Everdell Emerland: Review
Introduction:
Everdell is a growing franchise that blends engine building and worker placement perfectly. The base game review can be found here. This review is focusing more on the changes the standalone edition Emerland brings. Players are still balancing the act of sending their workers to gain resources and building their tableu. The main change in Emerland comes from the juggle between two worker types, the standard workers and the helpers. As well as an evolution on the cards to feature two sides, giving the players a way to develop their tableu further.
Key Changes between the original Everdell and Emerland:
There are a few quick key changes between the original Everdell and Emerland that were included for easy access in the rulebook that will be mentioned here. To make way for the larger more noticeable changes.
- Hand size is now six cards instead of eight.
- The city limit has now decreased to 12 instead of 15. This city limit can be grown through exploring realms.
- There are no events there are now realms.
- Common and unique subtypes of critters and construction have now been removed. Duplicate cards in a player's city are allowed.
- When duplicate cards are placed into the market place they do not take up another spot they are instead added to the existing card stack of this card. Furthermore the communal card marketplace (plateau) doesn't refill until the end of the active players turn.
- Instead of matching critters to locations. An upgraded construction can now use a harp to add a critter of any colour to the tableu for free on the upgraded side. Each card and each cards location type can only be used once.
- There is a stream of locations that use dice instead of static resources. There are two locations to gain these dice, a helper and standard worker location. The dice will only reset the first time a player shifts into the next season, not during the game.
- Less text focused and more icon focused in card abilities.
Realms replace events but score more closely to the prosperity cards. The events can be gained throughout the game, they will award a certain amount of points for a condition at the end of the game. Such as points for critters, artifacts, harps or upgraded cards. These realms give the players particular strategies they can focus on and optimise for scoring. Each realm will also increase the city limit of that player by 1.
Archeologist:
The players will have a unique worker (shown by the art on the meeple) which is added to an archeologist track. This track will provide a pile of point tokens to the first two players to venture up the track, then finally offering a final resting place with the top scoring locations being offered on a first serve basis. To venture through the track the player will have to spend the cost of resources shown, and can only move up to the current season. The archeologist track can be displayed as a flat board better for visibility, or be brought more to life with a 3D structure.
The other element of this track, which is much more important. Every time the player progresses on the track, they will discard one or more cards.
Then the player draws artifacts equal to the amount discarded and select one artifact to keep. These artifacts can provide pure points, or points and a bonus.
Helpers and Worker Placement:
Helpers are a new worker type and possibly the tiniest worker meeple, fitting that they are insects. Like standard workers more helpers will unlock as seasons change.
These workers are multi use, firstly they are the only workers that can be used in brown locations no matter how many other workers are there. Secondly they can be used with a worker to circumvent the location being blocked by that player's older worker or a worker of another player. Lastly they can be sent with a standard worker to activate the location twice. If two helpers are used they can ignore the other worker in the location and activate the location twice. The helpers open up an abundance of choice when sending workers.
This is best illustrated by a picture in the rulebook below.
There are also fountain worker spots which require a standard worker. These locations can only have one worker of each colour placed. The helper can be used to share a space where another player is, but not to double the result of the location.
At three or four players more fountain locations are added keeping the board close at lower player counts.
Cards:
The mainstay cards that players are familiar with are still in this game:
- The traveller that activates when played.
- The production cards which activate when played and during certain changes of season.
- The prosperity cards which award scoring conditions.
- The governance cards that add a triggered effect that don't play instantly but can trigger multiple times in the game.
- The destination cards which create new worker spots.
Destination Cards:
The destination construction cards now have two worker spots one for the player at the bottom of the card, and a spot at the top of the card there is a space for an opponent. When an opponent lands there the owner of the card will gain points shown near this location. Unlike other worker spots helpers cannot adjust these rules. Critter cards are only for the owner and can have one worker either a helper or standard worker.
Artisan Card:
For the first time in everdell a new card type has been added. The artisan card is an orange card which doesn't automatically resolve its effect. Instead as an action, a card can be discarded underneath to resolve the effect.
This action can be triggered again equal to the card symbol on the card.
Upgrades:
Besides the helpers the biggest draw of this edition is that each card can be upgraded. What this means is through certain locations or card effects a card can be flipped over changing to its imported side. Based on the card colour this (production, destination and traveller) might activate the ability again, in the case of the destination cards if any workers are on the card they will trigger the new effect. For prosperity, governance and artisan cards it will purely improve the effect of the card, and award more points in the case of prosperity.
Final Thoughts:
- New card type and double-sided cards allowing for a great range of tableu building.
- Great art.
- Lots of new options but play time is not increased.
- Realms like prosperity are another way to let players focus their scoring strategy.
- Ease of play is great, the complexity does feel like the original Everdell with a few expansions built in. Which would be good or bad depending on the player.
- Fig for critters feels like a more coveted resource.
Everdell has been a tried and true franchise in my collection for a long time. I will keep Everdell Emerland and award it a Go To Golden seal. It doesn't feel like Everdell but it instead feels like Everdell with a couple for expansions built in. Depending on what you're looking for that difference matters. The advances it adds to the system come in .mainly two for the cards and the helpers. The helpers really expand the decisions space, they are multifaceted they can enhance a location, allow access to already occupied locations or go be used as a worker for their own specific worker spots. The options for how these workers are used really open up decisions for players. They can focus on using them for their locations to create more workers for the player or instead double the benefits of locations to provide faster resources. The other core change is the cards firstly there is a new card type, which essentially lets the player discard cards to activate its effect. This is an interesting new card type as it focuses on when players choose to trigger the effect instead of building the card to work with their engine like governance cards or trying to play the card before the season changes like production cards. The major change in the cards is the upgrade system. Each card is double-sided triggering additional activations or enhanced abilities when the card is flipped over in a player's tableu. If you are a veteran of the Everdell system and enjoy it as much as me I can heavily recommend adding Emerland to your collection.
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