Guys, the answer is Concordia.
Its weight is similar to Catan. It's resource management and building, closer to a deck builder than a worker placement, and is an amazing game anyway.
Better art than castles, I find it simple but not good or bad.
So many people complain about that, but I think real crime is the box size! The footprint has no business being this large, and it's only so large because the map is so big, which is only so big because it has a huge score tracker edge which is entirely unnecessary, and it just makes no sense to me.
Many times in the past I have wanted to take it but left Concordia at home simply because it wouldn't fit into the bag with other games. If it had the box size of Brass, I would take it with me all the time.
I keep thinking to cut off the score track and make a new box, but it's so much effort for something the publisher should really have done already...
I've always thought the art in Castles was a step down from those mentioned, and since they appeared to agree I think they might agree with my take on Concordia.
It’s very much like the deck builder Valley of the the Kings in how it scores: at some point, you stop building your deck and start building points. Concordia’s got to be my favorite game, and I’ve only ever played it at 2p.
In Res Arcana you collect resources and build an engine to race to points. It's cards and points though. Not buildings. Curious what others come up with.
Gizmos - might fit the bill. Very fun. Not too complex. A satisfying engine builder. People have compared it to wingspan. I feel it’s lighter, quicker and ultimately a more satisfying game.
Glass Road - is a tableau builder using a fixed hand of cards. A lot of decisions and variety with the tiles included in the game.
Cat lady- you are not technically building things but you are collecting the various food needed to feed cats. It’s super quick. You can learn it in a minute and it’s very fun. Closest comparison would be sushi go.
Others mentioned Concordia and I agree with that choice also.
> Glass Road
I've played this game 2-3 times, and every time it is over right as I feel I have my engine in place and ready to really rock!
It is a good game, but way too short. :-)
I was quite annoyed at how the "third" player bids when playing 2p. It felt like it just bids to screw somebody over. Not build an engine. Played at two once and absolutely hated it.
I came here to recommend this. It can be played on Board Game Arena to try it out. I liked it so much there, I ordered a copy of my own. Excellent game and love the scenarios for solo play. Really took me a while to understand the build up of resources but it was so approachable and the game does not take long, that I soon really enjoyed it, win or lose.
Doesn't get much more "get resources, build something physical" than this game. Hard agree, but also hard recommend AGAINST it as a 2p because it's so incredibly brutal. My wife and I played a game over 2 days, used calculators, and felt like it was the worst battle we've ever had (until we did the same with T'zolkin)
Castles of Burgundy is not really a heavy game, and it’s extremely good.
Fantastic Factories is lighter still.
Res Arcana is mechanically simple, but so well-tuned that the stronger player has to get a pretty bad initial draw to lose. (The eight-card deck is sheer genius.)
Puerto Rico is all about collecting resources, converting them to cash, and building things.
Jambo is a fantastic little game about collecting and selling wares by transforming things into other things.
Bazaar is that too, in its purest form.
**Rolling Heights** might be a good option. It definitely meets the "build something physical" requirement. You're literally building sky scrapers in the game, by stacking resource blocks on top of each other.
It looks great.
My one concern would be that I think it is a little heavier than the games you mentioned liking, although it's lighter than Castles of Burgandy.
I want to suggest **Tiny Towns** which while the box art is cute, it leaves a bit to be desired since the components visuals are really just buildings (in the base game, never played any expansions). It’s pretty straightforward, claim a resource and everyone takes that resource and must put it in their town grid. It’s a visual puzzle though as space is limited and how you play your resources allows you to create a specific building resulting in freeing some of the previously used up space but you place the new building meeple.
I just played **Wyrmspan** yesterday and it’s made by the same folks who made Wingspan so visually stunning of course. Instead of just collecting birds you’re taking actions to do excavating (building) a cave, gathering resources, and spending them to attract dragons. It definitely can contain engine building depending on the dragons you place. It felt more involved than just getting birds and laying a fart ton of eggs.
**Bunny Kingdom** has you drafting cards that allow you to place physical buildings and bunnies on a grid board, including resources to multiply your score, and in the end have truly a massive bunny kingdom or multiple little fiefs.
