Everdell Newleaf Solo Review

Everdell is one of the first board games I purchased and part of the primary reason for this was due to it having a solo mode. Yes I know the artwork is gorgeous and huge props to Andrew Bosley for this. If you are a solo Everdell player and are looking at expanding your collection, is Newleaf the game for you?

Content

The first question to address is what does it add to the game and the answer is quite a lot. 59 new critter & construction cards; nine special event cards; three forest cards; two new basic events and a whole new area for the Everdell train station that slots onto the right hand side of the Everdell game board. The station introduces a visitor card mechanism for end game scoring as well three extra slots that are part of an expanded meadow area. There are also additional and optional rules enabling bonus critter movement and card reservation.

Gameplay

One of the biggest complaints about the Everdell solo mode is that special events are really difficult to complete due to specific named cards being required to achieve them. Allied to the fact that each one not completed scores an additional three points to the AI opponent and some solo games can become an exercise in frustration, knowing that you are effectively starting with an (up to), twelve point handicap. The special events in Newleaf are achieved with a combination of two of the card types ie: have three green (production) cards and two purple (prosperity) cards in your city. This makes for a much more even game and a fighting chance of grabbing one or more of these.

The other biggest complaint in Everdell is card churn due to the sheer size of the deck and this can also be an issue with multiplayer games as well. Newleaf increases the deck by 50% but because of the additional three “meadow” slots in the station this partially mitigates it. What completely changes everything is the knoll spot in the station expansion board. You place a critter there, discard three of the meadow/station cards; replenish and then draw three of the meadow/station cards. For one placement you are creating a twelve card churn of the deck and this makes achieving basic/special events a lot more realistic.

Newleaf also introduces visitor cards at the station. There are 32 of these cards with two of them on display at a time. When placing a critter on the station spot you discard one of the visitors; refresh and then choose one. In addition you also take one of the three train car (resource) tiles, which can be a specific resource; a free choice resource or a one point token. The visitor cards only score at the end of the game and you can only have a maximum of three of them. They vary between four and eight points and in effect are mini achievements with completion dependent on the amount of card types and/or colour in your city. I find this helps you to focus on your strategy.

The solo AI will take the highest scoring visitor card each time you go to season and does not have to fulfil the criteria in order to score them at game end. On face value this could be a frustration, but as you have the ability to manipulate the two cards they can take by utilising the station spot yourself it doesn't feel like this.

Newleaf has introduced a new occupied token, “golden” of which you have three and only three to use. These can only be played onto the Newleaf construction cards and are really powerful. Whereas the base game pairs constructions and critters the Newleaf constructions specify either a card colour or card type ie: unique or common. Again this really changes your ability to play high build and point value cards easily.

The solo AI gains a two point token when the second golden token is used and a three point token when the third and final one is used. This balances out your ability to use them whilst still making the AI a competitive opponent.

There are a couple of optional rules in Newleaf of which the Train Ticket is the best. You start the game with one of these and it has an outbound and inbound side, just like a real train ticket! The outbound action allows you to move a deployed critter just once anytime between the start and end of the game. The ticket is flipped and the inbound action allows you to do the same after you’ve moved to summer and until game end. It’s two extra critter placements during the game and allows you to grab those extra resources or claim an event that you maybe wouldn’t have had the chance to do.

The solo AI naturally tries to gain a benefit when you use your ticket and rolls an eight sided die. The score may give them additional point tokens or an extra card in their city, however roll a score of one and it gains nothing. I really like this as the reward the AI gains isn’t too high with the shout of joy when I roll a one feeling like a big win for me.

Newleaf v Bellfaire/Pearlbrook/Spirecrest

So how does Newleaf compare against the previous expansions for the solo Everdell player?

Bellfaire added player power cards giving you an ongoing effect throughout the game; the market giving you a resource boost and a much better (read achievable) set of special event cards. If you are looking for more of the same with a bit more variety then Bellfaire is great, but it doesn't add a lot to the solo experience other than those special events cards.

Pearlbrook is my personal bete noir and rarely gets an outing in solo mode. It is by far the worst expansion to play solo with the AI so stacked against you, I've quit a game several times halfway through. In my personal opinion, unless you like to play games in extreme difficulty mode, Pearlbrook is not the solo experience for you. The Mistwood (solo player) expansion appears to have been designed to specifically make Pearlbook a playable game as well as introducing a whole new solo game mode, but more on that another time.

Spirecrest adds the mountain trail with traveller rabbit critter and expedition tiles; the discovery cards with the wonderful big critters and weather effect cards. As a solo experience Spirecrest is a tough challenge and adds a lot of moving parts into the gameplay. The weather effects are mostly negative events or gameplay penalties and message boards often reference how players have either dropped or modified these cards. The offset are the discovery cards with big points & rewards and who doesn’t love to see a critter in a saddle on the back of a big critter. For me it’s the best of these three expansions in solo mode, but will add a chunk of time to a game.

Final Thoughts & Replayability

Newleaf adds so much to the Everdell solo experience and has really balanced the game out. I now look forward to a game and go into it looking at a challenging but enjoyable game. My games against the AI are higher scoring than previously and with a 60/40 win record but, and this is the key so much more fun. If you are a solo Everdell player and looking to expand from the base game Newleaf is an essential purchase.