Play against automated opponents including the dastardly Rugwort and cunning Nightweave and meet heroes of renown like Corrin Evertail himself. The award-winning Everdell line of board games invites you into a beautifully immersive world of constructions and critters. But for the consumer it also means that they need to bring everything out each time they want to play even only part of the expansions or just the base game.

To be fair, I think Everdell’s other expansions do seem to add a very different experience that is very much optional, but Bellfaire really looks as though it should have been in the base box. From what I could gather, but I’ not sure, it seems that the content is modtly the same except for maybe the meeple stickers and obviously the storage with the big box and inserts.I still keep a folder with screenshotted hundreds of comments from backers that were quickly deleted or at least ignored.

Actually, as far as I’ve seen, the main complaint isn’t the fantastic deal for newcomers, but the missing optimized option for those who have been supporting Starling games during previous KS and already own everything.

If you want Scythe and the metal coins but not the realistic resources, you can get exactly that right now. There are buildings to construct, lively characters to meet, and events to host — you will have a busy year ahead of you! In the case of Everdell–if it was possible to make this a 6 player game, why not include that from the get go? So this is a win/win for both me and the person I sell my previous collection to once my Kickstarter has arrived.

I haven’t even had my Everdell stuff from the past campaign for a whole year yet so the sting is greater. I have read most messages and no one, or very few are complaining about the deal for new comers, but addressing the lack of appreciation for old timers. Everdell Complete Collection includes 23 different types of Critter meeples, player powers for asymmetric play, Giant Critters with saddles to ride on, and an amazing array of pieces including wooden twigs, squishy berries, smooth pebbles, shiny resin, glass pearls, and more. Wonderful box for storage of all the Everdell expansions, not to mention how nicely everything is laid out.

With the pricing of the rewards put to one side, I think one of the challenges here is this edge case use of Kickstarter which is becoming ever more popular. To piggyback on Adam’s point some, I do wonder if this could hinder it’s possibility to truly evergreen. Not a fan of applying all the stickers; have just completed the occupied and golden token ones so far.

Glenn: My take on early bird rewards on Kickstarter projects is that it creates winners and losers *within the backer community that is bringing the game to life. Sixty nine whopping dollars for a game that I’ve played countless times over the past TWO years and have more than gotten my moneys worth. I understand the frustration for folks who just went all-in on the last KS, but I genuinely don’t understand the criticism from gamers who’ve backed since day one. I completely agree about the logistical nightmare of combinations, especially when you’re trying your best to make redundant boxes. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

Build a city of critters and constructions and explore the Emerald Valley and beyond; celebrate the Bellfaire, wonder at Newleaf's mechanical marvels, trek into the Spirecrest Mountains, explore the underwater depths of Pearlbrook, and chance the dangers of Mistwood. So yeah just wanted to put that out there, I appreciate the points you make in this article, and as always your wisdom shines. Board game collecting is a hobby, and for me the collection part is as important as the playing part.