How-to-Play Video & FAQs piecekeepergames.com/games/rurik Historical ackground Kievan Rus was a medieval empire to which many Eastern Europeans trace their roots. The Rurik Dynasty ruled Kievan Rus from the 9th century until the 13th century, when the empire fractured permanently, primarily due to the invasion of the Mongols. At the end of the 10th century, Vladimir the Great united Kievan Rus and solidified its borders. When he died in 1015, he had a large number of sons who were set up as governors of their own cities — many of whom wanted to claim his title as Grand Prince of Kiev. Warfare broke out between his sons, and an intense power struggle continued for decades — often referred to as the Kievan Rus succession crisis. Pat s to Victory In Rurik: Dawn of Kiev, you are a prince or princess, and you must rely on the help of your troops and advisors to make your claim to the throne. You score victory points in a variety of ways. 1. Rule Regions: Amass more troops than 4. Warfare: Attack your opponents to your opponents in regions. advance your military prowess. 2. Build Structures: Build in as many 5. Secret Agenda: Focus your efforts on adjacent regions as possible. one particular area. 3. Collect Goods: Tax the land and fill your 6. Deeds: Utilize your resources and board boat with various goods. position effectively. Although you are rewarded for diversifying, you score the majority of your victory points based on how well you perform in the first three endeavors. Game omponents 8 Leader Miniatures and Cards 4 Leader Bases See p. 3 for more details. One per player color. 1 Game Board 24 Advisors 48 Troop Miniatures The game board Six per player color, numbered Twelve per player color. is divided into 1–5 (with two #2s). Used on the Used on the game board strategy board to determine 15 regions. Each to rule regions and take region produces what actions players take and in what actions. order they may take those actions. a good, indicated by the goods icon 12 Claim Markers 4 Warfare Markers under the region name. Three per player color. Used to One per player color. Used mark progress on claim tracks. to mark progress on the warfare track. Goods icon 36 Structures 8 Conversion Tokens There are three structure types, with There are two types, Round track three of each type per player color. Built with four of each type. in regions on the game board to provide abilities and advance on one claim track. 1 First Player 1 Round 1 Claim Board Claim tracks Warfare track Marker Marker Players advance Church Market Stronghold on claim tracks to mark their 66 Goods 36 Coins progress in NOTE: Unlike other There are five types of goods. several scoring 10 Fur components, goods and conditions at the coins are unlimited. If you end of the round. run out of one of these, use They advance on 16 Wood 12 Ore 16 Fish 12 Honey a suitable substitute. the warfare track when attacking 27 Scheme Cards 15 Rebel Miniatures opponents. Schemes are revealed from the Rewards deck to resolve Casualty attacks and Action columns icon Back 1 Strategy Board played from hand NOTE: The game comes Front for rewards. with a sheet of stickers. Players plan and Before your first play, affix resolve actions 26 Deed Cards Victory one sticker to the recessed according to points Deeds can be area on the underside of how they place each rebel miniature. advisors on the accomplished Cost central strategy to earn rewards 15 Goods Tokens board. There are and score victory Rewards Back six action columns, points. Used in a representing the Front variant six main actions. (see p. 9). 11 Agenda Cards Accomplished deeds Agendas provide 15 Rebel Reward a unique scoring Goal Tokens 4 Household Mats goal for each Victory Used in a player. Players store goods and points Back variant (see p. 9). coins on their household Dock Front mat and tuck their accomplished deeds under 4 Reference Cards 20 Solo Cards the top edge of the mat. Boat One reference, one solo leader, & 18 rebellion cards. Kievan Rus boasted a strong economy, with control of the trade route from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea (along the Dnieper River). The inhabitants produced and exported goods such as furs, beeswax, honey, fish, and flax. Vertical side (multi-player) Horizontal side (solo, see p. 9) 2 Leaders Vladimir the Great had many wives, a dozen sons, and half a dozen daughters. There are disparate amounts of information known about his children and some disputes about maternity. Each leader is a historical figure. A leader counts as a troop, but they also Boris was considered the heir apparent to the throne and was widely respected for his military have a unique special ability