1kid1kad1 wrote: ↑18 July 2025, 11:48
Hello dear wingspan players,
If anyone has the time, I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this game I played. I feel like it was winnable but I don't really know what I could've done better. So if you guys see any major blunders, advanced ideas or calculations - let me know!
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=702791025
I wonder if it would have been better to keep 2 birds so that you could toss one for a fourth invertebrate (Assuming you gained the second to use to buy Swift then discarded that bird to get your third and fourth invertebrate.) There's 4 in the feeder, so I don't see it being unlikely that you could get 3 of them (plus the dice can be rerolled even if they were emptied, so there may be more to go.) Since the only two types of food you have reason to care about as this stage were invertebrate and (probably) fish given the strong possibility of getting Loon down the line (confirmed more confidently when your opponent played their second Wetland bird Wilson's Snipe), the ability to effectively give up one food to get an Invertebrate seems useful.
Anna's Hummingbird should not have been played with a Fish given that would be used for Common Loon. Given it was in the tray from the start and has good synergy with migratory birds like Swift that's something you should have been able to see coming, especially since they had 2 wetland birds already.
The turn you play Violet-Green Swallow you reduced yourself to 1 egg, forcing yourself to only draw 1 card for your last turn in round 1. I believe you would have been better off drawing 2 cards in the wetland on that 7th turn instead and moving Swift to the Grassland, then laying 3 eggs to move it to the Forest. You now have 1 extra card you could toss in the Forest for a good if you so desired and more eggs. On top of that, the turn you'd lay eggs would let Hummingbird get you a food. Since you tossed fish for it earlier Hummingbird would correct the problem by grabbing fish from the feeder. You would be able to play Loon and Swallow in round 2 before gaining food, meaning Swift could go to the Wetland with Loon so you don't have to pay an egg to draw 2 instead of having Swift awkwardly stuck in the Grassland after escaping the Forest.
You underestimate the effect copiers, I have mixed feelings about tucking the Gray Catbird, but I guess you thought Cedar Waxwing having an effect that could burn off extra cards might have been nifty to you and 3 food might have been too much trouble in your eyes, though given you didn't go for the fruit to play it I'm finding this less likely and more surprising you didn't toss Cedar after all. I would have kept Catbird, and in your situation upon drawing Northern Mockingbird, I'd have definitely gotten a Fruit to get closer to playing it. A bird that can choose between tuck and draw for points or gaining food like Hummingbird is too good, and it even helps with round 3 and 4's end of round goals thanks to being bowl nest with 4 egg slots for the Grassland. That you would end up losing the round 3 end of round goal is something that probably should not have happened, and even losing round 4 is something you should have had some say in, looking ahead you might have been able to tie it. The basic stat to get you to 4+ Grassland birds shouldn't be underestimated either. Throwing it away was a major mistake.
You end up in a position where you play a card as underwhelming as Barrow's Goldeneye and it's probably the best you can do. It's worth 5 points, +2 for Historian and -1 for the egg loss. The 4 egg slots it opens are probably more valuable than its effect, which is probably redundant since odds are your heavy Grassland usage will fill out the slots regardless.
You may as well have moved Chimney Swift to the Grassland and paid the extra egg to drop Common Crackle in slot 4, the extra egg you'd get in the Grasland should easily cover the cost, though you'll still have to hope to open the egg space to make use of that in the first place. You're never using the Wetland again, so moving it there doesn't do anything, any drawing you'd need is covered by Swallow's tuck and draw. The first food you grabbed in round 4 was an invertebrate, but in light of your main bird to play being Baltimore Oriole (or even the Great Crested Flycatcher you just drew and ended up playing) the fruit was the far better choice, given it's harder to get, and in Oriole's case is the higher quantity item. Your opponent ended up snatching it out of the feeder later. You only having 1 fruit down the line due to the reroll instead of 2 (in place of the extra invertebrate) will force you to play Flycatcher instead of Oriole at the end, a 3-point difference after accounting for the egg space.
