Wingspan Strategy | How to play with a bad starting hand

hello and welcome to winging it so in this video i've got some gameplay which i think is a good showcase of how to deal with a bad starting hand so the more you play this game you'll encounter these kind of really bad situations at the start more and more um and knowing how to deal with those and how to make the best of a bad situation is so important in a game like this so i did start the recording after choosing my hand but luckily i did get a screenshot of the starting hand just because it was so bad um i knew i'd be i'd be showing people this afterwards anyway so you'll see really you know in a starting hand you're you're looking for two things something in your forest and something in your wetlands because you want to be able to get cars and get food so you can get birds down and yeah start to build up your engine so some okay options for the forest but no wetland bird is a is a real shame so um you see there is the bitten in the tray and i have kept the food for that with the idea that i'm going to take that now it's it's not the best wetland bird at the start of the game because to be able to use its power you need to rely on your opponent having more wetland birds than you otherwise you're not going to benefit from that and the chances of that in the first round is is quite unlikely you know most players are only going to get one wetland down if any so yeah it's uh it's a little bit of a gamble but i kind of had to go for it i didn't have any options now my opponent did take a card and that revealed the hummingbird so yeah i think you know in a situation like this where you're kind of struggling with the cards you've been given um you've really got to pay attention to the tray you've got to look what's there you've got to think what is good for me um you know what can i make work and certainly the hummingbird is a is a strong bird so yeah i was all over that uh it did reveal another nice option so the wilson snipe is a is a really good wetland bird but the problem for me is it doesn't really work with this bit and so i know i'm going to want to get this bit down you know it's a lot of points and uh and has a good power if i can use it um and really i'm thinking you know if i leave that wilson snipe in the tray and my opponent takes that that's probably better for me because one they're gonna give me three cards with that snipe so i'm going to get free cards without having to do anything and two if it's another wetland bird that they're building up in their wetlands that's just going to help me with the bitten and i can probably just run with that bitter for the rest of the game so another card in the trade that caught my was his magpie so not normally the kind of grassland bird i look to play you know two food for three points isn't great and usually in your grasslands you want those point scoring birds you know you want something that's going to give you tuck cards or eggs or more food like with the hummingbird these kind of pink powers are not what you're looking for but really what attracted me to this bird is that star nest so you see the end of round goals in this they are all eggs in different type of nests so if i can get star nest bird that's going to help me with all of those ender rounds then that's just such a strong position to have and really in general i would say in a 1v1 game like this you want to be paying attention to those end of round goals so closely and you want to really be targeting them as much as possible because every end of round goal that you win you know you're scoring points for that but you're denying points from your opponent so it's effectively a double whammy on your opponent there where you're getting points and they're missing out on points so yeah i kind of knew that that magpie was going to be nice just for that but also it's another grass and bird so you know if i am going to be laying eggs fairly regularly even that magpie not scoring pointless on its own just by being that second grassland bird is pushes me out into that third column so i can get three extra turns that are two so it is still effectively gonna score me points from that so you see i get the hummingbird down it means i can lay eggs um and then let's get the magpie down on my next turn so just skip forward a few turns here because it's fairly straightforward what i had in mind get that magpie down i can have the food to get the titmouse on the vulture down um and you know certainly when my opponent's got a card like the screech owl in their forest i want to be having these pink powers down um to try and maximize on that and yeah hopefully get some free food so i did just have a quick look at my opponent's board there um and they don't have any platform nests which is really nice for me you know it means i could just lay eggs so i can get one on this magpie and that's going to get me four points and my opponent's not going to get any because they don't qualify for this end of round goal so you know that's already a four-point advantage and i haven't got a lot of points on the board but i know as soon as i get this bitten down um you know i can gain food on that first turn of the next round get that bitten down and you know i've got access to cards and good access