Wingspan: Oceania Expansion Review - with Tom Vasel

[@paulszki]

I can tell you why I would watch a review about the second expansion to a game that I don't really play all that often in addition to many other reviews of games I will most likely never play. Because it just calms my soul to listen Tom review board games because no matter if the game is good or bad or mediocre. It distracts from the problems one might have or other problems in the world. It's just .... nice having Tom contemplate on useless but still nice new yellow eggs. Tom and the Dice Tower crew (and many other creators) are more than "information givers". They're the warm blanket over your soul.

[@Noonycurt]

The "no goal" tile is my favorite one! The rules say that you don't have to give up one of your action cubes for this one, so you have an extra action for the remainder of the game!

[@MichaliSarris]

Yeah exactly, I always just pick that goal and put it as the first. Then the other 3 a random pick.

[@DJDan07]

Interesting way to think of this. I might start putting that one in once in a while.

[@ESCTom]

Yea the nectar control thing makes no sense to me at all. I had one game where one player 2 birds that gave him nectar and he easily won all 3 areas as well as being able to build anything he wanted. The benefit of nectar is already self evident, I don’t see why it needs extra. I almost feel it should be the opposite, that you lose points for overusing nectar instead of the actual ingredients. Maybe just -3 for most used.

[@goobyplsiw3245]

While it's probably not in the spirit of the game to punish players for using components from the expansion, gameplay wise, your suggestion would make a lot more sense. There should be a drawback to taking the easiest option, not a reward. And nectar expiring at the end of the round isn't enough of a penalty.

[@johns6177]

@@goobyplsiw3245 i barely ever see anyone discard nectar at the end of a round, and if they do, its because they had way too many of them that round.

[@AndreasBeham]

I feel like the reduction in eggs that you get in the grassland row is good for balancing. I did not play so many games yet, but it appears to me that eggs are quite abundant in a normal game and that often the grassland lane gives most points per cube in the last round unless you have maxed out on eggs. Getting one egg less makes eggs a little more scarce, thus requiring more cubes to be spent (like with food and cards) and also the grassland row is a little less "profitable" in the final round. In any case, I can totally relate to what you said. I did not play this expansion, but reading about the nectar I also don't like the idea of it, nor do I like the magenta color. It doesn't fit very well the colors for the existing food tokens. And we already have wildcard food icon on the birds. So I agree the board is better (I agree about your remarks on it being a bit too dark), but overall, I'll probably skip this one.

[@halt1931]

I like Wingspan a lot, so my family and I picked up the expansion, which we were very excited about. Unfortunately, I have a few issues with it. First of all, I find that some of the bird cards are significantly more powerful than the ones in the base game. For instance, in the base game, you might have a card which lets you tuck a card from the deck if it has a wingspan of

[@nathangray-bain8472]

The forest was the weakest row, I think their goal was to get people to more evenly use all of the rows by nerfing the most powerful one (grasslands) and buffing the weakest one (forest) by further incentivizing food gathering with nectar.

[@Tr1pleOseveN]

No goal is great because you get to have more action the following round...😁👍🏼

[@dianawinter72]

Did he refer to wheat as a feather?

[@budsticky]

Yeah..and we're at the point where we've just fallen into the habit of calling the invertebrates snakes.

[@montyfarris]

Worms in our house

[@canonblackwell1]

Yeah worms, berries, wheat, mice, and fish

[@sgklassen]

Yes but still not correct, it's "seeds"

[@suorastas1]

Worms, cherries, rats, wheat and fishies

[@Regimeta]

Did you know having the 'no goal' tile increases the lengrh of the game, if placed on the first three goals? You don't place a cube there, meaning the game lasts longer. I really dig that, as having 3 more turns rewards a LOT more than the measly 4 points you can get from the first goal.

[@rickadam6051]

I was gonna comment and say the same thing

[@ESCTom]

wow didnt think of that. thats actually awesome

[@dianawinter72]

Another example of why he said it is easier

[@ohsnapfab6362]

We have always thought the game was just a tiny bit too short and houseruled it so that for two of the four goals we place an egg from the supply as marker instead of a cube, to us that feels much more rewarding

[@ericmartel7192]

I appreciate the fact that you didn't just shower it would praise simply to appease the masses. Thank you for that

[@GGdeTOURS37]

I LOOOOVE Tom Vasel and here again he said EXACTLY what I think about the Oceania expansion: ---> Positive: - GIMME MORE BIRDS! Yes! Together with new powers, new end of turn objectives and new bonus cards! - THE NEW BOARD IS GREAT! Yes! For a better balance between forest, grass & water! But not as clear as the old one! ---> Negative: - NECTAR HANGOVER! Well, an interesting idea but too easy and too much! - NECTAR STRANGE RACE! Like Tom I really don't see the point here! So I completely agree with you Tom! For info we play with 3 new dice and 2 old dice to slow down the Nectar avalanche! ;) Keep the faith Tom! I'm fan!

