Wingspan publisher Stonemaier Games has announced a new addition to its hit bird-watching board game. This isn't a full expansion of the engine-builder's decks and mechanics; instead, it's a small collection of cards designed by Wingspan's biggest fans. According to an official blog post from September 22, Stonemaier will release six promo packs - each featuring 25 birds from a different region.
Stonemaier president Jamey Stegmaier says that he worked with Wingspan designer Elizabeth Hargrave and fan creation coordinator Travis Willse to put together packs. Each bird is an existing design that's been playtested by fan designers, and they're evenly spread across habitats, costs, and nest types.
Stegmaier says that no new power types are introduced by the cards. Additionally, the birds are "primarily found in continents already covered by Wingspan, though the birds themselves cannot have already appeared in Wingspan."
"Travis knows the fan-designed birds really well (and he's been involved in designing some of them), so he used these guidelines to suggest a few sets of birds", Stegmaier says in his blog post. "I contacted the designers with the proposal."
Stegmaier confirms that "all fan designers were compensated for their time and creativity" and no AI art has been included in the promo packs. The images are mostly open source, though a few new illustrations have been provided by longtime Wingspan artists Natalia Rojas and Ana María Martínez.
The six packs will be available on Stonemaier's webstore from October 15. So far, only two of the packs have been revealed. Stonemaier's blog shows off the Birds of Canada pack designed by Racquel Mohr Halland and Travis Willse, as well as Sam Gray's Birds of Continental Europe pack. The remaining packs will be shown off in the official Wingspan Facebook group over the next few days.
What's your favorite bird in Wingspan? Come argue with me about it in the Wargamer Discord. Or, for more on the best board games, here are the new board games released this year that are worth keeping an eye on.