Welcome back to the world of Wyrmspan, a draconic spin on the classic (at this point) Wingspan. Here, we’ve gone from just observing and enticing dragons into our caves to trying to train them, in the brand new expansion, Dragon Academy. There’s plenty of new dragons to work with, and some new things to explore, so let’s have a look at How to Play.
New components
· 80 dragon cards
· 25 cave cards
· 5 double-sided Dragon Guild tiles
· 7 double-sided objective tiles
· 45 training tokens
· 1 new round tracker board
· 1 card tray
· 1 rulebook
· 5 updated dragon cards and 2 updated cave cards
Integrating the new with the old
To mix the new stuff into your copy of Wyrmspan, you’ll need to do the following:
1. Permanently replace the round tracker board with the updated round tracker board.
2. Replace the following 5 dragon cards with their updated versions.
• Chameleon Coatyl
• Mosaic Guardian
• Titanic Coatyl
• Lilliputian Fae
• Customary Grazer
3. Permanently replace cave card 50 and cave card 51 with their updated versions.
4. Add the 45 training tokens to the game.
5. Add the dragon cards, cave cards, dragon guilds and objective tiles in with the respective component types.
Setup Changes
With Dragon Academy, the changes to the game setup are minimal. All you need to do is add the training tokens to a pile that everyone can reach. Otherwise, set the game up as normal.
Rule Changes
Passing
In rounds 1, 2, and 3, on the turn when you choose to pass for the round, place your adventurer onto a space on the updated round tracker board in the section that corresponds to the current round (do not gain the income benefit yet). Once you have placed your adventurer onto a space, no other player may claim the same space during that round. If you choose to pass (i.e., if you have no coins or want to save remaining coins for the next round), that is your entire turn—you may not also perform an action. When all players have passed for the round, take the following steps in order, as shown on the updated round tracker board:
1. Activate all “once per round” dragon abilities.
2. Score the round’s objective.
3. Refresh the display of cave cards and dragon cards.
4. Rotate the start player marker clockwise.
5. All players collect the income shown on the space they selected, then retrieve their adventurer. If a cave card or a dragon card is drafted,the display is immediately refilled.
After round 4, players pass as usual but do not select an income space.
Fledgling Dragons
Dragon Academy introduces a new dragon size—“fledgling.” Fledglings are teenage dragons—they may require the resources of hatchlings (milk or eggs), adults (meat, gold, or crystal), or both! Unlike hatchlings, however, they are equally distributed among all three caves. Whenever your adventurer walks over a fledgling, you may (optionally) train the fledgling 1time. The first time you train a fledgling, pay the cost shown in the left-most box on the fledgling, then gain a training token from the general supply and place it onto that box. The next time you train the fledgling, pay the cost shown in the next left-most empty box, gain a second training token from the general supply, and place it onto that box. You must always train fledglings in order from left to right. When you have filled all boxes on the fledgling, the fledgling has been fully trained! Once a fledgling has been fully trained, its bottom ability, highlighted in purple, is active. Until it has been fully trained, the ability will not be active. These abilities may be “if activated” abilities, “once per round” abilities, or “end game” abilities. It is important to note that the resources spent to train a fledgling are returned to the general supply; unlike hatchlings, they are not cached on or tucked under the fledgling.
Fledglings also score differently from other dragons in the game. Instead of scoring a straight number of victory points, each fledgling scores you 1 for each fledgling (including itself) on your player mat at the end of the game. This means that if you have 1 fledgling, it will score 1 at the end of the game. If you have 2 fledglings, each will score 2(for a total of4); and so forth. Fledglings score these points regardless of whether their training is complete
Free-To-Play dragons
Dragon Academy also has several dragons with a conditional cost on them. These dragons have a printed cost like normal but also have a blue star on them. The star is associated with a particular condition, which is printed on the bottom of the dragon card. If you meet that condition when you play the dragon card, ignore the dragon’s normal play cost. You must still entice the dragon (or otherwise use an ability that lets you play the dragon), but you may ignore the play cost printed on the card.
There are five new guilds which are explained fully in the rulebook, and some minor changes to the solo mode, which are also in the rules.
About the Author:
You can find more of Luke’s ramblings about board games on his YouTube channel, The Game Imporium and as the host of the Bucket List Board Gamers Podcast.
