Review
Ezra and Nehemiah
Ezra and Nehemiah is another rich, well-crafted Phillips design, strongly related to Architects and Viscounts of the Western Kingdom without simply repeating them. It does have one quirk that changes noticeably depending on the group.
- Published
- 2024
- Designer
- S J Macdonald, Shem Phillips
- Publisher
- Garphill Games, CHUR GAMES, CMON Global Limited
- Players
- 1–4
- Playing time
- 120 min
On the table, Ezra and Nehemiah immediately feels like another substantial Phillips design. It strongly reminded me of Architects and Viscounts of the Western Kingdom, but not in a way that makes it feel reheated: it has its own identity and plenty of things to show off.
Its core lies in tableau building, where the game offers that pleasant, mildly brain-scorching burn. The game’s development runs through building and exploiting your tableau, with mechanisms that felt clever and satisfyingly substantial to me.
The interaction, however, and even which paths to victory carry real weight, shift sharply with the player count. At three players, for example, wall building felt more like a supporting move than a main direction; that may appeal to others, but it bothered me because it radically changes the dynamics of the victory paths.
Despite that reservation, I had a very enjoyable time with it. It is a clever, substantial eurogame with enough personality to comfortably claim a place in any genre fan’s collection — as long as they keep in mind that it will not show exactly the same face at every player count.
Source: BoardGameGeek
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