Boardgame Review: Belfort

What do I think about Belfort?
So, I remember vividly my first time playing this game. 5 of us had had a good, long day volunteering at a gaming event. I had previously insisted that we maintain the evening game night afterwards. Thankfully, it was accepted.
So the 5 of us, tired and mentally drained sat down to play this game. None of us had ever played it before.
We cracked open the box, and stumbled through the setup and rules while trying to learn a new, heavily detailed game. After sometime I realised the rules, probably the first game ever, were laid out in such a way you can play the game page by page. So without knowing anything, we did that; lept blindly into Belfort.
Placing our workers, not fully knowing the ramifications, collecting resources still trying to figure out how to use them, trying to build properties, but not knowing where to place them efficiently.
I’ll never forget Maggie at the end of the game (slight paraphrase): “Wow! We’ve being playing for more than 4 hours? I don’t like games that take this long, but this was fun.”
Yes. That first game, with 5 tired experienced gamers learning a big game for the first time, played for 4 hours stumbling through the game and, most importantly, having fun that we didn’t know how long we were playing for.
Belfort is a good game, but not in my top 5; but it’s next in line. Maybe one day.

Yes your highness, I am pleased to be allowed to build your kingdom.
Some weeks later, I receive a letter from Dept. Of OA&BND:
“Esteemed Master Architect,
The Department of Official Apologies and Bad News Delivery would like to officially apologize to you. You see, there’s been a slight clerical error. Instead of hiring only one supervisor to oversee the construction of Belfort – our kingdom’s glorious new castle on the wild frontier of Troll country – we have somehow contracted several to do the job at the same time. This means there will be other Master Architects poking around, building things where you want to, competing for precious lumber, stone, metal and gold, hiring the best Dwarves, Elves, and Gnomes out from under you, cozying up to the King when you are not looking, and generally getting in your way as much as possible.

As much as it would be great if all of you could be friends, you can’t afford to let your competition out-build you or out-hire you. After all (and here’s the Bad News Delivery part of this job), there is only one Key to the City; we can’t just chop the thing up and divvy it out. So, in his great wisdom, the King has decided that when the building season ends at the first snows, he will award it to the one who has shown him or herself to be truly deserving of honour. Please accept this Official Apology for this sudden twist, and remember that your signed contract is legally (and magically) binding. Good Luck Master Architect.

Yours officially,

Rudwig P. Hornsimmons
Deputy Assisstant to the Assisstant Deputy
Dept. Of OA & BND” -Intro from Rules-

WHAT?!? I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THOSE OTHER ARCHITECTS?

Really; the story matches the game play perfectly and is what really has my interest in building Belfort over and over again. Really, this game is in my top 10, probably 7 or 8, since Talisman and Risk (1959) have the tie for 5/6.

So the game is played with 2-5 players, aged 13+, over seven (7) rounds, for (according to the rules) 90-120 minutes, which more often than not is 120-180 minutes due to reasons of, “Oh. I was going to do that...hmm...what now?”

When you first open up the rules and red tape...yes, it's actually called:
"Rules and Red Tape: A Gnomish Guide to Royal Construction Methods & Practices; City Planning Edition."
Like, how cool is that?

Each player receives, in their chosen colour:
One (1) player board which acts as your go to for game information.
One (1) wooden Scoring marker.
Seven (7) each of wooden Dwarf and Elf markers (set four (4) aside for future hiring).
Twelve (12) wooden Buildings that represent the properties you’ve built in each district.
In addition:
One (1) each of Lumber, Stone, Metal, but five (5) Gold.
Lastly:
Five (5) Property cards of which you will choose three (3) to keep.

The rest of setup:

1. According to the Scoring Track, place the 5 Districts together to form a the pentagonal boundaries of Belfort.
   Through a set selection, you then take randomly five (5) total of Resource, Basic, and Interactive Guilds and place one in each District on the Game Board.

2. Place the Collection Board on the table. This is where you start the game (sort of) and where you do most of your resource gathering and worker hiring.

3. Place the Calendar Board on the table.
   Set the Calendar (turn) marker to the side of the seasons track.
   Place a specific number of Gnomes per the number of players in the “Gnomes for Hire” area.
   Place the remaining Property cards in their space and reveal three (3) to the side of the board.
   This is where you’ll do your trading.

4. Finally, take the turn order markers equal to the number of players and randomly deal them out for first order.

There are 5 Phases per round:
1.Calendar Phase
Move the marker to the next space on the calendar track: Round 1.

2.Placement Phase
One at a time, in player order, players will place their Dwarves and Elves on to the open plank space, or pass and place the remainder in the resource area.
This is the point where you decide to recruit new workers, change turn order, use guild abilities, or use property specials that you have already built. Pay the appropriate fees when you place your worker if the space requires any.
However, we are merely placing workers. We are not resolving the spaces yet.

1. Collection Phase
   -Everyone now collects their resources: Lumber, Stone, Metal, and Gold with an added bonus; whoever has placed the most physical workers in any region, gains one (1) extra resource of that type, but no extras if there are ties.
   -Now we resolve our recruiting actions, then the turn order.
   -For Turn Order after a player has selected a turn marker, it flips to the gray side and can not be selected by another player this turn.
   -If anyone has previously built building that have any income, collect that now.
   -Now pay it back in taxes. Your total points to date will indicate how many taxes you pay.

2. Actions
   Now the race begins.
   Building Properties, Walls, and Guilds.
   Activating workers placed in the Guilds or Properties.
   Making trades with Crazy Ord.
   Hiring Gnomes and buying Property Cards (each can only be done once (1x) per turn and a hand limit of five (5)).
   This is that part of the game when you race other players (according to turn order) in building properties in one of the 5 districts and working it out that you can have control (the most buildings) in each district.
   Mind you, everyone else is doing the same.

3. Scoring
   Only when the Calendar marker is on an ‘X’ space do you score, which happens at the end of each season (Round 3, 5, and 7).
   Count each District separately for scoring; The player with the most properties built gains five (5) points. Second, three (3), and third one (1) but only in a 4+ player game.
   The separately Dwarves, Elves, and Gnomes, the player with the most three (3) points and second most one (1) point.

After the seventh (7th) round and the third (3rd) scoring round the game is over. Most points win.

So is this game, with it’s fun theme and bright colours good for the younger crowd? Not likely.
There are so many symbols, some levels of reading, and all the tiny pieces. It could definitely be overwhelming for younger children, however, however, however...not all children are built alike, many just want to have fun, but some can think and I believe could have fun with this game.
I actually should test this out. I have an 11 and 2 10 year olds who enjoy playing games and they can play Navegador, hmm, something to ponder...and arrange.

So in my city, lives one of the creators of this game and I’ve had the chance to meet him. We usually cross paths at volunteer events or such. We’re both involved in the gaming community, but run in different circles. He’s a nice guy. A family man and in addition to making board games, he does enjoy playing and teaching games, as well.
Honestly, if you ever get a chance to play this game, or should they reprint it, buy a copy; do so. The game is fun and has a lot of re-playability. Though you might not want ot play it every day, you would enjoy playing it more often then some other games.