[@dpearson588]

Seems like the new board is to try to balance the game a little better in that eggs are harder, also get food out there faster so the game can be a little more fun

[@zaumka99]

I like the idea. Last round almost always involved eggs, and very few eggs played early, as you are desperate for food and cards. Now seems more balanced. Eggs harder to get, food and cards easier. Plus nectar bonus for them. So overall usage is more balanced it seems. I am worried about the power "every time a player lays egg, lay one egg ...". It was relatively powerful before. But now becomes much more powerful. Having the that, I generally don't like pink cards as they depend on other players. So I am ok with making me more incentivized to use such a pink card.

[@BenjaminH_48]

I like the new boards for buffing the food and get cards actions and nerfing the lay egg actions. Plus I like the way you can spend a food to refresh shown cards and birdfeeder. New birds, new round end goals, yellow eggs: all awesome! I don't love wild food token and I could not care less about the game end goals for nectar token used. I get that food was the hardest resource to score with in the game, but wild food token is strong enough by itself...now using more of these lead to potentially more points in the end...it feels overpowered and way to easy to get (1/3 odds per die)... I also heard that some people had no nectar left before the end of the game. I'll probably try some variants I heard about...use only 2 new dice mixed with 3 dice from the original game to reduce nectar....maybe ignore completely the game end nectar score...I don't know. Great review

[@budsticky]

Jamey Stegmaier also suggested that you could take out the few birds that deal directly with nectar and just play with all the rest of the bird cards/goal cards from Oceania. I'm going to give that a go this weekend. I tried the mixing dice variant last weekend and it was still pretty much a free for all. In fact, I might go back to the old boards with the Oceania stuff minus the nectar. I like the tightness of the food and bird availability. You have to consider your engine more. With Oceania and the new board I felt like it was just a race to get nectar and put out more and more birds.

[@BenjaminH_48]

@@budsticky Yeah, I might also try keeping the new boards (which I feel are more balanced by nerfing the egg action) but ignore anything related to Nectar. We'll see!

[@LipziG3R]

@@BenjaminH_48 Hey. So, have you tried some of the stuff? I'm thinking about getting this expension but I really don't like the heavy focus on nectar. But I really love the new board with its balance changes, since the old one definitely has some issues with the egg focus.

[@BenjaminH_48]

@@LipziG3R I feel like it is not as bad as I expected but I didn't play it enough to be sure about that. There was a thread on BGG about mixing the dice that led to great results also. Some other players also changed a rule that the "wild icon" does not apply to Nectar. Overall, the expansion is worth it since nerfing the eggs was a necessity. Plus, if you play with Nectar, I'd recommend to remove the Ravens - they are OP with that expansion.

[@LipziG3R]

@@BenjaminH_48 Ok. Guess I'll get it and test some of the "house rules", then. Thanks for the response. :)

[@thekarlwithak]

We've been enjoying using the no goal tile to increase the overall number of actions throughout the game.

[@budsticky]

I felt much the same way about the nectar. Between the nectar, the new boards, and the area majority bonus it took the game in a direction I didn't personally enjoy. It's like a free for all where you can do anything. We had many games where players had just one or two eggs at games end. I know that when the base game came out people complained about the egg spamming strategy but I feel the European Expansion helped that. With the new board and the easy availability of nectar, eggs are an afterthought for anything other than being able to play more birds. I also enjoyed the tightness of the bird feeder. I enjoy the meta game of who is going to take the one piece of food that is going to allow for a re-roll. That all went away with this expansion. That said, I do love the new birds and the game end goals. I think what I'm going to try is doing as Jamey Stegmaier suggested in the Wingspan Facebook Group. I'm going to remove the few birds that deal directly with nectar, take the nectar out entirely, and play on the old boards with all the rest of the stuff from Oceania. Haven't done so yet but I'm anxious to try.

[@gregoryrousseau5155]

Good idea!

[@domoredujordan]

You are spot on. Also, I wonder how it would be if you simply played with the houserule that the nectars are just berries?

[@halt1931]

@@domoredujordan Personally, I feel like you could make it so that instead of gaining points for using the most nectar at the end of the game, you lose points if you used the most, because of how strong it is

[@Calistake047]

I think the new boards are supposed to fix the dominant egg galore strategy, particularly towards the end (since pretty much everyone's last action is always laying eggs).

[@pizdamatii5001]

i heard that as well. do you know if it works?

