Dungeons & Dragons: Lords of Waterdeep
Overview
When Klaus Teuber introduced Settlers of Catan in 1995, the hobby gaming world was captivated by what is now known as the “Euro-game.” Many games using resource management and worker placement mechanics followed. These games were expertly crafted to be well-oiled game machines and often light in theme. On the other end of the gaming spectrum is the world of Dungeons & Dragons – specifically the Forgotten Realms. Originally created by Ed Greenwood and introduced in 1987, this fantasy “universe” offers a rich and vibrant world theme and immersion for role-players. What happens when one game form meets the other? Chemistry!
Gameplay
You are one of several Lords of Waterdeep with a secret objective, and you are vying against other influential lords for control of the city. To gain control you will send your agents out into locations in the city to recruit fighters, clerics, rogues and wizards to complete dangerous quests at your whim. Completed quests give you victory points and gold. Each Lord also has his or her own secret objectives as well. The Lord with the most victory points after 8 rounds of play is victorious.
Each turn, players assign “Agents” (D&Deeples as they have been named) to locations in the city of Waterdeep in order to seek out the adventurers needed to complete quests. If the player has the adventurers and or gold needed to complete that quest stored in their tavern on their play-mat, the quest is completed and victory points and gold are scored. After all the Lords in turn have placed their agents, gained their resources, and completed whatever quests they can, the round ends. Essentially, that’s all there is to a game round.
As in most “worker placement” games however, the interaction and competitive nature of the game reveals itself as each Lord seeks the same resources from the same locations to complete their quests. Only one Lord’s agent may occupy a building during a round – with some exceptions. So one important building an agent can visit is the Castle of Waterdeep – which give that agent’s Lord the First Player Marker. Being the first Lord to place an agent each round is a big deal.
Lords can also purchase buildings (chosen randomly from a stack) that can provide resources, as well as other game effects for Agents that visit them. Purchased buildings provide not only an additional location for Agents to visit and resources but also grant a resource bonus to the Lord that owns them.
Lastly, Lords can gain Intrigue cards, and by having their Agents visit Waterdeep Harbor can play them on other Lords; often times with negative effects. Intrigue cards add those powerful and unexpected effects and add another level of interaction between the Lords of Waterdeep.
Components
The components of The Lords of Waterdeep are as vibrant ad they are useful. Every aspect of the game is expertly crafted and provides a perfect synergy between game play and each component’s functional use. The cards are easy to read and well illustrated with Dungeons & Dragons themed art from a host of staff illustrators. One of the standout aspects of the game is the box insert. Every component has its place, and the insert even has small indentations that allow easy access to cards and tokens with a simple push. It is among best storage inserts to date. (with Airlines Europe) What a pleasure!
Learning Curve
Lords of Waterdeep has a low learning curve. The game can easily be taught in minutes, with an hour playing time – even for new players. Worker placement games traditionally have simple game phases. But the game’s complexity manifests itself in the form of play options or limitations as play progresses. In this game, the choices remain varied but they are manageable and steer the player toward a singular goal.
Who would enjoy this game?
Final Thoughts
Whether we like to admit it, there can be a deep separation between those folks that like to kick back with a good German board game and those gamers that play games to immerse themselves in the deep thematic plots the Forgotten Realms universe can offer. In fact, they are usually found in separate rooms at most gaming conventions. Was the idea to create a game that attempts to appeal to both of these groups? Does Lords of Waterdeep satisfy both these gamers’ itches?
In a word: no. Lords of Waterdeep can only be classified as a Euro-game. It is a derivative of worker-placement, resource gaining, and victory point tracking mechanics from many euro-games that have come before. This is not a D&D board game on the level of Wrath of Ashardalon. And any desire to roleplay, or imagine the small wooden cubes as small questing adventurers will fall a bit flat.
However, contrary to some opinions, the Forgotten Realms theme is not just “pasted on” but tightly woven into the mechanics to provide a fresh thematic journey for control of Waterdeep. So, what kind of game is this?
This is a game for anyone. No, it won’t turn a role-player into a euro-gamer or vice versa. But it strength lies in it’s accessibility. Perhaps the theme could have been anything, but its not. The vivid images and well conceived mix of variable player objectives, random Intrigue card draws and rich Forgotten Realms theme provides a perfect experience for those that have always wanted to try a euro, but found them too dry or technical.
