Today we’re taking a look at AZUL: STAINED GLASS OF SINTRA by @next_move_games , one of my favourite abstract board games.
The follow up to 2017’s AZUL, Stained Glass sees you placing glass panes instead of tiles this time, in a game just as crunchy and colourful as its predecessor.
PLayers are filling eight windows, each with a mix of five panes. When this is done, the window is flipped, unless it’s the second time, when instead it is removed.
Something I like in this sequel is the variable set up. The windows are shuffled and placed at random, so each time you play, your board will be different. And so will your opponents.
The scoring is interesting too. When you score a window, you score it, and all previously scored windows to its right. This makes it juicier to complete windows to the right first and work back.
But the worker at the top moves left to right when you place panes, so decisions get tougher and more limited the further right you go. And it’s an action to return it to the left.
It’s a nice balance and key to the strategy you need to win.
I also really like how colourful the game is. Both the boards and tiles look so nice when set up in front of you.
There isn’t much I don’t like in Stained Glass. Though that seems to put me in the minority.
I regularly see most people put it as their bottom choice for the Azul series. We’ve only played the first two so far, but it’s definitely my favourite. I’m interested in trying the others to compare.
My only real gripes come from components. While the boards and tiles look beautiful, I feel like the workers and score cubes were borrowed from another game.
And the score board is a pain with its winding track. I would say I prefered the more straight forward score track in AZUL.
AZUL: STAINED GLASS OF SINTRA is a colourful and thinky abstract game that gives nice variability.
Always Play Blue 