This week’s Monday Night Gaming: Lords of Waterdeep.

# of Expansions: 1

# of Players:  2-5 Players

Best with: 3-4 Players

Publisher: Wizards of the Coast

Avg. Play Time: 1-2 hours

Parts: 430 pieces + board.

Overall Rating: 9/10.

This is probably one of my favorite strategy board games that I’ve played. A coworker of my husband’s introduced us to this game about a year ago, and I’ve been addicted ever since.

While it’s D&D based, role-playing isn’t required to play the game or have a good time. The Lords, buildings, and many set-up aspects are randomized each play-through, making every game different.

General Mechanics: The set up is similar to Discworld: Ankh-Morpork in that you take on the role of one of the secret Lords of Waterdeep who rule the city. What lord you are remains secret from the other players. Players use “adventurers” to earn rewards and influence in the city by purchasing buildings and going on “quests.” 

Each quest uses a mix of adventures (clerics, warriors, rogues, and wizards) and money. Quests provide rewards and victory points when completed. Some of these rewards can help the player with ongoing boons/benefits.

Each round, players take turns placing agents in unoccupied buildings. Each building gives the player a different action and by occupying the building, the player will block others from using that building for the rest of the round. The actions given will make the player think about resource management and other strategies. Whether a player goes first that round will also affect the strategies used.

Agents can perform the following actions:

• recruit different types of adventurers
• collect money
• collect quest or intrigue cards
• collect the first player marker (which allows the player to go first next round)
• play intrigue cards (which can help that player or hurt opponents)
• built new buildings (which open up new action spaces and benefit the builder when the space is used)

Once all agents are assigned, the round ends and the next round begins. Players gain points and resources by completing questions, playing intrigue cards, constructing buildings, and having other players use constructed buildings.

Players keep their assigned “Lord” hidden during the game. Each Lord will result in a different scoring bonus at the end of the game, making the clear winner hidden until the end of scoring.

How to Win/Lose: At the end of eight rounds, the Lord with the most victory points wins.

What I Liked: I enjoy the flavor of the game (D&D-like) and how the strategies vary based on the random elements of the game, the number of players, and what decisions opponents make during game play.

What I Didn’t Like: The colored cubes (warriors, wizards, etc.) are tiny and easy to scatter during a game. Other than that, the game rocks.

Overall Rating/Impression:
This is a game worth owning and playing multiple times. We’ve enjoyed it two player as well as small group (4 player). It’s a well-rounded game and loads of fun.

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