In the 16th century, Russia began to expand eastwards to develop the vast expanses of Siberia. This phase in history is closely associated with the name "Stroganov".
In the game Stroganov, players try to collect the best furs to gain wealth and fame as they move across the vastness that is Siberia. They will journey through Siberia in spring, summer, and autumn before returning home each winter. After four years (rounds), the player who has best utilized their actions and collected the most victory points wins.
Each year, the players must move eastward across the landscape. They can spend horses if they wish to travel further. Once they have advanced, they may take a basic action, such as trading or collecting furs or coins. Lastly, they may take more advanced actions such as visiting a village, setting up a yurt, taking a Tsar's wish (card), setting up a hunting lodge, or buying a landscape field. All of these actions — combined with exploring and some storytelling along the way — earn players victory points at the end of the game.
Every winter, players return home to Tyumen to prepare for a new year.
After four years, the game ends, then players score victory points based on having collected the right landscape tiles, fulfilled the Tsar's wishes, built hunting lodges, collected furs, and more.
- Appealing cover
- Promising thematic premise
- driving hunting party to victory
- Siberia
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "I will be buying this"
- "it's really nice right i'm superficial enough for me to be in"
- "sign me up"
- "pained me every time i watched an eric martin video on board game geek"
References (from this video)
- strong production quality and a favorable designer
- compact euro with modular exploration feel
- hunt for furs over four rounds in Siberia
- Siberia exploration
- Hanson to Tonica
- Goo Gong
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Action Points — point-based actions with area movement and map edition
- multi-round exploration — four rounds of exploration with branching decisions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "it's heavy but it only has one resource and that's money"
- "it's fully cooperative and you all play as robots that are trying to essentially take down the human corporations"
- "this is now a multiplayer experience it's not just two players"
References (from this video)
- Tense decisions and long, enjoyable play
- Thematic and strategic depth
- Longer playtime; heavy game for some groups
- hunt, trade, and survive in a rugged frontier
- Siberia fur-trade era
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Movement — Move around Siberia to collect fur and resources.
- area movement / route planning — Move around Siberia to collect fur and resources.
- resource trading / production — Trade and manage fur and resources for points.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I played more Dominion with this app than I have in my entire life.
- The app is really good. The animation's really nice and it does all the nonsense for you.
- Padme in the Senate—that's what this game is.
- I would absolutely do it again.
- It's a cozy game to end all cozy games; it's very satisfying to play.
- We had a glorious victory in Bullet.
References (from this video)
- Remember liking it
- Never gets played again despite wanting to
- Has been on the shelf for years
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Girl I never got around to play. When I tried to getting into solo, I don't remember when it was like a couple years ago. I try thinking I'm gonna make a solo series because that's going to be a good idea and I didn't enjoy myself too much because it felt like work.
- It's one of those where it's a very clever game. It's very good. It's just a little bit dry and a little bit long for what it was.
- I feel like I played it enough because we got to play this a couple of times, a few times uh when we got it.
- Legacies was for me too much work for the fun I had. It is a little convoluted. It's it's a it's a cool game, but it's not my kind of game.
- In a crowded market of so many tile drafting, tile placement games, we have like we have harmonies, we have spectacular, what else do we have? Cascadia, we have still have Baron Park, we have King Domino, like we have ASU, we have so many games in this category.
- But I think I would have chosen to play for example Spectacular over it.
References (from this video)
- Beautiful aesthetic
- Interesting designer pedigree (Andreas Steding)
- High price and shipping considerations
- Noted as a personal fence due to cost
- Historical strategy with set collection and action economy
- Moving Cossacks to location tiles to unlock actions
- Hanzo Teutonica
- Goong
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Asymmetric hero actions, set collection — Collect sets and gain end-game points; dice are used for actions
- Seasonal rounds over four years — Four seasons per year; winter as cleanup
- Tile/location tile drafting and collection — Moving Cossacks to tiles to unlock actions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- i'm really intrigued by bandata i'm just
- it's visually really stunning game
- not coming to retail this is a kickstarter exclusive
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the only constant is change
- jungkus games is my full-time career
- i want to make this digest of all games i've talked about on the site
References (from this video)
- Final product feels greater than the sum of its parts
- Cohesive and elegant despite disparate mechanics
- Might feel disjointed to players who expect a single core gimmick
- Engine-building via fur and trade
- Fur trading and time-track progression
- Patchwork of mechanics that cohere well
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Resource Trading — Trade furs for engine upgrades and victory points
- Time track and engine-building — Move on a time track to gain engine benefits and points
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this game is the definition of elegance in the game and there's zero bloat
- the engine building part I thought was pretty damn fantastic
- a filler that works; it's smooth and it's fun
- one of the best two-player games out there
- embrace the carnage
- the final product is better than the sum of its parts
References (from this video)
- Looks cool
- Haven't played yet
- Unknown
- Unknown
