The castles of Burgundy

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The castles of Burgundy
Game data
author Stefan Feld
graphic Harald Lieske ,
Julien Delval (Cover)
publishing company alea
Publishing year 2011
Art Board game
Teammates 2-4
Duration approx. 30-90 minutes
Age from 12 years

Awards

Game of the Year 2011: Recommended list of
German Games Prize 2011: 2nd place
International Gamers Award 2011: Nominee Multiplayer
As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année 2012: nominated

The Castles of Burgundy is a board game of the type of construction of the game , the game designer of Stefansfeld invented and 2011 alea / Ravensburger was moved. The game for two to four players, ages 12 and up, takes about 90 minutes.

It was on the recommendation list for Game of the Year in 2011 and reached second place in the German Games Prize . At the International Gamers Award it was nominated in the category "Strategy game for more than two people" in the same year. Next it was the French game Price As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année 2012 nominated .

The framework story takes place on the French river Loire in the county of Burgundy . Principalities built along the river by the more than 400 castles of the Loire . In addition to the high number of castles, the game only contains the blue ribbon of the river, which runs across the board.

Each player builds his own principality, starting with a central castle. To do this, he places expansion tiles on his game board. These represent settlement elements from different building types, other castles, pastures or mines. A player can also place up to six tiles that represent ships and bring in trade goods. There are also knowledge tokens that represent civilization and progress and effect special functions in subsequent game rounds or in the final scoring. You sell goods and buy additional expansion cards. The respective options for action are controlled by dice.

Idea and equipment

The players compete to build the most successful principality. For this purpose, each participant has his own, identical game board with the principality made of hexagonal honeycombs, of which only the middle field is occupied with a castle at the start of the game. On the right there are storage spaces for the money supply in silver coins , the warehouse, which can hold a maximum of three types of goods at any time, a space for the workers and three spaces in which a player can keep expansion tiles in stock before he can place them in the principality with a suitable die value builds. The central playing field has six stores each for goods and game tiles, each assigned to a die value, as well as the central black store, whose game tiles can be bought instead of another action. In addition, the stocks of goods for the current round and for the further phases are shown, as well as two counting bars.

All play elements are made of cardboard and are brightly colored. Counting stones and dice are made of wood and have the color of the players. The starting player's additional die is white.

Game flow

Each game has as many phases as there are players involved. Each phase has five rounds. A round begins with all players throwing their two colored dice at the same time, the starting player also throws the white dice.

The white die determines which of the six stores a new commodity is placed in. Then the players in turn use the points on their two dice. You can perform an action with each die. In all cases, the number of pips on the roll can be increased or decreased using function cards called workers . A player can take an expansion tile from the warehouse with the corresponding number of dice into his supply. Or he builds a tile from his supply in a field with the corresponding color for the type of tile that fits there and the number of dice on his principality card. If he builds a tile, an evaluation of the function of this tile follows immediately. He can also sell goods in his possession or acquire new workers . If you lay out a ship, you not only get the goods from a warehouse of your choice, but also advance one step on a separate scoring track, which determines the starting player and the order of the players.

Then the next round begins by rolling the dice. After five rounds, all goods and tiles that are still on the central game board are cleared, the tile stores are refilled from the supply and the pile of goods for the next phase is spread out. Then the functions of some tiles are carried out, so players receive one disc for each mine that has already been built. Then the first round of the new phase begins with a die roll.

Some tiles give you victory points during the game. There are also points when you have completely built on a contiguous area of ​​the same color. Additional points are awarded to the first and second player who have built all fields of one color in their principality. The victory points are counted on a circumferential track. In the final scoring, pieces of silver, stocks of goods and existing workers are converted into victory points. In addition, there are points from those knowledge tiles that refer to the final scoring. They depend on the tiles of one color that have been laid out up to that point.

Target group and gameplay

The castles of Burgundy require a decision to be made between a multitude of options, some of which have an immediate effect, but sometimes also have a long-term effect or affect the final scoring. This and the playing time of around 90 minutes make it a complex game for more experienced players who want to and can immerse themselves in the game world. The use of workers and the large number of options for action reduce the luck principle of the dice, but cannot completely cancel it, especially at the end of a phase when many fields are already empty.

The interaction between the players is not obvious at first, but for a representative of the genre it is relatively high, albeit indirect. From the start, players compete for the limited number of tiles available; there is a race to be the first to complete certain regions of the same color in order to receive bonus points; in addition, the advantageous position of the starting player is often contested. Experienced players always have to keep an eye on the opponents' display. Under certain circumstances it can make sense to take a tile away from another player by making a move that is suboptimal for himself if he would receive a lot of victory points as a result.

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