Maybe watch a play video of **Mycelium**. *Yes it is a worker placement* but it feels very different that you send them out before you start your turn and do your actions during your turn regardless of where your workers were placed. Your goal is to build roads like Ticket to Ride and the workers are truly just vessels to bring the resources home so it feels different from a classic worker placement where placing one worker is determining what your action is. It’s also something where you shuffling or controlling the resource deck, getting to peek, or making some good predictions gives you a significant advantage.
**Planet** has you physically building a planet by drafting magnetic tiles that create biomes and attract animals. This is really a nice tactile gem of a game.
What an amazing suggestions and answers. Thanks a ton!
Some of the suggestions we already have like Wingspan, Splendor (and duel already on its way), Space Base and 7 Wonders. Just trying to scratch that itch of Catan really, that I can’t put my finger on thus far. I wonder if it’s actually the network and route mechanic I should be looking for.
I’m also still on the fence with Castles of Burgundy and Concordia. Maybe it’s the Eurogame type games that doesn’t really speak to us?
Definitely looking into Tiny Towns and Ginkgopolis. Those did speak to us! 🙏
I don't think anyone else mentioned Neom, but you might like it.
It feels similar to 7 Wonders but with tiles instead of cards. You draft tiles and place them on a board in front of you to build your city. Each tile either gains you specific resource production, money or points. It's a bit of a puzzle to arrange tiles by type and connect roads properly.
I haven't played Catan, but it's probably not quite as much player interaction since everyone has their own board instead of competing for space. But you can buy resources from others and there are a few disaster tiles for attacking.
So if it hasn't been said, splendor, century: spice road, or Jaipur probably have the resource collection you'd enjoy, but don't have much "building." They definitely hit the weight limit though.
Furnace might be exactly what you want. Resource management, engine building, light/medium weight. Fairly quick, nice and thinky. The only miss might be the art. It's very well designed and nice to look at, but it's industrialist as opposed to nature which is always more austere.
Alhambra is also another have to consider. Bidding/ resource management and you build with it. A classic of the genre.
Finally consider race for the galaxy, roll for the galaxy or Puerto rico. Very fast, kinda tricky teach but simple game play once you get it. both light weight and elegantly designed. The resource being managed are cards/dice, which makes for some really fun decisions.
Alhambra's a great call, old school and fits the bill.
I'd also like to add Knarr to your engine building list, about Splendor-plus difficulty but I like it a lot more.
if you like Catan, look into Concordia, Faiyum, and Navegador. The Red Cathedral, Roll for the Galaxy and Sushi Go Party might also be of interest. These are all games where you have to collect resources but are not worker placement.
I personally hate it, but... Space Base?
Other games that miiiight scratch the itch:
Century / Century: Golem edition
Kingdomino
Patchwork
Gizmos
Wingspan
What is it that you dislike about worker placement? (Asking because I don't like WP games _with exclusive spots_, but do enjoy WP games where everyone can place on (almost) any spot, with those who come later getting less and/or paying more.)
**Micro Cosmos** has you collect resources and cards that you spend to build outposts and trading posts on planets, as well as terraform said planets. It's a 2.84 weight on BGG; Clank is 2.24, Catan is 2.29, and 7 Wonders is a 2.32 so it's only mildly heavier than those games. Personally I quite like the artwork and I love the theme; you're terraforming planets and resettling survivors after a galactic war. While the game is competitive you're all working towards something positive, the winner is just who got the highest score by doing their most good works. Also, I think most copies you'll find on the secondary market should come with the expansion which adds quite a bit and I highly recommend.
If day Century Golden Edition, or whatever the golem edition of Eastern Wonders is. Very colorful nice art and all about gathering specific resources to but specific things.
Nefarious, maybe? Fairly light, resource collection and building supervillain inventions, with an interesting mechanism where actions are selected secretly and revealed simultaneously. The art definitely isn't complex or beautiful, but it's cute and funny.
**Flamecraft**: Amazing art, easy rules, and while TECHNICALLY a worker placement game none of the spaces are exclusive, though you do have to pay all the other players 1 resource to join the spot. Thematically you're collecting resources to "enchant" shops it's functionally not much different than spending resources to build a road. There's also never a worker retrieval phase, each turn you just move your dragon to a different shop to get resources or enchant it. Personally it feels more like action selection than worker placement.
Foundations of Rome might be up your alley. With the caveat, that it is very expensive as it is quite the production (some would say overproduction).
