I've heard great things about this board game from other people who have played it, and so I decided to pick it up for myself as a birthday present (using a gift card that was actually a gift, so technically it was a birthday gift from a friend!).
I played a 3-player game, which worked out nicely. The game has 8 total turns with each player getting a number of distinct actions within each turn, which are tracked through "agent" tokens. If you are playing a 2-player match, each player would start with 4 agent actions per turn, and if you have the maximum recommended 5 players, there would only be 2 agent actions per turn. The 3-player version, players start with 3 agent actions. Once the fifth turn is reached, all players are given an additional agent, making the later turns a little more important than earlier turns. This is a nice way of having games with more players be a little less burdensome than it would be otherwise. There are also two additional "agents" (with associated extra actions for the player that controls them) which can become available during later rounds.
The basic concept of the game is that each of the players represents the "sponsor" for adventurers (wizards, thieves, fighters, clerics) in a D&D world. Scoring consists of "victory points", which may be earned in various ways, but are mostly earned by having sponsored adventurers complete "quests". To complete a quest, each quest will have a specific number of each type of adventurer that need to be recruited, and perhaps gold to be supplied. Once completed, quest rewards (adventurers, gold, and/or victory points) will be earned. Players recruit the adventurers or earn the gold by having their agents visit various buildings within the city. There are also "intrigue" cards which can be played against other players to interfere with their progress in getting quests completed.
There are no dice rolled in this game, so it really is a "resource" game with shuffled cards providing the randomness to make the game different with each play. Even though this is set in the Dungeons and Dragons universe, and having some experience with D&D makes it easier to grasp some of the concepts, past experience playing D&D is certainly not a requirement for enjoying this board game. For me, given that I don't have as much free time as I used to when I was younger, it is nice to not have to take hours "prepping characters" before jumping into a fun game set in the D&D universe.
This game could certainly take a long period of time if everyone plays slowly and deliberately, but fast paced game play is very much a possibility, potentially allowing for multiple play-throughs on game night. The rules seem simple enough that one play through will be more than enough for people to understand almost all of the nuances to the game without too much trouble. So, while new players might be at a disadvantage in not knowing exactly what to do in the first turn or two, after a while keeping up with experienced players shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Overall, this is a very well balanced board game, with plenty of player interaction, and only a marginal level of "cut throat" actions harming other players. While there is some potential for a player in the lead running away with the game, but due to some interesting design elements (hidden "victory points" that are counted at the end of the game; "manditory quests" that can be forced on other players, the ability to see what resources other players need to gain victory points) that is less of a problem than I have seen in other board games.
I would rate this as a "moderately serious" board game with a high degree of re-playability. I don't think I would enjoy a 2-player session quite as much as a 3, 4 or 5-player session.
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Product information
| Product Dimensions | 12 x 7 x 15 inches |
|---|---|
| Item Weight | 2.31 pounds |
| ASIN | 0786959916 |
| Item model number | 5513165 |
| Manufacturer recommended age | 12 - 15 years |
| Best Sellers Rank | #219,476 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games) #6,552 in Board Games (Toys & Games) |
| Customer Reviews |
4.8 out of 5 stars |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Release date | March 20, 2012 |
| Language | English |
| Manufacturer | Wizards of the Coast |
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From the manufacturer
Designed by Peter Lee & Rodney Thompson
Lords of Waterdeep includes the following components:
- Game board
- Rulebook
- 5 card stock player mats
- 121 Intrigue, Quest, and Role cards
- 130 wooden cubes, pawns, and score pieces
- Wooden player markers
- Card stock tiles and tokens representing buildings, gold coins, and victory points
Lords of Waterdeep
Waterdeep, the City of Splendors – the most resplendent jewel in the Forgotten Realms, and a den of political intrigue and shady back-alley dealings.
You take in the role of one of the masked Lords of Waterdeep, secret rulers of the city. Through your agents, you recruit adventurers to go on quests on your behalf, earning rewards and increasing your influence over the city. Expand the city by purchasing new buildings that open up new actions on the board, and hinder—or help—the other lords by playing Intrigue cards to enact your carefully laid plans.
- 2-5 players
- 60 minute play time
- Ages 12+
- strategy board game
- 8 rounds of play
Videos
Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1
An Essential Worker Placement Game for Every Board-Gamer
--Gameplay-- It's a Euro style board game where you're one of the eleven lords of Waterdeep and vying for the control of the city. Each player have their own agent pool and on their turn they place one agent at a time on specific spots on the game board to gain some resources, complete quest, play intrigue cards or own buildings. The player with maximum victory points at the end of the game wins the game. Good + Excellent worker placement game. This was our first Worker placement game and we simply loved it right from beginning. + The game was easy to understand, very intuitive and very engaging. We watched a short video on youtube and started straight away. + The game uses the same setup for 2-5 players, just the number of agents in the pool differ. So there's no sorting through tiles/cards to setup based on number of people. + Involves a lot of strategy in planning the order and placement of your agents based on what resources you need and also what to block for your opponent ;) + It's equally fun with 2, 3, 4 or 5 players. People who are looking to purchase this to play with their spouse/partner need not worry. It plays well with 2 player too. + Highly replayable. It has been a few months since we purchased this and we play this game couple of times every week, sometimes even more. Bad - Not so thematic. The cubes are called Warrior, Cleric, Rogue and Wizard but we never use these names. We simply call them by colors..orange, white, black and purple. - Some of the text/rules on the Intrigue cards is not very clear and we had to look up online for clarification. - Only 11 lord cards. There should've been more with unique powers. --Build Quality-- Good + The box: The given box has multiple sections with good ergonomics to sort and arrange all the pieces. + Wooden pieces: Build quality is great for wooden cubes and agents. + Board-cut pieces: The building tiles, victory point tokens, player markers and the money, it's all really cool! The shape and artwork for each of these is unique which I haven't seen in any other board game so far. + Cards: Quest cards, Intrigue cards and Lord cards are usual shape/size and quality. + Artwork: Did I say it already? It's AWESOME! On all the board-cut pieces, cards and the game-play board. + The game map is beautiful and very illustrative. Bad - The box is so precisely built for the exact size of pieces that you'd have to really put some effort in order to fit everything in the box, which can be really tiring at the end of the game! -- Should you buy it? -- I'd say it's a MUST/ESSENTIAL buy for anyone who's looking for a gateway to Worker Placement Game. I'd say for many people there's a tie between Lord of Waterdeep and Stone age when it comes to Gateway to WPG, but I prefer this one. After playing this we actually bought Caverna and Architects of Western Kingdom (and never really felt the need to purchase Stone Age). Also this game minimizes the luck effect (no dice rolling). This is also good for getting new friends into board gaming. It's quick to teach and has moderate complexity, so neither too trivial nor overwhelming for new players. Even serious players who've played other WPG and more complex ones, this can be a light go to game when you want to just relax and play a stress-free game. After few initial games, our games are comparatively fast and usually last 60-90 mins.
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2012
Top reviews from other countries
- FabiolaReviewed in Australia on June 16, 2024
I love this game!
The delivery was super quick and all the pieces completedFabiolaI love this game!
Reviewed in Australia on June 16, 2024
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Ramin SiegmundReviewed in Germany on April 22, 2014
Tolles Einstiegs-Spiel in das Worker-Placement-Genre
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