Founders of Gloomhaven

Name: Founders of Gloomhaven
Brand: Cephalofair Games
Price: 79.0 AUD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.6 (217 reviews)

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Founders of Gloomhaven is a competitive city-building strategy game for 1–4 players, playable in around 90–120 minutes. Set centuries before Gloomhaven, it combines tile placement, auctions and influence voting as fantastical races raise the city together. Medium-heavy; recommended for ages 12+.

Players: 1–4 players
Play time: Up to 2 hr
Age: Teens
Complexity: Hard

About the Game

A game of Founders of Gloomhaven sees rival fantastical races grudgingly cooperate as they raise the city together: placing resource buildings on the map, refining basic goods into advanced resources and delivering them to building sites to earn prestige. No race can import every resource type, so players must work through each other's networks, while periodic auctions let them spend influence to vote on which new buildings appear and where.

Founders of Gloomhaven plays with 1–4 players over 90–120 minutes. It is a medium-heavy strategy game recommended for ages 12 and up, built around tile placement, auctions, voting, route building and variable player powers.

Published by Cephalofair Games, Founders of Gloomhaven is a standalone game set in the same world as Gloomhaven. Its events take place hundreds of years earlier, depicting the original construction of the city, and it swaps dungeon-crawling adventure for competitive city-building — no experience with Gloomhaven is required.

History

Founders of Gloomhaven is a standalone title from Cephalofair Games, set in the same world as Gloomhaven. Rather than continuing that game's story, it takes place hundreds of years earlier and depicts the original construction of the city, offering a competitive, self-contained experience that requires no familiarity with its predecessor.

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Founders of Gloomhaven

$79.00

Watch: How to play

Rules of Founders of Gloomhaven

Setup: each player chooses a fantastical race with its own variable powers, then the map is seeded with starting resource buildings and players receive their starting goods and influence as the rulebook directs.
Turn flow: take actions to place resource buildings on the map, produce basic goods, refine them into advanced resources, and deliver them to building sites.
Routes matter: deliveries travel along connected routes, so extend your network so goods can actually reach the city.
Shared networks: no race can import every resource type, so you will need to work through other players' buildings to source what you lack.
Auctions: at intervals, players spend influence to vote on which new building appears and where it is placed.
Objective: earn prestige by delivering resources to complete city buildings.
Game end: once the city's construction is finished for your player count, the game ends and the player with the most prestige wins.

Strategy

Read your race's unique power carefully and shape your opening turns around what it does well.
Secure a reliable supply of basic goods before investing heavily in refining — advanced resources are useless without steady inputs.
Note which resources your opponents can import, and lean on their networks for what you cannot produce rather than overextending.
Place resource buildings with future delivery routes in mind so goods can reach building sites without detours.
Save influence for auctions that genuinely affect you; winning the vote on both the building and its location can reshape the board in your favour.
Even when you lose a vote, look for ways rival buildings can open routes or resources you can exploit.
Balance producing, refining and delivering — prestige comes from completed deliveries, not from stockpiled goods.

Terrific Game

DStiefer

The quality of the game is better than most games at this price point. I have purchased 50.00 games that were made like this, yet somehow, this game creator provided the same quality at half the price. The game pieces are thick hardened cardboard, there are...
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The quality of the game is better than most games at this price point. I have purchased 50.00 games that were made like this, yet somehow, this game creator provided the same quality at half the price. The game pieces are thick hardened cardboard, there are small bags in the box to organize the pieces once you remove them from the card stock. It's heavy duty, thick and the graphics (colors) are wonderful. Nice game! Now to play it :)

Reviewed in the United States on 20 December 2018

Muy buen juego 😁

Pamela Martinez

Al inicio es mucha información la que hay que procesar pero conforme avanza el juego todo va teniendo sentido. Se basa en la construcción de la ciudad de Gloomheaven donde cada jugador es dueño de recursos pero como en todo se necesitan de los demás para ha...
Read full review

Al inicio es mucha información la que hay que procesar pero conforme avanza el juego todo va teniendo sentido. Se basa en la construcción de la ciudad de Gloomheaven donde cada jugador es dueño de recursos pero como en todo se necesitan de los demás para hacer mejores construcciones.

Reviewed in Mexico on 11 January 2021Reviewed in Mexico on 11 January 2021

Fun game, even for 2 players

spderweb

Takes about an hour to learn the rules. Two hours to play through (even first time through, while checking rules to make sure we're doing it right). Pretty fun game. It's got a nice puzzle feel to it. So far my wife and I mostly played it very cooperatively...
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Takes about an hour to learn the rules. Two hours to play through (even first time through, while checking rules to make sure we're doing it right). Pretty fun game. It's got a nice puzzle feel to it. So far my wife and I mostly played it very cooperatively. Being more aggressive will likely make the game take longer. There's an added bonus. If you own the original Gloomhaven, it includes a bonus City Event to add to your game.

Reviewed in Canada on 17 February 2021

More reviews (2)

great game if you like gloom haven

Dustin Moneymaker

my one tip is make sure you buy a orginizer it will save hours of time on setup. i like this game especially becuase it has a solo option to play that is pretty fun.

Reviewed in the United States on 20 November 2020

Me encanto

Shone

Muchos componentes de muy buena calidad, me encantó la temática y el juego en sí, mucha estrategia, sin duda alguna me sorprendió.

Reviewed in Mexico on 27 February 2019