Game rules

Architects of the West Kingdom rules: how to play and how to score

Reviewed on 10 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check

Architects of the West Kingdom plays 1 to 5 players: everyone places Workers to build and impress the king, without staining their Virtue too much. Here are the essential rules, setup and final scoring, based on the official rulebook.

Players: 1 to 5 (solo against an automated architect)
Play time: About 80 minutes
Winner: Most points; on a tie, the most Virtue, then the most Silver

Architects of the West Kingdom quick rules

The goal: Around the year 850, you are royal architects trying to impress the king. You place Workers to gather resources, hire Apprentices, construct Buildings and advance work on the Cathedral. Your Virtue will be judged at the end: dirty tricks help during the game, but cost points.
Your turn: On your turn, place a single Worker from your board on a location of the main board and take the action. The more Workers you have in one location, the more it gives: your first Worker in the Forest gives one Wood, the second two, the third three. Your 20 Workers don’t come back by themselves; if you have none left, your whole turn is spent retrieving one.
Resources: The Quarry gives Stone, the Forest Wood, the Silversmith Silver, one more for each Worker. At the Mines, take Clay, or one Gold for every two Workers. At the King’s Storehouse, each Worker lets you trade two resources for one Virtue, or three Wood or Stone for one Marble. Taxes you pay go onto the Tax Stand.
Apprentices and plans: At the Workshop, hire an Apprentice for four coins, two of them Taxes, or draw Building plans: one card, plus one for each pair of Workers you have there. Each extra Worker opens one more column of Apprentices. Apprentices give powers and the skills some Buildings need. You can have five Apprentices and six Building cards in hand at most.
Capturing and prison: At the Town Centre, each Worker you have there lets you capture a group of Workers of one color in a location, for one coin per capture. At the Guardhouse, send your captives to prison for one coin per Worker. The Guardhouse also frees your Workers from prison, takes them back from an opponent, or pays back a Debt.
Constructing: At the Guildhall, your Worker stays for good. Either construct a Building from your hand, paying its resources, with the required skills among your Apprentices. Or move up one Cathedral level: pay the level, discard a Building card and take a Reward card. The Cathedral is closed to you with four Virtue or less.
Virtue and the Black Market: The Virtue track goes from 0 to 14. Stealing from the Tax Stand earns all its coins but costs two Virtue. The Black Market offers good deals for one Virtue, but it’s forbidden from ten Virtue on. Below zero, each Virtue you lose gives you a Debt; above 14, each Virtue you gain destroys one. At each Black Market reset, players with many Workers in prison are punished.
The end and scoring: The end comes when a Worker takes the last space of the Guildhall: the 12th with 2 players, the 16th with 3, the 20th with 4, the 24th with 5. That player finishes their turn, then everyone plays one more turn. Score Buildings, the Cathedral, Virtue, Gold, Marble and Silver, minus Debts and Workers in prison.
Beginner traps: Watching your Workers in prison before each Black Market reset; never capturing at the Guildhall, the Black Market or in prison; with 4 or more players, capturing in only one location per turn (two with 2 or 3 players); always keeping a few Workers on your board.

How to score Architects of the West Kingdom

Buildings: Points from the Buildings you constructed, end game bonuses included.
Cathedral: Based on your level: 2, 4, 7, 12 or 20 points.
Virtue: Points on the flag of your space: from −9 (0 Virtue) to +7 (14 Virtue), and 0 points from 6 to 9.
Unpaid Debts: −2 points per Debt still on its “Unpaid” side.
Gold and Marble: 1 point per Gold and per Marble on your board.
Silver: 1 point per set of 10 coins.
Workers in prison: −1 point per pair of your Workers in prison.
Virtue space (tie-breaker): No points: on a tie, the highest space on the Virtue track wins, then the most Silver.
Adornments (Age of Artisans): Points printed on your Adornments.
Tools (Age of Artisans): The scale on the player aid based on your number of Tools: 4 points for 3 Tools, 9 for 5.

