Actually our second game, but after I poorly explained the not fully understood rules, we cannot count the first one.
View from the top. The board is busy, but clear and after just 2 games, we are feeling pretty comfy with it (except the tree might have to go).
Simple enough to learn, thanks to a very nice and clear rule book, Everdell is deeper than it looks. There is a lot to think about in this game. Comparing it to 7WD, our current staple, it is a bit like playing the third age over and over. This is because not many cards in Everdell are one shot play and forgets and there are a lot of cards. Even the ones that are one use can often be replaced or discarded. Mastering the combinations, synergies and play order is a life’s work and that is the secret.
You start as a any small animal in winter would, thin on resources and options. This does not last long. By the Spring season you will either have something built or be on the way to something pretty big.
I was dealt the Palace and the Queen (honest, I shuffled the decks really well). This is one of those times where you probably wish you knew more about the game, because I doubt I will be this lucky again for a good while. This meant that I did little in Winter except collect resources (poorly), so I could roll these out.
Meg on the other hand build the Storehouse, which turned out to be a real giver.
In Spring, Meg again became the hoarder, I built my Palace, a farm and was well on the way to some other good builds. Meg was ahead of me in both number of builds and resources, so I was hoping that the quality and synergy of mine would pay off.
Lesson learnt; many way to win.
In Summer, we both started to warm into the process. We both missed combinations, but at no point in the game did we feel either left behind or systemically lost. Meg cashed in a stack of stuff, build a bespoke combination of constructions and critters and I added a Carnival, Juggler, Wife and a few others.
In Autumn, I finished badly. I had drawn the Amilla Glistendew Legendary critter card, that I mistakenly played free because I had the Queen (instead of replacing her). My problem, other than unintentionally cheating, was that I had again (like the first game), built all 15 spaces of my city, and a Lookout, way too soon. I still had a three meeples to play and a few resources. I had simply jumped too soon.
The meeples were not a major issue. I had actually qualified for a couple of events and had a few useful cards to place meeples on (some wasted by not having space).
Note to self; “Self, stop filling your city before the middle of Autumn. You have time”.
Meg did not actually fill her city completely, but still played a more balanced game.
Final (adjusted for cheating - minus Queen) Meg 39, Me 42.
We agreed it should be a draw, because of other factors not played through.
Take aways after the game;
Unlike 7WD, this is not a linear game with set processes as much as a “make of it what you can” sandbox style game. Sure there are seasons, mimicking the three ages, but that is really where the comparison ends. In that respect it is closer to Wingspan.
Where it differs (for us) to Wingspan is in the focus. The feeling of connectedness between the various cards, the board and the seasons was much clearer. Wingspan can feel like a bird appreciation excursion mixed with some hard to remember/translate icons and processes, rather than a straight win/lose game. Often the score almost seems irrelevant in Wingspan compared to game play (nothing wrong with that), where 7WD is all about the result.
Everdell for us falls somewhere in the middle. It feels looser, less aggressive or overtly confrontational than 7WD, but much tighter and more focussed than Wingspan. As we play it more, we will get a better handle on where we are at different points in the game, which will likely help us play more decisively and formulate better plans. It is surprising how you feel relatively powerless in the Winter season, then how much you can extract with some thought then and later.
Adding the Legends pack was a calculated risk, that won me the game as it turns out, but it did not feel like it unbalanced anything (see score). If you take out my luck with the Palace/Queen/Glistendew combo, Meg actually won the bulk of the game on effectively her first try. The Extra Extra pack blended in seamlessly.
Our Wonders games are, with few exceptions, very close in points, usually under 10*, mixed in with a few last gasp science or military victories (still lop sided in both). Meg suffered an 80-27 loss recently that we put down to the worst run of luck we have seen.
Everdell controls this well, making it very unlikely your opponent can run away with the game. Even if you are well behind coming into Autumn, this last season can offer almost as many opportunities as the previous three combined. In this way, it reminds us of Catan, which always leaves the door open for a storming come back.
Other thoughts.
The twig icons tend to blend into the art occasionally, but the number is clear, so you don’t miss that there is something there.
The tree is lovely, but dominates the board. We push it off the board, placing the event cards on the “roots” and the meeples still on the tree (at least until we can remember the seasons better).
There is so much, to explore especially for two. In a game we do not tap even half of the deck and in the two games, we came across quite different feeling options. Add this to forest and special event cards and the game has a lot of re-playability as is. Adding the little expansions as I did only made it deeper.
The cards fit into the dispenser-tree and the game insert with sleeves on. Brilliant.
*I even recently won three games in a row with a total spread of less than 10 points and almost lost one to a military victory. When Meg got the initiative back, she thumped me with a decisive military victory.