MayFair Games Catan
Mayfair Games Pillars of the Earth

Product Description

The Pillars of the Earth is based on Ken Follett's best-selling novel. Players join together to help build Kingsbridge Cathedral. Using your workmen and resources, you must wisely deploy assets to overcome unexpected difficulties and shortages to prove yourself the greatest builder of them all! Will your efforts be recognized when the Great Cathedral at Kingsbridge is complete?

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• Brand: MayFair Games
• Model: 4102617
• Dimensions: 2.88" h x 11.63" w x 11.63" l, 2.61 pounds

From the Manufacturer
England at the beginning of the 12th century and Prior Phillip of Kingsbridge has a glorious vision to build the largest, most beautiful cathedral in England. To accomplish the task, Phillip recruits the most renowned builders in the country. However, the fate of the Cathedral is constantly threatened by all manner of catastrophes and oppositions. The Pillars of the Earth is based on Ken Follett's best-selling novel. Players join together to help build Kingsbridge Cathedral. Using your workmen and resources, you must wisely deploy assets to overcome unexpected difficulties and shortages to prove yourself the greatest builder of them all. Will your efforts be recognized when the Great Cathedral at Kingsbridge is complete? It contains 1 game board, 1 cathedral (6-piece), 12 master builder figures, 75 cards, 35 worker figures, 82 building material cubes, 9 indicator pieces, 1 die, 1 bag, and game rules.

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Customer Reviews

Excellent game
I have played this game several times and enjoyed each game.

To put the game in context:
- Each player is a master builder working on the cathedral at Kingsbridge England in the 1100s.
- Each turn represents about 10 years and their are 6 turns.
- Your goal is to make the greatest contribution to the construction of the cathedral. VPs represent that contribution.

Each turn has three major phases:
- In the first phase, you allocate your workers to producing various resources. You may also hire craftsmen during the phase.
- In the second phase, you allocate your master builder tokens to various tasks and functions. You are limited to three tokens so you must choose wisely. Also the other players are competing for the same tasks and functions.
- The third phase is mechanical and represents the actual actions you planned in the first and second phase. Once you learn the game, the third phase resolves very quickly.

I really like the way the game captures the feel of the book. Also, for an economic and production game, it plays very quickly once you become familiar with the turn flow. The component are of a very good quality.

The only thing I don't care for the randomness in allocating master builder tokens. It makes strategic planning difficult, but that might be an accurate reflection of the medieval world...

A little difficult to start to play
This game is a lot of fun and very quick to play (1 hour when you know how to play it).
The only thing I found troublesome was to get the hang of it at the beginning. The mechanics of the game concentrate the strategy in a few moments at the begining of 6 rounds and the rest of the round is an automatic outcome of your decisions as a player. This makes it diffcult to understand where your actions are getting you... So BE PATIENT... The second time you play it, you'll enjoy it a lot more.

Great game
Me and my wife have had a great time playing this game. It wasn't to hard to learn how to play. After a few rounds you get the hang of it. There are a lot of different stratgies you can take, which makes the game really interesting.