to food and eggs as well so i feel like i'm in a strong position there now my opponent on this stud makes an absolutely critical error where they choose to activate their screech owl and they get lucky and get the success on it but really they get unlucky because that means i get two food and i just think this is such an important point to you know raise to newer plays in particular you know you get a point from that but i've just saved a turn and turns are your most valuable resource in wingspan so you know you only get 26 turns if i can save a turn i can then spend that turn later in the game playing a big point bird or laying eggs for lots of points and certainly in this situation you know i already had that plan where i was going to gain food on that first turn of the next round and then get the bitten down on turn two but i now don't have to gain food because my opponent's just giving me those two food for free so i can play that bitten down and i'm a turn ahead so you know my opponent maybe they gained a point for that and it's good for them in the short run but that was so much stronger for me in the long run and you see as well my opponent they played the wilson snipe which is exactly what i wanted so they've got that two wetland birds out it's going to give me free cards from the snipe but i'm going to be getting extra cards as well from my bitten and yeah if i'm discarding that egg in the wetlands i'm seeing three cars a turn plus the extra ones from the snipe and really that means i can probably avoid having to play another wetland bird for the rest of this game instead i can focus on playing big point birds or nice point scoring birds in my forest and in my grasslands so you see my opponent did draw cards i got a free card from the snipe which is the morning dove i'll just skip forward a little bit here uh just cause my next time was pretty straightforward going for cards so i've got some quite nice options there you'll see um certainly the red start is a it's a really nice bird to get uh it's just going to help me so much for food access you know it's that third forester bird so i'm already getting four points from that bonus card and yeah it's a it's a four-point bird in its own right which you know is is never a bad thing to get so yeah you'll see i'm sort of already looking a little bit towards the center round coal just making sure i've got the eggs in those cavity nests um so i do lay some eggs and yeah i'm able to to get the free cherry from my hummingbird which is good so that already gets me halfway to the red start so i do go for food on this next turn and certainly there's food in there that i like the look of so those worms and no seeds that's going to be really good for me you know it's going to help get this red start down but also you know i've got some nice options as well for the grasslands and i've got my eye certainly on the on the morning dove as a good option and if i can double up with that sparrow then you know i'm extending out into that fourth column now so not only am i getting an extra egg from the morning dubs power i'm also getting one just by having those extra grass and birds and you know if i'm able to get five eggs from my grasslands uh that's a really nice position to have so you know it it feels like a weak move um playing those two birds you know it's two points and i'm losing three eggs um to get those two birds down um but it's really gonna help me in the long run you know you can see all these end of round goals they're about eggs so i want to be getting as many eggs down as possible so if that means playing weak birds to help lay eggs later then i'm okay with that so you see i do go for food i get the extra seed i get another worm so it keeps my options open you know all of these birds um they eat seeds or worms in some combination so you know i can play the couple of birds i have planned now i can lay eggs and i'm going first in the next round so if a really nice bird comes up in the tray something's going to work with the existing birds i've got then i can look to play that and yeah i think keeping your options open is such an important factor to think about you know keeping my options open at the start of the game was so important because it meant i could get that hummingbird down and it put me in a strong position so i think always having that flexibility in what you can do in your next turn is so critical so yeah you'll see i do go here for the double play and again it's a bit of a shame uh only getting two points there and losing three eggs but yeah i'm i'm thinking in the long term and i'm knowing okay you know i've got two rounds left i've got 12 turns i'm probably going to lay eggs for at least half of those so if i'm able to get five eggs a turn then that's really nice um it's you know good point scoring and like i said it's it's going to help with those end of round goals as well which in a two-player game like this is so important so i'll just skip ahead again um you know that that last term was uh just me laying eggs and i did win the end of round goal so going into round three some nice options in the trade like i said you know i've set myself up in a good position um i can choose to go for cards here i've got some good flexible food certainly i've got my eye on that