Worked example

Emma: 32 points from Buildings, Cathedral level 3 (7), Virtue at 14 (+7), 1 unpaid Debt (−2), 3 Gold and Marble (3), 23 Silver coins (2) and 3 Workers in prison (−1): 32 + 7 + 7 − 2 + 3 + 2 − 1 = 48 points.

Common mistakes

Scoring your Virtue space instead of the flag: from 6 to 9 Virtue, you score 0 points.
Counting Silver coin by coin: only each full set of 10 scores 1 point.
Forgetting that it’s a pair of Workers in prison that costs 1 point: 3 Workers cost just one point.
Forgetting to apply the Buildings’ end game effects before scoring.
Forgetting Debts still on their “Unpaid” side: 2 points each.

How to set up Architects of the West Kingdom

With several players, follow the first four parts; for solo, replace the steps listed in the last part.

The board

Put the main board in the middle of the table.
Put the Clay, Wood, Stone, Gold, Marble and Silver in a supply next to the board.These resources, like the Debts, are unlimited: if you run out, use a Multiplier card.
Put 4 coins from the supply on the Tax Stand.This is the Taxes pot, which can be stolen later.
Put the Debt cards in a pile, “Unpaid” side up, next to the Guardhouse.
Put the Multiplier cards in a pile next to the board.

The cards

Shuffle the Black Market cards and put them, “Small Market” side up, on the left space of the Black Market.
Shuffle the Reward cards, draw 2 per player plus 1, and put them facedown to the right of the Cathedral.For example 9 cards with 4 players, 5 with 2 players or in solo. Put the others back in the box.
Shuffle the Apprentice cards and flip one onto each of the 8 spaces to the right of the Workshop.The rest forms a facedown draw pile, to the right of the board.
Shuffle the Building cards and put the draw pile facedown to the left of the Workshop.

Each player

Everyone takes a player board, side 1 up, and the 20 Workers of their color.Side 2 is for the variable setup, with a different character and power for each player.
Everyone puts one marker under the Cathedral and the other on space 7 of the Virtue track.
Deal 4 Building cards to each player: everyone keeps 1 and passes the rest to the left.Do it again with the 3 cards you received, then with the next 2; the last card goes facedown under the draw pile. Each player ends up with 3 secret Buildings in hand.

The first player

Choose the first player at random: they take 3 coins, the second player 4, the third 5, and so on.The coins come from the supply. In the variable setup, the first player is the one with the most Virtue, and the starting Silver is the one printed on the board.

Solo: the opponent

Remove the 4 “Market” Buildings (Clay, Silver, Stone, Wood) before shuffling the Building cards.They compare your resources to other players’: they aren’t used in solo.
Take 5 Building cards, keep 3, and discard the other 2.
Choose the opponent board: Constantine for the standard level, Helena for the hard level.These are two Byzantine architects, on the two sides of the same board.
Give the opponent a color: its 20 Workers on its board, one marker under the Cathedral, the other on space 7 of Virtue.It gets no Silver and no Building cards.
Shuffle the 20 Starting Scheme cards, with a brown header, and put them facedown near its board.Shuffle the 10 Future Scheme cards, with a black header, separately and set them aside: you only draw them when instructed.
Take 3 Silver coins: you always play first, before your opponent.

Frequently asked questions

How many Workers do you get in Architects of the West Kingdom?

Each player has 20 Workers. They don’t come back by themselves: you mostly get them back at the Guardhouse.

Who goes first in Architects of the West Kingdom?

The first player is chosen at random and takes 3 coins, the second 4, the third 5. In the variable setup, it’s the player with the most Virtue.

How many points is the Cathedral worth in Architects of the West Kingdom?

It depends on the level you reach: 2, 4, 7, 12 or 20 points. You need more than four Virtue to work on it.

Ludingo’s Architects of the West Kingdom sheet was last reviewed on 10 October 2026, based on: pixiegames.fr, garphill.com 1, garphill.com 2, garphill.com 3, BoardGameGeek.