Starling Games Everdell Spirecrest Collectors Edition

This review will cover the main Everdell game (briefly) and then the Spirecrest collector's edition.We purchased the standard edition of Everdell last year. It has quickly become our favorite game. I have a large collection of alternative board games including Wingspan, Viticulture, Terraforming Mars to name a few, so we know board games.If you're looking for a new family board game, buy it, you won't be disappointed. The object is to build a city containing constructions and inhabitants (critters). You do this by using your workers (also called critters) to forage for resources. The resources allow you to pay the cost of playing the respective construction or critter card into your city (a space on the table) up to a maximum of 15 cards. It's great fun and the quality of components is second to none. Plus the artwork is fantastic.A few months ago I added the Pearl Brook expansion, standard edition not collector's. Its not a bad expansion but it takes the focus away from the heart of what everdell is and forces you to focus on trying to get pearls to satisfy events. We played it once but then reverted back to the base game only.Once Spirecrest was announced I was very keen to see it in action. I didn't back it on kickstarter. Then, my experience with Pearlbrook left me hesitant to buy it on retail.Two weeks ago I played Everdell and the Spirecrest expansion at my local board game club and was not disappointed. The Spirecrest expansion adds a second set of actions to your season and does not distract you from the main objective of building your city. It introduces cards that make your actions a little more difficult and then a second set of cards that give you extra benefits. There are also additional scoring opportunities.The best part is the extra critter types you get and the big critters.Basically Spirecrest is a great expansion to add to the Everdell base game.The question is do you spent an extra £30 for the collectors addition or buy the standard edition and what do you get?In the standard edition you get 1 new type of critter: the foxes and you get 5 big critters. You also get the rabbit critter (for all of the base game critters and expansion critters) who embarks on a journey on the additional game board, you get a frog critter for the Pearlbrook expansion and a bunch of cards. Plus the additional board that fits on the bottom of the original board.The collectors edition gives you three more bigger critters, three more critter types: owls, moles and lizards, the frog critters to match and extra cards.I was very much in two minds about buying the collectors edition. £72 is A LOT of money for a board game let alone an expansion. In fact I have never spent this much on a game and I have a pretty good sized collection. If you love Everdell and play it regularly then buy the collectors edition. If Everdell is an occasional game or just one for the kids I think the standard edition is the better option (just buy it through Titan Games or Chaos Cards, it's cheaper, despatches quickly and you'll be supporting a local small business). The critters are a big part of the game and as always the quality is excellent. You won't regret spending the money and if you go standard you'll regret not splurging for the extra content. I regret missing the opportunity on kickstarter for the base game let alone the expansions.Also, I wouldn't usually buy board games off Amazon. Unfortunately, Starling Games have only made the collector's edition of Spirecrest available for general release through Amazon.

Instead of a mountain goat, two bears were put in ((((It's a shame to pay for the collector's edition of the game and find such a discord in the box.

Having missed the Kickstarter, I was delighted to finally get my hands on the collectors edition 😁

Item as described and was very well packed. Fast shipping. Many thanks!