by Nicholee
Castles of Burgundy is a game which seems a bit redundant to review. There are a plethora of solid and complimentary reviews on Boardgamegeek. Other websites have done the game plenty of justice. It has fluttered around the #10-12 spot on BGG's overall ranking for some time and as I write this it is at the #13 spot.Nonetheless, three years after its release, it is still worthy of having glowing reviews written for it. So let's get to it!
Introduction
In Castles of Burgundy players assume the roles of lords over a Renaissance estate in Burgundy. At the start of the game the estate will contain a lowly castle (must be rough). By the end of the game the estate will be flourishing with mines, ports, farms, towns, and scientific discovery.
Through the use of clever maneuvering, shrewd tactics, and consistent strategic planning players will do a variety of actions to maximize their estates and end the game with the most victory points.
Setting up the Game
For the players' first game every player receives the same player board labeled #1. In subsequent games different player boards can be used. Each playerboard has the same number of different colored hexes, they are simply arranged differently allowing for different strategies.
It is worth noting there are some opinions on some of the boards being overpowered or underpowered. The clearest of these is that board 8 appears to be a good deal too strong. If you're interested in more details, here is a great post about it:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/983959/stats-avg-points-win-...
Anyways, once the boards are distributed, the player order can be decided using any means necessary. Personally I like playing a quick game of TI3 to determine player order, but randomly drawing the color pieces work, too.
The first player then receives 1 worker and 1 silverling, the second player 2 workers and 1 silverling, the third player 3 workers and 1 silvering, and finally the fourth player 4 workers and 1 silverling. If you are playing with less than four players it's the same thing, just without the fourth or third player.
Subsequently every player also receives the dice in the color of his choice and three random good tokens to be stacked in the upper left of his playerboard by color. Each player finally receives one castles hex and may place it on any matching colored space on his property, though for the introductory board it is highly recommended it be placed in the center.
Setting up the main play area is fairly straightforward. You'll want to organize all of the various 'hex' shaped pieces by their color, shuffle them, and put them in facedown piles. The boats, castles, and mines don't need to be shuffled as they're all identical, but still keep them organized. Then, based on the number of players, fill in all of the spots in the 'depots' that are numbered, including the black ones int he center. If it's a three player game, leave the ones labeled '4' blank. If it's a two player game, leave blank the 3's and 4's.
Finally, take the remaining good tokens (the square ones) and place them randomly in five facedown stacks with five goods per stack. These go on the row of squares labeled A-E. Then, flip all five goods in the "A" stack onto the five vertical boxes shown below it, face up.
The extra hexes, silverlings, and workers can go in piles near the board. The extra trade good can go back to the box.
One of each players' colored cylinders should be on the score track at '0/100.' The others should be stacked on the beginning spot of the turn order track, with the first player on top and last player on bottom.
Now you're ready to play!
Flow of a Round
The game takes place over five essentially identical phases, each of which is broken into five rounds.
An actual round will occur in the following sequence:
1. All players simultaneously roll their colored dice with the starting player rolling the white die as well.
2. The starting player places the top most revealed good on whatever depot that corresponds to the number rolled on the white die.
3. In turn order, each player uses their dice two take two of the four available actions, along with a third optional action.
This is repeated five times, which is tracked by the placing of the good tile in step 2. At the conclusion of the fifth round (when all of those tiles are blank) there is a 'clean-up' phase. All of the remaining hexes are removed from the board (though the good in the depots remain!) and are replaced by new hexes from the supply. The removed ones are returned to the box.
The next letter's good tiles are flipped over into the vertical row of squares (i.e. after the first round the goods from the "B" square).
Finally, between rounds, players receive 1 silverling per mine on their property (and any additional bonuses based on their sciences).
That's the general flow of a round and there's no real deviation from that. It's pretty straightforward. However, step 3 is where the bulk of the game takes place so let's examine that further.
I got 99 livestock, but a sheep ain't one (Actions)
The bulk of the game of Burgundy involves all of the different actions and related bonuses available to the player. It is in this aspect that the game really shines. The flow of the game as indicated above is very simple. While the different actions are a tad more complex, they really are quite manageable.
Each action is going to require you to 'use' one of your die. As such, you get two actions when it is your turn. In player order, each player does BOTH of their actions (as well as any additional bonuses or actions). As such, each player receives 1 'turn' per round before the dice are re-rolled as outlined in the previous section.
The number rolled on the dice is VERY important as it dictates what is available in each action.
