Flashback Friday - Lords of Waterdeep - Love it or Hate It? Do you Still Play It?

If someone wants a light worker placement game, we have Egizia (similarly meh). But usually we pull out Agricola or Dominant Species because I dramatically groan when the wife suggests Le Havre.

I dont actively hate the game, but the limited interaction means I don't get my gaming itch fully scratched after playing. And set collection tends to be minimally interactive, especially when both set values and objectives are hidden info. I enjoy Euros, but they seem to have become more about playing the system than playing the players during this time. Maybe it's just not for me, but I'll still play it without complaint.

Great on iOS as a time killer!

I don't hate it. I even have it in my phone. But it's the archetypical game that is as well-designed as it is meaningless. It does not have any ideas nor message, it just works.

The game is hyperbalanced so it's just a matter of gathering the required resources (You need 4 Warriors and 2 Wizards, hence go find 4 Warriors and 2 Wizards) and finding the bits of the game that are markedly better than average (Buildings, Quests that give Buildings, the quest that returns one cube spent, etc.). There's no much thinking involved, nor do you walk away with anything to chew on. The game is also truncated and was clearly designed to include the content of the non-corruption expansion.

The Mandatory Quests are terrible designs, though. Ultimately they are all just "lose a turn" cards and they have a disproportionate effect in the early game.

It is inoffensive, though. I would play it and, like Uba, I have suggested it to avoid a worse fate. But that's damning with faint praise, isn't it?


The iOS version is notable because it's one of those games where the AI lets you win. After a certain patch was released, the AI won't hit you with Mandatory Quests even if you are clearly ahead and they'll always give you any benefits they are obligued to share, even if someone is worse off. It also avoids purcharsing buildings before giving you a chance to and it barely gets cards to compete on Waterdeep Harbour. Hate how prevalent this is becoming in gaming.

I still think it's great. My daughter likes it so it's gotten a new lease of life in my house, and I don't think she's wrong. It's a fantastic middleweight worker-placement game with plenty of variety to keep the puzzle interesting and just enough theme and interaction to stop it feeling like a puzzle. A top 20 game, IMO.