Building a Foundation with Architects of the West Kingdom
Construct landmarks and build up a new city around a cathedral with a focus on virtue in Architects of the West Kingdom.
So many unopened and unplayed games… Time to check one off the list! Architects of the West Kingdom seemed vaguely familiar to me, for good reason. I played it with my game group a couple of years ago. Memories! Prepared with my own copy, I eagerly set out to learn the rules again and find out how the solo mode could create a challenge!
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
With the help of workers and apprentices for hire, a city takes shape through its expert architects. Buildings rise from the newly collected resources. A cathedral takes its place as a central element, all while decisions play into a simplified morality track for virtue. Lots of work to do!
First Play
December 19, 2021
Complexity
3
Latest Play
December 20, 2021
Expansions
4
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
4
Play Time
50 Minutes
High Score
65
Game Area
34" x 28"
Low Score
33
A Seasonal Order
Owing to this time of year, I simply couldn’t pass by Rudolf as my architect! I stuck with the simple player board side just to get my bearings. No unique powers yet!
The iconography took a tiny bit of time to get used to. I think the same shape for virtue and victory points threw me off despite the different colors. Still, easy enough!
I lined up my trusty workers for a fancy photo before they headed off in all directions, destined to topple over. Ha!
There was a lot of anticipation as I digested the fairly simple rules. Strategy would be the key to victory.
In It to Win It
As expected, I got engrossed with my play and never stopped to take any photos until it was over. The only downtime came from looking up a few small rules.
Things fell into place early on when I saw an opportunity to utilize the black market with minimal consequences.
It looked a little rough in regards to the cathedral, though. As an architect, I think I invented the dark alley where questionable business dealings took place!
There was also the question of virtue, a sort of morality tracker. I wasn’t even permitted near the cathedral!
Constantine the Poor
The choice in solo opponents basically came down to a standard or hard difficulty level. I went with the former to make sure I had a handle on the rules first.
Constantine was quite tricky with his endless sea of marble and victory points. But my constant use of the black market helped strategically give him plenty of debt.
Each certificate was worth -2 victory points, which helped! I just wasn’t sure about those cathedral points.
Overall, I enjoyed the flow of the solo opponent’s deck. It was clear and provided a good amount of variety.
Watching from Afar
Since my virtue was so low during most of this play, I was entirely barred from helping to construct the cathedral. My questionably attained gold was not wanted!
This gave the solo opponent a massive lead with 20 victory points and a lot of virtue… Yet I kept up my sneakiness and continued to time the black market refresh perfectly.
It was also after this session that I realized I gave marble to the solo opponent too often. You’re welcome. Ha!
This also left me with few opportunities to build, hence my limited appearance in the guildhall. Sneaky and all.
Illusion and Trickery
My real success boiled down to my illusionist and trickster. I hired both of them early on for great benefits.
While at the black market, I didn’t lose any virtue and received a discount of 1 silver. Look very closely and you can see a little friend used by the illusionist. Magic!
I pictured them working together to completely distract from the fact that I was buying up marble and other resources at the lowest prices. Business was booming!
Although I was far from experienced, the assortment of hired apprentices looked like it could be very important.
Observing Virtue
When this play started to speed up and the guildhall was nearly full, my sole goal was to finish collecting the right resources to build a fantastic observatory.
It happened near the end. With all of the leftover marble from the black market, I moved up by 4 spaces. Nice!
Ending the game near the bottom of the virtue track is worth negative victory points, so at least reaching the neutral zone is desirable in almost every case.
Note, too, that I wasn’t out to be virtuous… Pretty sure the observatory was a lookout for my moneylender!
A Small Triumph
Despite my questionable moral choices in the black market and tax stand, I still managed to finish with more virtue than the solo opponent! Quite the achievement.
Actually, after counting and double-checking, I pulled ahead with the narrow victory! It was a combination of everything, yet that observatory truly helped.
Such fun! I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but I put together a coherent strategy far from my preferences.
My typical inclination is to go down the lawful good path in every game… But trying new strategies paid off!
To the Storehouse
On the subject of new strategies, I went ahead and reset everything to see what might happen if I tried the virtuous route. But my tendencies stuck. See the gambler’s den?!
However, the apprentices led me down the path of using the king’s storehouse to transform clay into virtue or marble. Quite the useful exchange, indeed.
I almost wondered if the overall strategy was all about the early apprentices, since each provided a benefit.
This final scoring looked closer, even though I actually contributed to the cathedral! We were neck and neck…
Session Overview
Play Number: 1 and 2
Accessory: West Kingdom: Metal Coins
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Standard Difficulty Level with Side A
Outcome: 35-32 and 33-33 (1 Win and 1 Loss)
It turned out to be a tie! Even though the tiebreaker would have gone in my favor with my higher virtue level, I gave it to the solo opponent. Not exactly the best way to end, yet it was still interesting! My goal was to get a taste of the base game so I could add in my unopened expansion for Age of Artisans. It’s clear what’s up next with this series!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
7
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
8
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
6
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
8
+ Pros (Positives)
- Apprentices and buildings are highly variable and help provide interesting ways to pursue different strategies.
- The component quality is excellent with plenty of wooden resources and meeples, along with linen cards.
- Being able to capture workers introduces an interesting mechanic that can be used for many benefits.
- Virtue is a mechanic that plays into a lot of decisions and can help steer a strategy in a certain direction.
- Limits on the number of apprentices and buildings ensure that the chosen cards work together to synergize.
- All of the artwork helps bring the world to life and the individual characters can be used for asymmetric abilities.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Although the theme is very appealing, it doesn’t feel tied to the mechanics and struggles to come through.
- The solo opponent uses a random deck of cards that takes time to manage while not always reacting logically.
- With the guildhall and cathedral often dominated by the solo opponent, the paths to victory are a little limited.
- Most of the iconography is clear, but some icons are a little similar and require time to get used to during play.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 100%
Goals and Milestones
Win at least 1 game at the standard difficulty level.
Continue the Conversation
Have you played Architects of the West Kingdom? What are some of your favorite elements of it? I’m a little late jumping into this series, although I have all the boxes just sitting around waiting to be played. Should be exciting! Maybe I’ll actually build the cathedral with the expansion, if I can steer clear of the black market. Ha ha!
Try the 2nd expansion. Works of Wonders. Much better AI opponent but of course more elements to the game and complexity increasing
Good to hear! I’m hoping to return to this one at some point with the expansions… Just so many games to play these days. Thanks for the recommendation!