Pillars of the Earth (2006)
Designer: Michael Rieneck, Stefan Stadler
Publisher: Mayfair Games, Kosmos
Players: 2-4 (expansion add 5-6)
Time: 120 minutes (+30 to 60 min)


Introduction:

Pillars of the Earth a game based on the Novel from Ken Follett an Oprah Book Club selection in 2007. Due to the fun I had in my first playing of this game we so passionately call PoE. After some of the reviews that I read of the game, here on BGG, and some of the book reviews I have started reading this future masterpiece.

Components:

Pillars of the Earth comes in a beautiful art covered box. This detail is carried on from the box to its contents. Inside the box you'll find a well written full color illustrated rule book, and the most gorgeous full color game board I have seen. Under that you will find a custom molded plastic tray that holds a pack of half-sized cards, cloth bag and lots of wooden cubes and brightly colored pawns and worker tokens. You'll also find six large wooden cathedral pieces that combine to make wooden model of the cathedral of Kingsbridge. The cathedral pieces only serve as a turn counter but they look very cool and they help reinforcing the game's theme. All of the components are top notch but the artwork on the game board is another reason to own this game.

Instructions:

The rules are well written. To play the game, you need only open the rule book and follow along. Start at the beginning, and continue to the end. The rules themselves state: New players do not have to read the entire rulebook before playing. Read the explanation for a phase, play the phase, and only then continue reading.
The above mentioned is true. Just follow the setup and then start playing. If you need help, see the section concerning the phase you are in and review rules. The rules are written in such a way that even a non-gamer can understand them.

Game Play:

At first Pillars of the Earth is a daunting mass of game pieces from the meeples to all the resource cubes and the amount of cards on and around the game board. But as you learn the game, it seems to have a quick learning curve. Pillars of the Earth is all about efficiency. Everyone starts with the same Craftsmen, all of which give you the ability to convert your resources into victory points. Through the course of the game you can hire new craftsmen that will let you convert your resources more efficiently.

There is a bit of down time as you prepare the board for the next round. Which is quickly followed by selecting your choice of materials or craftsmen. You place your workers on the material cards or spend your gold to hire a new and improved craftsman. After that you get to place your master builders. It is this mechanic that I really like, it is clever the way to choose whose Master Builder is brought out and it seems to be a quick and exciting way to do it. For me this aspect really built the level of suspense during the game. Once all the workers and Master Builders are placed all the actions are then activated and then resolved.


Conclusion:

In all I enjoyed this game. From the moment I opened the box to reading the rules I was enamored with Pillars of the Earth. The art is top notch, the components are of the highest quality and I feel that most will enjoy the game. Pillars of the Earth is a good game for the light gamer to the more hard core gamers. I feel that this game will easily become a favorite and stay there for some time.

Happy Gaming
Eric