Works of Wonder – Architects of the West Kingdom expansion

This appears to be a “week before Christmas news extravaganza” but I hope to get a review done this week too (or something, at least).

However, I just stumbled across this on Boardgame Geek and I had to shout my “huzzahs!” to all of you.

It’s no secret that Architects of the West Kingdom is one of my favourite games.

Even though I’ve only used it once (damn you, COVID!), I really do like the Age of Artisans expansion for it.

I knew another expansion was coming but hadn’t heard anything about it.

Until now.

I didn’t see an announcement, but I saw a BGG blog post mention this and apparently the next expansion for this awesome game is Work of Wonders.

It’s so new that while there is a BGG page for it, the image is only from a blog post on BGG and it’s not even up on the Garphill Games site!

What’s in this expansion?

Let’s take a look (at the description, since that’s all we have)

A blurb is always good in these circumstances because hey, what else am I going to say?

“In Architects of the West Kingdom: Works of Wonder, builders from far and wide have travelled to partake in the King’s latest endeavour – five glorious monuments to beautify the city. However, not just any architect can be entrusted with such a task. Only those of influence and charitable reputation shall receive this great honour. Will you accompany the Princess as she surveys the projects, or rally support from the elusive Profiteer?

Works of Wonder introduces an extension to the main board to hold the new Contribution/Consequence Cards, and keep track of players’ Influence. Players compete to construct the 5 Wonders, while gaining support from the new Princess and Profiteer tokens moving about the main board.”

An extension to the main board sounds really interesting, considering Age of Artisans just added the Artisan meeple and a couple of new mechanics.

Monuments? That sounds really cool.

Influence? That’s something that’s totally new. Same with Contribution/Consequence cards. I’m really intrigued with how that will affect the game.

There is literally no further information on this expansion (I blurbed the whole BGG entry!) but it sounds really interesting.

Given my trust of Shem Phillips and Sam MacDonald, I know this one will definitely be worth trying out.

I hate that COVID has kept me from trying out the Age of Artisans expansion even more than just the one game I played (literally the weekend before all of the COVID shutdowns happened in BC) because I’d like to try that one more as well.

This is going to be a 2021 expansion and, given the way Age of Artisans was done, it won’t be a Kickstarter. Instead, it will be a pre-order.

Watch this space, because as soon as I know anything, you will know too.

Are you a fan of the base game? The expansion? What do you think of this new one?

Keep your eyes peeled (and on this blog) for more information as it develops.