“The Carolingian Empire, circa 850 AD. As royal architects, you compete to impress the King and maintain your noble status by constructing various landmarks throughout his newly appointed domain. However, these are treacherous times, and rival architects will stop at nothing to slow your progress. Will you remain virtuous, or be found in the company of thieves and black marketeers?” -Architects of the West Kingdom

Architects of the West Kingdom (Architects for short) is the first in a trilogy of games by Shem Phillips and S.J. MacDonald, published by Garphil Games and Renegade Game Studios.  In this, you are architects seeking to build a glorious cathedral and other grand buildings for the glory of the King of the Carolingian Empire, which existed in Western and central Europe from 800 AD to about 888 AD, and was the precursor to the Holy Roman Empire. This game takes place near the start of that period, where the empire was vastly increasing its land holdings, which would eventually spread from northern Spain to what is now northern Germany. 

                But enough of the history lesson, you’re clearly here for the game! Architects is, at its core, a worker placement game, with aspects of resource management and city building. Unlike some worker placement games you might have played however; where most worker placement games give you a small pool of workers to start the game with, in Architects, you start with a MASSIVE pool of twenty workers! 

When I first played Architects, this is definitely the thing that pulled me in.  Worker placement is my go-to mechanic, and I love the idea of having a lot of workers to work with.  Too often, you have only five people to use before it’s the end of the round and there are no other good options left, and you can only get more workers by spending valuable workers and resources to get more! In Architects, you don’t have to worry about getting more, because you already HAVE more! Once these workers are out on the board, they will allow you to increase the resources you get from certain spaces on the board.  Tired of only getting one wood from the forest? Have two workers there and you can get two! Want more than just bricks from the mines? Or lots of bricks? Send more workers there to get gold!

Because there are no traditional ‘rounds’ in Architects, (you keep playing turn by turn until the end game condition is triggered) you might wonder how you get your precious workers back to use them again.  Getting those workers back is the other mechanic that makes Architects different from a traditional worker placement game.  When you run low on workers, you can assign a worker to the Town Hall space to get all your workers back from a spot on the board. But, that’s not all.  That space also allows you to capture workers of another player and add them to your player board to sell to the prison for ransom! 

Interestingly, this has a historical precedent. (I know! More history but bear with me!) At the time, it was common for persons who held fealty to another lord to be held for ransom.  These people were usually well treated, (who wants a war? Those are expensive!) and was a part of the politics of the time.  And, after you sell your captives to the guardhouse, other players can come by to pick them up anytime (for a small fee of course).

There are many more mechanics in this game, but this is just a small taste of what makes Architects great.  If you have played any other games by Shem Phillips, like the ‘Of the North Sea’ series, you will surely enjoy these games as well.  The sequel to Architects, Paladins of the West Kingdom, is available now, and is a great game in its own right, although slightly less exciting to me than Architects.  The third in the series, Viscounts of the West Kingdom, will be coming to Kickstarter in March.  All of these games have great artwork and intuitive design, and would be a great addition to anyone’s collection.  However, if you can only have one, I would wholeheartedly suggest you make it Architects of the West Kingdom.  Many people don’t like worker placement games because they can feel stale and boring if you’re only doing the same few actions every turn because you can’t seem to get the spaces you really want. Architects solves that problem, by allowing for more open areas that multiple workers can go to, and allows for the removal of other workers in a non-mean-spirited way.  If worker placement is your jam (like me!) you should definitely consider Architects of the West Kingdom.