10 Board Games in 10 Days - Day 10 - Wingpsan

WINGSPAN

Stonemaier Games - 2019

picture from BoardGameGeek.com

For the past few years I’ve been doing a lot of urban wildlife photography. Most my subjects are pigeons, since there are so many in NYC. As I photographed them I began thinking that they’re a pretty underrated bird. Many people call them “rats of the sky” but I think that’s a little unfair. Yes, they poop on stuff, but humans have done much worse in this city than poop on stuff. I’ve also seen with my own eyes humans pooping on stuff in the city too. I gotta say, seeing something that’s been pooped on by a human is much worse than something that’s been pooped on by a pigeon. Other than pooping on stuff, what’s so bad about pigeons? They are actually secret custodians of the city. I read an article a while back that they use cigarette butts to keep parasites out of their nest. With so many people just throwing butts in the street, it’s nice of these birds to clean it up and put them to use. Also, did you know that pigeons are doves? Everyone loves doves, right? So maybe show the pigeon a little respect from now on, OK? Whew, went on a tangent there but I’m done standing up for pigeons for now. I’ve photographed a lot of common birds in the city and I’ve also photographed some hawks as well. But the pigeons started it all and got me thinking more about birds and reading about their behaviors. Then along came Wingspan.

When I learned about Wingspan I hadn’t bought a new board game in a long time. I had pretty much run out of shelf space and I wasn’t playing the games I owned enough to warrant buying something new. There were plenty of games I wanted, to be sure, but I used substantial self restraint to stop myself from buying them. Just looking at the box art from Wingspan was enough to get me interested. It is absolutely gorgeous box art, arguably the best I’ve seen. Then looking at the components for the game, the beauty continues. There are hundreds of bird cards, all with these amazing watercolor images. The player boards are vibrant with pictographic information. There are dozens of pastel colored little eggs and a bird house dice tower. It was clear they spared no expense on the components. Without knowing anything more about the game I went to buy it. Lo and behold, it wasn’t even out yet. This is the first time I’ve caught a game I was hyped about before it was even released. A few days later, they opened up limited pre-orders and I ordered my copy. Now, I just had to wait.

The day it showed up it was like Christmas. I busted open the box and marveled at the box art even more gorgeous in person. Cracking it open, I was met with the beautiful components. The player boards, when folded, resemble a bird watcher’s field journal. Totally unnecessary detail, it could have just been cardboard and it would have been fine, but that’s what’s great about this game. There is detail all over the place, detail you wouldn’t have expected but they still included. Somehow, this game isn’t $90, I don’t know how they are making money on it. The rule book is a sort of textured almost fabric-like paper. For once I was actually happy to hold a rule book in my hand and read through the whole thing. The rules can be a little confusing for new players, but the rule book is so clean and accurate that it will take only a round or two of playing for it all to click.

The game is all about creating a diverse and thriving bird conservation area. There are 3 habitats for your birds to live in - the forest, the plains, and the water. Each bird card has their preferred habitat listed in the corner along with their preferred food source. Also listed is a nest type, number of eggs their nest can hold, an ability they possess, and an endgame point value. On your turn, you spend an action cube. There are 4 zones on your player board in which you can play your action cube. Along the top, you can place action cube on a space to add a bird to your refuge. This bird must come from your hand of cards and you must spend the required eggs and food to add that bird to the habitat. If you place your action cube in the forest habitat you can select food from the bird feeder to add to your resources. If you place your action cube in the plains habitat you collect some eggs to place in any of your bird’s nests if space is available. Finally, if you place your action cube in the water habitat you can draw new bird cards to your hand. Once you perform the action on which your cube is placed, your cube moves one space to the left in that habitat. If your cube lands on a bird, and that bird has a power with a brown background, you can activate that bird’s power. Some powers allow you to get more food, get more eggs, get more bird cards, or perform predatory actions like hunting for other birds or food. Once that bird performs its action, your cube moves to the left again, activating more birds as it goes until it reaches the end of your board. Then your turn is over and the next player takes their turn placing an action cube and activating powers as it moves to the edge of their board.

