INTRO
Wingspan is loved by many, as the game is different every time depending on which bird cards are revealed and the bonus cards you’re dealt at the start. The games also give insight into various birds, which you never would’ve heard about otherwise. Oceania is the second expansion in the series, released just one year after the European expansion. The second expansion comes with new features that change the game and player’s strategies.
In this How to Play, I will discuss the new powers and rules of the Oceania expansion. Check out Kristy Hewitt’s post for the rules of the standard Wingspan game.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
The Oceania expansion comes with components that can be used along with the base board game. These include 95 bird cards, 5 bonus cards, 4 double-sided goal tiles, 1 end-of-round reference tile, and 15 eggs.
Most of the bird cards introduce new powers that help you gain food, draw cards, gather bonus cards, and more. With the Oceania expansion, some birds also have a yellow “Game End” strip at the bottom of their card. These are used at the very end of the game to score additional points, whether that’s via laying eggs, playing more birds, or being able to cache food from your supply.
New to the game are five flightless birds that have an asterisk (*) for their wingspan. This means that their wingspan is treated as wild; because of this, they will always fulfill the requirements of predator’s powers and can be used for bonus cards that rely on wingspans.
The Oceania expansion also comes with pieces that replace those of the original Wingspan board game. These include a scorepad, 5 food dice, 5 player mats, and 69 new food tokens called nectar.
The scorepad and food dice are updated to include nectar (which we’ll learn more about below), while the player mats have a brand-new playable action known as reset. This action is in the second and fourth columns of the forest and wetland. In the forest, you can discard one food token to reset the birdfeeder, and in the wetland, you may get rid of one food token to reset the bird tray.
WHAT IS NECTAR?
Nectar is an innovative food token that acts as wild when played. Some birds need nectar in order to play them. Have no fear – you can still apply the rule of using 2 other food tokens to equal 1 nectar.
When you play nectar in any habitat, the token gets put on the left hand of the board in the “spent nectar” section to later count as points at the end of the game. If you use nectar to play a bird, place the nectar in the habitat that the bird is living in. You may think it would be a great tactic to stock up on nectar and wait to spend it in a later round, but any nectar you don’t use at the end of a round gets discarded before starting the next.
At the end of the game, count the nectar tokens in each habitat and award points based on the player mat. Each habitat space rewards 5 points for the most tokens and 2 points for second place. If two or more players tie, you must split the points evenly (rounded down) between them.
GAME SET UP
Wingspan is unique because you can mix different bird decks from other expansions together to create a new experience for every game. Don’t worry, if you want to separate the cards later, there are symbols on them to show which version of the game they belong to.
After you decide what bird cards to use, mix the bonus cards and end-of-round goal tiles with the base game. Then, replace all 5 food dice from the base game with the new ones and add the nectar tokens to the food supply. Once this is done, setting up continues as normal with the note that nectar is not dealt out amongst the 5 regular food tokens. After all players have discarded their preferred number of cards and standard food tokens, everyone gains 1 nectar. And there you have it! Those are the new features of Wingspan Oceania expansion. The nectar adds a fun twist, and the new bird cards bring never-seen-before powers that you’ll love.
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