Forges of Ravenshire Review
As is often the case, it was the cover that first drew my attention. At a convention this summer I passed a booth sporting a poster of a crazed-looking hammer-wielding badger, and on a table beneath was sprawled a glorious array of boards and components, with various tracks and spaces for placing cubes and dice. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it looked like a lot of fun. I stopped for a closer examination and, after a chat with the designer, walked away with a copy of the game.
Everything comes down to gameplay though, no matter how unique a cover, no matter how much euro-y deliciousness oozes from dozens of colorful cubes and dual-layered boards. So now that I’ve had some time to explore the game beyond that initial impression, what did I actually think of it?
Forges of Ravenshire is a dice placement game of gathering and crafting for 1-4 players. Its listed playtime is 50-100 minutes.
The goal is to have the most money at the end of the game. During setup, each player receives a player board, ten cubes in their chosen color, and three dice (one in each of the three colors).
The game is played over the course of four seasons and each season is divided into three phases. To start, players roll their three dice, then play through the Gathering phase, during which they will take turns placing a die and gaining the associated reward, then removing another die and gaining the associated reward. The die they removed from the central board is placed on the matching guild on the left side of their personal player board. There are three guilds that start out with basic abilities. Throughout the game players can purchase new tiles to add to the guilds, thus making them stronger. Guild tiles produce goods or offer special trade opportunities for players.
After each player has placed and taken three dice (and ran the guilds for each taken die), the game moves to phase two: the Production phase. During this phase, players will move dice from the guild area on the left side of
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