Starling Games | Everdell: Spirecrest 2nd Edition Expansion | Board Game | Ages 10+ | 1-4 Players | 40-100 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

This review might also contain pictures that include components that ship with the Collector’s Edition of Everdell – Spirecrest.

Its not a bad expansion but it takes the focus away from the heart of what everdell is and forces you to focus on trying to get pearls to satisfy events. Depending on which out of the three cards you choose, Rugwort will receive a set amount of point tokens. e. the rabbit who will bravely hike across the trail, unearthing new and mysterious locations along the way. For an entirely different reason, I must express my gratitude for this little pack: the rat meeples are definitely in my top 3.Personally, I welcome the added nuance and depth that the Spirecrest expansion brings to the game table when playing Everdell solitarily. Next, you will separate the Discovery Cards into their three categories of Foothills, Peaks, and Ridge. Our ultimate guide to board game cafes has everything you need to know about what a board game cafe is, or how to find one in your area! This expansion features a new Mountain board, Discovery cards, Weather cards, Big Critters, Maps, and Expeditions! I was convinced that Grim was going to drive us to our deaths, but by some miracle we survived the frigid road of the Bellsong Trail, and then the treacherous climb up the tower of Stormvale.

On paper though, when compared to its forbearer it seemed that Spirecrest was indeed a much more evolved addition to the core game experience. We left the Events on the board, but there was never a moment where selecting one was more lucrative than pushing toward Pearlbrook’s Wonders or one of Newleaf’s Visitors. As noted in the setup section, there is always one more Map Tile than number of players playing so even the last person to Prepare for Season still gets a choice of tiles. Season cards now effect gameplay, putting players through blustering blizzards or ferocious floods as their brave meeple soldiers on.

This massive expansion introduces beautiful new scenery, another oversized specialized meeple—the Rabbit Traveler, several tokens and cards, and, of course, the OVERsized (and wonderfully adorable) Big Critters. The twenty new cards drew players into the new locations and options by earning and rewarding pearl collection. We then moved to Spring and the Weather Card stated that at all locations we had to take one less resource or card. Having the player choose which map tile to keep versus leave behind for Rugwort’s shady critter provides a much needed sense of control and tactical consideration, as you ponder over what will benefit you versus providing the scruffy rat with precious end-of-game victory points. If you’ve ever played Viticulture, it is similar to the Grande Worker or the Special Workers in Viticulture: Tuscany Essential Edition.