Most points in The Castles of Burgundy come from closing regions. Two other sources run alongside them all game: animals on your pastures and goods you sell. Both work the same way at heart. The more of one kind you gather, the more each new piece is worth. This lesson shows the math behind both, so you can run them on purpose.
How a herd scores
A livestock tile shows 2 to 4 animals of one kind. When you place it, you score its animals, plus the animals on every tile of the same kind already on that pasture. A pasture is one connected area of light green spaces. Animals on a different pasture, or of a different kind, do not count.
The box has four kinds of animals, 7 tiles of each: 20 with light green backs and 8 with black backs.
Order matters
Because each new tile scores every earlier tile of its kind again, the first tile you place gets counted the most times. So put your biggest animals down first.
Take three sheep tiles showing 4, 3, and 2, all going on one pasture.
| Order placed | Scores | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 4, then 3, then 2 | 4, then 3 + 4, then 2 + 3 + 4 | 20 |
| 2, then 3, then 4 | 2, then 3 + 2, then 4 + 3 + 2 | 16 |
Same tiles, same pasture, 4 points apart. The rule: the first tile in a herd is scored once for every tile in that herd, so lead with the biggest.
Herds grow fast
Matching tiles also add up quickly. Three matching tiles of 3 animals each score 3, then 6, then 9: 18 in all. Four score 30. Each new matching tile scores more than the last.
Mixed pastures still score, just less. A cow next to two sheep scores only its own animals. If you can choose, keep one pasture for one kind.
On duchy 1, the light green spaces form one pasture of 5 and one of 1. The pasture of 5 is where a herd can grow. Its completion also pays 15 size points plus the phase bonus. The single space is a quick region to close with any animal at all.
Livestock helpers
- Market: fetch a livestock tile from any numbered depot.
- Monastery 7: 1 extra point for every tile that scores, so big herds score even more.
- Monastery 10: change the die by 1 for free when placing livestock or ships.
- Monastery 24: 4 points at the end per kind of animal you placed. It pulls the other way from herding, so pick one plan for your pastures.
How goods reach you
Each round, the white die sends one goods tile to a depot, and goods stay there until a ship takes them, even across phases. So depots that keep getting skipped build up piles.
A ship takes every goods tile from any one depot you choose, up to your three colors. Before you place a ship, scan all six depots and choose the one with the most goods you can store. A ship on a depot with three tiles is worth far more than one on a depot with one.
Making every sale count
Selling takes one die and sells every tile of one color. You get 1 silver plus 2, 3, or 4 points per tile with 2, 3, or 4 players. Since the die cost is the same, bigger stacks pay more per die.
| Stack sold, four players | Points | Plus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 tile | 4 | 1 silver |
| 2 tiles | 8 | 1 silver |
| 3 tiles | 12 | 1 silver |
| 4 tiles | 16 | 1 silver |
So hold a single tile when you can, until a ship brings a match. Sell a single only when the die has nothing better to do or the game is ending, since unsold goods score just 1 point each at the end.
Goods helpers
- Warehouse: sell without a die.
- Monastery 3: 2 silver per sale, so every sale also funds a black depot buy.
- Monastery 4: a worker with every sale.
- Monastery 5: a ship also takes goods from an adjacent depot.
- Monasteries 15 and 25: points at the end for kinds of goods sold, or for every tile sold.
Ships pay twice
Remember the ship’s other half: every ship moves you up the bridge. Duchy 1 has six blue spaces, two rivers of three, so a goods plan is also a turn order plan. The midgame lesson shows how to use that.
Next lesson
Castles of Burgundy Endgame and Scoring Math
Next, the endgame and scoring math: what each region is worth by phase, and how to spend every last worker, silver, and good.
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