Jaws Of The Lion Talked Me Into The Big Box

I bought this specifically because full Gloomhaven intimidated me, a whole closet shelf of components and a rulebook the size of a phone book, and Jaws of the Lion is exactly the on ramp people say it is. The scenario book doubling as the map is the single smartest piece of design in the box, one reviewer called it the move that made them never want to play a Gloomhaven scenario without a bound map and book combo again, and I agree completely, it turns setup from a production into something closer to opening a novel.

The tutorial structure is the other thing everyone gets right about this game, rules trickle in one scenario at a time instead of front loading a rulebook at you, and by scenario five you’re playing at full pace without ever feeling like you skipped a step. I played the early scenarios with my nephew, nine years old, and it worked, the teaching missions genuinely scaled down to his patience level without dumbing down the tactics.

My only real complaint, shared by a few other reviews, is component quality on the monster dials, mine are loose enough that they drift off their number if the table gets bumped, which for a game about tracking exact monster health is a real annoyance. Setup and teardown for a single scenario runs maybe ten minutes once you’re past the first few, quick enough that I don’t dread pulling it out on a weeknight.

Five stars, and it worked exactly as designed, I finished the campaign and immediately bought the full Gloomhaven box, which several other reviewers admitted doing too. This is a gateway drug and it knows it.