[@Calistake047]

@@pizdamatii5001 Haven't played it yet, so I can't say

[@marvindunze8482]

I played a few rounds of it and for us it did fix it. It also comes with the new goals etc tho. I felt like there was still a purpose to try to get out a last minute bird or use a different engine like e.g. getting new cards and tucking them under birds, instead of getting eggs. I feel the game got more versitile.

[@varianor]

It does exactly that. Also the option changes on the player boards are really neat. I like the versatility of nectar, plus the added strategy of placing it in your bird sanctuary.

[@toeptafeltinus]

We played a game where the nectar could only be used for nectar or the wild symbol. This only presented one problem that it was hard to add nectar to a sector later in the game.

[@cameleonfleuri]

That sounds like a good ideai! Do you still play it like that or have you found a better way to reduce the excessive power of the nectar ?

[@ESCTom]

As fun as the component drop is, that panning over the contents is much, much more useful

[@watcherfox9698]

The music doesn't feel right with a pan over like it does with the component drop. Though part of that might be due to me being used to that way.

[@ajynotna]

I miss it too...🥺

[@caitlinsticco8008]

I hated the component drop--not only could I not really get any useful info from that visual, but it also made me anxious everytime to see a game treated like that. It also seemed like a pointless cheesy gimmick, and I like the new more functional view of the bits so much more!

[@draheim90]

Just played Wingspan for the first time tonight with four other people who had played it multiple times. Didn’t know we were playing with expansions (EE and OE) until halfway through and they explained nectar was added in OE. Definitely struck me as an unnecessary addition and made playing birds too easy, as you mentioned. Someone even played a bird that gave them a nectar once per turn when someone else grabbed one so they were living easy. But even that wasn’t enough to stop other players from grabbing nectar given how powerful it is (and also prob not as worth it to deny people at your detriment in a 5p game). Having nectar also meant we didn’t want to grab food until we could reroll…and I think throughout the game there were two food types I never even grabbed.

[@brandobombchu8827]

The balancing of the game is what Tom said he wasn’t knowledgeable enough on, and I completely understand why he wouldn’t like the nectar, but it really did balance out the points in investing in food and card drawing. I can’t imagine going back to the base game where egg engines reigned supreme.

[@justinsmith5582]

Need some of the new boards without any of the nectar stuff on there.

[@andrewj9501]

Thanks for the review Tom. We have considered Wingspan and the Oceania add-on. Looks great. Feedback from others indicates there are plenty of alternatives re the nectar. As an Aussie (Tasmanian) I have to say keep up the practice in pronouncing Emu (not Emoo)! Good job.

[@duncancole1742]

As a Kiwi(!) I'm glad he didn't try to pronounce Kererū! :)

[@MaruelZain]

*Build* a bird!! (10:48) 😃 I always try to make my partner say "attract" instead of "build" a bird, with no luck obviously 😂

[@adrianhawley91]

Is it possible to use only the birds in Oceania by either excluding those that use nectar, or allowing fruit to be used instead of nectar?

[@1MrJava]

Question for Tom? Would you simply be able to ignore the "Nectar" and just say that whenever you would see or add one (via dice or card) that it is a fruit instead? Then it isn't a "wild" and you can always trade 2 of any 1 food for another food you needed. Ignore the Nectar End. Game Bonuses. I guess the other option could possibly be to treat the nectar as regular food and NOT a wild.

[@lekahuna]

There are only a few Oceania birds that require nectar. I remember Jamey said you can easily sort them out and play with the old boards and without nectar, but with the majority of the new birds, if you like.

[@stephenrace6084]

Appreciate the nixing of the component drop! I like the panning quite a bit more.

[@dansioui9819]

We have played with this new expansion a lot and have found this to be the best use of it: -original player boards -use all birds -use 2 new dice and 3 original dice -include new goals We don’t miss the majority competition for the most nectar per habitat.

[@bradymccann]

Mixing of the dice sounds like a great house rule. I wonder what Stonemeier would say about that

[@ESCTom]

Yea I dont get the nectar scoring thing. You already have an advantage if you have an engine that gives you nectar, and then you add on that you get bonus points for having that advantage

[@TheGameBoyGeeks]

Hi Tom, you can always mix in the non nectar birds, and just leave the 17 or however many there are with the extra boards and nectar. Jamie mentioned to me that the birds are still balanced that way. Maybe that’s how you already split them up but since I specifically wanted to do this I asked them about it.

[@dragonlance6027]

I was thinking about doing the same thing.

[@TrizzyH]

Jamie stonemaier said in a blog on their website that if you don't want to use the new nectar resource, you won't have to..remove the nectar birds, end-round goals with nectar and use the original board and you are essentially using this expansion the same as the European expansion. Problem solved.

