I duck can’t get my tucks

[Ceaseless]

I feel I fail to make the best use of round 4 and even may I suggest round 3. I rarely do more than 2 (often 1) laying eggs action. I definitely recognise the importance of “off habitat” birds. However what you said about laying eggs for an extra card is a move I forget to do. I also take at least until round 2 to have 2 forest birds and not having food access hurts and makes everything so slow. Again on the end of round goals I will remember not to push to hard especially on ones I will not win. It’s good to know they aren’t the reason for an overall victory.

Start with fixing round 1. 2 forest birds is a staple, you need to have your ability to get food and cards operational by round 1 if at all possible. Laying eggs first to get draws is important for resources and consistency. Having a solid start completely changes your options by the end game.

[FrankJones]

Everything you said is correct.

I am not sure why you aren't winning more; you seem to have a firm grasp of the strategy.

The OP of this thread hadn't made any real comments about the game for you to analyze. The person whose post you likely read about Wingspan tips is not the OP of this thread. They were the OP of https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42938

Oh, whoops. Correct, I was replying to what Archisian wrote thinking that it was the OP who wrote all that.

[Archisian]

Everything you said is correct.

I am not sure why you aren't winning more; you seem to have a firm grasp of the strategy.

As Ceaseless said, post a game or two in which you lost but you think you could have won. People are generous with their time, but they aren't likely to go digging through your games history when you can more easily provide a link to a game or two that you think would be most helpful to evaluate.

Mostly because I get screwed in some way or another, either by not having a forest or wetland bird in my opening hand, or just straight up having bad cards for those habitats. I almost always get great Grassland cards, which is ironic.

[Archisian]

Everything you said is correct.

I am not sure why you aren't winning more; you seem to have a firm grasp of the strategy.

As Ceaseless said, post a game or two in which you lost but you think you could have won. People are generous with their time, but they aren't likely to go digging through your games history when you can more easily provide a link to a game or two that you think would be most helpful to evaluate.

For example in this game, even though I ended up winning by a good margin, I was screwed for over half of game.

In my opening hand, I had good Forest bird cards for once, but only a decent Wetland bird (no Grassland cards except for Indigo Bunting). I was wanting to get one of the cheap Wetland cards from the tray so I could get something useful from the Wetlands, such Purple Gallinule's ability is a bit risky. You can get good cards, but your opponent could too. I should have probably kept the Northern Cardinal along with the Indigo Bunting and the Purple Gallinule looking back at it now. But I was thinking I needed to get one of those Wetland birds (Osprey or Northern Harrier). My opponent went first, so I wasn't sure which one they would draw. They went with Northern Harrier. I probably should have kept the fish food token, but I decided against it because I couldn't be certain what the birdfeeder would give me and I wanted to get my Forest bird out fast.

But boy, did the birdfeeder hurt me bad. I didn't have another forest bird, so I waited for one to come out and I drew the Great-crested Flycatcher, which I think is a good card. However, I need a cherry token, which I didn't have after playing the Indigo Bunting. But the birdfeeder didn't give a single cherry token until the end of the third round. I was really frustrated haha. I decided to say to hell with it and just used the extra food tokens I got from Indigo Bunting to play the Purple Gallinule and the Great-crested Flycatcher.

My opponent made decisions though. They completely sacrificed the End-of-Round goals and invested heavily into their bonus cards, which one of them was a bad one (Backyard Birder). So I really got lucky on that.

Another issue I have is that when I see good cards come out, like American Robin or Mourning Dove, and I don't have a Wetland bird, I take them because I'm afraid my opponent will take them. So I tend to panic when I see that happen.

[FrankJones]

If I see the American Robin or the Mourning dove, I'm probably grabbing it.

But all this just proves the point Ceaseless has been making. Get 2 in the forest, one in the wetland, lay eggs. That way you can draw at least 2 cards when you activate the wetlands.

Do this, even if it means playing a mediocre bird in the forest or wetland. Do it even if it means paying 2 for one food.

I tend to be stubborn about paying 2-for-1 food, but, if I save a turn and an action cube, isn't it worth it? Why do gain food, gain food, wasting two turns, when you could just do 2-1 and save a turn?

[Archisian]

If I see the American Robin or the Mourning dove, I'm probably grabbing it.

But all this just proves the point Ceaseless has been making. Get 2 in the forest, one in the wetland, lay eggs. That way you can draw at least 2 cards when you activate the wetlands.

Do this, even if it means playing a mediocre bird in the forest or wetland. Do it even if it means paying 2 for one food.

I tend to be stubborn about paying 2-for-1 food, but, if I save a turn and an action cube, isn't it worth it? Why do gain food, gain food, wasting two turns, when you could just do 2-1 and save a turn?

Very good point.

[FrankJones]

I mean ...

Anyone who isn't sure, re-read this thread.

Ceaseless, a very high rated player, has been CEASELSSLY (Ha ha ha) giving his time and effort to helping us.

And he is saying the same thing over and over.

"2 in the forest, 1 in the wetland, lay eggs, draw needed cards."

Two of the worst plays you can make are drawing one card or gain one food. Do whatever it takes to avoid that.
The action cubes are the most important "resource". A strong score is 90+, in 26 turns. That's 3.Something per turn.


But, those last few turns are going to be your big scoring turns, so saving an extra turn might be worth 6+ points.
Ceaseless is trying to teach us how to play. We should Isten.

[FrankJones]

Tempo. We have 26 turns.
Do we want to waste 2+ turns getting the perfect card or the exact right food? Now we get to end game, and we are one turn short, or we lose by 3 points.

Or, we start a new round, and we don't have the resources or ability to grab and play the good cards in the tray.

[Hexploer]

Again, you destroyed yourself in the early game, with no Forest set-up round 1 despite it being available and a very slow play into the Wetland.


Thank you for this! I appreciate your time on looking through. It’s helpful to know it’s my early game that hinders my other plays. I will be working on playing out 2 forest birds and 1 wetland by the end of round 1 if I can.

[Archisian]

Again, you destroyed yourself in the early game, with no Forest set-up round 1 despite it being available and a very slow play into the Wetland.


Thank you for this! I appreciate your time on looking through. It’s helpful to know it’s my early game that hinders my other plays. I will be working on playing out 2 forest birds and 1 wetland by the end of round 1 if I can.

A lot of it depends on the luck of the cards. For instance, I just played a game where I had two birds in my opening hand that could have went into any of the habitats. Instead of putting them in the Forest, I put them in the Grassland. The reason is that they generated food. So I was laying eggs AND getting food. So I was doing two actions for one.