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You are a member of the "Jaws of the Lion", one of the most infamous mercenary groups in this run-down backwater city of Gloomhaven. When a sinister cabal starts disappearing the less fortunate of the city, it somehow falls to you to get to the bottom of it....so long as you get paid for your trouble.
If you are looking to enter the world of Gloomhaven, there’s no better place to start than Jaws of the Lion. As opposed to Gloomhaven (101 scenarios) and Frosthaven (139), Jaws of the Lion boasts a more manageable 25 scenario branching campaign (meaning your decisions will influence how the story plays out and which scenarios you play), with setup time a breeze through playing on the scenario book itself.
The game also features a full five-scenario tutorial that will teach you the rules of the game step-by-step, starting gradually and building up to learning the full Gloomhaven system. For the first few scenarios your cards will have additional blue boxes on them, spelling out specifically what everything on your cards mean and do. You’ll also add game mechanics gradually through these first five scenarios (things like elements, battle goals, perks, and so on) instead of being overwhelmed by it all at once.
Jaws of the Lion has received universal acclaim, and currently sits in Board Game Geek’s top 20 games of all time from a pool of over 170,000 titles!
For the campaign, you’ll play as one of the four available mercenaries as you earn XP, loot treasure, level up your character, buy items, and gain in power.
The Demolitionist, as the name implies, excels at blowing things up. You will receive bonuses for destroying obstacles, clearing the way for your party with Fire Bombs, a Piston Punch, and a giant explosion known as “The Big One”. With a 9-card hand size you have the smallest hand of the four JOTL classes, but you make up for this with having very strong abilities, including one of the best modifier decks of any ‘Haven game. Move, punch, blow things up. What more could you want?
Much like the Demolitionist, the Hatchet has a straightforward class name. This Inox loves to launch hatchets across the battlefield, excelling as a ranged damage-dealer. Your core mechanic relates to a card called The Favorite. With it, you’ll throw your favorite hatchet around the map, gaining huge attack bonuses – but you’ll also need to recover it before you can use it again. Once you’ve gotten used to this ebb and flow you’ll be slicing and dicing your foes with a Disorienting Barrage or a Double Throw.
The Red Guard is the tankiest of these four classes, but they also deliver the goods as a skirmisher. They use a combination of hooks and chains to latch onto enemies, pull them where they want, and deliver serious damage. The Red Guard also makes heavy use of the fire and light elements, using them to regularly empower their abilities. Deal enemies damage just for coming near you with Flame Shroud, deal them damage when they attack you with Shield Spikes, or burn them and pull them towards you with Flaming Sickle.
The Voidwarden suffered a near-death experience from a place called the Void (you’ll learn more about it if you play Gloomhaven) which left them partially scarred. They channel this energy in their abilities, often times enabling you to do very powerful things, but at a cost. This is the curse of possessing dark energy, perhaps. The Voidwarden’s core card is called Master Influence, and it makes their abilities in which they are granting allies attacks or forcing enemies to attack via mind control even more powerful. If you enjoy this theme of power at a dark price, you’ll enjoy the Voidwarden. This is by far the best support class in JOTL, but they also can melt enemies by making them attack one another – something that nobody else in this box can do.
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Scenario 3
Scenario 4
Scenario 5
You are a member of the "Jaws of the Lion", one of the most infamous mercenary groups in this run-down backwater city of Gloomhaven. When a sinister cabal starts disappearing the less fortunate of the city, it somehow falls to you to get to the bottom of it....so long as you get paid for your trouble.
If you are looking to enter the world of Gloomhaven, there’s no better place to start than Jaws of the Lion. As opposed to Gloomhaven (101 scenarios) and Frosthaven (139), Jaws of the Lion boasts a more manageable 25 scenario branching campaign (meaning your decisions will influence how the story plays out and which scenarios you play), with setup time a breeze through playing on the scenario book itself.
The game also features a full five-scenario tutorial that will teach you the rules of the game step-by-step, starting gradually and building up to learning the full Gloomhaven system. For the first few scenarios your cards will have additional blue boxes on them, spelling out specifically what everything on your cards mean and do. You’ll also add game mechanics gradually through these first five scenarios (things like elements, battle goals, perks, and so on) instead of being overwhelmed by it all at once.
Jaws of the Lion has received universal acclaim, and currently sits in Board Game Geek’s top 20 games of all time from a pool of over 170,000 titles!
For the campaign, you’ll play as one of the four available mercenaries as you earn XP, loot treasure, level up your character, buy items, and gain in power.
The Demolitionist, as the name implies, excels at blowing things up. You will receive bonuses for destroying obstacles, clearing the way for your party with Fire Bombs, a Piston Punch, and a giant explosion known as “The Big One”. With a 9-card hand size you have the smallest hand of the four JOTL classes, but you make up for this with having very strong abilities, including one of the best modifier decks of any ‘Haven game. Move, punch, blow things up. What more could you want?
Much like the Demolitionist, the Hatchet has a straightforward class name. This Inox loves to launch hatchets across the battlefield, excelling as a ranged damage-dealer. Your core mechanic relates to a card called The Favorite. With it, you’ll throw your favorite hatchet around the map, gaining huge attack bonuses – but you’ll also need to recover it before you can use it again. Once you’ve gotten used to this ebb and flow you’ll be slicing and dicing your foes with a Disorienting Barrage or a Double Throw.
The Red Guard is the tankiest of these four classes, but they also deliver the goods as a skirmisher. They use a combination of hooks and chains to latch onto enemies, pull them where they want, and deliver serious damage. The Red Guard also makes heavy use of the fire and light elements, using them to regularly empower their abilities. Deal enemies damage just for coming near you with Flame Shroud, deal them damage when they attack you with Shield Spikes, or burn them and pull them towards you with Flaming Sickle.
The Voidwarden suffered a near-death experience from a place called the Void (you’ll learn more about it if you play Gloomhaven) which left them partially scarred. They channel this energy in their abilities, often times enabling you to do very powerful things, but at a cost. This is the curse of possessing dark energy, perhaps. The Voidwarden’s core card is called Master Influence, and it makes their abilities in which they are granting allies attacks or forcing enemies to attack via mind control even more powerful. If you enjoy this theme of power at a dark price, you’ll enjoy the Voidwarden. This is by far the best support class in JOTL, but they also can melt enemies by making them attack one another – something that nobody else in this box can do.
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Scenario 3
Scenario 4
Scenario 5
Store Everything In Its Place
Discover Gloomhaven with Each Decision
Make It Go Boom Boom
Rulebook
How To Play Video
Errata