Starling Games | Everdell: Spirecrest 2nd Edition Expansion | Board Game | Ages 10+ | 1-4 Players | 40-100 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

The last thing you do when changing seasons is “travel,” meaning you move along the mountain board. As you do this, if the next weather card is not revealed, you do it now. Weather affects general rules of the game — for example, a blizzard means you take a resource fewer at forest spaces, or a drought means production cards do not activate when played — so this can alter the strategy. This is probably my favorite of the new mechanics, since it works thematically and, with 12 different weather cards, adds variation to the game.

The expedition map is worth a decent percentage of total score if you can pull off the whole thing. It’s nice having the choice of tiles to take so you can plan ahead a little. It’s not too tough to complete the expedition usually but it is something else to think about when planning your grand strategy. You might even consider Preparing for Season early to nab the map tile you want. Over four seasons, players place their forest animal meeples to get resources to buy cards into a personal tableau, which give points towards winning the game or special abilities to help them build further. [2] The game starts simply, with the complexity increasing as a player's cards gain synergies from newly acquired cards. [3] In addition to the points they get from acquiring cards, players score by triggering events, from special events, from collecting certain combinations of card types, and from end game bonuses given by cards for acquiring certain other cards in their city. [4] [5] Reception [ edit ] Components of the game I love when a board game or expansion manages to exceed one’s expectations and Spirecrest does this in spades. A contributing factor to my positive feelings towards this most recent expansion to Everdell lies in the fact that James A. Wilson has designed the solo mode to provide the player with tangible options to manage Rugwort, as opposed to Pearlbrook where I always felt handcuffed and limited when trying to carve out a strategy for myself. The way this is achieved in Spirecrest is as simple as it is clever. Having the player choose which map tile to keep versus leave behind for Rugwort’s shady critter provides a much needed sense of control and tactical consideration, as you ponder over what will benefit you versus providing the scruffy rat with precious end-of-game victory points. This rather agonizing decision also extends to the acquisition of Discovery cards. Sure, the leftmost card on the market row is looking rather tempting, but do you really want to hand over three point tokens to Rugwort? It may sound somewhat simplistic but believe me when I say that these tweaks to the solo formula provides such a more enjoyable and interesting experience compared to the solitaire aspect of Pearlbrook.Players can get pearls for being the first to visit the underwater locations/citizens and flipping those cards over (which then become additional expansion spaces.) Sometimes these spaces allow pearls to be spend, as do some of the seasonal event cards that Pearlbrook introduces, but the main way in which you’ll spend pearls is by investing in the monuments, which are worth increasingly more points (right up to 25) should you be able to afford them. And there you have it, I’ve reached my conclusion earlier than I should have, but I truly hold very few reservations about Everdell . I love the look of it, from the squishy berries to the gorgeous card art. Even the slightly over the top Evertree looks fantastic. Given that the creatures here are simply adorable, you might think that Everdell could be a bit saccharine for adult players, but it’s not — it’s an attractive, detailed theme that reminds me of warmth and love and childhood, but it never made me feel condescended to. As such, I can look at Everdell all day and I can’t wait to show my own children when they are older. My point is that this particular collector´s edition adds a cherry on top, as opposed to Pearlbrook which robbed you blind of the entire dessert if you acquired the retail equivalent. As for the actual components, they are of outstanding quality throughout. I never cease to be amazed at the wonderful artwork courtesy of Andrew Bosley, his vivid illustrations of anthropomorphic woodland critters and the locales they inhabit are one of the main reasons I keep returning to this magical realm known as Everdell. OVERVIEW When it was announced that publisher Starling Games had launched its latest crowdfunding campaign with the aim of bringing not one but two new Everdell expansions from designer James A. Wilson to the market my initial reaction can best be described as cautiously optimistic. On paper though, when compared to its forbearer it seemed that Spirecrest was indeed a much more evolved addition to the core game experience. And let us be honest: cute woodland critters hitching a ride on a regal white wolf who has wandered from the frozen tundra is a pretty enticing proposition, at least in my book. COMPONENTS

Law, Keith (August 13, 2018). "The Best Games at Gen Con 2018". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019 . Retrieved January 18, 2019. Among the additional modules is one of my favourites – that of specific player powers. Each of the different animal species now benefits from a specific power or ability, and it’s nice to see that Bellfaire includes cards for all (as far as I know) of the animals that feature in the base game and all of the expansions featured in this review and released at the time of writing. Also included in Bellfaire is my least favourite expansion – the player boards. These simply allow players to store resources and workers whilst giving them a “start” to place their tableau into – sadly, these stay in the box for me. A shedload of realistic looking and nicely crafted resources (rolly wooden logs, hard, shiny stones, translucent, golden amber and squishy pink berries) are also placed along the river at their gathering locations, with the effect of both the tactile resources and the huge Evertree put together resulting in a nice sense of height, albeit one that is, unfortunately, purely cosmetic. There are, of course, the animeeples, money tokens and a few other components, but the final major piece of the puzzle (and the one that you’ll spend the most time staring at) is probably Everdell ’s single, huge pile of cards. Similar to its predecessor, the Spirecrest expansion adds a whole new game board which expands the scope of Everdell both in a literal and figurative sense. Each player’s journey through the mountainous regions of Spirecrest is symbolised by the Traveller i.e. the rabbit who will bravely hike across the trail, unearthing new and mysterious locations along the way. Your Traveller will start their adventure in the Foothills region of the mountain board, from there the brave little rabbit will trek across the various provinces of the board whilst collecting map pieces that are needed to undertake the final Expedition at the end of the game. The act of moving your Traveller token and collecting map tiles is known as the Exploration action and consists of three steps: Chart, Discover and Travel. Season cards now effect gameplay, putting players through blustering blizzards or ferocious floods as their brave meeple soldiers on. These seasons can slow you down, reducing the resources you can gain or increasing the cost to play critters, hindering whatever plan you might have had. Spirecrest also adds a new mechanic to gain victory points, where players stitch together pieces of a map that they collect as they undertake their expedition, fulfilling tasks as they go.a b Law, Keith (August 30, 2018). "The Beautiful Everdell is One of the Best Board Games of the Year". Paste Magazine . Retrieved January 18, 2019.