Proving your worth can be quite the task for a new adventuring guild, but you look like you’re up for a challenge! You’ll need to recruit new adventurers for your contract work, in order to better reap your rewards. You’ll also, of course, have to build useful upgrades to your guild hall. the better you are at your adventures, the more fame you’ll earn to help your guild go down in history!


What Is It?

A fantasy board game for 2-4 Guild Masters who are building and managing an adventuring guild, and competing to have the most fame. The game takes a myriad of mechanics and features including hidden action planning, negotiation, bidding, dice rolling, take that, variable player powers, and more, and weaves them together really well.

Each round players first plan their orders behind their guild screens, choosing what their adventurers will do in the round. Adventurers can buy builders or hire new adventurers, both of which earn the guild fame, or they can attempt contracts to earn them both fame and gold. Throughout these actions, guild masters may also be negotiating with one another on contracts they’re trying to do at the same time, or maybe making promises or alliances for future rounds… After 9 rounds, the guild with the most fame wins!


Who Is It For?

  • Fans of fantasy theme, because it does it well
  • Fans of hidden planning and having those “big reveals” so to speak where you find out all at once who did what and if people were true to what they said they’d do
  • You don’t have to negotiate in any game, but if you have a group that enjoys negotiation, it can make things a little more interesting at times
  • Ages 13+. There’s a lot going on/a lot of options, so maybe a bit much for younger players
  • Players who enjoy having a lot of options round to round, and don’t mind planning ahead for the whole round

Components + Quality

The main board is laid out nicely, easy to navigate, everything is well labeled. All the player boards are simple and thin, but fine for what you’re doing on them. Guild screens are a nice size, very study, and don’t just fall over. They have an insane amount of reference on the inside of them, which is a bit overwhelming, but it’s easier to reference once you know the rules.

The cards and the cardboard pieces (upgrades, gold, fame trackers, etc) are all pretty average quality, no complaints. The dice are very nice, translucent dice. I don’t really know why they came in multiple colors, but that’s not a big deal, they’re great. The guild ribbons are a cute addition to make it easy to tell when players are ready, nice quality ribbons.

The art is gorgeous across the board on the components, and really draws me into the world the game is creating. The rules were okay, I was able to learn from them fine, but they were organized a bit weird to me, and didn’t have a great flow, so it was a slow read. Finally, the box is a great size, and everything fits in it well!


PROS

  • Aesthetically appealing
  • Theme is well done
  • Simultaneous action planning
  • Rounds flow pretty quickly
  • Plenty of variability + multiple paths to victory
  • Plenty of player interaction and you don’t completely miss out if someone gets to what you want before you

CONS

  • Rules aren’t my favorite; aren’t super easy to reference
  • No compensation for failing a contract
  • Some Prestige Upgrades seem much easier than others

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed this game! I thought it had so much to offer that I could see it being enjoyed by a wide range of gamers who like all different mechanics, as long as you like a good fantasy theme.

I understood thematically why players didn’t get anything when failing a contract, but it just seemed to set players back so much just because they had a bad roll they couldn’t manipulate enough. I thought it would be nice to let players wander with the roll, even if it was only for gold and no fame, just so they could get a little something. I also thought that some Prestige Upgrades were easier than others, but worth just as many, if not more, end game points, so it seemed odd why you wouldn’t choose them first every time.

Other than that, I don’t really have any complaints. I thought the game was super interesting and I felt invested in every turn. There are so many options every turn and every round, it can definitely feel like a lot, but it also means that no matter what you do, you’re generally making progress. Again, bad rolls can really hurt, so make sure you have a good chance at contracts before attempting them. Overall, highly recommend this one!

My Final Ratings:
Overall Game – 8/10
Aesthetics – 8/10
Difficulty – 5/10
Replay Value – 7/10

Additional Information:
Designer – Chris Antony
Artists – Andrew Bosley, Aleksandar Mihajlovic, Yamandú Daniel Orce
Publisher – Good Games Publishing
MSRP – $49.99
BGG
BGA
Website

*I was provided a copy of this game to do this review*

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