Rarely has there been a game that combines so many enjoyable aspects from several sources, and still keep the game logical, compelling and accessible. Rodney Thompson and Peter Lee have created a gem: not for any one gamer type, but accessible to all. The Lords of Waterdeep is simply great fun.
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Wizards of the Coast’s Lords of Waterdeep came as a complete shock to me when I first heard about it. A Euro-style game from my favorite hack-and-slash enablers? I wasn’t really sure they could pull it off. Then again, with the decades of focus they have had creating a variety of mechanics in both Magic and D&D, I shouldn’t have been surprised by how they were able to synthesize the pureness of the Euro gamestyle in a simplistic way that lets you dive right into the fun and entertainment side of things.
I freaking love it.
“What’s there to love?” you may ask. Plenty.
1. Variance. In each game, you play a different Lord of Waterdeep, with a different focus. Some are concerned with matters of Piety and Combat, and others focus on Skullduggery and the Arcane. These distinctions automatically give people different overall goals in the game and limit the possibility that players will be competing for every single quest and placement. Various quest types need different adventurers (what do Fighters know about Piety, anyway?), so players are forced to spread out around the gameboard. There are very few buildings that are of greatest benefit to every player at the same time each round.
In a game like Puerto Rico, if every player decides on a shipping strategy at the beginning, it can be tough for anyone to ship efficiently. In this game, your options are pre-defined. Of course, how you choose to meet your goals is still up to you…
2. Competitiveness. As victory points are given every turn a quest is completed, a player’s score will increase in spurts throughout the game. Which means that “first place” switches hands many times throughout the game. While some players may lag behind, I have yet to see a game where I knew who would win before the end of the final round. Every single time, it takes revealing the Lords of Waterdeep at the end of the game to determine the winner. As long as players are invested in playing the game strategically and efficiently, every game can be a close one.
3. Accessibility. Every single time I teach this game to new players, they play a single round and then hardly ever ask for help again. The actions and goals are so easily defined that people learn this game fast, and are making solid strategic decisions on their own within ten minutes. Last time I played, the newest player won, and I had to fight to take second against some other relatively new players.
4. Fun. The pieces are bright, shiny, and well-designed. Finishing the quests gives you that surge-of-victory feeling multiple times within a single game. Late game, there’s that tension that comes when you silently beg everyone not to put their meeple in the specific spot you want… I could go on and on. This game never ceases to entertain me. There aren’t any times I wish I was off playing something different. I just love it.
Play this game. That’s my end recommendation. Play this game, and then make other people play this game. Especially for those who aren’t familiar with the worker placement genre of games, this is too much fun to miss.
An epic adventure packed into a worker placement game? Lords of Waterdeep seems too good to be true. Does it match up to the hype? After reading lots of mixed opinions I can honestly say I don’t really get the debate. Lords of Waterdeep is easily one of the best worker placement games out there and worker placement games are abstract, sorry your box didn’t include D&D Minis.
Objective: To be the player with the most points at the end of the 8th round.
Gameplay: The basic gameplay goes like this, players take turns placing an ‘agent’ onto any unoccupied space. When all players have placed their last man, Agents from the ‘Waterdeep Tavern’ are reassigned and then the ’round’ ends. When 8 rounds have been completed the game is over.
Once a white agent symbol has been filled, no one else may place an agent in that building/location this round.
Scoring Points: The goal of the game is to get the most points, so lets talk about how you score these points.
Quests: Completing Quest Cards is the main and most effective way to score points. I tend to think of this as the only way to score points, and all the others are just “bonus points” Each quest card clearly states its requirements and then its rewards, your quest cards are not hidden so it is fairly easy to see what a player is trying to complete. It will become important with more plays and towards the end of the game; you may only complete 1 quest each time you place an agent.
The quest type is located above the quest art, these are important for scoring points with your Lord Card. The red sideways diamond is the amount of victory points the quest is worth.
There are 3 main ways to gain quest cards, you can only complete a quest card if you own it, you either get 2 gold or 1 intrigue card with your quest or you can discard the available quests, flip over 4 new ones and choose one of them.
Lord Cards: This creates a bit of strategy for picking quests, however I have always scored higher ignoring these and just choosing quests that rewards will help to complete other quests. Most Lord Card will have 2 types of quests listed, each completed quest will grant you 4 points at the end of the game.
