Castles of Burgundy (20th Anniversary)

I have never played the previous editions so only commenting on this one. There are ten expansions included with the trade routes and the shields being really impactful on the game (white castles, inns, etc., are nice, but did not seem as vital). The production quality is very good, BUT, and this is absolute accurate what other reviewers are writing: these components are just too small. On the yellow tiles (entitled Monastary) have symbols, art work, and a number which is WAY too much on items this small. The numbers are actually tough to read if you are getting up their in age! A silly issue is that the turn marker (a bridge looking item) is on one side of the board only rather than the middle (understand black tiles go there) which is a reach depending on how many players/where you are sitting. Since you have to do five rounds each turn and moving your cylinder. Nit picking again, but the worker tiles are square while the area on the player board is round (money and the player area are round....that matches so why not the workers?). Finally, the player aide we found to be of limited value as questions still required the manual (and on those monastary tiles, there is 26 or so of them, each with a different power so we kept having to read and look in the manual). Production issues, aside, the game is fun, a really good challenge, and for two players, a game took us about 2 1/2 hours (slower than the box - but were old!). There is a lot of game boards in the box with a variety of layouts so that is a lot of fun and the game is definitely a classic that is worth your time to learn and play! The price point at Miniature Market is easy on the wallet! Definitely not the super gorgeous and pricey version, but the game is great with the production items the only detractor.

The good: Including expansions is nice. You can add what you want to change up the gameplay. The artwork is better and more intuitive; especially on the main board. The meh: Player boards are still very thin Icons on tiles are very small. Hard to tell what each building does without referring to the rulebook Overall this is an improvement over the original, but I do wish they would have improved the components rather than focusing on just throwing in the expansions.

I love that this game can be played with just 2 players - love the bonus tiles and different options for gameplay based on the board you choose. The only downside is the print on the tiles is very small - so you need to quickly learn the tiles by looking in the book and viewing the tile images - so you can quickly then play the game knowing what the tile's benefits are.

Haven't played it but I'm very intrigued to have a dice/tile placement game. Component quality is Ravensburger expected, not too cheap not too great. Some of the punch out cardboard tokens are misaligned but it's not a big deal. I don't understand the reason to give you 6 different manuals, one for each language. It's excessive bulkiness. I think this is a game we will enjoy