Bios Megafauna

This weekend I revisited Bios Megafauna, another one of Phil Eklund’s games (I previously reviewed Bios Genesis on this blog and here's a session report with pictures). I played 12 games back in 2012, and then it sat in my shelf for the next 4+ years. Megafauna is set during the exciting transition from the Mesozoic to the Cenozoic eras. It was a time when dinosaurs ruled, only to be replaced by mammals as cataclysmic events caused large swings in the environment. Supercontinent Pangaea broke up giving rise to the Atlantic Ocean. In all this turmoil, plants and animals continue to evolve and adapt. Less fit species are replaced by newcomers, while other older species adapt to fend off competitors edging into their ecological niche.

The game board depicts North America in the early Mesozoic. Empty squares represent potential habitats where biomes can take root. There are two types of biomes, marine and terrestrial, that can support suitably adapted herbivores. Carnivores can find a niche in biomes where they find suitable herbivorous prey. Above is a snapshot of my most recent game in progress. You can see a lycopod meadow in the lower right, suitable for Insectivores (indicated by the capital “I” on the tile). Players represent either a dinosauran or mammalian dynasty that could potentially lead to present day fauna. In the three-player game below, red is the archosaur that led to crocodiles and birds, green is the diapsid ancestor to lizards and snakes, and white a two-tusker synapsid (now extinct).

Since this is the time of the Megafauna, creatures can grow large. Unfortunately there aren’t big dinosaur pieces. Size is tracked on the board as shown in the upper half of the picture below. Red has two different smaller species, while the white two-tuskers are quite large in the two-ton range. The cards below have two functions. They can be “purchased” by players looking to expand their DNA pool or create new genotypic progeny. In the bottom left, the Seed-Cracking Bill adaptation can provide a herbivore access to (H)usker niches. The Sculling tail in the bottom right, provides (M)arine adaptations. These letters represent DNA adaptations present in a species allowing them to eat or move in appropriate biomes. The genotype card (bottom middle) allows spawning a new species type, in this case the ancestors to perching birds or rodents.

When a card is replaced, a new card is drawn from the deck to replace it. This triggers an event. In most cases, the card reads “Draw and place 2 new Era Tiles” which provides new biomes or introduces immigrant herbivores or carnivores. However, some cards trigger a Milankovich event, while others may trigger a cataclysmic event. The lower left card is “Volcanic acid rain”. It wiped out a number of overspecialized species if they had accumulated too many adaptations. It also caused an increase in the Greenhouse gas level. Below are the two archosaur species roaming the continent when these pictures were taken. On the left is a nocturnal amphibious serpentine creature that does courtship displays and has a switchblade claw. On the right is an amphibious armored spinosaur.

In this game, a number of volcanic eruptions led to an increase in the greenhouse level. Later in the game, the CO2 level went as high as 3200 ppm (although it is 1600ppm in the photo below). If it went any higher, a Hothouse Earth would have ended the game. On the other extreme, there could be a Snowball Earth which would also have ended the game prematurely. This game was eventually won by the archosaurs although there were a fair number of extinctions throughout the game.

Like other Eklund games involving evolution, the gameplay can be brutal. Survival can be difficult, and in most games I’ve played, no one species thrives for very long. As the biomes change, a species that is unsuitably adapted dies. But accumulating the appropriate DNA to eat the flora or fauna can lead to overspecialization. The changing environment wreaks havoc in this case. Human beings, in this sense, are an amazing species. In such a short period of time we have terraformed our own planet to suit our needs, not just to survive, but in some areas to thrive. Other organisms also contributed to the changing environment, but none have done so with the speed of humans. Eklund has a game for that; it’s called Origins: How We Became Human, and was actually published before Bios Megafauna or Bios Genesis. Unlike the two latter Bios games that take 2-3 hours, Origins is more of a 4-5 hour affair.

If you’re looking to pick up a game in the Eklund series, I would recommend Bios Megafauna. Remade as a more streamlined version of its ancestor American Megafauna, it is the easiest and shortest of the three. That’s not to say it is easy. Survival can be brutal. But you get to see if a snakelike archosaur can survive and thrive over millions of years. Would having a switchblade claw help? Would being amphibious and nocturnal help? Eklund games are part-game, part-simulation. If that’s what you’re looking for, and you enjoy delving into scientific minutiae, then you will enjoy Eklund’s games. If you are looking for something lighter that incorporates herbivores, carnivores, adaptations, and climate, but plays in 45-60 minutes, then I recommend Evolution: Climate from North Star Games.