This sort of game is often referred to as an “engine building game.” The idea is that your birds can form a sort of synergy between them so when they are activated in succession they empower each other. One bird power might be to lay eggs in another bird’s nest. The next bird in your turn could have the power where if an egg was placed in its nest that turn then maybe you draw another bird card. Some birds have abilities that activate on other people’s turns. I’ve spoken a lot about keeping players focused on the game and paying attention to other people’s turns and these abilities are absolutely crucial to the game. Without them, the game is basically solitaire with friends. There are no actions in the base game which will have direct effect on other player’s boards. You can’t send your birds to attack, you can’t steal eggs, you can’t do much to interact with other players. And yet, this is one game I’ve never really had an issue with people losing focus. Part of it is because the art is just so beautiful people can’t look away. When adding a new bird to a habitat, we also like to read aloud the factoid about the bird on the bottom of each card, which is always an attention grabbing moment.

The European Birds expansion actually addresses a bit of the issues I had with the base game. They added a new abilities which activates at the end of a round if certain criteria are met. There are only 4 rounds in a game, so these abilities are often extremely powerful. They also added some predatory action that can effect other people’s boards. When we first played with these cards some people were upset by the predatory action while others thought it was a great addition. There aren’t many cards that have direct effect on other player’s boards so they’re easy to omit from your own game. I’m on the fence about those cards because while I think it makes for an interesting game it may also take away from the joyfulness of the game. There’s no conflict in the game otherwise. The fact that we’re engaging in wildlife conservation is a joyful experience, sometimes the predatory action can have devastating effects on that joy.

Wingspan is a game that will almost always get played if I bring it to a game night with people who haven’t seen it, and it’s even more likely to be played with those who have already experienced it. Nobody can deny the fascination brought on by the box art. Once I tell them it’s a game about creating a bird refuge, they’re immediately curious enough to play. When I show them the bird house dice tower then it launches in to the must play category. Stonemaier Games absolutely smashed it when it came to designing the look of the game. I can’t think of many other games that generate that kind of appetite to play on look alone. Even people who don’t necessarily like board games want to play this game. My friend Christian doesn’t care at all for board games but she joined us for a round of Wingspan and not only loved it but also won her first game.

For me, playing this game isn’t about employing the best strategy and creating the tightest engine. I just want birds. I select the birds I like most and I try to get them in my refuge. That means getting the pigeon, or rock dove if you want to give them the respect they deserve. The ring billed gull, or seagull as it’s more commonly known. The house sparrow. The Canada goose. All the birds I’ve photographed here in NYC that get no respect from your average passer-by. The rats of the sky. The trash birds. The pests. The birds that will fight you. Those are my birds and they’re always welcome in my refuge.

10 Board Games in 10 Days - Day 5 - Village

VILLAGE

Stronghold Games - 2011

picture from BoardGameGeek.com

My friends Joe, Bryan, and John were my go-to crew for playing board games. It never took much convincing to get them to come over to try any new board game. Everything was great until both bars where Joe worked were shut down. With no job and no prospects for more work, Joe sought greener pastures out west in Los Angeles working for his friend’s entertainment company. Bryan also felt the call of the Golden State and left to join our friends in the world of film and television. John, also in work limbo, was often heading back to Massachusetts to pick up short term work from people he knew there when he could. Just like that, my board game group exploded. I love board games but, unlike video games, you need people physically around in order to enjoy them. Luckily for me, I happened to know some people who knew some people who were also in to board games. I was surprised to find we had many of the same tastes. I think on our first encounter we play Betrayal at House on the Hill, by this point it had become a classic in my mind. We also played Battlestar Galactica which is a great take on the secret identity social deduction types of games, which I normally dislike. They also introduced me to Village.

