Designers: Andrea Chiarvesio & Luca Iennaco

Euro games are hit and miss with me, that’s no secret if you read this blog, but I had heard about Kingsburg repeatedly from a number of sources, each more reputable than the next that Kingsburg was a really great game. I took the plunge this month, so here is your review.

Kingsburg is a game in which players take on the roles of governors who must gather resources, construct buildings and protect their investment. Most of the elements of this are fairly abstract, this is a very Euro game and largely handled through an interesting take on the worker placement mechanic.

In Kingsburg, the game is broken down into 5 years, during which you have different seasons in which to act. Various events transpire but you are largely doing worker placement to gain resources and then constructing advantageous buildings all while scoring points. The worker placement mechanic is represented by 18 of members of the kings court (including the king and queen herself). During each season players will roll 3 (sometimes more) six sided dice and use those dice to purchase the favor of one or more of the members of the kings court. Doing so, earns you the benefit of that noblemen and of course as all worker placement games, blocks other players from claiming that spot.

For example if you roll a 3, 5 and 6, you could secure a higher member of the court for the full amount 14, or you could split the dice up and take several lower positions perhaps a 6 and 8 (3+5). The various buildings you construct during later phases can allow you to manipulate the dice results, there are ways to get additional dice and various other benefits all forming a pretty wide variety of strategies for this ultimately pretty simple worker placement game. There are other elements including raising armies to face the threat that comes at the end of each winter, ways to manipulate turn order and a few other little moving parts.

Ultimately though like most worker placement games it’s all about smart use of your workers, resource management and finding openings to score points since naturally the player with the most points at the end of the year wins the game.

I’ve got a few worker placement games under my belt now, including my favorite, Lords of Waterdeep. I really think Kingsburg stands out compared to most of the worker placement games I have played thanks to interesting inclusion of the dice into the mix, the many ways you manipulate the games positions and I in particular liked the fact that there was a lot more player interaction (which lacks in a lot of worker placement games). The board is really tight, in particular in a 4 or 5 player game so there is pretty stiff competition and the games are very clutch.

I’m not sure that the game did a particular great job of presenting the theme, though the theme itself is pretty vague. I think Kingsburg art helped it a great deal to make it aesthetically pleasing and the game board itself is incredibly functional with easy to read iconography.

I’m not entirely sure I can say I love Kingsburg, I think it’s a fine game, but it has not dethroned Lords of Waterdeep for me. It’s a pretty quick game and I like that and unlike Lords of Waterdeep, it plays quite well with just 3 players. My understanding is that the expansions is well worth getting though I’m not sure I like the base game enough to actually pick it up. I don’t have any particular beef with it, but like many Euro designs, Kingsburg lands in a kind of neutral area for me. It’s got a great spin on an already established mechanic, its production quality is high and I find it appeals a lot more to kids thanks to this art style and randomness of the dice mechanic. I think given the option I would still rather play Lords of Waterdeep but Kingsburg is not an altogether shabby alternative, though it certainly didn’t blow me away.