Jaws of the Lion

What if Gloomhaven, but tiny? Cephalofair has managed to cram 10kg of board game into a box no bigger than four decks of cards stacked together.

It took us a little over two years to play through the twenty-five scenarios of Jaws of the Lion. But we enjoyed every single one of those twenty five. Covid, real life, and the occasional other game (mostly Terraforming Mars) got in the way of finishing this prequel to Gloomhaven in any reasonable amount of time. Sometimes, months would go by between plays. But we always came back. Our time with Gloomhaven and Jaws of the Lion gave us a reason to come together and just lose ourselves in a world where certain doom seemed to lurk around every new scenario. ...

Our Jaws of the Lion campaign continues. We’re nearing the end, and all of our characters have gotten their late game power ups. We’re clearing out our quest log before heading to the end game. The header image is a spoiler, by the way. I’d be concerned if I thought anyone who would ever care would read this :-) I’d put off painting the contents of the secret character boxes until everyone had unlocked theirs, but with Ally finally unlocking her mech, I couldn’t put it off any longer. ...

Two short scenarios for last night’s Jaws of the Lion campaign: First was “The Heist”, where we investigate a sewer branch that led directly beneath some rich dude’s mansion. Second was the Red Guard’s personal quest. Both were harrowing races against time. We were recovering from our last adventure in the Beguiling Sewers at our home base, the Sleeping Dragon Inn, when in burst a messenger, panting and looking a little wild-eyed. “A message! For! A Red Guard! Seen in this area!” he panted, looking around, but not seeing us at our usual table in the back corner. ...

I really want to apologize for the gaps in game blogging. I’m still gaming, as much as ever. I have a lot to write about with EverQuest II, the PlayStation 5, and especially Assassins Creed: Valhalla, and I will try to get to these things :-) As well as streaming again. But for now, here’s our latest adventures in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. When the pandemic hit, we stopped having game nights. When Connecticut flattened the curve in the summer and things eased up again, we started meeting and playing the new Gloomhaven game, Jaws of the Lion, every other Game Night, which we hold every other week. It used to be weekly before the pandemic, but we want to space them two weeks in case anyone is sick without knowing it. ...

This is the fourth scenario of Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. We’re still in the tutorial for the game – this scenario introduced scenario goals and city events. I’m not sure how fast people play through this game, but we’re going super slow. With COVID, we only meet every two weeks, and if something comes up on that day, we skip additional weeks. If we used Tabletop Simulator or something similar, I suppose we could meet – whenever, but we love seeing each other, eating pizza, and being together. ...

Since school has started up, we’ve been hesitant to continue with the family game night. But you just can’t keep us down. We’ve decided to alternate Jaws of the Lion, a campaign game, with other games. Last time we met it was for mahjong. Tonight, we’re back in Gloomhaven. My goal with Jaws of the Lion was to completely 3D print the terrain, the miniatures, the furniture – everything. Unfortunately, I’ve been having a lot of trouble with the 3D printer, but that’s really a story for another post. Because of the problems, I haven’t been able to finish printing the wooden floors for this scenario, or the stone floors for the next one. I have a barrel full of failed prints. Something about the floor tiles for wood and stone really seems to kill my printer. ...

Finally, finally, FINALLY! All the work Tom and I have been doing in printing and painting miniatures and dungeon parts paid off last night as we finally sat down to play the first two scenarios in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. Now available at your local Target. Jaws of the Lion is an introductory campaign to the Gloomhaven universe, where you and up to three friends take on the roles of a renowned mercenary company, the “Jaws of the Lion”, who have taken a job to look for a missing blacksmith and stumble onto a body snatching plot leading to some evil end. ...

When you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. When you have duct tape, every problem looks like “not enough duct tape. Add more.” And, when you have a 3D printer, every problem looks like it could be solved with a few days design work, twelve hours in failed print attempts, and eight hours for a successful one. Like the original Gloomhaven game, its beginner-friendly side story expansion Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion stores its character decks and player boards in slim little fold-top cardboard envelopes. These are just barely large enough to hold everything without sleeves. With sleeves, they are just entirely inadequate. They can’t be fit. ...

Trogdor! Trogdor! Trogdor was a man I mean, he was a dragon man Or maybe he was actually a board game But he was still TROGDOR! Burninating the countryside, Burninating the peasants, Burninating all the peoples And their thatched-roof cottages! THATCHED-ROOF COTTAGES! (Insert guitar solo) Trogdor the Board Game is based on the iconic . You, and up to five of your dragon-drawing friends play as Keepers of Trogdor, members of a group that help Trogdor… ...