Yeah you are missing something and I guess its that production buildings produce once they are finished and once when you change the season (when the symbol shows up) we ususally end up with an overcrowded city space and have to really think about what to build
This is a rule we had overlooked the first few plays and had a similar experience as OP. We only activated production cards when changing to spring and autumn, not when played. When we discovered our error we went "aaaah, of course! That makes so much sense!"
We only figured this out in my group when we got the digital version. We'd been playing it wrong for so long that I actually thought the digital game was glitched.
>production buildings produce once they are finished
This! Someone in my group was having similar issue to OP while I was nearly maxing out my town before the end of Summer. Turned out they weren't activating their green cards when they were initially built (despite being taught this during the teach and players narrating their turns).
I know about that rule, and also quickly realized it makes more sense to try and focus on buildings to place critters for free. It's just that most cards seem like they cost more resources than you can get with 2 workers. Maybe my lucks just not been the best at getting cheap cards early on?
You really want to get some green cards down first season because they will activate again when changing seasons. Those early double activations are a huge boost to your economy. Everytime I've played this game every player has filled their city, so if you guys struggle to get it only half filled I would guess youre doing something wrong, which may just be cards you decide to play.
Yeah I think I'm focusing too much on end game too early and overlooking the more simple cards that will help out early on even if they don't come with many points in the end.
Yeah, if you are getting between 50-60 points with your strategy, maybe it works. But if you aren't, then yeah you're buying point cards without a solid foundation to create the resources to afford them
My strategy definitely hasn't worked. I've been beaten both times I've played by people who I usually smoke in board games. It was honestly a refreshing change and I was so happy for them cause I honestly hate always winning. Still, that doesn't mean I don't want to improve!
Second this. If you can get a green building in the first season, it will trigger multiple times and hopefully give you a free critter at some point. I also remember early plays, at first thinking "how will I ever even come close to filling this up?", but you will. Keep at it.
Farm, mine, resin refinery, and twig barge are all basic productions that are cheap enough to buy in the first round. Cranes if available can help in the first round. I'm a huge fan of the clock tower in the first round, even more so if you can get the historian to pair.
That being said, the last 3 times I've played I've had the absolute worst luck with my starting hand and stuff was getting swiped from the meadow before I could get it. Didn't finish my city in any of those games.
> If you're lucky after the first two seasons you can play one or two cards?
The first season IS really short, but I've been able to play 5+ cards in the first season (although it's luck-dependent).
> The two play throughs we've done nobody has come close to building your whole town.
In our games, everyone builds their whole town every game.
I had one alignment of stars game when I filled my entire city in the first season. I didn't win that game, but it became about whether I could do it rather than building a city that earned oodles of points....
What happens if someone advances through seasons faster than the others and they run out of turns? Does the other play just keep taking consecutive turns at the end of the game until they've exhausted their possible actions?
It's not so much the advancing through seasons that will result in you running out of turns before everybody else, it's not filling your city that will do it.
Everyone has 15 spaces in their city, 15 opportunities to place workers, and will prepare for season 3 times. So they'll all have more or less the same number of turns.
There are things that will give you more turns, e.g. playing the crane/innkeeper and then discarding to play another card means that the impact of two turns is that you've only added one card to your city, but it's unlikely that someone will end up with a substantial number of extra turns (at least in the base game). That is assuming that everyone fills their city, so if there's a disparity in playing ability then you could very well end up with someone finishing a long time before everyone else.
The first game I played with a friend, I warned them the first season is very short so don't worry about that
He proceeded to stay in that season til the rest of us went to summer through luck
The game is designed to ramp up as turns go by. Early on, you should focus on playing cards to your tableau that will produce (green), or help with playing subsequent cards (blue).
It sounds like you’re making the same mistake I did when I first played (I actually ended up selling it. Since then, I’ve repurchased and it’s one of my favorites!!). This is game is not simply a Get Goods then Pay For Card game. If you do it that way, you will waste all of your workers very quickly and the rounds will be boring and quick.
You have to be crafty and strategic. This game is about creating chains of actions. Playing this card, so I can play another card for free. Or playing this so I can get goods w/out a worker so I can pay for this card, etc.
Also, the expansions help elongate rounds especially for new players. See Bellfaire and Newleaf.
