Wingspan Review

Earlier this month, we posted our first major article around Wingspan, a very detailed “How to Play” which you can check out here. If you are going to read our detailed review here, but haven’t read the “How to Play” we strongly suggest reading that first! In Wingspan, players will add birds to their habitats in an attempt to score points. The most points after 4 rounds is the winner. But does Wingspan provide enough strategy with their bird mechanics to make this game fun, and more importantly, re-playable? Let’s take look.

What I instantly enjoyed about Wingspan was how quickly I was able to teach it to a group of people, and they all picked it up instantly. Unlike many other titles from Stonemaeir, this one doesn’t have a whole lot going on. You’ll have personal, private objective cards to look at and work towards, and a bundle of birds and items on your board. Everything has a purpose, and the detailed guides on all the boards make playing a breeze, even when things become ‘busy’ on the board.

While easy to understand, there is still a fair amount of depth to the game play. Choosing which birds to play where – based on their one-time or ongoing bonuses – is incredibly important, and without prioritizing good bird placement, you are doomed to fail and lose. At all times, it’s important to remember what private goal you are working towards, which public goals will be scored next (and in subsequent rounds), and of course, how to maximize the benefits of the cards on your bird. Understanding when to play and a bird, and where to play it, is paramount to success.

And with over 170+ birds to pick from, there is a ton of variety within the deck, although many of the birds do share the same bonuses, even if there habitat locations and placing costs are different. Thankfully, there is a ton of variety on the cards, both for your one-time bonuses and your ongoing bonuses. And often, the bonuses will be tailored to the type of bird you are playing. For example, many of the predator birds like owls, eagles, and hawks, allow players to look at the next card in the face-down bird pile, and if it’s wingspan is less than 100 cm, they can tuck this card underneath which will score them a point at the end of the game. Other bonus cards are similarly partnered with appropriate birds.

The game play is enhanced by the fantastic components. While I’ve always said good components cannot make a bad game good, good components can take a great board game to the next level. As a game that won prestigious awards in the past, I was expecting a lot, and thankfully the game delivered. The included cardboard dice tower is fantastic and of solid quality, as are the printed dice that you will roll down the tower to create your ‘bird feeder’ of resources types. Similarly, the eggs are also great to look at, hold, and play with. And while it would have been easy for the design team to just include one colour of egg (since egg colour does not matter), they went ahead and created different colour eggs, adding to the overall aesthetics of the game.

The rest of the components – the bird cards, player mats, and so on – are also of great quality, but it is the artwork on each that really put things over the top. Each bird is unique and beautifully detailed, and includes an interesting fact about each bird. This makes waiting for your next turn easily bearable as you read the interesting facts on the cards.

Overall, Wingspan is a fantastic game that is a must own for anyone with a good board game collection. It has easily slid into my top 5 games of all time, and that’s saying something. Grab your copy today!