Board Game Review: Lords of Waterdeep (+expansion)

Don't mind the sushi go party game at the top, it's a review for another day

This game really has a special place in my heart, it's the game that I bought first and introduced to my friends. They all like it because it's just right. Has some complexity and strategy while still being fun.

TL;DR rules/gameplay (base game)

• Entry level/gateway worker placement game. Euro with enough player interaction that it's not too stabby. Perfect balance, to be honest.
• You are a secret lord (you're given a unique lord card), go do the best things for waterdeep and win when you get the most victory points.
• Assign agents to the board and get the benefit/resources that comes with it.
• Ways to get points:
• (Major) finish quest fulfilling the quest requirements (spending your resources)
• Bits and pieces from Intrigue cards and buildings.
• End game Lord character, workers and money bonuses.
• Two types of quest, and factions of quest:
• Normal quest: get the card, pay the resources needed (worker/money), get the points.
• Plot quest: get the card, pay resources, get points AND get lasting passive bonus.
• They are also divided into factions: Warfare, Commerce, Skullduggery, Arcana and Piety. Lord card will tell what kinds of quest would give you bonus 4 points for each one you completed.
• Intrigue cards are the Trainer card equivalent of Pokemon TCG and magic card equivalent of YuGiOh TCG. Can be as simple as giving you a bit of resources or taking away one kind of resource from everyone. The most cutthroat thing is the mandatory quest, which when given to a player, they have to finish that quest before they can finish anything else.
• If you play an intruge at that 3 space place, you can move it again when everyone is done assigning their agents.
• You can buy buildings using your money. Whenever someone that isn't the owner of the building comes to the building, the owner gets the listed owner benefit. If the owner goes there, he gets only the building benefit and not the owner benefit.

TL;DR expansion

• Corruption mechanic. Essentially a skull piece that is worth negative points at the end of game, depending on how much has been taken from the corruption track board. It usually allowsyou to have really good effects/prizes along with the skull, so like a risk/reward.
• Skulls can be returned/removed pretty easily.
• 2 new maps, 6 new places your agents can go.
• More buildings, lords, intrigues and quest, also adds a 6th player.

Good Things about this game (base)

1. Balanced as fuck, not luck oriented
2. Perfect balance of complexity and strategy. I have not heard anyone say this game is bad after we played.
3. Euro with the perfect amount of player interaction, which is rare as fuck.
4. Fast paced game, max one hour.
5. Very well thought out game, even the rule book is super good.
6. Best insert so far
7. Fantasy thematic, I'm on board with that.
8. Replayability is great

Good Things about this game (expansion)

1. The extra mechanism just integrates really well to the game.
2. It is the perfect expansion if you really want your base game to have a bit more complexity towards it.
3. Intrigue cards are used more than ever.
4. Most gamers agree 100% that once they played the expansion, they wouldn't go back to the base game only.
5. New action mechanic of placing resources onto action spaces.
6. More Lord cards that does not only reward you for certain finished quests.
7. The insert fits into the base game and can be stacked together perfectly.. fucking mindblow

Bad things about the game (base)

1. It's a bit too simple for hardcore gamers.
2. The theme is pretty weak. The cubes as resources does not help either

Bad things about the expansion

1. Adds a bit more playtime
2. The best expansion is to combine them together. This requires a bit of setup since you have to remove cards beforehand. However, you probably aren't gonna play any other way anyway, so this isnt a huge problem.
3. The reduce negative points of corruption Lord is pretty weak.

Overall a great game, HIGHLY recommend this to anyone.