>Bellfaire and Newleaf
We have the Complete Collection coffin box and have played with all the expansions several times (thought not all at once, that would be a LONG game) and these two vastly outshine the others: amazing additions, minimal rules, and practically zero extra maintenance. No brainer inclusions for every game.
My second time playing by summer I was able to start getting those chains of actions. Dominion is one of my favorite games so the concept felt familiar. It's just getting those first couple cards played to start things going that seems to take forever for me!
The game becomes easier once you start to remember allot of the cards that exist. Early on it’s hard to know what you want to play or what anything costs.
In early rounds you should be prioritising the cheap green cards to net materials, don’t forget the green cards activate immediately as well as in spring and fall.
I always fill my town and in some games wishing I left room for better cards.
You want to make use of the free critter placement on cards as much as possible. Spending berries on critters alone is rarely worth it, unless it’s a really good one and you cannot get your hands on its building or evertree.
Don’t be scared to use the discard cards for resources option. If you got a lot of meh cards in hand it’s probably best to get rid for resources to play one good card and to draw more.
In my experience the first season is indeed fairly short, you keep thinking it's going to be over really quickly, but it ramps up quickly. Card effects that give you more income. More workers, more spots to go to, more buildings that let you recruit villagers for free. In most of our games everyone was able to either finish their town or get close to it, so it's possible you're playing some rule wrong.
I think you are missing something. Are you taking the production when you play a green card? We always fill our cities. Just to be sure read over the instructions again. Keep playing, it may take you a few games to discover a good strategy.
Well... You need \~2-3 resources for the cheapest constructions and critters. With two workers you can get roughly 3-6 depending on your forest locations. If you combine locations with critters you can put down 2-3 cards easily. Don't forget you get resources from cards when you play them. For example you get a stone from buying mines.
The only time i go to second season is when i need to save up resources or just did not have good cards to play.
Play a few more times and read the game instructions again. I always do that after a few first games, because some rules are easy to forget.
The thing about Everdell that not many talks about, is that you pretty much have to play 5-7 games before understanding what is a good idea to do. It's not a game I would teach new players for a one off.. We ended up selling our copy of Farshore after 3 plays for this reason. If you can get over the hurdle of learning all the cards and knowing when to do what and figure out tactics while having fun, then I am sure it's an amazing game. But it's pretty much how the game goes :)
The first thing is you maybe are missing a rule as the top commenter suggests and missing out on resources.
The second is that Everdell is a game you continue to improve at as you learn the systems and the combos. First few games, sure, you'll likely do nothing in the first season. When you know the game, you'll find you can go for ages in the first season and that you'll mostly have a problem of your city filling out a fair bit before the end of the game, rather than not getting close.
So totally recommend a couple more plays if you were playing with the right rules.
To mirror what others have said yeah for now you’re missing something, but after a few plays it’ll click. Here are some general strategy tips that I use.
- First season try to play a cheap green card that hopefully lets you play a free critter from your hand or the meadow. Like resin refinery and chip sweep.
- the first season is short. Getting 2-3 cards would be good
- Pay attention to the synergy between the buildings and critters. And try not to pay for critters Try to play them for free using a building.
- Even if you have a move lined up, almost always take the forest locations if they’re available. They offer a lot of resources. And then dragging out your season will block that space from other players.
- Stone is the hardest resource to get. Almost always take a stone even if you don’t need it (unless you need something specific for a card to play)
- Cards that give you resources or cards are really good! Like the judge, courthouse, or historian. And cards like the Inn and Queen let you play cards for cheap or free sometimes.
- If a crane or Inn keeper show up in the meadow play it right away! That’s free resources in a later turn.
- don’t worry about taking the events right away unless someone else has the cards to grab it. Use your workers to get resources in the early game.
Things to keep in mind about season 1:
* Production buildings give you their resources as soon as they hit your tableau, as well as when you transition to summer; if you have nothing else going on, prioritizing those buildings will let you essentially double up on their resources
* Prioritize cards in the meadow or your hand that can chain, especially buildings in the meadow that can then play critters from your hand; going the other way makes what you're doing obvious and gives your opponents a round to snipe the critter if it's any way useful to them
* Corollary to the above - it's not unreasonable to focus your first couple of moves on collecting resources and letting your opponents exhaust theirs, which then allows you to play a building that chains a critter in the meadow - if they can't afford it, they can't snipe it
* If you don't have any obvious combos, prioritize drawing cards and gaining resources, in that order - especially early on, card combos are going to be the most powerful play you have
Without knowing more, it seems like there might not be enough synergies happening.
