Tiny Towns: Architects is the latest expansion for this beautiful tile-drafting game. It injects new life into the base game by introducing a cabin to be played instead of the cottage. The game also introduces a variety of new buildings and monuments.
What’s in the Box
The expansion comes with a decent amount of content for its size:
New building and monument cards
Dry-erase scoreboard and marker ← this is the winner for me! Don’t get me wrong, more monuments and buildings are great, but dry erase is where it’s at
Building sticker sheets ← I’m not sure that we’ll add this to our buildings, but if you want to make the meeples even cuter, this is a great choice
Rulebook ← concise yet detailed
Fresh Decisions with New Buildings ← BuildingMonument Clarifications which come really handy
Overall Impressions
The new buildings offer exciting strategic possibilities. Wild resource (I thought the option to do a wild would be helpful, but beware of your analysis paralysis. This may not change with the new addition of wild resources in some cards) spaces allow for more flexibility in resource placement, while unique buildings like the Cabin add new wrinkles to town planning.
The expansion also includes new monuments, some with intriguing mechanics. The Tinier Town monument is probably my favorite. It lets you build a miniature version (four spaces) of your main town. The card is not only super cute, but extremely helpful in giving you a competitive advantage.
Tiny Towns: Architects is a solid expansion that enhances the base game without overwhelming players with complexity. The wild resources in cards add a fresh spin to the game. I think that this expansion is a “mini expansion” in the sense that you can add it to the game even with new players
If you are like me, and love to put all the expansions in a box, this game may also be for you. The components fit in the main box with the other two expansions without any lip lift!
Here are some additional points to consider:
Experience Level: Architects is easy to learn and integrates well with the base game. It’s suitable for both new and experienced Tiny Towns players.
Replayability: The new buildings and monuments add variety to the game, increasing its replayability (even though this game had a lot of that at baseline).
Player count is not affected by the expansion
We finally get another option for the cottage!!!!!!
Final verdict:
If you enjoy playing Tiny Towns, and it hits your table often, or if you want cute stickers for your meeples, or you love dry erase markers and sheets, Tiny Towns: Architects is a worthy expansion.
