Thursday, November 14, 2019

Why is it SO Good? (Spirit Island)

spirit island board game set up
It's currently the #14 overall ranked game on BoardGameGeek, it was #2 on the People's Choice Top 100 Solo Games list last year (and is looking to make an equally strong showing this year), and it is my second favourite solo game. Why? What makes Spirit Island so good? I've said it before and I'll say it again, even though Clank! is my favourite solo game (for the fun and deckbuilding factor), Spirit Island is probably the best made game I've ever played. Why? It all comes down to choice. Let me give you an example from my most recent solo game.
Before I go into my example, there is so much choice just in the set up. Which spirit(s) will you choose? Which enemy will you choose? There are A LOT of combinations in this one step!

When playing Spirit Island, you need to balance out dealing with the present and also preparing for the future. You know where the invaders are going to ravage the land next, but you also know where they're going to build more settlements and maybe a guess as to which areas they might explore in. So your first choice is - how many of my actions need to be spent on mitigating disasters this turn and how many do I need to use to change the landscape for the future building and exploring?

spirit island board game cards
Shadows Flicker Like Flames is going to play "Dark and Tangled Woods" and "Favors Called Due." The first choice was which cards to play, but now I need to decide how to use these cards. Is there a place that I can quickly defend before the invaders act? When I go to move the Dahan, which ones will I move? This is a slow action, so I need to wait and see what the invaders do. Do I move Dahan to try and make the most fear? Do I need to move them to safety? Do I need to move them to attack? Also, which elements am I making with these cards (the symbols on the left) that can be used to activate any innate powers that I have?

spirit island board game cards
A Spread of Rampant Green is playing "Gift of Proliferation" and "Voracious Growth." Which spirit needs to add more influence to the board? Do they need to spread their influence around or add it to an existing influence to create a site of power? Where do I need to add 2 damage? Or is it more important to remove blight? I won't be able to activate the second card until after the invaders, so more waiting!

That's what I had to think through and here's what I actually ended up doing. 

spirit island board game
Here's how the map looked before cards were played.


spirit island board game gift of proliferation
Rampant Green had Shadows Flicker add another influence to this space so that they could have a site of power. I needed this in order to play other cards that required a site of power in this part of the map.

spirit island board game dark and tangled woods
I added some defense to this land because they were going to ravage the land here. With defend 3, that would reduce the invaders attack from 4 (1 for each explorer, 2 for the town) down to 1, meaning they wouldn't cause any blight. They would, however, tick off the Dahan who would attack them back for 10 damage (2 per unit), wiping them off the map.

spirit island board game
Like so.

spirit island board game a spread of rampant green
Rampant Green can "choke the land with green" to protect an area...


spirit island board game adding presence
...which is what he did hear to prevent blight from being add to the map.

spirit island board game innate powers
spirit island board game invader
Shadows Flicker then used an innate power to gather an explorer to this space. That way, when he attacks for 1 and does no damage to the land, those two Dahan will end him.

spirit island board game voracious growth
 A new explorer showed up in this wetland.


spirit island board game
So we said bye-bye to his town.

spirit island board game innate powers
Rampant Green activated this slow innate power twice (I had 2 white and 3 green elements played between my cards and from my influence board).

spirit island board game town
spirit island board game town
Bye-bye town. Wetlands were explored this turn which means they would build next time. If I left this town here, a city would be built her. This way, they'll only get another town.

spirit island board game
spirit island board game dahan
spirit island board game fear
I was close to earning a fear card, so I used my last play of the round to move some Dahan, cause some fear, and add more to the pool.

That ended that round and it was time to start all over again. Which growth would I choose? Which cards would I play? How would I decide where the most important places to defend and attack were? This is what makes Spirit Island so amazing. It is a brain burner, no doubt about it, but you are in control of so many aspects of the game that you truly feel powerful. Also, when you screw it up, you have no dice to blame. Just yourself.

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