Gloomhaven common rules you may not know about!

Gloomhaven rules you probably got wrong at some point

Right so you've read the rulebook, and you've played some games, but Gloomhaven is a monster of a game and there are probably rules you've gotten wrong or might not know is even possible. I've put in some the ones we've come across before. Chances are you may have run into these too!

1. Using the wrong modifier deck from the start

So you got excited, cracked open the Cragheart and took out the modifier cards. Maybe it turns out that deck of cards is ridiculously strong?  Because it is,  those are the cards you are meant to add to your real modifier cards when you do level up.  For Gloomhaven owners, go look for the cards with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 in the corner (symbolising the player number). Those are the right cards.

2. Summons move before you do.

Summons act before your character's initiative and follow the same monster AI rules as though they had Move +0 and Attack +0. This is important as your summon can reposition themselves before you act for better or worse.  

3. Blessing / Cursing summons blesses the player. 

If you target a summon with a curse or a bless, the owner of the summon gets the modifier. 

4. Retaliate only happens if they are still in range. 

Some monsters with retaliate can be a pain to deal with. There is one neat trick that can sometimes help - push. If you attack them and push them out of range, the retaliate no longer occurs!

5. Damage can be negated by not just losing a card from your hand, but two from your discard.

Low on health? No cards in hand? About to die? Remember you can lose 2 cards in your discard if you don't want to or cannot lose a card from your hand to prevent damage. 

6. Enemies that don't attack still move towards you.

In some rare cases, monsters may not have an attack action to go along with their move action. Some rare monsters will move and heal or move and shield etc. In these cases, the monsters will still focus and move as though they had a melee attack.

7. Enemies don't move at all if there is no hex to attack you from.

Lets say your invisible Spellweaver decided to block a door to a room full of Skeletons with their body. If it's impossible for the Skeleton to move and attack anyone (even with infinite movement), it doesn't move at all!

8. Players can choose to not perform certain parts of their action card. 

Straight from the rulebook: Players are typically free to choose not to perform any part of the action on their card, however, they must perform any part that would cause a negative effect on themselves or their allies. 

Why would you ever choose not to do part of your action card? 

Here's an example. Maybe part of your attack action contains a pull and pulling an enemy closer to you means they'll attack you instead of your tanky Brute... Or maybe you have part of your attack that says to push and pushing would leave the enemy out of range for your teammates to attack later in the round.

9. With no cards in hand and two in discard, you can still take a long rest and play for 1 more turn. 

Why would you want to prolong your inevitable death? You can take one more turn...  which means you can take hits for your team for one more turn. If you have summons it means you can give them 1 more turn of life before you exhaust. 

10. You can short rest, lose a card at random, take 1 damage to lose a different card at random.... and then lose another card to prevent the 1 damage from short resting. 

This is a valid move. Why would you ever do such a ridiculous move?  Two reasons

1. You're a Spellweaver and you've unfortunately lost Reviving Ether during a short rest. You also happen to be on 1 HP... painful, but you gotta save the Reviving Ether card.
2. You've got a battle goal or retirement goal that needs you to exhaust or run low on cards before the end of the Scenario. Your teammates seem to have things under control so you're just treating your cards like disposable tissues. 

11. You can (usually) cancel your summons anytime on your turn

So... did your summon block a doorway or another key hex that you really need? Remember you can remove any cards in your active area anypoint during your turn - this includes removing your own summons! 

Minor spoilers: There is one character where this is not possible but let's not venture too deep into spoiler territory.

Hope your road events are nice and quiet until next time!