bells virio you know that star nest alone is is nice but the extra bonus card is good um and i've already got the worms to play it so certainly that's something i've got my eye on um even just you know if it wasn't good for me it's really good for my opponent because it's going to help them with the end of round goals as well so yeah even if i'm not going to play that myself it's worth taking so um i get another nice draw there in the dick sister and at this point you know i'm thinking okay if i can get that down how many cards am i gonna need to tuck behind it without missing any so this is really kind of a crucial timing point to think about i look at how many turns i've got left i've got five turns this round and five turns next round so if i've got 10 turns left that means i'm going to need 10 birds because i want to be either playing a bird or tucking a bird every turn now at the moment i don't have 10 birds i think i've only got six birds so if i spend a turn now drawing cards i can get three cards from my wetlands and i've then only got nine turns left so it matches up i've got nine turns and nine cards and i know if i get that dick sizzle down i can run that grasslands it's going to get me a lot of eggs it's going to get me tucked cards so i'm going to score a lot of points from that on top of it helping for this end of round goal so you know i make the decision at this point you know i want to get this down and i've also kind of looking at that have a set and thinking maybe that's something my opponent might want to get down maybe it's going to help from this end of round goal but also i think in their position you see me sitting up on grasses like this you want these pink powers to try and benefit from that so yep you see i do go for cards and i get a really nice draw from the deck in the woodpecker so i was looking at potentially the crossbill or the red star as an option for that um third forest bird but yeah if i can play that woodpecker it's going to get me an extra bonus card as well which is so nice you know it's going to get me four points from the existing bonus card and yeah who knows maybe i get another strong bonus card along with it so i think at this point in the game this is really where you look to these kind of big point birds or bonus card giving birds you know if i play something like the red star i'm probably not going to be gaining food that many times you know maybe once or twice so two activations of the red start worth playing it probably not something like the red caucated woodpecker that's going to get me a bonus card you know maybe gets that maybe that gives me three or four points i'd much rather take that over something like the red star at this point so my parents turn they go for cards which means i get a free one from the snipe and it's another really nice forest bird so at this point i'm kind of thinking okay how can i max out this forester bonus card you know if i get three birds down that only live in the forest and i've got plenty of good options i can max out and get eight points you know on top of those extra bonus cards particularly from uh the woodpecker and the owl unfortunately it doesn't mean i'm not gonna be able to play the bells video just because there's not many space for it um and i know i'm gonna be playing that dick sizzle in uh in the grasslands so it's a bit of a shame but you know like i said i've got some nice options um you know even the pleated woodpecker i picked up along with the red start on the crossball those are really nice options to have so at this point you know i know i'm going to be playing a forest bird because i'm probably going to need to gain food once just to at least you know get the food to play these birds down so for me it's kind of a toss-up between the pleated woodpecker for the extra eggs or the red star for the extra food so you know i can either take the points or i can take the food and hope to get these birds down quicker in the end i do go for the red start just because you know that extra food if that helps me get down this dixie for one turn sooner um i think that's worth it but also you know by the time i've got that fifth grass and bird out um any time i lay eggs if i do have extra food be that from this red start or maybe from the hummingbird later in the game i can always turn those into eggs so you know maybe it feels like i'm missing out on points now but i know i can always pick up on those points later and it's also another boldness so maybe i can try and do something for that last end of round goal i think my opponent is in a strong position there so probably not going to have a great chance of winning that but you never know it's always worth putting yourself in that position and even if it's not going to help me win it if it signals to my opponent that i'm targeting it you know maybe they have to play a weak bird just to make sure they win that so you know i can try and sort of dictate what my opponent's doing even just by a simple little move like this so just get forward a couple of turns here you know i do go for food i get the right food for the dick sizzle and i'm able to get that down so on this last turn pretty straightforward i can lay eggs i know i've got more of these ground nest spaces than my opponent so if i