Kutna Hora: City of Silver Board Game Review

So, we have another week ahead of us, and with it a new review of one of the boards, the opening of which excited the players of the gaming market. After Oltry’s collection of stories, today we have a text based on the historical strategy “Kutna Hora: City of Silver”, in which you begin to build the famous metropolis.

Number of players: 2–4

Play time: 90 – 120 minutes

Price: 1349 CZK (Tlama Games)

Age: 14+

Kutna Hora: City of Silver Allows for Building Houses and Tunnels

Kutná Hora: City of Silver is a game set in the era of guilds, which to some extent determines the gameplay itself. In short, which guild you are assigned to at the beginning of the game determines which buildings you will get to during the game of Kutná Hora: City of Silver. You always have three alternatives. The offered ones are metallurgists, builders, miners, bartenders, butchers and scribes. You can choose which combination of the three you will get yourself, or leave it on the guild map, which gives each player a certain choice of directions.

Once you have made your choice, you are only interested in specific guild buildings, as competing buildings will not provide you with anything significant. However, you do not just build your structures during the game. There are also general welfare structures that do not directly increase, but if you build them correctly, you can expect to improve the functioning of your structures, and this is nice. The general expansion of the city is related to the economy in this game, which is a dynamic factor that develops as the city expands, the population grows, and new mines are discovered.

This concept is really cool in this piece. It allows one to put themselves more in the shoes of a citizen who is facing various problems. For example, the price of ore falls over time, while the price of silver itself rises. Similarly, for example, the requirements for purchasing raw materials also increase. In short, as the city grows, everything changes, and you will have to adapt your strategy accordingly. As you build the city, you try to get patents for certain buildings, but that’s not all.

Of course, it is also important to buy land with various factors associated with it. At the beginning, for example, the construction costs you a certain amount of money, but as soon as the first building is built, the price is already different and the terms of sale also change, because you can not put the bar where you want, but it is necessary. to glue it to the already built. At one point or another, you will have to think a lot about where you throw, because in the long run, a mistake can cost you money, victory points and, theoretically, the victory itself. Kutna Hora: City of Silver is quite tricky in this regard, but I myself welcome it, because sometimes some difficulties can simply blow your mind.

During the game, you get money that can be used to buy raw materials, buildings or a place on the council. Yes, Kutná Hora has its own town hall that needs to be filled. Ideally, with the right people, because only real heartthrobs can vote for what suits your plans. However, at this stage, you will have to think carefully again, because the elected council member votes several times in all directions, so not only you, but also your competitors will benefit from this. But this game is not only about building a city. To implement your plans, you need money, and you earn it, above all, by digging the earth.

More precisely, you build mines, through which you try to penetrate as deep as possible, where your saboteur is waiting for points that need to be mined. The digging itself is designed interestingly, it clearly states the conditions, so you definitely won’t be able to lay tunnels the way you want. Expansion of mines is very important for success. What’s interesting is that all actions here are connected with cards that you draw during a round over three turns, when you lay out only five of six, and each of them has two sides, so there is always an opportunity to choose. Victory is then connected with getting as many points as possible by sectors.

A trip into history through the game Kutna Hora: The city of silver has its own undeniable charm

Some games have their own charm that immediately grabs your attention. Kutna Hora: City of Silver belongs to this category. Its creators managed to choose an interesting historical period, after which everything was decently optimized, thanks to which the player is presented with an interesting board game that gives an idea of ​​how a medieval city might have functioned in its heyday. I really like the design of the components, as well as the range of buildings. But it requires an insert, which is completely lacking here.

If you like medieval or just like strategy games, Kutná Hora: The City of Silver is a good choice. Interestingly, even less experienced players can get into it, which I consider a big plus, at least for me. I definitely did not expect the accessibility to be so high. So I recommend it for myself.

We would like to thank the Czech distributor Mindok for providing us with a copy of the book “Kutna Hora: City of Silver”.