The Pillars of the Earth | BoardGameGeek

New Image for The Pillars of the Earth

fangorrn — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:46:22 +0000

by fangorrn

"The Pillars of the Earth" in the july sun.

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New Image for The Pillars of the Earth

fangorrn — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:37:14 +0000

by fangorrn

We place the meeples on the resource cards. They last longer that way.

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New Image for The Pillars of the Earth

fangorrn — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:35:23 +0000

by fangorrn

The Market

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Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

Ponton — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:35:18 +0000

by Ponton

It's already out.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

grandslam — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:59:37 +0000

by grandslam

Just to add to the mix, there is also a Kosmos 2-player Pillars of the Earth game coming (out in Europe - Mayfair(?) in the US?)
Die Säulen Der Erde: Duell der Baumeister

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

bigtex01 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:56:38 +0000

by bigtex01

Wow, I thought just the opposite. I thought the expansion really opened up the base game and made it a lot more enjoyable. To each their own.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

DavidT — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:14:26 +0000

by DavidT

krokodiler wrote:
Nebenerwerbsbauer wrote:
not an expansion ,this will be a standalone game(...)

Too bad it is not regular expansion! It would be nice to play this great game with some new cards and a new board...

I dunno. I thought the last expansion for Pillars was a complete waste of time, so I'd rather see a brand new game.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

Ponton — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:26:56 +0000

by Ponton

Yes, this will be a stand-alone game for the sequel of Follet's "Pillars" that came out last year or so ("World without End"). Players will engage in many areas: building, trading, science and medicine. Seems like it'll be another worker placement game.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

gciscell — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:18:55 +0000

by gciscell

So it looks like it will be released under the Kosmos imprint - are all of the Kosmos games 2 player?

File: The Pillars of the Earth::

MVDZIGN — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:04:09 +0000

by MVDZIGN

for Board Game: The Pillars of the Earth ]]>

New Image for The Pillars of the Earth

MVDZIGN — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:03:47 +0000

by MVDZIGN

My version of Frank Strauss's Image file

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New Image for The Pillars of the Earth

Toynan — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:32:40 +0000

by Toynan

German promo card

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New Image for The Pillars of the Earth

MVDZIGN — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:52:36 +0000

by MVDZIGN

My painted cathedral | Frank Strauss's file with different images.

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Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Boards

sigtaulefty — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:19:08 +0000

by sigtaulefty

mvettemagred wrote:
The board looks even better when paired with the expansion board. Simply amazing work.

Agreed. I just played with the expansion board for the first time last night - they did a very good job on the graphic layout making it look as seamless as possible.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: Sessions:: Re: Playing with the Episcopalian Wife

DaveD — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:56:59 +0000

by DaveD

heirodule wrote:

The rules were very clear and the game was fun. I was behind in VPs for much of the game, and couldn't afford taxes once: though that was a surprise since I'd taken Tax Immunity. The Tax Event I drew seemed to still apply. Maybe I got that wrong.

It sounds like you got it right. If it was the extra tax event you would need immunity from events from being in the Bishop's Office or holding the privilege card giving event immunity. Tax exemption from the King's Court or a tax exemption privilege would not apply.

Session: The Pillars of the Earth:: Playing with the Episcopalian Wife

heirodule — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:49:55 +0000

by heirodule

I must say when I read the rule that whomever visited a Cathedral most recently is the starting player I had to chuckle. My Presbyterian faith has not brought me to darken the door of many actual Cathedrals.

My wife on the other hand has visited more than a few. Oddly, we both visited the National Cathedral in DC together and that was the most recent trip for both of us. We decided that in this case, the quantity of cathedrals should break the tie of immediacy.

The first rule dispute out of the way, we sat down to play.

The rules were very clear and the game was fun. I was behind in VPs for much of the game, and couldn't afford taxes once: though that was a surprise since I'd taken Tax Immunity. The Tax Event I drew seemed to still apply. Maybe I got that wrong.

We didn't have much gold through most of the game, so few times did we pay more than 4 or 3 for the privilege of using a Master Builder.

The last round was the most interesting. I got the Bellmaker and Organmaker, and cleaned up with 22 victory points added to my score. Because the last event card was + 5 gold for everyone, my wife was able to make use of her Goldsmith card to get just enough VPs to beat me by 1 point!

I was hampered that last round, in that my wife was immune to the round 5 event that said we could only place 2 Master Builders. I did have a privilege that let me play my first for free though (and that was how I got the bellmaker)

All in all a fun game. Hope we can play again. Not sure how the youngest of our kids would do with it though.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: Rules:: Re: Question on Turn Order

Ponton — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:36:54 +0000

by Ponton

It might matter if you'd like to see if your opponent keeps that stone he's got there. If he does, he most probably won't go on stone next turn and this might give you more chances to get it yourself and so use your stone now.

