One of my many character flaws is gluttony. When I find a game, podcast, or author I like, I want all the things. If there is content available, I want to consume it. I want to be able to speak intelligently (to whatever extent I may) about it, I want to share the content and experience with others, but most of all I want to relish in the things I enjoy. When the opportunity presented itself to preview the new expansion to Rurik: Dawn of Kiev, I was tripping over myself trying to say yes. Now that I have a few plays under my belt, I am no less excited about it, but I am excited for very different reasons than I was before. Let’s dive in!
Rurik: Stone & Blade is a modular expansion – it’s actually several expansions that can all be used individually or combined in any fashion with the base game. Two of the best things about the base game are its unique mechanism of auction programming (more on this below) and its simple, no-nonsense approach to attacking. Stone & Blade does not change either of them, but instead the design builds on opportunities already present in the base game to make the decision space and player agency broader. The expansion has some core content, and three modules, all of which is use-at-your-will interchangeable. Rurik is already a playgroup favorite, so I figured why not dive all the way in for the first play, right? Well, there is actually a lot more going on in each module than might appear at first glance.
First, you have the core content. I want to highlight just a couple of these elements because I will play with them every time I play Rurik. New in the setup are some additional leaders, warfare track rewards, and the Inheritance Deck. First, deal each player three cards from the Inheritance Deck from which each will choose two before placing troops on the board. After placing starting troops, players receive the starting bonuses on those cards in those regions or their personal supply depending on the bonus. Some of these cards have buildings as the bonus, some have scheme cards, and others have goods, coins, troops, or some combination thereof. The trade-off is that each player starts with only two troops instead of the normal three (a change from the base game setup). Experienced players get to choose some starting resources for their preferred strategy or spring a surprise on opponents after placing troops on the board and new players get some early direction or focus for scoring goals. There are also two new building types each player has access to which can create some amazing opportunities for shenanigans, and I like shenanigans! There are also tokens awarding bonuses for each even number space players move up on the warfare track. Goods, points, coins, a scheme card – they are all good rewards. I will use the core content every time I play the game, even when teaching new players. I see it all as essential with absolutely zero downside.
Next, you have the three modules: Epic Buildings, Rebel Factions, and Warfare. The Epic Buildings bring a new twist – each is a public building that can affect each player and they all have specific build requirements and rewards for building them. The Catacombs prevents additional buildings from being placed in its region, and that can be a very big deal. The Siege Tower can allow attacks from an adjacent region (!) and awards an attack point (!) for building it. The Town Wall forces all players to reveal an extra scheme card to check for casualties in its region. And despite how epic each of these actually feels in-game, none of them are as crazy as the [redacted] which forces players to [redacted] to move [redacted] (I’ve been asked not to spoil this one, but it is by far my favorite, so I will settle for teasing it).
The Rebel Factions probably have the biggest potential impact on the game from top to bottom. The two scenarios that they have shared in sneak peeks don’t turn the game on its head directly, but giving the rebels a new unfavorable characteristic and spawning new rebels is a dramatic change that I fully welcome as an optional module. The game starts with a rebel in each region – giving them an additional effect or ability can really change the front end of the game, and in a game where you might only have 18 or 19 turns, a dramatic effect for 4-6 of them is absolutely significant. Imagine if the rebels force players to spend extra tax points (one faction does) or spend extra build points (none that I was sent do, but you never know), or check for a casualty when attacking rebels (confirmed). These can definitely swing strategies, and I recommend them only for players who have a solid grasp on the base game and other modules to which you add them.
The final module is my favorite of the three despite the fact that it is probably the simplest. The Warfare module gives two simple but effective twists to the attack action without changing it materially. The first a conversion token that allows for more attacks per game. Quite simple, but quite effective. The second is a capture mechanism. Its beauty is in its simplicity. To attempt a capture you must follow an attack for which you suffer no casualties. The attack is successful either way, but the capture is only successful if you reveal an additional scheme card with no casualty icons. If the capture fails, you still remove the attacked troop, but you suffer the casualties of the card revealed during the attempt. If it is successful though, you put the captured troop in your dungeon! Captured troops are released at the end of the round, according to some simple rules, but you score points for the released troops/rebels. The incentives (and risks) are high.
I like all things Rurik, and the Stone & Blade expansion is certainly no exception. I love the new directions this content takes the game. I love the new tension in the decision space, and I especially love that the auction programming mechanism was preserved untouched. To my knowledge, Rurik: Dawn of Kiev is the first game to ever use that mechanism, which I referred to earlier; and is just outstanding. Each player has Advisors (workers) numbered between 1 and 5 which are placed on the action board and resolved in numerical order. But each action’s “space” is really a track of progressively weaker versions of that action (for example, the Muster (add troops) action might be Muster 3 troops, Muster 2 troops, Muster 1 troop, and finally pay one coin to Muster 1 troop). And when players place their Advisors on the board, they’re always placed at the top of an open track, or in their numerical order, bumping lower numbers down the track to weaker actions. But here’s the twist – players may bribe their advisors to function as a higher number for placement (your number 1 Advisor plus 7 coins works as though he was a number 8 Advisor and so on). The Advisors will always resolve in numerical order regardless of bribes. The rest of the game is fun, but that mechanism makes it truly sing, and that is what brings me back over and over.
Out of the gate, I do not suggest adding everything – when I did that, even with skilled gamers who played before, one player was able to see the board for all its opportunities and outscore the other two players combined. It was not a great experience for the other players (I had fun though!). I did not think it was going to be necessary for everyone to work their way up to it, but having the experience we did, I feel the need to share it transparently. There are some combinations in using all three modules that could easily result in some players feeling overwhelmed. That said, I do not believe any single module to reach that level on its own, and I fully intend on teaching the core content with the base game for any new players I teach.
I love Rurik, and I will be backing this Kickstarter campaign as fast as I can. I am excited to see if there are additional elements (Stretch Goals) beyond what prototype versions PieceKeeper Games sent, and I am excited to follow along and see what others think. Despite being prototype components, none of the content felt like it was in beta testing or in development. It all plays like it has been playtested and developed to a final product. It blends with the core game seamlessly, and, as I have mentioned several times, there are portions with which I will always want to play. I have played modular expansions to other games that were a disappointment. But this feels complete. It feels like several natural extensions of the base game I have come to love so much. I came in with high hopes, and this does not disappoint. I love the core content and I really like what each module brings to the game and how they can shape the approach players take. I thought I would want to play with all the things all the time, but what I’ve learned is that each module has its own subtleties that are really fun to explore. I will still play with everything from time to time, but I think there is more content in this small box than meets the eye, and I think it all lives up to the high bar set by the base game. Well done, PieceKeeper Games!
Cheers!
The Kickstarter Campaign may be found here.
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