Game Objective: Dominate the Skies of Asia!

Welcome to the vibrant world of Wingspan: Asia! In this guide, we'll teach you how to play against the Automa, a cunning artificial intelligence that will challenge your ornithological skills. Your objective is simple yet challenging: accumulate more victory points than the Automa by the end of four rounds, building the most prosperous bird ecosystem on your individual player board. Prepare to attract majestic birds, lay eggs, and collect food, all while the Automa pursues its own scoring objectives. Who will be the true master of the Asian skies?

Setup: Building the Automa's Nest

To begin your journey in Wingspan: Asia against the Automa, follow these steps to set up the table:

1. Automa Area: Reserve a small area on the table for the Automa components.
2. Round Control Card: Place the round control card in the center of the Automa area, showing "Round 1" on the top band.
3. Duet Mode (Optional): If playing in Duet mode, position the duet map control card to the right of the round control card, also displaying "Round 1".
4. Automa Deck: Shuffle the 10 Automa cards. If in Duet mode, include the Automasian Alliance card. Do not use map edge goals in Duet mode. Place the deck face down to the right of the control card(s).
5. Automa Action Cubes: Give the Automa the action cubes of an unused color.
6. Automa Bonus Card: Randomly select one of the Automa bonus cards to use during the game. Alternatively, you can draw and reveal bonus cards until you find one with "X% of cards" at the bottom for the Automa, reshuffling the rest.
7. Difficulty Level: Choose the Automa's difficulty level (Fledgling Eagle, Eagle, or Eagle Eyes). This will affect the scoring of face-down birds and the conversion of cache tokens.
8. End-of-Round Goal: For the Round 1 end-of-round goal tile, place the corresponding end-of-round scoring card next to the goal board, with "Round 1" facing up.

Remember: you always play the first turn of each round, and the Automa always plays last.

The Game Turn: Dance with the Automa

In Wingspan: Asia, the game unfolds in rounds, and each round consists of your turns and the Automa's turns. You always play first. The Automa does not have an individual player board, hand of cards, or food, and does not need to "pay" for its actions. It collects birds and eggs only for final scoring.

Your Turn

During your turn, the Automa does nothing, unless you activate a "WHEN PLAYED" (White) or "WHEN ACTIVATED" (Brown) bird power that interacts with another player. In these cases, the Automa will react as follows:

• Automa's Cache: If the Automa would gain something, it receives cache tokens (represented by food tokens). If it would need to pay something to participate, it gains 1 token for each item it would gain. Otherwise, it gains 2 tokens for each item. It always meets the conditions to gain something.
• Check if Automa possesses something: The number of egg icons on the current Automa card represents what it possesses. On the first turn of each round, it possesses nothing.
• Steal or gain something from the Automa: Everything you "steal" or gain from the Automa comes from the supply.
• Use an Automa bird's power: Use any such power from the 3 face-up cards in the bird tray.
• Use an Automa bonus card: Draw two bonus cards and place them face up in the supply. They represent the Automa's bonus cards.

Variant: Automa's Hoard

If you are using the Automa's Hoard variant (do not use the Automa's Cache with it!), the Automa gains hoard tokens (food tokens) when brown powers are activated. The number of tokens varies according to the resource type:

• For each 🐛 or 🌾 it would gain: 1 hoard token. For each it would lose: returns 1 token.
• For each 🍎 or 🐟 it would gain: 2 hoard tokens. For each it would lose: returns 1 token.
• For each 🐭 it would gain: 3 hoard tokens. For each it would lose: returns 2 tokens.
• For each 🍇 it would gain: 6 hoard tokens.

When the Automa needs to cache food or tuck a card under another, it gains 3 hoard tokens. It always chooses 🐛 if it can choose the resource type. The Automa will not participate in powers where it would lose more tokens than it would gain.

The Automa's Turn

On the Automa's turn, the action is dictated by an Automa card:

1. Reveal Automa Card: Draw a single Automa card and place it face up over the previous card, aligned with the arrow on the round control card. The arrow indicates the section of the card that will be used in the current round.
2. Resolve Actions: Compare each icon in the current round's section with the rules below to resolve the Automa's actions. The other three sections are ignored.

