Fetching Feathers (Saturday Review)

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The wind rustled gently through the trees. Dappled sunshine bathed the garden in a warm yellow tint, catching on the edges of the leaves and shimmering on the glass of a small bird bath. A hummingbird flitted from branch to branch, pausing briefly to inspect a cluster of flowers. Further away, a woodpecker drilled purposefully into the thick trunk of an old oak. The seasons were starting to change though. The time for migration was upon us. Soon, the colourful plumage of the birds would no longer be seen. There would be no more Fetching Feathers by Chris Priscott from Unfringed with art by Faizul Mudhakir.

Seasons in Symbiosis

Fetching Feathers is an interesting twist on the set collection genre. What makes it so different is how it emulates shifting seasons.

Everyone starts with three habitats that provide certain types of food. Each habitat card has a summer side and a winter side, which often provide different food types. Every round, summer turns to winter or winter to summer, and certain foods will no longer be available. So while in summer, you may have plenty of fish and meat, in winter, only plants may be available. That means, birds that don’t eat plants will not be able to stay the winter. However, if you have another habitat that offers fish or meat in winter, you can move your birds there. If you don’t, they will fly away, which can be devastating, not only because the illustrations are so gorgeous, but also because you lose out on points in the next round.

So you must always consider the present and the future. The birds you keep are not merely placed for immediate scoring. They require habitats that offer the right food that remains available when a new round starts, when summer becomes winter and the available food sources change. That creates a constantly evolving tableau of cards and means every decision carries weight.

It also means that deciding when to play a habitat card that can secure resources for multiple birds over multiple seasons, and when to play a bird card that grows your flock, isn’t always easy. Adding another bird to an existing one can trigger bonuses and increase your scoring potential for the current round. That seems powerful, but if those birds fly away in the next round, you lose out on scoring points for several rounds.

Drafting Decisions and Delicate Dynamics

The card-drafting mechanism in Fetching Feathers is very elegant in its simplicity, yet layered in its implications. Each player selects a card from their hand and passes the rest to the player to their left or right, depending on the season. What card you keep requires you to consider the benefit of that card to yourself and the benefit of the cards you pass to the next player.

While you might want to keep a certain card only to block another player, the most successful strategy often focuses on the optimisation of your own habitats and flocks. Ensuring birds are placed where they can thrive and score across all three rounds is often more beneficial than hate drafting to slow down another player.

Furthermore, drafting sets the stage for migration and scoring. The choices you make during the draft in Fetching Feathers directly affect which birds are available for placement and whether flocks can form that trigger bonuses. It creates a subtle form of player interaction that is indirect but impactful. Players must constantly consider the current season and the next, which emulates the migratory patterns and survival strategies of real-world birds.

As you can see, every decision in Fetching Feathers creates a ripple effect. Each draft is a small puzzle, where players need to weigh their immediate advantages against other long-term gains. These tiny decisions add up over the three rounds, making a seemingly simple decision sometimes quite difficult. The change of season mechanism is the true dazzling feather in Fetching Feathers‘ plumage.

Satisfaction in Scoring and Strategy

Scoring in Fetching Feathers is where we get to the meat of the matter. It’s what allows players to decide when to play a bird card, when to play a habitat card and when a card is simply too valuable to another player to pass on. Points are calculated at the end of each round. Players add the feather points earned by each bird, including bonuses for full flocks, bird buddies, and additional resources. While scoring is a bit involved and probably needs a notepad or app, it integrates seamlessly into gameplay. You can see who is in the lead and by how much after each round. That helps to reinforce the importance of long-term strategy.

When you score the second round, you can see if your tableau flourishes or not. You can see how it performed over multiple rounds. It becomes clear whether the decisions you made in the previous round about bird and habitat placement paid off, or if your poor planning results in birds leaving the tableau.

The round-by-round scoring provides great feedback on how well you’re doing. It allows players at different skill levels to enjoy the game simultaneously. People who are new to Fetching Feathers can quickly see how their strategy is performing, while more experienced players can explore deeper layers of strategy. The round-based scoring also provides a natural rhythm, which breaks the game into manageable sections that maintain tension and interest throughout.

Most importantly though, the round-by-round scoring enhances the feeling of the seasonal changes. Not only does the change from summer to winter, or winter to summer, affect what birds can be sustained, but the different seasons also trigger different bonuses. You really get a sense of how your habitat changes its performance because of the change of the seasons.

Colourful Cards and Component Charisma

The illustrations in Fetching Feathers add to the game’s appeal. They are very striking, and the artist, Faizul Mudhakir, has been able to really bring each bird to life. They each have their own character and charm.

At this point, let me clarify that I played a late prototype version. Even so, I can already see the high quality of the components. The cardstock is sturdy and feels satisfying in your hand. Each bird and habitat card is carefully detailed, with resources, bonuses, and flock sizes clearly displayed as icons, allowing players to focus on strategy without unnecessary confusion. The tuck box the cards come in is compact, making the game very portable, though it still requires sufficient table space as your habitats will be quite sprawling.

Fetching Feathers is also really quick to learn and easy to teach. The iconography helps with this as it reinforces the game’s theme and communicates all the important information clearly. Players can glance at a habitat and immediately see what resources it provides. The bird card iconography is also very clear and shows what food each bird needs, how flocks might be formed and what bonuses they provide. Even in the prototype state, the tactile and visual elements enhance the experience, drawing players into the migratory rhythms of the birds and the changing landscape of their habitats.

While the game requires a proper table, its compact size means it can be taken pretty much anywhere. Its combination of strategic depth, portability and bright, colourful illustrations makes it a versatile addition to any collection. For those looking for a quick, thoughtful, and visually enchanting game that appeals to both casual players and those seeking a deeper, yet quick gameplay experience, Fetching Feathers is a must.

Useful Links

• Fetching Feathers: https://unfringed.co/fetchingfeathers/
• Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unfringed/fetching-feathers
• Rules video: https://youtu.be/DidV0dq0P7U?si=YTl3pY_Dl0pL7co6
• Unfringed: https://unfringed.co/
• BGG listing: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/445590/fetching-feathers

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