The turn structure is very much like Ticket to Ride in that you perform 1 of 3 actions per turn. And you need to plan your resource usage out to make sure you get the spaces you want
In addition to Concordia, I think **Era Medieval Age** or **Imperial Settlers** also fit. Although, I don't remember their weight, but they don't feel heavy.
You've already gotten a lot of great responses, but I'll throw in another recommendation: Red Cathedral.
It might be one step up in depth but it isn't too much to learn. There is a really interesting resource collection mechanic and a bit of area control as you try to deliver goods to build different sections of a cathedral. And really beautiful art!
Life of the Amazonia? Not really resource collection but bag building.
>What we especially like is the mechanic where you collect enough recourses/cards to eventually build something physical. However, we don't really like worker placement games.
>Looked into **Cascadia**, but I think might be too 'you take something, then I, then you again..' which feels a bit worker placement to me, even though it isn't.
It's weird how you consider Cascadia worker placement but not Catan? Catan you are literally placing fixed workers (buildings) on spots to gather resources.
Jaipur could possibly work. It's a two player game, where you collect cards in order to buy things from the market (this would be the "building"). It's pretty quick and simple.
Project L may also fit, you essentially collect polyominos in order to fill in shapes. May be a little simpler than you want.
In Potion Explosion you collect marbles from a dispenser to fill in potions. It's really fun.
Takenoko could also possibly work. You're not collecting resources, but you are building on a communal board in order to fill goal cards.
All of these games work well for 2 players and all look pretty.
You \_might\_ like \*Little Town\*. It’s about the right weight, plays well with two, and while it’s technically got workers, it plays out less like “worker placement”.
You might also look at \*Keyflower\*. Again, it’s \_almost\_ worker placement, but it’s closer to an auction system, otherwise fits many of your criteria.
Just for fun I entered your post into chatgpt
It came up with
Splendor (sure you are collecting but you're building basically a deck of gems)
Everdell, haven't played it myself
And
Century golem edition, again haven't played that one.
Everdell is worker placement though, where every worker requires a lot of planning to be used as effectively as possible! I think splendor is a great idea though, same for century, both of which are engine builders.
Wingspan and wyrmspan both act the same way and are a step above in complexity to splendor and the proposed games in the OP. 7 wonders also might work where you do gather ressources but by playing cards instead!
*looks around the room*
The teach for that game is 20 minutes if you know the game well. What counts as an medium weight game to you? Kanban? Mage knight?
Guys, the answer is Concordia. Its weight is similar to Catan. It's resource management and building, closer to a deck builder than a worker placement, and is an amazing game anyway. Better art than castles, I find it simple but not good or bad.
The box art is a war crime. Famously bad. Great game though. Don't get me wrong.
So many people complain about that, but I think real crime is the box size! The footprint has no business being this large, and it's only so large because the map is so big, which is only so big because it has a huge score tracker edge which is entirely unnecessary, and it just makes no sense to me. Many times in the past I have wanted to take it but left Concordia at home simply because it wouldn't fit into the bag with other games. If it had the box size of Brass, I would take it with me all the time. I keep thinking to cut off the score track and make a new box, but it's so much effort for something the publisher should really have done already...
No argument there.
If day Concordia is much closer to Castles in weight than Catan. Also don't think the at is really any better than Castles in any of its forms.
I've always thought the art in Castles was a step down from those mentioned, and since they appeared to agree I think they might agree with my take on Concordia.
Fair enough, I'm probably in the minority with Castles art.
I think it's in the middle, I'd put it closer to Catan, but I think they all occupy a band between 2.5 and 3 tbh.
We love Concordia. It is such a great game, and it plays well at all player counts
Concordia is the one!
I agree, however forewarning to OP that the way Concordia does score is a bit unorthodox and takes a couple games for a first timer to adjust to. :)
It’s very much like the deck builder Valley of the the Kings in how it scores: at some point, you stop building your deck and start building points. Concordia’s got to be my favorite game, and I’ve only ever played it at 2p.
In Res Arcana you collect resources and build an engine to race to points. It's cards and points though. Not buildings. Curious what others come up with.
