Some time ago I had my round anniversary and as one of the gifts I received coupons for largest boardgames shop here in Poland (rebel.pl). I was pondering for some time what to get, and as I have pretty many wargames already, the decision was to get and Euro position I can play with family. The choices in the end was Wingspan – a decision I will for sure not regret!

The Game

Elizabeth Hargrave created a real masterpiece and Stonemaier Games stood up to its reputation as publisher. What we get is very elegant, repayable and interesting game. A game which received many awards & honors, Spiel des Jahres and BGG Golden Geek Award including. In my opinion, the title fully deserved it.

01
Polish edition box contents

Following publisher description, Wingspan is a competitive, medium-weight, card-driven, engine-building board game. So who you are? A bird enthusiasts —researchers, bird watchers, ornithologists, and collectors—seeking to discover and attract the best birds to your network of wildlife preserves. Each bird extends a chain of powerful combinations in one of your habitats (actions). These habitats focus on several key aspects of growth:

  • Gain food tokens via custom dice in a birdfeeder dice tower
  • Lay eggs using egg miniatures in a variety of colors
  • Draw from hundreds of unique bird cards and play them

The winner is the player with the most points after 4 rounds.

Sounds simple? Oh, believe me, it is not. The game is deep, interesting and thrilling.

Components

02
Player mat with game components – birds, eggs, action cubes

Stonemaier Games is famous for its games as far as visual aspect is concerned. Take for example Viticulture or Scythe – not only great games but a feast for the eyes. Wingspan is not different – each element is meticulously designed and produced.

03
Round goals – can be played in competitive (green) and non-competitive (blue, above) version

And the birds-feeder is a real masterpiece – children love it and you do not need any dice rolling mat. Another element worth mentioning are the eggs – colorful, beautiful and very nice to grab. It is great pleasure to play such a game.

03a
All main Wingspan components

Sessions

So far I had chance to play around 10 games of Wingspan, half of which was with Automa (more on that aspect of game in separate article).

04
Our four-players game

In our four players game we have seen a lot of interaction between players – which also speed up our production capabilities. And so the results were also quite high – Kuba 98, Agnieszka 83, Michal 79, Magda 78. Quite opposite with two players game, where you see much less possibility to benefit from or by opponents actions – I won 73-72 and 61-60 with my wife, Magda. On a side note, there games in a row with 1 point advantage over “your better half” can results in some serious family disputes 🙂 (joking :))

First impressions

Enough about the game and gameplays. Now I would like to share some of my impressions regarding this title. There are some clear aspects which I like and would like to underline:

  • components quality – I would like to again stress that both original edition (English) as well as Polish reprint are of highest sort – play mats, eggs, cards and the feeder – that all makes the game very, very nice to play with.
  • educational aspect – my children – 5 and 7 years old – love the game and learning all those special information about birds – what they do, how do they feed, where do they migrate, etc. Really, great source of knowledge for everybody.
  • can play with children – very important for me, as we usually try to play Euro games with family members; children are attracted by the components as well as curiosities about birds.
  • replayability – the best games can be played over and over again; Wingspan has a great value in that area – what is more, you can very quickly develop syndrome of “one more game” to beat / increase your previous score. I definitely got into this mood when playing against Automa!
  • multiple strategies to victory – good game does not have a one, set path to victory. And so it is with Wingspan – much depends on cards you draw but also on strategies you incorporate. I am never tired of playing that game and can easily play couple of them in sequence.

Still, I did not played enough to write a full review. And I have also the first expansion to unpack and test it. So much fun with Wingspan still in front of me!