I know, a very constructed situation, but I might see similar situations to matter from time to time. We do burn our resources in turn order, but not because of these reasons, but rather to be sure everyone doesn't make mistakes on turning their resources to vps.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: Rules:: Re: Question on Turn Order

DaveD — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:33:51 +0000

by DaveD

As the others have stated, I don't see that it makes any difference, but it does say in the rules that scoring is in clockwise order beginning with the start player.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: Rules:: Re: Question on Turn Order

Flashcubes — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:26:27 +0000

by Flashcubes

We do it concurrently, as it has no impact on the game really!

Thanks

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: Rules:: Re: Question on Turn Order

TermiGator — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:06:59 +0000

by TermiGator

bobm174 wrote:

When it comes time at the end of the round to use your raw materials, is that in turn order or does each player do this at once?

Bob

It usually doesn't really matter but if you or somebody in your round thinks it matters you can of course.

Thread: The Pillars of the Earth:: Rules:: Question on Turn Order

bobm174 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:52:52 +0000

by bobm174

When it comes time at the end of the round to use your raw materials, is that in turn order or does each player do this at once?

Bob

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Re: A Girlfriend's Perspective on: Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set

papitona — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:44:48 +0000

by papitona

Thanks for this information.;)

New Image for The Pillars of the Earth

fangorrn — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:47:53 +0000

by fangorrn

All players in good mood after our first game.

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Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Re: Burn it down

WhiteKong — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 23:55:47 +0000

by WhiteKong

citylife wrote:
With five players we took just on three hours. In three hours I could play 20 games of no thanks, 10 games of For Sale, and a trio of games such as Through the Desert, Caylus and Race for the Galaxy. Value for time wise this expansion is a stinker, there is just no opprotunity to econmise on time and the down time is a killer.

And, for the same calories that you get in a slice of cheesecake, you could have 20 rice cakes instead. Those cheesecake eating morons will never learn!

Seriously, I've never understood why game length is so hated at BGG. I think that game length is only a problem if the game isn't close and there are more than 15 minutes left to go. As long as everyone is enjoying the experience and is competitive, game length shouldn't matter at all. I have had wonderful 4 hour games of Iron Dragon, and mind-numbingly boring sessions of For Sale. Game length comes down to a personal bias, and isn't an inherent design flaw. The five and six player games of Pillars in my game group generally clock in between 2 and 3 hours depending on whether or not we have to teach someone how to play. Not at all too much if the game is fun and competitve, and we feel that it is.

The other criticisms are mostly fair. The new prestige cards aren't great. Necessary, but a little bit useless to whoever is stuck with them. The new spaces on the board for the most part are slightly different versions than what was already available. But you did leave out a few of interesting extremely good bits.

#1 - The Prestige cards are now split. The ones with a permanent effect are on the old board, the ones with a "one time" effect are on the new board. I think strategically, this is a great change since you can count on this distribution of permanent to temporary (2 to 1) coming up every time.

#2 - He who goes first, goes last. This somewhat reduces the turn order screwage that can affect players in the base game.

#3 - You can use workers (not builders) to gain victory points directly, instead of resources or money which you may not need. The ability to put these workers on the VP areas of the new board adds a new dimension to the game. Sure, you can get points, but at the cost of making the resources more readily available to other players. It's a very nice tradeoff.

#4 - The new craftsmen cards. The wood for gold craftsmen from the original was a bit overpowered. Now there is another card that allows you to trade other resources for gold, meaning there are more opportunities to get cash. Additionally, there are now more cards than may come out every turn, so that Bellmaker you just know will be there might not come up at all. That is a very interesting twist.

#5 - It's the only way to play with 5 or 6 players. My game group had this one prior to the expansion being released, but many of the groups regularly play 5 players. There isn't a way to get this one in without the expansion for five or six players. It is a very good worker placement game, and now doesn't have to be overlooked because we have more than 4.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Re: Burn it down

TheLongshot — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:25:36 +0000

by TheLongshot

The nice thing about the expansion is that you can use what you want to use. The extra craftsmen were needed IMO because I think a more random element was needed in that part of the game. Even if you don't like that, you can mix things up by switching some of the craftsmen out.

The extra resource cards make resources tighter. If just using the main board, it also makes gold less scarce.

If you don't think you have enough options to play, you can use the extra board.

Personally, I haven't played it with more players as of yet, but the options does spice up the game.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Re: Burn it down

HavocIsHere — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:42:09 +0000

by HavocIsHere

Although the main selling point of the expansion seems to be to accomodate one or two more players, I prefer to play pillars with three or four; the extension, in that context, only makes the base game better - at least for me.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Re: Burn it down

ERPriest — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:10:32 +0000

by ERPriest

Gordon wrote:
I actually think the base game feels a bit out of Wack with a full complement of players with nothing interesting left to do with your last worker and the Market feeling a bit of a weak option.