The Builder’s Hall: Once per round a player may place an agent here, this allows you to place a building on the board with one of your faction’s markers on it. If another player places an agent onto a building you constructed (owner) you will get a bonus reward, sometimes this can be victory points other times it is gold or blocks. The victory points mainly come in because each turn 1VP is added to each building that is available for purchase, and when you construct a building you score points equal to the number of accumulated victory points.
The 3 gems that will be placed every turn are placed underneath the Builder’s Hall and represent the current turn, on turn 5 ALL players receive and additional Agent to keep up with the growing placement options
Intrigue Cards: What would a worker placement game be without good cards that can alter game mechanics. Intrigue cards do that, but put you in an interesting and unique position. In order to play your intrigue card you must place an agent in the Waterdeep Harbor, luckily at the end of the round players will get to replace any agents that went to the Harbor. This is a rather brilliant mechanic since the Intrigue cards are not super game changing and only offer a small advantage. The Waterdeep Harbor concept is an awesome replacement for super powerful cards that cost an entire action to gain.
When you replace your agents from the Waterdeep Harbor you place them in the order that you placed them on the Harbor, this is what the number represents.
Components: This is where the majority of the debate comes in, a LOT of people feel that the coloured cubes take away from the Waterdeep theme. While I will admit that yes, fighters rogues, wizard and cleric minis would improve the game a ton, the extra 10-20$ would not. As far as components go everything is awesome quality, tiles are nice and thick, the board itself is not over the top but wont break or wear down easily. Your meeples are sort of custom, and you get a first player marker which can be useful as you add beer. Personally I feel better Lord Cards would do more for the theme than custom meeples in place of the coloured cubes, they need some cooler artwork and definitely need better back story for those not familiar with Forgotten Realms.
I am not sure where I stand on the gold, it was really annoying to punch out since you had to punch the little whole out of every single one. I also do not understand why these holes exist in the first place.
Lords of Waterdeep has sure sold me, but who else would enjoy playing?
Family Gamers: Lords of Waterdeep is really really easy to teach, there are not a ton of rules and turns fly by. Surprisingly there really isn’t much violent theme, your goal is to gather adventurers and complete quests, adventuring doesn’t always have to be violent. I would recommend this game to family gamers over monopoly any day.
Casual Gamers: Worker placement games seem to do great with most casual gamers. Lords of Waterdeep fits this description better than any worker placement game I know, it plays faster and with more interaction than most worker placements and adds an awesome way to screw over your buddy with mandatory quest cards. The apparent ‘lack of theme’ actually does great here, since you are still pretending your pieces are something else (like in every worker placement game) why not pretend to have a crew of wizards and fighters over primary and secondary colours, over ‘resources’ such as wood and certainly more exciting than pretending to be farmers. If you are going to pretend, why not pretend to be something exciting, Lords of Waterdeep will do best with casual gamers.
Gamer Gamers: For heavy gamers this light worker placement game is not just another worker placement game that ‘lacks theme’. In fact, Lords of Waterdeep leaves you with more choices than most games out there, and does so in a way that isn’t confusing, long winded or boring. Although there are multiple ways to win and multiple options to place your meeples at, some choices are clearly better than others. This is usually something that would make hardcore gamers shy away and something that would make a game not friendly to new players, BUT Lords of Waterdeep has mechanics that work to combat this. Adding new places to send your ‘agents’, and the genius behind the Waterdeep Harbor area do a great job minimizing the poor choices while your Lord Card serves as another way to score points.
I finally got a chance to sit down with my new copy of ‘Lords of Waterdeep’ last night! Lets take a look at the game in some detail:
COMPONENTS:
Lords of Waterdeep has EXCELLENT components.Evrything from the box itself to the bits you play with is very well made. One of my favorite things to do when I get a new game (and don’t get a chance to play it for awhile) is to sit down and organize the bits. Whether it is bagging them or seperating them into Plano boxes, I enjoy organizing them. Lords of Waterdeep has such a thoughtful/useful insert that I didn’t get the chance to do anything with the componenets but put them into their respective and completely useful places in the insert tray, and leave them there. Sigh. Everything fits well, is super easy to get back OUT of the tray, and is very well organized. Though if you sleeve your cards they won’t fit quite right. The cards aren’t handled a great deal during the game so I don’t have any problem with this personally.
The components themselves are very nice wood and cardboard bits, a sturdy game board with excellent art and some very nice(if a *bit thin) linen textured cards. The agent tokens and counters are smooth and feel nice to touch, and the cardboard is thick and durable. This game will last for many, many games.