Here are the four actions available on each turn:
1. Take a Hex from the Gameboard
You may take one hex from the depot adjacent to the number showing on the dice. I.E. if the dice shows a
you may take one hex from the available hexes near that depot. This hex does not go directly onto your playerboard's property. Rather, it goes onto the queue in the bottom left hand corner of the board showing three empty hexes. On a subsequent action you'll be able to put it onto the property and get the bonus of the hex.2. Place a Hex from your queue to your Property
Again, the number showing on your die determines where you can place the hex from your queue. If you roll a
it needs to go on a two of the appropriate color. In addition, all placed hexes must be adjacent to a hex already on your estate. This means at the start of the game they must go next to your castle and branch out from there.As soon as the tile is placed you receive a bonus (IMMEDIATELY). Each hex gives you a different bonus as follows (these are shown in mostly clear iconography on the side of the player board):
Castles - Castles are the most open-ended. As soon as the castle is added to your property you get to take one additional action as if you had rolled any dice number. It can be any of the four main actions.
Boats - Boats are the most complicated. You'll essentially do two things: a) Advance your player marker once step forward on the turn order. If there is another player's piece there, put yours on top (making you ahead of him next round). This will affect turn order in the very next round! After that, b) take ALL of the goods in any one depot - the depot can be any of the six, it is not relegated by the dice you rolled. If there is no room on your board (remember you only have three spaces and each can only hold one color) then the goods that do not fit remain on the board.
Farm Animals - The farm animals do not allow you to take any bonus actions, but they give you immediate points. Once a hex with animals is placed, you immediately score points equal to the number of animals in the 'pasture' where you just placed the hex that are of the same species as the one you just placed (including the ones on the hex just placed). A pasture constitutes a grouping of farm spaces (the light green spaces) on your board; NOT all of the green spaces on your board - just the ones in the same patch as the one you just placed.
In other words, if I place a hex with 4 chickens down into a 'pasture' that already contains a hex with 3 chickens, a hex with 2 chickens, and a hex with 3 pigs, I would immediately score 9 points - 1 for every chicken, including the ones on the hex just placed. The pigs would score me no points as I wasn't adding pigs.
Science - The yellow(ish) hexes are science hexes. There are 25 of them and each one is unique. I'm not going to go over what every hex does but will give you an idea. There are several that give you bonus points for the different types of Buildings at the end of the game, some that give you extra points for other things at the end of the game, and some that allow you to 'break rules' in order to make certain actions easier or more efficient - usually allowing some type of dice modifier or increasing the gain of things like boat actions and mines.
These are very helpful and generally direct your strategy.
Buildings - Like the sciences, the brown building hexes all give unique bonuses. The player aid on the player board makes sense once you've read the rules so I won't go over every one individually. Some of them allow you to immediately take a hex of a specified color from the gameboard as a free (meaning as if you'd rolled any die number) subsequent action. There are ones that let you take other additional immediate action, such as placing a hex from queue onto board or selling goods. Some give you immediate resources, like silverlings or workers or points. All are nice and it is the chaining together of these actions that gives a real sense of accomplishment.
IMPORTANT: Each 'city' (or grouping of brown tiles on your estate) may only have ONE of each different type of building. This rule is VERY easy to overlook even after you've played a few times so be sure to check your own board as well as other new players as you're playing. Once a few turns have passed there's not much that can be done!
Mines - These are basically the oddball out as they are the only ones that do not give you an immediate bonus. However, between phases you get one silverling for every mine on your estate. Getting at least one down early can be very important!
Sell Goods
Like actions 1 and 2, this one is dependent on the number showing on the die used for this action. If it corresponds to one of the stacks of goods (meaning they're the same color) on your playerboard, you may sell ALL of those goods. In other words, if you roll a
you may sell all of your goods showing a three. You get points equal to the number of players PER good. So if you sell three goods in a four player game that's a whopping 12 points! In addition, REGARDLESS of how many good you sell you receive one silverling.4. Take Workers
This is essentially the 'well crap' option if you have nothing else to do or you really need to set yourself up for a subsequent action. Regardless of the number showing, you may take two workers from the supply.
Additional Options
Workers - You may 'spend' any number of workers to modify the die number shown by one per worker. In other words if you roll a
but there's a hex you absolutely need in the 
depot you can spend two workers to change it two a . You may use a "+1" to move a roll to a 
and vice-versa.ADDITIONAL ACTION - Using Silverilngs to Purchase a Black Hex
Once per turn as an additional action you may spend two silverlings to buy any of the available black hexes from the center depot and add them to your queue. This is the ONLY way to get those hexes and is a further way to take an efficient turn. Again, this is in addition to using your two die.
So...How do I get points?