I have had this same perception sometimes as well. Last night in a 4-player game, I got stuck with the last two placements. Both went into the market as there were no other spaces available.

I am now contemplating using the expansion board with 4 players to mitigate the luckless tyranny of the bag.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Re: Burn it down

Gordon — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:53:53 +0000

by Gordon

Thank you for an opinion packed review. Just how I like them. Not that I agree with you.

I actually think the base game feels a bit out of Wack with a full complement of players with nothing interesting left to do with your last worker and the Market feeling a bit of a weak option. I think the expansion adds interest when you have 5 or 6 players. I would use the base game on it's own for 4 or fewer players.

Review: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: A Girlfriend's Perspective on: Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set

cerenycus — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 09:13:31 +0000

by cerenycus

I have always been curious as to how expansions on games I currently like work as compared to the older version

Contents

1 illustrated rules sheet (2-sided)
1 game board
2 large worker meeples (1 white, 1 orange)
4 scoring markers (2 white, 2 orange)
7 master builders (1 black, 3 white, 3 orange)
10 resource cubes (3 gray stone, 3 brown wood, 3 beige sand, 1 blue metal)
14 small worker meeples (7 white, 7 orange)
36 cards: 1 resource card, 1 Inspiration card, 2 game summary cards, 3 white starting craftsmen cards, 3 orange starting craftsmen cards, 4 event cards, 10 privilege cards, 12 craftsmen cards

Recommended Players

The orginal game has a recommended amount of players of 2-4. With this expansion, it allows up to 6 players to play.

Setup

Setup for Pillars of the Earth Expansion, is the exact same setup for Pillars of the Earth, except there is a fancy new board to go along with it. It's actually pretty neat the way it is all set up. They had the graphics match up perfectly to have the river still flowing through the playing board.

How to Play

Play of the game is going to be quite similar. You are going choose a resource card you are wanting to go to, in order to get resources, and any remaining meeple at the end, can go into the wool mill to make additional money. A slight twist to this, however, is you are able to put a certain amount of meeple on the new board, to gain victory points.

The new expansion gives new resource cards, event cards, privilege cards, and craftsman cards, that you are able to choose from. Some of the new parts of the board allow you to use someone elses craftsman card as your own, with minus 1 maximum. Instead of paying taxes, or being exempt from taxes, you can raise your gold the amount of taxes that were rolled.

When playing with 5 or more players, the first person who places their master builder, will place their final materbuilder last, and so on.

Example: Joe, Matt, Chris, Sally, and Terry are playing the game. Joe places his builder first, then Chris, Terry, Sally and finally Matt. The final masterbuilder will be placed in reverse order. Matt, Sally, Terry, Chris, and finally Joe.

How to Win

The player at the end of the game with the most points win.

The Good vs The Bad

Liking the new craftsman card, allowing focus to be on other sets of resources
The whole first person to place, is the last person to place of final master builder
the black master builder only holds your place until your next master builder is pulled from bag.

Survey Says

As far as expansions go, I'm really liking the expansion to Pillars of the Earth. Besides the artwork being AMAZING I like the new aspects that have been added. The friar allowing you to use other people's craftsman, even at half of what is normally allowed to do is awesome. Especially when you are playing with people, who decide they are going to bid up the craftsman you want, because you waste all your money on placing the masterbuilders first.

I also really like the rule of whoever pays to place their masterbuilder first, places their last masterbuilder last. It allows for a more even game of someone who may not have the most money.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Re: Burn it down

citylife — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:52:46 +0000

by citylife

JohnnyG wrote:

I just bought the expansion a couple of weeks ago.......:laugh:

Now I feel really bad :(. I hope you enjoy it more than me. Actually I don't usually write negative reviews, and there I am slamming a game. To be honest the others in the group enjoyed it more than me, and there were some neat new cards. I think it was the dead time between turns that really put me in such a bad mood about it and playing with a smaller number may well solve that problem :).

I wonder if the designers wouldn't have been better just providing another deck of cards. I am big on extra decks and Agricola got the whole card replayability thing just right.

But heck the art is still mighty fine and I think you'll find it extends the life of the original. Thanks to the poster who posted the extra info on playing with fewer numbers. Enjoy it JG.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Re: Burn it down

maaikefest — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:17:59 +0000

by maaikefest

John,

Take a look at this review for info on playing the expansion with less players:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/340526

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Re: Burn it down

JohnnyG — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 07:25:54 +0000

by JohnnyG

Hi Andrew,

I just bought the expansion a couple of weeks ago.......:laugh:

I haven't had a chance to try it yet and am interested to know if you gave it a go with three of four players?

From what you've written it seems like the added time with extra players is the problem.

I enjoy the base game but found the cards a bit predictable so was interested in the variety that came with the expansion.

