Kickstarter of the Week: Canterbury

This week we are taking a look at the eurogame currently in funding on Kickstarter: Canterbury. The designers of Canterbury already have a proven track record of producing quality games. Some of their past titles have included Core Worlds, Parthenon, Camelot Legends and 300: The Board Game. I know it always makes me feel safer backing a project with a creator that has a proven track record.

Canterbury is a city building game set in the dark ages of Britain. Each player takes on the role of a Saxon Lord and must use their limited starting resources to build up the 25 districts of Canterbury. Inspired by city building video games such as SimCity and Caesar III, new buildings will be unlocked over the course of the game.

From the designer Andrew Parks:

Canterbury is a game developed by Andrew Parks and his game design studio, Quixotic Games, over the past several years. The game is set in the late 6th century A.D., when the Saxon King Ethelbert established the old Roman city of Canterbury as his new capital. In Canterbury, players represent Saxon Lords who are charged with building the city into a prosperous capital. The Saxon Lords must use the city’s meager starting resources to build up the 25 districts of Canterbury and to provide key services to its citizens, including water, food, religion, defense, commerce, and culture.

The game is inspired by city-building video games such as SimCity and Caesar III, and new options become available for the city as the players provide services to new districts. As new structures are constructed, the city also grows more prosperous. Each time a player receives points, the city also receives points, and this determines the amount of wealth available to all the players to launch new building projects. Although the game is competitive in nature, the players all benefit equally from the growing prosperity of the city itself.

Another interesting feature of Canterbury is that, other than starting turn order, there is no luck in the game. Each session unfolds differently based upon the decisions made by the players as they build the city together. There are a multitude of strategies available as players seek to gain control over each other’s districts and simultaneously provide the most of each particular service to the city. Each session promises a different experience and a brand new city when the game is complete

If you are looking for a city building euro that can accommodate 2-4 players, then I think Canterbury will scratch that itch for you. The prototype photos look very interesting and rulebook is available to download if you are curious. Unfortunately I didn’t see any independent reviews/previews on their kickstarter page. If you are interested in getting a copy of the game, then you’ll be looking at a pledge level of $60. You have until Saturday, June 1 to decided.