Solo Wingspan: Beating the Automa on Every Difficulty

The base box includes a solo opponent called the Automa, run by a small deck of cards. It is a fine way to play when nobody else is free. It is also one of the best practice partners for the skills from Level 3, because it never gets tired of you trying the same opening five times in a row.

This lesson follows the official Automa rulebook in the base box. The Automa plays by its own rules: no player mat, no food, no costs, and no bird powers.

Setup in brief

• The Automa takes 8 action cubes. Its deck has 11 cards, one of them an expert card called Automubon Society that you leave out unless you want a harder game.
• Before you take your own bonus cards, draw one for the Automa. It needs a card that prints a percentage, and not Breeding Manager or Backyard Birder. Redraw until you get one.
• The rulebook recommends the green side of the goal board.
• You always go first each round, and the Automa always takes the last turn.

How it takes a turn

Flip the top Automa card and read only the section for the current round. It may do one or two of these:

• Draw cards. It discards all 3 birds on the tray and takes 1 card from the deck face down. Face-down birds score 3, 4, or 5 points depending on difficulty.
• Play a bird. It takes every tray bird that fits its bonus card and keeps the one with the most points face up, discarding the rest. If none fit, it takes a face-down bird instead.
• Lay eggs. It gains eggs as shown.
• Gain food. It removes every die of one face from the feeder, following a key on the card. If every die matches, it rerolls first.
• Place or remove a cube on the current goal tile.
• Activate all pink powers. Every pink power on your mat fires, once, as if a rival had triggered it.

How it scores

At game end the Automa scores its goal results, the points on its face-up birds, 3, 4, or 5 for each face-down bird, and 1 per egg. It never scores its bonus card. On a tie, it counts as having 2 leftover food.

For goals, the Automa’s count is a base value printed on its goal scoring card for that goal type, plus any cubes it has on the goal tile. That base is the least it will have, and you can see it from the start of the round.

The Automa’s habits, and how to use them

It sweeps the tray. A draw cards turn throws away all three face-up birds. If you want a tray bird, take it now. Waiting a turn is a gamble you will often lose.

It drains the feeder. It removes every die of one face, not just one. The feeder empties and refills more often than in a multiplayer game. Fresh rolls come often, so the reroll tricks from the odds lesson matter less, and taking what you need right now matters more.

Its goals are readable. You know its base value for each goal and can watch its cubes. Count how many items you need to beat it, and plan your round around reaching that number on your last turn.

Your pink powers pay. The Automa’s activate pink powers icon fires all of yours. In a multiplayer game a pink power depends on what rivals choose; here the Automa’s cards fire them on a schedule.

It skips your brown powers. When your brown power would give other players something, the Automa gets nothing. When a power compares you with other players, the Automa loses the comparison. Powers that help all players are pure gain in solo.

Its tiebreak food is fixed. It counts as having 2 leftover food, so finishing with 3 or more unused food wins you any tie.

The difficulty ladder

The rulebook changes difficulty by what each face-down bird is worth:

For a further step, shuffle Automubon Society into the deck. It makes the Automa compete harder on the goals.

A sensible climb: win twice in a row at one level, then move up. The jump from Eagle to Eagle-eyed Eagle adds a point for every face-down bird the Automa collects, which in most games is a lot of points, so expect to lose for a while.

Solo as practice

The Automa is a good mirror for several Level 3 skills:

• Bird evaluation. Without rivals to watch, every decision is your turn against your yardstick. Try pricing every bird, as in the evaluation lesson.
• Goal timing. Its readable goal counts let you practice reaching an exact target by your last turn.
• Scorepad review. Fill every row for both of you. If the Automa beats you on eggs every game, that is where your engine is thin.

One thing solo will not teach is reading people. Pair it with four-player games. For more solo options on your shelf, see our list of the best solo board games.