The Eight Buildings in Castles of Burgundy, and When to Build Each

Towns are the biggest color on most duchies. On duchy 1, twelve of the 37 spaces are beige, split into four towns of 1, 3, 3, and 5 spaces. You will place more buildings than any other tile, so knowing the eight of them well pays every game.

Each building does its thing once, the moment you place it, with no die or action needed. If you cannot use the effect right then, it is lost. And each of the eight types may appear only once per town, unless monastery 1 is in your duchy.

The eight, in three groups

Buildings that give you something

Watchtower: 4 points. Simple and always useful. It never fails, so it is the perfect building for the last space of a town when nothing else fits.

Bank: 2 silver. Exactly the price of one black depot tile. A bank is a black depot buy you can make this turn or later.

Boarding house: 4 workers. The same as two take-workers actions, for free. From the dice lesson you know what workers are worth: each one turns a near miss into a hit.

Buildings that let you do more

Town hall: place another tile. Place any tile from your storage right away, on a legal space, and that tile’s own effect happens too. This is the start of most big chains. A town hall that places a castle that takes another action is three things from one die.

Warehouse: sell goods. Sell one color of goods as if you had taken the sell action, with no die. It is best with a tall stack of one color waiting.

Buildings that fetch a tile

These three take a tile from any of the six numbered depots, whatever its number, into a storage space. The black depot is not included.

• Market: a ship or a livestock tile.
• Carpenter’s workshop: a building.
• Church: a mine, a monastery, or a castle.

They solve the hardest problem in the game: the tile you want is in a depot your dice cannot reach. Two habits make them work. First, check that the tile you want is still there when you place the building. Second, keep a storage space free, because the fetched tile has to go somewhere.

Planning a town

The one-per-town rule shapes every town you build.

• A town of 1 or 2 takes any building. Use it for whatever effect you need most.
• A town of 3 needs three different types. Easy to plan.
• A town of 5 or more needs five or more different types. Late in that town, you may find the last space can only take a type you already have there. Plan the mix early.

A good rule of thumb: put the flexible, always useful buildings, like the watchtower and the bank, toward the end of a big town, and the timing buildings, like the town hall and church, where you can use them now.

How many of each are there?

The box holds 7 of each building: 5 with beige backs and 2 with black backs. In a four-player game, the numbered depots use eight beige spaces each phase, so all 40 beige buildings appear over the five phases. Each type shows up five times in the numbered depots and twice in the black depot. With fewer players, fewer reach the board.

That matters when you want a specific type for a specific town. Once you have seen four watchtowers taken, only a few are left to come.

Buildings and the monasteries

Monasteries 16 to 23 each score 4 points at the end for every building of one type in your duchy. They pair well with buildings you would build anyway. On duchy 1, with four towns, the one-per-town rule caps you at four of a type, unless monastery 1 lifts it. That is 16 points from a single monastery if you fill every town with one of its type.

Which building to place first

When two buildings fit, ask in order:

1. Does one finish a town now? Take the phase bonus while it is high.
2. Can I use one effect fully right now? A church with nothing worth taking is a wasted effect.
3. Which keeps my next turn easy? A boarding house or bank sets up the turns ahead.

Our explainer on engine building covers why effects that feed the next turn often beat points now.