Gates and Keys in a Return to Viscounts of the West Kingdom
Travel throughout the kingdom to maintain peace and loyalty with a tenuous balancing act in Viscounts of the West Kingdom.
I was excited to return to Viscounts of the West Kingdom! Not only had I enjoyed the base game in the past, but I had a few expansions to build out the solo experience. Of all the games in the trilogy, this one has always stood out as my favorite… Not to get too far ahead, but this session clearly solidified that position. Onward to traveling around a kingdom via horse!
Game Overview
Game Name: Viscounts of the West Kingdom
Publication Year: 2020
Designers: S J Macdonald & Shem Phillips
Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski
Publisher: Garphill Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
The goal is to build up the various areas with the help of townsfolk. Deeds and debts accumulate in a balancing act between poverty and prosperity. Opportunities to improve the kingdom are many, both in the provinces and within the central castle. Timing the game end trigger is also vital!
First Play
May 6, 2022
Complexity
3
Latest Play
November 28, 2025
Expansions
3
Setup Time
15 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
4
Play Time
1 Hour
High Score
93
Game Area
40" x 30"
Low Score
45
A Unique Play Space
This might not be classified as a compact play area, yet it looks amazing and doesn’t spread out. With the expansions, I had more components that didn’t feel overwhelming.
Moving throughout the provinces is a key feature. This keeps the options clear and open, although for the most part, it comes down to identifying where to move each turn.
Buildings take shape along the outer track, while the inner track is all about entering the castle or writing manuscripts.
I simply love this one! The choices are far from limited, yet avoid the trap of feeling complex or convoluted. Perfect.
All the Merchants
Each turn involves townsfolk cards that slowly advance. The starting ones offer basic abilities, and recruiting new townsfolk is a key strategy to find better bonuses.
I had a pretty good opening draw that allowed me to align my merchant-focused individuals. Since these icons stack, this felt like the perfect way to build up my resources.
My starting card also allowed me to place a building, so this trade action was pretty amazing. All the synergies!
Curating a deck of townsfolk cards is very interesting, as there are all sorts of ways they can complement each other.
Building and Writing
Since I started off with a building already on the board, I leaned into this strategy. My final board had a lot of bonuses revealed from all of the construction I championed!
Manuscripts offer a set collection mechanic with the various colors, although immediate bonuses are excellent.
The stacks worked against me and it was hard to find any with blue or grey ribbons. Luckily, an envoy happened to show up to aid with a boost to final scoring. Fantastic!
I enjoyed the specialized townsfolk and how my small deck helped give each of them a little personality and story.
Climbing the Castle
Although the circular play area is very unique, the castle at the center is the element that stands out the most. It’s actually quite functional, too, holding the tiles together!
Adding workers to the castle is an action I’m still getting a handle on, but it’s awesome to create cascades that move them all around and into the valuable higher tiers.
I’ll also note that the one-way movement makes sense for the game. But thematically? It’s the kingdom law, of course.
Ha ha! The movement is a key part of the strategy and I like how it works. One-way paths and horses are a necessity!
Round and Round with Variability
It’s not necessary for every game to have an enormous amount of variability. This is something that can be vastly different depending on the game, too. For me, this is an idea about avoiding repetitiveness where it dampens the experience. I don’t mind the same setup and general gameplay for quicker games, where it’s about working towards the perfect score.
In larger games, though, there’s the idea of learning the best moves and not having the opportunity to add any variety to a strategy. This is a game that does variability in an excellent way. It feels like the designers considered all of the ways that a play could be different and implemented them well. It’s not just randomness, but a feeling of meaningful differences.
For instance, the province tiles are modular with a random arrangement around the castle. This changes the location of building spots, connection bonuses, and trade actions. Townsfolk cards and manuscript tokens are further randomized so each location is unique. And that’s not even considering the player setup! It just works so well, and practically effortlessly.
Virtue and Corruption
Aside from the townsfolk, finding a balance is a key part of gameplay. Virtue and corruption constantly change, but trigger a collision at the point where they meet. Boom!
