New Strategies with The Red Cathedral: Contractors
Send contractors to locate specialists in cities from afar and discover new guilds with the expansion to The Red Cathedral.
After my initial plays of The Red Cathedral, I knew that I wanted to add more content sooner rather than later! I also started off with the basic workshop, so there was plenty more to discover. With The Red Cathedral: Contractors, there were specialists, cities, guilds, and new considerations to keep in mind when completing towers. Back to the solo table!
Game Overview
Game Name: The Red Cathedral
Publication Year: 2020
Designers: Isra C. and Shei S.
Artists: Chema Román and Pedro Soto
Publisher: Devir
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
This expansion adds contractors, who visit cities to hire specialists. Cathedral towers now correspond with these cities for additional scoring opportunities, while new guilds provide all sorts of new mechanics. Dice movement is still paramount, though, as is the level of sheer fun!
First Play
June 3, 2023
Complexity
3
Latest Play
June 4, 2023
Expansions
2
Setup Time
5 Minutes
Lifetime Plays
6
Play Time
50 Minutes
High Score
69
Game Area
30" x 20"
Low Score
25
Off to the Cities
The central part of this expansion is a new city board where contractors may be placed to bring back specialists.
Each cathedral tower corresponds to a certain city, which adds scoring opportunities when those sections are finished: Banners multiplied by contractors in that city.
Permit tokens are another resource needed to visit cities, while the specialist tokens themselves require coins.
However, this is such a neat new mechanic! Majorities now matter in this sense, and the tokens provide another way to score with set collection. Absolutely excellent!
New Considerations
The solo opponent always moves a tracking token to the tower with the most recently claimed section. In turn, this determines where those contractors will be placed.
I thought this added a layer of additional thinking without being too much. There were interesting ways to ensure I had a better chance… At least, most of the time!
Although I didn’t draw them during setup, there are also new cathedral blueprints with just 3 towers to complete.
This also made it sometimes make sense not to simply have 1-2 banners in every tower, but to focus some more.
Visiting New Guilds
Each pair of spaces is aligned with a season and guild, which adds another optional action during each turn. In the expansion, there are are a whopping 10 new guilds!
Granted, only the clergy are swapped out to maintain the balance of available actions. These all add very new sorts of mechanics with plenty of new components.
I decided to start off alphabetically and use the archivists, who focus on offering end-game objective cards.
These typically provide 2 or 3 prestige points for meeting certain conditions, although there is a limit to them.
Far-Flung Travels
During my first play with the expansion, I loved the addition of the contractors and cities. It might look very even, yet that’s how I maintained a close score!
The specialist tokens were also fun. For me, I could pay 2 coins to choose one that would be activated with the black die. Set collection was fun, with me collecting 5 of 6 types!
For the solo opponent, both tokens were picked up around a city, while Moscow offered a prestige point. But wait…
If the solo opponent has 2 of the same type of specialist, they are discarded. That was also fun to manage!
Base Games and Expansions: When New is New
Although it doesn’t happen too often, I’ve come across some solo games where an expansion is required to make the base game feel complete. It’s not the end of the world, yet it’s noticeable because it seems like content was removed in order to make more money. This often happens with new games that have separate expansions immediately available.
In this case, I waited a couple of years to pick up the base game, and an expansion came out about a year later. I highly recommend this expansion, but it’s not absolutely necessary. The base game has a complete experience with plenty of interesting mechanics and strategies. Expanding it adds a lot of new elements that can even be a little more modular!
My preferences often mean I pick up almost every expansion. Would I have been happy with just the base game? Most likely, at least for a fair amount of time. The timing of this expansion’s release worked in my favor, though: I didn’t have to wait long to add it all in! This game already felt complete, yet now, it’s even more interesting to play solo.
Planning a Big Move
After I won by a fairly narrow margin, I reset to try to do things a little differently with the cities. Instead of spreading everyone out, I concentrated on Moscow.
The corresponding tower was the largest, and I expected to place 3 banners on it. That would be worth a lot!
My specialist token collection was also quite excellent, owing to the special ability to take any token from the cities when going to Moscow. I was about to win!
Yet I must say, this game does an amazing job of wanting just one more turn to actually get everything done…
Laughably Bad Plans
Notice that tall tower I had the majority in? What’s more important is the fact that this is the end game. My dome was never completed, and Moscow wasn’t scored. Ha!
The solo opponent delivered resources to complete 2 sections at once. I had the information in front of me, but somehow calculated incorrectly. Or there was cheating.
I didn’t lose too horribly, although I lamented the spoiling of my grand score. What an ending that would have been!
Instead, I had a little laugh over this debacle. My time was well-spent having a lot of fun, so no major loss here!
Session Overview
Play Number: 5 and 6
Expansion: The Red Cathedral: Contractors
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Advanced Workshop with the Archivists
Outcome: 69-60 and 56-61 (1 Win & 1 Loss)
So very close to back-to-back wins! This expansion elevated the solo mode quite a bit, adding in new decisions and elements that improved gameplay. My play time did increase noticeably, yet I was fully invested and never felt like turns dragged on. There is much more to discover, and I expect to have this game in my collection for a long time!
%
1 Play
Affordability
Price & Value
9
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
8
Quality
Components & Rules
8
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
6
+ Pros (Positives)
- The expansion provides an overlay for the workshop that seamlessly slots over the existing player board.
- New decision points add variety and a depth of strategy that integrate with the base game amazingly well.
- Although play time increases with the expansion, turns never drag on, but rather provide more options.
- Sending contractors into the cities is a central element that doesn’t detract from the flow of other actions.
- Guilds provide all new mechanics and components, yet 3 of 4 base game guilds remain in play for balance.
- Specialist tokens can be rather expensive to invest in, but the set collection prestige points are a fun element.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Despite there being a lot of new guilds, only 1 of 11 options is included with each play and may not work as well.
- Although sending contractors to cities is interesting, there can be a little luck involved with the specialist tokens.
- The solo opponent uses a set action card order to provide a sort of puzzle, but this can feel too random at times.
- Guild influence is sometimes more of a secondary consideration when gathering resources with the dice.
Victory Conditions
Score the Most Points
- Overall Goal Progress 47%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 50 points.
Score at least 60 points.
Win at least 1 game with the advanced workshop.
Win at least 1 game with the basic workshop.
Play with each guild in at least 1 game (5/14).
Score at least 70 points.
Continue the Conversation
What are your thoughts about The Red Cathedral and The Red Cathedral: Contractors for solo? Are there certain strategies or guilds you prefer? Not every expansion elevates a base game, and some can spoil the experience. Yet in this case, there is so much to discover that improves the existing content. This is an expansion I highly recommend!
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