Hope to give it a go this Wednesday.

Cheers
John

Review: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Reviews:: Burn it down

citylife — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:59:23 +0000

by citylife

Pillars of the Earth is a fine game. It has good balance, plenty of good choices and that healthy balance of option and competitive pressure. It also doesn't take too long.

But a wise man would question how well an expansion might work in this scenario. Pillars, in my opinion, relies heavily on scripting, and tinkering with that careful balance of power and progression can be a dangerous. Which is why I think that with Pillars they should have taken the safe route and banked their dollars on the original. The expansion is terrible, burn it down!

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Beautiful art.

Ascetically I don't have too many problems, in fact I think the expansion board (above) is quite an achievement. The two parts fit together perfectly, there is a seemless transition and the style fits. You might argue that it should be expected, but not everyone gets it right. So points and qudos there if not for the disgusting orange and white markers that are included for the additional players (see below).

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Yucky orange!

But the gameplay for 5 and 6 detracts to my mind for two reasons.

1) The game length. With five players we took just on three hours. In three hours I could play 20 games of no thanks, 10 games of For Sale, and a trio of games such as Through the Desert, Caylus and Race for the Galaxy. Value for time wise this expansion is a stinker, there is just no opprotunity to econmise on time and the down time is a killer.

2) There is little added that is new. The mechanics that are added are minor and just slight variants. The French allows you to use another players craftsman which is probably the highlight. There is also a taxcollector which allows you to recieve rather than pay tax, but these are subtle additions and otherwise it is just more of the same. A slightly better selling market, who cares. A few extra bonus points for your workers, equally uninspiring. And another priveledge and craftsman card ... insipid.

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Some new cards.

Overall I was particularly dissapointed with the expansion. It took what was an enjoyable came and stretched it out of shape. Just like your big brother wearing your favourite Jersey and stretching it, the expansion has taken something I quite enjoyed and wrecked it.

Such is life. Clearly though there are those disagree because 1246 people own a copy of the expansion. Still if you are thinking of it, then try before you buy, because its just not the same with five.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: Difference between King's Court (9) and Tax Collector (9a)

TermiGator — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:12:13 +0000

by TermiGator

Tolle wrote:
Ok thanks. So if you want the metal AND you also want the gold to the value of the die roll, you have to place a master builder on 9 first AND place a master builder on 9a.

Thats right.
With the expansion there are 5 places:
One gives you Tax-free amd one Metal
One gives you Tax-free and Money worth of Taxes rolled
Three give you Tax-free

I'm not sure if there is something mentioned about placing multiple builders there but usually there is something better around than a second builder there.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: Difference between King's Court (9) and Tax Collector (9a)

Tolle — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:00:25 +0000

by Tolle

Ok thanks. So if you want the metal AND you also want the gold to the value of the die roll, you have to place a master builder on 9 first AND place a master builder on 9a.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: Difference between King's Court (9) and Tax Collector (9a)

DaveD — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 22:17:56 +0000

by DaveD

Thanks for the correction:blush:.

Yes if you are first in the King' Court(9), you get metal, if you take Tax Collector (9a), you get gold to the value of the die roll. In both cases you get tax exemption.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: Difference between King's Court (9) and Tax Collector (9a)

Tolle — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:59:40 +0000

by Tolle

If you prove your loyalty to the king (that is: if you set your master builder first in King’s Court (9)) you receive one metal. Rule of the standard game. Right? Or does it not count anymore when the expansion is used? I didn’t find that in the rules of the expansion.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: Difference between King's Court (9) and Tax Collector (9a)

apotheos — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:40:59 +0000

by apotheos

Why would you get metal? Metal is not mentioned. There is a comparison to an action where you get metal, but only in the capacity of tax evasion.

No metal.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: Difference between King's Court (9) and Tax Collector (9a)

Tolle — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:36:31 +0000

by Tolle

The gold? You mean the metal? In King's Court you only get metal right?

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: Difference between King's Court (9) and Tax Collector (9a)

DaveD — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:15:14 +0000

by DaveD

Tolle wrote:
The rules say for 9a:
If you place a master builder here you are exempt from taxes, (the same as King's Court). In addition, you receive gold equal to the tax roll from the King's Court action (die roll in 9.)

Does that mean that, when you have a master builder on 9a, you also get a metal? Or is this only when you are the first on 9?

The ~~Gold~~ metal (oops) is reserved for the first to place in the King's Court, the Tax Collector gets a different advantage to go with the tax exemption.

Thread: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Difference between King's Court (9) and Tax Collector (9a)

Tolle — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:47:28 +0000

by Tolle

The rules say for 9a:

If you place a master builder here you are exempt from taxes, (the same as King's Court). In addition, you receive gold equal to the tax roll from the King's Court action (die roll in 9.)

