Tabletop fans who have been curating winning bird sanctuaries in Wingspan and its expansions will now have the opportunity to become dracologists in Wyrmspan, a fantasy version of the beloved board game that replaces birds with dragons.
Wingspan, from Stonemaier Games and designer Elizabeth Hargrave, made a splash in the tabletop community in 2019, earning Game of the Year from Diamond Climber, The Dice Tower, Deutscher Spiele Preis, Golden Geek and American Tabletop. In addition to its various accolades, the game’s popularity spawned subsequent expansions like Wingspan European Expansion, Wingspan Oceania Expansion, and Wingspan Asia. The teaser trailer for Wyrmspan offers a fantasy variation of what made its predecessor successful with fans and critics alike, namely its breathtaking artwork and competitive gameplay.
The gameplay featured in Wyrmspan’s teaser trailer will look extremely familiar to Wingspan players, though the fantasy version of the game offers a few new mechanics like cave excavation. Cards for cave excavation will allow room for additional dragons to be added to a dracologist’s sanctuary, and a meeple adventurer can traverse caves to activate different effects and collect resources. As with Wingspan, this fantasy rendition of the board game runs 60-90 minutes and accommodates 1-5 players.
Artist Clementine Campardou illustrated Wyrmspan and its 183 dragon cards, which boast 35 adorable hatchlings. A focus on dragons marks a unique deviation for Wingspan, pivoting from real animals to fictional creatures. For this reason, the dragon cards featured in the teaser trailer appear to lack the animal-based fun facts present in Wingspan’s original ode to bird-watching. While Wyrmspan will certainly appeal to those already enamored with the existing mechanics of Wingspan, this new version could likewise attract a whole new class of dracologists to the tabletop game.
In addition to its expansions, Wingspan received a digital version available on Steam and various app stores. It has not yet been announced if Wyrmspan will receive the same digital option as its predecessor, but the physical version of the game will be available in early 2024, with launch notifications available on Stonemaier Games’ website. Â
