Renegade Game Studio RGS02033 Paladins of the West Kingdom, Mixed Colours

Product Information

The actions are split into two rows of three.To carry out each action requires a certain score in one of the three attributes.There also might be a resource cost to pay.When you carry out an action you will get rewarded with an increase in a different attribute.The top and bottom actions in a column are linked. For example, the top may require influence of a certain level and reward you with strength; whilst the bottom action requires a number of strength, and rewards you with influence. Converting uses the player’s Faith attribute. So impressed by your piety, these Outsiders decide to join you, bringing their end-game scoring benefits along with them (such as scoring victory points for each defeated Outsider of a specific type). In his great wisdom, the King has sent his finest knights to help aid in our efforts. So ready the horses and sharpen the swords. The Paladins are approaching. If I had a complaint about Paladins, it’s that after maybe 10 plays or so, you may find it getting a bit same-y in terms of the actions you’re doing. If that’s the case for you, I can highly recommend including the City of Crowns expansion, as this adds in a new attribute and more actions for you to get your teeth into. The expansion itself has a 4.17 weight ranking on Board Game Geek, as opposed to the 3.71 of the base game, but it’s still a really good expansion.

And yes, if you are looking for a thematic game Paladins is not it. Whilst the theme is cool, ultimately, the game just boils down to a puzzle.As with many euro-style games, moving a red or blue marker isn’t hugely thematic.But that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment or the immersion of the game. I might not be immersed in a medieval theme, but I definitely do find myself getting lost in the enjoyment of the puzzle the game presents. Before you even begin a round in Paladins of the West Kingdom, you are faced with decisions that will determine how your round will play out. Many of the worker placement spots on your own personal board will require certain colours of workers, and you draft from a selection of cards to decide which coloured workers you will receive. You will need to look at which workers are available, and from that try to establish which actions you’re going to be able to perform with them. Of course, there are ways to mitigate the restrictions. Purple workers are wild, so they can be placed anywhere. There are also plenty of actions you can take which will allow you to gain more workers, potentially giving you the right colour at exactly the right moment.

It’s Adventure Time

During the expansion, players can choose to hire workers to build the city’s five wonders, whilst ensuring that they gather enough approval from the princess to have her survey the monuments herself. Alternatively, players can decide to gain Profiteer tokens, should they want to seek support from the secretive individual. The expansion will also feature a solo board game mode that includes six possible opponents for players to compete against.

In addition to the workers, each paladin also brings some unique attributes to the table. Firstly, each paladin provides a temporary boost to one or two different attributes. Secondly, each paladin has a special ability. Consider Gerin, for instance. This paladin rewards the player with a white and a blue worker for the round as well as +4 to their Influence attribute. His ability reads: “Conspiring earns 2 silver”. So, your paladin selection will largely influence which actions you’ll want to perform that round and this will most likely have a large effect on which Tavern card you draft from the selection. The only thing about the game that feels a bit off to me are the jars. From a thematic, story-driven standpoint every other element of Paladins makes sense. But I can’t wrap my mind around the jars. I like what they bring to the game mechanically, but they feel a bit out of place thematically. Are they jars of anointing oil? Jugs of wine? I just don’t get it.Each round, players will enlist the help of a specific Paladin and gather workers to carry out tasks. As the game progresses, players will slowly increase their faith, strength and influence. Very rarely in my board gaming journey, have I found a game that I have fallen for by turn three.Yes, this might be a spoiler for the rest of my review, but Paladins is such a game for me! The Paladins Approach Four more meeples are received based on drafting cards - there’s always one more card than the number of players so everyone gets at least some choice. Players then take turns assigning workers to take action on spaces on their board until they run out of resources or decide to pass, with the chance to save up to three workers for the next round. There’s a dizzying amount of options including gathering basic resources like silver and provisions, and more involved developments that require more resources and higher values as you focus on them. The game takes place over the course of seven turns and you’ll earn additional victory points for performing the same actions five to seven times. The aim of Paladins of the West Kingdom is to be the player with the most victory points (VP) at game's end. Points are gained by building outposts and fortifications, commissioning monks and confronting outsiders.

Arriving at Nashville Game Night, I ran into another couple of friends, Scott and Piotrek, and they agreed to join us for a game of Paladins at the full four player contingent. So we sat down, eager to play. We got started a little late as it was the night of the annual Nashville Game Night flea market and Eric was away from the table doing some shopping. When he returned, we rolled up our collective sleeves and got to work. After 7 rounds have completed, you will score the same way for your AI opponent as you do for yourself. Most points wins! Final Thoughts The workers gained in each of the game’s seven rounds will be used to construct forts, spread faith, interact with outsiders, and wage war (among other things). As the player’s reach widens, so too do their ways of accumulating victory points, which is the ultimate goal. And, boy, are there a lot of ways to get them. Paladins of the West Kingdom is set at a turbulent time of West Francia's story, circa 900 AD. Despite recent efforts to develop the city, outlying townships are still under threat from outsiders.One word of warning would be that this game can induce analysis paralysis. Because you are trying to optimise your turns, and chain things together, it can take a little time to plan your moves. Especially the first few times you play the game, the number of choices can seem overwhelming.I do think that if you focus and specialise a little more the game does seem a little easier.Although, of course, some analysis paralysis will remain given the nature of the game. I love the solo mode, as it works really well to learn the game, and it eliminates the pain of the analysis paralysis that you may find with newer players. The AI character you have to control is every minimal in comparison to some games, and I think it’s fairly intuitive after a few rounds.