Stroganov

Competing against a solo opponent called Ivan, players move through the wilds of Siberia collecting furs, building outposts, visiting villages and turning their stories into song– all while hoping to gain enough points at the end of the game to be crowned the winner of this medium weight Euro.

Stroganov
Designer: Andreas Steding
Publisher: Game Brewer
Released: 2021

How to Play:

Players take on the role of a Cossack riding forward across an everchanging set of gorgeously illustrated landscape tiles which make up the core of an equally beautiful main board. The artwork throughout game is just superb and brings a real wow factor and excellent table presence.

You will take a turn during Spring, Summer and Autumn, retreating for some shelter and warmth (and end of round housekeeping) during Winter - before starting back at the beginning of the board and setting out again for a further three years’ worth of turns. Each Spring, Summer and Autumn turn is reasonably straightforward and sees you doing three, possibly four actions:

• Move up to two spaces forward onto a landscape tile– or potentially up to five spaces forward if you want or are able to use any horses that you may have at your disposal (horses are a key resource in this game).

• Take a basic action – this could be to obtain more horses, gain coins (another key resource in the game), move forward (or this time backward). Most typically though this action will be used to hunt, with each landscape tile holding a number of ‘fur’ tokens – numbered animals that can be hunted by your Cossack and added to your pool of resources.

• Take a free ‘main’ action - this could be another basic action (gain horses, coins, hunt for furs etc) but typically it will be a more substantive region specific action – you see, where you have moved to lands you in a specific region of the board (and thematically) that has its own actions which are randomly assigned during set up – for example village and yurt tiles give boosted bonuses or you can gain cards that can be activated during the game once you have a requisite number of furs - potentially giving you a special power or some endgame points. Two other crucial main actions see you:

o Building an outpost in your current region. Not only will you gain points at the end of the game (more outposts = more endgame points) but crucially in future turns you will no longer be limited to only performing actions in the region where your Cossack is but also able to take actions in the region(s) where you may have previously built an outpost – gradually opening up the board and the range of actions at your disposal each turn.

o Claiming the landscape tile that your Cossack currently on. If it has been cleared of furs (or you can afford to clear it with your existing resources) then you can bring that tile off the board in to your player area, gain some immediate points / benefits but also start a little bit of set collection with 3 or 4 sets of different landscape tiles scoring you varying amounts of points at the end of the game.

• Take a second main action - but this time you have to pay. At the start of the game each region of the board is assigned a numbered fur token. If you want to take a second main action in the region where your Cossack is or where you have previously built an outpost then you are going to have to pay the relevant fur from your supply. But furs are in short supply as well as being useful for other things in the game so you are really going to have to think hard about whether you are wanting the immediate pleasure of a second main action or whether hoarding your furs is going to be more beneficial to your short or longer term goals.

…and then its over to the next player to take their turn – in this case Ivan our excellent solo opponent (more on him later. Spoiler: he’s great!)

There are other things going on in the game. This wouldn’t be a Euro without some Tracks to move up and in this game you can move up a personal ‘trophy’ track on your player board (using furs to do so) to unlock some additional bonuses or actions as well as a separate, competitive ‘story / song’ track where progress can be spent to gain more points / bonuses / actions either when you reach the end of the track but also during the Winter housekeeping rounds.

The things that lift this game from good to really, really good:

The player who is furthest ahead after everyone has taken a turn? They go next.

I cannot overstate how much this transforms this particular game. This isn’t just a case of a couple of extra points or a slight bonus for ending the round ahead of the other player(s). Instead it compels you to make some delicious, and at times brain burning choices; will I move one or two spaces ahead and simply take my preferred action or will I move even further ahead - beyond or out of reach of my opponent and then be able to take two turns in a row and ensure that I have first refusal on the mouth-watering actions and resources that lie ahead?

Its not a race per se in the way the excellent Maracaibo creates a conflicting need to do as much as you can but also rush to reach the end of the rondel as quickly as you can. Its more a constant, driving push to move further forward, to be ahead of everyone else, to be the first to reach new regions, the first to be able to have your choice of actions, the pick of the lands ahead. It creates a momentum that fits significantly with the exploration / conquest theme but also creates genuine excitement and tension not just at key moments of the game but throughout. You will often find your inner voice screaming to your opponent “don’t move three spaces, please just move two, I really HAVE to go first next turn”.

