Image taken from https://boardgamegeek.com/image/6944697/a-wayfarers-tale

Designer: James Emmerson
Publisher: Bright Light Games
Artist: Tristam Rossin

I gotta say, I am really impressed by this game. For a print and play roll and write, there is a lot of content, and you can tell a lot of work went into the design. I haven’t played multiplayer, but I’m currently working through my second solo campaign, and it’s a blast. Besides the campaign itself, one of my favorite aspects is the amount of strategic decision making required. For a two page roll and write, there are so many different paths to take (pun intended), so each game really feels like a new experience with unique choices.

In a nutshell, the solo game is about traversing different maps using unique explorers to achieve the goal for the scenario. To do this, you start by rolling one die to determine your starting position. Then, each round, you roll three dice (one “active” and two others) and choose two to add together for your movement. If you use the two inactive dice, the turn plays out as normal, but each time you utilize the number on the active die, you gain monster points (we’ll go over this more later but they’re bad). 👹 When making routes on the island, you can only visit each hex once, so they can never cross each other or double back.

There are five different companions (travelers), and each has specific rules on which dice values they can use and which terrain types they can traverse. This is where the crispy (not quite
crunchy) decisions come in. You have to determine which dice combination provides the most optimal outcome based on what you have available and where you need to go. Here are the
number rules and terrains for each companion:

Coachman: grass or mountain terrain; the numbers must be greater than or equal to the previous ones

Guide: desert or jungle terrain; requires number that are greater than or equal to a certain number

Adventurer: jungle or mountain terrain; numbers have to increase and decrease with the height of their spaces

Merchant: desert or grass terrain; numbers must match the row or column number

Sailor: water terrain (the only explorer capable of this); requires double dice values

Along the way, you can gain treasures that give you points and monsters that subtract points. The explorers each have treasure and monster boxes on their tracks, but you can also get monsters
through your dice selection as aforementioned. At the end of the game (solo only), your treasure values must add to a larger number than your monster values to win. Some of the solo scenarios
also have a starting monster value that needs to be taken into consideration when calculating the score. There are also automatic loss conditions in the solo game.

One other unique action in the solo game is that you can “spend” towns. Once you’ve reached a town, there are a few options to “spend” them to roll additional die and/or alter dice rolls. Honestly, I have forgotten to use this many times, but it can be helpful! There are also items that can be purchased using positive points you’ve earned through the campaign (you have twelve at the beginning to spend as well) to aid you on your journey.

Besides the differentiation in the actual scenarios, there are also two player boards and four maps that are utilized to keep the experience fresh and fun. In general, campaign and/or achievement style solo board games have a bigger draw for me because I like having different scenarios and challenges to figure out. Since A Wayfarer’s Tale fits that, I was already excited to delve in. Once
I started playing, though, the game’s style, theme, uniqueness, and simplicity (without being simplistic) added even more enjoyment for me.

I’m excited for the full board game version (A Wayfarer’s Tale: The Journey Begins) to hit Kickstarter soon!