64 April 2019
PLAYED
B
irds are inspiring creatures.
e nightingale spurred Keats
to write it an ode. e kestrel
compelled novelist Barry Hines to pen
A Kestrel for a Knave. And without the
condor, we never would have got, er,
’80s Michael Crawford-starring action
comedy Condorman. Now we have
Wingspan, from designer Elizabeth
Hargrave and Scythe maker Stonemaier
Games, which brings a sense of feather-
ne avian grace to the tabletop. And,
thanks to its impeccable execution and
bar-raising visual design, it’s fair to say
it’s closer to Keats than Condorman.
Wingspan sells itself as a
“competitive bird-collection, engine-
building game”, but it’s a far more
sublime experience than that rather
functional sum-up suggests. Yes,
it’s competitive, but it’s one of those
Euro-stylers where you feel more like
you’re playing with your competitors
than against them. It’s not very swingy,
there’s scant take-that and you won’t
have any reason to get pissed o
by your opponents’ tactics, beyond
expressing envy at the sweet card
synergies they may have pulled o .
And yes, it’s an engine-builder,
but what you’re building here
is something pleasant, peaceful
and organic: namely a welcoming
environment for birds to come and
hunt, feed and nest, as depicted by
its large, gorgeous player boards.Each turn, you select one of four
straightforward actions: play a bird
card down to your board, by paying
the right food-token combo and
obeying the bird’s habitat restrictions;
gain food, by selecting one or more
rolled dice from the lovely, self-
assembled birdfeeder dice tower;
lay eggs, by taking some delicious-
looking (but in no way edible) egg
miniatures and placing them on your
bird cards; and draw bird cards, either
blind from the deck or by choosing
one of three elegantly fanned on a
moulded plastic ‘bird tray’.
For any action other than playing
a bird, you then activate any placed
bird cards in the relevant habitat, one
by one, from right to left. If you’ve
been careful with your placement,
then you’ll be joyfully executing
those aforementioned envy-inducing
synergies. If not, it’s just fun seeing
how things have worked out and what
you can gain. Besides, your placement
tactics may have been driven more
by achieving your hidden end-game
bonuses, or going for the randomly
selected end-of-round bonuses.
Wingspan’s lack of hard-edged
strategy and direct player interactionsounds like it might start to turn dull,
but this is never the case. Hargrave has
calibrated it so each turn passes quickly,
while you always feel engaged with
what other players are doing. You might
be keeping track of how their habitats
are developing. Or quietly hoping
they don’t take that food die you were
banking on nabbing. Or just listening to
them read the bird fact at the bottom of
the card they’ve just played; it really is a
learning experience.
ere are many great games out
there, but there are few you can
honestly say feel perfect. Wingspan
is one of those few. Looks-wise, it is
a work of art. Play-wise it is a gently
absorbing and genuinely relaxing
dream. eme-wise it feels as original
as it does universal. It’s hard to
imagine anyone who wouldn’t enjoy
playing it. It is simply inspiring.
DAN JOLINWe’ve just hit beak board game
Wingspan
40-70m 1-5 10+ £50WHAT’S IN
THE BOX?
◗ Goal board
◗ Bird tray
◗ First Player token
◗ Five player mats
◗ Birdfeeder dice tower
◗ Score pad
◗ 170 bird cards
◗ 26 bonus cards
◗ 16 Automa cards
◗ 75 egg miniatures
◗ Five custom
wooden dice
◗ 40 wooden
action cubes
◗ 103 food tokens
◗ Eight goal tiles
◗ Automa rulebookTRY THIS IF YOU LIKED... GIZMOS
Phil Walker-Harding’s engine-builder is more literal, but its accessibility,
innovation with components and synergy-sparking mechanisms make it
a great primer for the Wingspan experience.PLAY IT? MUST-PLAY
Appropriately enough, Hargrave’s
game is a soaraway success. It
will appeal to casual gamers as
much as hardcore players, and
if there is any justice it’ll become
the big crossover hit of 2019.P L A Y E D
irds are inspiring creatures.
e nightingale spurred Keatssounds like it might start to turn dull,
but this is never the case. Hargrave has40-70m