Overall I would give the components a 10.
GAMEPLAY:
Lords of Waterdeep is an easy to learn, but surprisingly strategic game. My wife always taunts me when I say a game is ‘easy to learn’. Since she doesn’t play a ton of boardgames, some of the concepts that we gamers understand quickly are lost on her. In this case, when I say the game is easy to learn, I actually mean it! Here is the quick rundown:
1. Everyone has an oversized player card in front of them that is broken into 3 areas- Agent Pool, Tavern, Completed Quests. At the start of the game every player gets a specific number of Agents that they will send out into the city. The number of agents varies based on the number of players. These Agents will sit at the top of your player card in the “Agent Pool” area.
2. The players are all assigned a starting bit of gold, with the starting player getting the least amount, and each subsequent plyer getting one more gold than the person he is following. Everyone also gets a Lord card that has a secret goal listed on it. This is kept secret from other players, and if the goal is achieved will give you get bonus victory points at the end of the game. This hidden victory point mechanic keeps the end game scoring pretty tense. Two Quest cards and two Intrigue cards are also given to each player. Quest cards give you in game goals to complete for rewards, and Intrigue cards are ued to gain extra resources and occasionaly do bad things to your fellow Lords.
3. In turn order, everyone places one of their Agents on a different area of the city. Most areas are allowed only one agent per round, but there are a few that will hold multiple Agents at a time. Some of these city areas give you resources (different colored cubes that represent the different class types in D&D. I.E. Purple cubes= Wizards, Orange= Warriors, White= Clerics and Black= Rogues.) These cubes are used to fulfill the requirements listed on the Quest cards. The collected…people cubes…are placed into the tavern area on your player card, and collected until you spend them to complete quests. It’s that easy. Some areas allow you to build new buildings, which then become new spaces for players to place agents on, but the owner of the building (the person that paid to build it) gets a reward whenever another player uses that building. This is a very fun mechanic.
The last few city spaces allow you to either get new quests, play your Intrigue cards, and even steal the first player token.
4. When all Agents are placed, the round is over and the Agents go home and await the start of the next round. Rinse and repeat. You play for eight rounds, and then the game is over.
The winner is the person that scores the most victory points by the end of the game. There is a pretty cool scoring track that borders the city and lets everyone get a quick glance at where scores stand at the moment. With the exception of the hidden VPs that will be applied at the very end of the game.
Lords of Waterdeep plays very elegantly and smoothly and the rules are very wll presented and easily understood. As our first game, I think I consulted the instruction manual two or three times during the game, and that was it. We all figured out the flow and some of the strategy of the game by the second round and were off to the races after that.
I would give the gameplay a 10. It is complex without being complicated, easy to learn, and the playtime is surprisingly quick. (We played with 3 people, first game ever, and were done in about an hour and twenty minutes.)
THEME:
This is where a lot of people take issue with Lords Of Waterdeep. I would say that on the surface, the theme is pretty thin. Using blocks to represent people, and spending those people like currency to complete quests does not let you form much of a connection with your subjects. We had many jokes during the game about suicide missions and the like. Killing your tavern customers off is not very good for repeat business! BUT, the theme really didn’t bother me at all personally. A bit of imagination goes a long way in this game and the three of us that played were able to give some personality to our suicidal little cube adventurers.
The look of the game, and the theming on the board, tokens, coins and cards is solid though. The coins are shaped like squares and half-moons and are just fun to hold. The card art and quest titles help to build some sort of story, and the building names help immerse you as well. Not everyone will see these things as immersive, but the good thing is that there is a solid game underneath it all regardless.
I would give the theme an 8.
CONCLUSSION:
After reading all of that I am sure you can see that I really liked this game. It plays fast, is easy to learn, has great components and sets up quickly. There is a lot of strategy and choice, but not enough to cause analysis paralysis. I am going to play this with my kids next weekend (ages 11 and 13) to see what they think, but I am pretty sure they will grasp the concepts and gameplay pretty quickly. I would say it is a good gateway game with enough meat to keep serious gamers coming back for more. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
Thanks for reading and have fun playing!
This was first exposure to a worker placement game, and I really enjoyed it! This may have had something to do with the simplicity of the mechanics in addition to how much I enjoy the D&D theme.
