If you’re someone who prefers their board games to be big – both physically and as a time investment – then do we have a recommendation for you. Frosthaven is the latest big box board game from Cephalofair and if you’ve played their previous title, Gloomhaven, then you know what you’re in for here.
For those unfamiliar with Cephalofair’s work, Frosthaven is a Euro-inspired dungeon crawler. You play as a group of mercenaries who are attempting to protect the titular mountain outpost against the harsh environment and the harsher external threats. With a campaign that features over 100 unique scenarios to play though, it’s safe to say you’ll be spending some time with it.
The board game’s size also extends to its cost, which is a substantial price tag of $449.95. However, you can currently pick up Frosthaven on sale for $250, which is by far the cheapest price we’ve seen for it (The Gamesmen have it for $329.95, while Gameology is listing it for $334.45).
If you’re a big fan of Gloomhaven, or you don’t mind making a long-term investment with your board games, then this Frosthaven deal is a hot offer.
Why should you play Frosthaven?
As far as board games go, Gloomhaven was a critical hit when it was released back in 2017 and it’s one of our all-time favourite board games, so playing a spiritual sequel feels like a no-brainer. Launched as a Kickstarter campaign back in 2020 with a USD$500k goal, Frosthaven raised just shy of USD$13 million.
The game has more or less maintained the core gameplay elements of Gloomhaven, which involves a decent amount of dungeon crawling and combat. Every action you make will have consequences and with 138 available scenarios, there are plenty of chances to make the right or wrong choices.
There is one major new gameplay addition that involves upgrading your settlement and constructing more buildings to strengthen Frosthaven against seasonal environmental forces and fairly regular attacks. To do this, you’ll need to use the resources you’ve collected through the game’s many scenarios, so plundering dungeons is more important than ever.
Again, how you choose to upgrade or fortify the village is important, so you’ll need to make sure every decision counts.
Apart from the all-new scenarios, Frosthaven introduces three new races, over twenty new enemies and more than 100 new items – on top of what Gloomhaven already has to offer.
While you don’t need to have played Gloomhaven before starting Frosthaven, if you have, you’ll be happy to learn that you can re-use your old characters in this new campaign setting. You’re also able to use the new characters introduced in Frosthaven in your Gloomhaven campaign.
You can buy Frosthaven on sale here. Just make sure you have plenty of room at home to store it.
Image: Cephalofair Games
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