The Castles of Burgundy
Box cover
DesignersStefan Feld
PublishersRavensburger
Players2 to 4
Setup time15 minutes
Playing time90 minutes
ChanceMedium
Age range12 and up
SkillsStrategy
Related games
The Voyages of Marco Polo, La Granja, Bora Bora
[1]

The Castles of Burgundy is a board game for two to four players, set in Medieval Burgundy. It was designed by Stefan Feld and illustrated by Julien Delval and Harald Lieske, and was published in 2011 by Ravensburger/alea.[2] It is considered a classic of the Eurogame genre,[3][4] and is cited as one of the most influential board games of the last decade.[5] It uses dice rolling and dice placement, a modular setup, and set collection as its mechanics.[6] The dice and the ability to change them give players a wide range of options.[7]

Gameplay

A player's board

In Castles of Burgundy, players collect hexagonal tiles to fill their personal player boards[8] by drafting them via dice they've collected, and then gain benefits for each tile placed.[9] Players will earn bonuses for filling in a specific region of their board, which is worth more points if done earlier in the game, or for filling all hexes of a specific color on their entire board.[10]

Versions

In 2014 Yucata, the online game portal, released an online play-by-web version. In 2016 Ravensburger released Castles of Burgundy: The Card Game.[11] Ravensburger also released a "roll-and-write" version, The Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game, in 2017.[12] In 2019 DIGIDICED developed versions for Steam, Android, and iOS.[13]

Reception

A review at Ars Technica described the game as having a "bland theme, dry artwork, chintzy components" but also "some of the best gameplay" in a board game and amongst the "best dice-rolling mechanics in any strategy game".[8]

References

  1. ^ Goodridge, Michelle; Rohweder, Matthew J. (November 15, 2021). Librarian's Guide to Games and Gamers: From Collection Development to Advisory Services. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9798216110958.
  2. ^ "Castles of Burgundy: Full Credits". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
  3. ^ Mendelsohn, Tom (February 24, 2013). "Forget Game Of Thrones. The Best Board Games Are German-Style". Kotaku. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  4. ^ Smith, Quintin (October 22, 2016). "Essen 2016: Best board games from the biggest board game convention". arstechnica. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  5. ^ Hall, Charlie (November 17, 2019). "The most influential board games of the decade, according to top designers". Polygon. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  6. ^ Larsen, Luke (June 26, 2015). "The 10 Essential Gateway Boardgames for Converting Non-Gamers". Paste Magazine. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
  7. ^ Casey, Matt (2 October 2014). "Making better use of dice in games". BoingBoing. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  8. ^ a b Zimmerman, Aaron; Anderson, Nate; Mendelsohn, Tom (8 December 2017). "Ars Technica's ultimate board game buyer's guide". Ars Technica. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  9. ^ Law, Keith (20 June 2018). "The Board Game Merlin Is Startlingly Low on Magic". Paste. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  10. ^ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/review-beloved-board-game-castles-of-burgundy-is-now-an-app
  11. ^ Law, Keith (August 8, 2016). "Every Boardgame We Saw at Gen Con 2016". Paste Magazine. Retrieved February 26, 2017.
  12. ^ Davis, Marc (August 18, 2018). "Castles of Burgundy: The Dice Game Review". The Thoughtful Gamer. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
  13. ^ Law, Keith (2019-04-13). "Review: Beloved board game Castles of Burgundy is now an app". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
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