Wednesday, January 10, 2024

The Castles of Burgundy, Special Edition


I had several Kickstarters for non miniature games that delivered in 2023 but have yet to get coverage on the blog. 

This is a classic "Eurogame" by the renowned designer, Stefan Feld. The big box includes all the previous variants,. plus a new variant designed for the KS itself. 


Opening the Big Box...

Quick reference sheets...

Main game board for 3 or 4 player games



The same for 2 player games



Lots of counters!

New components for the Vineyards of Burgundy expansion. 


More stuff, including player color coded dice and markers

The bags are used for blind tile drawing. 

Individual player boards. The box has at least 25 different ones, some easier, some harder. 


Castles is essentially a tile placement and dice management game, competitive and interactive but without direct conflict between the players. Maximizing the score for your very Burgundian Duchy is the goal. Not exactly Charles the Bold, but I got this game chiefly for use with non-wargames types. I played a solo game and the rules are easy to grasp overall, but with lots of subtleties and player interaction opportunities. I enjoyed it!

13 comments:

  1. Interesting! I will check out BGG and see if I can get a sense on how this plays.

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    1. There are lost of reviews of the game on BGG, including text and videos. There are a lot of different ways to score points, so I suspect it is not uncommon for the winner at the end of the game to be less than obvious until the final tally!

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  2. I am not a big board game fan Peter but it looks interesting, as Jon says, and my most recent foray into the genre was here, a couple of weeks ago http://1808534.blogspot.com/2023/12/thursday-night-at-julians.html
    I actually enjoyed it quite a lot - the fact I won both games probably helped!

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    1. I quite enjoy board games; unfortunately, my wife and younger daughter, not so much. My older daughter does like games, and her sons are starting too as well, so this aimed at them more than anything else.

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  3. That does look interesting and fun Peter. We went through a phase of playing Euro games every Monday night. I can't remember why we stopped, but I very much enjoyed it at the time.

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    1. I'd gladly do a weekly board game session myself!

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  4. The game looks interesting. That is a lot of boards! I have " Here I Stand " waiting but unpunished. You can tell we are Miniature oriented gamers.

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    1. Castles of Burgundy is often found in "Top games of all time" lists. Not sure I'd agree until I play it some, but it looks fun, not too comoplicated, and I like the theme! :-)

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  5. Looks interesting. I'd be interested to read your review of how it plays.

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    1. I enjoyed the solo play; we'll have to see about future play against a live opponent!

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  6. Replies
    1. As already noted, I enjoyed my playtest game. Plenty of decisions to make , but not TOO taxing mentally!

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  7. I look forward to playing it with non wargamers (not that it wouldn't work fine with wargamers, mind you!).

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