Apiary: Expanding the Hive Design Notes and Overview

[@yannisguerra]

It's fantastic to see that when I heard the news for an expansion I thought, i hope we get...and you went through each of my hopes one by one! Buying ASAP!

[@jameystegmaier]

I'm glad it aligned so well with you! :)

[@VoidVerification]

Looks like a must-have to me. Especially love the variety of frames! That adds some fun decision space.

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks!

[@terhuneb]

Yay for combining the rules and appendix into a replacement document for the original! Thank you! It's annoying to have 3 or 4 different books sliding around in the box.

[@danielangevine1346]

really love these expansions that tweak or update a little bit - still easy to teach AND fitting in the box is huge!!! we have so many great games and some of my beasts (like scythe!) spill over too much shelf space which makes it a bit harder to take to friends' to play or even get it all off the shelf to play

[@daemanj]

Looks amazing and awesome, I will have to pick it up!!

[@Mimi-ca]

Love Apiary! I will be getting this! 😊

[@JesseDBlack]

It’s nice if companies get things perfectly right balance wise the first time, but I realize you don’t have quite the swath of data that you do in play testing as you do once the game is released to the public. That said, I really, really appreciate that y’all are willing to rebalance/make changes to existing content to make your games better. I hope it’s a trend that catches on in the industry!

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks Jesse! I appreciate you being open to publishers making these small but meaningful adjustments. :)

[@NazoSislian]

Thanks for this interesting expansion announcement and It’s sad that there won’t be any more Apiary content in the future. But Apiary is a great game already only to get much better with this new expansion, so I’m a happy Apiary fan after all. 😍👌🏼

[@jameystegmaier]

While we don't plan for more Apiary content, we also haven't declared the game complete (just in case we have a really great idea). :)

[@Stormzbowler]

@@jameystegmaier I'll add myself to the I'm sure long list of people wanting more content for this great game!

[@aaronleon8098]

I just received my expansion and was extremely disappointed with the recyclable box. The Hive mats had damaged corners, and a dance tile was missing. I appreciate wanting to be eco-friendly, but if this is the result, it can't be worth it. 😢

[@jameystegmaier]

It's still worth it environmentally, but it may require some improvements for the future. In the meantime (and any time), we're here to help with replacement parts. I'm definitely sorry that was your first experience in opening the expansion, and we can fix it if you fill out the replacement parts form. We've seen a few dented corners, though it's an anomaly for a dance tile to be missing--that's just as likely to happen in a normally packaged product as it is here.

[@denisereeder3966]

Woohooo!! Very happy to see that there is an expansion, but when is it available? Also a questions for you, what is the advantage for putting bees in the landing area as opposed to the active pool?

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks! It will be available this Wednesday, September 4, on the Stonemaeir Games webstore. You can’t control when an opponent bumps one of your workers off the board. Usually you’re happy for this to happen, as the worker gains strength, and this saves you a retrieve turn. However, you don’t gain income from farms when workers are bumped-only when you take a retrieve turn (and only 1 farm per retrieved worker). The landing area reserves bumped workers for those times when you’re counting on them for income during a retrieve turn. Consider this example: You have three farms with income you’re interested in taking. You have three workers on the board, none of which are strength 4. One of them gets bumped. Now you have a decision. You COULD immediately increase the worker and forego the farm income. You can now continue placing workers. However, what if you needed that income for your next planned action? You could still retrieve your workers and collect income-but you could only use two of your three farms. That’s what the Landing Area is for. -Curtis Homan, FB group IMPORTANT: Whenever you retrieve, ALL retrieved workers (those on the board and in the landing area) must increase in strength.

[@matthewhovey6206]

Since all will fit in the box with this expansion and there won’t be any space left for more, does this mean there would not be any future added content for Apiary?

[@jameystegmaier]

We don't have plans for more Apiary content after this expansion.

[@FunForEvery11]

Will this expansion be available at Spiel? And if yes will there be enough to get one without battling it out? 😂

[@jameystegmaier]

It will! And yes, we think so (though it's always hard to tell).

[@jeremymullen7097]

Here's hoping for a limited supply, and Jamie stages a ring where prospective buyers have to dress as bees and wrestle in honey for the opportunity to snag a copy.

[@jameystegmaier]

@@jeremymullen7097 Or a waggle dance-off?

[@jeremymullen7097]

@@jameystegmaier Would pay money to see, even if I walk away empty-handed.