Castles of Burgundy review
Fairly early in my obsession with this hobby, I was doing the common trawl of BoardGameGeek's Top 100 games. I'd open new tabs for each entry that interested me, and have a look at the general description and mechanisms involved.
I never clicked on Castles of Burgundy.
This was back in the day where I equated theme with fun, combat with satisfaction and dice with... well, I was pretty ambivalent about dice. But nevertheless, Ameritrash games were my jam. I'd read some testimonials about Castles of Burgundy on both BGG and Reddit, and couldn't really understand the appeal. I didn't care about castles (unless you were attacking or defending them) or Burgundy, and the general description of the game had me yawning.
Over time, though, my interests began to change. I guess I can thank Agricola for showing me that Euros weren't all Carcassonne and Catan. Games like Great Western Trail, Archipelago and 51st State started to populate my shelf. And then finally, one day, I clicked on Castles of Burgundy on BGG.
The main conceit of the game is that players are princes (and princesses?) of Burgundy, trying to develop their lands. As a member of this competitive royalty, you do this by rolling two dice and using the results to take actions. There are a number of actions available to you, but the one you'll most be paying attention to is around taking a tile from a numbered space that matches one of your dice rolls.
If you're familiar with designer Stefan Feld, he's renowned for "point salad" style games. That is, pretty much whatever you do will net you points, so you're constantly being rewarded. The game is about maximising those rewards in clever ways.
So you have two actions per turn, right? One of those actions could be to place a tile that you've previously collected. That tile you placed might in turn give you a special bonus action of placing another tile. So you do that, and that second tile you placed could allow you to collect something else from the offering spaces on the board. And then you have a second action that you can use to chain together something elegant in the same way.
There's something bestially satisfying about pulling off an amazing combination of moves that nets you 37 points in one turn. There's something equally satisfying when you watch your opponent do something similar, but in a completely different sequence of combinations. Castles of Burgundy is one of those games where you can simply sit back and appreciate the elegance of the design, while having a blast.
The most common complaint about the game is the artwork being bland and tiny. For me, that wasn't an issue at all. The artwork simply doesn't get in the way of the game, and does its job well. The size could be improved, and the components could be more premium, but it has a significantly competitive price point and provides endless fun.
This is not a game that will ever leave my collection.
I never clicked on Castles of Burgundy.
This was back in the day where I equated theme with fun, combat with satisfaction and dice with... well, I was pretty ambivalent about dice. But nevertheless, Ameritrash games were my jam. I'd read some testimonials about Castles of Burgundy on both BGG and Reddit, and couldn't really understand the appeal. I didn't care about castles (unless you were attacking or defending them) or Burgundy, and the general description of the game had me yawning.
Over time, though, my interests began to change. I guess I can thank Agricola for showing me that Euros weren't all Carcassonne and Catan. Games like Great Western Trail, Archipelago and 51st State started to populate my shelf. And then finally, one day, I clicked on Castles of Burgundy on BGG.
The main conceit of the game is that players are princes (and princesses?) of Burgundy, trying to develop their lands. As a member of this competitive royalty, you do this by rolling two dice and using the results to take actions. There are a number of actions available to you, but the one you'll most be paying attention to is around taking a tile from a numbered space that matches one of your dice rolls.
If you're familiar with designer Stefan Feld, he's renowned for "point salad" style games. That is, pretty much whatever you do will net you points, so you're constantly being rewarded. The game is about maximising those rewards in clever ways.
So you have two actions per turn, right? One of those actions could be to place a tile that you've previously collected. That tile you placed might in turn give you a special bonus action of placing another tile. So you do that, and that second tile you placed could allow you to collect something else from the offering spaces on the board. And then you have a second action that you can use to chain together something elegant in the same way.
There's something bestially satisfying about pulling off an amazing combination of moves that nets you 37 points in one turn. There's something equally satisfying when you watch your opponent do something similar, but in a completely different sequence of combinations. Castles of Burgundy is one of those games where you can simply sit back and appreciate the elegance of the design, while having a blast.
The most common complaint about the game is the artwork being bland and tiny. For me, that wasn't an issue at all. The artwork simply doesn't get in the way of the game, and does its job well. The size could be improved, and the components could be more premium, but it has a significantly competitive price point and provides endless fun.
This is not a game that will ever leave my collection.
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