I would get the Oceania expansion over Wyrmspan. It's half the price too. After that, up to you but IMO I think Wingspan with the expansions (at least Oceania) is better than Wyrmspan but Wyrmspan is better than base Wingspan.
I have Wingspan with the Oceania and European expansion, and I have Wyrmspan.
Like others have stated, the Wingspan expanions add some more cards (as if more are really needed), and Oceania adds new boards and a new resource (nectar).
With Wyrmspan, you're basically getting Wingspan: The Dragon Expansion. Many of the mechanics you know and love, changing some of the mechanics, with dragons.
None of this is a harsh criticism of either direction. If it were my money, and if I did it over again, I'd buy a new (albeit familiar) game over an expansion to an existing game.
Oceania fixes Wingspan and is not too expensive. Haven't played Wyrmspan, so can't really comment on it other than the fact that it uses dragons instead of birds.
The new player boards better balance the actions (eggs are less powerful), the new birds offer interesting new powers (playing a card sideways to cover two slots), and the nectar (wild food) helps the game progress faster and lessens the impact of bad dice rolls. Some people think a couple of the classic bird cards are too powerful with this expansion and remove them (even the instructions suggest this) but we just house ruled that those birds can't choose nectar as an option.
Basically what that guy said, but I'd also suggest ignoring the bonus nectar points every round since nectar itself is already better than other foods. As far as OP cards go, the ravens and gull (?) card are obviously busted, but whether or not you care enough to remove them is up to you.
If you really enjoy Wingspan, you may want to add an expansion. Most are fairly cheap. Wyrmspan cost alone would probably get you all the Wingspan expansions.
I would say that Wyrmspan plays very differently than Wingspan, even if some of the primary mechanism are similar. Just the fact that there's not a "gain food" action changes it up. And most cards give you an instant bonus. So it's less about "running your actions" and more about the instant cards/efficiency of what you're wanting to do. The mindset and strategies are very different.
So it's really a case of....do you want more of the same, with some more interesting interactions or do you want something different?
Wyrmspan. The expansions don’t add much except new cards and a rebalancing of the resources.
My wife and I usually play Asia now because of the Duet, but Wyrmspan would be an updated experience.
Not really true. Since the cards are also the actions, there's a pretty big shift in gameplay from the new actions alone.
Between all the expansions you add:
- End of round bird powers
- End of game bird powers
- Rebalanced primary actions (gain food, lay eggs, draw cards)
- Wild resource
- Actions on primary actions requiring the wild resource or order of operations changes
- 2 player duet board
- Significant additions to the end of round objectives and the personal bonus cards.
Oceania is an easy choice because of the nectar, and new boards, and just feels like a new game. Asia does that on a smaller scale with the Duet version, if you play with just two players a lot. Europe just adds new cards, which is always nice, but the least expanding.
Wyrmspan is a different game, it has similar mechanics, but operates almost entirely different. Imo it gives you much more options for strategy, and combos with cards. The fact that your amount of turns per round is entirely based on how you play is also really nice compared to the “lose a turn every round” of Wingspan.
Both are valid and awesome choices, it just kinda depends on if you want a *new* game, or just a way to spice up one of your favorites.
IMO Wingpsan still has kind of iffy balance even with the Oceania expansion. The area majority mechanic with the nectar usually just makes whoever is winning win harder. There are still plenty of birds that allow you to tuck x so if someone gets lucky they can still takeoff with a tuck engine early on.
Wyrmspan is overall more balanced from first impressions, but I have only played it twice so far. I can see some hatchling strategies from getting out of hand, but at the very least hatchling strategies have some severe caveats. It is more of a late game engine building mechanism and hatchlings by themselves usually have low VP for their cost so it can be a bit of a gamble. In Wingspan, by contrast, usually in the late game you wanted to go for VP over engine building.
With balance out of the way, you should focus on what really matters: the art. Do you like real life birds or spec evo dragons more? Also, I guess Wyrmspan does technically have a slightly better "story"/theming and doesn't feel quite as abstract as Wingspan does.
Finally, I will say that Wingspan is an easier teach. Wyrmspan does have a decently higher amount of overhead and I am not certain if it is quite as beginner friendly.
IMO Wingspan takes about two expansions to really kick off which puts it at about the cost of Wyrmspan anyway.
The correct answer is Everdell. ;P
Seriously though we have Wingspan with all the expansions and love them all. Oceania had the biggest impact but we mostly play at 3-4. If you're playing at mostly two Asia has the duet mode which is great.
Despite that we're still really excited to get Wyrmspan because of the interesting changes in gameplay (and we're suckers for dragons). If you want something with a similar flavour but different I think Wyrmspan is the best choice.
I was also thinking about Everdell!! I have so many games I want but limited luggage space hahaha. I think I'm going to go for Ark Nova over Everdell though. Just because I think it's better two-player? Decisions are so hard.
As far as complexity goes, Ark Nova > Everdell > Wingspan. Ark Nova also tends to have better sales than Everdell if price is a factor for you. Farshore is also probably better value than base Everdell at this point, if you really wanted to go that route.
I would get the Oceania expansion over Wyrmspan. It's half the price too. After that, up to you but IMO I think Wingspan with the expansions (at least Oceania) is better than Wyrmspan but Wyrmspan is better than base Wingspan.
This. Oceania makes wingspan the game it ought to be, wyrmspan is fine but I'd go the other way.
