This week we have a guest review from our friend Jazz Cruz! He is an avid gamer that lives on the East Coast and loves to play board games whenever he gets a chance! Let’s take a look at his first entry on our site:
It’s time to take a journey into the whimsical world of Everdell, a beautiful forest civilization you have been tasked to help expand and grow. You and up to 3 other players will compete to see which one can amass the most prosperous settlement in Everdell by constructing various buildings and having the forest critters settle into your newly built settlements. To do this players will use their forest critters/workers to visit various parts of Everdell, collecting food to invite specialized forest critters to their settlement and resources to construct buildings. The combination of worker placement, tableau building, and streamlined gameplay make this one a thrill to get to the table.
Everdell from Starling Games, first hit Kickstarter in the beginning of 2018 with backers seeing their copies later in the year. The designer, James A. Wilson, really knocked this one out the park and the artwork from Andrew Bodley and Dann May make this game something to marvel at when it’s on the table. The game has a player count of 1-4 players with a playtime ranging from 40-80min, but I would plan anywhere from 60-90min depending the experience of players and the player count.
I missed out on the first Kickstarter but after hearing the buzz about it and the announcement of a second printing and Pearlbrook expansion hitting Kickstarter I made sure to back it prior to the closing of the second campaign in September of 2018. I’d seen plenty of play through videos but had the chance to do a full play through of the base game at PAX Unplugged with my younger brother in Nov/Dec 2018. Now my brother (15 years old at the time) is the typical teenage boy who loves his PS4 and Fortnite, but he is known to sit down at the table when he visits my house to play a game without any objections so I was glad he didn’t object to joining me at PAXU. When he got up from the table after playing Everdell, he turned to me and said, “You have to buy this game Jazz!” I told him that I would but I had it backed on Kickstarter already, so I’ll just have to wait a few more months until it arrived. Fast forward to Kickstarter delivery day July of 2019 (early according to the ETA) and my brother was the first one I texted to set up a game night to get it to the table.
The first playthrough of the game though was with my wife and mother-in-law. To give you a slight background on the players at the table; my mother-in-law is not a board gamer per se, but if you count how good she is at playing dominoes at a family gathering, she is the one you want to sit across from as your partner. My wife is a casual gamer who loves Pandemic, Star Realms, Carcassonne, and San Juan. I on the other have become a worker placement junky, so Everdell was right up my alley. Add the element of tableau building like in San Juan that my wife loves so much and I prayed that I’d have her hooked, if not I’m glad there is a solo variant and a brother who I know loved the game already. Spoiler alert, she loved it.
Setup and Gameplay
With the game board laid out and the Ever Tree beautifully displayed, at quick glance you will see that in Everdell there are various spots designated for typical worker placement where players will be collecting one of the various resources; twigs, resin, pebbles, and berries. The resources are top notch and the berries, THEY’RE SQUISHY! I’m not sure about you, but this kind of attention to detail with game components really sets games apart for me. As part of setup there are also random worker placement spots that are represented by forest cards that are randomly drawn each game making every setup different. Some worker spots are limited to one worker, while others are open to multiple workers. There are some starter event cards that players can strive to obtain for extra end game victory points, as well as randomly drawn event cards that players can work to obtain before their opponents do. In the middle of the board are a set of 8 randomly drawn construction and critter cards placed into a “meadow”. Each player is also dealt a hand of 5, 6, 7, or 8 cards dependent on turn order. These cards are some combination of construction and critter cards that players are able to build into their personal tableau creating an engine of abilities that make up their unique settlement. The cards you add to your settlement are cards that trigger the moment they are played, some that trigger when they are played and during a production trigger, cards that trigger when other types or specific cards are played, cards that grant base points or end game bonus points, and cards that offer worker placement spots themselves. The meadow can be best described as a shared hand of cards that players can choose to build from and place that built card into their tableau as well. The game is played over the course of four rounds with each round divided into one of the seasons of the year. Players start in the Winter with 2 workers (critters) to place out on the board collecting resources.