Without this twist on proceedings the game may have just become a generic Euro struggling to find its way in a crowded market. For my money, it makes this game a must own.

There is also a mid-game changing of the action tiles on the board (similar to another of my favourite games Praga Caput Regni) – a switch from weaker ‘A’ tiles to stronger ‘B’ tiles. This makes the game grow and build - things get stronger as you get stronger, again thematically in-keeping with that exploration / conquest / discovery theme.

And then finally…

Solo Headlines:

It. Is. A. Delight.

Quite possibly one of the best solo modes that I have played. Often I find in Euro games with lots of options that the solo mode is either a simple ‘remove a couple of things as you go and try to beat your own score’ or is an overly complicated set of rule exceptions and flow charts to try to make a solo opponent replicate a real player.

Here we have a solo opponent, Ivan, that behaves pretty much identically to a real opponent but is so simple to operate. Ivan has a stack of cards and you simply flip his top card and take a couple of very simple and visually easy to understand actions. No constant flicking through the rule book to see what the solo player should be doing. No spending more time on its turn than your turn.

But this ease is not to the detriment of it mimicking a real player. Ivan plays to win and not only does he play a good general game, you are able to shape his deck of cards at the start of the game to make him adopt a preferred strategy – will he try to conquer lands or will he prefer to build outposts or will he prefer to move up his tracks? This is a smart, variable, easy to operate solo opponent – and a good challenge at that.

The game also hits my personal sweet spot of c.60mins play time. I don’t mind longer games but this plays quickly and easily but still has some huge choices and decisions to make as well as that splendid propelling forwards.

You aren’t going to have runaway leaders – you aren’t scoring hundreds of points in this game. You are incrementally scoring small points here and there as you naturally progress through the game, with some extra points at the end for sets collected or number of outposts built or position on your personal Trophy track.

Expect your scores to vary game to game between 40 – 50 with Ivan scoring consistently in this ballpark too. Each game feels closely contested which adds some excellent tension.

Any downsides?:

As with a lot of games that have such variability from game to game, this has lots of tiles and tokens and things to set up. This is a very minor criticism. As a Euro fan I accept that a fiddly set up is more often than not to be expected. However, the game itself can at times feel a little fiddly making it at times feel more complex than its medium weight:

o Each turn, I can take up to four actions but within those actions I have lots and lots of choices. I can also choose to take basic actions or main actions, or indeed a mix of both, or pay to take a further action which also could be a basic or a main. Sometimes I forget which action I am doing – my first or third. When you are deep in tactical thinking its easy to forget what number action you are now taking. Aaarggh.

o There are also some additional fiddly transactional moments such as using a marketplace of furs. I can pay a combo of coins and furs to trade or buy other furs, some of lower value to the furs I am using to trade, some from a bag, some from the visible market place, use two of my current furs to get one other fur. I can also use coins during the game to turn a specific fur into a wild resource….. lots to remember, and more often lots forgotten.

After twelve plays all of these things became second nature but for first time players will be a lot of time where you are realising three moves later that you could or should have done something tiny that you neglected to remember you could do.

BUT: I absolutely love that there is no need for a seperate player aid as the main board has superb player aids all over it. Excellent addition to already excellent artwork.

Another very minor niggle - as horses are one of the main resources in the game, the cardboard tokens that represent them in the retail version are just square with dull art (the rest of the animal tokens are vibrant and distinct). The deluxe version has wooden horses and I did upgrade my retail version horses to wooden ones. A personal preference perhaps but I can see other retail version owners having a similar gripe…

At a glance:

+ Absolutely gorgeous artwork

+ Massive variability game to game

+ Has real momentum and drive - a literal push forward. Fits thematically, and lifts the game brilliantly

+ Solo mode is simple to operate yet effectively mimics a real player. A pleasure to operate and compete against.

+ Plays in my preferred sweet spot of 60 – 75 mins.

+ The main board doubles as the player aid in a genuinely helpful way

-Some fiddly things to remember in the game – particularly buying and trading of furs and use of coins.

- A bit of a chore to set up

Final Score:

8.75 out of 10.

Reviewed after 12 plays.