Stats:
No. of players: 2-6
Amount of time to play: 60 min
Age requirements: 12+
Set-up time: minimal

Barons Rules Description:

To win Barons, you need to build the realms first cathedral. You accomplish this by gathering resources and defending your territory.

There are four types of land and each has its own deck of cards. The four land types are mines, river, forests and pastures. You start the game with a castle and one of each of the four land types adjacent to it and two cards from one of the decks.

On your turn you may play action cards and use your buildings’ abilities to manipulate your hand, your barony or your opponent’s hand or barony. You may play as many knights as you want and can afford. You must pay for knights with cards from your hand and they come with two costs. The cheaper cost sets the knight in your barony to defend it. If you pay the higher cost you may attack with your knight before it defends for you. Knights defend any cards adjacent to them.

You may also add one building or land to your barony per turn. You must pay for buildings with cards from your hand.

You add cards to your barony by placing them next to your cards that are already placed.

The last thing you do on your turn is tax your barony to draw cards. You may tax up to four adjacent cards of one resource type.

Before you build a cathedral you must build a church. It costs one of each resource to build and then you must discard your hand. The cathedral costs two of each resource and wins you the game.

Quick Review of Barons:

Barons plays quick and can end being a tense race to build the cathedral. You have some opportunity to mess with your opponent’s plans with knights, but this must be balanced with advancing your strategy.

You must decide be sure to diversify the lands in your barony. If you only concentrate on one or two resources you’ll only get more of those colors.

The components for this game are a mixed bag. The cards are great quality but the art is hit and miss. The clam shell package is ok but a box would be nicer. The rules are well-written and easy to understand.

After you get to know the cards in this game it gets better. The first few games you should try different resource collection to get a feel for the cards in each deck. Players that have played more will have an advantage over new players, but this should level out quickly.

Barons is a unique card game that blends hand management, city building and very well. If you enjoy tile placement or resource management games, you should give this game a try.

Score and synopsis: (Click here for an explanation of these review categories.)
Strategy 4 out of 6
Luck 4 out of 6
Player Interaction 4 out of 6
Replay Value 4 out of 6
Complexity 3 out of 6
Fun 4 out of 6
Overall 4 out of 6