Players who are familiar with Wingspan are most likely going to have an easier time learning Wyrmspan. Afterall, the core mechanisms of the two games are quite similar. Nevertheless, the sequel is more complex when it comes to resource and extra action acquisitions. The addition of the Dragon Guilds and cave cards also present new puzzles during gameplay. So, how should Wingspan players adjust their strategies for Wyrmspan?
The Beginning
When playing most card driven games, players often need to choose their starting cards carefully in order to form a rough strategy before the game even begins. Wingspan and Wyrmspan are no exception. Wingspan players must determine which cards to keep/tokens to discard by assessing all the factors including the bonus card requirement, end-of-round goals, and available food types in the bird feeder, as well as the three birds in the market and player order to find the perfect balance and synergy. Many of these elements are also present in Wyrmspan, such as the end-of-round objectives as well as the dragon/cave card availabilities and player order. Wyrmspan players also need to take the Dragon Guild board bonuses into account, planning out ways to gain more resources on top of the initial 3 resource tokens and 1 egg given at setup.
One major mechanic modification that makes Wyrmspan more challenging than Wingspan in the beginning is how actions are handled. In Wingspan, players get 8 actions in the first round and 7 in the second. In Wyrmspan, players get 6 actions (Coins) per turn, with potential ways to gain (or spend) more via Enticing, Excating, or Dragon Guild advancement. In Wingspan, players don’t have to feel too guilty to take an action just to gain one or two resource token; this is not exactly the case in Wyrmspan. We do not recommend using the explore action to gain resources (comparable to activating the top forest row in Wingspan) until you have added at least one or two of dragons in your Crimson Cavern. During this stage, it is generally more efficient to play cave cards and excavate resources as this accomplishes two tasks with a single action. Players can also get resources when exploring if they can advance their tokens on the Dragon Guild board in the process. The first five rewards on the right side are one egg, meat, dragon card, cave card, and a crystal (see image below). One should consider this when choosing which 3 resource tokens to gain at the start.
To summarize, in conjunction with selecting dragon cards which have traits that would maximize end-of-round and/or Dragon Guild end game victory points, players ought to also prioritize keeping or drafting cave cards that have resource bonuses, free Coin/actions, or Dragon Guild advancement when choosing a starting hand and during the first round. If you did not get any cave cards with resource bonuses, then you would need to gain resources by either exploring the Crimson Cavern (top row) for resources or the Amethyst Abyss (bottom row) for the right cave cards. You’d want to have played at least one or two dragons in that cave before taking the explore action, so be sure to select the right dragon cards and resources at the start to set everything up.
Mid Game
Wingspan players generally want to play birds to cover as many spaces in all three cave areas to ensure that their “gain food," “lay eggs," and “draw bird cards” actions yield better results when taken. There are also three horizontal cave areas in Wyrmspan - Crimson Cavern, Golden Grotto, and Amethyst Abyss. Rather than activating them to take a corresponding action, these caves can be explored for resources, cards and/or Dragon Guild advancement. Each of the caves attracts dragons with specific preferences and provide different rewards:
Crimson Cavern (red/top row) - Dragons that can be enticed to this cave prefers meat. Exploring this row provides resources and Dragon Guild advancement. Dragons or hatchlings that require resources to activate, either as a cost or to be cached, are ideal to play here.
Golden Grotto (yellow/middle row) - Dragons that can be enticed to this cave prefers gold. Exploring this row provides dragon cards and Dragon Guild advancement. Dragons or hatchlings that require dragon cards to activate, either as a cost or to be tucked, are ideal to play here.
Amethyst Abyss (purple/bottom row) - Dragons that can be enticed to this cave prefers crystal. Exploring this row provides cave cards and Dragon Guild advancement. Dragons or hatchlings that require cave cards to activate are ideal to play here.
Depending on the end-of-round objectives, Dragon Guild in play, and the dragon cards you received, pick one of the three caves to focus on and try to fully populate it by round 3. If you come across a hatchling that can be incorporated into the plan, go for it. These babies provide great early game bonuses but lack egg capacity, so be sure to compensate for this issue later on, especially if you plan to explore the Amethyst Abyss often. In addition to playing dragons or hatchlings that fulfill the end-of-round objectives and also activate with costs that match what the cave provides, be on the lookout for any dragon with the Dragon Guild advancement activation ability. Dragon Guild provides many ways to excavate or entice at a discount, as well as the means to gain resources, actions (coins) and end game victory points, If you are fortunate enough to get one of these dragons on your mat, you’d want to try to fully populate the cave in which that dragon dwells and explore it frequently.
The 4 Dragon Guilds in Wyrmspan
There are four Dragon Guilds in Wyrmspan and each of them provides similar bonuses for players to choose from. The first and second abilities present alternative or discounted ways to excavate or entice, and the third one grants an extra action with various added bonuses. The fourth and fifth abilities relate to end game scoring. At this stage, we recommend prioritizing the fourth one when you are able to place the marker on the Guilds and work hard to fulfil the objectives. If that space is no longer available, you can go with the extra action spot or the 6VP spot.
Late Game
By general consent, the two best ways to score big in Wingspan are tucking birds (cache) and laying eggs (egg spamming), with the food caching strategy being slightly less optimal in third place. Wyrmspan players are tucking dragons, laying eggs, and caching resources as well. In the Mid Game section, we discussed what type of dragons are better suited for the three caves. By now, you should have at least one fully populated cave with four dragons. This means when you explore, you would reach the final space of each cave and be able to either cache 2 resources from your supply to any dragons (Crimson Cavern), tuck 2 dragons from your hand to under any dragons (Golden Grotte), or discard 2 cave cards to lay 4 eggs (Amethyst Abyss). The first two caves provide 2 base points while the third one provides 4 points. If you have dragons or hatchlings that activate via caching or tucking, the bonus would be more significant.
In order to fully populate caves and explore multiple times in a round, players need to stock up on eggs to pay the extra cost. At this stage, we recommend saving the eggs for exploration as it is possible to excavate without spending eggs using specific cave cards or the first ability of the Dragon Guild in play. Doing this not only saves eggs, which are worth 1 point each at the end of the game, but also saves an action coin. Note that the fourth cave spaces in each cave allow the players to spend 3 items (resource, dragon, and cave cards) in any combination to gain 1 coin. Being able to take another action is huge here, so be sure to take advantage of this perk.
Aside from trying to beat all your opponents at the end-of-round objectives and maximizing any Dragon Guild end-game scoring abilities, another thing one can do at this stage is to play dragon cards with higher point values or end game scoring criteria that can be met. These dragons usually require a coin as well as additional resources to entice. Rather than paying the full cost, we also recommend using cave cards or the second ability of the Dragon Guild in play to bring them out. At the end of the day, the player who gets the most return out of each action is most likely going to be the winner of the game.
Special cave cards that provides alternative ways to entice or excavate.
-Jackie
(About the author - Jacqueline Chao is the executive producer and main content contributor at Show Me How to Win. Follow her board game journey on instagram @boardgamesetc )
Wyrmspan is designed by Connie Vogelmann and published by Stonemaier Games. Our copy was provided by the publisher.