Wingspan - Stonemaier Games
In this game you curate different species of birds into their habitats. As you place birds onto your game board you gain access to their abilities.
It’s essentially an engine building game. From the birds available you need to choose the ones that will work best together to produce the most victory points.
Intuitive and Complex Game play
There is a lot going on, especially once the game processes. Your one action allowed each turn can end up triggering many more actions as you activate all the birds in a region of your board.
While there is a lot to keep track of the actual way that each bird works is rather intuitive. Once you have the overall game mechanics down the birds tend to look after themselves – as long as you don’t forget any of them.
There are 170 unique birds to play with. The combinations available and decision options this allows will give this game heaps of replay value, and lots choice for hardcore gamers.
Quality of What's in the Box
I seem to talk about this a lot. That’s because when you play a game you want to see the love that the designers had for the game coming through to you.
The easiest way for a game designer to do this is to make great game pieces. This game is beautiful. As soon as you crack the box you will be drawn to the colourful eggs. These are some of the most beautiful game pieces I’ve ever come across.
The art in the game is brilliant as well. It fits very nicely with the theme. The bird-box dice roller is a fantastic touch as well.
Concept
This game is a perfect example of a simple idea done well. The bird watcher theme is everywhere – from the design of the cards to the bird box and even the food and nesting mechanics.
Every bird card has a fabulous little fact on it and includes the area the bird is found as well as its wingspan. The birds location and wingspan play an important part in the game as well, so they aren’t just fluff.
The designers have done a great job capturing the way some of these birds work in real life. For example: the eagle ‘hunts’; and the sparrow ‘flitters’ around the board.
Final Thoughts
This game was so much fun to learn and play. You thought you had it all down and then you would notice another way that your birds could interact.
The execution of the game concept is a big draw for me as well as the quality of the pieces.
People who are new to gaming might find it a bit overwhelming. Avid gamers might find the different engine paths a bit repetitive. So I think that overall the complexity is good.
