Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
Among the additional modules is one of my favourites – that of specific player powers. Each of the different animal species now benefits from a specific power or ability, and it’s nice to see that Bellfaire includes cards for all (as far as I know) of the animals that feature in the base game and all of the expansions featured in this review and released at the time of writing. Also included in Bellfaire is my least favourite expansion – the player boards. These simply allow players to store resources and workers whilst giving them a “start” to place their tableau into – sadly, these stay in the box for me. The final modules of the expansion are the Garland Award and the Market. There are 7 Garland awards but only one will be used each game. They award endgame points for players with most and second most of something. It could be most critters or most production cards, something like that. Garlands are simple, don’t take any learning and could decide particularly tight games. I see no reason to ever leave them out. Personally, I enjoy the thought of the Market since it provides a flexible action location but, in all honesty, I don’t find myself using it very often. I think it would have been more useful if the number of resources you get from each token were slightly different. One token has three twigs on it and a card, but there is already a normal location with three twigs. Sure, that extra card might be good but then the tile swings to the Trade side and that gives my opponent an easy three victory points and two resources if she decides to turn in the three twigs (that she could easily secure from the main board) and a card. First, I recognize how important solo gaming can be within the hobby. I know the original Rugwort solo experience was viewed with mixed sentiments. Too punishing: I think that is the common phrase that accompanies the rat. With Nightweave, however, there is now a solo experience that feels more like the actual game with several twists. Mice: After you visit a Basic or Forest location, you may gain 1 of any resource that you do not already have.
The expansion doesn’t add any new ways to win just changes how you get resources and how easy it is to get events and awards. The replayability of the game is increased with 15 vastly different player powers, lots of new events, 4 more forest locations and the new market space which fluctuates during the game. The game end scoring remains identical to the base game. The Everdell Bellfaire Expansion is a captivating addition to the beloved Everdell board game. This expansion takes players on a new journey to the bustling and vibrant Bellfaire, where they will encounter new characters and engage in exciting gameplay. The cards are much like the Events—they make sense. My favorites at this point include the adorable butterfly Poet who scours the Meadow so well, and the Greenhouse, which shares a space with the farm for some combo-tastic resource options. To be honest, just flipping through these cards made me fall in love with Newleaf and the ‘Dell all over again. Fear not the absurdly overexpanded play. I doubt I’ll try it again soon, but it was interesting! SettledThese boards may be used as an area to store resources, workers, and point tokens. Players may choose any board that they wish to use. By far the largest and most complex expansion to Everdell, Spirecrest introduces a large new board that adds to the bottom of the base game, and brings with it a load of additional content. For starters, there are new critters, and each of the species that exists both in this expansion and across the base game and other expansions also gets a rabbit explorer. Those rabbits are the brave souls who will adventure into the mountainous region of the titular spirecrest. A shedload of realistic looking and nicely crafted resources (rolly wooden logs, hard, shiny stones, translucent, golden amber and squishy pink berries) are also placed along the river at their gathering locations, with the effect of both the tactile resources and the huge Evertree put together resulting in a nice sense of height, albeit one that is, unfortunately, purely cosmetic. There are, of course, the animeeples, money tokens and a few other components, but the final major piece of the puzzle (and the one that you’ll spend the most time staring at) is probably Everdell ’s single, huge pile of cards. With an expansion stretching in each compass direction, it sure seems like we’re closing the book on Everdell (in terms of game production, anyway) , and the critters are at home on many a kallax around the world—probably on top, though, because of the sheer size of the box. I suppose it’s time to start evaluating the full panoramic experience. Bellfaire offers a number of expansion options that may be used when playing the base game of Everdell or one of its expansions. Before setting up the game, players should choose which modules they wish to include. The details for each module, including setup and rules, are outlined below.
With Bellfaire, players are treated to an expansion that I would say falls firmly into the “more of the same” category, offering a number of small expansions that can be used in a modular way. Like the other expansions, it adds another side board or two, although the setup instructions are keen to point out that you don’t always need those.
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Spirecrest proved its worth admirably. The Big Critters were a massive help in the wider affair, and the Weather effects forced the same sort of strategic adjustments along the way. We were still able to pull off most of our Expedition targets. For what it’s worth, the new saddles (if any out there know the frustration of the first edition’s troubles) work beautifully—we were so happy to finally mount up the critters properly. To achieve this Event, you must have 1 of each of the 5 card colors in your city, and place a worker on the event to claim it. This may include locations on Destination cards like an Inn or Queen, but not a Cemetery since it is a permanent location.
Now the modules—we’ve stumbled upon another story altogether! We enjoy the Market, though we find we don’t utilize it all that often. The Garland Awards and the Flower Festival Event are fun and seamless boosts to the game. We don’t even pull out the northward-reaching Bellfaire board for these extras half the time, but that doesn’t make us love them any less! As I mentioned at the start of the review, players can mix and match the different modules. If you’re playing with basic Everdell, I think it is easy to mix in the Bellefaire board and everything on it, and to throw in the new player powers. Everdell is a game of worker placement, resource collection and tableau building in a woodland realm populated by one to four groups of animals. Each player controls one such group, which will be represented in game by gorgeous little wooden animeeples. Everdell is set in a forest beneath the Evertree, which is represented in the game by a large, well made and gloriously detailed model that is included in both the basic and Collector’s Edition versions of the game.
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And there you have it, I’ve reached my conclusion earlier than I should have, but I truly hold very few reservations about Everdell . I love the look of it, from the squishy berries to the gorgeous card art. Even the slightly over the top Evertree looks fantastic. Given that the creatures here are simply adorable, you might think that Everdell could be a bit saccharine for adult players, but it’s not — it’s an attractive, detailed theme that reminds me of warmth and love and childhood, but it never made me feel condescended to. As such, I can look at Everdell all day and I can’t wait to show my own children when they are older. You may only do this 1 time for each Production card (you may not use this ability to activate a Production card 3 times). You must discard the card before you activate the Production card. Whenever that card is played, either by you or an opponent, gain 1 of any resource that you do not already have, then move the Rugwort token to a different Meadow card. If you run out of cards in the Meadow, no more cards may be drawn for the remainder of the game, unless cards are discarded, creating a new draw pile. Likewise, the Expedition map tiles add a bit of the good stress by looking toward the endgame in anticipation of leftover cards, pebbles, resin, and the like. Building the path of a one-way journey adds an appropriate bit of intrigue.
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