[@skylargladden2765]

I unreservedly like everything about this expansion except the nectar. To be honest, I have waffled back and forth on the nectar. My initial impression was that I can consistently get out 10+ birds with no difficulty whatsoever and thus it made the game too easy. Also, the end game nectar scoring felt tacked on. My current thought is that, by making it so easy to get birds out, the nectar frees me to focus on aspects of the game beyond just "What can I play?" That's after trying a couple of house rules that limit nectar, and then going back to the game as designed. I was surprised by how much more I was paying attention to bird powers and synergies with the full amount of nectar than I was without. You have to pay some attention in the base game, and better players than me surely pay way more attention than I, but the difficulty in getting birds out because of both food limitations and the tight action economy has meant that those considerations have very much taken a back seat for me. Until now. The one thing I think is a pity is the reduction in importance of fruit goes a little far for my taste. The nectar majority scoring still feels a little tacked on, but not entirely out of line with the overall increase in player interaction in this expansion.

[@ronthal]

I so much want to buy it for various reasons: 1. first for the birds! Never too many birds when you play this game a lot! 2. for the better balanced board (in my humble opinon - we used to mitigate/houseroule this initial 1 food die by allowing 1 free card at the start without paying food for it) 3. to discover the new tiles, bonus cards, end of game rules (seems better than the meh end of turn ones from Europa exp.)... BUT: I found the price tag of Europe waaay too steep for basically only a bunch of additional cards (no one needs this second purple plastic cardbox), and this one is even a bit more expensive (admittedly it has new boards in it). In Europe, this expansion costs more than Zombie Teenz for instance, and barely less than Marvel United full box with its minis... I know card quality is top notch, but c'mon...

[@breezytree8246]

I think if I get this expansion if a bird needs nectar I’ll just say you can use any food for it. Really like the new birds but agree about the nectar. Especially like the new round goals.

[@LipziG3R]

Did you get the expension yet? Because that's what I'm thinking, too. I'll probably use the new board, since I like the balance of the base action on it, but I probably won't really use any of the nectar stuff. Using just any regular food instead of the nectar cost shouldn't cause much trouble.

[@benanddaniellereviews]

I think the variation of egg colors is cute. The base and the previous expansion offered a nice variety of birds already. I like the idea of having more goals to play with for variability. I however don’t like the nectar or more complex player boards. I want it to be easy enough to teach to other. I usually play games with non-gamers and need something with low complexity

[@hhinder5121]

Reduce to 2 nektar dice too make it way more balanced and exciting to get nektar. 3 nektar is still good, I think it just makes it too easy to spam birds. 5 is way too many, didn't enjoy it. I have played about 60 games too find a good balance. Love this game too bits and the expansions together make every game so different. Draw bird build got me 132 points, insane.

[@rb4551]

One suggestion I have seen on BGG that I like Tom is to only include like 2 nectar dices (or 3, whatever you prefer) and the rest are normal dices. That way it makes it rarer to get nectar and as such, there are more situations where birds are not as easy to pay for.

[@mr0santan]

It's just that some birds require nectar, though I guess you could always do the 2-for-1 trade to play them.

[@rb4551]

@@mr0santan yah and you still get nectar, just not nearly as often where its all you need to play.

[@cameleonfleuri]

@rb4551 Excellent idea! I'll do that. Thanks. 😊

[@eliumeldritch]

So I've played this, and am wondering if it would be balanced with using the regular board, but with the new dice and nectar. That way their no area control and the board options aren't as easy (like getting two food on the second space). The board and the nectar together made it feel like it was too easy to get birds out... Also aesthetically I don't like the look of the new board. It's a lot more drab

[@abbyb485]

is there a way to differentiate the expansion cards from the original if you decide you want to take them out?

[@HEMAYATC]

This is a very late response, but yes. The cards from the Oceania Expansion have an OE mark in the bottom right corner to differentiate them. If you look closely, you can see the mark in the video.

[@abbyb485]

@@HEMAYATC thank you!!

[@azdavies87]

Feathers.....do birds eat feathers Tom??? Come on, call it grain, seeds or wheat :P

[@finch9562]

I was taught Wingspan with this expansion and I learned it fine. I also at least don’t mind the nectar.

[@McSlobo]

If your components do not fit inside a box you can extend it easily by creating an insert (a rectangular "tube") from cardboard that fits right inside the bottom part of the original box being tall enough to contain everything when the lid is lowered on top of it. Cardboard used must be rather thin (e.g. 1.5mm or 1/16"), not rigid but quite firm (bends 180 degrees without cracking). Corrugated or laminated (boardgame cardboard) might not be the best choice. If the extension is tall you may want to make a "turn back cuff" to it so that the lid fits tighter, perhaps even double turn back. If the extension is very tall and the cardboard is visible when lid is closed you can fix it by coloring or adding a slice of tape or paper there - easier to have it contrasting than a match.