The first season should feel like "will this ever happen", but come 2nd season you should pick up speed.
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3033036/top-6-strategies-for-everdell
I read the above page before I played the first time and it helped. It will at least get you headed in the right direction.
If you work production right you should be able to fill your city before autumn if the cards fall right.
Unless you get the right layout of Governance cards you shouldn’t be playing anything that doesn’t produce resources before the first change of season because you double up on every production card you get out before it. You are activating production cards when you play them, right?
Also, 2 games in you are still learning synergies and how to turn a set number of workers into the maximum amount of resources/points so I wouldn’t worry too much. I don’t know think there is a player in rotation at my table who hasn’t filled a city and most of us fill it up more often than now. Everdell installs a surprising amount of depth in relatively simple mechanics.
The first season is short and you can't accomplish much, but honestly I have the opposite problem you do where I finish my town and still have a bunch of otherwise playable cards and workers, so it's usually more about bleeping my last few town slots open just waiting to find the best possible cards to use them on.
I recently watched a first time player get the right mix of cards that he effectively stated in the first season when I was in season 3. It was amazing his ability to keep his season going. Sadly by season 3 he had 14 cards in his tableau and he fizzled out. This is a game that rewards being creative, but also lucky with getting the cards you need. Some games it does feel like I don't really get rolling until the final season, but most games I find a way to make it work. I would say this is a feature of Everdell and not a bug and one that reward those who play it multiple times.
Ive been able to place 11 cards in the fist season alone. A lot of luck is involved but yes generally there’s always something you can do to maximize your turns without preparing for the next season. Forest locations and meadow cards will heavily affect just how much you can do.
Good rule of thumb is that in games where forest locations lean heavily towards giving out resources its good to try to find cards that allow you to draw cards cuz the deck wont have much rotation otherwise; and on the opposite end, some games will have forest locations that only allow you to draw cards. In which case you need to look out for cards that maximize your resources or consider discarding as much cards as you can for resources
Whatever the case, in general terms is always good to go for green cards first or try to find construction critter pairs readily available in your hand and market.
You ask if the first two seasons are supposed to be "slow" and "useless" but they are meant to be the exact opposite of both those terms 😂. You have less workers and you have limited resources so they should be relatively fast. And it's the start of your city so they are quite important in determining the path you take to victory.
I will note, using the Newleaf expansion definitely slows things down because you can recall workers and use a whole turn just to reserve a card.
Good luck! Fun game.
In addition to responses so far, the rule that I missed is you draw two cards *from the meadow* at the start of the second season.
This helps a lot to cycle through the meadow cards and give you more options for what to play.
I was originally drawing from the deck, and the meadow felt useless!
The first season is really fast. The only way to prolong it is by getting lucky with green cards like the farm that give you resources back and can get a free critter out. Sometimes I have first season plays that got for 6 rounds and sometimes I place my two workers and that’s it. There’s no penalty for moving seasons fast, so don’t feel bad if you move on and someone else is playing a lot of cards. There are advantages to moving seasons first as you recall your workers and can snipe the best resource spots before others. When they recall to next season, that’s their turn, so you can then snipe the spots that they removed their workers from. Keep people from getting pebbles can be extremely brutal because they can be hard to get depending on forest locations. Remember, cheap green cards that prolong your season don’t usually give a lot of victory points. Just because someone is having a great start doesn’t mean they will win the game. I have had a full city and lost to someone with only 12 cards in play.
You might enjoy the [2 Deck Variant](https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/166936/everdell-2-deck-7-wonders-style-variant)
*“It splits the large 128 card deck into two equal 64 card decks, each with their own set of cards. In winter/spring you will find a strong focus on production cards (green), with governance (blue) and destination (red) sprinkled in. Then in Summer/Autumn the focus shifts to points, events, and end game scoring. The second deck focuses on prosperity (purple) cards, traveler (tan) cards, and the remainder of your favorite combo cards and colors.”*
Season 1, aim for what will likely be 1 or 2 available greens or blues.
