Illustrations by Maciej Janik INTRODUCTION In the 16th century, a family of merchants and entrepreneurs by the name of Stroganov attracted the attention and favor of the Tsar. Wishing to align with their wealth and power, he granted the Stroganovs lands and privileges with which to continue their enterprises. Near the end of the century, the Tsar enlisted the Stroganovs’ help to extend Russia’s reach into Siberia, the vast landscape from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, which had proved complicated and difficult to conquer. The Stroganovs hunted and traded furs in the region, recruiting Cossacks to do the work. A path was opening to the east. In Stroganov, you’ll play as members of the powerful Stroganov family, urging your Cossack hunters to explore eastward across Siberia. In the fairer weather of Spring, Summer, and Autumn, your Cossacks will explore, hunt for valuable furs, and establish outposts. As they travel, they’ll gather stories to turn into songs to be sung when they return home for the long harsh Winters. Your growing influence in Russia depends on the continued favor of the Tsar. Fulfill his wishes in Siberia to sustain your power and bring honor to the Stroganov name! CREDITS GAME DESIGN: Andreas Steding • ARTWORK: Maciej Janik • PROJECT MANAGER: Rudy Seuntjens GAME DEVELOPMENT: Seb Van Deun • ART DIRECTION & RULEBOOK DESIGN: Rafaël Theunis INSERT DESIGN: Meeplemaker • EDITOR: Amanda Erven • PROOFREADERS: Ori Avtalion, Dave Moser, Christine Gijbels QUALITY CONTROL: Eefje Gielis • LOGISTICS: Wim Goossens The author would like to thank Christwart Conrad and all the fellow players in the Göttingen gaming group who are always so patiently testing the various versions of his prototypes. If there is any issue with this product, please contact the vendor where you purchased this game, or contact our customer service at gamebrewer.com/customer-service 2 COMPONENTS 16x 24x 18 Automa (Solo) Cards Value 1 Value 3 40 Horses 1 Game Board 20 Banner Tokens 1 Solo Overlay Tile 1 Starting Tile 20 Coins 8x 7x 6x 5x Forest Steppe Swamp Mountains 5 Village Tiles 4 Player Boards* 8x 8x 26 Landscape Tiles 4 Cossack Meeples* 6 Setup Furs 16 Yurt Tiles 14x 13x 12x 11x 8x 8x 4 Story Tokens* Sobel Rabbit Fox Wolverine 10x 9x 7x 16 Song Tiles Elk Lynx Bear 76 Furs 4 Trophy Tokens* 10 Tiger Tiles 7x 10x 10x 1 Season Marker 4 Victory Point Tokens* S A Б 1 Bag 27 Tsar’s Wish Cards 20 Outposts* 3 *in the 4 player colors GAME SETUP 1 Lay out the game board in the middle of the table. Place the start- ing tile in its indicated spot. 12 2 Shuffle the 5 starting landscape tiles (marked with an “S”) and place them faceup on the first 5 spaces to the right of the starting tile. 14 Shuffle the remaining landscape tiles and place 7 more faceup in the spaces to the right of the starting landscape tiles. This creates a row of 12 landscape tiles. The remaining landscape tiles are placed facedown to the side of the board as a draw pile. 3 Shuffle the 6 setup furs, and randomly draw 12 1 to place faceup on the trade action space 13 (3a). The remaining 5 setup furs are laid face- up, one in each of the regions on the board, on the indicated space. They are placed 9 from lowest to highest value going from left 2 Year track to right. These 5 furs denote the advanced action cost of each region (see page 8). 17 Alternative setup: Experienced players can Market place the 5 region furs in a random order, but 5 it is not recommended for the first few games. 3a 4 Put the 76 fur tokens into the bag and mix General supply thoroughly. For each of the 12 landscape tiles, draw fur tokens randomly from the bag and 3 place one faceup in each indicated spot. If 18 playing with fewer than 4 players, leave the 8 2 spots marked with “4” empty. Arrange the tokens in order, with the lowest value fur at 19 the top. On the rightmost (12th) landscape 1 tile, place a tiger tile beside the highest value fur token. 5 Draw 6 furs from the bag and place them faceup in the market . 6 6 Shuffle the 5 village tiles and place one faceup in each of the 5 regions of the game board, on the indicated space. 