that applies in their region. Most of their ability and honorable conduct. However, Boris, Gleb, and Sviatoslav were brutally assassinated special abilities are inspired by what is known about them. during the internal struggle following the death of Vladimir. Some sources attribute their deaths to Yaroslav the Wise, but most sources agree that Sviatopolk the Accursed ordered them to be killed. Both Boris and Gleb were later canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Yaroslav emerged as the Grand Prince of Kiev, but even then, he eventually had to settle for a AGATHA division of the land with Mstislav, whom he could not defeat. When you move Agatha, you may move up to two of your troops along with her for free. SUDISLAV The troops moved along with Agatha You may spend attack points as muster must start and end in the same region she points instead, to muster troops in does. Moving these troops does not cost Sudislav’s region. movement points. If you have multiple attack points, you may split them up if you like, spending some of them as attack points and some of them as muster points. BORIS When you attack an opponent in Boris’s SVIATOPOLK region, reveal one less scheme card and steal one coin from that opponent. Rebels in Sviatopolk’s region count as your troops for purposes of rule. If you If they have no coins, you cannot steal one. defeat a rebel in that region, replace it with one of your troops. Rebels in Sviatopolk’s region are not considered to be your troops for any purpose other than determining who rules the region. MARIA Once per round when you muster troops, you may place them in a single region adjacent to Maria’s region that YAROSLAV you do not occupy. In Yaroslav’s region, you win ties for rule You occupy a region if you have any troops and your opponents lose the abilities of there, so Maria’s ability only musters in a their structures. region where you do not have any troops. If an opponent wants to build a church in Yaroslav’s region, they are allowed to do so, but the church’s ability will not activate. MSTISLAV In Mstislav’s region, it only costs you one tax point to tax or one build point redits to build, regardless of who rules that Game Design: Stanislav Kordonskiy Plastic Trays: Dan Cunningham region. Development: Kirk Dennison, John Brieger Solo Mode Design: John Brieger Illustrations: Finn McAvinchey, Editing: Dustin Schwartz Yaroslav Radeckyi, Alayna Lemmer-Danner Logo: Kali Fitzgerald 3D Models: Heriberto Valle Martinez Publishing: Kirk Dennison Graphic Design & Art Direction: Yoma PREDSLAVA PieceKeeper Games would like to thank all who gave feedback, playtested, demoed, and promoted Rurik, including Emily Dennison, Dan Cunningham, Ryan Vollmer, Keith Once per round, on your turn, you Matejka, Nathan Mason, Gary Stitely, Rocky Pierce, Ian Zang, Grant Dennison, Robert may move an opponent’s troop from Geistlinger, Justin Gibbons, Tim Virnig, Ben Moy, Ismail Umer, Bryan Metrish, Brian Predslava’s region to an adjacent Baker, Joe Pilkus, John Velgus, Michael Dunsmore, Mike To, Amanda Sabolish, Mark region for free. That opponent gains Schwab, Chris Solis, Brian McKay, Joanna Stevens, Ting Chow, and our 2,319 backers! one coin from the supply. Stanislav Kordonskiy would like to thank those who helped during the design and Moving this troop does not cost a movement development of Rurik. Holden Kim, Patrick Lindsay, Paul McManus, Ryan Metzler, Jeremy point. You may even move an opponent’s Howard, and everyone else who contributed their time and ideas to this project. Special leader with this ability. thank you to my family and my wife Rachel for enabling me to continue my design work. For more information, visit: www.piecekeepergames.com © 2019 PieceKeeper Games LLC. All Rights Reserved. 3 Game Setup 1. Place the game board in the middle of the play area. The game board is divided into regions. The number of regions that will be in play varies by number of players. ▶ In a 2-player game, 8 regions (green) are in play. ▶ In a 3-player game, 11 regions (green and yellow) are in play. ▶ In a 4-player game, all 15 regions (green, yellow, and brown) are in play. 2. Place the claim board and the strategy board on opposite sides of the game board. The strategy board has two sides; make sure to use the correct side for the number of players. 3. Place the plastic tray containing the goods and coins off to the side. This is thesupply . 4. Give each player a household mat, placed with the vertical side face up. (They are all identical.) Then give each player threecoins from the supply to place on the dock and two conversion tokens (one of each type) to place above the dock on their household mat.