games didn’t do themselves, oddly enough. But the two apps around the game are great. I enjoy the Forteller one for the story quite well. It allows everyone to be “surprised” with the story coming up more than one person reading it.

The other app is even more of a highlight. The original company that did the Gloomhaven Helper app stopped supporting it and wasn’t going to add in Frosthaven. So Lucky Duck Games, who do great app work, picked up that torch and created and amazing app. The biggest improvement is that everyone can use the app. One person gets the paid version, everyone else gets the free version. I enter in my initiative when ready. I flip cards for the monsters on someone else’s turn. It doesn’t bog down the game with one person doing all of the app stuff.

And for a game as big as Frosthaven, it’s nice to have that flexibility that anyone can do that. We’re not into the swing of things yet with setup, that’s for sure, so we’ll get that faster over time.

The Lowlight

This is also not with the game. I think it’s safe to say that the game itself is as expected. It’s still the Gloomhaven system at it’s core. But one big miss was the insert that I got. And I got this as part of the campaign, which is the only or the major reason I mention it.

In my opinion, the insert isn’t usable. The strength of the foam core, when you have a split in the middle of a box that is meant to hold cards is bad. It doesn’t hold up, even the ones where we were liberal with the glue, they don’t hold up well. There’s just too much weight in the game to make it work.

Now, I think I can speak, as a software engineer, to what happened, or what seemed to happen. This was a rushed job where it was focused on fitting the rules, make a spot for everything and fit it in a box. What you get when you do that is not something that is all that useable. It’s not useable for monsters, it doesn’t support cards well, it’s a mess. This could have come down to it being rushed as well, which I’ll not get into why and whether or not rushing something was a smart call.

In fact, I bought a new one. A 3D printed one that will be coming from Australia, so I’ll get it eventually. But I would need to provide my own, better, glue than was provided by the company. I’d need to use small nails or screws coated in said better glue. And hopefully the foam core would not rip, which it hasn’t to this point. But that’s way more effort for something that might work.

Final Impressions

Even with my frustrations from the insert, I’m still extremely excited for the game. I love Gloomhaven. The Blink Blade is going to be really interesting. And I want to start unlocking more characters and seeing more scenarios and just generally leveling up. So I’m excited for more.

Is this the best jumping in point, no, that’s Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion followed by Gloomhaven. But if you love Gloomhave, Frosthaven is an easy game to recommend next. Let me know your thoughts and experience with Frosthaven thus far?

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