# of Players: 1-4
Playtime: 2-3 Hours
Playtime: 2-3 Hours
Core Mechanic: Tile Placement/Auction
Theme: Castle Building
Type: Euro
Type: Euro
Weight: Medium-Heavy
Year: 2014
Rating: 9*
I played the Suburbia app a lot when it came out and while I enjoyed the game, there were two things I noticed that held it back for me at the time - there was a lot of bookkeeping with three tracks (reputation, income, and population) and after many plays, my cities generally looked the same from game to game. However, this isn’t a review of Suburbia, even though I will need to make a few comparisons, and needless to say Castles of Mad King Ludwig fixed both of these issues, which is why it sits quite high in my personal rankings.
This is a tile placement game where each player builds a castle. The game takes place over several rounds until the room pool is exhausted. Each round, one player is the Master Builder and sets the prices for the available rooms that round. Each player then either purchases a room, with the money going to the Master Builder, or takes money from the bank and does not build that round. This makes paying attention to the boards of the other players important, because you want to set prices for rooms that are desirable high, but not so high that nothing will be purchased. Also, the Master Builder builds last and that money goes to the bank so if you are the Master Builder, you want to set the price of what you want high enough to discourage other players from buying it but low enough that you aren’t overpaying.
Compared to the multiple tracks in Suburbia, there is only one track here - a victory point track - and you gain victory points as you place rooms, as well as from bonus cards at the end of the game and being ahead of your opponents on goal requirements revealed at the start of the game. Rooms are placed orthogonal to each other and at least one of the entrances need to line up. When placing a room, you gain the victory points as described on the tile and, depending on which rooms it is adjacent or connected to, you can gain or lose additional victory points. If a room is completed, which means that all entrances to that room are connected, you gain a reward depending on the type of room that it is. This can include victory points, money, bonus cards, extra tile placements, or extra turns.
In the end, you’re not going to be able to build a neat castle with all entrances lined up. Your castle will be sprawling in every direction and you may have stairs that lead to nowhere bedrooms next to kitchens. This is one of the reasons why I find this game more appealing than Suburbia - visually, each player’s castle will be distinct whereas in Suburbia everyone has suburb full of hexes that looks different only upon closer inspection. Thematically, the placement of the rooms make sense. For example, you would not want a billiards room next to a bedroom, so you lose points for that placement. If you put a dining room next to a living room, you gain points. The problem is that you're not always going to get the room or the shape needed and you'll eventually have to make some funny placements, fitting the "Mad" in the name of the game. As mentioned earlier, the other leg up that Castles of Mad King Ludwig has on Suburbia is the one victory point track, which is much easier to follow than the three interacting tracks in Suburbia, even if it is thematic. The only part of the game that may put some people off is when the Master Builder is setting the prices for the rooms, as this is may take awhile as he or she studies everyone’s boards.
This is a fantastic looking game and compared to most other games will have that visual appeal that may attract people who normally wouldn’t play a board game. After awhile, the scoring and mechanics reveal themselves to be rather straightforward and there may not be anything more satisfying than seeing the twisted castle layout you have created at the end of the game. This game isn't the heaviest, although the rules explanation might take a bit of patience, so it would slot in as a good game to enter the Middleweight collection. I don't think it has the depth to push it further into the heavy realm - for comparison, to me Suburbia is a tad bit heavier. I don't think that this game is essential per say but it is one of my favorites so I would place it in the Collector collection.
This is a tile placement game where each player builds a castle. The game takes place over several rounds until the room pool is exhausted. Each round, one player is the Master Builder and sets the prices for the available rooms that round. Each player then either purchases a room, with the money going to the Master Builder, or takes money from the bank and does not build that round. This makes paying attention to the boards of the other players important, because you want to set prices for rooms that are desirable high, but not so high that nothing will be purchased. Also, the Master Builder builds last and that money goes to the bank so if you are the Master Builder, you want to set the price of what you want high enough to discourage other players from buying it but low enough that you aren’t overpaying.
Compared to the multiple tracks in Suburbia, there is only one track here - a victory point track - and you gain victory points as you place rooms, as well as from bonus cards at the end of the game and being ahead of your opponents on goal requirements revealed at the start of the game. Rooms are placed orthogonal to each other and at least one of the entrances need to line up. When placing a room, you gain the victory points as described on the tile and, depending on which rooms it is adjacent or connected to, you can gain or lose additional victory points. If a room is completed, which means that all entrances to that room are connected, you gain a reward depending on the type of room that it is. This can include victory points, money, bonus cards, extra tile placements, or extra turns.
In the end, you’re not going to be able to build a neat castle with all entrances lined up. Your castle will be sprawling in every direction and you may have stairs that lead to nowhere bedrooms next to kitchens. This is one of the reasons why I find this game more appealing than Suburbia - visually, each player’s castle will be distinct whereas in Suburbia everyone has suburb full of hexes that looks different only upon closer inspection. Thematically, the placement of the rooms make sense. For example, you would not want a billiards room next to a bedroom, so you lose points for that placement. If you put a dining room next to a living room, you gain points. The problem is that you're not always going to get the room or the shape needed and you'll eventually have to make some funny placements, fitting the "Mad" in the name of the game. As mentioned earlier, the other leg up that Castles of Mad King Ludwig has on Suburbia is the one victory point track, which is much easier to follow than the three interacting tracks in Suburbia, even if it is thematic. The only part of the game that may put some people off is when the Master Builder is setting the prices for the rooms, as this is may take awhile as he or she studies everyone’s boards.
This is a fantastic looking game and compared to most other games will have that visual appeal that may attract people who normally wouldn’t play a board game. After awhile, the scoring and mechanics reveal themselves to be rather straightforward and there may not be anything more satisfying than seeing the twisted castle layout you have created at the end of the game. This game isn't the heaviest, although the rules explanation might take a bit of patience, so it would slot in as a good game to enter the Middleweight collection. I don't think it has the depth to push it further into the heavy realm - for comparison, to me Suburbia is a tad bit heavier. I don't think that this game is essential per say but it is one of my favorites so I would place it in the Collector collection.
Comments
Post a Comment