Everdell

Designer: James A. Wilson
Artist: Andrew Bosley, Cody Jones, Dann May
Published: 2018
Players: 1-4
Playing Time: 40-80 Mins
BGG Rating: 8.0
BGG Ranking: 34
Publisher: Starling Games
Mechanisms: Hand Management, Engine Builder, Chaining, End Game Bonuses, Contracts, Open Drafting, Worker Placement
Sleeves: MEV 44x63mm, TCG 63,5x88mm

Game Description:

Within the charming valley of Everdell, beneath the boughs of towering trees, among meandering streams and mossy hollows, a civilization of forest critters is thriving and expanding. From Everfrost to Bellsong, many a year have come and gone, but the time has come for new territories to be settled and new cities established. You will be the leader of a group of critters intent on just such a task. There are buildings to construct, lively characters to meet, events to host—you have a busy year ahead of yourself. Will the sun shine brightest on your city before the winter moon rises?

Quick play overview:

Players send workers around the forest to get resources for building/hiring cards into their tableau (a max of 15 cards). New buildings and villagers will bring extra resources or end game points etc.

Once a player has exhausted all his workers/resources, he can enter a new season to get the workers back (free the spots for other workers) and some more and repeat it a few more times.

The game is played over 4 seasons and each player can enter the next season on his own time. So there is never the moment that you have to wait for opponents because your engine was not as good as theirs. Well.. except at the very end of the game of course 😊

Final thoughts:

The game starts with only 2 workers that bring you a bit of resources, but if played right, you start creating combos that bring you more resources, which let you play more cards, which in turn let you get more resources/cards etc.

This game has the chaining mechanism done right. At the end of the game you really have the feeling that your village has grown and is full of life.

SCORE:

Gameplay & How often I want to play it: 10/10

Gameplay has a great mix of relaxed building of a beautiful village with deep comboing.

I plan to play this game many more times. As long as I have willing players to play it with 😊

Art & Graphic Design: 10/10

This is one of the most visually appealing games out there.

Graphic design is clean. Everything on the cards is visible at a glance. Only the tree is a gimick that doesn't need to be used..

Rules & Complexity: 10/10

There is plenty of rules in this game, but they are all well conected and make sense. Once you learn the ruleset, the game has a great gameflow.

The complexity comes from the  hard choices which combos will you go for.

Theme & Mechanism fit: 10/10

Players are building their own animal villages in the woods. Lovely.

Sending your workers out collecting resources that will be used to build or attract new villagers, that can move in a specific house for free if they fit the role.. a good mix of mechanisms.

Fun & Replayability: 10/10

If you find enjoyment in chaining actions that bring you more actions etc.. this is one of the best examples of this type of game.

The base game has a nice amount of replayability as there are some different starting setups as well as many more cards than are needed for each play. If you manage to play it enough that you try all the combos, there are plenty of expansions out there to fix this issue.

FINAL SCORE: 10/10