Another review in a row. And this one is also about a board game. As I told, we had a chance to try out several new games during the weekend. However, only these two were worth a mention.
So the second game was Wingspan. An engine building and resource management game where you need to spot birds to grow your menagerie.
The game borrows a lot from Terraforming Mars, but besides the theme, it still has some new tricks to offer. It's quite a simple game but offers surprising depth in different strategies you can explore to try and meet the goals for each round while already planning ahead for the next one.
I also liked how, being a competitive game, there isn't too much negative interaction between players. You just need to outwit your opponents by building the best engine that can produce you enough resources to pull ahead.
Birdwatching might not sound like the most exciting theme for a board game, but it works. And as an added bonus, you can learn some new trivia about the birds as you play.
It's no wonder why this game won the Spiel De Jahres' Gamers award this year. Only minus from me is the fact that it doesn't include arctic loons.