[@speeding2fast]

Bin Chicken! I knew there'd be one in there.

[@ceciliakaplan6488]

I wanted to love this expansion. Turns outs, for me, its good, not great. Separating the cards, once mixed in is a royal pain. Unlike the European expansion, which is super easy for 1st timer players, means I just leave that expansion in with the base game; there is no need to take it back out. Tom is right, this Oceania expansion is something you don't always want to play with. So, the extra rules, the fiddly aspect of the most nectar bonuses, and the post-game deck separation, makes Oceania an odd beast. If your group is bored with Wingspan, get it. It deepens the strategy too.. Otherwise it's not as streamlined.

[@TheGunslinger019]

I have those exact fears about this expansion. And now I am getting it out of my wishlist. I hope the next one adds more stuff and not complicate things further.

[@CJM3407]

you should try the 'no goal' tile and force it to be in the 1st or 2nd round, you don't spend your cube at the end of the round and you get more final actions.

[@ntmetroid]

Ive been really enjoying this expansions, though the nectar makes it a bit too easy to get big birds. Playing with the old mat feels tougher now in a way that i like as your engine ramps up slower

[@boscoszeto9362]

How about playing with mixed dices? Like 2 new and 3 old one?

[@robinrising9929]

biggest ding against it for me is - it doesn't mix in, you need new resources if you bought fancy ones, and you need new playmats.

[@patrickshaw411]

I could see this (along with the Asia expansion) muddying the waters. I’m not sold on the nectar mechanic as I’ve yet to hear anyone say they liked it. I do really appreciate the board change. Eggs are heavily prioritized in the 4th round and food especially at the beginning of the game is scarce and is something that can often come down to chance.

[@Poiuytrew.Q]

The no goal tile lets you have an extra turn each round because you don’t spend a cube to put on the goal mat.

[@bethbreisnes8121]

Put it in round 1 and enjoy a longer game. It’s lovely!

[@mikak2988]

I hope there’s a Africa and South America expansion

[@rustymandude]

I can put up with the nectar for more ways to interact with people. I agree by and large

[@bensgoogle]

Yeah, I think I will just ignore much of the nectar stuff. Just more birds thank-you-please.

[@LipziG3R]

News birds and the board is definitely more balanced with the changes to the base actions.

[@SPAMsammiches]

So if you want to play the original game rules and have integrated all the cards, do you just discard any that come up that really on nectar or use new mechanics, or do you actually remove the cards after each game?

[@cschwally]

We love it. And with the Broken Token original insert, it all fits (if you take the original boards out)

[@morecoffee998]

I ordered the game because.. I want more birds, but I'm genuinely worried about Nectar, having the ability to reset the bird feeder by spending food tokens, chances are that you'll spend a specific food type, re-roll and gain a wild token that also gives you a majority score at the end, even worse, you will likely want to pre-empt your opponent from gaining a wild resource, even if you can't spend it. Maybe it will help make it easier for all players to get their engines up and running, but the fact that there are birds who also produce WILD resources, simply by being activated, seems crazy to me, especially where there's even an end game incentive to use those resources. Surely it would make more sense to punish players for using them, at least if used as a wild token, forcing people to weigh getting their engine running compared to the end game penalty. It's definitely the most controversial addition to Wingspan so far. If they want an idea for components that could be added to the next expansion; a sturdier bird feeder.

[@zaumka99]

resetting bird feeder is not for free. Have to spend a food token. So I like the balance. We had a lot of situation where the bird feeder was stuck with bad food for both players, and we had to play a game of chicken until somebody had to get the food they don't have.

[@morecoffee998]

@@zaumka99 my point is that you swap a fixed good for a wild one that also helps you get victory points at the end. It's a no brainer if you cannot directly use every dice in the birdfeeder and makes it way too powerful. We've removed the end game scoring and swapped it with -1 point for every nectar used as a wild. We'll probably tweak it at some point, but it's instantly made the game better.

[@Ekumees]

I have one problem with this expansion. When i play this, i shuffle all the cards together. But i really care for my games so i keep them organised and on display. So when the game ends...do i end up sorting the cards out for a couple of hours? Or can i just shuffle ALL the cards together with all expansions and they fit in this european purple box?

[@aznlover89]

Did he say feather resource? :D

[@TylerAndToast]

Huge positive: this adds a little bit of much needed player interaction! Positive: more birds! Indifferent: bird feeder, there was already plenty of ways to manipulate the food. Negative: board is extremely cluttered by icons.

[@conraddevera]

I just bought the game, literally just got home. I have an idea about the other exp, if I buy Oceania instead of the other, does that mean I won't have the new end of round objectives (I don't remember what it's called). Basically I'm asking if the thing that helps the egg spamming is also included in this expansion?

