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So, you've played Wingspan.
Are you a Indigo Montoya player
Or
Are you one of those players who played it and went “I want more of the crunchy stuff. More tracks, a different way to take actions and could you please change it to dragons?”
Oddly specific, I know. But if you fall into the second camp, or simply want “Moar but different” Wyrmspan has you covered.
Actions you will take on your turn are activated by moving your Adventurer to that location. These Adventurer's seriously need to unionize, they are doing freaking everything: Enticing dragons to the caves, Excavating the caves, Exploring the Caves, Existing at Base Camp between turns (I guess that makes this a 4E game...Does that mean 4X games are passe?)
You will also find no chunky dice in this game. The resources you will be gaining during the game - Gold, Meat, Milk, Eggs and Crystals come from exploring caves, playing dragons or new locations and the Dragon Guild track. The Dragon Guild track changes from game to game, with four double-sided Dragon Guild tiles included in the game (for a total of eight different Dragon Guilds). While each one is different, taking an action that gives you a dragon guild “point” moves you up on of the track and will gain you a resource. Once you have reached each sixth location on the circular track, you place a cube in the center of the Guild Tile for a special, one time bonus. Most of these are limited to one or two cube locations per reward. So, you want to get there first to get the pick of the best rewards or simply the one that best serves your plans.(Rewards include things like Place A Dragon from the display for free, Claim a coin and two dragon cards, and the traditional Gain End Game VP...with less and less VP for the next person to claim it).
Gone are the action cubes found in Wingspan. They are replaced by a much more interesting option: Coins. They are intriguing in a number of ways. Every action you take during a round costs at least a coin and you get six coins (and an egg) at the beginning of each turn BUT you can hold up to 9 coins. So, if you are at a point in a round where you just don't like the return you are going to get for taking an action (because repeating an Explore action on a location you have already visited this turn will cost you a coin and a additional egg, repeating it a third time will cost you a coin and a additional two eggs). you can simply pass (ending your ability to take further actions this round) and hold onto the coins you have until the next round. Coins are also used as a resource in Wyrmspan. Some larger, high point dragons will cost a coin and a few other resources. Deciding if you want to spend a coin on a huge, point-heavy dragon when you know, especially in later rounds, how many other resources you could get from using it as an action is a real brain burner. These coins also influence how you excavate: Excavating the spaces in the 4th column of the caves on the player mat allows you to spend any three items (resources,dragons, and cave cards) in any combination to gain 1 coin. I just adore how, and how much, the coins impact play.
Part of the experience of playing Wingspan is reading the little tidbit of information on the Bird Cards and, usually, showing them to other players and being like “Oh, isn't that cool!” Well, that is missing in Wyrmspan. It really feels like a lost chance to put snippets of mythical information on the cards. And, you may be thinking “Whoa, back up, you do know dragons aren't real?” Look, there is a freaking 32 page Dragon Fact booklet included with the game. They did the homework, just put the snippets on the cards. I just can't see anyone breaking out the dragon fact booklet mid-game to look up a dragon, no matter how cool it is.
One of the other small changes is, at any time, you can swap any two resources for a single different resource. I love how this little rule helps to alleviate some analysis paralysis. Players can be thinking about what they want to do on their turn and being able to swap a couple of resources to be able play a dragon they would like instead of simply discarding that whole plan and trying to formulate an entirely different one.
And how about these cute little suckers? Hatchlings.
Enticing these tiny dragons requires an egg and a milk resource or three. Wait a minute....I assume this is dragon milk, right? Is expressing dragon milk ANOTHER one of the adventurer jobs? Does that make this a 5E game? Sorry, Sorry, I got distracted. Hatchlings have progressive caching. You get a reward (and those sweet end game VP) when you cache onto a hatchling. However, on the third time you cache to a card, you will gain a additional, non-repeatable reward. It's another of those interesting decisions where you have to decide if spending resources you could be using to play cards is a better route than caching.
There is plenty of things that those who know the Wingspan formula will recognize: When played, when activated, once per round and End Game scoring. Friendly and random end of round objectives, Caching resources and tucking cards. This game is definitely gliding on the wings Wingspan build.
Did you enjoy Wingspan? No? Well, this game probably isn't going to do it for you. The core is still the Wingspan formula, just with more bells and wyverns. But if you are looking for a more impactful systems, deeper strategy, and cold blooded creatures, this could easily Wyrm it's way into your collection.
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