The actions the Automa can perform are:

• DRAW CARDS:
  • Discard ALL 3 face-up cards from the bird tray.
  • Draw 1 bird card from the deck and place it face down in the Automa's supply. These birds are worth 3, 4, or 5 points at the end of the game, depending on difficulty (4 points on normal difficulty).
  • Duet Mode: The Automa will place a duet marker on the duet map. It will navigate the duet map, using the section indicated on the duet map control card, to find an available space that matches the habitat and type combination (nest, food, or other) indicated by the icons in the right column of the Automa card. If no valid space exists, it does not place the marker.
• PLAY BIRD:
  • Take ALL 3 face-up cards from the bird tray that meet the requirement of the Automa bonus card.
  • From these cards, the Automa keeps the one with the highest point value (if tied, any will do). Place it face up in the Automa's supply and discard the rest. Face-up birds provide their specific point value at the end of the game.
  • If NO bird meets the requirement, draw 1 bird card from the deck and place it face down in the Automa's supply. Face-down birds are worth 3, 4, or 5 points at the end of the game, depending on difficulty.
  • Duet Mode: The Automa will place a duet marker on the duet map. It will navigate the duet map, based on the section indicated on the duet map control, to find an available space that improves its progress on the current round's goal. If no space improves progress, it navigates to the first available space.
• LAY EGGS: For each egg icon in the current round's section, give the Automa 1 egg token from the supply.
• GAIN FOOD:
  • If all dice in the bird feeder show the same face, re-roll all 5 dice.
  • Using the sequence indicated in the current round's section, select the first available face in the bird feeder, starting with the leftmost die face icon. Remove ALL dice with that face. The Automa never receives food from the supply.
• ACTIVATE PINK POWERS: Activate ALL pink powers from bird cards on your individual player board (the Automa does nothing).
• PLACE AN END-OF-ROUND CUBE (Original Goal): Place 1 of the Automa's action cubes on the current end-of-round goal tile.
• REMOVE AN END-OF-ROUND CUBE (Original Goal): Remove 1 of the Automa's action cubes from the current end-of-round goal tile and return it to the supply. Ignore if there are no cubes.

End of Game and Scoring: The Winner Takes Flight!

The game ends after Round 4. Final scoring is calculated as follows:

End of Round (Partial)

At the end of each round (except the 4th), the end-of-round goals are scored:

• Duet Mode: Duet end-of-round goals are scored as per the duet rules for multiple players.
• Original End of Round: The amount the Automa possesses of the item required by the goal is calculated using a base value (from the End-of-Round Goals card) plus any action cubes it has on the round's goal tile. The Automa cannot exceed 5 birds for the "birds in a specific habitat" goal. One of the Automa's action cubes is used to mark its placement on the goal board. Return any action cubes from the goal tile to the Automa's supply.

After scoring, prepare for the next round:

• Flip the Round Control card to the next round.
• Duet Mode: Do the same for the duet map control card.
• Remove Automa cards that specify "Remove after round" referring to the completed round.
• Reshuffle the Automa deck.

End of Game Scoring (Final)

Before calculating the Automa's final score, it gains 1 egg for every 5/4/3 cache tokens (or hoard) it returns to the supply, depending on the difficulty level (Fledgling Eagle/Eagle Eyes).

The Automa receives points for:

• Points printed on each of its face-up birds.
• 3, 4, or 5 points for each face-down bird, depending on the difficulty level.
• 1 point for each egg it collected.
• Duet Mode: Points for the duet map end-of-round goals, including points for the largest continuous group of duet markers.
• Original End of Round: Points for the end-of-round goals, shown on the goal board.

Note: The Automa does not gain points for its bonus card.

In case of a tie, the Automa wins if it has more remaining tokens than you have remaining food tokens.

Tips for Winning: Strategies to Overcome the Automa

Facing the Automa can be a challenge, but with a few tactics, you can emerge victorious:

1. Pay Attention to End-of-Round Goals: The Automa scores consistently on end-of-round goals. Keep an eye on the End-of-Round Goals card and the Automa card to anticipate where it will score and try to outperform it or, at least, minimize the difference. In Duet mode, understanding how it places duet markers is crucial for controlling the map.
2. Manage Interactive Powers Wisely: While it's tempting to activate powers that benefit other players, remember that the Automa gains cache tokens (or hoard) from this. Evaluate if the benefit to you outweighs the points it can accumulate. Sometimes, avoiding these powers can be an effective strategy to limit the Automa's score.
3. Adapt to Difficulty: The Automa adjusts to the chosen difficulty level, changing the scoring of its face-down birds and the conversion of cache/hoard tokens into eggs. If you're starting, play on "Fledgling Eagle" difficulty to familiarize yourself with the mechanics before challenging "Eagle Eyes." Understanding how difficulty affects the Automa's scoring can influence your game decisions, such as focusing on high-value birds or egg production.