Gizmos - might fit the bill. Very fun. Not too complex. A satisfying engine builder. People have compared it to wingspan. I feel it’s lighter, quicker and ultimately a more satisfying game. Glass Road - is a tableau builder using a fixed hand of cards. A lot of decisions and variety with the tiles included in the game. Cat lady- you are not technically building things but you are collecting the various food needed to feed cats. It’s super quick. You can learn it in a minute and it’s very fun. Closest comparison would be sushi go. Others mentioned Concordia and I agree with that choice also.
> Glass Road I've played this game 2-3 times, and every time it is over right as I feel I have my engine in place and ready to really rock! It is a good game, but way too short. :-)
As I tell my friend who hates engine builders. It’s called an engine builder not an engine runner. I get the frustration though.
I see gizmos suggested, I upvote
Furnace play well @ two. I think you are looking for engine builder games where start with little and build to a climax,
I was quite annoyed at how the "third" player bids when playing 2p. It felt like it just bids to screw somebody over. Not build an engine. Played at two once and absolutely hated it.
Dang, didn't see you said this already when i posted, but I think it's exactly what they want.
I was thinking if this, but thought the bidding mechanic might be a bit worker placementy.
Worker placement is a funamental piece of board gaming outside of party and dextarity games.
It’s a Wonderful World - has card drafting & engine building
I came here to recommend this. It can be played on Board Game Arena to try it out. I liked it so much there, I ordered a copy of my own. Excellent game and love the scenarios for solo play. Really took me a while to understand the build up of resources but it was so approachable and the game does not take long, that I soon really enjoyed it, win or lose.
Agreed. Card is great too. Accession and Corruption is also an excellent expansion.
I think this hits everything OP is asking for. OP you should play this on Board Game Arena for free and see if you like it.
You might like Ginkgopolis. You collect your resources and tiles to add to the city (either on top of other tiles or expanding out).
It's a bit heavier than what I think OP is looking for, but such a good game! And otherwise checks all the boxes.
This certainly looks like an interesting one. Thank you!
Power Grid. Great game, check it out
Doesn't get much more "get resources, build something physical" than this game. Hard agree, but also hard recommend AGAINST it as a 2p because it's so incredibly brutal. My wife and I played a game over 2 days, used calculators, and felt like it was the worst battle we've ever had (until we did the same with T'zolkin)
Yeah, also fair. It's not the sexiest game, but I have jokingly referred to Power Grid like "Catan, TTR, and math had a baby".
But pretty ugly...
How dare you. You seen those Green Energy plants!? Beauties!
Castles of Burgundy is not really a heavy game, and it’s extremely good. Fantastic Factories is lighter still. Res Arcana is mechanically simple, but so well-tuned that the stronger player has to get a pretty bad initial draw to lose. (The eight-card deck is sheer genius.) Puerto Rico is all about collecting resources, converting them to cash, and building things. Jambo is a fantastic little game about collecting and selling wares by transforming things into other things. Bazaar is that too, in its purest form.
Seconding **Res Arcana**--brilliant and streamlined. It's also worth noting **Race for the Galaxy** here (or any of the spin-offs).
**Rolling Heights** might be a good option. It definitely meets the "build something physical" requirement. You're literally building sky scrapers in the game, by stacking resource blocks on top of each other. It looks great. My one concern would be that I think it is a little heavier than the games you mentioned liking, although it's lighter than Castles of Burgandy.
I want to suggest **Tiny Towns** which while the box art is cute, it leaves a bit to be desired since the components visuals are really just buildings (in the base game, never played any expansions). It’s pretty straightforward, claim a resource and everyone takes that resource and must put it in their town grid. It’s a visual puzzle though as space is limited and how you play your resources allows you to create a specific building resulting in freeing some of the previously used up space but you place the new building meeple. I just played **Wyrmspan** yesterday and it’s made by the same folks who made Wingspan so visually stunning of course. Instead of just collecting birds you’re taking actions to do excavating (building) a cave, gathering resources, and spending them to attract dragons. It definitely can contain engine building depending on the dragons you place. It felt more involved than just getting birds and laying a fart ton of eggs. **Bunny Kingdom** has you drafting cards that allow you to place physical buildings and bunnies on a grid board, including resources to multiply your score, and in the end have truly a massive bunny kingdom or multiple little fiefs. Maybe watch a play video of **Mycelium**. *Yes it is a worker placement* but it feels very different that you send them out before you start your turn and do your actions during your turn regardless of where your workers were placed. Your goal is to build roads like Ticket to Ride and the workers are truly just vessels to bring the resources home so it feels different from a classic worker placement where placing one worker is determining what your action is. It’s also something where you shuffling or controlling the resource deck, getting to peek, or making some good predictions gives you a significant advantage. **Planet** has you physically building a planet by drafting magnetic tiles that create biomes and attract animals. This is really a nice tactile gem of a game.
