Renegade Game Studios Renegade Game Studio | Architects of the West Kingdom | Board Game | Ages 12+ | 1 to 5 Players | 60 to 80 Minutes Playing Time

Product Information

Constantine is the easier of the two, but the only difference between the two is the end game scoring.

While in Stone Age there is really only two ways to score, and everybody competes for them, in Architects of the West Kingdom there are a few different ways to chase those elusive VPs. Perhaps what is most unusual is that the bot player is it can be used for a two-player game as well, creating a third player to act as an antagonist and additional blocking player, which I think is great! These really steer you in a certain direction; while you could argue this is too constraining, I found it a breeze compared to being thrown in the deep end.

The main placement spots have large circles, indicating that any number of workers can go there turn by turn. Wanting to keep your noble status, you set to work gathering resources and money, endeavouring to build the most impressive buildings and landmarks in the Kingdom. You see, workers often don’t go directly to prison; they are first taken captive by an opponent who then delivers them to prison – for a reward, of course. While it is true there is a little bit of luck involved with how they progress on the virtue track, if you try to plan for black market resets and hoard a lot of their workers in prison, it can rack up easily.

In Architects of the West Kingdom, visit the Town Centre and pay 1x silver (to Tax) to capture opponents’ workers!Also, we could either find some two player variants on the internet or turn to a solo game if we don’t have anyone to play with. I had a nice demo with the press contact at SPIEL, and all four of the games presented to me sounded great. What I usually notice is that I have a certain play style that pops up if I’m not being nudged in certain directions. Five is still pretty solid if you have a good group, but every player adds another chance for the game to get bogged down in Analysis Paralysis, as well as another person taking your carefully-placed workers off the board.

The AI player takes adornments with a really simple decision process, and games against it still feel really balanced and fair.I might be in the market for Tapestry plus the expansion, but then again, that’s a hefty investment for solo only.

Net als met Stonemayer is het heel goed mogelijk dat ze alleen maar bergafwaarts gaan in hun evolutie. It’s why we still use the iconography of a floppy disk (a technology many computer users will never have encountered) to indicate saving. Sure, maybe you don’t really need five stone but that’s so much stone and it can all be taken away so quickly so you’d best gorge yourself while you can. The way the deck is played feels like a very competitive game with an aggressive player, even though it does make some moves which a human would never do, such as going to the prison to free their people when you’ve only captured one.If the building plans don’t entice the player, the Cathedral mechanics offer an alternative way to accrue a potential slew of points, as well as blocking others from achieving the same heights. I haven’t had a chance to get six players around a table yet to try it (thanks Covid-19), but having played with four, I can see how six would be chaotic, and a lot of fun. The object of Architects is to claim victory points, and the player with the most of them at the end wins. Architects of the West Kingdom offers theme, form and substance in a concise package that offers not only decision making, but also adds impact to your decisions with plenty of ways for players to interact with one another.