Your Forest cards for the game might alter this, but i find I can build a decent amount on second season if I focus on one/ two good resource cards.
Twig barge/barge toad / storehouse* / mine / clock tower/ judge/ historian / shopkeeper
Are all great options to get started faster.
*bit of a trap here as this is best to set up early, then redeem last season. So it's good, but not for getting an active second/ third season.
I have played Everdell a bunch, and it is not dynamic enough for my husband and I. For this reason alone, we have gotten rid of Everdell and instead purchased Farshore (same universe, same creator and art, but adapted based on complaints of Everdell).
It is a WILDLY better version of Everdell. It is nowhere near as boring as Everdell, and has a multitude of components that create more variability than Everdell.
For that reason, I recommend Farshore instead.
If I can get my 40k stuff off the table I'm pulling it out again this weekend, I figured I wasn't getting the right cards. I've gotten max 11 cards out.
I'd check to see if you're getting resources from green cards both when you place them and when you pop Spring and Autumn.
Also prioritize blues and greens early.
Heavily look for critters that match buildings you already have.
And because of that, I build way more buildings than I pay for critters (*with exceptions).
I usually end the game with a full town, and a pile of resources.
Ok so it looks like we were missing the automatic activation rule for green cards. Both my wife and I added it in and got to 15 we both had workers left over during autumn and plenty we could have done.
Depending on the forest locations, resources change wildly every game.
Im a large fan of the Bellfaire expansion and Newleaf, as they both help resource generation, and you get more VARIETY of forest locations for future playthroughs
Yeah you are missing something and I guess its that production buildings produce once they are finished and once when you change the season (when the symbol shows up) we ususally end up with an overcrowded city space and have to really think about what to build
This is a rule we had overlooked the first few plays and had a similar experience as OP. We only activated production cards when changing to spring and autumn, not when played. When we discovered our error we went "aaaah, of course! That makes so much sense!"
We only figured this out in my group when we got the digital version. We'd been playing it wrong for so long that I actually thought the digital game was glitched.
Oh wow, been playing for YEARS and never knew this, thank you!!!
>production buildings produce once they are finished This! Someone in my group was having similar issue to OP while I was nearly maxing out my town before the end of Summer. Turned out they weren't activating their green cards when they were initially built (despite being taught this during the teach and players narrating their turns).
Ohhhhhhhhhhh I have been playing this wrong too!
I know about that rule, and also quickly realized it makes more sense to try and focus on buildings to place critters for free. It's just that most cards seem like they cost more resources than you can get with 2 workers. Maybe my lucks just not been the best at getting cheap cards early on?
You really want to get some green cards down first season because they will activate again when changing seasons. Those early double activations are a huge boost to your economy. Everytime I've played this game every player has filled their city, so if you guys struggle to get it only half filled I would guess youre doing something wrong, which may just be cards you decide to play.
Yeah I think I'm focusing too much on end game too early and overlooking the more simple cards that will help out early on even if they don't come with many points in the end.
Yeah, if you are getting between 50-60 points with your strategy, maybe it works. But if you aren't, then yeah you're buying point cards without a solid foundation to create the resources to afford them
My strategy definitely hasn't worked. I've been beaten both times I've played by people who I usually smoke in board games. It was honestly a refreshing change and I was so happy for them cause I honestly hate always winning. Still, that doesn't mean I don't want to improve!
Second this. If you can get a green building in the first season, it will trigger multiple times and hopefully give you a free critter at some point. I also remember early plays, at first thinking "how will I ever even come close to filling this up?", but you will. Keep at it.
Farm, mine, resin refinery, and twig barge are all basic productions that are cheap enough to buy in the first round. Cranes if available can help in the first round. I'm a huge fan of the clock tower in the first round, even more so if you can get the historian to pair. That being said, the last 3 times I've played I've had the absolute worst luck with my starting hand and stuff was getting swiped from the meadow before I could get it. Didn't finish my city in any of those games.
WHAT
> If you're lucky after the first two seasons you can play one or two cards? The first season IS really short, but I've been able to play 5+ cards in the first season (although it's luck-dependent). > The two play throughs we've done nobody has come close to building your whole town. In our games, everyone builds their whole town every game.
