1. Northern shoveler is a bad bird. Cannot use a precious food to keep that card. It’s 4 food for 7 points and does the same thing as spotted sandpiper, which is 5 points for 1 food. You must be mindful of the points to food ratio. You don’t really need that nest, your other two birds have that nest for the R3 goal.
2. You used a “draw card” action to take the House Finch. The Very Strong House Finch. I am okay with this, even though ideally you get to place your spotted Sandpiper before activating the wetland.
3. Your secpond play is a significant error, caused by the fact that you kept the norther shoveler and no worm. You have 2 birds that require a worm, and you kept a cherry. You should have played the painted whitestart as your first card, then when you gain food, you get 2 food instead of one. So, this is already a game in which you are very far behind. And now you still only have one worm, and two cards that require a worm. I think I see your reasoning – you wanted a cherry for the house Finch. But, that’s why you need to keep only the painted whitestart and the spotted sandpiper, and keep a worm, grain, and cherry. You must examine your starting situation and plan you first 3 moves. Your first five moves should have been, draw house finch, play the painted whitestart, then gain food, netting you two worms. Then play the spotted sandpiper. Then play the house finch. At that point, you have a good bird in each habitat, one extra food, and you’re looking good for the end round goal. Sixth turn you draw cards, gaining 2 cards. Then you lay eggs and activate the house finch, doing a tuck and draw. You might even get a playable bird (now that you have one food and one egg, which would almost certainly win the R1 goal.
4. On your next turn in the actual game, you again did the single card draw for the peregrine falcon. Why? You have a worm. Play the spotted sandpiper. The peregrine falcon does nothing for your bonus card or the end-round goals. SO far you have done a “gain single resource” 3 times, have played no birds (The EOR goal is birds played), and have zero points, and no brown powers to use. Honestly, this game is already lost at this point. That’s too many sub-optimal plays to recover from.
5. Then you played the northern shoveler. You basically traded 2 grain for 2 points. That’s a game-losing error in the first round. A food is worth WAY more than a point in the early game. The spotted sandpiper was the play. You have the resources for a 4th bird, but because of the inefficient actions, you have not yet laid eggs and therefore cannot play a 4th bird, and your opponent will win the EOR goal, which is a 3 or 6 point swing (depending on whether you tie or win the goal.)
6. On your 8th turn, there are two major errors. You took the broad Winged Hawk (why?), and also, you are drawing cards when the round is about to end and put out new cards. The play here is to lay eggs and swap a card using the house finch. You are grabbing cards that do nothing for your bonus card or any of the end round goals. Why? What’s the plan?
Round 2:
1. The wild turkey. It will be awhile before you can play this bird, and then it has no ongoing ability. You need to build an engine with brown powers. You still have the spotted sandpiper in your hand from the start. That’s bad. Why are you still drawing birds? You already have the sandpiper and two birds you wanted enough to spend valuable turns getting them (The hawk and the falcon). And you have the excellent black tern (Wetland only, helps your bonus card, star nest which helps the end round goal).
2. Also, you have the house finch! It’s awesome. Use it. You gain 2 eggs, a tuck, and a card swap. That’s 3 points and a crucial card swap. Instead, you did an action that gives you 2 cards and your opponent 1, and gave you no points and no crucial eggs.
3. And you just took a fourth rat. Why? You have 3 already. You need to get a worm and get Foster’s Tern on the board. You’re nowhere close to being able to play the Egret, and even then, you do not need more than 3 rats. There is no reason to play both predators.
4. Now you play the Peregrine falcon. This bird gives static points if it succeeds. Early game you want usable resources from brown powers. The Tree Swallow should be a priority.
5. You tucked the tree swallow ☹ A high value bird that meets your bonus card.
6. Next is the broad winged hawk. A bad unless you have rodentologist or falconer bonus card. Again, even if it succeeds (it rarely does), you get no usable resource. This is a game of efficiency and resource management.
7. You could have just gained 2 food by tossing the hawk, saving an action cube (by not playing it), and then played both Wilson’s snipe and the spotted sandpiper.
Round 3: You played the Wilson’s snipe. I would not have done that. You need the white=-throated swift – you are going to have extra cards from using your wetland, and it is crucial to have a “tuck and egg” to convert a junk card into two points. If I were your opponent, I would “hate draft” the white-throated swift by activating my middle row. More to the point, you already should have had the Wilson’s snipe on the board, but you played the hawk instead.
8. Now you draw cards, but did not take the swift. This is a significant error.
9. Now you’re laying eggs. Had you taken the white-throated swift, you could have gained an extra 2 points from the lay eggs action.
10. American Robin – Excellent card. Good play.
11. Your opponent is playing bad cards. The two forest cards are terrible. He almost certainly has the bonus card for cavity nests.
12. End round goal goes to opponent again, even though you had enough ground nests to tie him.
Round 4: I would recommend gaining food and playing the Wood Stork and the whooping crane. That’s +12 points and 2 more bonus cards.
1. Great Egret and whooping crane is fine. You get one less bonus card, but you save an action cube to use in your grassland.
2. The Warbler is correct 0 it’s 7 points instead of the 4 or 5 you get from your grassland. But why on turn 4? Run your grassland again, maybe you somehow end up with an even better bird for your final turn. You cannot compete for the end round goal anyway, he has more eggs than you can hold even with the warbler.
I was wrong about his bonus card. Well, despite all this, you scored 98. That’s a winning score most of the time.
I would have played the stork and the Whooping crane.
Egret + Whooping crane gives you 9 points, +4 for your bonus card, and one more bonus card. And you can run your grassland 3 times.
But, Whooping crane + Wood Stork gives you 8 points + 4 points for your original bonus card, and an extra bonus card. You get one less grassland activation, But your grassland is only worth 4-5 points (depending on whether the falcon succeeds.) The bonus card could be a 7 pointer, and you needed to try to catch up.
