Having a good card engine lets you find the birds you actually want to play often while scoring tuck points.

Cards: This is the most important resource.

More specifically, you want powers that generate additional cards, food, and eggs.

Brown- and pink-power birds are ideal in the early game, when there is more time to trigger their powers.

Ideally you want to plan out your first few turns. Consider whether one of your bonus cards aligns with later end-of-round goals as that increases its value.Ĭross reference the end-of-round goals and the above information with your hand and the birds in the tray. You should think of the bonus cards as private end-of-game goals. In 2 or 3 players game, goals are equal, as the 2nd and the 3rd prizes grow at the same speed as the 1st.

In 4-players games, weight the later goals more heavily since they are worth more points there's nothing wrong with skipping the first goal or two if it means positioning yourself to win the last ones.

With all of the above in mind, specific pink-power birds become stronger too, as opponents are forced to take these actions or forgo end-of-round goals.

Location-based goals (eggs or birds in specific habitats) means the flighty birds (birds that move from one habitat to another) are stronger.

Consider which nest goals exist and learn more on keeping and playing birds with that nest type.

Three or four nest-specific goals means the wild-nest birds are stronger.

There are many other important considerations: These are both oversimplifications, as, generally speaking, you will build birds in every habitat and take every action over the course of most games. Lots of bird goals? Investing more in the forest may be better. Lots of egg goals? Investing more in the grasslands may be a good idea.

When the game starts, take the time to analyze each of the end-of-round goals, as they will heavily shape what to go for. There are, of course, exceptions to this, e.g., if you need to move up in the rankings for an end-of-round goal.

Play that pink-power bird as soon as possible so that it may be triggered more times. Play that brown-power bird before you take an action in its row so that you get more from the action. So, generally speaking, you want to get the most out of every action. Your most limited resource is actions, as you are limited to only 26 (8+7+6+5) of these each game. At its core Wingspan is an engine-building resource-management game.

Wingspan bgg