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We Built This City
We are coming to the end of the King’s reign in the West Kingdom and entering the final phase of the wonderful trilogy of games. We built the city with Architects, defended it from invaders in Paladins and now we must govern in Viscounts of the West Kingdom. Today, I’m talking about the differences and intricacies of the solo mode specifically. If you want to have a look at the multiplayer game, we have an excellent review here. Solo modes are increasingly popular in game and I think this one is right up there. So join me at the table... or don’t, I suppose. This is a solo game after all.
Solo Differences
Viscounts plays exactly the same for the human player – you set up in the same way and take your turn placing a card from your hand out to your player board, move your viscount and then take the action you want to. However, there are differences for setting up and playing for the AI players.
Firstly, take one of the player boards and flip it to the solo side. You can choose randomly or pick the opponent you want to take on. Each has their own focus, which we’ll get to later. Set it up the same way as your player board with one change. The Guildhalls and the Trading Posts are switched, which will help later. Then, look at the left most section of the card area on the solo board. This will tell you which cards you need to remove from the AI Scheme deck (those with a black back and a brown header on the front.) Shuffle those cards and place them to the left of the AI board. Then shuffle the Future Scheme deck (those with a black back and a black header on the front) and place them nearby.
In step 8 of the setup rules for Viscounts of the West Kingdom, reveal only two pairs of Player cards and Hero Townsfolk cards and choose one for yourself. Place the AI’s Viscount figure on the space indicated on the other Player card and give them the starting resources printed on the Player Board. And that’s the setup! Time to play.
As said before, your turns will be the same, but you then have to contend with the AI’s turns. There are a couple of general rules to be aware of such as the AI Viscount only moves clockwise around the outside of the main board, wild resources will be gained based on the specific AI preferences and both the AI and you will give the opponent the Rearrange ability when landing on the same space with the Viscount. For the AI, this means they gain a resource of their choice. Also, certain icons will behave differently for the AI, as shown on the AI reference card. For example, a Rearrange icon or gaining two silver will give the AI a resource of their choice. A white card with a green plus lets the AI add a future scheme card to their discard pile and when flipping over debts and deeds, the AI will flip whichever they have the fewest of then prioritise debts. There are a few other specifics but the AI reference card explains these pretty well.
When you take the AI’s turn, you’ll move all the cards in their row to the right, then flip over one from the deck and work through the actions from top to bottom. In general, these cards will list three steps, or four if they have a Criminal icon at the top. If you have a Criminal icon, the card reminds you to move the Corruption marker to the right for each Criminal icon showing. The second from bottom icon relates to the movement of the AI’s Viscount and the last icon is the action they will attempt to do: Build; Noble; Manuscript or; Primary Focus.
The Primary Focus action varies on the AI opponent and is in the top left of the AI board. When Building, the AI builds the left-most available building they can afford, which is why the Guildhalls and the Trading Posts are switched, so the costs are in descending order. The AI will then place the building on the left-most Building Spot in the section they are in, moving clockwise. Like the human players, the AI cannot build across the Rivers and they gain any benefits from the Building Spots and Links made.
The Noble and Manuscript actions work in the same way for the AI as they do the humans, except the AI can take the action from the outside ring. The only other differences are that, during the Noble action, the AI will place as many workers in the castle as possible, with a minimum two.
The game ends in the same way as it does in a full player count but the AI will take the final turn. They also score in the same way as the players with one exception. They score points for each leftover resource. Whomever has the most points is the winner.
Final Thoughts
Here’s the thing – if you like a difficult solo version with a large variability available to you, you’ve come to the right place. Each of the AI’s has a specific focus, be it building, writing manuscripts, bolstering their own actions or jumping up the castle. You even have the option to increase the difficulty by adding Future Scheme cards during setup. And I really like this game, despite the solo mode destroying me every time I played against it. That said, every time I lost, I immediately set up for another game to try again against another opponent. What I’ve also found is that the AI scored about as many points as I did in my first playthrough with real humans, which suggests a pretty good balance in the design. Even if it also suggests I’m not that good at it.
I love that there is the flavour of an AI focusing on one thing. It gives a real crash course on the efficiency of the gameplay if you play it right, which makes it a perfect learning tool. I hugely appreciate when a designer puts a solo mode in that gives an AI to defeat rather than a target score, and I love when the opponent is a difficult one.
To me, Viscounts is my least favourite of the trilogy, but that is not a slight on it. All three are excellent games, I just like Architects and Paladins slightly more. But then, I’ve played both games more. So having the chance to play the solo mode, and understand the unique relationship between the cards and the actions you are taking makes a real difference to my enjoyment of the game. I’m fairly certain I played it wrong a few times but that’s ok because I wanted to get back to the game and play another round.
That concludes our thoughts on Viscounts of the West Kingdom. Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts and tag us on social media @zatugames. To buy Viscounts of the West Kingdom today click here!
