Played a game of Die Säulen der Erde with Johanna yesterday, while the baby was sleeping. It was reasonably enjoyable. Nothing special — I’ve rated the game as 8 right now. As many of you have heard, there’s more than a passing resemblance to Caylus, but I think the comparison doesn’t hold too far.
At least with two players dSdE is clearly weaker of the two. Maybe we didn’t play aggressively enough, but there was very little competition and tension, while two-player Caylus games are fun. With more players, I’d expect dSdE to fare better, when there’s more competition for the best spots. Now there was relatively little reason to ever pay to place a master builder. I hope the tension goes up with more players, that’s for sure.
Brian Bankler doesn’t think dSdE has staying power — I kind of agree, I don’t think this one’s a real keeper. I’m happy to have it (well, I’m selling my German copy now, as the Finnish edition is coming out soon), but I think I’m probably going to sell it off in year or two, particularly since the game is available in BrettSpielWelt. Well, we’ll see. This might be fun game for the Jyväskylä crowd, and I don’t think this would be a bad choice for a SdJ (I wonder how popular the book is in Germany — at least one edition is ranked around 300 on German Amazon).
One response to “Die Säulen der Erde first thoughts”
It is hard to say which game has staying power and which doesn´t. I see dSdE as a game with potential in the segment of non-hardcore gamers. It is relatively easier and quicker than most of the games it is compared with but offeres still hard decisions and thinking.
And the fact that the game is based on a well known novel by a famous author will boost the sales of the game (or a least I think that is how it goes).