What Spirit Islands are you comboing?

Had a blast with a couple games this evening.



I've been trying this vital strength of earth strategy that revolves around majors. Turns out, when you do that, your 1st major choice (turn 2!) is incredibly consequential. First game I chose a good major overall, but one that's really only going to pay out late game---the flowers one that causes tons of fear. Not good for managing the board state against a surging, building England.

Most interesting thing about Vital Strength of Earth is that it is really difficult to fire off its innates. So you almost shouldn't shoot for it unless it's convenient or you really fall into it accidentally with card draws.

Anyway, still learning a lot about this game. I've been consistently playing the same comfortable way with most powers so intentionally changing it up is like a new game.

Has anyone tried the digital implementation of this game yet? As much as I love Spirit Island I don't know if I really want to play this digital. I love the tactile feel of the mix of unnatural plastic for the invaders and natural wood/card for the island and it's inhabitants. Plus it's a co-op that really rewards interaction and discussion, which I much prefer to do in person than online.

I haven't... kind of worried I'd overplay it and start really getting to that min-max line.

That's an interesting take given the scope offered on the difficulty levels. I know some fans who have gone deep on plays and are only satisfied at the highest difficulty levels whereas I prefer to sit around level 6 or so most of the time. I've played enough that lower levels aren't a challenge but higher levels remain a daunting mystery, and I'm not sure if I'd want to reach a point of only really being comfortable at the highest setting.

We play lvl 6-7 these days too, I hear you.

I have played the computer version. It is not at all bad, and if you play solo would be fine. I would not play it hot seat for anything.

The other issue is not the port, but you are back to base game no Serpent or wildfire...

I have enjoyed playing scenarios i would not normally mess with on it though.

6-7 seems a sweet spot. We were pushing max level Brandenburg when we took our break from Spirit Island. I am most;y waiting to get my hands on the new expansion at this point.

Just got the email confirmation for Jagged Earth. Kinda geeked about this, as it's the only co-op I really like and it will be cool to try out some of the new spirits.

Oh yeah, super stoked for it although I figure it’ll be at least another three or four weeks until arrival over here.

We slowed right down on Spirit Island in anticipation of Jagged Earth likely dominating our gaming time, so have only had a couple of sporadic games over the past few months. It’s still been great every time, rock solid as one of our evergreen favourites. I hear you about co-ops, I always love the idea but am so often disappointed by the way they play, Spirit Island however nails it just right.

Yeah, I see us getting back into this so hard when the expansion comes. I didn't have promo 1 so it's like a super extra burst of content.

Edit: designer had been showing off cards, they were buried in BGG: boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/106643/jagged-earth-card-previews

Also, I just remembered we wore the images practically off some of the tokens so I'm psyched for the premium token pack.

So, Jagged Earth has, indeed, arrived. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention to the new spirits or foes, other than basic info and some of the play examples that GTG provided, so this is fairly new to me. Some of the new spirits and powers are really cool. Plus, I really like the Badlands mechanic, as it's double-edged sword (might kill the Invaders, but also might wipe out Dahan before they can kill Invaders...

One downside: I had everything from the base game and Branch and Claw in the original base game box. With all of these new spirits and two new island segments, I can no longer do that. The ONLY thing I can't fit in the box are the biggest thing: the spirit boards. So I'm stuck with the equivalent size Jagged Earth box to hold just the spirits, which is lame.

Jealous as hell. Enjoy! I splashed on the wooden tokens and fancy box but then this is like my spouse and I's favorite game. Supposedly those fancy dumb things delayed my order to the end of the US line.

It's also interesting to note that in the description for Many Minds Move As One, it mentions another spirit, Weaves A Web Of Souls, that doesn't exist in either expansion or promo pack...

That's extremely weird.

Probably just name dropping for future stuff. I think Volcano was referenced somewhere in one of the other spirit descriptions? Don't remember.

Anyway, another thing I really like are the element tokens. They're mostly for the couple spirits that accumulate them to play in other ways, but it's cool to have them, in general, for those later turns where you're accumulating elements from your board, as well as your cards. It's just another reminder of what you can and can't do with your innates.

The two promo spirits are craaazy, too. Definitely for experienced play. Probably going to get a 3-player game in tomorrow evening. Will post about it.

Thank you, I'm really interested to hear impressions because I'm so excited for my copy.