Wingspan Review - Flock and Roll

Summary

In this entertaining and humorous review of *Wingspan*, the game’s strengths and weaknesses are explored through a mix of personal anecdotes and sharp analysis. The review highlights the game’s elegant theme of birdwatching, its strategic depth, and its beautifully designed components. However, the reviewer expresses frustration with the game’s complexity, randomness, and lack of true thematic immersion. While *Wingspan* offers a rewarding experience for engine-building enthusiasts, it’s not an ideal choice for newcomers to the hobby. For those seeking a fairer and less punishing game, alternatives like *The Quest for El Dorado* or *Istanbul* are recommended.

Takeaways

• 😀 *Wingspan* is a visually stunning game with high-quality production, featuring watercolor bird illustrations and a luxurious presentation.
• 😀 The core of *Wingspan* revolves around engine-building mechanics, where players attract birds, collect food, and lay eggs to power up their strategies.
• 😀 The game is easy to learn but hard to master, offering deep strategic play that evolves as players build their bird engines throughout the game.
• 😀 *Wingspan* is praised for its replayability, as each game feels different due to the randomness of card draws, bird abilities, and available actions.
• 😀 Despite its praise, the game is critiqued for being too reliant on luck, which can overshadow strategic decisions and make success feel unearned.
• 😀 The game's scoring system is complex, with many different ways to accumulate points, leading to a 'point salad' situation that can be overwhelming.
• 😀 *Wingspan* is considered too complex for beginners, with its heavy reliance on tracking multiple variables making it less suitable for newcomers to board games.
• 😀 The theme, while beautiful, is criticized for feeling more like set dressing than an integral part of the gameplay, with the mechanics of bird collection feeling unrealistic.
• 😀 Players can experience frustration when bad luck interferes with their plans, particularly when random elements like dice rolls or card draws prevent them from executing strategies.
• 😀 *Wingspan* is a fantastic game for those who enjoy strategic decision-making and long-term planning, but it may not be for players who prefer a more direct and competitive gameplay experience.

Q & A

What makes *Wingspan* unique compared to other board games?

What sets *Wingspan* apart is its combination of an engine-building mechanic, beautiful bird-themed artwork, and the rewarding feeling of gradually developing a powerful combo of abilities through bird cards. The game offers strategic depth while being easy to learn, making it engaging for both new and experienced players.

How does the theme of birds contribute to the game's experience?

While the bird theme in *Wingspan* is visually stunning and has unique birds with factual details, the reviewer feels the theme doesn’t always mesh well with the gameplay mechanics. The thematic connection between collecting birds and scoring points feels more like set dressing rather than a deeply integrated narrative.

What are the key mechanics of *Wingspan*?

*Wingspan* is primarily an engine-building game where players place birds into three distinct habitats, each linked to a specific action (get food, lay eggs, or draw birds). As birds are played, they activate abilities, allowing players to improve their engine, generate resources, and score points in various ways.

What is the reviewer’s opinion on the game's accessibility for newcomers?

The reviewer expresses that *Wingspan* is not an ideal entry-level game for newcomers, due to its complexity in tracking points and the substantial luck involved in card draws and dice rolls. This randomness can be frustrating for players who are still learning how to navigate the game.

Why does the reviewer find the point calculation at the end of the game tedious?

The game involves numerous ways to score points—through birds, eggs, bonus cards, food, and card-specific bonuses. While this makes the game strategic, it also leads to complex and sometimes tedious calculations, especially during the final scoring phase, which can feel overwhelming for players.

How does the randomness in *Wingspan* impact gameplay?

The reviewer highlights that the randomness in *Wingspan*—particularly in the card draws and dice rolls—can affect the outcome in ways that feel outside the player's control. This introduces an element of luck, which can be frustrating if the random elements don’t align with a player’s strategy.

What are the primary reasons the reviewer doesn’t personally enjoy *Wingspan*?

The reviewer doesn't enjoy *Wingspan* because of the feeling of helplessness that can arise from poor card draws or misaligned strategies. They also dislike the way luck impacts the game, making it hard to feel ownership over the outcome, and find the complexity of calculating points a burden.

What does the reviewer think about the game's production quality?

The reviewer praises *Wingspan*’s production quality, calling it one of the best in the business. The artwork, particularly the watercolor illustrations of birds, is beautiful and immersive. Even the game’s manual and components are described as luxurious and high-quality.

What game alternatives does the reviewer recommend for those who prefer a less complex experience?

The reviewer suggests several alternatives for those seeking a simpler or fairer engine-building game, including *The Quest for El Dorado*, *Istanbul*, and *Azul*. These games are more accessible, with easier mechanics and less reliance on randomness compared to *Wingspan*.

What is the ‘point salad’ concept referred to in the review, and how does it apply to *Wingspan*?

The ‘point salad’ concept refers to a game where there are multiple, often disjointed ways to score points, making it difficult to focus on a single strategy. In *Wingspan*, this is evident in the way players can score points through bird cards, eggs, bonus objectives, and various bird abilities, which can create a somewhat overwhelming and complex decision-making process.