I really enjoy board games with a myriad of unique cards, such as Terraforming Mars, Ark Nova, Wingspan, and, of course, Finspan. I love how tactical these games play out. You need to be flexible with your strategy because the cards you get may not synergize well with your current plan, so you need to balance gambling on getting the cards you need versus adjusting your strategy.
I also have a soft spot for expansions because, if done well, they add more content to a game I already enjoy. To be transparent, my preference is for “more of the same” versus “add new mechanisms.”
SPOILER: This may come into play later in my review.
Unsurprisingly, Stonemeier Games has released an expansion for Finspan. Luckily, I was able to grab the Board Game Quest review copy. This seemed like a no-brainer for me— an expansion for a game I already enjoyed. But is it “more of the same” or “new mechanisms”?
SPOILER PART DEUX: A little from column A, a little from column B.
Game Experience with the Expansion:
Integrating Sharks & Reefs is easy. The added content consists of eighty more fish cards, including five starter fish, five coral reef overlay tiles, and their related coral reef tokens (ninety in total), three new achievement tiles, and an updated achievement board. The player aids from the base game were not updated; however, five player aid cards that explain the new symbols are included in the expansion.
Simply shuffle the new fish in with the old, place the new overlay on top of the existing ocean mats, place the coral reef tokens somewhere within reach, shuffle in the new achievement tiles, and use the new achievement board. Done! I really appreciate it when expansions are easy to integrate. Also, every component is marked with a fish icon, so you can easily identify the new content to be removed should you ever want to revert to the base game only.
One note: for those that like to deluxify, the reef tokens are wood that is screen printed on one side. They look great but will also entice you to upgrade the existing egg/young and school tokens to be of a similar caliber.
I love the new fish that is included in the expansion. The five new starter fish create new opening strategies. The other seventy-five new fish expand player options. One of my complaints from the base game was that the fish only had six variations for “If Activated” abilities. Sharks and Reefs add an additional seventh type related to reefs. I will dive into more detail later. Yes, that was intentional.
Other “non-if activated” abilities were added to the game. Some fish have no cost. Others will allow you to play a card from your hand for free, either when that fish is played or at the end of the game. Most of the new sharks also add a new ability to the game: breaking up a school into four young tokens that can be placed in four separate slots anywhere on your ocean board. This new mechanism adds a layer of strategy to moving your young around the board. At its most powerful, if you can set up two young tokens in four different slots and then break up a school, you can sacrifice one school to make three.
Finally, similar to the base game, the art of the new fish is amazing. I also enjoy reading the informational text at the bottom of each fish card. And the scope is fantastic. You will get to play with well-known fish, like barracudas, groupers, and sharks, as well as fish that only the most experienced oceanographers are familiar with, such as the Yokozuna Slickhead or the Ribbon Sawtail Fish.
Unfortunately, I did not love the content tied to the titular Reefs. The reef overlay fits perfectly over the twilight row of the ocean board. It is divided into three sections, with each section lining up with the three existing dive sites, as well as matching the color of those dive sites, on your ocean board. This is important because there are three types of coral, and the coral can only be added to their matching dive site. Each reef section can hold six coral tokens, each worth one point. If you complete that section of your reef, you will earn bonus points as well.
You can add coral to your reef in several ways. First, every time you take the dive action, you have the option of adding one coral if you discard an egg token, a youth token, or a card. The token/card discarded is dependent on the dive site you choose for that action. Many of the new fish cards include when played, if activated, and end-game scoring abilities that add coral to your reef.
So, why was I disappointed with the reef mechanism for two reasons?
First, it is not optional. Ok, fine. It is optional; however, winning must be optional to you as well. If you do not partake in building your reef, but your opponents do, you will lose the game. There are too many points at stake. All told, between scoring each token as well as the bonuses for completion, there are thirty-seven points available in reef scoring. You cannot ignore that many points. Additionally, many of the new reef fish (those that must be placed in the sunlight rows) require one or two coral tokens to be present before you can play that fish.
The second reason I am not a fan of the reef portion of the expansion is that I am not a fan of new mechanisms being added in expansions: What happens to the reefs in your next expansion? If Stonemaier Games includes new reef cards in the next expansion, it will confuse/upset customers who chose not to purchase this expansion. They would be paying for content they cannot use. If they do not include new reef cards, then the current cards will become diluted, which is always an issue when you are adding multiple expansions.
I would have liked this expansion more if it were simply focused on new card interactions versus adding the new reef overlays and mechanism. You can always come up with clever card mechanisms. I feel that Stonemaier has a difficult decision for their next expansion (assuming they want to publish one). Do we maintain or abandon the reef mechanism? This decision will certainly impact what will be included in future expansion(s).
Final Thoughts:
Base Finspan is awesome, and I have been looking forward to its first expansion. Unfortunately, after playing Sharks and Reefs, my thoughts are torn. On one hand, the new fish are awesome, especially the sharks and additional starter fish. On the flip side, I am not a huge fan of the new reef mechanism. It felt mandatory and was not particularly fun, to be honest.
So, is Sharks & Reefs a must-have? No. It is in no way a bad expansion; however, I wish the reef mechanism were more fun, or at least as good as the new fish. If you love Finspan and do not mind adding mechanisms to your base game, then I would upgrade my Optional recommendation to Buy.
Hits:
• Easy integration
• New fish
• Shark mechanism
Misses:
• Reef mechanism
• Future expansions?
