What birds are the biggest value? What are the most viable strats to win? Any tips or tricks that would make my plays better immediately? We've started to bet on it.
Edit: For the record this is all in good fun. It's a way we like to bond.
Posted Nov 27, 2022, 4:49 PM UTC · edited
Off-habitat powers are indeed wonderful - e.g. Wood Duck, Killdeer.
End-of-round goals are key because every point you take there is a point lost by your opponent.
Plus, don't sleep on bird points. High point birds really add up at the end. Part of the strat here is to find birds 5 points or up that are cheap in terms of food (the Osprey comes to mind - costs 1 fish, earns 5 points, has an off-habitat power).
Tucking is ultimately one of the best ways to score points but it's very hard to build the engine for it. If you see hints of a tucking engine in your hand before the game starts (2-3 cards), try to go for it.
My partner doesn't necessarily agree with this strategy but it's what I do: I avoid birds that give my opponents anything (like food, eggs, etc.). So hummingbirds for example.
Another card I love is the Barrow's Goldeneye (and similar - once between turns lay an egg). Anything that can move your resources along between turns is excellent.
Thank you for the thorough response, especially including specific birds to watch for. Are there any you'll almost always take? Seems like crows are super value.
Ravens are better than crows, but crows are pretty good because they are still off-habitat.
Here is a list of birds to choose in order of Tier - God Tier being best, then Tier 0 being next best, etc. (Scroll down a ways for the table.)
Basically anything God Tier or Tier 0 is an "always take."
Crows and ravens are nice but useless toward the end of the game— I do love them paired with a card like Canadian Goose though. Tucking is OP in this game.
I wouldn’t necessarily avoid birds that give other players perks because they might be able to play birds that also give you perks. The highest scoring games I’ve had are ones where food isn’t scarce
That's fair, I really like them early game. I'll keep in mind the costs and benefits of having them on my board.
I definitely love them early game but by the last two rounds I’m skipping the power every time I lay eggs (I generally only put them in the meadow) and it feels like a waste— unless I place a “discard food and receive X” before it
My partner doesn't necessarily agree with this strategy but it's what I do: I avoid birds that give my opponents anything (like food, eggs, etc.). So hummingbirds for example.
The key for this to me is that sometimes the food is worth more for you than it is for them. For instance, if they have a robust forest setup and you don't, it can be worth it.
Besides, you can always skip the power if you don't want to risk it.
Plus, don't sleep on bird points. High point birds really add up at the end. Part of the strat here is to find birds 5 points or up that are cheap in terms of food (the Osprey comes to mind - costs 1 fish, earns 5 points, has an off-habitat power).
I have absolutely stolen quite a few games playing a couple huge birds in the last few turns.
Thank you for the tips! I'll make sure to keep an eye out for the birds you mentioned. Any advice on eggs?
Cheap birds that give you a free resource is a great start. Some of my favorites are chipping sparrow, mourning dove, most of the woodpeckers (esp pileated woodpecker), or wood duck. Another key to winning games is DRAWING good birds. Any bird that gives you good draw power is incredibly powerful early game. Birds that say draw 2 discard one, or birds like Wilson’s storm petrel that let you see a bunch of cards and choose one to keep are super helpful to see the best birds to get your game going early
Which habitat would you say to focus first? Assuming you have the birds for any of them and round goals benefit you regardless.
Really depends on your opening hand and what you draw. I personally like to try to get two birds in the forest asap to start taking two dice per activation but that's not always the best strat depending on what birds you have
This is good advice and another great move is to get great draw birds early so you can find good cards throughout the game. Honestly, if you just try to get 3 brown power birds down in round one, you’ll be in good shape to handle the rest of the game because being good at the game means being able to adapt to what comes your way. But with no good bird draw, you never unlock your best potential
Kinda depends where you think you’re faltering. Do you end up with lots of cards left at the end? Do you delay setting up an engine because you’re not sure what strat to go for? A lot of the time I feel like ppl underscore because they’re greedy, they skip tucks because they want to keep the cards they have, they draw late game because there was a puffin in tray even when they already 4-ish cards to play, they go out of their way for EOR at the cost of their engine
For the most part a good tip is to always prioritize tempo and not be greedy. Take the point you can get, but don’t try and take all the points everywhere
Also count everything, it’s easy to realize that taking a 9 point bird and playing it is fewer points than laying eggs 3 times, it’s harder to realize that intuitively when it’s something that spans across 4-5 turns. Count everything
You might find this tips video helpful:
My strategy that pissed off my friends and family and gives me sneaky wins: hoard as much 2-per goal cards and play as many high point birds as possible. Good luck 🤙
You also don’t HAVE to do the brown powers if they’re fuelling his action economy. Cards like Wilson Snipe, for example, that have a decent bird point score for you, but allow for all players to draw a card from the deck, could be making his own actions more efficient. Make his actions difficult to choose which ones to take.
