I absolutely adore stumbling into a creator who genuinely loves the topic they’ve chosen to discuss. No phony accent, no cartoony editing, just an avalanche of love for the thing. This video made my day. I hope my kids get this excited about frost when it shows up :)
Just stumbled in while surfing for frosthaven content. So glad I did. What I enjoyed as much as how thorough and incisive your review was, it was how chilled and easy to watch it was. It was refreshing not to be yelled at while keeping up with quick edits. Exceptional.
You're one of the first (maybe THE FIRST?) to go so deeply into the game and post about it. Good job - thank you. Makes me look forward to the experience.
This box has just arrived after being on order for ~2 years. Coming from Gloomhaven which we have not finished yet. We make all the scenery and 3D print the monsters - going to be so much fun to move into Fosthaven learning the rules, choosing and painting the characters.
What an incredibly good explanation, well-expressed review and smart speech. This channel is way more meaningful to me than others to really understand games; mechanics, particularities and overall how games feel when played.
Thank you for sharing your experience with the game. I actually searched for “what does frosthaven feel like” and yours was one of the videos. It’s cool that you share your passion and enthusiasm for it. Cheers! 🙂
This was a very good video. I just got a brand new copy of the game with the stickers, solo scenarios, token and the Frosthaven card sleeves in a bundle from a local store. Can't wait to bust it out.
@@GnarlyCarleyGaming no We played Gloomhaven classes based on just vibes from the symbol so I think that’s what we are gunna do with Frosthaven as it went so well.
The Hunters AD 2114 is another game where they have a great sense of timing for events. You can pursue side quests, but the main quest is still happening apace while you're digressing. It's one of the favorite parts of that game for me so looking forward to that kind of thing here.
So happy I discovered your channel, with the video about you keeping only 15 games. Just a bit sad I didn't discover you earlier and hoping that you will keep doing videos. I will definitely go back and see many of the ones you published before. I love your style and I'm crazy about how much love/feelings you put into your presentation. You genuinely love board games! Or you are an mazing actress and I fell into your trap. And this is part of how I created my main board gaming group. With that said, about Frosthaven, I'm so happy you like it so much. Gloomhaven is one of my favorite game of all time. We started before the pandemic and after 2 years and only completing 27 scenarios... My group decide they had enough. I reset my campaign and assemble a new group. We started with JOTL, it took us 18 months to finish, barely playing more than once every 2 months... We decided Gloomhaven was too ambitious. But I haven't given up, and I'm creating a new adventuring group, actually 2. Starting with less complex/demanding adventure games and so far so good. The goal is to play Gloomhaven with one of them. I also managed to get an unplayed copy of Frosthaven at a very good price. Anyway, just wanted to let you know you gain a new subscriber and I'm looking forward to enjoy your past and future videos!
I love peeing the guides after I make my own choices. Cool to think about future builds but I love the puzzle of deciding just how to build my bud myself 💗💕
Loved your adorable video. I just unpacked my copy of Frosthaven a couple of days ago, and I can't wait to start. My group completed the Gloomhaven and Forgotten Circles campaigns, and we are about halfway through Crimson Scales, which has exceeded my expectations. Love, love, love these games. I'm amazed at how well they scale to the number of players, and having a great choice of builds for each character has made it tough to retire many of the ones I've grown attached to. This is easily one of my all time favorite games.
I'd love to see you lead this with your friends on NRB. I'm glad I found your own channel too. Your passion for what interests you and what you find fun will naturally grow the channel. Keep it up!
I love every single bit of that game. Scenarios are so diverse. I love the Outpostphase. I love the variance in loot. The extremely different playable characters
Totally understand. I've had mine a while because of the board game media. Obviously they want content creators to have a copy early enough to share. I got it even earlier for work reasons. I'm lucky in that way. The copy I backed has yet to arrive.
@@GnarlyCarleyGaming Oh that makes perfect sense for sure. And I appreciate being able to get this spoiler-free taste of it from your playtime. Some others we know who backed it have gotten theirs already too so the non-media ones are out as well. It's just a lottery at this point!!! xD Did anyone in your group play the Geminate? If so do you have any thoughts on it? It seems like it could be high skill high reward but I'm a bit concerned about that 7 cards per half limit.
Great review of Frosthaven, your love of the series and in particular this one clearly shines through in such a refreshing way ..... plus I found a new band as well ;) Really wish my copy would hurry up and arrive!
Loved Gloomhaven - played it with my wife, 2 young sons and my niece for a whole year and never got boring. Frosthaven really fixes a lot of my issues with it so really looking forward to playing when we are done Oathsworn.
