The Castles of Burgundy Midgame: Workers, Tempo, and the Bridge

By phase B, every duchy at the table has a shape. Regions are half built, storage spaces hold plans, and a few players have a worker pile or some silver. The opening was about laying foundations. The midgame is about tempo: getting more done per turn than the dice alone allow, and doing it before someone else takes the tile you need.

Read the table first

Everyone rolls at once, so you can read the whole round before your turn. Look at three things:

1. The depots. Which tiles are there, and which depots match your dice with one worker or less?
2. Your rivals’ boards. What color is each player close to filling? Which tile would finish their biggest region?
3. The bridge. Who picks before you this round? Whatever you want, they may take first.

Then plan your turn. The best move is often the one that helps you and also takes a tile a rival was counting on.

Turning two dice into more

Your dice give you two actions. Several tiles give you more:

• Castle: an extra action with any number.
• Town hall: place a second tile from storage right away.
• Warehouse: sell a color of goods without using a die.
• Market, carpenter’s workshop, or church: take a tile of the listed kinds from any numbered depot, no die needed.
• The black depot: one extra tile per turn for 2 silver.

These chain. Place a castle with one die, use its extra action to place a town hall, and use the town hall to place a third tile. That is three tiles from one die, with your second die still to spend, and each placed tile can trigger its own effect too.

Keep a tile in storage that can start a chain. A stored castle or town hall is a turn that can grow when the dice line up.

Workers are currency

Think of workers as money you spend on dice. One worker shifts a die by one. Two workers turn a 3 into a 5, or a 2 into a 6 by wrapping past 1.

Their value at the end is low: two workers score 1 point. Their value mid-game is high: a worker that turns a dead die into a completed region is worth 10 points or more. So workers are for spending. Hoard just enough to cover your next turn or two, and refill with the take-2-workers action or a boarding house when you run low.

Silver and the black depot

Silver also scores only 1 point at the end, but 2 silver buys a black depot tile. The black depot holds tiles of every color, and no die can reach it, so it is often where the tile you need is sitting.

A good habit: before you buy, know where the tile will go and which die will place it. A black depot tile that sits in storage for a phase was 2 silver for nothing.

The bridge as a weapon

Every ship moves your piece forward on the bridge, and if that space is occupied, your piece goes on top. Going first in a round means first pick of every depot.

That matters most when depots are rich, early in a phase, and when two players want the same tile. If a rival needs the last castle in depot 6, and a ship this round moves you ahead of them for the next, you get goods, points from the sale, and first claim on that castle. You do not need the castle to want it. Denying a rival a region-closing tile can be worth as much as scoring one yourself.

Selling goods well

Goods score 2, 3, or 4 points per tile with 2, 3, or 4 players, plus 1 silver per sale. The points are per tile, but the sale costs a die, so bigger stacks make each die worth more. Three tiles of one color sold at once take one die; sold one at a time, they take three.

Your three goods colors are a limit, so stay focused. If a ship would bring a fourth color you cannot store, that ship may be better used on another depot.

Bonus tile races

Watch which colors each player is close to filling. The first player to fill a color gets the large bonus tile, worth 5, 6, or 7 points by player count. The second gets the small one. If you and a rival are racing for the same color, it can be worth spending workers to finish first. If you are far behind in a race, spend your actions elsewhere.

Your midgame budget

There is no fixed rule, but a comfortable midgame often looks like this:

• One or two workers in hand.
• Enough silver for one black depot buy.
• One tile in storage that can start a chain.

If you have none of those, spend a turn rebuilding: take 2 workers, sell goods, or place a mine. Our explainer on engine building covers the same idea from a wider view: build the thing that builds points, then let it run.