Game Components
As long as you don’t want to store this game in its side, the components and box design in this game are excellent. The cards all feel like solid quality card stock with a nice feel in your hand. The artwork is engaging with sufficient variety. The board and player mats all clearly delineate where everything is placed, which dramatically cuts down on messy table tops. I’m the type of person that likes for everything to be nice and neat on the table, and this game clearly accomplishes that. And when it’s time to put the game away, everything fits clearly and snuggly in the box. As long as you don’t store it on it’s side in which case everything is likely to get mixed up.
Mechanics
This is a simple worker placement game where you gather resources (wizards, clerics, warriors, rogues, and money) and use them to complete quests with a variety of awards including victory points, more resources, and sometimes recurring positive conditions. For people not familiar with Euro style games, this is a great introductory game although more experienced Euro gamers may find themselves getting bored with the simplicity of the mechanics.
Theme
This really is a Euro game with a little bit of a theme thrown on top. You are “shadowy” Lords of Waterdeep (hence the title) working to complete quests that will enable you to take control of the city with know other players knowing who you are playing as. This makes for a fun reveal at the end and some nice artwork, but the theme is a minor enough element that it’s easy to forget about while placing your workers.
General Game Play
Every turn you begin by placing an agent on any one of several spots on the board that each give you different resources, allow you to gain quest cards or intrigue cards, or to play intrigue cards. After you collect your resources/play your cards, you can then complete one quest (this simply involves paying the required resources) and collect any rewards. Everyone takes turns placing their agents until they have placed all available agents. Then the round ends and everyone collects their agents again. The game ends after the completion of 8 rounds. At that point, victory points are totaled to determine the winner. It’s nice to have a limit of 8 rounds for controlling game time.
Overall, I really enjoyed this game as an introduction to a worker placement game as well as the theme even if it wasn’t a major component of the game. I have also played it with both the minimum and maximum number of players and enjoyed it both ways.
The Lords of Waterdeep by Wizards of the Coast is a traditional worker-placement Euro style game set in the famed Forgotten Realms city of Waterdeep that is more than worthy of being added to your collection.
With Wizards of the Coast not known for Euros and Euros not known for adopting D&D/Fantasy themes, wariness was naturally called for when considering this game. Put your worries aside though as this game delivers fun in spades (and of course wizards, fighters, thieves, and clerics).
At the beginning of the game, you are secretly dealt a Lord of Waterdeep identity that will help direct your focus in Quest selection. Played through eight rounds, you assign agents (the number depends on the number of players) to recruit adventurers, secure gold, purchase buildings, and engage in intrigue among other tasks all to gain you power (read: victory points) in Waterdeep. Claiming quests (by securing a Quest card) and completing them (by fulfilling the requirements of the quest card – usually with a set number of adventurers that you have recruited) is the primary way you win the game. At the end of the eight rounds, you will add points to your score based on your wealth, remaining adventurers, and secret rewards based off of your completed quests and your Lord. These points are significant so winning the Lords of Waterdeep is always something determined at the very end of the game rather than the beginning or middle.
Two particularly nice options for your agent assignments deserve specific explanation. One, is to purchase buildings that immediately create a new place for agents to go. The rewards at these sites are typically very attractive but grant benefits to the owner of the building in a mild way as well. Consequently, purchasing these tiles is an attractive option as it either provides you a great place to go or generates resources for you when your opponent does (see my game tip entitled “Locations, Locations, Locations!”). Second, players can also send their agents to a locale that allows them to play Intrigue cards which do a variety of things to help you win the game (sometimes they help you directly while others thwart your opponent). This location is particularly nice because it allows the agent to be reassigned at the end of the round effectively providing a “two-for-one” move option. These sites both speak to another great facet of the game – you are always picking between places you WANT to go rather than picking between worthless choices. Sure, you are not always going to get to go exactly where you were hoping but the game remains constant fun rather than frustrating because you never feel like your turn has been simply wasted.
Reasonably priced, it is certainly worth noting that this game’s components are gorgeous. The board is striking in appearance and very functional in design. Admittedly, one might quibble with the colored cubes that stand in for wizards, fighters, thieves, and clerics but otherwise all of the parts are top notch and really add to the flavor of the game. Both the Quest and Intrigue cards include dramatic artwork that if examined can draw you into the story. The building tiles are nice and come with corner markers so ownership of the real estate is never in question. Instructions on the cards, tiles, and manual are all very clear and intuitive. Not so incidentally, the insert in the box is quite simply the best that I have ever seen – there is a place for everything and everything fits neatly and securely in its place. Everything is designed to pop up when pressure is applied so there is never frustration with getting out the sizeable number of pieces required to play. I am anticipating expansions for the game and if these come they will not fit in the original box, but otherwise if there is an award for best insert, 2012’s winner has been found.
