PALADINS OF THE WEST KINGDOM (2019)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
1-4	90-120 mins	S J Macdonald Shem Phillips	Garphill Games

This is a worker placement game where players are using their Paladin meeples to protect their city from various threats.

What I love about Garphill Games is that they take a known mechanic, and put a little twist on it. Raiders had ‘one meeple on, one meeple off’. Architects had . . . well a lot of meeples.

In Paladins, there are two main changes to traditional Worker Placement. The first is that the different coloured meeples don’t show which player they belong to, but what role they have.

And instead of a single shared board, each player has their own board.

The boards in Paladins (including the two smaller central boards that do get shared) look extremely busy. It’s what put me off learning it at first.

But as soon as you know how everything works together, you’ll see it’s a smooth little engine, and all it requires from you is a little balance to get what you require.

The left side of your board is about gaining resources. A lot of simple actions like Developing or Trading. The right side is where the magic happens. Each of the six positions requires one attribute level, and they raise another. It links everything together.

There are only seven rounds in Paladins, so you have to be efficient. That’s where the challenge is. It’s not about where you place your meeples. It’s the order you choose your actions, making sure you maximize each turn.

Sure, it can be intimidating. And long. We play 2-player and that averages about 90 minutes. I usually like to review games when I’ve experienced the various player counts, but I don’t think I’m missing out here.

I love the crunchiness of Paladins. I love the art (another game decked out by The Mico). I love how it all fits together.