#wyrmspan

[greenmagickspolls]

Finspan 🐟🪸🌊

Have you played this board game?

Yes, and I like it!

Yes, but I don’t like it.

No, but I want to play it!

No, but I’ve watched someone play it.

No, and I have no interest in playing it.

I have never heard of this board game before.

Voting ended onDec 14, 2025

[cyan-cephalopod]

I love the -span games they r all so cool. We r not talking about how much I hate playing wyrmspan.

https://thecephaloden.etsy.com/listing/4495439573

[buddygrouse]

wyrm playing wyrmspan

[fictionalred]

Playing wyrmspan whilst it's snowing outside!

[gayhornythoughts]

Great news I have gained three eggs by playing this cave

[thenerdsupply-co]

Wyrmspan

Time Needed: 60+ minutes

Number of Players: 1-5

Replayability: 100/10

Complexity: 6/10

Click-clacks: Like a dragon's hoard 10000/10

Description from Publishers: You are an amateur dracologist in the world of Wyrmspan, a place where dragons of all shapes, sizes, and colors roam the skies. Excavate a hidden labyrinth you recently unearthed on your land and entice these beautiful creatures to roost in the sanctuary of your caves.

If you've played Wingspan and enjoyed it, you'll like Wyrmspan. Fill your three cave habitats with a plethora of amazing dragons from hatchling to ginormous sizes by enticing them with various kinds of food or loot.

This has quickly become a favorite of ours-- I'll probably say that too much because we just love games!-- because we do very much enjoy Wingspan, but we love dragons even more. The game comes with a booklet detailing every single dragon created just for this game.

This is one of those games that will definitely be different every time you play it because not only do you draw different dragons, but the overarching goals for the 4 rounds of the game are different each time you play. Don't get me wrong, I like the old reliable games, but replay value definitely shoots up on the creative ones like this if I'm guaranteed a different experience each time.

So if you're wanting to maximize and build the best dragon enclosures possible or just entice your favorites and raise a lot of eggs, this game has something for anyone wanting to invest the time.

[jones-friend]

Wyrmspan! 🥳

Verdict: Wingspan’s scrappier cousin, for better and worse. You already know if you will enjoy Wyrmspan.

Most importantly: it IS meaningfully different from Wingspan in mechanics.

I love Wingspan. Genuinely one of the greats alongside Dominion and Terraforming Mars. It always feels like eating a well made meal. From the design to the aesthetic to the choices its an all-timer.

Wyrmspan is a delightful game I have a lot of good to say about it. I think Connie did a fantastic job designing this game. I want to make it clear going into this that when I critique a certain system its with love. Its not a laundry list of issues. I liked playing Wyrmspan a good deal and am excited to try it again soon.

In Wyrmspan players take on the roll of dracologists and look to create a dragon sanctuary by excavating caves and enticing dragons to stay. After four rounds we count points. Its similar to Wingspan with key differences in gameplay.

Action cubes are gone. They are now Player Markets. Each round players start with six silver coins. These coins are spent on actions, each action takes one coin. They replace cubes. This means you get six actions on each of the four rounds. It also means you can buy powerful cards by expending another silver AND some effects give you a silver coin and give you an additional action. It opens up the playspace for new options.

In Wyrmspan there are dragon cards and cave cards. To entice a dragon to stay you must excavate a space in one of the three rows. You spend a silver coin, and sometimes eggs, and place a cave, gaining its one time benefit (food, cards, guild points etc).

Once you’ve excavated you may spend a silver coin to entice a dragon, spend its cost, and place it. They can give effects for activating that row, have effects when played, give end of round buffs, or have end of game points. There’s also hatchlings: new dragons you “hatch” by spending eggs and milk. These hatchlings consume (cache) a resource to give you a different resource. On caching your third resource they reach adulthood with a one time bonus.

You can also spend a silver (plus eggs if you’ve already done so) to activate a row of caverns triggering all abilities with the walking meeple token. Each row leans towards a resource. The red caves help with food. Gold caves help with dragon cards. Purple caves help with cave cards. When you “explore” you walk your meeple along that row and gain effects of any abilities with that meeple icon, walking until you reach a stop sign.

This is the brown powers from Wingspan. In Wyrmspan dragons are set down left to right then activated left to right. You gain other effects as well, each row can earn a guild point and lay an egg. You also get endgame scoring bonuses from filling out each row. Red caches food, gold tucks cards, purple discards caves for eggs.

The last big change is the guild mechanic. There are four guilds that each prioritize a resource. Whenever you gain a guild point you gain the resource of the space you moved onto. For example the first space is always lay an egg. With the brown spaces offering more powerful plays like free dragons or high endgame points.

The guild mechanic really greases the wheels of the game. It kept me from spending an entire action on one draw. It gives consistent and variable value that gives the extra little bit you need to make your strat work. Its scrappy, but smart in that it prevents you from taking dud turns.

I also found the art to be a delight. Storybook art of dragons in a style similar to but differing from Wingspan. Charming entirely. I love them.

So Wyrmspan’s scrappiness is what sets it apart from Wingspan. It is where the game is strengthened and weakened. I like the guild points freeing up actions, I like actions as coins to be spent or gained, I like that excavating caves bounces you into playing dragons. I like it.

It also undoes some big brain choices by Wingspan. You no longer build left to right to activate right to left, you don’t have that nuance in playing cards down. You also don’t have the trade off of less actions with a bigger boardstate.

But none of that hindered the experience. Its just different. And different is good. I mean it when I say you already know if you want to play it. If Wingspan but dragons is appealing to you then you should buy it! It certainly justifies its own existence next to Wingspan on your shelf. You’ll have a lot of fun! If you don’t feel much one way or another the game won’t change your mind.

But I had a fantastic time and will be playing it again soon.

[theindoorsman]

So, the expansion is going to be live action?