fill up uh both the star ness and the ground nest i've got then i'll get this single tuck on the dick sizzle and that's going to be enough for me so it's such a nice position and i was able to get one rodent from the previous term and so now using that hummingbird i can get the second one and that's all i need to play that spotted owl so you know all i'm looking for now is another food or a cherry or something that's gonna help me get the the woodpecker down as well and yeah like i was saying before i'll be able to max out my existing bonus card but also it's going to give me a couple of shots of seeing another bonus card which is really nice so again skip ahead here um just the start of round four now um and yeah you know just lay eggs here you know i have the egg space i can afford to lay eggs here now i don't get the cherry i want but it doesn't matter you know i can still get enough food to get the woodpecker down so skip forward a couple of turns here uh to me getting the owl down and yeah i'll go for the bonus card and it's a nice pull you know on the vor expect for four points i'll take that every day you know i think any time you're playing one of these birds at the end of the game that gets you a bonus card that you have absolutely no chance of working towards you know for me three or four points is the benchmark so if i can get three or four points from something like that i'm going to take it and yeah four points really strong and like i said the hour was already a nice bird helping for the bonus card but that on the wall mate expert makes it even better and next turn i get the word picker down same sort of thing not as good a bonus card ecologist normally you get at least four or even six points for that but again between the two of them six points in total for two bonus cards three points each i'm happy with that and uh yeah it's just maxed out my forrester bonus as well so i'm in a really strong position 14 points from bonus cards um yeah i'm i'm very happy with that so my opponent does play another bonus bird um you know maybe maybe they were forced into doing that um but i think they did already have quite a lot of bonus pieces anyway so i'm glad i didn't think too much about this end of round goal you know it's always better for me to to focus on my own game and uh and get those nice bonus cards and yeah i've got plenty of egg space now for these last two turns i can skip the hummingbird don't really need that food um if i give it to my opponent they're either going to be able to play a bird or just turn it into food themselves so there's no point in using that um yeah i can just legs a couple of times and uh yeah you know when you're able to activate grasses like this i'm getting four eggs as base from the grasslands and then getting tucked card and an egg from the dick's thistle and then another egg from the morning dove so that's seven points and really i think at the end of the game like this if you're able to score seven points a term from your grasslands it's just such a strong position you know i look for my opponent they're scoring about the same i mean they set that up well as well so yeah really strong point scoring from us both at the end of the game so as we go into the scores here i'm feeling pretty confident you know i know i've scored well in all categories here um so it feels like it's going to be a strong score and yeah you know good number of bird points and 40 from bonus cards is so strong and yeah having that seven point advantage on the end of round goals really nice you know i was able to target as well got a lot of eggs from those last couple of turns and a few tucks on the dick's sister as well to top it off so a 15-point win is uh it's really nice and yeah 96 points it's so strong and i think you know all those points i made about you know saving that turn at the start of the game that got me seven points because that was seven points on that last term that i wouldn't have been able to get if i'd had to spend a turn gaining food you know i think there's all these little things that add up um but you know if you go back to that starting and i had where i just had the titmouse on the vulture um and that bitten in the tray you know you kind of look at that and you think oh 96 is is nowhere near possible but i think this just goes to show that if you're able to to you know make the best out of a bad situation like that pay attention to what's in the tray um and yeah make the most out of what your opponent's doing with pink powers and target those end of round goals then you know any score is possible in this game even with the worst start so yeah hopefully this was a useful exercise like i said you kind of run into plenty of bad starting ads like this so being able to make the most of them is is so important and yeah hopefully you've enjoyed this video and thank you very much for watching [Music] you

Channel: Wingin' it

Views: 6,191

Keywords: wingspan, flan, tournament, video games, board games, tuck, cache, speedrun, automa, hard, wingin, it, wingin', wingin it, wingin' it, raven, killdeer, franklin, gull, killgull, beat, win, Bad, Cards, Starting, Hand, boardgame, board, game, board game

Id: iEM1-46YvU4

Length: 19min 11sec (1151 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 08 2022