allboardgames.com
Caylus Magna Carta box art
2007 Ranked #1,234

Caylus Magna Carta

Medieval development card game where builders use workers and resources to improve a settlement and contribute to a castle. A shifting provost and limited actions make timing crucial, as rivals can disrupt the work you planned.

Strategy Games Card Game City Building Hand Management Worker Placement

Players

2-4

Play time

45-75 min

Age

10+

Complexity

2.87/5

Rating

6.89

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.4/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 4.1/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.8/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.0/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.5/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

The general theme and mechanics of Caylus Magna Carta are similar to the Caylus board game. However, there is no board or score track and the tactical nuts and bolts of the game are somewhat different.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

The general theme and mechanics of Caylus Magna Carta are similar to the Caylus board game. However, there is no board or score track and the tactical nuts and bolts of the game are somewhat different. In terms of components, the game consists of cards, money, worker pawns, resource markers, the provost, and castle building stones. Each player has a set of identical cards, which are shuffled and used as a face-down draw deck. Players start with an opening random draw of cards, and on his turn a player can either: extend the road by building a new building pay 1 to draw a new building card pay 1 to discard his hand and draw a fresh hand (with the discard deck being shuffled for a new draw deck once the draw deck is exhausted) pay 1 to place a worker on one of the existing building cards build one of the common prestige building cards (some of which are placed at the beginning of the game as part of the setup) or pass Once everyone has passed, the cards are resolved up to the provost (which can be moved in passing order by paying money). Ownership of the non-common buildings is shown by the card color. When a worker is placed on a card, the owner earns either resources or money as a reward instead of victory points. Players may also choose to help build the castle. Starting with the first player to have passed, players can pay resources to obtain castle stones. The stones are worth three different values (2-4 points). Players collect the most valuable ones first. In addition, the player who collects the most building stones each round is rewarded with a gold resource marker. From round to round, 1st player privileges rotate to the left, and the provost starts two cards further down the path from the castle. The winner of the game is the player who has accumulated the most victory points once the game end has been triggered the turn the castle is finished. Victory points are awarded for castle stones, cards built, and resources and money in hand at the end of the game.

Browse all classifications

Shopping

Where to buy

No verified retailer offers are available yet. The references below may still help you continue your search.

Unverified shopping references

Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
No editions imported yet.

Player resources

Rulebooks, player aids, FAQs, and solo resources.

No files imported yet.

Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
2–4
Best with
2–4
Play time
45–75 min
Age
10+
Complexity
2.9/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
William Attia

Artists

1
Arnaud Demaegd

Publishers

1
Ystari Games

Linked items

No published linked games yet.