Expedition to Newdale

In the informal German school of design, Alexander Pfister seems to have made campaign-style play his calling card. Expedition to Newdale does not sell that idea as readily as Maracaibo did: the introductory scenario leaves one with a middling game that asks for further exploration without quite earning the urge.

Its basic engine is set collection and resource management. The turn-by-turn task is to assemble the appropriate sets and materials, while the additional map shapes your progress through moves that feel largely scripted by the position from which you began.

Player interaction is slight, so the interest lies chiefly in making your own route more efficient rather than interfering with anyone else's. The interesting decision is how to adapt that familiar engine to each scenario's objectives; this is where the game starts to acquire an identity of its own.

The third scenario made it feel much more like a Pfister design, though it remains a notch below his established classics. It is pleasant to play, and its eight distinctly different scenarios — altering objectives, the means of meeting them, and the map itself — provide substantial replayability. For a collection looking for a light Pfister, Expedition to Newdale is plainly the better choice than Cloud Age, despite their similar gameplay and weight.

Updated session

The second attempt does not overturn the first reservation; it explains it. The introductory scenario is a poor shop window for the campaign, while the third shows that varied maps and objectives, rather than the limited interaction in the core system, are the reason to continue.