7 7 Separate the “A” and “Б” yurt tiles. Shuffle 15 each stack and place one “A” tile faceup on the corresponding field in each of the 5 regions of the game board. Put the remaining “A” yurt 1 tiles on top of the “Б” yurt tiles and store on the appropriate storage space of the game board. 12 13 12 8 Randomly determine the starting player, and place their Cossack on the right side of the starting tile. Randomly determine the second player, placing 4 their Cossack to the left of the start player. Repeat for all players to create a random player order. 14 Note: When the rulebook refers to the player order, always check the order in which the Cossacks are positioned on the landscape tiles; the one further into Siberia (the one to track Trophy the right) is considered ahead in the player order. 16 9 Place each player’s victory point token at the start of the victory point track. 4 GAME SETUP 10 Place each player’s story token at the start of the 12 story track. 11 Separate the “A” & “Б” song tiles, shuffle each deck, 16 and place a number of “A” song tiles equal to the number of players faceup on the indicated spaces. 16 14 Place the remaining “A” & “Б” song tiles on the appropriate storage space on the game board. 12 Each player takes a player board and places their trophy token above their trophy track. 12 13 13 Players receive horses based on the player order. 1st player 2nd player 3rd player 4th player 11 19 15 7 Story track 10 3 horses 4 horses 5 horses 6 horses 14 Each player takes 1 outpost in their color and 1 11 coin. 15 Separate the “S”, “A”, and “Б” Tsar’s Wish cards, shuffle each deck, and set the “S” cards aside for the moment. Place one “A” Tsar’s Wish card faceup in each of the 5 regions of the game board. Put the remaining “A” and all of the “Б” Tsar’s Wish cards on 4 the appropriate storage space of the game board. 16 Reveal a number of “S” Tsar’s Wish cards equal to the number of players plus 1. Example: in a 3-player game, reveal 4 cards. On each card, place one randomly drawn fur tile, faceup. In reverse player order, each player chooses 1 of the Tsar’s Wish cards. They take the card into their hand and the fur tile into their personal supply, next to their player board. Put the remaining fur token back in the bag, and return the remaining card as well as any unused “S” Tsar’s Wish cards to the box. 17 Place the season marker on the first space of the year track. 18 Place 12/17/20 banner tokens for the number of players (2/3/4) next to the game board as a general 12 supply. 13 12 19 Place the remaining horses, outposts, and coins in the general supply. Place the remaining tiger 14 tiles on the appropriate storage space of the game board. Horses and coins are not considered limited; in the unlikely event they run out, use any suitable replacement. 16 3-player setup: Place an outpost of the unused player color in each region of the gameboard, on the spaces marked “3-”. 2-player setup: Place an outpost of one of the unused player colors in each region of the gameboard, on the spaces marked “3-”. Then place an outpost of the remaining un- used player color on the spaces of the two leftmost regions marked “2”. 5 GAME OVERVIEW Each of the four rounds of the game represents one year. Each of these years consists of four turns representing the seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. In the Spring, Summer, and Autumn turns, you will advance across the varied landscapes of Siberia, hunting furs, visiting villages and yurts, establishing outposts, fulfilling the Tsar’s wishes, and gathering stories of your epic adventures. During the Winter season of each year, you will return home to the starting tile, receive income, weave your stories into song, and reset for the following year. At the end of the 4th year, end game scoring takes place, and the player with the most Victory Points (VP) wins. GAMEPLAY During Spring , Summer , and Autumn , you will perform the following three steps, in order, when you are the active player: 1. Move 2. May Perform 1 Basic Action 3. May Perform 1 or 2 Main Actions (either of which can be basic or advanced ) During Winter , all players receive income, turn stories into song, and return their Cossacks to the starting tile to simultaneously perform upkeep. