The Great Wall XP1: Ancient Beasts

Great Wall is 1-4 player innovative worker placement Board Game with multiple different ways to play it - solo, full co-op or competitive. With great reception from reviewers and gamers in 2021 the game is finally coming back!

The Ancient Beasts expansion adds four legendary entities to the game – the players will try to gain their favor to receive their blessings. This expansion may be added to almost any game mode except the Ancient Chronicles excepted.

Ancient Beasts generate passive effects influencing different aspects of the game. Starting at level 1, Each Beast has 3 Power levels that may be upgraded during the game. Their effects are passive, and each one of them is described on the corresponding card.

With four unique miniatures representing the Beasts, you also gain 12 new Advisor cards and 10 Relic cards that provide an additional way to move the Beasts. Besides that, this expansion contains Ancient Beasts cards and Tactic cards that extend the Tactic deck from the core game.

12 new Advisors

4 of the new Advisors are based on mythical beasts and come along with meeples/miniatures, depicting statues of these fantastic creatures. Player, who buys one of them, may place the miniature in a dedicated place on the board to gain new, powerful benefits. The location it will be placed is crucial, so it's essential to plan it right!

Qilin, as a symbol of prosperity, allows gathering additional wood, gold, stones, or Meditation from a chosen Location. Qilin is like an extraordinary Clerk - it doesn't need any empty slot, and when it is removed from the board, you may place a regular Clerk in its place for free.

Yinglong, a mighty winged dragon, will inspire your soldiers. You place Yinglong on a chosen Wall Section - it allows you to gather your forces in this place instantly. Additionally, Soldiers under Yinglong presence fight with great zeal, counting as two when gaining Honor for defeated Hordes!

Spirit Turtle, a sacred shelled beast, blesses your army with resilience, lowering your losses on one of the Wall Sections. How? Your Soldiers won't die here!

Finally, Fenghuang, a blessed bird, is a symbol of virtue. Exchange all your Overseers for Fenghuang and place it on a chosen Location. It acts as triple Overseer of the maximum level in this Location. Additionally, your former Overseers go back to your pool, so you can recruit them again in the Barracks.

Other 8 Advisors are similar to Advisors from the core game, but in the case of the essential mechanics, the more the better - more choice and more replayability (but the base game offers tons of options).