Overview of the cities of Burgundy

15th-century France: A century in which the Hundred Years' War prevailed and ended with the Declaration of War on Italy.

It is also an inspiration for the Castles of Burgundy - a board game that somehow avoids any mention of bloodshed.

Masonry, agriculture and trade are rich with this Euro game tile .

Read our review of the board games The Castles of Burgundy below.

Cities of Burgundy

ENTERTAINMENT OF FUN GAMES - In the castles of Burgundy players ...
HIGH QUALITY COMPONENTS - This board game has 164 ...
GREAT REPEAT VALUE - Playback time is 30-90 minutes, for 2-4 ...

A brief overview of the castles of Burgundy

The castles of Burgundy are classic Euro game contestants . As the role of a prince of a large estate, your role is to build and change your path to victory.

This is a tile-playing game in which the players' actions are guided by dice pairs at every step . You need to choose your tiles carefully and increase the estate in exchange for various rewards. In the end, you want to be the player with the most winning points at the end of the game. However, you can earn them in many different ways.

Variations and extensions

There is no expansion of Burgundy castles, but it is worth mentioning two games in the same series.

Cities of Burgundy: A card game

The card game in the series follows many of the same themes as its predecessor. However, this is a well-made game in itself. The game revolves around card management and is a good alternative for those who want to satisfy this longing for the castles of Burgundy but don’t have the time for the whole game.

Cities of Burgundy: A card game

What you get - castles burgundy card games have 240 cards ...
Intensive gaming experience - you can play the game in 60 minutes and ...
Easy-to-understand instructions - high quality, easy to ...

Cities of Burgundy: A game of dice

A lot of the same ideas come up in Dice as well, but you don’t have to be a veteran of Burgundy castles to enjoy it. The goal is to increase your possession again and earn winning points. This time you roll five dice.

Cities of Burgundy: A game of dice

What you get - Castles of Burgundy Dice Game comes with 1 pad ...
Fun gaming experience - you can play the game in 15 minutes, and that's ...
Easy to understand instructions - high quality, easy to ...

20th anniversary edition

Cities of Burgundy: 20th anniversary edition

A fun game for the family together
This item includes 164x hex tiles, 42x fabric tiles, 20x ...
This game is suitable for 2-4 players

Unpacking the castles of Burgundy

The castles of Burgundy are certainly not games to try to hide behind their components. These include:

164 six-sided tiles
42 tiles for goods
20 silver coins
30 worktops
12 bonus tiles
4 tiles for winning points
8 play pieces
9 cubes
1 game board
6 boards for players

I say this because all about how the castles of Burgundy were created screams, "it will do." When you open the box, you will notice that everything feels just a little… pastel. The colors are quite ordinary, while the artwork looks like it was taken from a stock site (if there is such a thing for 15th century medieval graphics).

Similarly, component quality was clearly not a priority. Nothing is inappropriate, but the thickness of the card, for example, doesn’t scream “firmly”.

But once you start playing the game, it doesn’t stop you. When your estate starts to build, it looks really impressive on the table. It may not be made of durable things, but everything fits nicely and nothing moves too much.

Given the price for the castles of Burgundy you can often choose, it is not surprising and should certainly not deter you.

How to play the cities of Burgundy

The goal of the game

The goal of the Castle Castles is to earn the most winning points. You do this by increasing your holdings and achieving rewards and bonuses. For example, you can get winning points for:

Laying certain buildings or tiles on your property
Sale of goods
Livestock agriculture
Scientific research
Laying tiles on the entire region

Setup

Each player gets a board of players representing his estate. It is divided into 37 color regions that represent different landscapes and terrains such as pastures, rivers or cities. Players get some worker tiles to run, depending on the order as well as other resources. The player who goes first places his farmer on the track with a sequence of turns, followed by everyone else, and gets a white dice.

Take five fabric tiles and place them face up on the round spaces on the main panel. Finally, place as many six-sided tiles in each numbered warehouse as there are players (one for each side of the cube). These are the tiles that players can choose from in each round.

playing

The game is divided into five phases, each of which consists of five rounds. All circles follow the same pattern. First, they all roll two dice at the same time. The first player then turns by choosing two actions, one for each dice. There are four options:

Take the tile out of storage - the tile you take must match the matrix. Then store it in the storage area on the player panel.
Add a tile to your property - You can add any tile in your warehouse to your property. The space on your property must:
1. Be close to already laid tiles.
2. Corresponds to the number you rolled on the die.
3. Match the color of the tile.
Sell goods - you can exchange goods for Silverling (the main currency of the game) and winning points.
Take two work tiles - you can play workshop tiles at any time and you can move the result of matrix bending up or down by one.

Build your estate

There are many different tiles that you can lay on your property, all of which give the player a variety of benefits.

