The Castles of Burgundy: 6th Expansion – The Cloisters

Hey there, castle lords! If you've ever thought about adding a special twist to your The Castles of Burgundy games, the 6th Expansion, The Cloisters, might be just what you need. This little gem originally came from the 2015 Brettspiel Adventskalender and brings five new Cloister tiles to spice up your duchy.

The gameplay is straightforward: each round, one of these Cloister tiles enters the central buying area, replacing one of the black-backed tiles. Just like everything else in Burgundy, you can buy it for two silverlings and place it in a corner of your personal player board. The main trick is that when you place the Cloister in your estate, it needs to be adjacent to other already placed tiles and, of course, match the number on the die you chose. The Cloister itself doesn't do anything special after placement, but it's a master at completing regions. Think of it as a strategic wild card!

And the scoring? That's where things get interesting! Each Cloister in your region counts as an extra space for calculating its size. This means a region that was once small can become huge, earning you more points. But heads up: even with the Cloisters boosting the size, no region can exceed 8 spaces. So, if you have a 4-space region with 2 Cloisters on it, it's considered a 6-space region, worth 21 victory points instead of the original 10. It's a small expansion, but with the potential to turn the game around! Perfect for those who love to optimize every point and add a bit of variety to their games.