This game offers tremendous replayablity through the nice collection of Quest and Intrigue cards, the differing emphases provided by the host of different Lords, and a fun mechanic that means choices are always going to be different depending on the opponent (s). Nevertheless, I will say that a Lords of Waterdeep expansion also seems a natural. Additional Quest and Intrigue cards would be an inexpensive and welcome way to expand replayability.
Some have and will complain that the theme is “pasted on.” However, I frankly think of this as a positive not a negative. The “pasted on” nature of the theme allows the many folks who don’t care for the fantasy theme still to fully enjoy this easy to understand strategy Euro. For those, who do love the fantasy theme, the names of the quests and components, the tremendous artwork, and the beautiful board etc. should provide more than enough grist for imagination mills (something fantasy and D&D enthusiasts should have well developed already). In other words, this game is tremendous for it is possible to either ignore the fantasy theme or embrace it depending on your preference.
The game serves two to five players and appears to scale well with all groups. I have played primarily in a two-person format and have found it very enjoyable. With only two players, many, many quests will be completed but players still have to thoughtfully prioritize their moves. The game allows and encourages player interaction but at the same time, you primarily concentrate on your own efforts so the environment is a fun competitive one rather than hostile. The game moves along quickly and time even faster with the game.
Don’t just stick your toe in, dive right in to The Lords of Waterdeep!
Lords of Waterdeep (LOW) is a mechanically simple, but otherwise rich and satisfying game that takes 10 minutes to learn but gives an hour of enjoyment with each play-through.
I was initially surprised that a D&& themed Wizards of the Coast game could be so… UNLIKE D&D… Wrath of Ashardalon, for example, bored be after a few plays; LOW, however, keeps me coming back for more.
Thematically the game if pretty nifty. Who wouldn’t want to be a scheming politician in a fantasy city, wrangling to gain influence and control? You build and control important locations in the city of waterdeep, plot and scheme against your opponents, and recruit adventurers to go complete quest for you. You also don’t know EXAcTLY who the opposition is: each player has a secret scoring condition that only they know; you have to be observant to figure out what it is…
the game mechanics themselves are fun and intuitive. Basically it’s about two things:
1) Resource management: should you use up your three difficult-to-get wizards to complete a quest that gives you an ongoing, passive benefit, or should you save up for a quest that gets you a large victory point payoff? Players have to make decisions about how and when to spend what they have
2) Differential turns: players have to be on their toes and adapt their gameplay quickly, as turn order affects what subsequent players can do. Should you try and become the first player, giving up the chance to hire warriors now for a possible increased payoff later, or is it more important to try and hire adventurers as fast as possible right now?
Replayability is high: you’ll be a different Lord in each game with different secret goals and different quests and buildings will come up (which can substantially change the game, actually) leading to new tactics and strategies
Components are simple and nice. Nice wooden pieces reminiscent of Carcassone, a few elaborate cardboard pieces, nice art.
An easy-to-learn game that’s a big bang for your buck!
This is a game that is quickly climbing my charts becoming one of my favorite games in my collection. I am very happy I took a risk and made the purchase without ever playing the game myself. Let’s dive in and see what we are getting into.
Lords of Waterdeep is a worker placement game that is set in a town from the Dungeon and Dragon theme, but that doesn’t really matter because outside of the names and flavor text this game has nothing to do with D&D.
Game Play:
In the game you are completing quest to score victory points and win the game. But to complete these quest you need a number of recruits and resources. In the game you are sending your agents to gather these recruits and resources by playing them in different parts of the city. For instance, you can send an agent to the arena to recruit two fighters, aka orange cubes, to your cause. When you gain the requirements necessary to complete a quest you do so on your turn resulting in a reward usually of victory points or some other benefits such as additional resources.
There are a few other aspects of the game that I think are very intriguing. My favorite are the buildings. You can build different building that provide the players with more places to send their agents. The great thing about this is when someone else sends an agent to your building there is a reward that you get every time as the owner.
