Image Courtesy of Floodgate
This review continues my series of detailed reviews that attempt to be part review, part resource for anyone not totally familiar with the game. For this reason I expect readers to skip to the sections that are of most interest.
If you liked the review please thumb the top of the article so others have a better chance of seeing it and I know you stopped by. Thanks for reading.
Summary
Game Type – Euro (Dice Drafting and Allocation) Game
Play Time: 20-45 minutes
Number of Players: 1-4
Mechanics – Dice Drafting, Dice Rolling, Set Collection, Pattern Building
Difficulty – Pick-up & Play (Can be learned in 10 minutes)
Components – Excellent
Release – 2017
Designer – <PERSON> -( Before the Earth Explodes, City of Gears, Roar: King of the Pride, Speakeasy Blues)
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<PERSON> -( Before the Earth Explodes, Mine All Mines)
Overview and Theme
Welcome artists of the world! You are tasked with creating the most beautiful stained-glass windows, befitting of the amazing Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona.
Your commission is a simple one...to create the most stunning window possible and in doing so beat your rival artists to the grand prize, the fame of your creation and knowing that you have added to this amazing building as created by the architect <PERSON>.
Ok so there you have the thematic backdrop. But what is Sagrada in a gaming sense? Quite simply it is a dice drafting and placement game that looks gorgeous as it goes about its evolution from set-up to completion.
Before we really tuck into this one, it is worth noting that Sagrada is another great game to come out of theGroup. I like to give a shout out to groups like this who are a part of creating great new games. One game that inspired or influenced the creation of Sagrada was , another great game to come out of this group.
This review is also timely as the relatively small publisher in are about to release the 5-6 Player Expansion for Sagrada. This expansion will be a bit more than just a player-increase title, offering up personal dice pools and new Private Objective Cards amongst a few other bits. It doesn't look to be a massive expansion in relation to content and many fans of the game will probably be thankful for that as bloat will not be an issue.
Grab the Lens Cutter, oh and that Flux Brush please, we have a date some 30 meters up my good friend...it's time to create a masterpiece!
The Components
One of the major selling points of Sagrada is its vibrant appearance and great production values. For a small-publisher to provide a game of this quality and include 90 translucent dice at a decent price point...bravo!
Player Boards – Each player board is shaped in that classic stained-glass window visage and features two distinct halves. 470
The top half is taken up by artwork, showing a stained-glass window with a dice of a given colour in its center. This colour is the dominant colour in that board's artwork but doesn't really denote that player as colour 'x' as the players are not represented by a given colour in the game (Scoring Tokens aside).
The bottom half is where the action is at though as this is where the game will be played and each player will create their own window. The bottom of each board features a latticework, which creates a 5 x 4 grid of spaces. At the bottom edge of each board a thumb space can be found at the back and a slot is present, which allows a Window Card to be inserted into the latticework. It's actually quite the intricate design compared to some games when you stop and think about it.
What is also worth noting is the thickness of these boards. They are really great featuring two really thick boards glues together to produce a 5-6mm creation. The backs of the boards also feature lovely artwork, not that it is seen all that often.
Image Courtesy of pandawear
Dice – The dice are the star of the show however and come in the small dice format, but most importantly, are translucent. Not only does this material choice best reflect the nature of a stained glass window, when the light catches them the game looks simply stunning.
In all there are 18 of each colour and of course the latticework on the Player Boards are sized to perfectly hold a single dice in each space.
Image Courtesy of <PERSON> Pattern Cards – The game includes 12 double-sided Window Pattern Cards, allowing for 24 different designs to be offered. These are made from thin card to allow them to be inserted into the bottom of the Player Boards and in doing so the features on each card align with the open spaces of the latticework. Very clever stuff. 872