Does that mean that, when you have a master builder on 9a, you also get a metal? Or is this only when you are the first on 9?

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Variants:: Re: Sally card

drewchap — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:18:08 +0000

by drewchap

How about this?

"You may exchange any number of resources for another kind (from the supply areas, not the marketplace) at any time."

Useful, not too powerful, offers opportunities for combos.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: Reviews:: Re: A Girlfriends Perspective on: Pillars of the Earth

tired — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:13:41 +0000

by tired

Syvanis wrote:
Complicated? Really? We found that once you started playing it was actually fairly intuitive.

I wouldn't say complicated in terms of understanding, but complicated for what you had to do - just multiple different steps (choosing the worker cards, placing the meeples then the master builder then resolving). Just didn't seem worth it. Obviously, this is an opinion and I can see how it'd work for others. Just not us.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Boards

mvettemagred — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:19:54 +0000

by mvettemagred

The board looks even better when paired with the expansion board. Simply amazing work.

Thread: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Boards

elfrododumbo — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:32:39 +0000

by elfrododumbo

This game board looks really great along with Stone Age.
A good game might have a dreadful looking board and, equally, a bad game might have a good looking board. BUT when you have both gameplay and an artful looking game board together, it is a joy to behold.
The cover on the box does the game an injustice, imho.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: TV Series from Scott Productions

elfrododumbo — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:25:46 +0000

by elfrododumbo

Prior to buying this game, I never read the book. However, now I will.
It makes one wonder about how much a game based , more or less, on a book might induce the buyer to purchase the book !

New Image for The Pillars of the Earth

skeil — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:45:08 +0000

by skeil

We built it! We built it!

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Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

Superhawk2300 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:23:33 +0000

by Superhawk2300

Guantanamo wrote:
I would still like to play it. But, others would now rather play Agricola which I feel is dreadfully long, or Stone Age. So, we tend to play Stone Age.

I did buy the 5-6 and I enjoy some of what it added. But, it added 5-6 players which makes it almost dreadfully long.

I do prefer this one though.

BTW, the first and so far ONLY game of Warrior Knights took at least 4 hours. I think much longer. I'd play it again, but I'm not rushing out for a game of it. And NO one is requesting another go at it.

Ditto on the Gric. And Ditto on the Warrior Knights - to a "t".

If you think Gric is dreadfully long don't even think of trying Le Harve!!!!!

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

Guantanamo — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:12:21 +0000

by Guantanamo

I would still like to play it. But, others would now rather play Agricola which I feel is dreadfully long, or Stone Age. So, we tend to play Stone Age.

I did buy the 5-6 and I enjoy some of what it added. But, it added 5-6 players which makes it almost dreadfully long.

I do prefer this one though.

BTW, the first and so far ONLY game of Warrior Knights took at least 4 hours. I think much longer. I'd play it again, but I'm not rushing out for a game of it. And NO one is requesting another go at it.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

Sagrilarus — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:00:04 +0000

by Sagrilarus

Superhawk2300 wrote:
Except Warrior Knights is dreadfully long.......

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder of course, though I don't recall ever having a game of Warrior Knights go four hours. I was very surprised to see that in its listing.

Sag.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

Superhawk2300 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:27:28 +0000

by Superhawk2300

Except Warrior Knights is dreadfully long.......

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Sessions:: Re: 'Low tech' approach works for a six player game

ooogene — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:17:20 +0000

by ooogene

Even though it does take longer, I'm thinking it would be best still with 5-6 players (if using the expansion board). That way it makes it tighter. With 3-4 players and using the expansion board, the "good" spots would be too plentiful. Though with 3-4 players I'd still use the expansion cards, just not the board.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Sessions:: Re: 'Low tech' approach works for a six player game

Norbert Chan — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:49:14 +0000

by Norbert Chan

ooogene wrote:
3 hours is a long time and a 1 hour rules explanations is a really long time. The longest I think we've played before, with or without the expansion, is right around 2 hours. Rules explanation usually takes about 15-20 minutes tops.

Did you like the game though?

We did enjoy the game. We discovered that with 5 or 6 players, the game really takes a long time. So we won't play until we have four or less. The rules took an hour since it was a refresher for everyone.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Sessions:: Re: 'Low tech' approach works for a six player game

ooogene — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:29:36 +0000

by ooogene

3 hours is a long time and a 1 hour rules explanations is a really long time. The longest I think we've played before, with or without the expansion, is right around 2 hours. Rules explanation usually takes about 15-20 minutes tops.

Did you like the game though?

Session: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: 3 Players - Only Using Extra Cards

ooogene — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:28:05 +0000

by ooogene

Last weekend Brian, Mickey, and I gathered for a little Memorial Day gaming. Brian requested that I bring Pillars of the Earth, a request to which I was happy to comply. Neither Mickey or Brian had played previously, but both were familiar with worker-placement and Brian had watched the Boardgames With Scott review, so they picked it up quickly. We played with the expansion craftsmen & cards, but not with the expansion board. We also played with the expansion rule of "he who places first will also place last."

