by sardonic wolf



Disclaimer: This is a unpaid review where a copy of the game was provided

Castle Combo distributed by Hachette Board Games UK is a 9 card tableau builder, in which you’ll build a tableau of different citizens for those precious victory points! Castle Combo follows on from the equally brilliant Faraway and condenses down some tough decisions into a 9 card tableau that plays in about 20-30 minutes.

Now, why is this the easiest review I’ve had to write? I’ve played Castle Combo 14 times, 9 times on Board Game Arena, and 5 times in person. Before anyone says you can’t review a game based on Boardgamearena games, I’ll focus on the physical copy throughout my review. Playing Castle Combo on the board game arena has just reinforced my enjoyment of the game, but also highlighted where I think the physical copy slightly suffers.


How to play?
Castle Combo takes place over 9 turns. On your turn, you’ll optionally spend a key, then buy a card, place the card, apply the card effects, and then refill the central market. That’s it. Every card has an instant effect, which will provide you with keys and/or money. But they also have an end-game scoring ability, which is where the real game is.

There’s a central character market that players will purchase cards from on their turn. This consists of 3 cards with characters from the village and 3 cards from the castle. On your turn where you buy cards is dictated by the messenger, you can buy 1 of the 3 cards where the messenger is. However, before you buy a card, you can spend a key to either move the messenger to the other row. Or you spend a key to discarding the 3 cards where the messenger is and drawing 3 new cards.


Buying Cards?
In terms of buying a card you can buy a character. Or you can take a character card and place it face down. Placing a card face down sometimes feels like a bit of a letdown. However, with more plays, I’ve realised it’s not all doom and gloom. Some scoring abilities want facedown cards in your tableau, and the instant effect of playing a facedown card for 6 coins and 2 keys can be worth it.

The card you buy needs to be placed orthogonally adjacent to an existing card in your tableau. This means there’s another decision here when it comes to placement. Some cards have a placement effect, e.g., for each full column, gain X amount of coins. However, they may have a good scoring ability, which means you’d get more end-game points for placing them in a different space. There’s feels like there’s always a tough decision to make.


The rest of your turn
Once you’ve bought and placed your card. You’ll activate it. A facedown card is easy. Just take stuff. Faceup character cards have a wealth of slightly different abilities. Such as taking coins for each adjacent purple shield. Take keys based on how many orange shields a neighbour has in their tableau and so on.

After you’ve activated the card effect. You’ll then, if applicable, move the messenger (there’s an icon on the card you took). And then refill the tableau. That’s it, repeat 9 times. And then, at the end of the game, tally up scores using the score pad, and the person with the most points wins!


Initial Thoughts
I love Castle Combo, if that wasn’t already clear from the introduction. There’s such a rewarding decision spectrum in a tiny boxed 9 card tableau. It’s super easy to teach and is one of those games that you can play a game of and then play another of. It does take up a little bit of table space meaning that it’s difficult to be super portable. Although it’s not comparable to a big box game, everyone needing space for a 9 card tableau means it isn’t necessarily a game you can sit down and play at a small coffee table.

Regardless of that, it’s a game that I’d happily start or end a board game day or night with. There’s a satisfaction here that feels immensely rewarding to see the tableau come together.


However, after 14 plays there’s a few bits where Castle Combo has a few flaws. Firstly there’s only one player aid/explanation sheet. I’d love another or maybe 3 just to share between players.

The other issue I have and I’ve seen it in a few games now. Is that although you’ve got the ability to mitigate a rubbish character market through either refreshing the cards where the messenger is. Or moving the messenger to the other row. Sometimes, you’re still left with rubbish options, and yes, sometimes you want to take a facedown card. But when you’ve already got one, and the options are slim pickings, it can detract. Now, you might say it’s about doing what’s best with the options available. Or every card has a use. But when you’ve only 1 or 2 spaces left and none of the cards fit into the plans you’ve already laid. It can be disheartening to take a meh card.


Conclusion
As you know, I rate games on a scale of:

Buy or play

Wait for sale or play if you like game XYZ

Avoid


Castle Combo gets an easy buy or play recommendation. Although I’d caveat that to say it’s not worth the current asking price of £40+ (wait for the reprint!). Castle Combo is an ease to teach and offers satisfying decisions in a 9 card tableau. Like Faraway, there’s a hook here in the simplicity but depth offered. Now, of course, this isn’t Voidfall or On Mars depth, but there’s a satisfaction here that’s rewarding in 20-30 minutes.

It’s not perfect, but then which game is? Yes there’s a perfect board state issue or luck of the draw issue. But in a 9 card tableau, it doesn’t feel like it detracts from that experience. Maybe turn after turn of bad market and bad refreshes but that feels very unlikely.

Castle Combo is another great small box card game that will like Faraway live in the game night bag. It’s a permanent addition. Is it as good as Faraway? I’m not sure. It’s currently on par or slightly lower than Faraway for me. Only time will tell.


For clarification, I reached out to the distributor to understand when the reprint was due as I wanted to buy a copy. It’s in about 4-6 weeks as of 18th January 2025. They then offered to send me a copy to review.

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