[@S0nyb1ack]

I own the European expansion and it certainly reduces the games where egg spamming in the last round is obviously the best thing to do. The teal powers in that expansion let you cache food or tack cards and it can be sometimes better to get the food and or cards to toss on the birds with those powers instead of laying eggs. Don't get me wrong I think egg spamming is still best over 50% of all games you'll play.... I would imagine those new powers here will have a similar effect (but I haven't had a chance to get Oceania yet)

[@conraddevera]

@@S0nyb1ack thank you. For now, we are still new to the game. Maybe we'll reduce the points of the egg if it helps. But, so far so good

[@CFIStew]

This is a great expansion. In fact if you get any of the expansions this is the one you should get. In the base set, egg engines are pretty much what you HAVE TO PLAY in order to win. If someone does eggs and you didn't you will most likely lose. This is the major issue with SM games. Scythe had a balance issue with rusviet industrial combo. Tapestry had an imbalance with one of the tracks and wingspan it was eggs. now the eggs have a slight nerf, but food got more a buff to COMPETE with eggs. This is AWESOME for this reason, now you actually have options in how you can build your engine. I may go a food engine you may go eggs who wins? in the base it would have been eggs easily but now its balanced. After playing many games of this expansion the wild food really isn't that strong. You can only use it for 3 types of actions. The best thing other than playing birds is to use the upgrade actions on the board for the wild nectar end game points. Along with the new end game bird cards and the cool bird facing and NO GOAL end round goals this expansion is one of the best expansions to any game I've played. The only problem I have with wingspan is the goal cards. I feel like having end of round goals AND goal cards is a bit redundant. I'd rather the cards do something to help progress your engine in a way. For example maybe if a condition on a green card is met then play a bird for free or grab food or something. At any rate this is the expansion to get if you like wingspan even casually.

[@vonwoolf9963]

I love the new boards, the egg engines is nerfed a bit and make ending games more interesting, instead of just laying eggs for most of the last round. But dislike the new nectar mechanic. I wish we could play the base game with just the new boards for example without throwing in the rest of the expansion.

[@TheBrokenMeeple]

I beg to differ on eggs winning all the time............also Tapestry had balance issues with 90% of the game! :P I think with this expansion I'll house-rule elements of it.

[@CFIStew]

@@TheBrokenMeeple the average score is in the 70s with most engines with eggs it was 90s. What’s really cool is the video game of wingspan logs a lot of the online play data. One is very clearly a winner and now it’s not. Anyway at the end of the day as long as you are having fun it’s all that matters

[@finnerikjrgensen9571]

Did he say «gain all the feathers»? 🌾 isnt it wheat?

[@RostyslavNazarenko]

I didn't play this game but if you think wild makes game easier just take 3 dice from original and 2 from expansion.

[@cameleonfleuri]

Good idea, I'll do that !

[@ajynotna]

I think Tom you meant wheat when you said Feather. Next expansion maybe will have feathers now. 😃😃😃

[@elicatusfoster4195]

has no one critisised the fact that there are only 14 yellow power birds in a 90 ish stack, if we're only ever going to see them in this expansion (like blue powers in europe) that's a bit dissapointing; the same goes with birds that eat nectar, although maybe the theming of the birds might explain that

[@yaeuli]

I love seeing our beautiful wildlife getting featured. Most people know about the marsupials but not the birds so much. And not to be “that” person, but it is pronounced EEM-YOU and not EEMOO

[@generalx90]

That’s presumptuous of you Tom, I don’t own wingspan but am watching this video nevertheless ! Lol

[@fester6537]

Same haha

[@Dshado]

Same!

[@soogymoogi]

Yep, same!

[@gamera2351]

Yeah me too. I just watch all of his reviews.

[@hermanpesina6328]

Whats the game above tungaru?

[@koalabrownie]

I thought about picking this up but the nectar thing seems needlessly fiddly.

[@austoncarpenter4702]

Couldn’t agree more Tom.

[@ohsnapfab6362]

Overall we feel it is a great expansion because it increases balance but the color of the nectar though... sore to the eye in comparison with the other colors of the supply...

[@CJM3407]

@The Dice Tower You really need to try out the official Coop variant. All the birds that interact with other players make an interesting game for a team strategy. Might be a good way to teach. Honestly, I wanted to play coop with my wife from the beginning with this game because it felt like you could have that group hug strategy from the get-go. Normally, only play with 2 players, but I think overall, I like the game as a coop over un-interactive competitive. The boards are amazingly more balanced overall, You start getting food a little faster (I felt you used to lose if you didn't take two birds in the original forest near the beginning). Nectars do enable a lot more easy to place birds, but I see that as good, rather than the food you need not showing up over and over. Overall, the game feels more about playing birds rather than spending a bunch of actions on laying eggs for the more points (at the end). I actually felt I could have a biome engine where it allowed me to skip one of the other 1 biomes. This game has always been called and engine builder, but sometimes that felt true and sometimes that felt very false. I loved it either way, but I think Oceania Boosts and fixes everything in the game.