The opening round I was randomly chosen to go first. During the resource gathering phase, I picked up the 1 stone = 1 vp limit of 3 Mason, also grabbing some stone and sand. Mickey snagged a ton of wood and Brian had a hodge-podge of things. Going into the master builder phase, after some early passing by the others, I was able to get Prior Phillip for 5 gold. Both Brian and Mickey passed as their master builders were drawn, so when mine was drawn I chose to spend 5 to get Prior Phillip. Brian, not sure what things were worth, passed on all his master builders. Mickey ignored any extra craftsmen the first round and went to the Archbishop's office, Shiring Castle, and a spot at the Priory.

As the game progressed, I picked up the early glass blower, a slightly improved mortar mixer, but no other craftsmen until the last round where I was able to get bell maker. I focused on getting points from the Priory, being the exclusive participant there in 3 rounds of the game, and I also picked up the Crying Madonna for a few extra. Mickey continued to get a lot of wood with Aliea (I think that is her name) and getting the castle workers to get more. He then sold this wood twice for a lot of money at the market. Brian began focusing on stone and was moving through craftsmen like nobody's business, often getting two new craftsmen a turn. Along with the beggar, the occasional Archbishop's placement, and his workers, he did well keeping his resource supply up.

As we progressed through the game, with my piousness I built a solid lead by turn four, winning probably by 10-12 points. That all changed on turn 5 when only one stone card came out and Brian took it, meaning that during the victory point phase I only scored 2 points. So going into the last round I had only a 4-5 point lead on Brian and Mickey was a bit behind him. The last victory point phase, Mickey was able to score 15 points, 8 of which were from his goldsmith. Bringing his total to 49. Brian, with his advanced craftsmen, including the Gardner, scored a whopping 18. I was only able to score 8 points, but that was enough to get me to 57!

A couple thoughts. Both Brian and Mickey seemed to like the game and played extremely well for their first time. On the last turn, with his last placement, Brian chose to go to the Archbishop's office, instead of taking the 1 point Priory slot. His thinking being that we'd had 4 out of 5 good events previously and the odds were going up that a bad event would occur and he didn't feel that he could afford to lose any gold or resources. By him doing this, it allowed me to take the last spot at the Priory, which ended up being the winning move since the event was a good event and not a bad one. I liked playing with the extra craftsman from the expansion, even though we weren't using the expansion board. It forced me to try to be prepared for every situation, rather than knowing exactly what situation was coming up.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

Sagrilarus — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:44:35 +0000

by Sagrilarus

A very solid game, as is Warrior Knights. I think neither title is particularly controversial, so there is less chit chat. But that doesn't mean they're bad games.

Sag.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

Karlsen — Fri, 29 May 2009 05:11:35 +0000

by Karlsen

It's still chalking up plays

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

Jormi_Boced — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:03:03 +0000

by Jormi_Boced

I think it is maybe only second to Agricola as far as worker placement games go.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

elfrododumbo — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:58:23 +0000

by elfrododumbo

Tim, I was not referring to a review of the game. I read that, but reference to the game in general.
Hey ho, nevermind !

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

Superhawk2300 — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:15:29 +0000

by Superhawk2300

It is a good game that takes the beat when being compared to Stone Age, which I think is no where near as good as Pillars.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pillars of the Earth

Tim Synge — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:14:23 +0000

by Tim Synge

Well, there was a review posted on 22 May and which has subsequent comments. How recent does it have to be?

See http://www.boardgamegeek.com/forum/index/thing/24480

Thread: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Pillars of the Earth

elfrododumbo — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:06:51 +0000

by elfrododumbo

I am somewhat surprised that there are no recent comments of this game.
Is anyone still playing it or those who have played it are no longer interested in it ?
Maybe it passe now and it is not mentioned in the Game Forum.
Same goes for Warrior Knights !

Kind regards,
Gordon

New Image for The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set

Black ant — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:35:47 +0000

by Black ant

The final scoring (we finished after only 4 rounds)

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New Image for The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set

Black ant — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:33:41 +0000

by Black ant

A happy lot celebrating the expansion set played for the first time

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New Image for The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set

Black ant — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:29:14 +0000

by Black ant

A nice game - but a looooong one too !

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New Image for The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set

Black ant — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:27:02 +0000

by Black ant

Birger spends a lot of his life thinking...

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Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: General:: Re: Pre-Emptive worries after first game.

Syvanis — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:16:53 +0000

by Syvanis

I have played two - 4 player games and 4 - 2 player games. I think there is a nice balance to all aspects with any amount of players. Each is different but still enjoyable. The two player game gives you more options but you still need to pick the BEST options from them.

