Wildscape Preview – The Rondel Board

We’re deep into the visual design development for Wildscape, and since I talked about the rondel mechanic last time, I wanted to give you a look at what we’re talking about.

As a quick reminder how the rondel works, each section of the roundel has specifc possible actions you can take, for example:

establish a herbivore or place a river tile into your land…

… or gain an animal card.

Then at the end of your turn, any action tokens you spend spill into the next clockwise sections of the rondel in a mancala-style mechanic. The dimples on the spokes help you remember which way to go!

You’ll notice shaded hex spaces in each segment. These hold habitat tiles that you will also claim for free from the segment you choose.

These tiles are multifaceted, containing from 1 to 3 different habitat types each and in every combination of wetlands, woodlands, savanna, and desert. When you lay these tiles into your land and match the edges as you go, you build out various sized habitat spaces for animals to find safe, protected places to settle. Of course, bigger habitats fit more and bigger animals.

All habitat tiles and the rondel board are illustrated by our box cover artist Miguel Coimbra (known from 7 Wonders, Cyclades, Small World). The inspiration for Wildscape’s rondel illustration is Mount Lico in Mozambique, Africa. With 700m sheer cliffs, the mountain holds 74 acres of pristine rainforest hidden atop its volcanic crater. The story of its discovery is told in the National Geographic documentary “The Lost Forest” (2020).

In our alternate world, the rondel shows that the land around Mount Lico has been over-harvested and stripped of vegetation, but the forest atop that plateau was spared by its remote location. With careful planning, the bounty of life it still contains may hold the seed to restart a new, sustainable ecosystem.