In addition to the ways already mentioned of scoring points (farm animals, selling goods, some buildings) you will score points by completing 'sections' of the same color of your estate. Once an entire section of the same color has been completed (again, section, not necessarily every tile of that color on your board) you immediately score points based on two conditions: 1) The size and 2) the current Phase. Under each phase on the gameboard (A-E) is a number shown in the victory point symbol. You immediately score that number of points for the current phase. In addition, there is a chart on your player board near the top showing the number of points you receive based on its size. I.E. A 1-hex section gets one point, a 2-hex section three points etc..
This means it is beneficial to bang out some of the smaller ones early and score more points for the early rounds while making sure you leave yourself enough time to finish out your bigger sections by the end.
Finally, the first player to cover all tiles of a certain color receives the larger of the corresponding 'bonus' tile from the gameboard, indicating the number of points he'll receive at the end of the game. The second player to complete all of that same color receives the smaller bonus tile.
Game End and Winner
The game ends at the end of the final round of Phase E. Then players add up any extra points from the bonus tiles or from sciences. In addition they receive one point per unsold good, one point per silverling, and one point for every two workers (rounded down). The player with the most points is the most artistocratty of the aristocrats.
Conclusions (or the first thing you read, either way)
There is a reason I dedicated the time it took to write all of this to a game that's received plenty of compliments and recommendations already - it is a phenomenal game. It is my wife's favorite and one of my top 10. Why is that?
Loves:
There is a terrific 'flow' to the game. When you're able to take a turn and place buildings to give you immediate bonuses that you then use to take an action that gives you another immediate action which you follow-up with completing a section and scoring points... Well it just feels good! There's a huge sense of efficiency and accomplishment. There are always options. If worse comes to worse and you have to take two workers it's still not terrible because usually that'll set you up for an even better turn next time. Okay... Every now and again you may have everything you want or need snatched away from you, but very rarely will you get that feeling of 'well I have nothing.' More importantly, there is never a sense of 'well Steve took bake bread... Guess we have to eat the children and I lose this game.' It's really not that complicated. The four potential actions on a turn are really straightforward. The only complications come in with all of the unique sciences and buildings. In addition the playeraid on the playerboard (which is decent) there is a listing in the rulebook of the sciences. I highly recommend printing a couple of extra 'aids' with easy to read listings for each one. There are several here on the Geek that are quite good (and worthy of your Geekgold tips). It's my wife's favorite game. If there's a game I enjoy and I can get my beautiful wife to play it with me, it will always rank highly. The primary reason she hates playing Agricola is because it's too 'stressful.' If somebody takes what your banking on, you're screwed. In this, it is MUCH less stressful because your plan B or even plan C is usually still there and not that much worse than plan A.Thinks I like:
The iconography is not excellent, but it's pretty good and once you've played a round or two it'll make sense. The price! I'm a teacher and with my educator discount I think I paid like $30.00 or something like that for it at Barnes and Noble. It's currently on Amazon for $32.00 and most importantly your local game store is probably selling it for around $40.00. Even at full MSRP it's VERY reasonable. It's unique. I own other Feld games that use dice (Bora Bora) and games by different designers with a dice-action mechanic (Alien Frontiers, Kingsburg) I haven't played one that really feels like Castles. While there are similarities in the ways you take actions, this one really is unique (at least from my experience) in its progression.Things I dislike:
Colors. Holy crap the colors. Why are half of the hexes light green, medium green, and dark green? Its not a huge deal, but it is kind of annoying and I feel like the designers could have made some different choices there. Maybe it has to do with accommodating colorblindness, but I would think having such similar colors would only make it more challenging."Lack of theme." I put this here simply because I know it is an issue some people will take with it. As I'm playing, do I really feel like a Lord of the Renaissance building up my estate? No, not really... I feel like a 25 year old due from Ohio trying to get six yellow hexes on my board before my friend does... And while that may bother some people (and with some other games it does bother me) the mechanics and general 'fun factor' of the game more than make up for it. Plus while the theme's not heavy, the artwork on the boards and hexes are appealing and your estate ends up looking very pretty by the time your down.Conclusions
If you can't tell, I love this game. Not just because my wife likes it but because it is genuinely one of the best games I've played. It is relatively simple and low-stress while still maintaining both deep and engaging tactical and strategic elements. For the price I cannot recommend this game highly enough. If you haven't given it a go and you enjoy any form of Eurogames give this one a shot. If you much prefer Ameritrash but are looking to give Euros another chance, this may be the once that fits the bill.
Thanks for reading this review! Many Blessings
-Nicholee