Finally, a version of Gloomhaven that doesn't require structurally reinforcing your coffee table.

Okay, let us address the very heavy elephant in the room. The original Gloomhaven is a masterpiece, but it is also an absolute logistical nightmare. It weighs a metric ton, the setup takes roughly three hours of aggressive cardboard sorting, and the rulebook reads like a postgraduate thesis on fantasy combat mechanics. Jaws of the Lion looks at that colossal barrier to entry and immediately solves it. It takes the exact identical genius tactical combat system and violently compresses it down into an incredibly accessible, reasonably priced, and stunningly brilliant introductory package that actually fits on a normal dining table.

The greatest innovation in this box is the sheer audacity to remove the puzzle-piece modular map tiles entirely. Instead of desperately hunting through a massive box for "Tile 4B" so you can build a dungeon, the game comes with an enormous ring-bound book. You just open the book flat on the table, and the dungeon map is quite literally printed directly onto the paper pages! It is a stroke of pure, unadulterated genius. You open the book, drop your miniatures directly onto the glossy illustration, and you are playing the game in less than three minutes. It entirely eradicated the worst part of the Gloomhaven experience while keeping the punishing, brain-burning card mechanics completely intact.

And the tutorial! The first five scenarios of the campaign are designed as an incredibly clever, slow-drip tutorial. It doesn't overload you with complex monster AI rules immediately. It slowly introduces mechanics one by one until, by scenario five, you suddenly realize you are perfectly executing complex initiative weaving, element tracking, and line-of-sight calculations without breaking a single sweat. The four new character classes—particularly the Hatchet and the Voidwarden—are deeply unique, forcing entirely different playstyles that rival anything found in the original massive box.

Family Session vs. Hardcore Gamers

Is it a family game? Miraculously, because of the brilliantly serialized five-part tutorial within the scenario book, it actually can be! You can sit a complete novice down, and the game will literally patiently explain exactly how to move and attack over an incredibly gentle curve. However, make no mistake: by scenario six, the training wheels come flying off, the difficulty violently spikes to traditional Gloomhaven levels, and your casual family members will instantly find themselves crying tears of blood as they are beaten to death by a massive sludge monster. It is the perfect trojan horse to slowly train casual gamers into hardcore hobbyists!

Pros:

• The playbook map system is arguably the greatest setup innovation in modern gaming.
• The slow-drip tutorial flawlessly teaches an incredibly complex game to absolute beginners.
• Delivers 100% of the intense tactical combat of the original box at a fraction of the cost.

Cons:

• The campaign is shorter (25 scenarios) and lacks the sprawling retirement mechanics.
• You will physically ruin the spine of the scenario book by the end of the campaign.
• The card stock and token quality is slightly lower than the massive premium big box.

Final Verdict: Buy it yourself. It completely obsoleted the original box for new players. Even if you already own the massive Gloomhaven, this is still worth buying purely for the four new excellent character classes which are completely cross-compatible.