Aspens [KS]

Aspens is a quick-playing strategy board game for two players, where you harness the wind and sun and carefully balance growth with expansion to outgrow and outwit your loved ones. In Aspens, players compete to grow the largest forest on a shared board - having to balance how much they invest in building their "engine" to increase the odds of generating trees on future turns, with the pressure of needing to expand to claim territory and ultimately be crowned the winner. Players start by seeding and growing a forest space adjacent to each water tile. This is where players determine their initial strategy and appetite for risk. Then play begins. On your turn, you roll the sun die, and BOTH players generate trees for spaces they have grown tall enough to capture the sun. Then you roll the wind die, determining which directions you can grow outward in. The active player then plants their trees, balancing between growing existing spaces UP with more trees, or expanding OUTWARD from their forests, following the wind. This is the core crux of tough decision making and strategy comes in - balancing future investment with rapid expansion. Play continues until all spaces are claimed, and the player with the most spaces is crowned the winner! —description from the publisher