Ravensburger Castles of Burgundy Board Game | Engaging Strategy Game for Ages 12 & Up | Ideal for Family Game Night | 20th Anniversary Alea Edition | Rule The Realm Experience with Model:26925

🎲 The Castles of Burgundy (2019) 🤓 Stefan Feld 🏭 alea . 📝Spark Notes: ⚡️Kingdom building in 15th century France ⚡️Tile placing, dice manipulation ⚡️Mine silver, sell cargo ⚡️Expand territories, create combos . 💼Brief Review: 🟢High replay-ability 🟢Exciting combinations 🟢Incredibly well-designed 🟢Simple yet solid mechanics 🟢Player-mat provides clear direction 🟢Good variety of options and strategy 🟢Workers can mitigate unwanted dice rolls 🟡The theme and art don’t feel special 🔴Iconography is tiny and requires frequent referencing . 📝Description: Players export goods and construct farms, mines, villages, and castles to expand their kingdoms. Each turn dice are rolled and players draft or place tiles with restrictions based on their roll results. Points are scored for completing territories, selling goods, tile abilities, and leftover resources. . 🎬Final Take: There’s a reason Castles of Burgundy continues to show up in “best games of all time” lists over the last 10 years—it’s such a fun and well-designed experience. Despite the randomness of dice, there’s enough options that allow you to take control and make meaningful decisions. A "bad roll" rarely exists, as there's always something productive you can do with each die value. Tile-placing games typically don’t excite me, but the variety and strategy available makes this one an exciting and rewarding experience, and it's become one of my favorite games. The alea 20th anniversary edition offers a more colorful aesthetic and loads of expansions, including solo and team play, and I strongly recommend this edition over the classic. If you like strategic puzzle-like games you may love Castles of Burgundy.

My partner and I decided to finally buy a copy after playing CoB so many times on Board Game Arena. Was a little worried at first after seeing the 1 - 3 star reviews from some people who already got their copy. I was pleasantly surprised to see the copy that arrived to be pristine and complete! The amazon box was well packed to prevent the CoB box from getting dented or damaged. All the components were complete and are of good quality. Sure there are some missprints here and there but overall very usable! You wont ever notice the missprints anyway when youre thinking about your next move. I saw a previous review where the back of the tiles had the circle design but noticed they werent on the copy we had. Not sure if the manufacurer decided to cut it out of production due to alignment issues or what but that makes it all the better for my partner and I. Post pandemic copies of the game seem to be better built and sorted out compared to the ones purchased from 2019 - 2022. So if youre thinking about buying a copy then I highly recommend this one. Note: My partner's cousin owns the special edition and though its leaps better than the 20th anniversary version, its just a bit too heavy and unweildy to bring around. This copy will be used when we meet up with friends and play in cafes or similar use cases. 10/10 would buy again

If you're reading this review to decide whether to get them game, yes, definitely do it. Its a classic for a reason. The premise seems super cringe (another European noble game?), but it doesnt matter. The gameplay is super fun, and its a perfect balance for a medium-lite heavy weight game. The restricted game play makes comboing up extra tile drafting or placement feel super satisfying. Also scoring is always a bit of a mystery until the end because of all the opportunities for end game points, so its always super competitive right up til the end even if it may seem like someone has a sizeable lead. Such a good blend of strategy and luck, plus the mechanics are fairly easy to pickup and the guides make it easy for folks like me who have terrible memories to keep track of what all the tiles do. We also recommend getting an organizer or custom insert for this game since it has many components. We have the Tower Rex one. We LOVE how it keeps everything, including all the expansion pieces,separate so setup is a snap. As for the quality from the seller, our copy did have a knick on the side seam of the box where it was likely cut with a box cutter after shipping. Other places usually sell this kind of copy as a dent and ding, even though the cut was small. Amazon did do a price adjustment for us to reflect that it was not in perfect condition (the cut will compromise the integrity of the box over the long term, but i can deal with taping it as that happens) which is enough for me to be satisfied. If we had wanted to return it for a refund, we were given that option, too. So if you NEED to have a pristine copy of a new game, know that they will take care of you if it isnt in mint condition when you receive it.