For example, by laying tiles for pastures, you can instantly earn winning points. If your pasture tile is placed next to another pasture tile that shares the same type of animal , you can earn even more. On the other hand, the ship's plate will bring you goods. While mines award you Silver at the end of the phase.

There are also buildings you can put up, including banks, squares and churches, that offer you instant benefits.

If you place tiles on each space in the color section, you also receive bonus points for winning. The amount you get depends on how early you get in the game and how big the region is.

Completion of the phase

After five rounds, the phase ends and different end-of-phase effects are performed depending on the tile players selected.

Then the next phase begins and continues as before. Players develop their possessions as they are in form, collect points and prepare for the final scoring.

End of game and scoring

When all five phases are completed, the game ends and the final scoring takes place. Note that players will gradually move along the Victory Point track throughout the game.

At this stage, players receive points for goods left in their store, unused Silverling and unused tiles for workers.

Which player has come the furthest from winning on Victory Point!

Your first game of Burgundy cities

When you play Burgundy Castles for the first time and probably every game after that, make sure you have the rules at hand. It’s a simple game to learn, but you can’t be expected to remember all the more detailed details, such as the special benefits you get from certain buildings or scientific research. You will regularly browse the pages to answer some of these questions.

Regarding the rules, keep in mind that if you want to lay a tile, you must first store it in the warehouse. That doesn’t mean you can’t lift and place it. But it will take all two actions along the way. You can easily get excited and skip the warehouse when you have been waiting for the right reel for years.

It finally seems obvious, but think carefully about where you place the tiles and their long-term effect. Once placed, they can no longer be moved. For example, farms can be a real boon if used properly. So pay attention to what’s on the board, and don’t go back to the corner.

Advantages disadvantages

Advantages:

Simple rules, lots of strategies
Lots of ways to score points
Satisfaction with building an estate
It works great with two players

Weaknesses:

Minimal player interaction
Ordinary works of art

I love tile laying games. The experience of growing an empire to pieces and then milking for anything worthwhile is simply fascinating. The castles of Burgundy firmly mark this box. You will never feel so close to being a rural aristocrat looking out of his castle over his estate. Many different types of tiles mean that your estate will almost always vary in nature to the last.

However, tile-laying games may not get the satisfaction of similar games like Carcassonne (or its Expansion s), which allows you to build long winding roads or cavernous (though ugly) castles to score the most points. Instead, most tiles work completely closed to each other.

The number of tiles also means that there are many different ways to win (and lose). For me, risk management was key here. I liked to find out a Strategy that had a high potential reward, but it will also earn some decent points along the way. For example, you can focus on completing the region, but if the right tiles and dice don’t come out, you may end up finding it all a waste of time.

However, this change does not make learning difficult. The mechanics of the game are simple and all the advantages of each tile are clearly defined in the rules .

Players with two players will be happy to know that this works fantastically with two players as well. So much so that Game Cows co-founder Bryan finds it works even better for two players than when playing with 3 or four people.

One thing I’ve noticed about Burgundy Castles is that you can do very little to prevent an opponent. Your only real option is to take tiles that you see may be needed to complete the region or something. Instead, the game focuses almost entirely on building your own empire and scoring as many points as possible. Not everyone will like it, but it’s entirely possible to keep in touch with other players all the time about their own strategies, as it’s all very much on the table.

Finally, a word about the presentation. I love the look and feel of Burgundy castles, especially considering how cheap it can be. However, when it comes to empire builders, it’s not the most picturesque. While you may find visions of building a temporary city-state like Avignon, it’s true that your estate will end up looking a little more like a folded tourist map from the ’90s. Luckily I like 90s tourist maps.

TL; DR

Burgundy Castles is a thorough tile game that puts you in the shoes of a 15th century French prince. Your goal is to increase your possession and earn more winning points than your opponents.

There are many different ways to win this game, which makes the castles of Burgundy truly stand out in strategy. Not to mention, night city planners won’t be disappointed with the complex estate you developed in the end.

Conclusion: a verdict?

If you’re trying to steer someone into the tile game genre, Burgundy Castles is a great place to start. Not only because it’s relatively easy to pick up, but also fantastically fun. I like to be able to gradually observe how my estate grows - in the end you become completely connected to it. So much so that it’s hard to pack when it’s over.

The main draw of Burgundy castles, however, is that there are so many ways to score points and then win. You can start moving the winning track in the first corner or decide on your time and wait for a big payload. Whatever you decide, you can develop a whole new strategy every time. It allows for fantastic repeatability.

In the artwork, the theme is somewhat weak. But that's not a big question. Once you start laying the tiles, it’s hard not to inspect your estate and feel like a little prince.

Cities of Burgundy