Village is a game that I absolutely love but have played only a few times and have never owned myself. It’s one of those games where when we do have a game night it’s always at the top of my list. Unfortunately, the folks who owned it moved thousands of miles away, so I haven’t played it in years, but it’s still one I think about frequently. Much like Agricola, it is a worker placement game, in a way. You have workers you place, yes, but most of the actions are acquired by taking cubes from the board. You then can spend cubes later to trade in for resources. The most interesting option is placing one of your family members on one of the actions and spending time, instead of resources, to obtain goods. Village is all about time and family generations and how they’re remembered.

I called Village a worker placement game, and it is, but only partly. Taking an action doesn’t require you to place a worker there, the action is drafted. How you pay for that action is where your workers come in to play. The central board is the village in which the player’s families ply their trade and sell their goods. On the central board, all of the actions are split up in to zones. There’s the craft zone, the trade zone, the town council, and a small map of neighboring towns. If you want to take one of the available actions you must take a cube from that zone. Want to get some grain? Take a cube from the silo. Want to build a wagon? Take a cube from the wainwright. There are also resources you must pay to gain these things but all actions are first initiated by taking a cube, if available. If no cube is available you cannot take the action. You can also place a family member in one of these zones to gain knowledge in that skill. So when you take a cube from the wainwright, you can place a family member there to train them. This way, when you take a cube from the wainwright in subsequent turns, instead of spending resources to gain a cart you can instead pay time.

Each player has a small board in front of them where they have their family members, resources, and influence cubes. Most importantly, there is a series of hour glasses around the edge of the board. Starting at the 12:00 position the hour glass is full. Continue clockwise and you will see your hour glass drains until it is depleted and resets back to full. When you reset your hour glass= enough time has passed for one of your family members to kick the bucket. You choose any of your family members, whether they be in a location on the central board or back at home, and they are removed from the game permanently. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing! If you decide your family member who has been training to be a wainwright should die then they are placed in the town chronicle. This is a great way to score points for the end of the game. There are limited spots in the chronicle so filling it up with your family may be your ultimate goal. Working your family to the bone quickly and filling up those pages isn’t a terrible strategy. If the chronicle is out of pages for tradespeople, for instance, your family member is instead interred in the church graveyard which, unfortunately, is unremarkable and not worth many, if any, points.

The death mechanic one of the most fascinating aspects of any game I’ve come across. I’m sure there are games with a similar mechanic, but the story within Village is what makes it special. When we played, we’d often come up with names and histories for our little meeples. When mass was called, we’d break out in to monk-like chanting. The town council was always filled with nasty politicians greedy for power. Running in to a rival family member on the roads outside of town was met with vitriol and expletives. So when one of those meeples died, so did the character. If that character didn’t make it in to the chronicle, you felt bad you couldn’t end their life sooner. It’s an odd sensation.

I think I may have played Village only 5 or 6 times but it left a lasting impression on me. Even now I was just looking to see how much it is online and wondered if I should make space for it on my shelf. Honestly; I should make space for it. Once this pandemic is under control maybe I’ll finally add it to my collection. It would be a shame if it never made it in to my own personal chronicle.

10 Board Games in 10 Days - Day 3 - Agricola

AGRICOLA

Z-Man Games - 2007

picture from BoardGameGeek.com

I have a confession to make. I purchased Agricola because I wanted to look cool. That’s right, I bought a game about farming to look cool. Just look at that box art, what’s cooler than that? Agricola is one of those games that the board gamer’s board gamer talks about being the best in the industry. Words like “Ameritrash” are used to describe the two previous games I wrote about. Games that are all flash and no substance. Betrayal at House on the HIll is too random. Flash Point: Fire Rescue has all these cute images and figurines to play with and is almost as random as Betrayal! Euro games are where strategy is king. It’s difficult to be “good at” playing Betrayal and Flash Point because of the random factors, but with Agricola, the random elements can be mitigated with excellent strategy and forethought.

Agricola was designed by Uwe Rosenberg. He is the first designer I learned the name of and is one of the most well known and respected designers in the board game scene. There are actually quite a few designers in the board game world that many are fond of. Reiner Knizia, Vladmir Chvatil, Stefan Feld, Steve Jackson, just to name a few. There’s also Corey Konieczka, who I happened to go to high school with. Uwe Rosenberg is a name you’ll see associated with consistently high quality games. When I went to the store to buy Agricola I walked up to the counter like, “that’s right, I’m a legit board gamer now.”