On a players turn they have one of 2 choices: choice #1 is place a worker onto a placement spot to either collecting resources, acquiring new cards into there hand, discarding cards from their hand (crucial when there is an 8 card hand limit), or complete event cards; choice #2 is to build a card from their hand of cards or the pool of meadow cards on the board by discarding the necessary resources to add the card into their tableau. What makes the game unique is that players move round to round independently from one another. If you can’t place a worker, play a card, or choose to you can move into the next round which is called “Preparing for Season”. That means that some players will move into Spring (round 2), Summer (Round 3), and Autumn (Round 4) before or after there counterparts. Now when players move into the next season there are some things that happen. When preparing for Spring players acquire a 3rd worker to use in round 2 and their production buildings built into their trigger their production abilities, sometimes giving players resources, coins, card draw, or other abilities. When players move into Summer they acquire a 4th worker and get to draw 2 meadow cards into their hand. Once in Autumn players will receive their 5th and 6th workers and complete another production trigger on production cards in their settlements. So you can see that the cards you get into your tableau can really ramp up and trigger creating chain reactions as the game goes on. Your tableau or “city” is allowed to be at maximum 15 cards, with the event card you acquire not counting towards this 15. What’s neat as well is that there are some construction cards that if already built in your city, allow you to place the corresponding critter into your city for free without paying the berry cost. This neat engine building makes decisions on when and what to build tight.
End Game Trigger
With players moving through seasons independently there may be times that players finish earlier than others. When players can not perform anymore Autumn actions or choose to no longer perform Autumn actions they can pass and finish the game. They can no longer gain resources or cards and wait until the rest of the players finish their game. Once all players are done they add up their victory points from cards, bonus abilities from cards, completed events, journey cards, and acquired point tokens. The player with the most points is the winner.
Impressions
Everdell is definitely a beautiful game on the table. The components are top notch and if you have the Collector’s Edition the point tokens are metal coins instead of cardboard chits. The art work is great in either editions and the resource are the same in both additions as well. The gameplay is very straightforward and streamlined. Players who are new to the hobby or not familiar with worker placement may find at the beginning there is a small learning curve of what they need to do to win, but after the first turn or two players seem to catch on and you can see the brains churning as they start to develop a strategy. This game definitely gears itself towards families but it has enough their for serious gamers as well to keep them engaged. This game I think does a great job on introducing players to worker placement and other players to the tableau/engine building genre. So if you are a fan of games like Stone Age, Viticulture, Terraforming Mars, or Wingspan I think that Everdellis definitely worth a try.
I do think the game shines best at 4 players when worker placement spots are fought over and decisions have to be altered because an opponent took the worker placement spot you wanted or built the card from the meadow that you were hoping was still there when your turn came back around. I still have yet to play a single player game but from what I’ve heard the game is quick, tight, and challenging.
There are some cards in the game that add some “take that elements” but the rule book is clear that if you are not a fan of that it lets you know which cards to leave out.
Expansion Talk
Pearlbrook is a neat little expansion that adds some cool elements without making the game super complicated. Pearlbrook adds a new side board with new worker placement spots that can only be visited by your new “Frog” worker. Players must first be able to meet the requirements to explore the worker placement spots of Pearlbrook which gives them access to acquiring a new resource, pearls. These pearls can be used to obtain the new Wonders that take the place of the base game major events cards. I think the new Wonders are a cool addition and offer much more game changing point swings to aim for when compared to the major events of the base game. The addition of adornment cards in Pearlbrook also add cool cards that you start off with that provide some new and powerful abilities that can help give you a path to start your card engine. While I think Pearlbrook is a great addition, I think there is plenty of replayability and fun to be had with just the base game. So you do not have to feel forced that you are missing out with just the base game.
Newest Expansions
Just recently the newest Kickstarter closed for the upcoming expansions for Everdell. The. Newest expansions, Spirecrest and Bellfaire, add new side boards and creatures similar to what Pearlbrook did for the world of Everdell. It is said that there will be a preview of these at Essen Spiel 2019 and most likely at PAXU later this year to try out. They are set to ship to backers February of 2020 just prior to hitting retail. I can tell you that I did back both of these because I do love me some Everdell. For me it is one of my top games of 2018 and continues to be one of the top for me in 2019 as well with the Pearlbrook expansion.
Final Thoughts
If you can find yourself a copy of Everdell it is definitely one to add to your collection. I know this fall and winter it will be more widely available at retailers both local and online. The Collector’s Edition may be tougher to come by and something you may have to wait until you are at a convention to grab, but man is it a beautiful edition to have. After just one play, Everdell is a game that my mother-in-law says she can’t wait to play again because it left a lasting impression with her, and this was her first time playing a worker placement game but she has played tableau/engine builders such as San Juan and some others.
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