However, that doesn’t mean it makes sense to always try to gain all the corruption or virtue. Rather, it’s important to understand the flow of all the deeds and debts.
These cards are a limited supply, and running out of one or both piles leads to the end of the game. Ah, but the balance!
If the game ends by running out of debt cards, it’s actually the deed cards that score, and vice versa. Very, very clever!
Onward and Upward
I spent this pair of plays getting acquainted with the rules, especially with the expansion content. Suffice to say I did very well, and then very poorly. Ha ha! A good mixture.
Using the castle action was one of my weakest strategies, although the solo opponent also didn’t focus on it.
The possibilities and variety felt endless without making me feel weighted down by too many choices. Just a lot of strategies to try out, likely with a higher difficulty level.
This was a joy to play and puzzle through, made even better by my endless galloping and neighing sound effects. Ha!
Session Overview
Play Number: 3 & 4
Main Expansion 1: Gates of Gold
Main Expansion 2: Keeper of Keys
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Standard Difficulty Level
Outcome: 93-76, 45-58 (1 Win & 1 Loss)
Not too shabby! My first play was when I saw everything come together, and I lost my core focus when I tried to piece together a very unique strategy. This was a fantastic experience made even better by the expansions. Can’t wait to play again and see what different choices might happen!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
9
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
9
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
7
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
9
+ Pros (Positives)
- Action choices are often layered with stackable bonuses, but don’t feel like an overwhelming amount of information.
- The main play area is interesting and contains a lot of gameplay details in a relatively contained space.
- Balancing virtue and corruption, along with deeds and debts, is an excellent and fun central gameplay element.
- Managing the solo opponent is easy with direct interaction, particularly surrounding buildings and the castle.
- Townsfolk cards provide all sorts of abilities and curating a deck is important, often leading to memorable characters.
- Gameplay moves at a nice pace and the game end trigger can be impacted by tracking the last deeds or debts.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Some of the one-way arrows on paths are a little hard to see or locate with the stacks of cards and manuscripts.
- There is a fair amount of iconography to learn, and some icons are a little too similar to easily tell apart at first.
- A little bit of luck is needed with the manuscripts to create full sets, although this is typically a very minor issue.
- Keeping track of all of the uncovered icons takes a little time to understand with the separation on the player board.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 67%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game against the card solo opponent.
Win at least 1 game at the standard difficulty level.
Win at least 1 game against the builder solo opponent.
Continue the Conversation
What do you enjoy the most about Viscounts of the West Kingdom? Have you tried out any of the expansion content? I loved playing this a few years ago, and I still love it! Such a great set of choices that change between turns, making each play feel different. There is still plenty more to explore with all of the strategies, and I’m excited that it’s in my collection!
Interesting read.
I researched the game as a candidate for a family game a year ago and decided to pass because the color and icon combinations will be difficult for my nystagmus. For example, I cannot see the Woodcutter’s axe icon unless I focus on the card for a second or two.
Not able to scan the icons quickly will make my turns longer and longer, and that tends to annoy the family because we own plenty of games which have better visuals for me.
Your post suggests it might work better for me solitaire than I thought. The color and icon combinations will make me tired but with an hour playing time, not overly tired.
Do all games in the West Kingdom series play solitaire as well as this one?
I can understand steering clear of it for the colors and icons! It took me a little bit to figure out the iconography, as some icons are a bit similar but have very different meanings. Gameplay moved along pretty nicely, and with the way the end game trigger works, it’s not difficult to take a break if the stacks of deed and debt cards are still pretty tall.
The trilogy is known for offering nice solo experiences, although this is my favorite by a large margin. Architects is also one I enjoy, although I sort of solved it and find it to be a little too easy. Still excellent! Paladins has a lot going on and an enormous play space. It was too complex for me to wrap my head around, but some mention that it’s the best in the series. I think it comes down to figuring out what sort of experience you’re looking for.
Hope that helps a little bit, and good luck deciding if anything in the trilogy is right for you!