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Everdell Spirecrest: Review

 Everdell Spirecrest: Review

Information:

Mechanics: Worker Placement, Engine Building, Tableu Builder
Player Age: 14+ 
Player Count: 1 - 4 Players
Time to Play: 40 - 100  Minutes 
Game Designer: James A. Wilson
Game Artist: Andrew Bosley, Dann May
Publisher: Starling Games
Year Published: 2020
BGG Weight: 3.05
Disclaimer: A review copy for the game was provided by the publisher.

In this expansion to the critically acclaimed Everdell, players will have a traveller that will build a trail, recruit big critters and survive extreme weather conditions.  This is all done to improve your outcome every turn as well as gaining many more opportunities to score at the end of the game.

Objective:

Spirecrest adds additional steps that occur when players change between seasons. These steps create new advantages for end game scoring and special workers that replace your normal workers. The other factor of this expansion includes conditions that players have to meet when they are in certain seasons. 

Mountain Board and Traveller:

Each player will gain a rabbit traveller that will be used every time that player changes seasons and they will traverse the harsh landscape. The extension board will be the centre point of this expansion and it is added to the bottom of the base board. Everything new except for the new critters will come from this board.

Weather:

While your rabbit is in each season there will be a weather card on the mountain board that will limit the players in that season in some way. This may be from gaining less resources, to not being able to go the forest worker spots or using the meadow cards. 

Charts:

Whenever a player transitions between seasons they will chose one of the charts that are placed between the two seasons and place it next to their expedition tile. At the end of the game the rabbit traveller will be moved to that players expedition tile and if the player can meet each chart in order, they will gain the listed points on each completed chart. This could be paid in any combination of cards, coins or resources. A lot of points can be scored by successfully going through your expedition but it can require a lot of planning to pull off successfully.

Discovery Cards:

There are three different discovery decks; one for each change of season. When a player changes seasons they draw and reveal three of these cards from the respective deck. All of these cards are amazing and you will only be able to keep one, to help with that decision the first  card is free while the second card costs one resource/card to keep and the third card would cost any combination of two cards/resources. These discovery cards can vary from ongoing abilities, end game scoring, one-off effects, a new worker spot or a big critter.

Big Critters:

The other discovery cards are easy to understand but you may be questioning what a big critter is. One of your critters will now gain a saddle and be placed on top of the big critter. This critter now has a unique ability whenever they are used. This is an amazing addition that creates unique possibilities for the player.

New Critter:

The crafty foxes have been added to the game to give players another choice.

Final Thoughts:

Pros:

- The big critters and discovery cards in general are an amazing and awesome addition.

- The Expedition and charts give players a direction to build towards for end game scoring and a challenge for players to try to achieve.

Cons:

- Not enough variability in the weather conditions and discovery cards.

- Slows the game a little bit due to players being limited by weather and the change of seasons taking longer.

Spirecrest like all Everdell expansions is another must-add to the collection. I wouldn't recommend mixing too many of the expansions together as it makes the game a bit too complex and long, however, this expansion can easily be added to any game with some modules from the Bellfaire expansion. I enjoy this expansion the most simply because of the discovery cards; more specifically the big critters. I heavily recommend this expansion since your workers can now get variable powers that give the players plenty more choice on their turn. For this reasons it is getting a 'Go To Golden Game Seal'. 

Click...feed the addiction: 



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