Wingspan

[Slug]

 

Picked this up at PAXU after reading all the great press it had gotten and sat down with it for the first time tonight. Short review: It's great and you should play this game. 

 

Longer review: The first thing that jumped out at me was the production value. Holy shit, it's impressive. From the high quality paper stock used for the rulebook to the card art and the token materials, they didn't cut any corners here. It's all very well made with attention to detail. The included bird feeder dice tower is cool. They even took ease of setup and cleanup into account when designing the trays and containers. I wish every publisher would put this much thought into the presentation of their games. 

 

The art is great and the cards and boards are easy to read and make learning the game intuitive. The card abilities are very straightforward with no janky tech or proprietary terminology to confuse new players. Each card provides fun facts about its bird and there are no dupes. 

 

Play is quick. Your first game might take time but after that you are going to be finishing games in under an hour. It's an engine builder that plays out over 4 rounds. Random goals setup at the beginning of each game change your strategy and increase replayability. Different birds have powers that synergize with each other and with your basic available actions to let you build really satisfying engines to accumulate points. 

 

Easy to learn, but deep with satisfying big brain engine building. Replayability, great art, high production value, the works. The Kennerspiel des Jahres is well earned with this one. Easily the best game I picked up at PAXU and possibly the best new game I played all year.