With regards to resources - you cannot limit the number lower otherwise you may cut out certain resources. It is set up so you always have some option of wood, stone and sand.

Game on!

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: Reviews:: Re: A Girlfriends Perspective on: Pillars of the Earth

Syvanis — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:24:04 +0000

by Syvanis

Complicated? Really? We found that once you started playing it was actually fairly intuitive.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

krokodiler — Mon, 25 May 2009 09:06:44 +0000

by krokodiler

Nebenerwerbsbauer wrote:
not an expansion ,this will be a standalone game(...)

Too bad it is not regular expansion! It would be nice to play this great game with some new cards and a new board...

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

Great Dane — Sun, 24 May 2009 09:38:26 +0000

by Great Dane

Nebenerwerbsbauer wrote:
BaSL wrote:
My guess? New games - especially bigger releases - only get accepted with enough info. At one point people started adding new games with just name, designer, publisher and number of players and almost no info about the game itself. Admins are trying to avoid that by waiting for an entry which does have some good info.

i think i wrote to less in the info box ,but i think a empty entry about a game is better then no entry!

I agree!
I have also been 'caught' by this on occasion. You cannot upload pictures until the record has been created, and you don't want to spend a lot of time translating stuff unless you know it is going to be used.

I have just stopped adding new records, and decided my life isn't long enough to deal with moderators.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

BaSL — Sun, 24 May 2009 09:04:39 +0000

by BaSL

Of course, but the admins expect that there will be more info about this soon and that an entry with more info can be made.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

Nebenerwerbsbauer — Sun, 24 May 2009 08:57:43 +0000

by Nebenerwerbsbauer

BaSL wrote:
My guess? New games - especially bigger releases - only get accepted with enough info. At one point people started adding new games with just name, designer, publisher and number of players and almost no info about the game itself. Admins are trying to avoid that by waiting for an entry which does have some good info.

i think i wrote to less in the info box ,but i think a empty entry about a game is better then no entry!

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

BaSL — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:41:23 +0000

by BaSL

My guess? New games - especially bigger releases - only get accepted with enough info. At one point people started adding new games with just name, designer, publisher and number of players and almost no info about the game itself. Admins are trying to avoid that by waiting for an entry which does have some good info.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

robmderrick — Sat, 23 May 2009 22:11:09 +0000

by robmderrick

Nebenerwerbsbauer wrote:
i submitted an entry but it was not accepted

For God's Sake why? Why has moderation on bgg reached such a state of righteous sanctimony that even a perfectly legitimate game, a game the WILL be in the database eventually, is rejected? What possible reason is given for something like that?

If there is an actual good reason, I would love to hear it.

Is there a place onsite to look at moderated and rejected entries, or at least the reasons behind the rejections, and who did it?

I know it's not a democracy, maybe I'm just a rabble, but it increasingly seems to be plagued by arbitrary caprice.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

Great Dane — Sat, 23 May 2009 21:16:47 +0000

by Great Dane

And here is the direct link :meeple:

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Re: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

Nebenerwerbsbauer — Sat, 23 May 2009 19:05:32 +0000

by Nebenerwerbsbauer

not an expansion ,this will be a standalone game ,i submitted an entry but it was not accepted .
more infos on www.spielbox.de

Thread: The Pillars of the Earth:: News:: Another expansion to Pillars in October!

krokodiler — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:56:12 +0000

by krokodiler

I'm not good in German, but it is said that it will be based on the sequel to the novel Pillars of the Earth - World without End. Sounds great!

New Image for The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set

Spidermonk — Sat, 23 May 2009 16:13:00 +0000

by Spidermonk

Tax Collector

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Reply: The Pillars of the Earth:: Reviews:: Re: A Girlfriends Perspective on: Pillars of the Earth

tired — Fri, 22 May 2009 04:34:31 +0000

by tired

Strangely enough, Pillars is all that you said, but it just didn't work well with our group. It just seemed too overly complicated for the amount of fun that we had. It's definitely not high on my list of 'games to play' again.

Review: The Pillars of the Earth:: Reviews:: A Girlfriends Perspective on: Pillars of the Earth

cerenycus — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:43:56 +0000

by cerenycus

I have always enjoyed playing Pillars of the Earth. Usually when playing games, my boyfriend and I tend to stick to more 2 player games. When we have more people, we enjoy bringing it out.

Contents

1 eight-page color illustrated rule booklet
1 game board
1 black master builder draw bag
1 specially marked 6-sided die (numbered 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5)
1 black cost marker
1 small black worker token
4 small gray worker tokens
4 large worker tokens (1 in each of the 4 colors)
6 wooden cathedral pieces (nave, transept, apse, 2 steeples, roof)
8 wooden scoring marker discs (2 in each of the 4 colors)
12 master builder tokens (3 in each of the 4 colors)
28 small worker tokens (7 in each of the 4 colors)
75 small playing cards
--4 game summaries; 9 resources; 10 events; 16 privileges; 36 craftsmen
82 resource cubes
--13 blue (metal); 23 beige (sand); 23 gray (stone); 23 brown (wood)

Recommended Players

The recommended number of players for pillars to the earth is 2-4, and I would have to agree. I have played this game with 2, 3, and 4 players, and it had about the same amount of fun.