If it’s just the two of you playing, don’t bother with ‘once between turn’ birds, if it’s you two and friends, then definitely grab ones like the Cowbirds, Barrows Goldeneye, American Avocet etc., that give you eggs and ones like Eurasian Golden Oriole that let you take food after someone gains food. Makes your turns easier.
I wrote a detailed strategy guide if you care to take a look: https://wingsplain.com/wingspan-strategy-guide/
Thanks for this, it was a good read!
I play with all of the expansions, so my comments may include birds that are in those sets. In addition to the previous comments, here are some of my tips:
I try to fill up my first forest and grassland spots in the first couple of turns so that I can set myself up to get food and eggs more quickly to play birds. I’ll also try to fill a wetland spot if the card helps me draw more cards. If these are lower point birds that are low in food cost I’ve found thats worth it to get to generating extra food/eggs more quickly.
I look for cards that allow me to draw more bonus cards when played. I tend to play these in later rounds so I can choose what to keep based on what I already have in my habitats or in my hand. It’s usually good for picking up a few extra points whenever I pick up a new bonus card.
Don’t be afraid to get rid of a card if it isn’t a good fit, or if your strategy doesn’t pan out. It might be better used to buy more eggs/food/reset the feeder, etc.
I look for cards that essentially let me take two turns. Cards that take up two spaces when sideways, cards that let me play another bird when played, cards that let me repeat a brown power, etc.
Edit: typo
Thank you for the advice! I kind of feel like I've been shying away from birds without resource benefits/bonus cards/etc. The sideways birds especially. Can you explain a bit more of the opportunity cost of playing two birds vs one sideways bird?
Sideways birds are great for areas you don't have a strong engine and don't plan to build one. I almost universally build my engines in the grassland and wetland, so playing one forest bird and then a sideways bird is a boon to me because that way I have "3" birds in the forest even though I only played 2.
Yes! Perfectly stated.
Think of what you want to do during other player's turn. By thinking ahead you can have a strategy that has both purpose and flexibility.
Just curious, what kind of scores do you both get?
Depends. I average around 90-105 points. Highest I've ever gotten was 125 or something, it was a while ago (I had taken like a 2.5 year break). He'll usually score 2-7 points higher.
If this is base game you’re probably doing better than most of reddit, that’s almost on par with the best tournament players
If they’re playing 2 player, that adds a lot of points to everyone’s score though. You’re almost always in the top 2 or tied for round scores, with Oceania, everyone also gets points off nectar every time. That’s potentially 20+ extra points every game.
Not really, scores are definitely always higher in higher player count for multiple reasons
Eor points are marginal, getting your board setup faster is where the money is and that’s typically much easier in higher player count
It’s unclear if they’re playing OE or not, OE score are much much higher than base and EE, last I tracked it was about 120-125 without no goal and 135 with on average
Jeez, really? I'd say I average about 95. I guess I'm doing pretty good for myself. I guess I'd hope so with how much I've played 😅
I feel your pain! I've just been able to really beat my husband at Wingspan this past week. (Though who knows if I've just drawn some really good cards)
My only advice to add to all this good advice would be to diversify your habitats so that you don't just lay a ton of eggs one turn. Try and play birds to allow for multiple actions each turn (ex a hummingbird in the yellow or blue habitats, good duck in the green habitat etc) that way you don't have to spend a turn getting a single food and then next turn have to lay eggs/draw cards anyways. Before playing birds that can be played in multiple habitats just think about the best outcome. Might sound basic to many of you but I'm slightly embarrassed to say I just learned this.😅 It has changed my game a lot so that I'm able to get more done each turn. It's especially helpful early game when you need food because until you play 2 birds in the green habitat (or are willing to sacrifice a card) you will only get 1 food token per action anyways.
The other thing I would say is don't be afraid to tuck cards, unless they are an amazing card that you know for certain you will play, it's usually more beneficial to tuck than to hold on to cards in the hope that some day you will play them because they are "good cards", especially if you are able to draw another card. Even if it's a nice card but won't fit into your strategy, just go ahead and tuck it.
Focus on off-habitat powers. Eggs in the wetland, food in the grassland, or eggs in the forest. These birds will double the power of each activation you take.
Is this what I should shoot for (if circumstances line up)? i.e. if I can go for eggs in forest I should take it over draw in the forest unless I have some kind of combo or synergy that works better with draw.
Just don't force anything. You have to use the cards available. Draw is often better early because it gives you more options.
Thank you PotlandOR
Either eggs or cards in the forest are worth a lot. Your most limited resource is action cubes. By having one habitat do multiple things you can focus on using that habitat over other ones. Then put high value birds with white, teal, yellow or pink powers in the other habitats.