Castles of Burgundy Deluxe Edition Unboxing

 Castles of Burgundy is a well respected game designed by renowned designer Stefan Feld. Originally released in 2011, Castles of Burgundy is a Eurogame that incorporates dice rolling, dice placement, and tile placement that sees players take on the role of an aristocrat establishing his/her region or duchy. The game is routinely among board game influencers' top 10 of all time, and currently resides at a healthy 17 on the Board Game Geek top 100. 

I had always wanted to try Castles of Burgundy, but there was a persistent issue preventing me from it- the look. The pale color pallet seemed dull, and in my mind, somehow also colored my desire to play the game unimpressively. 

Thank you to Greg Bishop for the pictures.

Enter Awaken Realms. It was announced that Awaken Realms was releasing their own edition of Castles of Burgundy. This company doesn't know how to do anything small scale. Every game I've ever seen from them is a gargantuan, ultra deluxe experience. I have previously played three of their titles: Tainted Grail, Lords of Hellas, and Nemesis: Lockdown, and each one was lovingly lavish. With such an audacious company at the helm steering this new edition, I was again interested in Castles of Burgundy.

My copy arrived earlier this week and I went through it. While I haven't played it yet, I wanted to take others on a tour. So, allow my pictures and thoughts to elucidate your need (or not) to get this fancy new edition, whether you're already a Castles Connoisseur or a Burgundy Baby.

This box is quite large- maybe three times the size of the original title. It does include every expansion that has previously been designed for it and an entirely new module involving growing grapes. The included letter was an especially nice touch.

The playmat is roughly the same size as the board. It's a smidge larger. I like how the colors don't look faded on the neoprene and the images are still crisp. That's not always the case on mats.

Here are all the tiles in their acrylic form. They are neatly organized in well designed containers.

Here's an example of the quality of the tokens. They look great!

More tiles that look great! They feel great in the hand, too.

These metal coins are terrific, but not without flaw. The design is appropriate, both in time period and in location. They even have a bit of a made by hand look and feel- almost as if they were each hammered out individually. However, I wish that there was a "tails" design and not just the same image on both sides.

These dice are high quality and have an elegant look to them. Although I do feel they are a bit on the small side.

These wooden tokens are quite nice, but I wish there was a way to have these in acrylic as well. They feel a bit odd in the midst of all the acrylic tokens.

There are a total of five bags. I'm not sure, but I think they are leather. The inside material is very soft to the touch. They do smell pretty badly, but that aroma will probably fade over time.

These markers are amazing! The "sundrop" stain on the pieces look incredible!

I don't like this tray. There is an L-shaped piece and a small tray that fits inside. However, they both share a lid. I've found it troublesome to get the lid to fit properly and for that smaller tray to stay where it's supposed to.

Outstanding! These might be the best looking score track markers I've ever seen.

This is an example of the player board. They are recessed to easily hold everything a player will collect for their duchy. 

A player board with a duchy board inserted. There is also a board overlay to help tiles remain more securely in place. I think this will function exactly as intended.

The stack of duchy boards. There are TWENTY double-sided boards creating an immense amount of replayability. That's forty different patterns. There are four sets so that each player can use the same board pattern.

The castles of the Castles of Burgundy. Again the "sundrop" stain really highlights the expert craftsmanship of the miniatures. 

I am highly impressed with the quality of Awaken Realms' rendition of Castles of Burgundy, but I expected to be. Everything about this edition of the game screams deluxe. Even the paper chosen for the rulebook is exceptional. If the gameplay is half the quality of its components, I anticipate an amazing experience for all.