Episode 295: Luthier

Luthier

Rules Gist

Luthier is designed by: Dave Beck and Abe Burson

Art by: Vincent Dutrait, Guillaume Tavernier

Plays: 1-4 players in 90-150min

Luthier is a rich, thematic eurogame where you and your rivals are master instrument makers in classical Europe — building violins, flutes, and harpsichords for the great composers and noble patrons of the day. Over six rounds, you’ll balance craftsmanship, performance, and reputation to earn the most prestige. During setup, each player chooses a luthier family with unique starting resources and abilities, plus personal goal cards that provide endgame prestige based on achievements like completing patrons, finishing instruments, or claiming First Chairs. Each player has a set of numbered worker chips 1-5 representing family members of varying skill; and an individual player board where they store their resources.

Each round begins with the Planning Phase, where players secretly assign worker chips one at a time in turn order to different parts of the city, I’ll get to those in a second. Then, in the Resolution Phase, in turn order players will choose which locations to activate, and players reveal their workers to take actions — with the highest skilled worker getting to go first. Apprentices can boost a worker’s skill temporarily, letting you edge out rivals for key actions.The action locations in the city are— the Salon to gain new patrons,Patron cards represent the nobles, composers, and performers who commission your work — each one comes with specific demands, a patience track that rewards you as long as they’re satisfied, and powerful lifetime bonuses once their requirements are fully met. You can go to the Guild to collect instrument blueprints that you will place in your workbench, the Market to buy or sell materials and hire apprentices, At the Performance Hall, players roll performance dice to see how welltheir concert goes — higher scores earn money, prestige, and the chance to place performance tokens in the Orchestra, which can also help fulfill patron requests tied to specific musical eras., and the Balcony players can score public awards, gain money or apprentices, advance on the Reputation Track, and set turn order for the next round..

On your personal workbench board there are two actions, you’ll rough out and then finish instruments, spending resources like animal hide, wood, and metal. Finishing an instrument earns you prestige and places your token in the Orchestra, where you can claim “First Chair” bonuses like extra money, inspiration, or materials — or even bump another player out of that coveted spot.

As you work, you can also advance along three skill tracks — Craft, Performance, and Reputation — unlocking powerful bonuses, new abilities, and access to higher-tier cards.

After six rounds, Luthier ends. You’ll earn additional prestige for completed patrons, personal goals, specialty workers which are unlocked on the skill tracks, orchestra positions, and leftover wealth. The player with the most prestige is crowned the true Master Luthier —now let’s head back over to the studio to see which PEG is the builder of the finest instruments in all of Europe