Lords of Waterdeep: A Review (Preamble)

It seems like forever since I last wrote an article here.  Real life and work conspired against me.  My last post is pretty much the last time my D&D group got together to play.  However, things have quieted down for me a bit, so this Sunday we will continue our Rage Against Vaasa Campaign.

One of our players manages the local comics, collectible and everything-in-between store.  This means he can't join the group until about 8-8:30 p.m.  So, instead of hanging out aimlessly waiting for him to arrive, this Sunday we decided to get together at 7:00 p.m. and play WotC's latest board game Lords of Waterdeep.

Lords of Waterdeep is an Euro-style game.  Basically, Euro-style games have simple rules and short to medium playing times.  As a result, the rulebook for Lords of Waterdeep has a total of 8 pages of actual rules, which have as many explanatory pictures as they have words.  Sounds pretty simple, huh?  Reviews say a full game takes about an hour.  This is great if you are short on time and just want a quick game or two.  If you want to see the rules for yourself before buying the game, WotC made the rules freely available as a pdf file.

The board is big and really nice looking.  It shows the city of Waterdeep in all of its pre-Spellplague glory.  (I stole this pic from The Old Boardgamers' Blog.  I strongly recommend you visit that link.  His review of Lords of Waterdeep is quite in-depth and he has reviews for a bunch of other cool boardgames you probably have not even heard about.  After discovering The Old Boardgamers' Blog, I am now a frequent visitor and buying games based on the reviews there.) 

In Lords of Waterdeep, you play a Lord vying for control of the city.  The game lasts a total of 8 turns.  At the end of the eighth turn, the player with the most victory points wins the game.

As any good Lord knows, it is imperative that you keep your hands clean and can deny accountability for your actions.  Thus, you send agents out on your behalf.  Your agents can buy buildings for you, which give you a benefit whenever another player uses your building.  They can also hire adventurers to complete quests for you.  You get quests cards, which you try to complete by hiring adventurers, and intrigue cards, which you can use as barriers to slow down one of you opponents.  Sounds like fun already! 

Finally, each player randomly gets a Lords of Waterdeep card, representing the Lord they are playing. You do well to keep this card and identity hidden from your opponents.  Each Lord has a secret end.  At the end of the game, you get bonus points depending on how close you came to achieving your secret end, or even how many times you achieved it.  For example, Lord Kiriani Agrivar gives 4 extra victory points for each Arcane quest and each Piety quest you completed, while Lord Larissa Neathal will give you 6 victory points for each building you control.  After the eight round, the Lord identities are revealed and the victory points for achieving the Lord's secret end are tallied.  Achieving your Lord's secret end can really boost you from second or even third place to the winning position.

My only complaint so far is that, as you can see form the contents of the game to the right, the pieces are pretty much nondescript.  Clerics, fighters, rogues and wizards are portrayed by different colored cubes.  Personally, I would have loved to see a bunch of cool looking minis, maybe even make them compatible with 4E.  However, the emphasis of Lords of Waterdeep is on strategy and resource management so, hopefully, cubes instead of minis should not detract from the experience.

Editor's Note: for the actual play review of the game, check our entry Lords of Waterdeep: A Review (Gameplay).