More about Expeditions
Let’s take a closer look at Expeditions! We’ve already stated that despite it being not overly complex, we still find the gameplay engaging and thinky.
There are two main mechanisms we appreciate in this game: the simple yet interesting action selection and the hand management aspect!
On each turn you are pushing your action marker around, always covering up one of 3 actions:
🥾 Moving your mech 1-3 spaces, possibly exploring new tiles.
🧭 Gathering the bonuses depicted on the tile you are standing on.
🃏 Playing a card from your hand.
☝️ The remaining 2 visible actions are those you can take on your turn. Simple restriction, but it makes your decisions more thinky when planning multiple turns ahead. It is also possible to do a Refresh turn and get all your cards and workers back to hand by skipping on taking any actions. On your upcoming turn you’ll get to do all 3 actions once.
👉 The second aspect is the hand management. Your hand of cards is actually on the table to the left of your Mech mat. Whatever you play from there goes to the right of your mat. Playing a card will give you its “core value” (gaining you Power or Guile which you need to fight the corruption on the tiles), and you can also activate its ability if you can place a matching colored worker.
You start the game with only your character and companion card and no workers, but as you play you’ll build your engine up. You ideally want to pick cards that synergize with each other and get workers so you can activate them properly. As you play, many cards might also get tucked under your Mech mat, so your pool of cards will fluctuate. You can get Quest cards that you can Solve; get Item cards that you can Upgrade; or get Meteorite cards that you can Meld. Solving, Upgrading and Melding each work in their own unique way, but they all involve tucking the respective cards.
💬 This is a fun twist on deck-building, as you will never shuffle your deck. Every card is either in your hand or activated, so you can hand-tailor your strategy and focus on things, but you’ll have to keep getting new cards as others get tucked away.
