The Castles of Burgundy

Why this “beige” Euro still farms points like it’s 2011

Disclaimer

This blog is written in a personal capacity by a nurse who spends far too much time around dice, tiles, and laminated score pads. Any strategic advice given below should not be applied to clinical decision-making, NHS service redesign, or conversations with anesthetists. No castles, duchies, or sheep were harmed during the writing of this post.

Few board games manage to look this unassuming and yet remain this ruthlessly compelling. The Castles of Burgundy is the archetypal “don’t judge a game by its box art” experience: muted colours, tiny icons, and an almost aggressive refusal to care about table presence—paired with one of the tightest efficiency puzzles in modern Euro gaming.

Since its original release in 2011, Burgundy has quietly become a benchmark. Not flashy. Not trendy. Just relentlessly good. Although some members of my board game group may disagree.

The sort of game people teach with a sigh (“yes, I know it looks beige…”) and then immediately suggest playing again.

When it came into retail (and what people mean by “the new edition”)

The original Castles of Burgundy appeared in 2011, designed by Stefan Feld and published by alea (an imprint of Ravensburger). It quickly earned a reputation as a dice game where luck mattered far less than it had any right to.

Over the years, Burgundy has seen multiple reprints and cosmetic refreshes, but the biggest shake-up came with the Special Edition produced in collaboration with Awaken Realms. This version leaned hard into deluxe components, clearer iconography, improved boards, and—crucially—bundled content that previously lived across expansions and promos.

Today, when people say “the new edition,” they might mean:

a refreshed printing of the classic game, or
the Special Edition, which is effectively Burgundy with everything turned up to eleven.

Strategically, the soul of the game remains unchanged—but the context in which you make decisions can vary depending on how much content is in play.

Player count: why it scales so well

At its heart, The Castles of Burgundy is a 2–4 player game, with modern editions also supporting solo play.

What’s remarkable is how little it breaks at different counts:

2 players: tight, tactical, almost chess-like (loosely). Tile denial and tempo matter a great deal.
3 players: arguably the sweet spot—enough competition to keep depots contested without chaos.
4 players: busier and more opportunistic, but still surprisingly controlled.

The reason it works is simple: interaction is indirect but meaningful. You’re not attacking opponents; you’re competing over timing, availability, and efficiency. Burgundy doesn’t shout at the table—it quietly judges you.

The core loop (or: why every turn feels small until the scores say otherwise)

Each turn boils down to:

Roll dice
Use dice to take tiles
Use dice to place tiles
Trigger bonuses, buildings, shipping, knowledge tiles, workers, silverlings
Feel briefly clever
Repeat

The genius is that dice randomness is never an excuse. The game gives you just enough tools—workers and silverlings—to turn an awkward roll into something useful. Strong play is not about rolling well; it’s about converting mediocrity into momentum.

Strategy fundamentals that never go out of fashion

1. Actions matter more than points

New players chase visible points. Experienced players chase what a move unlocks:

completing a region
triggering a building power at the right moment
gaining flexibility for the next turn

If a move sets up future options, it’s often better than a move that scores immediately.

2. Workers and silverlings are your insurance policy

Dice control is everything.

Workers turn “wrong” dice into correct ones.
Silverlings bypass timing issues entirely.

Together, they smooth variance and let you plan beyond the current roll. Beginners treat them as emergency tools. Strong players treat them as infrastructure.

3. Tempo quietly wins games

Shipping tiles, turn order, and early access to depots all influence tempo. Burgundy rewards players who act slightly earlier than everyone else—earlier region completion, earlier bonuses, earlier access to critical tiles.

Small advantages compound frighteningly fast.

4. Build to complete, not to admire

Your duchy board is not a scrapbook. It’s a puzzle.

Prioritise regions you can realistically finish.
Avoid creating awkward gaps “for later.”
Small and medium regions completed early are often worth more than ambitious late projects that never quite get there.

5. Burgundy punishes unfinished business

Unfinished regions don’t just lose you points—they represent turns spent without payoff. Strong players constantly ask: What can I still finish before the game ends?

Original edition vs newer editions: what actually changes strategically?

The core strategy is identical across editions: efficiency, conversion, timing, and spatial planning. Where editions differ is in variety and balance.

Classic editions

Cleaner, more familiar metagame
“Standard openings” are well understood
Excellent for learning fundamentals and reading opponents

Special Edition and content-heavy setups

Many more duchy boards and configurations
Less reliance on memorised patterns
Greater emphasis on reading your specific board and adapting on the fly

In short: classic Burgundy rewards system mastery; content-rich Burgundy rewards adaptability.

Why Board 8 is infamous

Ask experienced Burgundy players about Board 8 and you’ll often get a pause, followed by a polite suggestion that maybe you don’t randomise that one.

The issue isn’t that Board 8 is unbeatable—it’s that:

its layout makes region completion unusually efficient, and
it enables high-value scoring lines more consistently than many other boards.

In competitive or experienced groups, this skews outcomes enough that many tables simply exclude it or draft boards instead.

Later editions acknowledged this reputation and adjusted certain boards to smooth out extremes. The easiest house rules remain:

exclude Board 8,
draft boards, or
have everyone play the same board for learning games.

All three solve the problem without drama.

Tips for beginners (that actually help)

Finish something early.
One completed region teaches more than five half-built ones.
Don’t hoard tiles “just in case.”
If a tile isn’t enabling something soon, it’s probably slowing you down.
Spend workers proactively.
Use them to turn a good roll into a great turn—not to rescue a bad one.
Let your board guide you.
Burgundy rewards realism. If a region looks awkward now, it’ll look worse later.
Be selective with knowledge tiles.
The best ones change how you play future turns, not just the current one.

What separates beginners from strong players

Beginners

Chase visible points
React to dice
Leave regions unfinished

Intermediate players

Understand region completion and bonus timing
Use workers and silverlings more deliberately
Develop a few reliable strategic lines

Strong players

Treat dice as suggestions, not instructions
Think in sequences, not actions
Track opponents’ needs and deny critical tiles
Avoid low-ceiling moves that don’t improve future turns

At high levels, Burgundy becomes less about optimisation and more about restraint: knowing which tempting move to ignore.

Final thought

The Castles of Burgundy is a masterclass in controlled randomness. The dice create problems; the game gives you just enough agency to solve them—if you think ahead.

It may never win a beauty contest, but a decade on, Burgundy remains what it always was: quietly brilliant, mildly unforgiving, and deeply satisfying.

And yes—if someone insists Board 8 is “perfectly balanced actually,” you are allowed to smile politely… and suggest drafting boards next game.