Lifting the Fog from Expedition: Northwest Passage
Sail into uncharted territory to map the dangerous Arctic waters and find a safe route in Expedition: Northwest Passage.
Back to a consistent favorite solo game in my collection! Expedition: Northwest Passage combines a bit of cartography, exploration, and crew management for a wonderful tile-laying experience. It’s challenging and interesting in ways I haven’t found elsewhere. Off the shelf the iconic box flew as I eagerly set to work planning the ship’s path west!
Game Overview
Game Name: Expedition: Northwest Passage
Publication Year: 2010
Designer: Yves Tourigny
Artist: Stéphane Poinsot and Yves Tourigny
Publisher: Matagot
Solo Mode: Official Solo Variant
With a starting point to the east, the crew must explore the map by laying tiles out and arranging them so that ice and water line up accordingly. Time is critical, though, as is planning how to use the ship and sled differently. The journey is fraught with danger, but what a fun challenge!
First Play
January 26, 2018
Complexity
3
Latest Play
December 21, 2024
Expansions
0
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
62
Play Time
25 Minutes
High Score
17
Game Area
26" x 24"
Low Score
-38
Bounding Into October
It’s another new month, and last year I had a somewhat limited solo marathon that I titled Observe Chilling Tales Of Barely Evil Riffraff. Because the letters spelled October!
This year, I’m keeping up the tradition in a slightly different way. You’ll see my random pairings of games plus StoryWorld cards. Here, lots and lots of fog!
There is also something to make this even less scary… You’ll find out more a little further along in this post.
I have no idea what my schedule will be like, yet I’m planning on having plenty of fun this season!
A Personalized Crew
Meeples are typically quite abstract and not necessarily elements that need to be personified. Many games work perfectly well without attaching any sentiment to them.
In this case, I always find myself connected to my crew. My decisions are the ones that decide if they survive, and losing any of them is often quite deflating.
Nonetheless, they still act as workers in the general sense to move, place tiles, and collect special tokens.
Splitting them up between the ship and sled is a lot harder than it seems since there are so many possibilities.
Catastrophe at Sea
It had been some time since I last played, and I believe that manifested itself during this absolute disaster!
All seemed to be going along swimmingly with the sled crew exploring to the north and the ship sailing merrily along in the southern region. Very good, very good.
Until I made it very difficult for the ship to sail around to meet up with the sled crew. The latter was stranded on an island after the seasons changed and the sea thawed.
Terrible! Everyone perished and my map was hardly something I could be proud of. Back to the drawing board!
So Close but So Far
In my panic to try to save some of the crew, the ship actually floundered before it could reach Greenland. Precise movement is key, and I miscounted terribly.
That also brings me to the importance of crafting the map in a way to ensure survival. Not only must tiles be placed to fill in spaces, but the return journey must be plotted.
I’ve tried all sorts of variations, and there really isn’t a single right way to craft the map. I’m still learning!
Not content to leave things as they were, I reset the board and focused my attention on bringing the crew back home.
A Friendly Polar Bear
Oh, my! You never expect to find much of anything roaming the Arctic, so it was with some hesitation that the crew allowed this costumed friend to approach the sled.
A Calico Critter polar bear?! I did promise something else to make October and Halloween a little less scary. Voila: Tiny costumes guaranteed to cause cuteness overloads!
This might be a little abstract, yet it’s actually an ice cream cone costume. How cute is this?! I love it!
But this wasn’t the time to lose my senses, of course. I needed to ensure the crew made it back to Greenland.
Just a Single Scoop
Before things could fully resume, though, there was a very helpful reminder from this little friend. Single tiles!
Actually, this is a concept I sometimes overlook. When an empty space is surrounded on all sides by other tiles or the edge of the board, a 1×1 tile may be added to fill it in.
This is often useful for areas the ship and sled won’t travel to, as it helps reduce the penalty at the end of the game.
I believe this ice cream cone friend will need to stick around! As I continued on, it looked like things might actually pan out and work in the crew’s favor!
Session Overview
Play Number: 51 and 52
Solo Mode: Official Solo Variant
Outcome: -16 and -2 (1 Win and 1 Loss)
Success! The ship and sled stayed together for a long time, owing to the empty expanse in the southeast. Fortunately, after splitting up, the crew met back up and sailed back to Greenland after mapping the correct route. Everyone survived to tell the tale! My score may not have been that great, but I still like to play with the goal of filling in as much of the map as possible. There are many other ways to play that I’ll have to think of exploring someday!
%
60 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
10
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
10
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
8
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
9
+ Pros (Positives)
- There is a surprising amount of variety present in the final maps with tiles that simply depict ice and water.
- Gameplay flows quickly and doesn’t require any downtime, while the decisions are often straightforward.
- Priorities sometimes change during the course of play based on the available tiles and remaining time.
- The solar disc is an excellent timer for the game rounds, yet it also determines which areas are frozen.
- Finding a route through the treacherous water is quite challenging but offers many ways to move forward.
- All of the components are constructed excellently and include wooden vehicles plus thick cardboard tiles.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The tiles are very easy to knock out of place during play, and keeping them aligned can take some effort.
- Most of the game rewards good strategy, but the luck of the draw can spoil things right near the end.
- There aren’t quite enough single tiles when filling in large portions of the map, but the wild side still works.
- Placing tokens on the tiles to collect them is a lot of work, yet it’s simple to place a token once it’s been claimed.
Victory Conditions
Find the Passage and Return
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Complete the map in at least 1 game.
Use only the ship to explore and win in at least 1 game.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Expedition: Northwest Passage? Do you have any other tile-based exploration games you enjoy? I still recall my year-long goal of completing the map, which was a fun time! There are still so many things to love about the game and I haven’t tired of it at all. Just need to figure out the next major goal, and then it will be smooth sailing!
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