[@jamescartwright1150]

Recently got the base game and after watching both expansion reviews, think I will get European but not this one.

[@boardgamefangirl]

Just got and played this one but makes it I agree a bit too easy with the nectar. I like the cards but you can't just play with parts of this expansion. I think just the base and European expansion.

[@marshwiggle8364]

The concerns you outlined are the concerns I had when I found out about the expansion..... I don't think I like wild tokens...... Hmmmm I'm thinking though. What if you use the old board, the new dice, the new birds, and treat nectar like a normal resource.

[@MrGabibou3]

I think if you do that, nectar will be at a significant disadvantage since only a small minority of birds will use it ( if you play with the base game birds)

[@cameleonfleuri]

You can simply play with the expansion board and all but use only 2 or 3 dices of the expansion mixed with the original dices. Then you'll still have nectar but id be way harder to get. 😊

[@Liechtenstn]

No kiwi?

[@CK-mi3sd]

One of the things I really dislike about the original Wingspan is egg spamming at the end of the game, rather than building new birds. Egg spamming works 99% of the time, so why even consider collecting food and build birds? Egg spamming works if you have a lot of birds in the middle field. Therefore, the entire strategy becomes: building as many birds as possible in the middle field and then spam eggs. The lack of player interaction in this game means that no one can stop you from doing so every single time. It seems that the expansion fixes it.

[@varianor]

It levels the game a lot. :)

[@grisuderspielteufel]

Nice review ... thanks! Now it's not easier, wheather I will buy this expansion.

[@viktorkm]

Agree witj Tome, Wingspan is good as it is. No need to more rules. Just new Birds. If you add this expansion I garantee you that you wont play it as much with new gamers which is the whole point with Wingspan...

[@pierrewhite2062]

Feather=nectar?

[@nadiart-toys4192]

waiting for paradise bird expansion

[@briancherry8088]

If I have to remove all of these new birds from the pile when I want to teach a new player, then this isnt worth mixing in. Kind of like Venus Next... once its in there... its IN there. I think I may pick this one up to play on its own though. It feels like this game mostly replaces the old one, rather than expanding it.

[@beerman2000]

I love your reviews Tom, but you left out the single greatest thing this expansion added.... No more sitting there with 3 crap face up birds. The ability to spend a food to discard the 3 cards that no one wants and replace them makes this expansion a must have, all on its own.

[@varianor]

Yes. Exactly.

[@EikoandMog]

@5:35 BIN CHICKEN SPOTTED

[@boardsandbirds]

All the Oceanian birds are already included in the Wingsong app 😍

[@nitsguy]

Oh wow was that an actual component breakdown shot instead of a component drop?? Tom must really love Oceania!

[@vonwoolf9963]

@@deadeyes84 did he give a particular reason for that? Did KZbin flagged it as PG-13 because of it? xD

[@dsem82]

Maybe he doesn't do the drop any more because the intern that cleans up afterwards has gone to college?

[@killjoysplace]

The only thing I don't like is that the box isn't square

[@barneythecantankerous]

It's crazy how in less than a week this has more views than any of the channels who got early review copies and Stonemaier didn't give The Dice Tower one of them...

[@mr.horseshoe2301]

We no longer play this expansion. Nectar unbalances it too much. Very happy with the base game and European expansion.

[@cameleonfleuri]

You can simply use only 2 or 3 dices of this expansion mixed with the original dices. Then you'll still have nectar but id be way harder to get. 😊

[@spencercapier2258]

You mean grain not feathers?

[@CFIStew]

Seeds technically I think.

[@LuvzToLol21]

@@CFIStew my friends and I just call it wheat

[@CFIStew]

@@LuvzToLol21 ah catan flashbacks!!!!

[@spencercapier2258]

@@CFIStew yes seeds, my bad.

[@namelessfire]

I gotta say, Stonemaier did a great job with this expansion. After 30 plays, I think Oceania has actually fixed Wingspan and I’m so glad it did.

[@rb4551]

Do you house rule anything re: nectar?

[@namelessfire]

@@rb4551 Not nectar. I’ve found nectar to be good, but not overpowered, very well balanced. Nectar has gone over incredibly well because it mitigates a lot of randomness of the bird feeder. The only house rule my group uses is mulligans (which I’m still baffled they don’t use mulligans as an official variant) and occasionally we remove the end of round goals.