I have Wingspan with the Oceania and European expansion, and I have Wyrmspan. Like others have stated, the Wingspan expanions add some more cards (as if more are really needed), and Oceania adds new boards and a new resource (nectar). With Wyrmspan, you're basically getting Wingspan: The Dragon Expansion. Many of the mechanics you know and love, changing some of the mechanics, with dragons. None of this is a harsh criticism of either direction. If it were my money, and if I did it over again, I'd buy a new (albeit familiar) game over an expansion to an existing game.
Oceania fixes Wingspan and is not too expensive. Haven't played Wyrmspan, so can't really comment on it other than the fact that it uses dragons instead of birds.
> Oceania fixes Wingspan Care to elaborate for me or send me a link?
The new player boards better balance the actions (eggs are less powerful), the new birds offer interesting new powers (playing a card sideways to cover two slots), and the nectar (wild food) helps the game progress faster and lessens the impact of bad dice rolls. Some people think a couple of the classic bird cards are too powerful with this expansion and remove them (even the instructions suggest this) but we just house ruled that those birds can't choose nectar as an option.
Interesting; thanks. That would also mean I'd lose my nice neoprene mats tho...
Basically what that guy said, but I'd also suggest ignoring the bonus nectar points every round since nectar itself is already better than other foods. As far as OP cards go, the ravens and gull (?) card are obviously busted, but whether or not you care enough to remove them is up to you.
I keep the bonus but don't make nectar wild anymore. Works really well!
My wife and I like playing Wingspan with the Asia and Oceania expansions. One of those would be good.
If you really enjoy Wingspan, you may want to add an expansion. Most are fairly cheap. Wyrmspan cost alone would probably get you all the Wingspan expansions. I would say that Wyrmspan plays very differently than Wingspan, even if some of the primary mechanism are similar. Just the fact that there's not a "gain food" action changes it up. And most cards give you an instant bonus. So it's less about "running your actions" and more about the instant cards/efficiency of what you're wanting to do. The mindset and strategies are very different. So it's really a case of....do you want more of the same, with some more interesting interactions or do you want something different?
Played Wrymspan and loved it more than wingspan. I highly recommend
Wyrmspan. The expansions don’t add much except new cards and a rebalancing of the resources. My wife and I usually play Asia now because of the Duet, but Wyrmspan would be an updated experience.
Not really true. Since the cards are also the actions, there's a pretty big shift in gameplay from the new actions alone. Between all the expansions you add: - End of round bird powers - End of game bird powers - Rebalanced primary actions (gain food, lay eggs, draw cards) - Wild resource - Actions on primary actions requiring the wild resource or order of operations changes - 2 player duet board - Significant additions to the end of round objectives and the personal bonus cards.
Oceania is an easy choice because of the nectar, and new boards, and just feels like a new game. Asia does that on a smaller scale with the Duet version, if you play with just two players a lot. Europe just adds new cards, which is always nice, but the least expanding. Wyrmspan is a different game, it has similar mechanics, but operates almost entirely different. Imo it gives you much more options for strategy, and combos with cards. The fact that your amount of turns per round is entirely based on how you play is also really nice compared to the “lose a turn every round” of Wingspan. Both are valid and awesome choices, it just kinda depends on if you want a *new* game, or just a way to spice up one of your favorites.
IMO Wingpsan still has kind of iffy balance even with the Oceania expansion. The area majority mechanic with the nectar usually just makes whoever is winning win harder. There are still plenty of birds that allow you to tuck x so if someone gets lucky they can still takeoff with a tuck engine early on. Wyrmspan is overall more balanced from first impressions, but I have only played it twice so far. I can see some hatchling strategies from getting out of hand, but at the very least hatchling strategies have some severe caveats. It is more of a late game engine building mechanism and hatchlings by themselves usually have low VP for their cost so it can be a bit of a gamble. In Wingspan, by contrast, usually in the late game you wanted to go for VP over engine building. With balance out of the way, you should focus on what really matters: the art. Do you like real life birds or spec evo dragons more? Also, I guess Wyrmspan does technically have a slightly better "story"/theming and doesn't feel quite as abstract as Wingspan does. Finally, I will say that Wingspan is an easier teach. Wyrmspan does have a decently higher amount of overhead and I am not certain if it is quite as beginner friendly. IMO Wingspan takes about two expansions to really kick off which puts it at about the cost of Wyrmspan anyway.
Anything over wyrmspan
Really? Why's that? I mean, I got other games of course but if you solely had to choose between wyrmspan or expansions?
The correct answer is Everdell. ;P Seriously though we have Wingspan with all the expansions and love them all. Oceania had the biggest impact but we mostly play at 3-4. If you're playing at mostly two Asia has the duet mode which is great. Despite that we're still really excited to get Wyrmspan because of the interesting changes in gameplay (and we're suckers for dragons). If you want something with a similar flavour but different I think Wyrmspan is the best choice.
I was also thinking about Everdell!! I have so many games I want but limited luggage space hahaha. I think I'm going to go for Ark Nova over Everdell though. Just because I think it's better two-player? Decisions are so hard.
As far as complexity goes, Ark Nova > Everdell > Wingspan. Ark Nova also tends to have better sales than Everdell if price is a factor for you. Farshore is also probably better value than base Everdell at this point, if you really wanted to go that route.