You get in a groove so some only take an hour and a half or so. Most the time when we play, it's more than one so it's easy to get through. I'll also convince myself to stay up just a bit too late with it too 😬
Thank you Carley to share your experience so far. In our home town, Barcelona, we are extremly anxious to get the game in spanish. Have a good campain! :)
Great video! My wife and I chose the other path for the unlocked class you are playing. Needless to say, that was a good unlock as well. Also.. thanks for the Snarky Puppy shout out. I’m a huge jam band fan: Phish, Umphreys, Dead, DMB and somehow… these guys I’d never heard of. So far, so good.
About to start jaws of the lion, but had to find out what Frosthaven was all about. Laughed at your love of the pets and your overall personality made it v entertaining. Absolutely great video! Also, Snarky is the best! 🤟
Great review: very clear explanation, and your enthusiasm comes across strongly. Looking forward to Frosthaven arriving. I really need to get Gloomhaven played first...
Bless your dedication. Played the tabletop campaign and some one-offs; also own the digital and one expansion. It fewls like half of what you did, but now I wonder.
This video was so great, thank you! We have played JOTL as a family for the last year. Me and our 3 kids - 2 girls, one almost 15 now and one 13, and our son, 9). We have LOVED JOTL so much and have had weeks where we've played 20 hours of it. haha. No joke! Anyway, following the suggestion of Celophair games themselves we are not going to wait on GH 2.0 but are instead going to move on to Frosthaven (probably in December honestly because we have more JOTL the finish up.) But, I've been binging everything I can on FH and the starting classes - I skipped your spoiler bit... sadly... I wanted to keep watching. Right now, even before we have the game, our oldest daughter is thinking of playing Blink Blade. She played Hatchet in JOTL. Our 2nd daughter is thinking of playing Banner Spear. She played Voidwarden in JOTL. Our son wants Drifter, or Geminate. haha I'm advising him to take Drifter because he hates being damaged or having a "plan" ruined for any reason and so I'm sure Geminate would frustrate him. He played Red Guard in JOTL. I played Demolitionist in JOTL and am thinking of either Deathwalker or Boneshaper for FH. MAYBE, MAAYYYYBEEEE Geminate. I think I could play that one. I really like the dark mechanic of Deathwalker. But I'm still deciding and will, honestly, probably let the kids tell me which to do. haha Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to make this! It was absolutely wonderful! ❤
Absolutely hear ya. I can definitely showcase more of the game. Mid game shots for this one are tough cause of spoilers. I also run into the issue of being protective of my gaming experience. I love to talk about the games I play and what I love, but interrupting a game night with friends to film isn't what I want all my gaming interactions to become. It's doable but simply cause I choose to share, doesn't mean I want to impact my buds or that they want that for our nights. It's all a balance
Best frosthaven video I've seen so far. We loved gloomhaven. We are waiting for the German Frosthaven version wich will be released late 2023:( looking forward for more frosthaven content from you :)
Lovely video - inspired I too created a Frosty corner! I kind of feel like the importance of retiring characters in Frosthaven (and in Gloomhaven) was not emphasized enough in the rules. Please put another video together of your next 30 scenarios!
gut yontif Carly! great video i enjoyed hearing more about the game after a fair amount of play love you on NRB and love you on here. have a good holiday
Great review. Very engaging and has me even more excited to play it now. Probably not going to be delivered until mid-late January though at best here in the UK
Okay, when I move house I definitely need to have "Corner for Haven-related stuff" as part of the requirements. That area is so cute and I need one in my life.
I definitely like scenarios where the objective is not "Kill all monsters" makes for a more interesting puzzle. However, I would agree that the cards were, in general, made for the "kill all monsters" type of scenarios. Having a mix of both is perfect for me. Glad to hear that frosthaven has both.
I've never understood D&D, and never heard of either of those games. However, I went to College to become a 3D game designer. Long story short, 10 years later. I've started getting into TCGs and Board Games. I have used the new AI tools to come up with suggestions and stuff. Now, we come to the point of this comment. A few days ago, I was thinking about designing a D&D kind of Book Game, and I was not sure how to do it. Just listening to your amazing passion, gave me a new perspective, my creative problem solving brain have started working. So I gained a lot of inspiration from this video, and this seems like an awesome game. RU-vid suggested your channel out of the blue, but now I'm a subscriber 🧙🏼♂️
There is a Fantastic adaptation of Gloomhaven for the PC on steam, if you want to try it out but don't want to shell out the $100+ (or $30+ for Jaws of the Lion) and I think you would find some more inspiration from the game systems. It is an extremely faithful recreation, but with much less secretary work. Also, as a side note, I love both computer games and board games of all kinds. I played Gloomhaven in person, on the tabletop sim, and in the PC port, and the biggest issue I found with board games in general is the extra secretary work and upkeep needed to play - it is a huge barrier for entry and to fun. Playing gloomhaven is a monumental task to bring to the table, and then there is a bit of downtime between actually doing the things your character must do, which automated in a computer makes it super easy. I love playing the game in person, it is a really fun system, but my brother, who loved playing as much as I did, outright refuses to play in person after playing the digital game. There is just too much extra work to be done, by the owner of the game and the other players according to him. (just food for thought, having played physical and digital versions and hearing you are coming from a digital world to the corporeal world)
@@Ghoulicus I was lonely as a kid due to bullying, so I used World of Warcraft to escape reality. Boardgames and TCG was always multiplayer, so I mostly played it during family holidays like Christmas/Winter/Easter/Fall. So something I'm really leaning into is to make sure the games I'm developing has Single Player content, also I really like the thought of expansions. Thank you for your reply, it was very helpful 😊
"I'm not a summoner player". Gets obsessed with taming pets. 😁 (Maybe pets work differently. I don't know.) Nice review. I usually skip through reviews this long, but I watched the whole thing. Nicely done! Happy Chanukah!