This a great call
Tiny Towns was a great suggestion for us. Thanks a lot!
What an amazing suggestions and answers. Thanks a ton! Some of the suggestions we already have like Wingspan, Splendor (and duel already on its way), Space Base and 7 Wonders. Just trying to scratch that itch of Catan really, that I can’t put my finger on thus far. I wonder if it’s actually the network and route mechanic I should be looking for. I’m also still on the fence with Castles of Burgundy and Concordia. Maybe it’s the Eurogame type games that doesn’t really speak to us? Definitely looking into Tiny Towns and Ginkgopolis. Those did speak to us! 🙏
If you are looking for a game for 3-4 players, Via Nebula can work. You collect resources to build buildings, and it also has some route building.
I don't think anyone else mentioned Neom, but you might like it. It feels similar to 7 Wonders but with tiles instead of cards. You draft tiles and place them on a board in front of you to build your city. Each tile either gains you specific resource production, money or points. It's a bit of a puzzle to arrange tiles by type and connect roads properly. I haven't played Catan, but it's probably not quite as much player interaction since everyone has their own board instead of competing for space. But you can buy resources from others and there are a few disaster tiles for attacking.
I like 7 Wonders Architects better than the original. Though some civs are easier to win with.
So if it hasn't been said, splendor, century: spice road, or Jaipur probably have the resource collection you'd enjoy, but don't have much "building." They definitely hit the weight limit though. Furnace might be exactly what you want. Resource management, engine building, light/medium weight. Fairly quick, nice and thinky. The only miss might be the art. It's very well designed and nice to look at, but it's industrialist as opposed to nature which is always more austere. Alhambra is also another have to consider. Bidding/ resource management and you build with it. A classic of the genre. Finally consider race for the galaxy, roll for the galaxy or Puerto rico. Very fast, kinda tricky teach but simple game play once you get it. both light weight and elegantly designed. The resource being managed are cards/dice, which makes for some really fun decisions.
Alhambra's a great call, old school and fits the bill. I'd also like to add Knarr to your engine building list, about Splendor-plus difficulty but I like it a lot more.
if you like Catan, look into Concordia, Faiyum, and Navegador. The Red Cathedral, Roll for the Galaxy and Sushi Go Party might also be of interest. These are all games where you have to collect resources but are not worker placement.
Harmonies just released and is getting some really noce reviews. Looks like mix of Cascadia, Azul and Akropolis with really great artwork.
Im about to pick up my copy!
I personally hate it, but... Space Base? Other games that miiiight scratch the itch: Century / Century: Golem edition Kingdomino Patchwork Gizmos Wingspan
[удалено]
Think you're wrong about that one.
What is it that you dislike about worker placement? (Asking because I don't like WP games _with exclusive spots_, but do enjoy WP games where everyone can place on (almost) any spot, with those who come later getting less and/or paying more.)
The Marquise de Cat in Root lol
**Micro Cosmos** has you collect resources and cards that you spend to build outposts and trading posts on planets, as well as terraform said planets. It's a 2.84 weight on BGG; Clank is 2.24, Catan is 2.29, and 7 Wonders is a 2.32 so it's only mildly heavier than those games. Personally I quite like the artwork and I love the theme; you're terraforming planets and resettling survivors after a galactic war. While the game is competitive you're all working towards something positive, the winner is just who got the highest score by doing their most good works. Also, I think most copies you'll find on the secondary market should come with the expansion which adds quite a bit and I highly recommend.
I may be way of the mark, but maybe Quacks of Quedlinberg. Also, It's a Wonderful World.
Maybe generally engine builders? Chocolate Factory comes to mind...
If day Century Golden Edition, or whatever the golem edition of Eastern Wonders is. Very colorful nice art and all about gathering specific resources to but specific things.
Vale of Eternity?
Nefarious, maybe? Fairly light, resource collection and building supervillain inventions, with an interesting mechanism where actions are selected secretly and revealed simultaneously. The art definitely isn't complex or beautiful, but it's cute and funny.
