After taking some time looking over feedback from Birmingham Boardgame Bash 4 – Arachnida these are the action points for the next edition of Arachnida:

  • Add icons to Gene cards for each phase of the game round and for scoring, so players can tell at a glance what part of the game the card has an effect on.
  • Make combat resolved over a single roll with the loser retreating, rather than rolling until someone quits. This way combat is less self-destructive and it reduces leader advantage.
  • Remove health cost of combat and make it possible to steal the defenders web if they flee, to give an advantage to attacking even when the target flees.
  • Make two Hazard rolls with all Hazard dice, one for group A spiders and one for group B, to speed up the Hazard phase and even out the randomness so all players are subject to the same misfortune.
  • Change Food growth rate – more than the current amount, but only a little more.
  • Introduce extra Gene cards gradually through the game (after each season) so players don’t have to choose all Gene cards at the start (helpful for new players) and to make gameplay more varied.
  • Create some interrupt style Gene cards to reduce downtime and make player turns more dynamic.
  • Continue working on Gene card balance and thematic connection.
  • Add mini-summary cards for each player.
  • TRIAL Reduce game to 6 rounds instead of 9 and see how it works out.
  • TRIAL Increase the board size for 5 or 6 players and see how it works out.
  • TRIAL Roving pest control.
  • Print some new higher quality Gene cards with Ivory Graphics and get some 5x Health tokens to reduce the number of tokens on the player boards.