@@GnarlyCarleyGaming IT'S GREAT! I avoided story spoilers when playtesting and after seeing it IN PERSON and playing through I 100% agree with the story changes and immersion! Glad that another person appreciates it!
@@RageBadgerGaming you’re a dude. Don’t run from yourself or your past by pretending to be a dude. Spiritually we all have no gender, just change your soul, not your body. We don’t need physical changes to change spiritual pain, it’s just a lie. You’re such a badass when you’re a dude, and I loved your beard more than your boobs. Physical looking like a girl isn’t what makes you a good person, or accepted. You may patch something up, but eventually it causes more setback by not getting to the root and facing it. Also, true satisfaction lies in truth
This was a brilliant review. Too often in board gaming reviews are just first impressions and are almost ads. This was really well written and explained and from someone that has clearly played a lot of it and knows what they are talking about. I’m impressed.
I was wondering if the NRB crew would ever delve into a Gloomhaven or Frosthaven series but I am understanding of the fact that it's a 'bit' heavy, so seeing Carley pop up with this review on my recommended was a fucking great surprise.
Skipped on this since I kinda had enough of Gloomhaven towards the end of my campaign. I really do appreciate what it did for the hobby and it's genre, but I also think it got a whole bunch of weakpoints and is highly overrated nowadays. Seeing how glorious it looks, how much improvements have been made and thinking I could've backed it for 100 $ when now it's MSRP is an absolutely insane 399 €, gotta admit, I kinda regret not going for it. The core of the system was also rock-solid and really fun. With your enthusiasm that you can really feel in this review, it only makes me want this more! :D Great review, really making the viewer get the love you have for the system without being just gushing, but still being thoughtful on a mechanical level. Will look out for more from this channel! :)
Happy to report back towards the end of the campaign with thoughts. I LOVED my GH campaign, but mostly because of the group dynamics. I was a wee bit disappointed by the end of the campaign itself. I'm really hopeful based on other pieces of FH that it'll have a cleaner and more satisfying end arch. Can let you know though. My goal isn't to hype for hype itself. More so to share what joy I've found in the game. I don't exist to sell it or any other game. Just hope to connect folks who may share that joy.
I would love to know more about *SPOILER* the Gentle Yeti with small hands and the compulsion of petting monsters. Looking forward to your Little Hanukkah Thing 😊
God this is SUCH a good video!! Well thought out and knowledgeable! Why can’t I find other girls who like board games like you to play with??? My girlfriends and I play like on e every two months and none of them like the games I like lol (like gloom/frosthaven!). Ugh please keep up the good work!!
I’ll be honest, I clicked because of the thumbnail but stayed for the content 😊! Your enthusiasm for Frosthaven shines through and makes for an entertaining vid. I’m bummed that I didn’t back it though 😢
oh no... I listened a little bit to the spoiler section and it got me too hyped. I might return to this video later to just indulge in one spoiler xD Also how in the world does one manage to play every single day, im jealous ;-;
I tried to keep it minimal. It won't destroy all spoilers for you. Just gives you a taste of some of the things that really get me going. What class are you going to rock?
@@GnarlyCarleyGaming Soo, after indulging in the spoilers (yes they where worth it) the frozen fist sounds exactly like my type of class as well. But from the starters I will probably pick geminate. I love the look and stance dancing sounds super fun. I havent seen many ppl talk about this, but the new classes so far seem very imaginative compared to gloomhaven. They just have that little bit of extra going on. I am super excited!
I would assume that would be just fine. The classes are all designed to be compatible with each other's systems, and Jaws of the Lion was designed to be an easier entry point to (or smaller slice of) Gloomhaven, and the biggest difference is the town mechanic being changed. But that wasn't in JotL, so it would be a similar jump in complexity either way. The meat of the game is the combat so learning that in JotL would prepare you for either Frosthaven or Gloomhaven.
