A case study is the initial
thoughts the Board Game Ripper has on a particular board game after only a few
plays. This is just my initial impressions and are subject to change after I
feel I have played enough sessions of the game to give it a proper review.
It is no secret among my gaming
group that I am a Stefan Feld fan and I have enjoyed every game of his that I
have played with only one single exception. I find that his games tend to be
perfect engines built to a smoothness that you will not find in most other
games. I don't mind the victory point salad model as it makes his games true
skill test as you try to achieve the most victory points possible with every
turn. I also find that his game designs tend to lead toward multiple paths to
victories and I rarely play the same game with the same strategy twice. Now I
have heard from the whispers of gamers that Castles of Burgundy is the best
Stefan Feld game available and nearly every pod cast raves about how good the game
is. With such recommendation from a designer I love, I had to purchase this
game. Unfortunately the game got lost upon my vast over flowing book case of
new games. It sat in that lonely pile for six months until a few days ago I happen to glance upon it. It was time to
break it out and Castles of Burgundy became the new game for the week.
Now I will say that I do not
think this is the best game from Stefan Feld although I do think it is one of
his best games to date. I am ashamed that it took me this long to get Castles
of Burgundy to the table and the first play through with my wife was an amazing
experience. Now my wife loves all of the Stefan Feld games that I have in my
collection as much as me so I knew that she would probably love this game as well.
Our first game lasted three days as we usually play games on my lunch breaks at
night since she has to work in the mornings. We usually keep the game set up on
the dinning table and play for a good forty minutes every night. This game wan
an instant hint and my wife loved in after the very first round. This is a
great game and it will find a very comfortable home in my collection next to
the other Feld games.
I love the simplicity of the
Castles of Burgundy. It is a smooth game with very simple actions yet these
actions have quite the depth that will affect your game far into the future. I
love how the player boards are player aides and every detail you need to know
to play your turn is printed right there in front of you. I love the overall design of the game board
which has all the set up instructions you need printed on the board and how
easy it is to move from one round to another. The game is elegant in it's game
play and runs so smoothly. Not once was there a moment where I felt I had to
stop the motion of the game to prepare for the next round. Overall, this is one
of the smoothest games I have ever played.
Castles of Burgundy is pretty
much a tile laying game where you use dice as actions to collect various tiles
to place on your estate board. In this aspect, the game does everything right
for me. I love the use of dice here that is similar to Bora Boar where you have
to use the dice you rolled to take actions around the board. There is ways to
manipulate the dice to take the action you want and there are always something
to do with your dice. The tile laying aspect is also pretty neat as there are
so many different tiles to choose from and it is fun to watch your board fill
up. I love the multiple ways to score victory points and so far I can see
unlimited game play with this title.
Theme is lacking in this board
game as it is in most of Stefan Feld's games and it really only an
afterthought. The game could pretty much be about anything as you are really
only focused on laying tiles onto your player board. Nothing mechanical really
makes you feel like you are a lord of Burgundy developing your estate. The art
style is typical euro art and really doesn’t add anything to the game. I would
call this a beautiful game but the art is functional and serves it's purpose. Overall
this is a great game and I am eager to explore this title more in depth. As of
right now, I can easily recommend this title to any one who doesn’t mind a
solid Euro game.
Board
Game Ripper
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