Red Cathedral: Contractors Expansion

Categories: Expansion for Base-game, Dice, Economic

Mechanics: Area Majority/Influence, Dice Rolling, End Game Bonuses, Rondel, Solo/Solitaire Game, Victory Points as a Resource, Worker Placement

Players: 1–4

Ages: 10+

Playtime: 60–90 Min

The construction of St. Basil's Cathedral is progressing steadily, and now it's time to recruit the finest specialists from each guild to elevate this monument to a level that will amaze even the Tsar. To stand out from the competition and secure victory, you'll need to send contractors to the far reaches of Russia.

Contractors is the first expansion for The Red Cathedral, the acclaimed game by Shei Santos and Isra Cendrero where players compete to make the most impressive contribution to Moscow's St. Basil's Cathedral and win the favor of the Tsar. This expansion, illustrated by Pedro Soto and Chema Román—artists inspired by Ivan Bilbin's majestic representations of Slavic folklore—adds depth to the original game, which is known for its unique rondel mechanism.

The expansion box contains nearly as much content as the base game and introduces new dimensions to the experience. Contractors includes 10 new guilds that can be mixed with those from the original game, 6 additional blueprint cards, and a new solo mode card. Many of these guilds use the new Contractors module, which features a board with a map of Russia. Use this map to send your contractors across the country to recruit top specialists and artisans to aid in the cathedral's construction.

As with the original game, each new guild comes with 3 different cards, with one card per guild available to include in the game, offering 30 new ways to play. Highlights of the expansion include a black die that works alongside the existing 5 dice to obtain resources, diamonds as wild-card resources, and Cossack meeples as contractors, which introduce a worker placement element to the game.