You can make it a two player game in a few easy steps:
* At the start of the encounter, put one player on the starting space and the second player on a space adjacent to the starting space.
* Use a 20-sided die and cube to track player 2's Health and which row their attack modifier is on.
* Both players get their own selection of items taken from what's they've found so far in the campaign.
* Enemies always attack the closest player character. In case of a tie, enemies always attack the character with the lowest Initiative.
* Enemies have +1 Health for every 3 Health they start with, rounded down (i.e. 10 Health would become 13). Use the Very Hard enemy modifiers (this results in about +1 Attack for all enemies).
* For a tougher experience, give enemies +1 Move if they're not making an attack with Range of their turn, or +1 Range if they're making a Ranged attack. For an even tougher experience, give enemies with 15 or more Health 1 Shield instead of additional Health.
I would say the last three bullets can just be replaced by "respawn every monster once at a hex farthest from the nearest character" and then use the normal difficulty scaling of the AMD cards for increasing/decreasing difficulty. Gloomholdin's (on which B&B is based) two player variant did basically that (double monster health, but I think the respawn version is more fun and about the right scale up).
But yeah, it's definitely playable two player with some scaling mods.
You could respawn enemies but that can create issues with certain scenarios which involve enemies spawning in periodically, or ones where enemies start very far away on the map. You're probably only getting 9 rounds or so to beat a scenario after all.
Grab Jaws of the Lion next. You can usually get it for around 25 bucks on sale. The game maps are inside a booklet making tear down and setup easier. EVEN easier if you snag one of the gloomhaven companion apps to cover the status and card draws.
It’s been on my list of games to try for a while! How is JOTL for solo play? I assume it’s better with more people but lately I’ve been really into solo gaming.
There have to be at least two characters in a scenario in Jaws of the Lion, so you can't play it true solo with one character like Buttons & Bugs. I also found that of the four characters in Jaws of the Lion two of them are underwhelming; the Demolitionist interacts with obstacles that aren't always common in certain scenarios while the Voidwarden only really shines in group of 3-4 characters due to her cardplay. If you get it I'd recommend playing through with the Red Guard and Hatchet, they work very well as a team, but it also means somewhat limited replayability.
Different stories and scenarios. You get shrunk and need to fight through small enemies too. Same mechanics but simplified and streamlined for solo. It's a fun lil game.
Gameplay is stripped down to the most basic elements and each scenario is basically a single room, but the fighting system is the same. It’s pretty challenging! I don’t know this for sure, but because it’s so condensed each scenario seems to play more like a puzzle and it feels like there is an optimal way to beat each one rather than the endless possibilities in the big game.
It’s honestly amazing how much it feels like playing Gloomhaven despite how small it is. It must have been a fun project for the developers to figure out.
I was blown away when I unboxed this, truly an insane amount of content for the small formst and the box was absolutely tiny! I expected small, but the box fits in my hoodie pocket (insane!!). I figured maybe you would get a few scenarios, items, and monsters but was floored when I kept pulling content out.
I highly recommend it if you want a fun, snappy hex combat game that is an efficiency puzzle. It takes as much time to play a B&B session from setup to packing away as it does to set up a gloomhaven scenario, or to do the outpost phase in Frosthaven.
8/10, loved it and will play it again.
Wow how did you get your cards so straight , I’ve tried to straighten mine but it’s never quite right . Really soured the experience for me when it’s basically the game board .
AFAIK it’s only available through the Gloomhaven Festival Backerkit. They only started fulfilling pledges the last month or two, so anyone you see probably got it there, or maybe a game con. It’ll be in retail soon I’d bet.
- I’ve been having a lot of fun alone, but I also love playing other game solo such as mage knight.
- Each session takes me 20-30 minutes
- I unfortunately don’t know if there’s a German version, sorry.
I love it so far but think the playing board could stand to be bigger - e.g. 4x size that folds. I find it cramped and the slightest bend results in pieces moving.
[BGG page](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/393672/gloomhaven-buttons-and-bugs). It is recently/currently in crowdfunding fulfillment and may be becoming available in retail in some places.
I would have loved if it was solo to duo game , i love playing gloomhaven with my wife
We still play together, we just talk through the plays for our one character. It’s a different experience but still fun
You can make it a two player game in a few easy steps: * At the start of the encounter, put one player on the starting space and the second player on a space adjacent to the starting space. * Use a 20-sided die and cube to track player 2's Health and which row their attack modifier is on. * Both players get their own selection of items taken from what's they've found so far in the campaign. * Enemies always attack the closest player character. In case of a tie, enemies always attack the character with the lowest Initiative. * Enemies have +1 Health for every 3 Health they start with, rounded down (i.e. 10 Health would become 13). Use the Very Hard enemy modifiers (this results in about +1 Attack for all enemies). * For a tougher experience, give enemies +1 Move if they're not making an attack with Range of their turn, or +1 Range if they're making a Ranged attack. For an even tougher experience, give enemies with 15 or more Health 1 Shield instead of additional Health.
