The Architects of Amytis Review
Advert: this game was gifted by Hachette Board Games UK, this has not affected our opinion.
If ever there was a main geezer that wasn’t called Ebeneezer and sung about by The Shamen, it would be King Nebuchadnezzar II. He was a real crowd pleaser, and married the princess Amytis. If you are to believe traditional thoughts, the Nebucha-geezer built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for his Queen. Why am I going into Ancient Greece history and 90s anthems? Well, at this point I am asking myself the same question. But in my defence I was really struggling with an introduction for the board game review of the Architects of Amytis! As you’re planning a Babylonian city for Queen Amytis I tried to make some witty, yet informed introduction… on this occasion I realise I failed… but the good news is, the rest of the review is better than that!
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Setup
Give each player a board and tokens in their colour and decide on a first player. Choose which scoring side of the cards you are using for each building as both players have to have the same face up beside them as reference.
Between them place the shared tile market with stacks of five tiles face up on each of the nine spaces. Shuffle the pattern cards and deal two to the first player and three to the second player. Note that the rulebook has been updated online and this allocation is different to that printed.
Place the pattern cards in a facedown stack and reveal three to form a shared market in the middle of the table. Also betwixt the players, place the score board and King’s favour board.
Set up is complete as swift as the wind.
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Gameplay
On your turn, you will take a tile from the shared board and place one of your architect tokens on the tile that is revealed. This tile will be placed on your board in the hopes of working towards one of your pattern cards and can be stacked on top of other tiles already on your board. You can complete pattern cards whenever you match the design on the card but they are scored at the end. The pattern cards can be rotated but not flipped.
Each tile scores differently and there are two different scoring options for each which you choose during set up. These points are tallied immediately on the score track.
In addition to these point scoring opportunities, there are also King’s Favours to claim and score. One of these can be claimed whenever a player manages to get three of their architect tokens in a row.
If you manage to get three architects in a row or if you place all four of your architects on the board, then at the start of your next turn you retrieve them, freeing up more spaces on the shared market.
The game ends when any two stacks are depleted, if this is triggered by the first player the other player gets a final turn, but if the second player ends it the game finishes immediately.
Points for the King’s Favours and pattern cards are then added to the points accumulated through the game for a final score. The winner being the player with the most points!
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What it’s like
The tic-tac-toe element will feel familiar, but with more plays the importance of getting these and blocking your opponents from doing the same becomes paramount. In my first few plays King’s Favours were plentiful but now they are scarce. As players soon realise that this is arguably more important than the pattern matching and building selection. It means you sometimes choose the suboptimal building to block your opponent, or give yourself the best chance of getting three-in-a-row. This all adds some lovely interaction.
I also like how the architect pawns stay on until the beginning of the turn in which they are removed. It allows you to almost reserve a slot should you wish. Of course, there is a bit of luck in which buildings come out at what time, especially when you are scrambling to pattern match and a certain colour is buried in one of the stacks or taken by your opponent before you get to it. But you’ll probably get what you need eventually, especially as you can forward plan a little because you can see what is revealed when a tile is taken.
I like how the buildings have two ways to score depending on which way up the cards are chosen for them as this adds some replayability.
All the aspects of the tic-tac-toe, building scoring and pattern matching combine really smoothly. I think getting three-in-a-row possibly takes a bit of the focus away from your personal board, but the balance is generally okay. It is a little unintuitive that the patterns cannot be mirrored, you only make that mistake a few times, but those few times are super annoying!
Games are relatively quick as turns are generally prompt and optimal tiles and moves present themselves. In that regard, it’s a nice quicky, that still has strategic satisfaction.
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Table Presence
The Architects of Amytis looks colourful on the table top, especially mid-game when there is more on both player boards and still tiles remaining in the shared pool. The illustrations on the tiles are clear and have a nice crisp look to them. The colour palette works really well too.
The pattern cards are perfectly utilitarian, I don’t mind the design on the backs either. The first player card is a bit dull and would’ve benefitted from an upgrade. However, features like this have helped keep the RRP low, so I understand.
The little architect meeples are fine but average, but the scoring tokens have a nice design to them. The scoreboard does that looping winding path thing that oftens messes with my head, but I have got used to it now. I think it could probably be a bit bigger too to make it less prone to jiggles and then left trying to remember where your scoring marker was if it gets nudged.
The rulebook was clear and concise which is important, and I like how the building scoring is clear on the cards for each player as quick reference.
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Final thoughts on The Architects of Amytis
This board game’s biggest selling point, is its price! With an RRP of £20 this game offers value, something that can rarely be said these days when it comes to newly released hobby games.
Of course, value isn’t everything, but the gameplay will feel familiar to many and the strategy not only develops over time, but also it changes depending how the buildings score too.
As a two-player only game The Architects of Amytis offers that good blend of enough to think about, but without being too taxing for after a long day at work. Therefore, it is unlikely to be the main event on a rainy Saturday afternoon when you have the capacity for more, but as a midweek option it’s a good weight. If you’ve got this far and it sounds like it might be for you, it is well worth giving a whirl.
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Key Facts
Number of players: 2
Board Game Review Recommended Age: 8+
Publisher’s Recommended Age: 10+
Playing Time: 25 minutes
Setting Up and Take Down Time: 2 minutes
Designers: Jérémy Ducret and Romaric Galonnier
Publisher: La Boite de Jeu
RRP: £20.00
Summary
The Architects of Amytis is a nice and light two player only board game with plenty of tit-for-tat gameplay. With a suggested selling price of £20 it offers plenty of plays per pound!
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Artwork and Components
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Complexity
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Instructions
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Interaction
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Value for Money
Overall
Pros
- Two player only
- Tic Tac Toe element feels familiar
- Good replayability
- Pattern matching
- Great price
Cons
- The first player marker
- The scoreboard snaking
- The power of the King’s favours
Buy The Architects of Amytis
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Reviewer’s Note
For clarity: we don’t get paid for our reviews. However, we were kindly gifted this game by Hachette Board Games UK. We have tried not to let this affect our review in any way.
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