In the non-solo game, when you run out of workers, you have to spend your action to reclaim just one. Included inside every copy of the Collector's Box is a promo card set which adds 4 Adornment Cards, 3 Building Cards, 6 Apprentice Cards, and 1 Contribution/Consequence Card. You just score points like in a normal game (cathedral progress, building points, virtue track position, petty cash for leftover resources, and minus points for unpaid debts). While the game is the lightest of the West Kingdom trilogy, it does offer a decent challenge (more on that later).

Architects of the West Kingdom takes a typical Eurogame and gives it a shot of red-blooded Americana. Set roughly 50 years before Paladins, Architects of the West Kingdom puts you in the role of a royal architect. I love how the game is incredibly simple and quick to play, with a five-player game taking just as long as a two-player game. There are parts of the game where you might feel like a dog chewing on an expensive but delicious pair of shoes. If you have multiple workers and pay multiple coins, you can choose multiple groups, but they must all be from the same single board location.

If you choose to build part of the Cathedral, pay the costs for the next step as shown on the board and then move your marker into a free space at that level.

A worker sent to build allows the player to work either on the Cathedral or build one of their own building plans, giving them either an instantaneous effect or another way to score points or virtue at game’s end, as well as an amount of VP for building it. However, once players start having enough things to build cards and Cathedral sections, you’ll find that the end game can really sneak up fast on you. The crux of a turn in Architects sees you place one of your workers onto the board at one of the locations.When you first start playing, it feels great to have all these workers available right from the start.

In a world where we have Codenames Disney and Marvel Splendor, I felt somewhat downhearted at what was happening before me. As royal architects, players compete to impress their King and maintain their noble status by constructing various landmarks throughout his newly appointed domain.The exponential power growth as you place workers allows you to plan ahead, and the limited blocking of spaces means most actions are constantly available to be taken advantage of. The game also came with a way to take back workers and with a clever mechanism of both timing and push-your-luck, which Architects also has.