Starter play along guide for Gloomhaven Campaign + Black Barrow strategy!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Useful resources and links! GH tools and resources spreadsheet - bit.ly/3me4u6p Stamina Guide to burning cards - kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZnPhGuEi7x8j5I Class guide playlist - kzbin.info/aero/PLyuKxu-NTItExL3dByFcU-CYPB4QW3N09 Deadly playthrough series - kzbin.info/aero/PLyuKxu-NTItExL3dByFcU-CYPB4QW3N09

[@9g821]

I picked up the game on the epic game store for free last week and after a couple too many attempts at the first scenario and falling just short of completing it, I found your channel and it helped a lot. The game really throws you in at the deep end with a bag of bricks strapped to your feet. Amazing video for new players and great timing with this play along. It's a very rewarding game and great fun when things go right and you understand it.

[@MandatoryQuest]

That's awesome glad you didn't give up! Learning the game is more than half the battle, but once you get going its an amazing game.

[@10bd1]

Awesome idea to put this out as it’s free on epic. A lot of people are having issues with learning how to beat this one. Hope to see more of these

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yep that's what I thought. hopefully a lot of people don't just bounce off the game because of the learning curve.

[@svartalfimposter]

@@MandatoryQuest The game feels like it's way too much all at once, even the tutorials are very tough. This video is packed with amazing tips, but that too, comes all at once - any chance of some bullet-pointed summary graphics to help break it up?

[@skinnymattk]

Thanks for the video. I just got Gloomhaven on console and this was a huge help to help better understand how the mechanics.

[@TheHongKongHermit]

Only a week away from the PS5 release, so these older videos are suddenly relevant again. Looking forward to finally playing this.

[@GENESIS.50-20]

Playing last 2 days ps5. Big UPDATE 19GB. enjoy mate, gaming euphoria.

[@isabellewalter7012]

Love love love 💕 this video. The vocalization of your thought process is excellent and the little explanations of rules (which were defo a bit overwhelming when we started out) whenever they apply are great as a reminder. Production quality and pacing top notch! Love it!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Awww thank you so much glad you found it so useful! ☺️

[@zebedee5158]

Your videos have been really helpful, thank you. (And, yes, I slept hard on this game - hadn't expected falling for it as much as I have!)

[@remyroyster]

I managed to finish Black Barrow thanks to you! 🤟

[@PapaSanto1973]

thanks dude, you're the best! maybe NOW i can beat the first level after 7 attempts 😡

[@halflucky5842]

Just started on pc, like level 2, sun/beast unlock. Scoundrel has been awesome so far. She's so fast, if I want she can go pop all the doors and come back to fight. With sun she gets cards back a lot as well. Anyway, I think she's underrated.

[@shonflores]

So Informative! Thank you Mate

[@To3To3To3]

Been binging your videos lately, hugely appreciate them cause I am struggling.

[@rjans3847]

About to finish jotl physical with our group, starting with core gh after, looking forward to the retirement mechanic.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Love the story and classes in JoTL, but the overall progression mechanics in original GH cant be beaten (except by Frosthaven probably)

[@Thyrosar]

Thanks for making a guide for people new to the game

[@MandatoryQuest]

No thank you for watching :)

[@timkraft4484]

Guide was awesome thank you!!

[@MandatoryQuest]

Glad it helped!

[@Cyro6]

Love this kind of content.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Thanks glad you like it :)

[@m.mossad9294]

Thank you for the great video :D

[@MandatoryQuest]

My pleasure thanks for watching!

[@gmoneyboats587]

Been watching your KZbin purely for Craig and your playthrough but now that this is free on epic? Maybe it's time to dip my toes. Hope the release garners you the attention your work deserves.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Thanks glad you like the videos! Yep free on Epic for a week and its crossplay too so you can play with everyone :)

[@GrompEconomics]

Wait, you said at the end that we shouldn’t let the boss in the second scenario open all of the doors. The win condition of the scenario is to kill the boss AND all enemies are revealed. The way me and my group interpreted that is that we HAD to wait for him to open all the doors… I guess we were wrong, we beat the encounter anyway but it was dicey at the end

[@TheVlad1616]

That is making it harder. I just beat that one the other day and luckily he only got 2 doors opened before I killed him.

[@wbRosario]

Tip trick- if you manage your positioning properly with Brute taking first long rest;you could utilize Tinkerers turn during that round and perform the bottom action of "Reinvigorating Elixir" and return all of Brutes cards to his hand before he actually performs his long rest. This effectively skips the step in which brute loses a card while he still performs the other steps of the long rest. Yes, tinkerer loses the elixir as well as another card during his first rest but thats OK. Tinkerer doesn't gain much XP so burning cards is where he levels AND he has a 12 card hand. Thats more than enough to gain the advantage of Brute saving his cards(that are the ones actually getting progress done) while extending his longevity significantly. Using these cards like elixir are good to burn early/first during a dungeon rather than later when the return value is diminished. Rather, its better to return his starting hand at first rest than to return 4 cards at the end of the dungeon(USUALLY) My dood Mando knows about this tactic and wanted to keep it simple and I can dig. Hopes this helps others rather than confuse them lol

