A Round of Castles of Burgundy, Turn by Turn

Rules make sense on paper. They stick when you watch them run. This lesson follows one round of a four-player game from the first roll to the last die, so you can see every piece of the turn working together before your own first game.

The players are Ada, Bram, Cass, and Dov, all on duchy 1, at the start of phase A. Every turn below follows the current Ravensburger and alea rulebook.

Before the round

Setup is done. Ada won the start roll, so she has 1 worker; Bram has 2, Cass 3, and Dov 4. Everyone has 1 silver and 3 goods. Their turn pieces are stacked on space 1 of the bridge with Ada on top, so the order this round is Ada, Bram, Cass, Dov.

The six numbered depots are full of face-up hex tiles, the black depot holds 8 black-backed tiles, and phase A’s five goods tiles sit face up on the round spaces.

The roll

Everyone rolls their two dice at the same moment. Ada also rolls the white die. Nobody moves yet: this is the moment to look. Because all the dice are visible, every player can plan while the others take their turns.

Ada’s white die shows a 5. Before her turn, she moves the first goods tile from the round spaces onto depot 5. That is the white die’s only job. It is not a third action for Ada, and no worker can change it.

Ada’s turn: take, then place

Ada rolled a 4 and a 2. Depot 4 holds a ship, and one of the spaces next to her castle is a blue space showing a 2.

1. First die, the 4: she takes the ship from depot 4 and puts it on one of her three storage spaces. Even though she plans to place it right away, it goes to storage first.
2. Second die, the 2: she places the ship from storage on that blue 2 space, next to her castle.

The ship’s effect happens at once. She takes all the goods from any one depot she likes. Depot 5 now holds the goods tile the white die sent there, so she takes it. Then she moves her turn piece one space forward on the bridge. She is alone on space 2, ahead of the stack, so she will start the next round and take the white die.

That is the cleanest turn in the game: one die to take, one die to place, nothing left waiting in storage.

Bram’s turn: a worker bends the number

Bram rolled a 6 and a 6. He wants the monastery in depot 1. A worker changes a die by one, up or down, and a 6 can wrap around to a 1. So he returns one worker to the supply, turns one 6 into a 1, and takes the monastery into storage.

His second 6 has nothing he wants. He uses it to take 2 workers from the supply, which any number can do. He ends the turn with 3 workers, one more than he started with, and a monastery waiting to be placed.

Cass’s turn: a building closes a town

Cass rolled a 6 and a 3. Depot 6 holds a watchtower, and one of the beige 3 spaces touching her starting castle is a town all by itself, a region of one space.

1. The 6 takes the watchtower into storage.
2. The 3 places it on that beige 3 space.

Two things pay at once. The watchtower’s effect scores 4 points. And the tile completes a region: 1 point for a region of one space, plus the phase A bonus of 10. That is 15 points from two dice.

Then she reaches for the black depot. Once per turn, at any moment, a player may pay 2 silver for one black depot tile. Cass has only 1 silver, so she cannot buy this round.

Dov’s turn: a sale and a purchase

Dov rolled a 1 and a 1. He holds two goods tiles of the color that matches a 1, so the first die sells them. He turns both face down on his sold goods space and takes 1 silver, plus 4 points per tile at four players: 8 points.

Now he has 2 silver. He pays it to buy a castle from the black depot, straight into storage. His second 1 places nothing useful, so he takes 2 workers.

The round ends

Every player has used both dice, so the round is over. One goods tile has left the round spaces, which leaves four: four rounds to go in phase A. Next round, Ada rolls the white die and goes first.

At the end of the fifth round, the phase ends. Each mine in a duchy pays 1 silver then.

What to take from it

Look back over the four turns and the same pattern shows up each time: read the dice, give each die a job, fix a near miss with a worker, and check the black depot. That loop is the whole game. The rest of the course is about choosing the jobs well.

If one turn here felt slow to follow, that is normal. Our guide to analysis paralysis has kind ways to keep a learning table moving.