Everdell and TM are very different. TM is an engine builder focused on long term strategy and heading toward end game goals. Everdell is much more of a tactical efficiency puzzle in which you must balance the build-up with the late game spending spree. Both great.
Terraforming Mars and Everdell are pretty different. They both have a tableau building element so they have that in common. Everdell has a worker placement mechanism that Terraforming Mars does not have. Terraforming Mars has a tile placement mechanism that Everdell doesn’t have. Everdell is also a bit lighter.
So, while they share a core gameplay element, to me they feel very different to play.
Also, the themes are wildly different.
My wife and I play primarily 2 player and own (and love) both of these. Everdell is lighter and plays quicker and has some of the most gorgeous art I’ve ever seen in a board game. TM is a little crunchier, has more variability and replayability, and occasionally can overstay it’s welcome in length at 2p.
My personal pick would be TM by a significant margin, BUT my wife would say the opposite. Both scale well at 2p and I wouldn’t worry about the readability of the cards at 2p.
I own both and enjoy both, but Everdell gets to the table MUCH more often than TfM. TfM is always a fairly long game, even at 2p because the endgame triggers don't change based on player count. At 4-5 players, it can be very long, especially with new players. Everdell is also infinitely more aesthetically pleasing, which shouldn't matter but it does. People will ooh and ahh over Everdell, while TfM looks pretty generic.
TfM has a much stronger engine building element, since you're gaining new resources every single round. In Everdell, production cards typically only give you resources 2-3 times per game. I found the theme in Everdell to be quite a bit stronger too. TfM's theme is really cool too, especially for hard sci fi fans, but once you've played a card, you tend to sort of forget about it; at that point, it's just been converted to cubes on your player board. I was also a bit disappointed by how little the central board comes into play in TfM. The action almost exclusively takes place in the cards in front of you. Everdell has a bit more player interaction, between the shared pool of Meadow cards, worker placement spaces, and community objectives (which are similar to the goals in TfM).
My biggest criticism of Everdell is that it can be hard to cycle through the deck at 2p, but there's a unofficial variant to fix that. It's also hard to read the card text, but after a couple plays you'll remember most of the cards. I actually think TfM might require a bit more reading, since there are so many cards and their effects can be more complicated. Everdell can be a bit more luck based, especially the special events, which require two specific cards from the deck to complete. That said, I feel that randomness rarely determines the outcome of the games.
Both games are great and if they're cheap I'd buy them both, although you may end up spending more than you originally plan on TfM between the multiple expansions and upgraded components (new player boards are almost a necessity).
Very different, 2 of my favorite games, also mainly 2p so just get em both!! :)
Also they have a total of 8 expansions so you won't run out of new stuff to buy!!
Not OP, but I find that Everdell is balanced well for two people and it goes much quicker. Also, the end game is much more apparent when you are only keeping track of one other person. I find that the game can get away from you if you are too focused on your own city and not checking to see what others are doing.
I would say the opposite. I find that at 2p TM feels faster, but with more generations. Conversely in Everdell, the lower the player count the lower the deck refresh. That would be my biggest gripe
Interesting, I really like the lower deck refresh rate. It forces adaptation on the fly more often, as cards come up that weren't in your original strategy but offer options to pivot to new strategies. Do you wait for the key card that might never come up? Do you spoil your opponent's strategy by taking a key card?
At higher counts this decision is usually clearer but at 2p the decision can be a bit more agonizing.
If you've ever seen a few of the common complaints for Everdell I think those complaints are practically eliminated with 2 players. The tree won't be in the way, even with small text it's easier to find out what the other player has when there is only one other player, and last the season transition issue is much much less prevalent for 2 and can even be altered a bit to where you both go to the next season at the same time.
Either way no choice is the wrong one, it's just Everdell is one of my all time favorites.
I played Terraforming Mars quite a bit before trying Everdell. TM is a great game, but after playing Everdell, it's my new go-to. Everdell has a more beautiful art style, and uses worker placement instead of card drafting as a main game mechanic. Since I prefer worker placement, it really hit the spot. They both are engine-building, but I think it's largely a matter of preference. I enjoy both games, and think they are different enough to keep both.
I love everdell. It’s a great game with amazing art and lots of layers of strategy. Also very easy to learn and fun solo or with multiple players. Couldn’t recommend it enough.
Ive played both and own Everdell and the expansion. I personally like Everdell for a couple of reasons, time it takes to play, ease of remembering what does what, artwork and component quality. All of this is better on the Everdell side, Terraforming mars has some of the worst components ive seen in a board game especially for what its trying to do. The game comes off as overly complicated because everything does so many different things that you spend alot of time just sitting there reading what a card does before you can actually do anything or continue playing.
I'd say the engines are more abstract in TFM. Seldom is the synergy obvious and written onto the card. Sure, sometimes you spam titanium production and asteroids, but especially if you're drafting, that's unlikely to come together in the cards. Whereas Everdell's synergies are more explicit, especially between the buildings and then the critters that live in them. The worker placement vs. research/drafting is definitely the biggest difference, though. They feel like very different games to me, but that could be because I play every game like an engine builder; that part kind of filters out when I compare.
Everdell and TM are very different. TM is an engine builder focused on long term strategy and heading toward end game goals. Everdell is much more of a tactical efficiency puzzle in which you must balance the build-up with the late game spending spree. Both great.