[@MandatoryQuest]

Yes great tactic to use, but yeah requires some specific timing which takes some practice/awareness. The only downside I would say is Brute loves a long rest to reset his items and get the cheeky 2HP back which that doesn't do ;)

[@wbRosario]

@@MandatoryQuest ????? Brute rests a turn before Tinkerer. Brute declares 99 for initiative whilst Tinkerer declares 75 or whatever initiative for the Elixir. Tink goes first and uses bottom of Elixir and top of some other card, right? Then Brute starts his long rest steps but since he has no cards in Discard pile, he cannot "burn" or lose a card. He still goes thru the rest of his long rest tho such as refreshing spent equipped items as well as a Heal 2 action. The card, "Reinvigorating Elixir" has given Brute a free long rest essentially. This being the last turn of Tinkerer before he declares a long rest in the following round. I'm almost 100% positive this works but when Mando questions my Gloomhaven tactics, I gotta ask myself. Have I been messing that up this entire time? Plz tell me that it's a simple misunderstanding otherwise I have F*kd up my campaigns cos all I do is card recursion.

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@wbRosario sorry yes your right I just misread your comment I thought you were not long resting on the Brute. Got a lot of comments to respond to at the moment!

[@wbRosario]

@@MandatoryQuest no worries bruh😁I'm just glad that we're on the same page. Got to thinking later that day, "Have I misplayed EVERY game? All those hours learning to do this right and claiming the title of gloomhaven ref/judge of my pod only to look this foolish?" 😖 Glad I avoided that conversation. Keep on dungeon crawling my dude!

[@ignaciodimarco500]

Picked. This game yesterday on xbox.. And cant stop playing it... Fucxx baldurs gate 3...this is gold❤❤❤❤

[@divewithmedevillier]

Great video thanks for the help but quick question that might sound stupid... why stopping at 2 mercenaries? Playing it with my brother and we each pick 2...we are struggling tbh would it be easier with only 1 each? Thanks

[@logirex]

Excellent guide for new players. The characters you unlock during the campaign are they available as starting character once you are finished with the campaign ?

[@MandatoryQuest]

If you start a new game no. The act of unlocking is part of the journey if that makes sense. There are however mods out there on Steam workshop that will do that for you.

[@dbaxter604]

Honestly they really messed up making it this challenging. Multiple friends and me picked it up to play together and everyone but me ended up Uninstaller and refunding. These dudes play Warhammer, DnD, DoS2, MtG, ect. And had in on the 2nd or third easiest differculty. I'm in no way not saying don't make ur game challenging (it's why I'm still trying to learn it), but I can only imagine the countless people that got turned off after failing the first scenario that could of fallen in love with the game and become fans.

[@Socrates526]

I started playing about a week ago and I got a personal quest for the lightning class where I have to defeat four bosses. But Im not exactly sure how to unlock more boss fights? I already defeated 3 but I have no clue how I even unlocked those quests and so now Ive been stuck for the past few days trying to find a fourth boss scenario. Are they randomly unlocked through encounters or something?

[@haerdalis84]

They show up as you complete missions.

[@ricardovillegas3465]

Greetings! Ive been playing for a couple of days now with my seasoned rpg loving friends with a full party of 4 on normal difficulty, but it seems rather unbalanced, took is about 10 hours of wiping over and over at the very first fight of the game, got the party to lvl 2, bought some sweet items and still barely managed to clear it pretty much by a blessing of RNGesus, got to the next dungeon and realized it was gonna be pretty much impossible. My question is: is it suposed to be this hard or are we doing something terribly wrong? People on youtube are mostly playing with2 party members, is it not ok to play with 4 ? I have been hosting our multiplayer game and im terrified of clicking "new campaing" in order to play a fresh campaign on my own only to find out that my multiplayer save is gonna get overwritten. Questio number 2: is it possble to have more that one campaign at a time? one for solo and one for multiplayer for example Thanks for the help!

[@MandatoryQuest]

So its not uncommon to be struggling when you just start out. That's mostly because it takes a while to get used to the stamina and initiative system, but also that Gloomhaven is actually more of a puzzle game than it is an RPG. Really its about working out the safest plays to keep cards in your hand, enemies dead, and hopefully your health intact. The game is definitely unbalanced in many ways, but that's more in the players favour I would say and more prevalent at higher levels. It sounds to me like you are probably either burning cards too often for their abilities, or not using your initiative and positioning to out manoeuvre the enemy enough. Not taking damage is as (or even more) important sometimes than dealing damage, and learning when to back off and perhaps take a sub optimal turn but taking less damage is key. Think of it like every play should be a positive trade off for the players. If I move in to deal 3 damage to 1 enemy, but then because I did that 3 enemies attack me and I take 6 damage then that's a negative trade off play. Now you can make do with some negative plays sure, but if its too often then you will end up losing because of your health and stamina. Teamwork is also really important to nuke enemies down quickly rather than each take on separate enemies. Check out my stop burning cards video too which might help. The game scales player count with number and enemy type (elite vs normal) and Black Barrow in particular is much harder IMO with 4 and 3 than with 2. I also did a party size comparison video showing the difference. However as you progress in general most scenarios are well balanced in this regard so it doesn't matter as much. More enemies though does mean everything crumbling down quicker due to a really bad ability card coming out from an enemy type. Yes you can have as many different campaign saves as you like, and in fact multiplayer is not exclusive as you can make any save a solo or multiplayer session in the escape menu options. I hope this helps :)

[@TheMexicanSuperman1]

Hi MQ, I just downloaded the solo scenarios and I was curious if you knew if it's possible to do them on Guildmaster. I ask because I have all level 7+ characters in there and barely any unlocked characters in any of my campaigns. I was able to unlock the items but I wanted to play the scenarios.

