Wendake is undoubtedly one of the most interesting board games released recently: the innovative dynamics conceived by Danilo Sabia have affected many players and we have already talked about it in two articles (here the review and here the strategy guide) that I invite you to read if you still don't know this splendid board game. Over the past few weeks Post Scriptum announced the upcoming release of the expansion New Allies, due to Essen e Lucca Comics & Games 2018. During the evening Wendake by Ludic Incoming of 29 August, in which they also participated Danilo Sabia e Mario Sacchi di Post Scriptum, I had the opportunity to test the prototype of the expansion: if you are curious to know more, read this preview on the innovations introduced by New Allies.
New Allies: what is new?
The additions proposed by the expansion are significant and affect some aspects of the first secondary game, as well as introduce some completely new dynamics; the performance of shifts and actions remains in any case unchanged in its basic structure. Let's see the news in detail.
The Alliance Indicator and Patrols
The possibility of allying with the British and the French is emphasized, therefore an indicator has been included in the board that keeps track of "how much" you are allied with one or the other faction. It starts from zero, in the center, but during the game it will be possible to progress up to 5 steps in one or the other direction through a specific alliance action and it will always be possible to betray your faction for the other. Furthermore, each player is equipped with two French and two English patrols (depending on your ally, one or the other pair will be used), which can be used on the map as sentries (with some exceptions). Again, a flag is associated with each pair of score indicators.
The lakes
The lakes are now quite distinct and the way in which your canoes are positioned becomes important, as having the majority in the lakes also allows you to exchange skins for rifles, a new important resource. Two allied ships also come into play (one English and one French) which, if properly moved, will activate the rifle trade.
The turn cards
One of the possible actions in Wendake is to reserve the order of play for the next round; this action has been definitely strengthened and modified with the introduction of turn cards. In fact, each position on the new play order indicator corresponds to a turn card; at each turn, each player can place one of their cylinders (the one responsible for changing the order of play) on a free space and thus take the relative card. There is no longer the obligation to book the space to the left of the area, so the first to choose this action could easily book himself as the fourth player. Turn cards confer two advantages:
- Alliance action (optional): if there is an English or French flag on the card, you can strengthen your alliance with one of the two factions (or betray the one you are currently allied with). The "status" of the alliance is tracked through the indicator mentioned above, which then gives points during and at the end of the game. The player can also choose to activate one of the three effects of the alliance, that is: trade hides for rifles, through the dynamics of majorities on the lakes mentioned above; exchange a shotgun for a victory point on one of the indicators associated with your ally; move patrols allies on the map.
- Turn card effect: They are various effects that can be free and can be activated one-time (discarding the card then), or they can have a cost and be used in the exact same way as the progress cards, so they remain in play in front of the player.
Each player will have to take a card in turn and it will be up to him to be able to earn the ones that best suit his strategy. The cards are designed to allow powerful combos, which must then be exploited during the game.
New turtles
Rifles are a new resource obtainable through the alliance action and always expendable through turn cards, but they also have another purpose: New Allies also introduces a new set of turtles obtainable through the war action, which require as a requisite, in fact , possession of 3, 4 or 5 rifles.
New cards
Alliance actions are also present in some new action tiles, which can be chosen as usual by each player at the end of the turn to replace their own tile.
Alliance progress tiles
The progress tiles present in the base game, which allowed you to ally with the British and French, retain their role in the expansion, with the difference that the allied faction will always be the one indicated in the relevant indicator and can therefore change during the course of the game; in addition, any allied patrols on the map will count as sentries.
Considerations
New Allies adds many new elements that must surely be managed better. Unlike what it might seem at first glance, the game is not burdened even if the first game may seem complicated to manage the new variables.
I found the dynamics of the alliance indicator very interesting, which correspond to up to 5 points on each side: the player can choose from time to time whether to continue to strengthen an alliance up to its maximum (once you reach the maximum, for each reinforcement you will get a point immediately) or if you betray it, immediately counting the points reached with the old ally and restarting the climb with the new one. This dynamic seems to allow you to accumulate many more victory points when managed wisely (even knowing how to exploit any betrayals). It is no coincidence that the maximum score threshold obtainable with normal indicators has been increased.
Even the presence of turn cards it has significant effects on gameplay, since it seemed to me that it makes the action of choosing the order of play much more attractive than usual.
In short, who appreciated Wendake will definitely have to try the expansion as well. We just have to wait for Essen and Lucca Comics to have New Allies.