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I used to call this a shelf of shame that was a pretty common thing to call it back in the day and I don't never really liked that term because I don't feel shame that I haven't got to these games
- this is mostly work like this is just a backload of things I probably should get to
- people will still be looking for it
- it doesn't matter if the game is like 20 years old people will still be looking for it
- I've painted this one and I spent a lot of time doing it
- there's no point putting them on the channel I think both of them have been out of print for like a decade
- one of the worst kickstarters by one of the worst studios in board gaming history
- Golden Bell Studios did everything wrong you could possibly think of
- purely toxic company run by incredibly terrible people
- it would be kind of a joke that I'd be able to do a three minute video of feudum
- this game has a tutorial video online that's like 40 minutes long
- The Rose explanation video feels like a parody but it's actually how the game is played
- nothing personally to me puts me off playing a game that then sitting down unboxing it and having a craft assignment
- stop making me spend hours assembling your damn games
- this is an uncontrollable mess right now
- I'm a full-time dad and I'm really doing this in the evenings
- I have a finite space and also it just puts pressure and stress on me having a whole bunch of crap there that I know I'm not going to get to
- I'm going to do a big cull
- I will be published by this company but that doesn't mean I'm going to be slavishly devoted to every single game they put out
- I am a sucker for cute animal games like I really am
References (from this video)
- ambitious concepts
- overly thematic with complex mid-game actions
- suffers from being out of sync with the reviewer’s preferences
- Acon y
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- area control with heavy interaction — A complex game about expansionism with a Russia theme, heavy rules.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- This is the list of games that I got rid of this year.
- I try to view one to two games a week, logically about 80 games come in every year and games going out this year I think is in the 40s.
- Frost Haven is Gloomhaven on steroids; it is a serious commitment.
- Moon breaks drafting momentum with interrupt mechanics that slow the game down.
- Marvel Dagger is a photocopy of a photocopy of Arkham Horror Second Edition.
- I prefer Legendary Encounters and I prefer the IPS of The Matrix and Aliens as well.
- Stroganov is a ginormous pain in the butt to teach as well; utterly nightmarish to tell people how to play.
References (from this video)
- classic Euro-feel with depth
- over-engineered and fiddly action selection
- confusing flow
- time-tracking engine with drafting elements
- traditional Euro-style design with contracts and resource management
- structured economic puzzle
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- contract fulfillment / scoring — fulfill contracts to score points
- resource drafting / collection — plan and collect resources and abilities
- Time Track — advance along a time track driving actions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- there's no super Superfluous rules there's no fiddliness so it's quite nice and pure
- this one stays true to what hidden role or hidden movement game should be
- I think this one is still my favorite one as one person takes the role of Jack the Ripper
- I absolutely hated this game I did not like anything about it apart from the visuals very stylish and I'm deluxified looking game
- the colorblind-friendly at all and me and my brother are both quite badly colorblind
- not colorblind friendly at all and me and my brother are both quite badly colorblind
- the ketchup mechanism in this game
- one of the nearest misses I've ever played
- therefore it's just not subtle
References (from this video)
- House rule reduces analysis paralysis
- Constant mid-turn replenishment creates AP
- Forces re-evaluation of options frequently
- Unknown
- Abstract card game
- Card-based gameplay
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- End-of-Turn Replenishment House Rule — Only replenish market at end of turn instead of during turn
- Fur Market Replenishment — Market cards that refresh during turns
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- no game is Flawless everything can be improved there is no such thing as a flawless game
- I don't like to say to other people like look I do it with a house rule you should use it no no no that's not the way I'm talking here
- it's this artificial way to try and introduce humor into a game that's not how you do humor
- everything can be improved
- these little tweaks make it better but that's a personal thing it's always subjective when it comes to house rules
- this is a house rule that basically is so good it needs to be in more games
- I don't get why it has to go in sequence
- the designer still did a lot of great stuff it's not like I'm saying Your Design sucks I'm just saying that I think your design is great because I love your game but maybe just this one little tweak
- padding out the content by ways of grinding is annoying
- I will actively take measures to try and convince the person teaching wingspan that it should be in the game
References (from this video)
- detailed review completed
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- you're listening to the broken meeple show a podcast that speaks passionately about board games
- i'm trying to keep this episode a little bit shorter
- i'm the sort of person who likes to play the sport not watch it
- i started my new job what two weeks ago now and it's going well
- all i hear about tsu is that if you play with anybody who knows how to play the game they're going to hate your guts afterwards
- ryan lockett what are you on so what are you seriously on
- this guy does not sleep this guy does not age
- this is just way too much stuff for one single person to undertake it's crazy
- i don't want to have to care anymore about sleep or aging
- convert me into a machine and i'll join the robot uprising
- it's only a game
- i am mainly just a case of i'll wait and see
- the amount of buzz that game has got has to put it at the top ten
- so many games so little time well who'd be a content creator with a job anyway