Spirit Island: Nature Incarnate Review - Beyond The Base Game

Spirit Island: Nature Incarnate Review - Beyond The Base Game
More Spirit Island? Yes please!
Since time untold, Spirits have existed on the Island. There are Spirits whose names are known by the local Dahan people - Spirits of growth and fire, of strength and river. But these are not the only Spirits… Legends whispered on the rarest of days tell stories of Spirits from the deepest, furthest reaches of the land. Powerful forces of nature that have not been witnessed in ages.
When white-sailed ships reach our coastal waters, when would-be colonizers step foot onto the unblighted shores, when they raise blade and plow to claim the land with greed and hunger, nature stirs. When Invaders strike out at the heart of the Island, they draw the attention of Spirits of myth and legend and face power unimaginable.
This time, they learn to fear Nature Incarnate.
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Related Content
Welcome To My Channel (Who I Am) ► • The Broken Meeple Welc...
Jagged Earth Review ► • Spirit Island: Jagged ...
Top 5 Spirits with One Pip Wonder ► kzbin.infoA-sfHVbvp30
My Favourite Spirits ► kzbin.infoct4RywYqV0E
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Who Am I?
One single batchelor from the UK talking about his passion for board games and the people who play them! I support small content creators, board game cafes and go against the status quo when it comes to the board game industry. I give my honest opinions without bias towards any publishers or designers and will not hold back if I don't like a game.
The Broken Meeple is a variety channel that hosts all kinds of board game content from reviews to Top 10 lists to playthroughs to live stream collaborations with special guests (predominantly small channels who deserve more exposure).
I look forward to engaging with you, the community on my live streams or in the comments on my videos!
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Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:46 - Storage
02:17 - Explaining Each of the Spirits (Moderate Complexity)
07:07 - Explaining Each of the Spirits (High Complexity)
15:37 - Explaining Each of the Spirits (Very High Complexity)
17:59 - Aspect Cards
19:16 - Summary, Verdict & Player Scaling
21:31 - Please Share and Support The Show
#brokenmeeple #spiritisland #greaterthangames #natureincarnate #boardgames #boardgame #lukehector #supportsmallcreators #tabletop #tabletopgames #bgg #boardgamer #boardgamereview
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Full credit to BoardGameGeek and its members for any images used that aren't my own or part of the publisher press kit.

[@amansparekh]

As someone who playtested for this expansion, seeing all the new spirits build up slowly was so awesome

[@Schlagathor78]

When it's all said and done the big box/trove chest for this game will be insane Glad the expansion is worth getting

[@cwb95k]

This one is high on my list. I greatly enjoy Spirit Island and looking forward to getting it to the table more in 2024.

[@johnunderwood4953]

Spirit Island is in my top 10 of all time. Thanks for the review, Luke.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

No problem!

[@Buako111]

It’s interesting how I like to watch your videos even when I have no interest on a particular game. You are doing fantastic job, and I’m grateful for that!

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I appreciate that!

[@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet]

I get vicarious play out of the spirits in the expansions because I play with my sons and they like different stuff than I do. Also, it means I have guaranteed at-least-three player games at home without a gaming group. But I’ve found I also gravitate to some of the fear spirits. Still, the ones I remember liking the most are: Volcano Looming High Wandering Voice Keens Delirium Keeper of the Forbidden Wilds Downpour Drenches The World Meanwhile my sons love spirits like Starlight Seeks Its Form, Sharp Fangs Behind The Leaves, Ember-Eyed Behemoth, and A Spread Of Rampant Green. It makes for really interesting spirit combinations.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I still really can't get on with Volcano!

[@sjorty2006]

The pandemonium aspect card is actually not for Shadows flicker like flame!

[@hairygnome1787]

Great review! This reminded me how much I love this game and need to get it back to the table. And I have you to thank for making me even get SI in the first place 🙂

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Glad to hear it!

[@chrisb.8758]

All the content with the original spirit panels will fit in the 2 boxes if you have the broken token organizer or something similar (or just made your own system). Folded space is just a little beefier in terms of the space it takes up. Eric actually posted a suggested way to store everything in the broken token organizer that pretty much works. I know it’s not recommended to buy that organizer anymore because of the controversy with that company, but a lot of people already have it.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

There's usually some work around!

[@bradymccann]

Pandemonium is lightning’s aspect not shadows:)

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Ah yes........so I wonder which Shadows one I've used to great effect then. . . .

