Architects of the West Kingdom

Shem Phillips and Garphill Games are rapidly becoming one of the most consistent publishers of board games. The North Sea Trilogy is well loved by many with Raiders of the North Sea being highly rated and recently turned into an app. Architects of the West Kingdom represents the start of a second series of games, (The West Kingdom Trilogy). The game features the same fantastic art from The Mico and another twist on the worker placement genre.

Whereas Raiders saw you given one solitary worker for the whole game, Architects gives you all your workers at once and almost no restrictions on where you place them. In fact, most places you are encouraged to return to with more workers as the rewards or discount increase. For example, in the forest you get one wood resource per worker of your colour placed there.

Now, obviously you don’t want your opponents cashing in too much on this so you can capture them and cart them off to jail for a healthy reward. Or just leave them on your player mat to cost the other player more resources and inconvenience. Points can be earned in a few ways. Through building the cathedral, which will score the first player to climb all the levels 20 points, or through other buildings. The Cathedral will be a big draw for most people with the promise of points written on the board, but those who invest in building cards will find rewards in points too.

Tying everything together is a reputation track. Fall to low on it and you will gain negative end game point and not be welcome to help build the cathedral, but you will be able to pay less tax. Climb too high and you will not be able to visit the lucrative black market but gain end game points.

Add to this the unique player starting boards that let you start with more resources and less reputation or vice versa and everything in between and you have a compelling game that offers a lot of fun and variety!

Player Count: 1-5
Time: 60-80 Minutes
Age: 12+