[@MandatoryQuest]

No sorry its only possible to do them in campaign mode. The items are available though as rewards for completing the level 5 character story missions.

[@TheMexicanSuperman1]

@@MandatoryQuest any suggestions on how I could still access them without grinding a bunch of retirement goals?

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@TheMexicanSuperman1 maybs mods or save editing?

[@mercster]

I think my first game will be Cragheart-Scoundrel-Tinkerer.

[@MandatoryQuest]

Very solid team there, just be careful with the Cragheart doing too much damage to the Scoundrel with his splash abilities ;)

[@mercster]

@@MandatoryQuest Haha, alright! Maybe try dashing in/out with the scoundrel and giving the cragheart a wide berth. :) Who knows, I'm sure much failure is ahead of me. Ta.

[@bartomiejlol2849]

Not work that good for me I try like 15 times now but I try your setup now

[@sefasefa8650]

Why it doesnt burn his cards but just discards them? Sorry for the noob question i am new

[@MandatoryQuest]

If you just discard instead of burn then they come back to your hand to play again after you rest.

[@sefasefa8650]

@@MandatoryQuesti know i was asking how do you discard instead of burn?

[@MandatoryQuest]

@@sefasefa8650 I'm not sure I understand. If you use a burn ability then it has to be burned. You can use cards as just a move 2 or attack 2 instead of their burn ability or make sure to bring cards with non-burn abilities.

[@sefasefa8650]

@@MandatoryQuest how do i know if a card is burn ability card or not?

[@TruckDrivinGamer]

@@sefasefa8650 the cards that are burned have a small icon in the bottom right of the ability box. It's really small, but it's supposed to look like a card with flames coming off the top of the card. Some cards have the icon only on the top half ability, some have it only on the bottom half ability, and some have the icon on both top AND bottom. The card is only burned if you use the ability printed. If you use the basic ability of Attack 2 or Move 2, at the edges of the card, that card will be discarded instead and you'll get it back when you Short Rest or Long Rest, unless that's the card that gets burned during the rest. The idea is that these are the most powerful effects, so they're only available once per scenario (unless you discover ways to get burned card back...)😉 I hope that helps you. Have fun!

[@Dudldom]

The Scoundrel looks so awful in Gloomhaven digital. Why didn't they just stick with the image they already had?

[@MandatoryQuest]

A couple of the characters look a bit weird in digital IMO and she's one of them.

[@Chyrnobyl66]

i have clearly been burning cards way too often and way too early

[@MandatoryQuest]

Dont' worry its a very common new player mistake! make sure to check out my stop burning cards video too.

[@wbRosario]

Don't hesitate to explore those options though. I refrain from burning cards during the first half of the dungeon unless it has net gain value in card recursion however I have broken this personal rule from time to time. I value above all else, dictating the pace of the fight and sometimes you might need to burn a card first turn. If u do, make sure it's someone with a decent hand size or crazy card recursion such as the quartermaster. Otherwise, yeah... early card loss=very bad.

[@Chyrnobyl66]

@@MandatoryQuest Nice video ...finally beat the first scenario on normal lol. Ive beaten the first boss on easy before - hell he never even opened a door, but he got me on normal. I actually managed to kill him finally but ran out of juice before i could kill the elite undead guy in door #2. Pretty sure i can get it though, just had a bit of bad luck, and a cpl bad plays. Fun game, but every time i lose, i curse it out, and swear im done, then an hour later i load it up again, lol.

[@arjunbaweja7755]

@@wbRosario Bro watch the spoilers call that name "3 Spears"

[@1who4me]

Problem with this game is they script the monsters actions.

[@federicorenghi3139]

I have no idea how you managed to kill the first room of bandits without burning any card. gg

[@MandatoryQuest]

Patience :)

[@arjunbaweja7755]

bruh I am a half veteran and I had to give the "talk" to my friend about burning cards as scoundrel for her first turn. I played mindthief cause A. my fav character, B. easiest to help other people with, C.Rat. D. it allowed me to open doors without my friends being stressed. We are running Craig Scoundrel mindthief which I think is a very good comp. But yeah after like 5 years of convincing she finally chose the non lose part. She still died first lol.

[@bucketthd]

good videos but you kind of go on a bit

[@MandatoryQuest]

That's kind of my stick tbh

[@1who4me]

Good grief your logic for brute cards is suspect