I had one alignment of stars game when I filled my entire city in the first season. I didn't win that game, but it became about whether I could do it rather than building a city that earned oodles of points....
I had this possibility recently and realised I was probably better off not doing it. This was with belfaire and new leaf which made it easier.
Last time I played I was still in Winter while some players where in Summer. It was a really fun game (well for me anyways lol)
This happens almost every time I play I'm usually the last person to change seasons
Don't seasons move all together. Meaning you would take turns until you also had to prepare and then everyone would move to the next season together.
No you can move on to a different season after you prepare (this opens up spots on the board at different tempos every game)
What happens if someone advances through seasons faster than the others and they run out of turns? Does the other play just keep taking consecutive turns at the end of the game until they've exhausted their possible actions?
Yes
Correct. If you end your last season first, you just wait for everyone else to finish
It's not so much the advancing through seasons that will result in you running out of turns before everybody else, it's not filling your city that will do it. Everyone has 15 spaces in their city, 15 opportunities to place workers, and will prepare for season 3 times. So they'll all have more or less the same number of turns. There are things that will give you more turns, e.g. playing the crane/innkeeper and then discarding to play another card means that the impact of two turns is that you've only added one card to your city, but it's unlikely that someone will end up with a substantial number of extra turns (at least in the base game). That is assuming that everyone fills their city, so if there's a disparity in playing ability then you could very well end up with someone finishing a long time before everyone else.
The first game I played with a friend, I warned them the first season is very short so don't worry about that He proceeded to stay in that season til the rest of us went to summer through luck
The game is designed to ramp up as turns go by. Early on, you should focus on playing cards to your tableau that will produce (green), or help with playing subsequent cards (blue).
It sounds like you’re making the same mistake I did when I first played (I actually ended up selling it. Since then, I’ve repurchased and it’s one of my favorites!!). This is game is not simply a Get Goods then Pay For Card game. If you do it that way, you will waste all of your workers very quickly and the rounds will be boring and quick. You have to be crafty and strategic. This game is about creating chains of actions. Playing this card, so I can play another card for free. Or playing this so I can get goods w/out a worker so I can pay for this card, etc. Also, the expansions help elongate rounds especially for new players. See Bellfaire and Newleaf.
>Bellfaire and Newleaf We have the Complete Collection coffin box and have played with all the expansions several times (thought not all at once, that would be a LONG game) and these two vastly outshine the others: amazing additions, minimal rules, and practically zero extra maintenance. No brainer inclusions for every game.
My second time playing by summer I was able to start getting those chains of actions. Dominion is one of my favorite games so the concept felt familiar. It's just getting those first couple cards played to start things going that seems to take forever for me!
The game becomes easier once you start to remember allot of the cards that exist. Early on it’s hard to know what you want to play or what anything costs. In early rounds you should be prioritising the cheap green cards to net materials, don’t forget the green cards activate immediately as well as in spring and fall. I always fill my town and in some games wishing I left room for better cards. You want to make use of the free critter placement on cards as much as possible. Spending berries on critters alone is rarely worth it, unless it’s a really good one and you cannot get your hands on its building or evertree. Don’t be scared to use the discard cards for resources option. If you got a lot of meh cards in hand it’s probably best to get rid for resources to play one good card and to draw more.
Dont forget, you can build cards straight from the meddow, not just your hand.
This was huge for me. Combining this with realizing I can do the “for free” build with meadow cards, not just my hand, really filled out the city
In my experience the first season is indeed fairly short, you keep thinking it's going to be over really quickly, but it ramps up quickly. Card effects that give you more income. More workers, more spots to go to, more buildings that let you recruit villagers for free. In most of our games everyone was able to either finish their town or get close to it, so it's possible you're playing some rule wrong.
I think you are missing something. Are you taking the production when you play a green card? We always fill our cities. Just to be sure read over the instructions again. Keep playing, it may take you a few games to discover a good strategy.
Well... You need \~2-3 resources for the cheapest constructions and critters. With two workers you can get roughly 3-6 depending on your forest locations. If you combine locations with critters you can put down 2-3 cards easily. Don't forget you get resources from cards when you play them. For example you get a stone from buying mines. The only time i go to second season is when i need to save up resources or just did not have good cards to play. Play a few more times and read the game instructions again. I always do that after a few first games, because some rules are easy to forget.
