When it comes to discussing games that can be played with the family, there’s normally a hard-line between games for younger children and older children. Sandcastles of Burgundy, like many classics, cleverly bridges that gap with a fun, approachable theme and several play modes.
I often mention including house rules and variations when it comes to discussing board games, and that’s because of multiple reasons. For one, I have three children of varying ages with varying levels of interest, and, for two, I have a short attention span and often only read the rules once before we jump into playing. We also play some of these games with the kids, and then with our groups of friends; Who also have varying attention, experience and patience with board games. Simplicity, alternative game modes, or scaling can remove the need for house rules when all of these problems appear, and Sandcastles of Burgundy is a masterclass in all three.
Sandcastles of Burgundy is great for a whole bunch of reasons, which all come together to make it a great gateway, or breakthrough, game for new players. For a start, it’s incredibly tactile: Among its many pieces are six sandcastles that you hide tokens and characters under, there’s also a cart that it actively encourages you to (and who can refuse?) drive between your shop and your warehouse. Additionally, it’s incredibly bright, colourful and approachable; The ‘guildsmen’ are adorable animals and the Queen you’re attempting to appease is a cutesy crab.
There are two complexity-based modes available from the get-go, a simpler beginner mode where you simply claim resources based on your die rolls, move and then bring them back to your base (to open shops for the guildsmen). The more advanced version adds in updates based off your shops through crown tokens, as well as bringing the Queen Crab piece into play which rewards the crowns and also moves around the board.
Set up is the most complicated part of it all, with you placing tokens and guildsmen underneath the sandcastles, while giving the player three player-specific boards and dice and shops to match. The play, however, is incredibly intuitive and plays on memory mechanics, with players rolling dice and then spending them to do one of a few options. Initially, it’s always advisable to peek under a dice-matching sandcastle and take an applicable token (or attract a guildsman if they’ve finished the appropriate shop). Dice can also be used to transfer collected tokens from their warehouse to their shop.
The aim of Sandcastles of Burgundy is to appease the Queen Crab through accomplishing enough victory states; These are: Finishing a shop, recruiting a Guildsman or completing crown-token related tasks. It’s all fairly intuitive, and while the page-light manual has lots of visual elements, it’s also trying to describe two varieties of play and a two-player twist on it. That said, by the time we finished the first game, everything was straightforward enough that we could do it without needing the manual (until it came to the token-based unlocks).
If I had to name a negative beyond this, it would be that the hiding of things under the sandcastles is a fantastic gimmick, but it’s unclear if other players should be able to peek on your turn… and it is incredibly easy to peek.
Sandcastles of Burgundy is a phenomenal family game where a lot of consideration has been made for different, younger age groups. It’s aesthetically pleasing, tactile and stylish enough that it wouldn’t look out of place in an adult’s board game library.
Sandcastles of Burgundy is available now from Amazon.
Comments are closed.