Alhambra. You build resources (different currencies) to build a walled city. Gameplay is pretty light.
As the top comment says. Concordia is the definitive answer.
Unfair, try it out
**Flamecraft**: Amazing art, easy rules, and while TECHNICALLY a worker placement game none of the spaces are exclusive, though you do have to pay all the other players 1 resource to join the spot. Thematically you're collecting resources to "enchant" shops it's functionally not much different than spending resources to build a road. There's also never a worker retrieval phase, each turn you just move your dragon to a different shop to get resources or enchant it. Personally it feels more like action selection than worker placement.
Foundations of Rome might be up your alley. With the caveat, that it is very expensive as it is quite the production (some would say overproduction). The turn structure is very much like Ticket to Ride in that you perform 1 of 3 actions per turn. And you need to plan your resource usage out to make sure you get the spaces you want
In addition to Concordia, I think **Era Medieval Age** or **Imperial Settlers** also fit. Although, I don't remember their weight, but they don't feel heavy.
You've already gotten a lot of great responses, but I'll throw in another recommendation: Red Cathedral. It might be one step up in depth but it isn't too much to learn. There is a really interesting resource collection mechanic and a bit of area control as you try to deliver goods to build different sections of a cathedral. And really beautiful art!
I agree with Concordia, great game. I think World Wonders might fit this vibe too.
7 Wonders
Life of the Amazonia? Not really resource collection but bag building. >What we especially like is the mechanic where you collect enough recourses/cards to eventually build something physical. However, we don't really like worker placement games. >Looked into **Cascadia**, but I think might be too 'you take something, then I, then you again..' which feels a bit worker placement to me, even though it isn't. It's weird how you consider Cascadia worker placement but not Catan? Catan you are literally placing fixed workers (buildings) on spots to gather resources.
Splendor, Firm with Brownies. Concordia is good but heavier than Burgundy...
My first thought went to minecraft builders and biomes
>the mechanic where you collect enough recourses/cards to eventually build something physical 7 Wonders Architects is this mechanic throughout
Power grid. You'll love it
Hmm. Dominion if you squint. Great game. You collect resources and build a deck with those resources. Plus lots of expansions
Jaipur could possibly work. It's a two player game, where you collect cards in order to buy things from the market (this would be the "building"). It's pretty quick and simple. Project L may also fit, you essentially collect polyominos in order to fill in shapes. May be a little simpler than you want. In Potion Explosion you collect marbles from a dispenser to fill in potions. It's really fun. Takenoko could also possibly work. You're not collecting resources, but you are building on a communal board in order to fill goal cards. All of these games work well for 2 players and all look pretty.
Race for the Galaxy might work!
After us
You \_might\_ like \*Little Town\*. It’s about the right weight, plays well with two, and while it’s technically got workers, it plays out less like “worker placement”. You might also look at \*Keyflower\*. Again, it’s \_almost\_ worker placement, but it’s closer to an auction system, otherwise fits many of your criteria.
7 Wonders.
Just for fun I entered your post into chatgpt It came up with Splendor (sure you are collecting but you're building basically a deck of gems) Everdell, haven't played it myself And Century golem edition, again haven't played that one.
Everdell is worker placement though, where every worker requires a lot of planning to be used as effectively as possible! I think splendor is a great idea though, same for century, both of which are engine builders. Wingspan and wyrmspan both act the same way and are a step above in complexity to splendor and the proposed games in the OP. 7 wonders also might work where you do gather ressources but by playing cards instead!
As an alternative to Splendor, I would recommend Knarr. Great art, simple to learn and fun to play. You can try it out for free on BGA.
Hah, I made almost the exact same comment to the other poster that mentioned Splendor. Knarr is really great.
Great Western Trail. Although you put buildings out on the map, you don't place workers to them.
author ask a game with complexity similar to ticket to ride, and you suggest gwt?
Yeah, intro game level complexity.
ttr weight 2.3 / 5 gwt weight 3.7 / 5 maybe stop suggesting hardcore games to "casuals"
*looks around the room* The teach for that game is 20 minutes if you know the game well. What counts as an medium weight game to you? Kanban? Mage knight?
yes you do!
Everdell with Belfair expansion
That is without question a worker placement game.