Middle Ages
- Board's Eye View
- Sep 17, 2025
- 2 min read
In this game from Studio H, designed by Marc André, the 2-5 players are medieval lords building their individual fiefdoms. You're drafting tiles to add to your domain and, in doing so, you'll be building an engine that generates coins, which are the game's victory points.
The tile drafting in Middle Ages follows a similar pattern to that used in Kingdomino (Blue Orange), which won the 2017 Spiel des Jahres award and which has since spawned several sequels, and even a prequel. Tiles are placed out in a row (in each row, one more tile than the number of players), and the tile you choose to take determines the order in which you get to choose a tile in the next round.
In the various Kingdomino games, there's a polyomino puzzle element to mither over in deciding where exactly to place the tiles you draft. That's not a consideration in Middle Ages. Every tile fits in its own specific location on your fiefdom board, and when you add it you immediately trigger its effect and take the appropriate income (victory points). This makes for a very streamlined game that's easy to teach and learn, making Middle Ages a great 'gateway' game for introducing new players to modern board games, Medieval theme notwithstanding.
Each turn you have to balance the relative desirability of the particular tiles available in a row against the benefit of getting an early pick on your next turn. You'll mainly earn set collection points from the various icons on the tiles in your tableau when their scoring is triggered by the addition of a new tile. There is some 'take that' interaction, with players able to tax rivals that have, for example, fewer windmills in their fiefdoms or even forcing other players to remove one of their tiles. In the main, however, players get to focus on maximising their own fief economy.
The game is played over four rounds (a total of 16 turns apiece) and at the end of each round players will face an Event. Of the 15 Event cards in the deck, nine have a positive effect, giving a reward for certain tiles, and six have a negative effect, imposing a penalty for certain tiles. For each game, four Events are randomly selected at the start and are displayed throughout so you know which ones are coming up and when, and can factor their effects in when making your drafting decisions.
Middle Ages is a game that's just as suitable for experienced gamers and those coming new to the hobby. It's attractively presented, with art by Claire Conan, and the iconography is crystal clear so players can be up and running without a heavy rules overhead and without having to decode the various symbols. It scales well for different player counts and it plays in around 30-40 minutes. The game is distributed in the UK by Hachette Boardgames.
