Architects of the West Kingdom
Architects of the West Kingdom is set at the end of the Carolingian Empire, circa 850 AD. As royal architects, players compete to impress their King and maintain their noble status by constructing various landmarks throughout his newly appointed domain. Players need to collect raw materials, hire apprentices, and keep a watchful eye on their workforce. 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?
The aim of Architects of the West Kingdom is to be the player with the most victory points (VP) at game's end. Points are gained by constructing various buildings and advancing work on the Archbishop's cathedral. Throughout the game, players need to make a lot of moral decisions. However, only at game's end will their virtue be judged. A few underhanded deals here and there might not seem like much, but fall too far and you will be punished. The game ends once a set number of constructions have been completed.
Number of players: 2 - 5
Game duration: 30 mn
Complexity: 3 / 5
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Play Architects of the West Kingdom and 943 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
The Board Game Arena implementation has two expansion rules turned on. The publishers feel these are minor additions that make for a better gameplay experience.
- Players will get to draft one starting apprentice in reverse turn order (Page 3 of Age of Artisans rulebook).
- When placing a Worker on the 3rd slot in the first 3 rows of the Guildhall, discard both Apprentices in the left-most column on the Main Board and refill the empty spaces as normal. Any Silver on discarded Apprentice Cards will be returned to the Supply (Page 4 of Age of Artisans rulebook).
Locations
During the game players can play to several locations on the board
Resource locations
Mines: 1 clay per worker here, or 1 gold per 2 workers here
Quarry: 1 stone per worker here
Forest: 1 wood per worker here
Silversmith: 1 coin per worker here, plus 1 coin
Black Market locations
(Note these are separate actions, and each can only hold one worker of any player, until black market reset)
Lose 1 Virtue + 1 Coin : Small market bonus
Lose 1 Virtue + 2 Coins : Hire an apprentice for free, or look at 5 buildings and draw one
Lose 1 Virtue + 3 Coins : Large market bonus
Guardhouse actions
Put workers in the guardhouse, gaining 1 coin per worker
Retrieve your workers from the guardhouse (for free)
Pay 5 money (2 of it tax) to retrieve all captured workers from opponents
Pay 6 money (3 of it tax) to pay off a debt
Kings Storehouse actions
Players can take one action per worker they have here, including any actions they have from apprentices
2 (Brick/Wood/Stone) to gain 1 Virtue
3 (Wood/Stone) to gain 1 marble
Workhouse actions
Players can either hire an apprentice or draw from the building deck
Buy an apprentice from the left column for 4 money (2 of it tax) -- or columns further in either market row with multiple workers or by putting 1 coin on skipped apprentices
Draw from the building deck, plus an additional card for every 2 workers here
Tax Stand actions
Players can lose 2 Virtue at the tax stand to take all the coins there (coins paid as tax)
Guildhall actions
Players can spend a worker to build a building, or build an available stage of the Cathedral.
To build a building, pay its cost (ensuring you have symbols needed on apprentices) and gain any immediate benefit
To build an available Cathedral stage, pay the corresponding resources and an unused building card, gaining the next bonus card (or just 1 virtue)
Workers spent in either way go in a row to the left of the cathedral.
Town Center actions
Players can capture a player's workers from a specific location paying 1 tax. If the player has have multiple workers in the Town Center, they can capture multiple players' workers in that location, paying 1 coin per set of workers, but still only a tax of 1 coin overall. (in a 2 or 3 player game, each group can be from a different location.)
Captured workers go on your player board, and may be turned in or retrieved at the guardhouse. (Note if you capture your own workers, they go back to your supply)
Virtue Track
The virtue track keeps track of how virtuous the players are, and gives points at game end. During the game, players can gain or lose virtue, with some possible side effects:
- Players with 14 virtue, upon gaining virtue, may destroy a debt by returning it (is not a paid debt)
- Players with 10 or more virtue may not take Black Market actions
- Players with 4 or less virtue may not build Cathedral stages
- Players with 3 or less virtue pay less tax money
- Players with 0 virtue must take an unpaid debt per virtue lost
Note these trigger based on the player's current virtue, regardless of where they may have been previously.
Resetting the board
Except for the black market, the board does not get reset during the game -- workers have to be captured or retrieved at the guard house to be retrieved.
The black market reset happens:
- When a row of workers is complete (next to the cathedral)
- When all 3 black market actions are taken
To reset the black market:
- Send black market workers to prison
- The small market and large market bonus each change
- Any apprentices with black market reset abilities trigger their abilities in any order
- Players with 3 or more workers in prison lose a Virtue
- Any player with the most workers in prison get an unpaid debt card
Scoring
The game ends when the last worker row (next to the cathedral) is full. All players get an additional turn (including the player that triggered end game). Players score their points from each source
- Built buildings
- Built Cathedral stages
- Ending Virtue track position
- Gold/Marble (1 for each)
- Coins (1 for each 10 coins)
- Unpaid debt (-2 for each)
- Unreleased workers (-1 for each pair)
Most points wins, with virtue and remaining coins as tiebreakers