[@Vascariz]

Agreed, this expansion reinvigorated Wingspan for us

[@pierrewhite2062]

Less eggs is pretty good for end game.

[@WannaBeRockStar800]

Is my guy calling grain, feathers?

[@west2smojo]

"Gain a feather from the supply"... Uhhh, that's supposed to be grain 🌾.

[@unlimitedrabbit]

The more one says the word nectar, the less it sounds like a word.

[@goobyplsiw3245]

Say what you will, but nectar dumbed down the game too much for us. The new player mats and new birds were more than enough to streamline the (early) game. Nectar being wild, while also potentially earning points was just overkill and took out all decision making, so we just house ruled that out of the game.

[@ServiceDogPuppyRaiser]

So do you use nectar as wild still, Judy don't count for points at the end?

[@goobyplsiw3245]

@@ServiceDogPuppyRaiser We treat nectar the same as any other food. So they're not wild, nor stack for end game scoring. Apart from that, we use all expansion dice, exp player mats and add all the exp birds. And it's just classic wingspan again. They new playermats and new birds were the only boost that the game needed to make the (early) game more forgiving. I think egg spam will be a very potent strategy, regardless of if you're classifying nectar as wild food. But the new player mats and new birds are all that's needed to steer the game away from eggs being the dominant strategy, like it was before.

[@zaumka99]

@@goobyplsiw3245 I am surprised this works for you. There are very few birds requiring nectar. While it is on two faces of the new dice. So with you rules there is too much nectar available, but useless. Seems like a horrible solution to a real problem (that I agree with).

[@goobyplsiw3245]

@@zaumka99 Maybe I don't understand what you're trying to say, or you just haven't noticed yet, but the new dice are practically the same as the old ones. The nectar on the new dice isn't replacing any food that was on the original dice. If you find nectar too easily available in comparison to how few birds require nectar, then you could do a split between the new and old ones. I don't see how any of this is going to drastically change the game. The problem with the expansion was nectar being wild, not nectar being too easily available.

[@Brionkendo]

he just said cache as "KAYSH" 😁

[@franciscommonroig9460]

I think this expansion is great, specially those new boards. I have mixed feeling about nectar. I think that from time to time I would prefer to play without nectar. I think that can be arranged though, since nectar is wild, I will treat it as Any Kind of Food. If a bird ask for nectar, and I want to ignore nectar, just use any type of food. This is our house rule.

[@larrychatfield]

or use 2 of any food = nectar like other things

[@cameleonfleuri]

You can simply use only 2 or 3 dices of this expansion mixed with the original dices. Then you'll still have nectar but id be way harder to get. 😊

[@Vascariz]

Interesting as nectar reinvigorated the game for us. Without it we'd have gotten rid of Wingspan.

[@borreholic]

Even for us, especially as we play at 2 most often, a.k.a the player count most susceptible to "use half of the first round to get the food you want for that one bird".

[@bedwyr84]

Totally disagree, 100% Integrated. Have put the original boards, dice and scorecards into long term storage. Grabbed the folded space inserts and it all fits in the box. Learnt to play the game with Oceania with my sisters.

[@murrayprovan4835]

European expansion is exceptional but I'm sadly gonna have to skip this one. Hopefully the next expansion is better

[@Chris_IsBoard]

Couldn't you say it's difficult to teach (insert game here) and (insert expanion/s here) at the same time to new players for any game though? I didn't understand that criticism.

[@zachoehm8537]

Technically the European expansion does very little to the game, whereas this changes fundamental mechanisms. Or games like villainous, they add villains but the gameplay stays the same.

[@MrGabibou3]

@@zachoehm8537 exactly im gonna get the expansion but wont look forward to withdraw the oceanic birds from the deck each time i'll play with new players

[@zachoehm8537]

@@MrGabibou3 true and Tom made no mention of the new solo for this which is also fundamentally different from the base

[@TheClyd3Man]

@@zachoehm8537 I bet we'll get the solo rundown from Mike DiLiso. That is his area of expertise.

[@vonwoolf9963]

Actually, you can easily teach the game with its expansion Europe, so you don't need to remove these cards each time you introduce the game to new players. Which, when we talk about Wingspan, is a great mid complexity game to teach to (semi-)casual players. Oceania isn't the same, so you would have to separate all its cards each time you want to teach the base game.

[@randydegraaf352]

Meanwhile, us European people with our 'neat' European birds ☹️

[@LipziG3R]

Don't listen to him! We have the Nightingale - we automatically win 😋 birb songs > colourful feathers. I mean ... some of these weird oceania birds can't even fly.

[@harleygrattan2851]

Hi Tom, I think the new board is suppose to give an Australian feel.