Wyrmspan, successor to bestselling board game Wingspan, doesn’t stray far from its turf

polygon.com:

Unless you’ve actually been stuck outside watching birds for the past five years, you’ve probably heard of Wingspan. This aviary-themed board game has sold over a million copies and ignited a new wave of nature-focused tabletop designs with unusually broad appeal. Now, birds are out and dragons are in, as Stonemaier Games’ Wyrmspan is mostly a return of the comfortable gameplay we’ve become accustomed to, albeit with a fresh cast of scaly winged beasts.

As a bit of a surprise, Apiary designer Connie Vogelmann is helming this new venture. Wingspan creator Elizabeth Hargrave returns in a supporting role as developer, creating a powerful duo to usher in this new release. Much is familiar. You are once again collecting creatures to fill out a sanctuary. These are attained from a central market that all players select from. They’re played from the hand to personal boards that depict colorful cave sanctuaries. Dragons — like Wingspan’sbirds — facilitate the construction of ability combinations for cascading point scoring. They can also lay colorful eggs, which are spent alongside other resources to coax new dragons into the habitat. The pastoral illustrations remain beautiful and central to the experience. It’s still a warm game, despite the new coldblooded cast.

The allure is the transition to a setting that has stronger pop culture pull. The overall vibe ties in to properties such as Game of Thrones, the new Netflix film Damsel, and even the surge in popularity of Dungeons & Dragons. These mythical creatures have been propped up in the media, whereas birds are often viewed as mundane and bland. This is an enormous part of Wyrmspan’s success as it commits wholeheartedly to this fantastical backdrop.

Many of the actions and activities are framed in this new environment. Instead of simply triggering each row of birds to benefit from their ongoing effect, players now utilize an explorer that trudges through caves where the dragons are nesting. Before you can do this,