How a Round Works in Gloomhaven (Step-by-Step Guide)

Understanding the structure of a single round in is one of the most valuable skills for new players. This article breaks down the order of play, what decisions you’re making, and how monsters act—so you’re never left wondering “what happens next?”

Everything below is accurate to the official game’s rules as used in community play.

Round Overview: The 7 Phases

Each round follows this structure:

1. Choose Ability Cards
2. Reveal Initiative
3. Determine Initiative Order
4. Player Turns
5. Monster Turns
6. End-of-Round Actions
7. Repeat — until the scenario ends

We’ll unpack each part next.

Choose Ability Cards (Secretly)

At the start of every round:

• Each player selects two ability cards from their hand.
• These cards have:
  • A top action
  • A bottom action
  • An initiative number

You keep your choices secret until everyone is ready to reveal simultaneously.

Important:
You don’t have to decide yet which card’s actions you’ll use — only which two you intend to play.

Reveal Initiative

Once everyone has chosen:

• Each player selects one of their two cards to be their initiative card for this round.
• All players reveal their two cards and their initiative.
• Then, monster ability cards are revealed for each monster type on the board.

This gives you a full initiative lineup that includes players and monsters.

Determine Initiative Order

Now it’s time to sort who acts first.

• You compare initiative values on:
  • Each player’s active card
  • Each revealed monster ability card

The lowest initiative value goes first, then the next lowest, and so on up to the highest.

Ties:
Players act before equally tied monsters.

This determines the full turn sequence for the round.

Player Turns

When it’s your initiative:

1. Choose one card’s top action
2. Choose the other card’s bottom action
3. Perform these actions in any order you like

Key rules:

• You must use one top and one bottom.
• You cannot use both tops or both bottoms.

You may also use default actions:

• Top: Attack 2
• Bottom: Move 2

These replace an action you don’t want to take this round and still count as the proper top/bottom usage.

Monster Turns

On thier initiative monsters take their turns based on the monster ability cards revealed earlier.

Key points about monsters:

• Each type of monster reveals one ability card per round, and all monsters of that type use it.
• Monsters automatically perform the actions shown — if the card has “Move,” they move; if it has “Attack,” they attack; if it has both, they do both.

Monster behavior is deterministic:

• They try to focus on a target based on how close they are. They try to get to the closet hex from which they can attack.
• They move only as much as needed to make their attacks (we cover this in detail in our Monster Focus Guide)

Important: Monsters do not choose actions like players; they follow the rules on their card exactly.

End-of-Round Actions

Once everyone (players and monsters) has taken a turn:

• Players resolve any loot or special effects that trigger at the end of a turn
• Cards used this round go to:
  • Discard pile (if no card effects said to lose it)
  • Lost pile (if effects say lose them)
• Monster ability cards are discarded
• Elemental infusions or other effects may trigger

Then a fresh round begins.

Common Round Rule Clarifications

Do players choose which action to use before or after seeing monster cards?

• You choose your two cards before seeing monster initiative. Then monsters reveal their cards at the same time you reveal yours.

Can you change which actions you perform after revealing?

• Yes. You are only locked into the two cards you chose for the round. You can play the top of either card, and the bottom of the other card. You can not play two tops or two bottoms.

Do monsters get separate initiative cards per individual monster?

• No. Each monster type draws one ability card, and all monsters of that type act on that initiative.

Why This System Works

This round structure creates a balance of planning vs unpredictability:

• You build a rough idea of your turn when choosing cards
• Initiative mix matters — sometimes going fast is better, sometimes slow is the better strategy.
• Monsters act predictably based on their cards, but the mix of monster abilities keeps each round fresh

Understanding this flow is the key to confident play and smart decision-making at the table.