Spotted Towhee needs to join the powerful bird cards.

[Yahyra]

I am still not clear - has the publisher of Wingspan (Steigmeier games?) published or notified the game community that the 'powerful birds' cards need to be removed for a more balanced game?

Many, many other games here on BGA (including, T Mars, where Frank Jones and I often post) have miles of reams of forum posters crying out for nerfs and card removals to hear 'sorry, the game publisher does not endorse these changes, so we cannot implement them on BGA".

I am just looking to understand. Thanks.

[Yahyra]

I reread more closely the linked threads, the publisher apparently did indeed approve the changes. The quote was:


Re: Removing Chihuahuan Raven and Common Raven Option

Unread post by paramesis » 14 September 2022, 09:23
I have spoken with the publisher, who has approved of a game option on BGA to exclude the Chihuahuan Raven, Common Raven, Franklin's Gull, and Killdeer from the bird deck. This has now been implemented.


It is interesting to me that there isn't a place on the Steigmeier (Steigmaier?) website where they announce this; it seems useful that bga has developed / balanced their game for them.

Thanks to the folks who linked threads.

[FrankJones]

Correct, pretty much. I wouldn't exactly say the Designer/publisher recommended the removal of these 5 cards, rather, they agreed to allow it once it became apparent how immensely overpowered they are. Without expansions, these cards form a near-consensus "top 5", unlike, for example, Terraforming Mars, where people still debate such things (After typically placing Earth catapult at number 1, though I've occasionally seen people debate that also).

Stonemaier games in general are known to some extent for allowing the collective wisdom and experience of strong players to find significant imbalances that playtesting missed, and allow modifications. Scythe is a well-known example.

Other designers are less inclines to approve balance changes (sometimes to my frustration when the imbalances are obvious and severe).