Wingspan Asia – The Tabletop Times Review
Wingspan Asia is the newest expansion for Wingspan, but not only is it an expansion that can be added to the base game, it’s also a standalone game for 2 players! Asia comes with all the components needed to play a 2 player game, along with a new mode called Duet. Duet mode is meant to better support a 2 player game by having a side board that you and your opponent will place your respective Duet pieces on, adding an element of area control to the game. When someone plays a bird card to their board, they will take one of their Duet pieces and place it on a Duet space that matches the habitat the bird was played into and one of several other matching criteria (food paid to play the bird, wingspan, nest type, etc). If the space contains a bonus, the player gains it immediately. At the end of the game, players will gain 1 point for each Duet token in the largest contiguous group. When playing Duet mode, the end-of-round goal tiles are replaced by Duet-focused tiles (most tokens on food spaces, most tokens on a habitat type, etc). At the end of the round, the first player marker goes to the player who lost the end-of-round goal.
This expansion also comes with new bird cards containing a mix of all the different power types from existing expansions: when activated, when played, end of round, and end of game, so you get a little of all expansions in one.
Wingspan Asia can also be added to the base game just like the Oceania and European expansions, and with the 2 included player boards, Wingspan can now be played with up to 7 people using the Flock mode that also comes in this expansion. Flock mode is essentially 2 games of Wingspan going on at once with one player from each group taking their turn simultaneously. There is interaction between the 2 groups for end of round goals and certain bird powers.
🟥🟥Kim:🟥🟥
Wingspan is one of my favorite games, and I have the most play counts with it at 2 players so when I heard that Wingspan Asia was going to come with a 2 player mode I was very intrigued. Personally, I never felt that there needed to be adjustments to the 2 player game because I thought it flowed really well. I do like the Duet board because it does add an area control aspect to the game as well as an extra way of scoring – the largest contiguous grouping of your Duet pieces. One of the downsides is that it only came with 6 end of round goal tiles. While they are double sided, you go through them quickly so they can become repetitive. I don’t think I’ll play with the Duet board every time we play because I like the flow of the base game, but I wouldn’t mind bringing it out every now and then.
As for the Flock mode – I don’t ever see us playing it. If we ever had 7 people who really wanted to play Wingspan, I would suggest we break into 2 separate groups to play versus playing Flock mode. My main reason for saying that is even though turns are being taken simultaneously between the 2 groups in Flock mode, the groups will still interact for end of round goals and certain bird powers. That becomes a lot to keep track of when playing with 6 other people and will still likely lead to a higher downtime between your turns. However, I’m sure there are people out there that are looking forward to playing this mode, so it’s great this is an option for those who play a lot of higher player count games.
This is definitely a must-buy expansion for those who love Wingspan and for those who are not completely sure about it yet. You get a standalone game for 2 players for a relatively low buy-in to see if you would like to get the base game and the other expansions. If you only play with 2 and don’t care about getting all the bird cards I could see this being the perfect game for you and your gaming partner.
🟪🟪Devin:🟪🟪
I feel Duet mode adds a nice layer of complexity to the game without diluting the core experience of Wingspan. You’ll be faced with a new factor in your decision to play a bird card: can you place your Duet token somewhere useful? You’ll have to weigh the pros and cons of playing birds with inconvenient nest types or diets, especially later in the game as the Duet board fills up. You may even find opportunities to cut off your opponents Duet pieces from each other, lowering the maximum bonus they could receive at the end of the game! I really enjoy this new mechanic, so I would like to play most of my 2-player games in Duet mode going forward.
However, I could see the argument from the other side. Wingspan already plays fine at 2, so why add this new side board and muddle the core game’s focus on maximizing the efficiency of your bird engine? I don’t have a strong counter-argument for that. I can say that the added mechanics help add some more excitement to the game for 2 players since the bird tray usually refreshes more slowly with fewer players drawing bird cards, and I can say that I don’t think the new mechanics twist the game away from what it was before.
Flock mode! We’re not the target audience for this mode, and that’s okay! I highly doubt we’d ever break out Wingspan for a 7-player game night. At that point, we would split our components and play 2 separate games of Wingspan. Since we likely won’t get a chance to play this mode, I don’t have much I can say about it. Sorry about that!
Love it or hate it: (I like it!), Wingspan is a hit. It’s perhaps the best-selling game by Stonemaier Games, and it’s led to three successful expansions and a place on the shelves of big box retailers. With that in mind, I have to say, this is my favorite expansion for Wingspan so far. Since Wingspan Asia acts as a standalone 2-player game at a price of $45 USD versus the full Wingspan at $65 USD, it’s easy to recommend Wingspan Asia to new players wanting to check out the franchise. Since Wingspan Asia only includes Duet end-of-round goal tiles, you’ll be required to play Duet mode exclusively, but I personally don’t consider that a downside. In fact, if you only play games at 2-players, I don’t see a reason to buy the core Wingspan box at all! Wingspan Asia manages to deliver the complete Wingspan experience in a smaller, cheaper package
Written by Kim Gonzales & Devin Skelton, writers from The Tabletop Times