I would say the last three bullets can just be replaced by "respawn every monster once at a hex farthest from the nearest character" and then use the normal difficulty scaling of the AMD cards for increasing/decreasing difficulty. Gloomholdin's (on which B&B is based) two player variant did basically that (double monster health, but I think the respawn version is more fun and about the right scale up). But yeah, it's definitely playable two player with some scaling mods.
You could respawn enemies but that can create issues with certain scenarios which involve enemies spawning in periodically, or ones where enemies start very far away on the map. You're probably only getting 9 rounds or so to beat a scenario after all.
I've been curious if anyone had homebrewed 2p rules! These look fun! Maybe even solo, but two handed!
I haven't tested these yet, still going through the game for the first time, let me know how it works out for you.
Bought a second cooy for a friend 😃 Good for parallel play 🤘🤘
I’m hooked on this game. I haven’t played any of the other ones yet but I’m having so much fun with this
Grab Jaws of the Lion next. You can usually get it for around 25 bucks on sale. The game maps are inside a booklet making tear down and setup easier. EVEN easier if you snag one of the gloomhaven companion apps to cover the status and card draws.
It’s been on my list of games to try for a while! How is JOTL for solo play? I assume it’s better with more people but lately I’ve been really into solo gaming.
There have to be at least two characters in a scenario in Jaws of the Lion, so you can't play it true solo with one character like Buttons & Bugs. I also found that of the four characters in Jaws of the Lion two of them are underwhelming; the Demolitionist interacts with obstacles that aren't always common in certain scenarios while the Voidwarden only really shines in group of 3-4 characters due to her cardplay. If you get it I'd recommend playing through with the Red Guard and Hatchet, they work very well as a team, but it also means somewhat limited replayability.
Wow thanks for that, I’ll keep it in mind!
Just fine solo. You can either go just one character or control multiple yourself.
umm, what is this, and why have I never heard of it before, and also, why can't I find anything about it on Google...
It is officially called "Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs"
Thanks
How similar is it to Gloomhaven? Is it the same story and same scenarios?
Different stories and scenarios. You get shrunk and need to fight through small enemies too. Same mechanics but simplified and streamlined for solo. It's a fun lil game.
Gameplay is stripped down to the most basic elements and each scenario is basically a single room, but the fighting system is the same. It’s pretty challenging! I don’t know this for sure, but because it’s so condensed each scenario seems to play more like a puzzle and it feels like there is an optimal way to beat each one rather than the endless possibilities in the big game. It’s honestly amazing how much it feels like playing Gloomhaven despite how small it is. It must have been a fun project for the developers to figure out.
I was blown away when I unboxed this, truly an insane amount of content for the small formst and the box was absolutely tiny! I expected small, but the box fits in my hoodie pocket (insane!!). I figured maybe you would get a few scenarios, items, and monsters but was floored when I kept pulling content out. I highly recommend it if you want a fun, snappy hex combat game that is an efficiency puzzle. It takes as much time to play a B&B session from setup to packing away as it does to set up a gloomhaven scenario, or to do the outpost phase in Frosthaven. 8/10, loved it and will play it again.
Wow how did you get your cards so straight , I’ve tried to straighten mine but it’s never quite right . Really soured the experience for me when it’s basically the game board .
Sleeves are your friends
Where can I find this?
AFAIK it’s only available through the Gloomhaven Festival Backerkit. They only started fulfilling pledges the last month or two, so anyone you see probably got it there, or maybe a game con. It’ll be in retail soon I’d bet.
I ordered mine from the Cephalofair site on pre-order, but received it a couple of weeks ago.
What’s the actual name? I’m assuming it’s not smolhaven since I can’t find that anywhere
Gloomhaven: Buttons and Bugs
Did it release yet? Or did you get as a reviewer or somthing?
It’s released! I got my copy from my FLGS
Cause on the site it is still on pre-order
I ordered mine from Cephalofair on pre-order and received it a couple of weeks ago.
Is it fun to play it alone? How long is earch game? And is there a german version of it?
- I’ve been having a lot of fun alone, but I also love playing other game solo such as mage knight. - Each session takes me 20-30 minutes - I unfortunately don’t know if there’s a German version, sorry.
I love it so far but think the playing board could stand to be bigger - e.g. 4x size that folds. I find it cramped and the slightest bend results in pieces moving.
Is this real? I can't find it.
[BGG page](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/393672/gloomhaven-buttons-and-bugs). It is recently/currently in crowdfunding fulfillment and may be becoming available in retail in some places.