We have always played a lot of games over the years, and have continued to play more games over the past 3-4 year (even more with covid) and we knew we wanted to play the castles of burgundy. I had it in my cart for about 7 months, but saw one day that the price was reduced from $50 to $30 and I pulled the trigger. Let me explain each point: 1.) the anniversary edition has all expansions that were released for the game. 2.) the anniversary edition has new duchies and a new main board along with supplemental reference boards for new players. 3.) gameplay is excellent, you use 2 dice (which can be manipulated with workers to adjust die number and ask some special tiles can adjust number) to be able to take actions on on specific places. The die number dictates which area you can pick up tiles and in turn which areas of your duchy you can play a tile that you have previously collected from the board. This is a great metric. Each building played has some one time ability (gain workers, gain victory points, gain or play a tile, gain money, sell goods). Ships played allow you to collect goods from the depot (goods are deposited into each depot randomly by the first player rolling a white dice and putting the round’s good into the depot. The game ends after 5 phases. Each phase is 5 rounds (one round is one roll of the dice. You get points by completing areas (covering the duchy colored area completely), and you get more bonus points the earlier in the game that you complete them. The game is rated #15 on Board game geek and it is a 10 year old game. I highly recommend this game to anyone. It is a medium weight euro style game with action selection and basically tile drafting.

I rate this game 4/5, because while the game is good, the components could have been nicer, especially for an anniversary edition. The game consists of flimsy player boards, a lot of cardboard chits, and a rulebook. I could be very wrong, but I've paid less for more in other games. They also didn't spend money developing the game for this new production run, because it's already been developed. I guess if you consider the time you would have to spend to find all the expansions included in this edition, it's worth it...though the publisher has access to all that. So that's not really a production cost, but a cost of convenience. I just recently started expanding my board game collection. It started with Pandemic and The Little Prince...then 80 games later, I decided to try out Castles of Burgundy. I actually never played this game; I have only seen play-throughs of it online. There are two versions to chose from: the classic, bland version, and this newer, colorful version. This version has all the modules/expansions. But would that even matter to me if I end up not liking the game? I wasn't sure. I figured if enough people like the game it probably is a good game. A friend of mine also recently learned it and he liked it. He's in my game group, so at least one person would like the game! I got an Amazon warehouse deal on it, so I knew the box was going to be damaged. I HAD A WRETCHED TIME ENSURING ALL THE PIECES WERE THERE, but everything was fine. I wish the manual had pictures of the pieces so I could do a full account of the pieces. I ended up figuring it all out, but that was 1-2 hours of my life. I find it an interesting challenge to play the game just from reading the rules and not watching a video. I was frustrated more than once and I would put down the rulebook and do something else. This is where, "I didn't know what I was getting into." I thought this was going to be an easy game to pick up and learn in 10 minutes. I reread certain parts and was confused by the wording and I would need to read ahead to make sense of what was going on. I might have made a few mistakes, but I was able to learn the game and played the solo version just from reading the rules. I would like to add, that if you're going to try it solo the first time - read through the whole page. The solo goal is different. COULD THE RULEBOOK BE IMPROVED? Yes. The actions and set-up is NOT complicated, but the rulebook lacked diagrams I KNEW there was a goose tile because I had done the full accounting of all the tiles beforehand. If I hadn't done that and if I had played the tile, I might have just assumed it was like any other pasture tile - so it might be helpful to skim through the different tiles before playing if it's your first time. The player boards are flimsy cardboard and I can see that wearing out within the year. I wish it was nicer, especially since this is the 25th anniversary edition - there are tons of other games and they have way nicer player boards. The rulebook I know is going to get beat up and I wish that was nicer too, though it is on par with most board games. I have yet to play the game with other people and I expect the game will be a lot different. My current opinion of the game is that it's O.K. It's interesting that there is a lot of diversity in the tiles and each tile has a translation of what it means in the rulebook. There is a little bit of theme...in that you can't explore other areas unless you go by river, or you collect goods when you have a ship. Other than that, there isn't much theme to it. Super short summary of gameplay: One person rolls a white die that determines where a goods crate goes. Then in turn order, you roll two die. Then you have actions you can do based on the number on the die: pick up a tile, or place a tile from your storage area. Else, regardless of the number, you can spend the die to get workers or sell crates. You are limited by which tiles you can place, because you can only place tiles contiguous to each other and you are further limited, because you can only place tiles based on the number. I have lots of game at home and I probably would play those games first before playing Castles of Burgundy. I don't mind owning it, however. It is a "thinkier" game, lacks theme, takes more time, and has a lot of little pieces to set up. Set-up requires shuffling the tiles and put them face down, so there is a lot more set-up involved than I would like. Overall, I currently would rate this game a 7/10.