Setup

Each player is going to choose a colour, and that the little meeple you are provided for each colour. The Master Builders of the colour will be placed in a fabric bag that was given with the game. You will need to take the colour coded cards and place them facing up infront of you. These are the standard builders you will use at the beginning.

Once the first player has been decided, they will take the bag with all the Master Builders in it, and place it to the side.

How to Play

There are 3 main steps to the game.

1. The Resource Stage
2. Place your Master Builders/Resolve
3. Score points

1. The Resource Stage

At the beginning of each resource round, all the resource cards are shuffled. 3 are automatically removed and placed to the side. The remaining cards are to be flipped up, as well as 2 cards available to purchase.

Different cards will give you different resources. For each card you will take, you are required to place that many meeple in the particular section. Once the first player has chosen, it would go to the next, until all the meeple have been used. If there is not a card available for the number of meeple you have left, they are able to make you money. 1 meeple = 1 gold.

2. Place your Master Builders/Resolve

In the second stage of the game, the first player is going to take the fabric bag, with all the Master Builder's in it, and start drawing out Master Builder's. The first drawn token has the option of paying $7, or waiting until it becomes free. The next token has the point of paying $6, or waiting until it becomes free, and so on until all the Master Builder's are placed on the board. The first player has the option of throwing the token he just drew back in the bag once per round.

Once all the Master Builder's have been placed, you are now going to resolve the action. This includes taking back your meeple, and taking the required number of resources on the card.

3. Score points

The last thing you are going to do is score the points. You are only able to carry over 4 resources, so you will want to gain as many points as usual.

How to Win

The Player with the most amount of points at the end of the game will be the winner.

The Good vs The Bad

Options to pay money to get on the board before others
Usually the same resource cards come up
One play could be first player throughout if chosen to do so
Different builders allow different points, not all the same
At different times you can buy a new builder, or place your Master Builder to buy another
Can only carry a limited supply of resources, stopping people from hoarding.

Survey Says

I enjoy bringing out Pillars of the Earth now and again to play. It is not a game I bring out all the time, as it will eventually get tiring. I like being able to place different amounts of meeple in each construction zone in order to gain more or less supplies, and your meeple do not go to waste if there is not a resource card, you can always gain more money.

I have tended to stick to the regular resource cards, and not focus on any of the fancy cards involving metal, and I think that is where my biggest failure is. My boyfriend tends to save all the metal, and make the really big purchases near the end. Which could be why he ends of winning alot more than I do.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: black master builder last placement - question

mocs — Wed, 20 May 2009 11:03:07 +0000

by mocs

I'm sorry, I'm not 100% sure with the english descriptions: Is the "master builder track" the half circle on the main board, or the row on top of the expansion board?

Yes. right:thumbsup: it's the row on top of the expansion board (the orizzontal space with six circle for the third master builder in 5/6 players game).

All clear, Thanks for your answer, Sebastian :)

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: black master builder last placement - question

TermiGator — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:03:48 +0000

by TermiGator

I'm sorry, I'm not 100% sure with the english descriptions: Is the "master builder track" the half circle on the main board, or the row on top of the expansion board?

But in anyway: If the Black Builder is drawn after all your Builders are placed (which can only happen in a 2, 3 or 4 player game). You are just unlucky and will have no benefit from the builder this time.

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: black master builder last placement - question

mocs — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:16:26 +0000

by mocs

Sorry, my question was not clear: also ...the third master builder has been put on a available space of the master builder track (example: available position 4).
Then, all 3 master builders are not more available. Now, if i draw now the black, is it discarded?

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: black master builder last placement - question

TermiGator — Tue, 19 May 2009 13:24:55 +0000

by TermiGator

You'll always first DRAW all the master builders including the black one from the bag before you place your last builder from the 5-6Player Master builder track (on the top of the expansion board).

The german rules mention, that in a 2-4 Player game where this track is not used it may happen that the black master builder is useless.

So: No, you are not allowed to block any place with him.

Thread: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: black master builder last placement - question

mocs — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:24:11 +0000

by mocs

what does it happen if I have placed all the my master builders (incluse the master builder on the master builder track) and I extract from the bag the black master builder?
I have to discard it, or can I place it on the board to block anyone from using that space?

Reply: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Rules:: Re: Placing metal on board

Hotntot — Mon, 18 May 2009 15:00:50 +0000

by Hotntot

OK, thanks all