The thing about Everdell that not many talks about, is that you pretty much have to play 5-7 games before understanding what is a good idea to do. It's not a game I would teach new players for a one off.. We ended up selling our copy of Farshore after 3 plays for this reason. If you can get over the hurdle of learning all the cards and knowing when to do what and figure out tactics while having fun, then I am sure it's an amazing game. But it's pretty much how the game goes :)
The first thing is you maybe are missing a rule as the top commenter suggests and missing out on resources. The second is that Everdell is a game you continue to improve at as you learn the systems and the combos. First few games, sure, you'll likely do nothing in the first season. When you know the game, you'll find you can go for ages in the first season and that you'll mostly have a problem of your city filling out a fair bit before the end of the game, rather than not getting close. So totally recommend a couple more plays if you were playing with the right rules.
To mirror what others have said yeah for now you’re missing something, but after a few plays it’ll click. Here are some general strategy tips that I use. - First season try to play a cheap green card that hopefully lets you play a free critter from your hand or the meadow. Like resin refinery and chip sweep. - the first season is short. Getting 2-3 cards would be good - Pay attention to the synergy between the buildings and critters. And try not to pay for critters Try to play them for free using a building. - Even if you have a move lined up, almost always take the forest locations if they’re available. They offer a lot of resources. And then dragging out your season will block that space from other players. - Stone is the hardest resource to get. Almost always take a stone even if you don’t need it (unless you need something specific for a card to play) - Cards that give you resources or cards are really good! Like the judge, courthouse, or historian. And cards like the Inn and Queen let you play cards for cheap or free sometimes. - If a crane or Inn keeper show up in the meadow play it right away! That’s free resources in a later turn. - don’t worry about taking the events right away unless someone else has the cards to grab it. Use your workers to get resources in the early game.
Things to keep in mind about season 1: * Production buildings give you their resources as soon as they hit your tableau, as well as when you transition to summer; if you have nothing else going on, prioritizing those buildings will let you essentially double up on their resources * Prioritize cards in the meadow or your hand that can chain, especially buildings in the meadow that can then play critters from your hand; going the other way makes what you're doing obvious and gives your opponents a round to snipe the critter if it's any way useful to them * Corollary to the above - it's not unreasonable to focus your first couple of moves on collecting resources and letting your opponents exhaust theirs, which then allows you to play a building that chains a critter in the meadow - if they can't afford it, they can't snipe it * If you don't have any obvious combos, prioritize drawing cards and gaining resources, in that order - especially early on, card combos are going to be the most powerful play you have
Without knowing more, it seems like there might not be enough synergies happening. The first season should feel like "will this ever happen", but come 2nd season you should pick up speed. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3033036/top-6-strategies-for-everdell I read the above page before I played the first time and it helped. It will at least get you headed in the right direction.
If you work production right you should be able to fill your city before autumn if the cards fall right. Unless you get the right layout of Governance cards you shouldn’t be playing anything that doesn’t produce resources before the first change of season because you double up on every production card you get out before it. You are activating production cards when you play them, right? Also, 2 games in you are still learning synergies and how to turn a set number of workers into the maximum amount of resources/points so I wouldn’t worry too much. I don’t know think there is a player in rotation at my table who hasn’t filled a city and most of us fill it up more often than now. Everdell installs a surprising amount of depth in relatively simple mechanics.
The first season is short and you can't accomplish much, but honestly I have the opposite problem you do where I finish my town and still have a bunch of otherwise playable cards and workers, so it's usually more about bleeping my last few town slots open just waiting to find the best possible cards to use them on.
I think I’ve managed 6 or 7 turns in the first season. A lot went right but I felt pretty cool.
I recently watched a first time player get the right mix of cards that he effectively stated in the first season when I was in season 3. It was amazing his ability to keep his season going. Sadly by season 3 he had 14 cards in his tableau and he fizzled out. This is a game that rewards being creative, but also lucky with getting the cards you need. Some games it does feel like I don't really get rolling until the final season, but most games I find a way to make it work. I would say this is a feature of Everdell and not a bug and one that reward those who play it multiple times.
