Sharing Historical Architecture with The Red Cathedral

Take part in the construction of a monument with careful planning and resource management in The Red Cathedral.
I’m slowly catching up on a lot of my unplayed solo games from years past! The Red Cathedral caught my eye based on its interesting mechanics and relatively short play time for a midweight gaming experience. At last, I set out the blueprint and started to learn the best way to strategize against a famous architect in the form of the solo opponent!
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
Resources are collected by utilizing dice movement and shared spaces to construct Saint Basil’s Cathedral. Guilds provide additional actions, while the solo opponent works on areas of the towers. Recognition and prestige are important metrics on the path to being victorious!
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
Effective Play Area
There is a lot in this relatively small box! Better yet, though, the required table space is pretty reasonable.
A circular board provides a track for the dice to move around. Gathering resources involves choosing a single die and moving it a number of spaces equal to its pips.
More dice in an area leads to bigger resource payouts, while guilds and special actions may also be triggered.
Don’t think it’s all about simple planning… Used dice are rolled at the end of each turn, and the solo opponent constantly affects these placements each turn.
Cathedral Blueprint
Setup involves a random assortment of cathedral pieces, built according to a specific arrangement. Each has different requirements, along with special tokens.
Also, coins never add up to much, but I’m back with my abacus again! This is from the upgraded components in Arcana Rising, and I bought extras because I love them.
Each cathedral tower is scored based on majority, so claiming 6 sections takes some careful strategizing.
Figuring out the most valuable spots takes practice, and it’s possible to make the solo opponent choose poorly.
Triple Resources
In making dice decisions, it’s important to look at the needed resources and what spaces might be the most lucrative at a certain point. Not too complex, though!
Early in my first play, the solo opponent moved the white die into the same space as the red die. An opportunity!
I moved the yellow die 2 spaces to land here. Although the purple jewel wasn’t my most needed resource, this allowed me to pick up 3 resources at once. Very nice!
Coins may be spent to move a couple of pre-set dice around as another option, too. Plenty of choices.
Shared Construction
Yet it isn’t just about sharing resources: Other actions involve claiming cathedral sections to work on and dropping off resources to complete those areas.
In the end, construction was split equally with the banners. So nice! Special ornaments, like doors and windows, may also be strategically placed for majorities.
I didn’t fare too poorly, although I could see some places where I could improve to get closer to earning a victory.
Even the choice of sections is very important, as it sometimes pays to wait to claim some of the domes.
Discovering a Mix of Mechanics That Work
For those who have been following along lately, I’ve been sticking with lighter games that typically take about 10-15 minutes to play. Although this isn’t a heavy sort of game, it was still a bit of a step up for me! I balked a little bit when I opened up the box to find lots of components and a rulebook that was more than the handful of pages I’ve seen.
Yet this was an excellent move into the midweight category! Although there are a lot of things to take into account, I didn’t feel overwhelmed. Decisions were interconnected, but some of the restrictions actually helped guide me forward.
However, this doesn’t mean I plan to jump right into a 3-4 hour complex game next. Ha! It’s just nice to be able to find a midweight solo game that offers more without requiring an enormous effort to learn and understand. Maybe I’m far from an expert and won’t win that often, but I have to say that this initial experience was absolutely fantastic!
Sequence of Actions
The solo opponent uses a random but fixed order of actions. In this case, it was sequential and made sense to gain resources, move them, and use them to construct.
I can see the argument that this might affect the difficulty level of the game, yet I didn’t benefit all that much!
Another important component is dice movement. At the start of the turn, the solo opponent moves a set die.
For example, I know that the next turn will involve moving the green die. It has 1 pip showing, so I can decide to swoop in to use it first. A rather clever mechanic!
Bonus Actions & Tokens
As part of the action to claim a cathedral section, the token on it may be paid to place face-up on a section that aligns with each color of die. What in the world does this do?
First, if it’s paid for, the benefit is received immediately. In the future, when that die is chosen to move, the benefit may be received again. Quite a nifty bonus!
Dice tokens simply mean the bonus is the resource located at the space that die is currently located in.
Some of these spaces were a little pricier than others on the basic workshop side, yet it was a very fun element!
Climbing Higher
There shall be no account of my second play… Ignore that laughable score. Ha ha! I did much better as I kept figuring out some of the strategies, though. Look at that tower!
I should also note that there is a very limited inventory, indicated by the ruler on the workshop. With stored banners, this might only hold a handful of resources.
This is why resource management is so important. Hoarding extras simply isn’t possible, nor wise.
My crowning moment was the majority earned for this tall tower, earning me 12 prestige points. Take that!
A Very Proud Moment
Along the outside of the board is a track that includes both recognition points and prestige points. The latter is equivalent to victory points, yet recognition is important.
I managed to pull ahead for a very decisive victory with this play! Judging by the dice, one of my last resource gathering actions resulted in 3 recognition points.
The ratio of recognition to prestige changes over time, so it’s important to keep an eye on when actions are taken.
Such an excellent time! I was far from an expert, yet the basic workshop provided a wonderful challenge.
Session Overview
Play Number: 1-4
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Play Details: Basic Workshop
Outcome: 45-48, 25-63, 59-50, 47-47 (1 Win & 3 Losses)
I thought I had the right idea to pull off a second victory, but I just barely failed! The worker on the box cover looked down at the tied scoring markers with a look of disdain. Ha! This was a surprisingly excellent solo experience. I loved all of the meaningful choices and flow. The solo opponent blocked certain elements, yet provided a fun sort of puzzle to think through. Definitely happy I own it!
%
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)
- Gameplay is very smooth and quick after learning and understanding all of the rules after the first few plays.
- Choosing 1 of 3 actions to take each turn presents meaningful choices without requiring too much thinking.
- Although the solo opponent may not always act logically, its actions provide a sort of puzzle to work through.
- Dice movement is very simple, but finding the right combination of resources and guild actions is challenging.
- Constructing the cathedral involves strategic choices in sections and generating end game majorities.
- The game box is small, yet there is a very full game offered at this price point with high quality components.
– Cons (Negatives)
- The completed sides of the cathedral cards are a bit monotonous, leading to a somewhat drab final appearance.
- All of the solo opponent’s action cards remain in a static order, which can have a major effect on the difficulty.
- Tracking both recognition and prestige on a shared track saves space, but can be a little confusing at times.
- Not a lot of variety exists with the guilds, which will always have the same main action available every play.
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 do you like about The Red Cathedral? I have lots more to explore, particularly with the advanced workshop that makes it a little more difficult and expensive to advance. Are you doing well against the solo opponent? The expansion is already on my table to add even more to gameplay, and I can’t wait to try it out to see what it adds and changes!
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