[@danielmarlett1421]

Definitely 10/10. Keening voice is a new favorite of mine.

[@markbeaulieu411]

I only have the base game and Branch and Claw. I tried it true solo and it didn’t land with me. I switched to 2 handed solo and fell in love with it. I like the way they can work together. It’s the same as Marvel Champions, I only want 2 handed solo. And thank you for the order to buy the expansions. I’ll get Jagged Earth next. That was useful information so I’m glad you told us

[@Mike_James]

personally i think B&C completes SI. JE is fun, but starts to feel like bloat honestly. had i stayed with B&C i would have been perfectly happy.

[@liekegerritsen1620]

If you would jump from B&C to Nature Incarnate you would only be missing the badland tokens (use the scenario markers from B&C instead) and element markers (be creative and make them yourself). The aspects in Jagged Earth are not that good so you wouldn't miss them. And you can still use almost all of the aspects in Nature Incarnate. Out of the 20, 2 are for the promos and 2 for Jagged Earth so you can still use the other 16

[@popupwindow6464]

the "kill him" clip concerning Thunderspeaker made me choke on my morning coffee.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

😅😅😅

[@draheim90]

Woo! I was more excited about the aspects than the new spirits and the aspects are definitely amazing, but I found I liked the spirits more than I expected. Hearth-Vigil and Roots are very powerful (as is Earthquakes) and provide fresh takes on defensive spirits and the new adversary is also really well designed and fun to play against once you internalize the rules. I have a few thoughts on some of the spirits below if you’re interested: Darkness Down your Spine feels to me like a proper (and more complex) version of Shadows from the base game. I don’t think you need to rush the incarna empower and top track is fairly underwhelming but a mix of top and bottom track seems to work well. Indeed you want to plan out your growths (and delay reclaiming as much as possible) to time out the invader escapes, which involves prioritizing the second growth option (for more card drafts) and playing the card that puts presence into the Endless Dark (Reach from Infinite Darkness) on turn two because your presence can be the ones that escape from the Endless Dark on growth. Relentless Gaze was another I didn’t expect to like but I think it’s really fun and also quite strong. An interesting build I’ve seen is to grow along top track the first four turns (staying at one card play for a while), drafting a major on turn 1 (forgetting Wither), and setting up for a mid-game turn to play that major and repeat it 1-2 times (ideally the major generates a lot of fear and/or affects multiple lands, if your first major draft is bad try again in the following turn). I’ve done it and it was surprisingly good against a level 5 adversary. I think its unique power cards are actually really strong and undercosted (people probably overestimate Wither whereas it’s actually its worst card, though I’ll admit it’s fun to add those badlands) and the one that generates fear and skips invader actions is insane to repeat. With the spirit it’s also important to get to terror level 2 as quick as possible. I didn’t enjoy Wounded Waters as much from my one play so far but I think the idea is to draft on-element cards in the early turns and then have a big power spike in the mid-game by hitting the lower thresholds of your innates every turn.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Some good tips! :D

[@mikehowes3980]

I always thought of the sun baby from Teletubbies for Relentless Gaze of the sun but mario sun works well haha

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

😅

[@ralfn9629]

Great review. Yes please make another/new ranking with OnePipWonder. I wonder what would have changed for both of you. I am no where near as far with my plays as you are. I usually prefer dual handed play with 2 Spirits, to see the synergy, but I haven't played many games yet, even I have all the stuff. Maybe I should play like you: one Spirit only, one after the other from easy to hard? I forgot, have already covered Horizons of SI? I need to look it up. Thanks for the video.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I think I might have mentioned Horizons in a podcast, but it didn't warrant a full review.

[@Tolinar]

"the BIRD one" ... Many Minds Move as One? "... with the raindrop" AH. *Downpour Drenches The World.*

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Yeah that one!

[@Marenks]

The Sun is great with cheap card that add blights. You can prevent the blight with your innate but get multiples times the super strong effect.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

It will take some practice!

[@jfducusin7186]

randomly run through your existing JE spirit rankings, hoping to see your updated list with NI.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

That would take some time!!

[@jenwashi921]

Can't wait to get my copy 🤩

[@PhilSorrell]

I think I need to dust off my copy of Spirit Island!

