The World of Ulos is a busy old place, playing host to Cartographers, Roll Player (and Roll Player Adventures) as well as Dawn of Ulos and Goblin Vaults. Now there's more to discover in Ulos with Stonespine Architects. Let's see what this one has to offer
Introduction
Thunderworks Games have been consistently producing some of my favourite games for a good while now, with Tenpenny Parks and Cape May also being in amongst those already mentioned. Roll Player in particular is a huge favourite of mine so I was excited to dig into Stonespine Architects and see how it adds to the wider universe.
The box art is an interesting one and I think it stands out as being a little quirkier than other titles in the series - a bull in a high viz vest guiding in a crane delivery isn't what you'd necessarily expect - but I like it.
The World of Ulos is a busy old place, playing host to Cartographers, Roll Player (and Roll Player Adventures) as well as Dawn of Ulos and Goblin Vaults. Now there's more to discover in Ulos with Stonespine Architects. Let's see what this one has to offer
Introduction
Thunderworks Games have been consistently producing some of my favourite games for a good while now, with Tenpenny Parks and Cape May also being in amongst those already mentioned. Roll Player in particular is a huge favourite of mine so I was excited to dig into Stonespine Architects and see how it adds to the wider universe.
The box art is an interesting one and I think it stands out as being a little quirkier than other titles in the series - a bull in a high viz vest guiding in a crane delivery isn't what you'd necessarily expect - but I like it.
The core of the game itself will feel familiar if you've played something like Roll Player. You have a personal scoring card where you'll get points for constructing your labyrinth with certain elements in particular places, and along side that there's a public goal that you're competing for - again linked to certain elements in your design
It's not quite that straightforward though, as a key element of your nefarious labyrinth is, y'know, connecting it all up as much as possible
How does it all work?
The premise is pretty straightforward - you'll be drafting cards from a starting hand of 5 to create a row of 4 cards in your labyrinth. You'll repeat this a total of four times for a 16-card, 4x4 dungeon at the end of the game.
There's a lot of clever things here but my favourite is how the cards are used. The top portion has the layout of one chamber of the labyrinth and it'll have a variety of traps, monsters, treasure chests and points in it. You'll have some kind of path and some number of doors. Each chamber can hold a maximum of 4 things from that list and these will correspond to your personal goal tile that directs you to place certain things in certain places.
The bottom portion of each card has a gold value on it and once you've placed the final card in each row, you'll tot up the coins earned from those 4 cards, add on 1 per treasure chest you've played and you'll be able to choose tokens to supplement what you've played. I'll talk more about that in a moment, but what really stands out here is how you layer the cards row after row, meaning that the previous gold values get covered with the new chambers on the next row. This means you're able to turn 16 rectangular cards into a square 4x4 map at the end. It's a simple but very rewarding design decisions.
Blinging the chambers
Drafting cards means it can lead to a lot of luck as to whether you'll get the elements you need on a card that also balances the other scoring priorities. It definitely feels way out of your control at times, but having a hoard of gold to spend is a bit of a mitigating factor.
Each round a number of tokens are drawn and added to the market and will be available to buy once everyone's played their 4th card. The person with the most gold goes first and can continue to buy until they have less available cash than someone else - all this is tracked on the main board so it's easily visible.
The tokens have all sorts of things on them - different monsters that might just mean your empty looking chamber is suddenly populated with a friendly neighbourhood Kobold at the last minute. Or maybe you need a gelatinous cube to tick off that 8th and final design goal. Again there's a significant element of luck in what actually gets drawn from the face down piles of tokens, but it can be a saving grace in an hour of need.
Unspent gold doesn't carry over round to round so planning wisely may mean you can buy things in a certain order to maximise your own benefit before others get a share of the spoils
We’ve got to get out of this place
A valid sentiment, and one that leads to the final piece of the balancing act - connecting (or trying to connect) the entrance and exit to your malevolent map...
Your starting setup card will indicate which column has your starting gate attached to it, and you get to place the chunky wooden piece there as a helpful reminder. It will also show you where the exit is which is useful information for you as the chief architect.
Where you’ll be able to score big points is creating valid, interconnected paths between either the entrance or the exit, or ideally both. The rulebook wasn’t as clear as I would have liked on this bit, but essentially for every card in your labyrinth that is connected to the entrance or the exit, you’ll score a point. If that card is connected to both you’ll score 2 points for it.
This is often where winning scores can be made or broken, and is at the heart of the plate-spinning that exists in a lot of World of Ulos titles. Do you prioritise joining everything up and point-maxxing your end-game or are you locking in for meeting the 2 design goals per row on your personal goal card?
Again, your gold will help you here as you may be lucky enough to get to buy a secret passage token that will allow walled off sections to magically become joined together, but as with everything here, there’s an element of luck that you can’t necessarily ever account for
Final thoughts
I really enjoy this one, though while it feels easier to get on the table and teach than Roll Player, the latter is probably my favourite.
As with a lot of good, solid games, having an easily teachable core set of rules that puts the essence of choice and agency in your hands as a player feels key, and that’s really evident here. Draft 4 cards per round, lay them out in a row and do this a total of 4 times. That’s the game. No rules or restrictions on what you can or can’t legally place anywhere at all. Every decision, be it good or bad, is down to how you choose to play – and I really genuinely love that.
If this is the first time you’re thinking about dipping a toe into this particular universe that Thunderworks Games have crafted, I think Stonespine Architects is a great place to start. If you enjoy it as much as a I hope you do then you’ll see how the symbols and iconography is consistent in all the other titles which will make exploring them feel more intuitive.
All in all this is a great, and possibly somewhat under-rated game that I’d definitely recommend!