When I got home I called up my buddy Joe Donnelly, as usual, to come over and give this thing a whirl. With previous games we were able to set up and play without much issue. We had someone teach us Betrayal at House on the Hill and Flash Point: Fire Rescue isn’t exactly a mind bender. A little bit of hubris lead us to having a completely horrible experience with our first game of Agricola.

The game is all about creating a sustainable farm, growing crops and tending to livestock to ensure the survival of your family for the coming seasons. You accomplish this by assigning your family members to various tasks. Each player has their own personal board where they manage their farmstead, you will never interact with another player’s farm. Instead, fights happen on the central board where all the available actions are located. This is what’s known as a “worker placement” game. For example - say it’s my turn and I want to go to the forest to chop some wood. I grab one of my workers from my home and place them on the “collect wood” action on the central board. Any wood pieces on that action now belong to me and are moved to my resource pool. Next, it is Joe’s turn. He also wants wood but he is unable to take the “collect wood” action because I already have a worker there. Instead, he takes his next best option and goes to collect some food from the pond. As time goes on, more actions become available like increasing the number of family members you have or collecting ore. There is also the harvest phase which requires you to not only reap your crops but to also feed your family. If you are unable to feed your family at the end of a season then you must suffer the consequences.

Joe and I suffered those consequences many times in our first game. Agricola is shockingly brutal. Despite its cute box art and lovely components it will slam your face in manure and hold it there if you aren’t careful. Planning many turns ahead is paramount. Having alternative plans is necessary. One misplaced worker could mean the difference between feast or famine. We also realized we got most of the rules wrong. The game introduced mechanics completely foreign to us. There are no dice like the previous two games I wrote about and most things are an abstract representation rather than a modeled token. While the cubes and cylinders didn’t add to the complexity of the game it was a visually different experience.

Our second game was entirely different from our first. Our final scores were markedly higher and we managed to get most of the rules right. We knew we could still do better so we reset and played again. And again. And again. Each game ends right when you feel like you’re about to break through and have an amazing harvest in the next season. This is clearly by design. It leaves you wanting to go right back in to it because you know what you did wrong and you’re positive you can get to that perfect harvest one season earlier. Of course, putting that perfect strategy to action is easier said than done because surely someone is going to swoop in and take that wood right out from under your nose when you needed it most.

Uwe Rosenberg designed a spiritual successor to Agricola called Caverna. It plays nearly identically to Agricola, there’s just more. You start with a humble farmstead and you work to grow it and your family by choosing actions from a shared board. There are plenty of actions to choose from and so many ways to score points that it’s pretty easy to pivot and change course. It is far less brutal than Agricola, even new players don’t seem to have much difficulty feeding their families in their first game. In that way I almost prefer Caverna to Agricola, it is less demoralizing for new players on their first game. The amount of options is also where Caverna fails and Agricola succeeds. A new player looking at a fully set up Caverna is easily overwhelmed, whereas a fully set up Agricola isn’t nearly as huge and intimidating. With so many options there is almost no conflict for resources in Caverna. You don’t have to pay as much attention to other player’s turns because even if someone takes the wood you wanted there are two or three other ways to collect the same resource. For this reason, Caverna can sometimes feel like a group of people playing their own games alone rather than a shared game together.

Agricola isn’t a game that hits the table very often. I’ll bring it around to a board game night but the set up and clean up time is often just too much trouble to bother with. Yet, I still love it and when people ask me what my favorite games are I’ll often add Agricola to the list. While games like Betrayal at House on the Hill and Flash Point: Fire Rescue got me in to board games because of their accessibility, Agricola pulled me in deeper with its rewarding experience. Agricola certainly wouldn’t be considered a gateway game, it lets other games do that. Instead, once you’re through the gate, it will shut it and lock it behind you.