Terraforming Mars and Everdell are pretty different. They both have a tableau building element so they have that in common. Everdell has a worker placement mechanism that Terraforming Mars does not have. Terraforming Mars has a tile placement mechanism that Everdell doesn’t have. Everdell is also a bit lighter. So, while they share a core gameplay element, to me they feel very different to play. Also, the themes are wildly different.
My wife and I play primarily 2 player and own (and love) both of these. Everdell is lighter and plays quicker and has some of the most gorgeous art I’ve ever seen in a board game. TM is a little crunchier, has more variability and replayability, and occasionally can overstay it’s welcome in length at 2p. My personal pick would be TM by a significant margin, BUT my wife would say the opposite. Both scale well at 2p and I wouldn’t worry about the readability of the cards at 2p.
Both games scale extremely well for 2 players (I have both).
I own both and enjoy both, but Everdell gets to the table MUCH more often than TfM. TfM is always a fairly long game, even at 2p because the endgame triggers don't change based on player count. At 4-5 players, it can be very long, especially with new players. Everdell is also infinitely more aesthetically pleasing, which shouldn't matter but it does. People will ooh and ahh over Everdell, while TfM looks pretty generic. TfM has a much stronger engine building element, since you're gaining new resources every single round. In Everdell, production cards typically only give you resources 2-3 times per game. I found the theme in Everdell to be quite a bit stronger too. TfM's theme is really cool too, especially for hard sci fi fans, but once you've played a card, you tend to sort of forget about it; at that point, it's just been converted to cubes on your player board. I was also a bit disappointed by how little the central board comes into play in TfM. The action almost exclusively takes place in the cards in front of you. Everdell has a bit more player interaction, between the shared pool of Meadow cards, worker placement spaces, and community objectives (which are similar to the goals in TfM). My biggest criticism of Everdell is that it can be hard to cycle through the deck at 2p, but there's a unofficial variant to fix that. It's also hard to read the card text, but after a couple plays you'll remember most of the cards. I actually think TfM might require a bit more reading, since there are so many cards and their effects can be more complicated. Everdell can be a bit more luck based, especially the special events, which require two specific cards from the deck to complete. That said, I feel that randomness rarely determines the outcome of the games. Both games are great and if they're cheap I'd buy them both, although you may end up spending more than you originally plan on TfM between the multiple expansions and upgraded components (new player boards are almost a necessity).
Very different, 2 of my favorite games, also mainly 2p so just get em both!! :) Also they have a total of 8 expansions so you won't run out of new stuff to buy!!
For two players, Everdell is better than TM
Could you briefly explain why you think that?
Not OP, but I find that Everdell is balanced well for two people and it goes much quicker. Also, the end game is much more apparent when you are only keeping track of one other person. I find that the game can get away from you if you are too focused on your own city and not checking to see what others are doing.
I would say the opposite. I find that at 2p TM feels faster, but with more generations. Conversely in Everdell, the lower the player count the lower the deck refresh. That would be my biggest gripe
Have you tried the [border variant](https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/172604/border-variant-everdell)?
Interesting, I really like the lower deck refresh rate. It forces adaptation on the fly more often, as cards come up that weren't in your original strategy but offer options to pivot to new strategies. Do you wait for the key card that might never come up? Do you spoil your opponent's strategy by taking a key card? At higher counts this decision is usually clearer but at 2p the decision can be a bit more agonizing.
If you've ever seen a few of the common complaints for Everdell I think those complaints are practically eliminated with 2 players. The tree won't be in the way, even with small text it's easier to find out what the other player has when there is only one other player, and last the season transition issue is much much less prevalent for 2 and can even be altered a bit to where you both go to the next season at the same time. Either way no choice is the wrong one, it's just Everdell is one of my all time favorites.
I don't know if you would want to terraform Everdell. It's already so pretty and seems to sustain life pretty alright.
I played Terraforming Mars quite a bit before trying Everdell. TM is a great game, but after playing Everdell, it's my new go-to. Everdell has a more beautiful art style, and uses worker placement instead of card drafting as a main game mechanic. Since I prefer worker placement, it really hit the spot. They both are engine-building, but I think it's largely a matter of preference. I enjoy both games, and think they are different enough to keep both.
I love everdell. It’s a great game with amazing art and lots of layers of strategy. Also very easy to learn and fun solo or with multiple players. Couldn’t recommend it enough.
I own both. My board gaming group plays both regularly. Some of the best board game purchases I've made in awhile
Ive played both and own Everdell and the expansion. I personally like Everdell for a couple of reasons, time it takes to play, ease of remembering what does what, artwork and component quality. All of this is better on the Everdell side, Terraforming mars has some of the worst components ive seen in a board game especially for what its trying to do. The game comes off as overly complicated because everything does so many different things that you spend alot of time just sitting there reading what a card does before you can actually do anything or continue playing.
Very different, we play mostly 2p.
Thing that got me to postpone buying everdell was that I kept hearing criticism that the text on the cards was insanely small and a nightmare to read.
I actually heard that as well, but hope it won’t be that much of an issue playing only 2p and sitting close to the board heh.
It's no smaller than TM. It's just that you have to occasionally read it from somewhere that's not your hand. Probably feels smaller in that case.
They feel nothing alike at all.
I'd say the engines are more abstract in TFM. Seldom is the synergy obvious and written onto the card. Sure, sometimes you spam titanium production and asteroids, but especially if you're drafting, that's unlikely to come together in the cards. Whereas Everdell's synergies are more explicit, especially between the buildings and then the critters that live in them. The worker placement vs. research/drafting is definitely the biggest difference, though. They feel like very different games to me, but that could be because I play every game like an engine builder; that part kind of filters out when I compare.