Game Overview

Game Name: Architects of the West Kingdom
Publication Year: 2018
Designers: Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald
Artist: Mihajlo Dimitrievski
Publisher: Garphill Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game

The core element of constructing a city and a cathedral remained the same with the expansion. Only now, the guildhall offered new opportunities to enhance buildings and provide bonuses to apprentices. I was eager to get started and see just how the solo game would change.

Apprentice Appeal

I’m still very early in my exploration of the strategies, yet the early choices of which apprentices to hire seem to be very important. So many different options!

While buildings certainly provide benefits, it seems like the apprentices hold a lot more power. Their ongoing abilities often steer a play in specific directions.

The expansion allows for a single apprentice to begin in play. Quite nice and very helpful for planning early moves!

I didn’t just look at the available options, though. Creating synergies was what I had to do in order to win.

Fancy Buildings

Multi-purpose cards provided different ways to enhance my buildings. These adornments were costly, but awarded victory points and immediate bonuses.

I might also say that it’s quite clear my little well led to the creation of a massive aqueduct. Thematic. Ha ha!

But as I played, the choice to pick up these multi-purpose cards often came down to blocking the solo opponent. It didn’t feel strategic: In a sense, I wasn’t choosing to build.

A certain collection of massive debt didn’t help me along, though. The black market refreshes did not go in my favor!

The Final Countdown

There was a certain degree of pride over Rudolf’s tableau. Just ignore all of those debt certificates… Most were paid!

I was very impressed with this outcome, not for how over-the-top amazing it was, but for how it all came together.

My final score was almost doubled from what I achieved in the base game. How fun! I felt like I did well with my buildings and also used my apprentices in great ways.

Additional resources provided chances to build more or even contribute to the cathedral. But you know me… My virtue was sullied by my penchant for the black market!

Teamwork and Tools

The multi-purpose cards in the expansion may be used to add an adornment to a building, or transform into an ongoing tool for an apprentice. Even more choices!

Note, though, that my choice in tools was more focused on keeping victory points from the solo opponent.

My patron and abbot formed a pretty formidable team at the king’s storehouse. A tool only triggers once, but I still picked up 3 silver each time I paid a visit to trade in clay!

More than anything, I had fun finding combinations like this where apprentices and tools could work together.

Stacking the Workers

An entirely redesigned guildhall overlay provided nice slots for workers and reminders for the new actions.

Aside from an action at the black market, adornments and tools come almost entirely from stacking workers in the guildhall. It’s another interesting sort of strategy.

Buildings were even more important to not only have places to stack workers, but also cards to add adornments to. Plus, I didn’t want the solo opponent to fill every spot!

Hidden here are the last spaces in each row that clear out the 2 leftmost apprentices. Often very helpful, though!

Fancy Marble

However, I was no match against Constantine this time. First, he collected a metric ton of marble. 25 victory points just in those resources! Yikes, indeed.

Each time the solo opponent placed a worker in the guildhall, the highest-value adornment was picked up.

As I mentioned before, this typically made me choose to get tools to block those victory points from piling up.

Yet when I saw an opportunity for myself, the next cards in the deck turned out to be the valuable ones. See those 4 and 6 victory point cards? All earned through sheer luck.

Way Too Much Silver

I went on to reset the board and play again. Surely, there was a way to at least come close to winning this time!

With another bit of unprecedented luck, the solo opponent didn’t draw a card to capture any workers until this happened. I got a whopping 27 silver. What in the world?!

Had I been playing against a real opponent, this never would have happened. It was neat and exciting to have a pile of metal coins… But very unrealistic.

Instead, I saw how randomly the solo opponent acted and how I could likely use this to my advantage in the future.

Not Even a Chance

Coupled with some strategic visits to the tax stand, I kept collecting silver faster than I could spend it! Not at all surprising when I basically started with nearly 30 silver.

I didn’t rest on my laurels, though. A trio of enforcers gave me plenty of benefits whenever I sent a captured group of workers to the prison. Lots and lots of trips!

Buildings were constructed to focus on virtue and victory points, while I kept my debt mostly under control.

This was fun, yet it felt a little hollow owing to the way the solo opponent didn’t exactly pose any sort of threat.

Session Overview

Play Number: 3 and 4
Main Expansion: Age of Artisans
Other Expansions: Extra Apprentices and Extra Buildings
Accessory: West Kingdom: Metal Coins
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Standard Difficulty Level with Side A
Outcome: 65-82 and 60-38 (1 Win and 1 Loss)

These plays felt a bit unbalanced, especially with the wide disparity in scores. I did, however, manage to build the gallery to gain an adornment… Then repeat that effect for another one! Definitely a neat combination to see!

Affordability

Price & Value

7

Functionality

Challenges & Mechanics

8

Originality

Design & Theme

5

Quality

Components & Rules

10