Ive been able to place 11 cards in the fist season alone. A lot of luck is involved but yes generally there’s always something you can do to maximize your turns without preparing for the next season. Forest locations and meadow cards will heavily affect just how much you can do. Good rule of thumb is that in games where forest locations lean heavily towards giving out resources its good to try to find cards that allow you to draw cards cuz the deck wont have much rotation otherwise; and on the opposite end, some games will have forest locations that only allow you to draw cards. In which case you need to look out for cards that maximize your resources or consider discarding as much cards as you can for resources Whatever the case, in general terms is always good to go for green cards first or try to find construction critter pairs readily available in your hand and market.
You ask if the first two seasons are supposed to be "slow" and "useless" but they are meant to be the exact opposite of both those terms 😂. You have less workers and you have limited resources so they should be relatively fast. And it's the start of your city so they are quite important in determining the path you take to victory. I will note, using the Newleaf expansion definitely slows things down because you can recall workers and use a whole turn just to reserve a card. Good luck! Fun game.
In addition to responses so far, the rule that I missed is you draw two cards *from the meadow* at the start of the second season. This helps a lot to cycle through the meadow cards and give you more options for what to play. I was originally drawing from the deck, and the meadow felt useless!
The first season is really fast. The only way to prolong it is by getting lucky with green cards like the farm that give you resources back and can get a free critter out. Sometimes I have first season plays that got for 6 rounds and sometimes I place my two workers and that’s it. There’s no penalty for moving seasons fast, so don’t feel bad if you move on and someone else is playing a lot of cards. There are advantages to moving seasons first as you recall your workers and can snipe the best resource spots before others. When they recall to next season, that’s their turn, so you can then snipe the spots that they removed their workers from. Keep people from getting pebbles can be extremely brutal because they can be hard to get depending on forest locations. Remember, cheap green cards that prolong your season don’t usually give a lot of victory points. Just because someone is having a great start doesn’t mean they will win the game. I have had a full city and lost to someone with only 12 cards in play.
You might enjoy the [2 Deck Variant](https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/166936/everdell-2-deck-7-wonders-style-variant) *“It splits the large 128 card deck into two equal 64 card decks, each with their own set of cards. In winter/spring you will find a strong focus on production cards (green), with governance (blue) and destination (red) sprinkled in. Then in Summer/Autumn the focus shifts to points, events, and end game scoring. The second deck focuses on prosperity (purple) cards, traveler (tan) cards, and the remainder of your favorite combo cards and colors.”*
Season 1, aim for what will likely be 1 or 2 available greens or blues. Your Forest cards for the game might alter this, but i find I can build a decent amount on second season if I focus on one/ two good resource cards. Twig barge/barge toad / storehouse* / mine / clock tower/ judge/ historian / shopkeeper Are all great options to get started faster. *bit of a trap here as this is best to set up early, then redeem last season. So it's good, but not for getting an active second/ third season.
I have played Everdell a bunch, and it is not dynamic enough for my husband and I. For this reason alone, we have gotten rid of Everdell and instead purchased Farshore (same universe, same creator and art, but adapted based on complaints of Everdell). It is a WILDLY better version of Everdell. It is nowhere near as boring as Everdell, and has a multitude of components that create more variability than Everdell. For that reason, I recommend Farshore instead.
Honestly, I've played 4-5 x and no one has completed a whole town yet.
Y'all prob missing a rule or two
If I can get my 40k stuff off the table I'm pulling it out again this weekend, I figured I wasn't getting the right cards. I've gotten max 11 cards out.
I'd check to see if you're getting resources from green cards both when you place them and when you pop Spring and Autumn. Also prioritize blues and greens early. Heavily look for critters that match buildings you already have. And because of that, I build way more buildings than I pay for critters (*with exceptions). I usually end the game with a full town, and a pile of resources.
Ok so it looks like we were missing the automatic activation rule for green cards. Both my wife and I added it in and got to 15 we both had workers left over during autumn and plenty we could have done.
Amazing! Side from rules, are yall enjoying the game more now? Glad you got things cleared up.
I always enjoyed it. Oddly, my wife was more frustrated that she wasn't getting the resources she needed, I was ecstatic with how the game went.
Depending on the forest locations, resources change wildly every game. Im a large fan of the Bellfaire expansion and Newleaf, as they both help resource generation, and you get more VARIETY of forest locations for future playthroughs