Episode 170: Paladins of the West Kingdom

Paladins of the West Kingdom is a 2019 worker placement game published by Renegade Game Studios, designed by Shem Phillips and S J Macdonald, with art by Mihajlo Dimitrievski. It represents a culmination of sorts of the “West Kingdom” and “North Sea” games, with some art and mechanics lifted from those titles and carried into Paladins.

At the start of the game, a card will be drawn and placed along a track for each of the game’s seven rounds. These cards will track the game progress and offer additional scoring opportunities and action spaces as the game progresses.

Much of the action takes place on the player’s personal board. Here, they will place workers, unlock certain areas by removing tokens from here to place on a central board, and manage a track recording their Faith, Strength, and Influence. They will also place certain cards here that may be obtained from the central game board. In all cases, the more a player advances down a certain track by removing buildings, the more their opportunity to score – assuming they have removed enough building to unlock the scoring for that area. Moving up the attribute track can also unlock big points if managed well.

Most of the scoring areas on the board also have a relationship to the player’s attribute track in that taking the action will often require a minimum value in one attribute, and when completed will increase the value of a different attribute.

On a player’s turn, they will draw three cards from their 12 card Paladin deck. Each card will grant the player some combination of colors of two different workers, a temporary bonus to one of their attributes, and a special power that generally reduces or eliminates the costs of certain actions. They will select one paladin to be played this round, one to be placed at the top of the deck to be drawn next round, and one to be placed at the bottom of the deck to be drawn in a future round. After all players have selected, paladins are revealed and, in turn order, players will then select from the available Tavern cards. Each tavern card provides four workers of a various combination of colors.

When all players have selected their cards and collected their workers, starting with the first player each then take one action by placing the appropriate number and color of workers in a space on their board. These will advance the various action areas as mentioned earlier, but also generate resources, free up previously used action spaces, and more.

While most of the activity takes place on the player’s board, several items interact in key ways with the main game board. Some tokens will be moved from the player board to here in space-limited areas, so players will compete for the opportunity to claim certain bonuses and unlock the areas on their boards. Players will also be able to access Fortification cards that will increase their strength and give some bonuses, and Villager or Outsider cards that can be claimed in one way for an instant bonus, or in a different way for on ongoing benefit – an action bonus in the case of villager, or additional end-game scoring in the case of Outsiders.

Finally, players may also acquire Debts from certain actions, which will penalize them at the end of the game if not paid off, and collect Suspicion when claiming a purple, or Criminal, worker, which serves as a powerful wild worker when placed. Suspicion cards give the player some coins but also run the risk of triggering an Inquisition, which will assign the most suspicious player a debt card.

As mentioned, the game plays over seven rounds, at which point final scores are tallied and the winner determined.

01:38:08 – Review

02:01:40 – Ratings

ReRoll

02:09:01 – Treasure Island * [Buy] – Matagot; Designer: Marc Paquien; Art: Vincent Dutrait;

Check out our original review for Treasure Island during Episode 144.

Gameplay Photos

* Disclosure: These titles were received free of charge by the publishers or distributors. If you are interested in submitting a title for review, please read our Review Policy.

Show Notes

Banter

Plays

News

REVIEW: Paladins of the West Kindgom * [Buy]

ReRoll

Gameplay Photos

Episode 303: Tag Team

Episode 302: Shackleton Base

Major Announcement

REVIEW : Paladins of the West Kindgom * [Buy]