Wingspan Asia: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Engine Builder, Hand Management, Drafting, Dice Rolling Set Collection,
Player Age: 10+ Player Count: 1 - 2 Players 1 - 7 (with base game)Time to Play: 40 - 70 Minutes
Game Designer: Elizabeth Hargrave
Player Age: 10+
Game Designer: Elizabeth Hargrave
Introduction:
The group of expanding avians has reached its way to Asia’s habitat and engulfed new birds and new goals.
More importantly than this, the expansion changes the player count to seven with Flock mode, and reformulates the way a two player game plays. This allows the Asia expansion to actually be used as a standalone jumping on point for individual play with two players.
Flock Mode:
Flock mode uses the components a player has from the Asia expansion, along with the original base game. In this mode there are kind of two simultaneous games, as the game will be split into two groups with seperate dice and a card row per group. However, the goals are communal to all and will be shared between all players. Two players will be active each turn and there will be a turn order dial determining which two players activate on a given turn.
Duet Mode:
Duet mode adds a new objective board and duet tokens. These tokens will be placed during setup on each empty bird spot on each player’s board. Whenever the player adds a bird to their board, the duet token will be placed on the duet board. The habitat on the duet board must be matching the habitat of where your new bird is placed. The duet token also must share a characteristic with the placed bird, i.e. the type of food that the bird eats, the nest type, or even the direction of the beak. Some of these locations can award a bonus egg, card or resource based on the habitat it is in. This is shown by the icon next to the location. If you fail to meet the conditions on the duet board and cannot place a token or do not wish to, your token will instead be moved the the reset space. This can be spent in the game to reset the birdfeeder or card row.
The goals for the game will now be dependent on the location of the duet tokens. Which nest type they are on, how many are in a certain habitat, or maybe the longest horizontal row. At the end of the game, on top of each goal scoring, players will also score one point for each token in the longest connected chain of duet tokens.
Final Thoughts:
- More birds.
- The goals in duet Mode are focused on how you play your duet tokens.
- Unique way to play at higher player counts.
Wingspan Asia is a great jumping on point for new players as it gives the opportunity to play in groups (when combined with the base game), or focuses on two players. My core focus and enjoyment gained from this expansion, however, comes from the new duet mode. This mode is a pleasant change to how players have to prioritise their birds. Instead of purely focusing on your engine, players now have to consider birds of certain properties to help them towards goals. I am a big fan of this change although this new focus can seem negative to players where the essence of Wingspan is trying to build the best engine within your habitats. If your new to Wingspan this is by far the easiest jumping on point, if your a veteran like me though and play a lot of Wingspan at 2 players. Then this is possibly the most important expansion for you.
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Wingspan on BGG
Wingspan Asia on BGG
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