The other mechanic is in intrigue cards. These cards allow you to interact with the other players some. Sometimes you are attacking them, sometimes helping them. The great thing about this is to play a card you have to send an agent to the harbor. At the end of the round, eight rounds in total, you get to take your agent from the harbor and send him to another location. Very beneficial!
Components:
This is one aspect that I feel the game has generated a good amount of buzz about. And they are pretty great pieces and top quality, but nothing is really mind blowing. What I have heard a lot about is the box and holder for the pieces. Honestly, it can be frustrating. All the pieces have their own place which is great, but some of the spaces are a little tight and I have more than once shot gold tokens all over trying to get them into a slim space. Over all though good to great.
Two to Five Players:
I’ve played this game with different numbers of people; maybe not three, but the game scales great. I really appreciate when a game plays well with just myself and my girlfriend, but also with the guys. I also like that it plays more than four, I think it adds a lot more chances to get to the table and get your money’s worth out of a game when you can play it with more people.
Ease to Learn:
One of the things that really drew me into this game was how easy it was to learn. The first time I saw it in person I was late to a game night and game in at the middle of the game. I sat at the table and just starting watching. Pretty quickly I was able to figure out the game play just based on the action players were taking and the icons on the board. I didn’t have to ask too many questions to be ready to play, everything just kind of lines up.
Blemishes, Not Flaws:
Some of the negative things I would say about the game is that it may not be very deep. I’m not sure if there are more than one or two routes to victory. It would also be nice if some of the lord cards you get that influence play were a bit more varied in what they did. They are all the same minus one. I also think this could make the game a bit deeper. One idea I had was a lord who earned bonus points for completing quest over 20 vp. Another would be extra points for when you end the game with left over money, maybe the most or recruits.
Overall:
As I’ve stated this game is quickly climbing up my charts and I don’t have any real flaws with the game after a multiple play through, only ideas to improve. It can easily fill multiple rolls with a good amount of strategy, play length being about an hour, ease of learning and number of players. This is a game that I’m very happy to own and would suggest to many.
Lords of Waterdeep is a worker placement game that doesn’t necessarily do anything really new. Players take turns placing their Agents on various buildings in the City of Waterdeep to acquire resources (adventurers, gold, or intrigue cards) or to get Quests. They then use those resources to complete the Quests they have acquired.
While some say the theme is “pasted on” (and in many ways it is), if you use your imagination it can feel like you are recruiting and sending out adventurers to do your bidding. Most of the Quests make sense thematically, but you have to look for it. For example, the “Heal Fallen Gray Hands Soldiers” Quest requires 2 clerics, 1 mage, and 4 gold. The reward is 6 Victory Points and 6 Fighters. If you think about it, it makes sense that you send healers in and spend some resources, and you are rewarded with volunteers to help your cause. (The Victory Points reward are always abstract but seem to be fairly balanced based on the resources required to complete them).
But the beauty of this game is that it can appeal to those that like a heavy theme (even if it is “pasted on”–like myself) and those who don’t (like my wife). It drives me a little batty when she says, “I’ll take a purple please”… Doesn’t she know that’s a WIZARD!
But she actually enjoys playing the game, and that’s what counts. The game is extremely easy to teach, and plays very quickly. It plays well with 2 and 3 players (and probably with 4 or 5 as well–I haven’t had a chance to try it yet). The random buildings, quest, and intrigue cards provides a lot of replayability.
The components are fantastic, though the cards will probably show some wear and tear from shuffling (they have black borders). If you sleeve your cards they will not fit in the well designed interior of the box.
If you are a hardcore gamer, this game may not feel “deep enough” for you. But if you like to take a little break from games that cause “brain burn”, this game may fit the bill. It plays smoothly and quickly and can appeal to casual gamers as well. With its short playing time, I expect this game to hit my table very often.
9/10
So the game is beautiful, but how does it actually play?
The game is actually surprisingly simple, and, with two players, lasts about an hour. Now, when I say simple, I don’t mean that there isn’t a wealth of opportunity for strategy and plotting. The game actively encourages underhanded and back-stabby playing. Simple means that I was able to sit down with two others who hadn’t played, on my first game, and from setup to completion, we had all become quite good at it. I look forward to playing again and seeing how well we all improve.
I’m getting far ahead of myself, though.
