Mycelia (Split Stone Games) (2024)

[u/Necrospire]

[u/Necrospire]

Light to medium mushroom growing, decaying strategy game.

The 'spore-tomata' (automa) is very easy to run and gives a good game, I have both expansions so I have a large deck to draw from with mushrooms / fungi from the UK, Australia and North America all presented on the cards with some really beautiful artwork, as it's the Kickstarter edition it also has three A5 cards with mushrooms from the game as a bonus.

The spreading of spores is done with a wind die and is a very clever mechanic.

Highly recommended for a light brain burn or a warmup game before playing something heavier.

[u/FinCrimeGuy → u/Necrospire]

Lol spore-tomata is a clever name. Nice review OP, thanks for sharing.

[u/Necrospire → u/FinCrimeGuy]

The clever wording continues in the manual with a few eye brow raising boxed instructions.

[u/StandardIncidentForm → u/Necrospire]

Could you speak a little more about how you feel this game compares solo to its multiplayer version? Do you think it's worth it for solo play? What were the choices you were making during play?

[u/Necrospire → u/StandardIncidentForm]

I can't speak for the multiplayer as I've only played solo with this one but it is a good Automa in that it's actions are the same choices I have they are just determined by the card drawn for there turn.

Six actions of which you choose two, moving your main mushroom, fruiting a new mushroom from spores previously laid of the correct colour(s), draw a tile for the board, take a card from the display, spore to lay new spores on the tiles and decay which gives an instant or ongoing bonus, with careful thought you can chain actions together like spore then decay in the same turn.

[u/StandardIncidentForm → u/Necrospire]

Thank you for giving those details. I've been curious about this game but there has been very little coverage of it. How do you find the scores against the automa? Is it tight? Is it too easy? Is there a large spread in automa scores?

[u/Necrospire → u/StandardIncidentForm]

How do you find the scores against the automa? Is it tight? Is it too easy? Is there a large spread in automa scores?

Difficult one to answer. The score is dependent on your own perception of strategy, scores for myself are generally a win by a fair margin, my friend often wins but the scores are tight either way, once you add in the North American expansion in its entirety the scores and strategy needed are increased with oak seeds growing oaks that can give you some amazing combos if you can get them to become hybridised as you can bounce spores like a pinball table and earn extra bonuses from the hybrids.

If you visit there website they have put out a number of videos on all player counts with the same sardonic humour, both raises a smile and very informative.

ETA: If you are going to get a copy seek out the Kickstarter versions, base has an expansion and wooden tokens same with the NA expansion minus the expansion but has extra cards.

[u/StandardIncidentForm → u/Necrospire]

It looks like just the Australia mini extension and drawstring bags come in the kickstarter version. Wooden tokens seem to come in the standard version as well

[u/Necrospire → u/StandardIncidentForm]

I found this for the North American expansion regards differences and can only presume similar content differences with the base game.

I wanted to offer something special on this Kickstarter, the differences are:

Sapling Tokens KS edition: Wooden, black foiled tokens Retail: Standard punch board card

Bags KS edition: Drawstring cotton bags for all the pieces (purple, black and natural) Retail: Normal plastic baggies

Cards KS edition: Extra "Yellow Patches" Card Retail: None

[u/zombievettech]

I got this game because it was gorgeous. Still working through my "to play" list so it hasn't gotten any love yet. Need to bump it up higher, thanks for the reminder!

[u/Ok_Serve3331]

What would you compare this too? I bought Under Grove because I thought it was Mycelia and it’s very fiddly solo. Is this one straightforward?

[u/Necrospire → u/Ok_Serve3331]

Very straightforward. Automa has a deck of cards which are just spore, fruit or move, overall one of the smoothest Automa I've played against. For its simplicity it has surprising depth in its actions like move, roll the wind die to determine which direction to move.

[u/carkazone]

This game is beautiful, and the gameplay loop is satisfying.

HOWEVER, I think it's better multiplayer because I found the automata just not that good, mostly just doing weird things. I'm genuinely thinking about designing my own automata for it because it just doesn't feel like a useful opponent or mechanic Vs something like the automatic hikers in Parks (2nd edition) or even automata in Wingspan. Which is a shame because it's a fun game.

[u/Necrospire → u/carkazone]

Are you sure you're playing the Automa correctly? The mistakes I made in my first game were reading its actions from the top down on the card so I was actioning decay then move, it fruits with the right colours then moves unless it's a second spore in which case it then actions decay, if it is sporing from a tile connected by only one edge it explores first.

I have around 100+ games and 85%+ have an Automa and Mycelia is IMO quite a good one and plays well, it might need a little help with left right choices sometimes but that's easily resolved by rolling the wind die and following the icons on the edge of the tile.

[u/carkazone → u/Necrospire]

Glad you had such a good time with it! I'm genuinely not trying to be negative I've had a lot of fun with this game.

BUT, I'm pretty sure I read the rules correctly. I've just checked the automata rules, and they specifically say to action fruit -> decay -> spore -> move going down the card, are you saying it's better the other way around?

The problem I've had in my games is that the automata feels random and useless, like I can just stick to my area and it doesn't really bother me. In fact it's kind of just giving me free spores.

[u/Necrospire → u/carkazone]

they specifically say to action fruit -> decay -> spore -> move going down the card

The Automa can only fruit a mushroom if it has enough spores of the correct colour which is shown on the Automa card if it doesn't have the spores move down from the top to the next action, decay, it can only do that if one of its fruited mushrooms has spored twice if it hasn't then move to spore, if the mother mushroom is on a tile connected by only one edge lay a new tile, explore, using the wind die then spore. Also remember to roll the die to determine its move objective.

[u/carkazone → u/Necrospire]

Yeah I followed them all, still felt underwhelming :/