A Pillar in the (Gaming) Community

Sangediver (and his wife) have been picking up more new board games than I have lately. But either way, it has given me the chance to try out some new (to me) stuff. I think one of my favorites of the more recent crop they've "harvested" is The Pillars of the Earth.

This is a game based on a novel I've heard good things about, but have not read. I therefore can't speak to whether it feels like a good tie-in to said book. But I can say this, the game does not feel like it's based on a book, and I mean that in the most flattering way. I've sampled a few tie-in games here and there over the years (like the Game of Thrones board game, Cthulhu and Arhkam games), and I tend to find them all overwrought. In their desire to make the game represent the source material, I feel these games often get caught up in minute details that are more about achieving a simulation than a good strategy game.

Not so for The Pillars of the Earth. The rules are very straight forward, and the goal feels quite "Euro-game abstract." (In theory, we're all building a cathedral together, but the actual cathedral bits are simply turn markers, and the points you score don't affect this in any way. Rather than get bogged down in little things, this is just a solid "worker allocation" game.

Each turn is divided into two phases. The first is a fairly straightforward, clockwise-around-the-table process of gathering resources (building materials and/or money). The second phase has each player allocate three worker pieces to any of around a dozen areas of the board where different tasks can be undertaken (consuming the money and resources you've earned).

This second phase of the turn is an interesting one. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but repeated plays of the game has made me appreciate it more. Each player's workers are put into a cloth bag, then pieces are pulled one at a time and given to the owner to assign to the board. But the first to place must pay a steep price in gold, that drops by 1 with each piece pulled, until finally all remaining pieces can be placed for free.

At first glance, it seemed as though random luck could see a player have the first chance to place pieces often enough to really swing the balance of the game. But the money turns out to be a significant factor here. As I've played the game more, I've seen occasions where the players placing later actually do better, thanks to the money they save.

Made for four players, there is an expansion (which my friends also picked up) that adds a few more areas to assign on a secondary board, and raises the cap to six players. There's fairly good compensation for making sure the extra players work, and the new areas of the expansion board add some interesting things to the game. But still, I'm not sure the game works great with a full load of six. During the first "go clockwise" phase of the turn, it can be an awfully long time between your actions; five seems to be a better limit with the expansion, I think.

Right now, this is a game I try to suggest fairly often, and would gladly play if someone else brought it up. I'm past the point of feeling like I must own my own copies of games I like when someone else I know has one, but this is one I could see myself coming close to making an exception for.

It has me a bit curious about the book too, I must say. And about an upcoming television series, which though financed out of Canada and Germany, will apparently be airing here in the U.S. on Starz starting in July (and boasting quite a cast). Reason to subscribe to Starz in a few months? We'll see.

In any case, I can keep enjoying the board game until then.