[@chosenoneunmatched4617]

Just wondering Luke....you mention, you mentioned horizons in a podcast. Could you direct me to which one...would love to hear your take on it, and the spirits included. Thanks.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Can't remember off top of my head sadly. But must have been one of the recent ones. As a quick summary, I think the game is fine as a 3 player max entry level into Spirit Island but of course it's limited to what's in the box including the 4 spirits. The included spirits are pretty cool though for adding to the normal SI.

[@chosenoneunmatched4617]

@@TheBrokenMeeple Thanks for the answer. I ended up getting it. I couldn't help myself. I think I'm getting a little obsessed by SI. Haven't had the time to sit and play them yet...but am so excited to try them. Hoping for Jagged for xmas. I really think you might like Unmatched Luke. Especially now there is a cool version with Unmatched Adventures. It's like SI, incredible them, complex decsions, not nearly as deep as SI, but you have the added puzzle element of positional play to consider. If you haven't...you should honestly give it a try. I have all of the sets. (And hopefully will soon have all the spirits in SI...and I think I'm getting into sentinels as well...what have you done to me?!?!? 🤣🤣🤣)

[@OlegKlishinArt]

I love Spirit Island, but honestly not in a hurry to buy this. I've only tried some of Jagged Earth spirits once, probably haven't played all adversaries yet and barely touched scenarios. There is already a lifetime of content, and this is not even a final expansion. It's a good problem to have for the favourite game, but... How much is too much? They are putting out more than I can chew. Though I can always sell everything else and just play Spirit Island, hehe.

[@rneumeye]

I agree... excited about the expansion... but I'm gonna be chewing on Jagged Earth and just now getting feather and flame. It'll be about a year before I think about nature incarcerate. But good on them for putting put such robust and worthwhile expansions. Some games change a butt load for an expansion and it's just a couple cards and tokens and it barely changes the game. Spirit Island is like.... "You call that an expansion....? Hold my beer." 😈📦📦📦📦📦

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Yeah it's for the most dedicated players for sure.

[@Rafaelinux]

How many of the aspects included here are for spirits from branch & claw or flame? I only have jagged earth and these 2 other exps don't really interest me much..

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Very few if any for Flame. A few for Branch. Plenty more though for Base and Jagged.

[@jfducusin7186]

i think its 2 for each spirit for BnC (total of 4) then 1 for wildfire, and 1 for serpent finder and downpour dont need aspects haha

[@adamjc9167]

The pandamonium aspect you brought up for Shadows Flicker like flames belongs to the thunderspeaker. Did you mean a different aspect for Shadows?

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

Yeah it's the one that uses strife. Also I think pandemonium might be the lightning bird instead.

[@billeaton6495]

Hi Luke, what's your favourite/most common player count? I've only played 2/3, haven't tried solo yet.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

1-2 players, 3 only if playing with people better than me!

[@joek0620]

Great video. Did you ever do a video for Horizons?

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I don't think I did, just mentioned it on a podcast at some stage but can't recall which one.

[@michaeljoesph8687]

Can the spirts play across expansions?

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

How do you mean? Most of these spirits build upon principles set out in older sets or at least use the tokens for beasts, disease etc

[@michaeljoesph8687]

@@TheBrokenMeeple ok great.

[@Mike_James]

Branch and Claw makes SI feel complete, at least imo. Jagged Earth for me felt more like bloat. i like it but i could have stayed with BandC and been happy. ill likely never get Nature Incarnate. i dont need more tokens/action types. the alternate power cards for the previous spirits are all id really be interested in.

[@liekegerritsen1620]

you can easily print them yourself, they are freely available on the spirit island wiki

[@rickyplaysbyear7663]

Great information! But I suggest removing the jokes / clips from other media, they break the flow of the video.

[@rneumeye]

It's kinda part of his style. 🤷🏻‍♂️ You get used to it after a while. 💁🏻‍♂️

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

They're the signature part of the show, a way of differentiating the content and emphasising points being raised while adding a little humour but not going down the SUSD style cringe route. They aren't going away any time soon, many more like them then don't.

[@chosenoneunmatched4617]

What a stupid comment! What was the point of this? Or are you just a misanthrope. Dont listen Luke. Your humour is spot on!!

[@billable1861]

I honestly didn’t mind it they were appropriate to the commentary.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

@@billable1861 that's the idea, I know for a fact it's like 99% vs 1% on this.

[@stephenchambers6039]

Shave your hair. It's ok to be a little bald, it will look better trust me.