Introduction #
Whether you’re playing the original Cartographers or its sequel Cartographers Heroes, adding an expansion can breathe new life into your games. These expansions introduce exciting new mechanics and boost replayability, keeping the experience fresh for seasoned adventurers and newcomers alike.
In this guide, I will be breaking down and reviewing the skills mini expansions and some of the map packs available to expand your games. Overall, our recommendation is to get either of the skills mini expansions first they add a whole new layer of choices and strategy to any map you play. After that, any of the map packs can really change up the gameplay from game to game. I don’t think you need to get them all at once, but instead I recommend reading about each one and choosing what sounds interesting to you and suits your playstyle best.
Skills Mini Expansion #
The skills mini expansions add tactical depth to your games, offering powerful abilities that challenge your decision-making. There are two skills mini expansions simply named Skills Mini Expansion 1 and Skills Mini Expansion 2. Each expansion includes eight skills, three of which are used in each game. These skills act as powerful abilities that players can activate by spending coins, introducing a compelling trade-off: Should you save coins to score points or spend them to activate abilities that could yield even greater rewards? This dynamic works seamlessly with any map and adds a satisfying layer of crunch to your gameplay. I found both mini expansions good and either (or both!) is a good choice to start.
Map Pack 1 - Nebblis: Plane of Flame #
The Nebblis map pack adds two map variations with a volcano. You shuffle three new volcano explore cards into the deck that force you to destroy spaces adjacent to the volcano or other lava spaces. It’s thematic and very exciting to see the lava flow. As the lava flows from the volcano, you’ll need to strategically manage its destruction, balancing risk and reward. You can draw a long flowing river of lava or distribute the lava all around the volcano, for example.
Surprisingly, lava destroying your map spaces isn’t as bad as it sounds. For some edicts, it can be beneficial to cover more spaces on your map. Fill more spaces can also make it difficult to fit some shapes which can be beneficial like avoiding an ambush. Also, the volcano cards add 0-1 time to a season when drawn so you’ll also find that your games will be higher-scoring because of that.
Map Pack 2 - Affril: Plane of Knowledge #
The Affril map pack adds two new map variations involving multiple islands instead of just one large land-mass and three new scoring edicts that are only meant to be used with these maps. The islands add more interesting concave and convex borders where you’ll quickly find yourself thinking about how to squeeze in your land shapes. This adds more tension, but you also get those oddly satisfying moments when a shape fits perfectly.
Not every island is available at the start and instead you get access to the other islands by spending coins to open up connections. I like to see more uses for the coins in the game. Here, you’ll need to decide if it’s beneficial to gain access to more land or to keep your coins to score you points. The branching paths that players can take choosing which islands to unlock and when to unlock creates more map variety among players which is always fun to see.
Map Pack 3 - Undercity: Depths of Sabek #
In the Undercity map pack, you have two new map variations where you’ll be charting the underground as well with three new edict cards for scoring conditions specific to these maps. The new mechanic in this map pack is that shapes drawn underground must connect to a shape drawn previously as though you are tunneling as you explore. The tunneling felt thematic and changes up your tile placement strategies compared to other maps in the series. I just had two issues with this map pack. First, it’s hard to see when drawing with color on the blue underground cells. I wish the shading on the map sheet would have been lighter like Affril. Second, the solo rules are unclear in terms of how ambushes should be resolved. Do ambushes need to connect to another shape based on the map’s new placement rule or do they follow the base game rules?
I found Undercity to be the most restrictive map pack without new choices to make the player feel empowered too.
Conclusion #
Whether you’re after tactical challenges or thematic twists, Cartographers expansions have something for everyone. Start with the Skills Mini Expansions for a strategic boost, then explore the map packs that match your playstyle. Happy mapping!"
