Cascadia A Cards Strategy: Building Around Your First Set

The rulebook suggests the A cards for a first game, and many tables keep using them for weeks. That is a good thing. The A cards are the clearest set in the box: each one asks for a single, easy-to-see shape. Learn to build these five shapes well and every other card will make more sense.

The first lesson told you to pick two or three animals. This one tells you how to pick, card by card. Point values come from the rulebook’s scoring example; the full tables are printed on each card.

Bears A: pairs

The shape: two bears touching each other, with no other bear touching either one. The more pairs you have, the more you score, and the points climb faster than one per pair. Two pairs score 11 in the rulebook’s example.

What breaks it: a third bear. Three bears together are a group of three, and on card A that scores nothing. Two pairs that touch become a group of four, which also scores nothing.

How to build it: think in little islands. Place each pair with at least one tile of space between it and the next pair. Before you commit, count the open tiles in your environment that show a bear. Fewer than four, and pairs will be hard to keep apart.

Elk A: straight lines

The shape: elk in a straight line, flat side to flat side, in any of the three directions a hex row can run. A line of two scores 5 and a line of three scores 9 in the rulebook’s example; the card goes up to a line of four.

What breaks it: a bend. An elk that sits beside a line but not in it starts a new, shorter line instead. Each elk scores only once, so when lines cross, count the version that scores most.

How to build it: lay the tiles first. A row of tiles that can hold elk is a promise of points even before the tokens arrive, because a token can go on any open tile in your environment, not only the one you just took.

Salmon A: one long run

The shape: a run of salmon, where each salmon touches no more than two others and no other salmon touches the run. It can wind and turn. A run of four scores 12 in the rulebook’s example, and runs keep scoring up to seven.

What breaks it: a salmon placed so that it touches three others, or a second run that grows into the first. Either one turns your run into an illegal group that scores nothing.

How to build it: grow the run from one end, like a stream. Keep the next landing spot open, and keep stray salmon away from the sides.

Hawks A: lonely hawks

The shape: hawks that do not touch any other hawk. Each one counts, and the total climbs with the number of lonely hawks. Four score 11 in the rulebook’s example.

What breaks it: two hawks side by side. Both stop counting.

How to build it: this is the most forgiving card in the A set. Almost any hawk you place scores something, as long as you scatter them. It is the perfect third animal: take a hawk when it comes free, put it far from your other hawks, and move on.

Foxes A: varied neighbors

The shape: a fox surrounded by different kinds of animals. Each fox scores by how many different animal types sit in the six spaces around it, and on card A other foxes count as a type. In the rulebook’s example, foxes touching three and five types score 3 and 5.

What breaks it: nothing, really. A fox always scores something once anything lands next to it. But a fox at the edge of your environment, with few neighbors, scores little.

How to build it: place foxes in the middle of your environment early, then let your other animals fill in around them.

Choosing your two or three

Every A card rewards a different habit, so the right pick depends on what the display offers and what your tiles can hold. A simple rule of thumb for the A set:

• One shape you plan: Elk A or Salmon A. Both reward a frame of tiles laid ahead of the tokens.
• One shape you tend: Bears A. Pairs come quickly, but you must keep them apart.
• One shape that is always open: Hawks A or Foxes A. Take them when they are free, and they still score.

The other animals are not off limits. They are simply not worth a bad tile.

A first-game plan in five turns

1. Read the five cards aloud and pick your two main animals.
2. Look at your starter tile. Which of your animals can it already hold?
3. Take pairs that put a main animal on a tile that can grow its shape.
4. Place stray tokens where they cannot break a main shape, or return them to the bag.
5. By turn five, you should be able to point at the spot where each shape will grow next.

If the people at your table have just learned what a modern game looks like, our guide to gateway board games shows where Cascadia fits among them.