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The White Castle
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Rules assistance for The Red Cathedral: Contractors
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 60–90 min
- 10+
- Complexity 2.9/5
Rules assistant for The Red Cathedral: Contractors
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Red Cathedral: Contractors is an expansion for The Red Cathedral released in 2022 for 1–4 players, 60–90 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. It was designed by Isra C. and Shei S. and its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Area Majority / Influence, and End Game Bonuses.
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About the game
The construction of St. Basil’s Cathedral is going at a steady pace. The moment has arrived to seek out the best specialists of each guild and to apply their skills and knowledge to turn this monument into something that will even surprise the Tsar himself. It’s necessary to send contractors to the far reaches of Russia to be able to stand out from the competition and achieve victory. Contractors is the first expansion of The Red Cathedral, the hit game from Shei Santos and Isra Cendrero in which players construct Moscow’s St. Basil’s Cathedral and compete to make the most memorable contribution and win the favor of the Tsar. The expansion is also illustrated by Pedro Soto and Chema Román, two artists inspired by the work of Ivan Bilbin, the Russian artist renowned for his majestic representation of Slavic folklore in his works. The Red Cathedral stands out among recent games for its original rondel mechanism, winning the hearts of thousands of gamers around the world. The expansion comes in a box that contains almost as much content as the original game and takes the experience into another dimension. In Contractors we find 10 new guilds that can be combined with those from the basic game, 6 additional blueprint cards, and a new card for the solo mode. Many of these new guilds use the Contractors module, which among other things, adds a new board containing a map of Russia. We will send our contractors throughout Russia to recruit the talent of the best specialists and artisans of the country to aid in the construction of the cathedral. As in the original game, each of these guilds contains 3 different cards, of which one per guild can be included into the game, meaning that Contractors offers 30 new different ways to play The Red Cathedral. And among other highlights are a black die that can be used alongside the 5 existing dice used to obtain resources, diamonds which serve as a wild-card form of resource, and the contractors, which are Cossack meeples that incorporate a worker placement element into the game.
Editions
- The Red Cathedral: ContractorsenDevir2022
- Красный собор: ПриказчикиruDevir, GaGa Games2024
- La Cathédrale Rouge: RecruteursfrIELLO2023
- Czerwona Katedra: PosłańcyplPortal Games2023
- 붉은대성당 확장: 계약자Devir, Hobby Game Mall2021
Categories
Mechanics
Publishers
- Devir
- GaGa Games
- Hobby Game Mall
- Portal Games
- IELLO
Questions and answers
The Red Cathedral: Contractors supports 1–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for The Red Cathedral: Contractors is 60–90 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists The Red Cathedral: Contractors for ages 10 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
The Red Cathedral: Contractors has a complexity rating of 2.9 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The Red Cathedral: Contractors belongs to these categories: Economic, Dice, and Expansion for Base-game. Its main mechanics are Dice Rolling, Area Majority / Influence, and End Game Bonuses. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Red Cathedral: Contractors are: Isra C. and Shei S.. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Red Cathedral: Contractors as an expansion for The Red Cathedral. Expansions add new content, rules or scenarios to the base game and usually cannot be played on their own, so you need The Red Cathedral to use it. Check that your edition of The Red Cathedral is compatible, as some expansions were revised between editions.