I'm still waiting on my copy and since I haven't finished big momma GH yet I'm mostly just excited to have FH... and try to find a place to shelve it... "chose a top action and a bottom action" *sapphic longing intensifies*
Hello! Thanks for the review. Just a quick question: Which size is your group? Thanks a lot and I hope you keep enjoying the game for however long it lasts!
The worldbuilding sounds amazing. But I did not enjoy the combat/dungeon gameplay of Gloomhaven, so I probably wouldn't enjoy this, either. But glad you like it, and I know I'm in the minority of board gamers in my opinion.
Hey, know yourself. If you didn't like the gameplay, this one isn't for you. And that's okay. Its great to know before shelling out the money for it. There's been award winners this year that make me want to claw my eyes out. It's all good. We find what works for us 💕
As someone who has played Gloomhaven, but never started a legit campaign, would you recommend Gloomhaven, JotL, or Frosthaven as the most entertaining?
I loved JoTL and Gloomhaven but truly Frosthaven is a more engaging experience. It's a big box and may be overwhelming at grand scale but truly approachable once you get your feet wet and the most fun campaign wise
do you play the monster decks and modifiers with the app? i was wondering if most people play with that maybe was a consideration of production having the game without them in a smaller box? more accessible and maybe a bit cheaper?
The app itself followed GH's success so the original game was never envisioned so clearly with app assist. Now by the time Frosty hit, an app was assumed, but plenty like without it and, even with the app, you'd be removing at most a few decks of cards and some tokens from the game (largely small products in the box). Im sure the cost to produce separate skews for app assist/non app assist game boxes wouldnt make it cost advantageous at all. Plus, even though I do use the app for monster decks, I like that I dont have to. I want the option, not the need to stare at a screen.
As someone who has played a couple of scenarios in frosthaven and gone through 1 set of retirements, I really wish the spoiler sections had used icons and building numbers and such, since I would like to watch if I have unlocked the same things but wouldn't want to watch if I don't have those things unlocked yet. So if you used numbers for the buildings it would be much easier to figure out if I would spoil myself if I keep watching.
Played about 15 scenarios of Gloomhaven on the PC and I was surprised by how good and faithful of an adaptation it is from the board game. Sadly the person I was playing with wasn't a fan so it ended there (feel free to message me if anyone wants to do an entire campaign run through!). I'm sure they'll do an equally good job with Frosthaven when they convert it to a PC game and I honestly may skip buying the board game with how good the Gloomhaven port was.
I am jealous that you finished 3 Gloomhaven scenarios. I have 4 started, and no end in sight as getting everyone together is difficult. The way you speak of Frosthaven makes me perfectly happy to just jump right in without finishing Gloomhaven. Curious, I must have missed this info, but what player count is your current campaign? All 4 of mine in Gloomhaven are 3 or 4 players, and therein lies the problem with availability.
And this one we are running with 2 players. I think it's phenomenal at 2 and helps a ton with consistency of campaign. It's hard if you both are squishy but we like the challenge. I'll do more in a future run. They also have a rule that you can spend inspiration to do an extra unlock at retirement...fewer characters generate more inspiration so we are still seeing all the unlocks and content of a 4 player group
@@GnarlyCarleyGaming I gladly will once it ships to me. I think Canadian fulfillment has started, so just waiting on that magical email with the tracking number.
I haven't played this yet - probably will based on your review. However, as an aspiring game designer, I find it kind of amusing how you describe the scenario/dungeon crawl as "the gameplay" and every other mechanic of the game is "not the gameplay". 😆
Hey! This is because it's a campaign. The dungeon crawl is the core gameplay. The other bits are impactful...and yes, a part of the game, but do not encompass the majority of time spent playing. They are phases of play, but much more management oriented and less than 5 percent of time playing. 10 min outpost has high impact but is nothing on the 2 hours of a scenario.
Oh I absolutely get it, I just think it's cute how "out of scenario" gets parsed into "not the game" despite very much being a designed component of the game. 😁 This was my first watch here and I'm excited to stick around for more of your reviews, love the detail you've put in.
Ok, I just subbed and I'm not even sure why. I like the few board games I've played but the way you convey your love for the games just makes me wanna watch. Now, I have a question (a tough one i think). What game would you recommend for someone who's new-ish to board games but I need value. Value meaning cost vs content and replay-ability. I also need one that's relatively easy to learn bc I will have to somehow convince my non-gamer wife to play with me bc I don't have anyone else to play with.... maybe my 12 year old, we'll see. Anyway, good amount of game for the money and that's also a good "gateway" board game into the world of board games. Sorry, if it felt like I was rambling... i work night shift and I'm typing this in the middle of the night. Anyway, thanks in advance. - WY
