WBG Score: 9/10
Player Count: 1-5
You’ll like this if you like: Viscounts of the West Kingdom, Viticulture, Apiary
Published by: Stonemaier Games
Designed by: Connie Vogelmann
This is a review copy. See our review policy here
Apiary was a smash hit in 2023. The first expansion has just come out with minimal fanfare and at quite short notice, perhaps because it offers minimal new content to the game? It mainly adds more of the same things. The expansion fixes a few minor issues and unquestionably increases replayability with new "stuff!" However, it does feel like a slightly strange expansion as it doesn't introduce anything entirely new, except for one change to the frames. Let's get this to the table and see what it brings to the base game.
How To Set Up Apiary: Expanding The Hive
The way this game comes set in the punchboards is a thing of beauty. Everything is clearly labelled next to the place it is set in the punch board, explaining what is new, what replaces old components, and what to do with each part. It makes integrating this expansion into the main box, which it does seamlessly, so easy. Other publishers should take note of this. Well done, Stonemaier.
In the box are 15 new frames which should permanently replace the original ones. You can recycle them if you can bring yourself to it! You really won't be needing them again. The same can be said for a few old tiles and the old Appendix. This expansion offers new versions for a few misprints and tiny revisions, nothing game-changing. The biggest one is an explore token that in the original printing offered you two seed tokens; this is now replaced with a token that offers one. Two did feel a bit overpowered if you were lucky enough to get it.
On top of the replacements, there are also seven new Hive mats to offer more variation in the game, 16 new tiles to add to the four categories of tiles, (just shuffle them in with the originals), four new explore tokens, 15 new seed cards, and three new dance tiles with six new tokens. Just add them all into the base game.
So, to set up the game, do exactly what you usually would do. The only difference is that as now the frames are all unique, you shuffle them and create two face-up piles. That is the only change in the entire game rules-wise, other than keeping all the unused explore tokens next to the board rather than placing them back into the box during set up. This just helps you when you gain explore tokens in other ways than exploring.
How To Play Apiary: Expanding The Hive
The rules do not change at all from the base game other than when you gain explore tokens and frames as mentioned above. You can now choose from the two piles of frames, or for the explore tokens, from the face-down pile of spare tokens as well as the ones in the map spaces.
Seeing as there is so little to say about how to play, here are my top three tips to score well in this game.
Buy Farms and Explore early. It will help boost your resources in the early stages and increase your power when you retrieve workers.
If you want to acquire Carve tiles, do so as early as possible so that other players do not take the ones you want, and you can then build your strategy around their scoring opportunity, knowing you have them in your possession.
Farms that score points during the retrieve phase can be very powerful from the mid-game point when accelerating the game may be to your advantage, and resources become less important.
Is It Fun? Apiary: Expanding The Hive Expansion Board Game Review
This is a great expansion. It gives me exactly what I want. More stuff! Not all expansions need to change the game. Apiary is a brilliant game already. I gave the base game a nine. I love it. It has a pure, clever, and intriguing flow to the game. I don't want anything to change with it. It needs no additional complexity. Nothing needs to be fixed. But, after a few plays, I can see why a publisher would want to fix a few small issues with some tiles, and for my case, replace some tiles from the original printing. Do that in an expansion rather than a separate fix pack. Makes sense to me. And whilst you are at it, how about a few new things? Perfect. And those things offer chances to combo some pretty cool turns. My first game with this expansion allowed me to gain a new Development tile that allowed me to gain two Wax, which I then used on my next turn to buy another tile that allowed me to buy a Carve tile at a reduction of one Honey. It was a satisfying couple of turns that created a real sense of progression at the mid-game phase.
The main new addition to the game with this expansion, though, are the 15 new frames. Previously, each frame in the game was identical and offered a chance to place some more tiles and gain eight more points if you filled it up. This obviously linked to a few other goals in the game too. But the frames all being the same felt odd in a game full of minor asymmetry. Now, though, they are all unique and offer an actual choice when you gain one, and then decide how to fill it. A nice minor change to the game that just makes it feel that little bit more complete.
I would never now play this game without the expansions. It is all shuffled up with the original components in the main box. Bar the frames, I will probably forget about it in future plays, in truth. It all just seamlessly fits into the game, both in terms of setup, rules, and storage. So, what would I want to see from future expansions? Well, perhaps a 'Grande' worker style bee. A larger one such as seen in Viticulture that offers more powerful actions. Maybe a second board with a seventh spot to go to, although that would affect the tightness of the game. But it does sound intriguing to me. And then maybe even something that added a bit more of a story to the game. A campaign-style expansion such as The Rise of Fenris that gives a bit of detail about why these bees are out here doing all this in the first place! I feel that with the success of the campaign-style expansion seen with Viticulture and Scythe, this will be something on Jamey's mind.
As mentioned, everything fits perfectly in the box as you can see. And the small disposal recyclable box that this comes in is perfect for expansions. I find it hard to throw anything away, and a gorgeous box with unique art on an expansion makes me want to keep expansion boxes, when they really do not always need to stay on my shelf, especially when it all fits in the box like this. So well done again to Stonemaier for the revolutionary change. It makes sense for publishers and purchasers.
I would recommend anyone who owns the base game to get this. It is a no-brainer for me. It won't change your opinion on the base game, and it won't change the flow or style of the game for you that much. It will make it marginally better, offer more replayability, and some of the choices in these new tiles are very interesting and that is enough for me. Well worth a look.
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