You play the Lords of Waterdeep, mysterious figures who control the organizations within the city from behind the scenes. You begin the game with a number of agents (based on the number of players) and begin placing them throughout the city at the different buildings. If an agent is at that location, you cannot place another agent there, except in the case of the Waterdeep Harbor and the Cliffwatch Inn, which have multiple spots.
You attempt to gather heroes (represented by colored cubes) into your personal tavern to send them on quests for you, which you gather from the board’s Cliffwatch Inn. Quest range from bolstering the city guard to stamping out cults. You gather these heroes from specific locations on the board.
This is where the strategy kicks in: You are able to see other players’ taverns, as well as the heroes they’ve gathered so far. As such, you can send your agents to locations you know the other player needs to gather adventurers from.
There are Intrigue cards you are able to collect as well, which you can use against the other players, or in your own efforts. These can add to your heroes, remove other player’s heroes, force other players to perform mandatory quests, and lots of other nasty little surprises.
In addition, you can build buildings of your own at Builder’s Hall. These give you new buildings with interesting new mechanics, and which give the owner a little something when another player places an agent there. There are some quests which give you Victory Points for building buildings, and one of the Lords of Waterdeep grants you VP for this as well.
And that’s what it comes down to: Victory Points. As the game progresses, you’ll gain Victory Points for completing quests, building buildings, and a few other things. However, no one really knows who’s going to win until the very, very end, as the Lords of Waterdeep are revealed. Each player took a Lord at the beginning of the game, and kept them hidden from the other players. When they’re revealed, they have a brief rule on the bottom of their card, granting VP at the end of the game for completing specific types of quests. While you may have been completing quests throughout the game, more than any other player, if you weren’t doing the quests your particular Lord of Waterdeep granted VP for, the person with fewer completed quests than you may very well surge ahead and win it.
This game is incredibly simple to play right off the bat, but has a ton of options in-game, allowing players to play to their liking. In my first game, one player spent most of their time sending Agents to the Harbor, playing Intrigue cards, while another built a massive army of Fighters and completed Warfare after Warfare quest. Most of my tavern was full of Rogues as I completed lots of Skullduggery quests.
It’s a fantastic game, and I can’t wait to play with a full complement of five players.
Lords of Waterdeep is one of the best new games I’ve played in a long time. While worker placement games are nothing new, Wizards has taken a popular genre and put a fresh of coat DnD paint on it. While at its core, quests are the best way to accumulate victory points. But by playing intrigue cards and owning buildings, you can affect others resource collections which in turn can hinder their ability to collect victory points.
There isn’t a lot of luck to the game except the quest cards that are revealed at Watchcliff Inn. Sometimes you’ll miss the opportunity to claim a high reward quest. But if that happens, you can hinder that person that claimed that quest by trying to starve them of adventurers or playing mandatory quests on them.
Lords of Waterdeep is one of those games where your strategy may have to change as the game is played. So it’s be important to be able to adopt a new gameplan mid-game.
The components in this game are top notch. All the buildings and tokens are made of heavy stock cardboard and the cards have a textured surface to them which gives them a high quality feel. In addition, Wizards has provided a well designed storage tray to hold all the pieces once the game is done.
Gamer Geeks – This game was immediately liked by my gamer geek friends.There’s enough depth and strategy to keep a player interested. And due to the many intrigue, quest and building cards, there is a good replay value to it.
Parent Geeks – After just one game played with the family, they all were anxious to try it again. My wife, the casual gamer, had no problem understanding the rules and developing a strategy over the course of the game and even won our first game. As such, this is good game for the casual gamer and a great introduction to the worker placement genre.
Child Geeks – My three sons, ages 9, 12, and 15, had no problems grasping the rules and after one round the rulebook wasn’t referenced again. While my 9 year old understood the rules, he had a little trouble developing a decent strategy. I think that will develop over time. But child geeks below 8 may lose interest in the game over time. In addition, good reading comprehension is needed to understand the quests and intrigue cards.
My biggest knock on the game is that once we got several rounds in the game, the theme of the game started to be lost. Over time we stopped calling the adventurers rogues, wizards, fighters and clerics and instead called them black, purple, orange and white cubes. We also started to gloss over the quest flavor text and just started looking at the quest requirements and rewards.
But aside from that, I’m very pleased with this game. In the multiple games I’ve played, long after we finished we continued to talk about the game, the strategy, what to do in the future and when we were going to play again. For my family and gaming group, this game is going to have some staying power. Waterdeep, City of Splendors, is a city well worth visiting again and again.