Such a fun board game! Great for 2 players too! Easy to pick up and play and offers great variety since each game is a little different every time! Game quality is super good same with the game pieces.

Just as great as the original (and quite possibly even better due to some balancing changes), I don't get the hate the new graphic design gets (icons on the yellow tiles are indeed a bit too small, but they are more intuitive now) - personally I think the game looks way more inviting. I love the trade routes expansion, it makes the least exciting part of the base game much more interesting! With a bunch of expansions added I bump my rating to 5 stars, those little twists on the base game mechanisms have reignited my love for the game once more. And I really like some balancing changes to the tiles and the new rules for the old "Monastery boards". For me this is a definitive edition of The Castles of Burgundy. A wonderful design and a quintessential medium-weight euro game. This game just always feels good to play and deserves my top rating.

It’s no wonder this game shows up on so many top board game lists — it absolutely lives up to the reputation. The gameplay is unique but easy to understand once you get going, and it strikes that perfect balance of being strategic without feeling overwhelming. It instantly became a personal favorite. If you enjoy games with a bit of planning and plenty of satisfying decisions, this one's a keeper.

Es juego excelente. Con mecánicas diversas que permiten crear estrategias distintas. Una rejugabilidad muy buena y trae consigo una pequeña expansión y modo solitario que le da unas opciones de nuevas formas de jugar vs el clásico.

Best game ever!! the box is absolutely perfect!

Suveränt brädspel till ett bra pris!

A true classic, The Castles of Burgundy delivers some of the most magnificent dice play in board gaming. Every roll becomes a strategic decision, with plenty of ways to manipulate your fate. The game is full of sweet combos—place a tile, trigger bonuses, and watch your turn snowball into something beautiful. You’ll constantly compete for the best tiles in the shared market, where timing and turn order are everything. With endless replayability, fast turns, and deep strategy, this timeless Euro continues to shine. It’s a must-own for fans of clever, satisfying gameplay.

Castles of Burgundy is one of the most famous "Euro" style board games, published in 2011 and widely praised. In 2019, this new edition came out and it basically includes the base game plus eight expansions, seven of which were previously released as promotional items and one new to this release. So basically you get the same game but with more variety through new player boards. There is no reason to buy the original edition over this one - if you're interested in this game, either buy this 2019 edition or wait for a future edition (there is one planned for 2023). What is this game all about? The Castles of Burgundy is set in the Burgundy region of High Medieval France and each player is an aristocrat looking to expand their kingdom through building castles, trading along the river, exploring silver mines, etc. In a turn, each player rolls two dice and uses the results, which can be manipulated with the aid of workers, to get tiles from a common board and then eventually placing them onto their kingdom. Placing tiles gives you bonuses and allows players to chain combinations, while also awarding Victory Points. The game is played over a fixed number of rounds (25 total) and, at the end, the player with the most VPs is the winner. Positives: + Easy to learn but with good depth + Ideal to start non boardgamers into the hobby + Variability with the new player boards and two games never play the same also because of random tile placement + Allows 1-4 players + Great value for money, the game is surprisingly cheap compared to other board games Negatives: - The kingdom boards are extremely flimsy. This is something that hasn't been changed from the 2019 edition and I understand this is meant to keep both the price and the box size down. - Plays best with lower player count, wouldn't recommend it with 4 players - Diehard board gamers might not enjoy the dice mechanic Highly recommended!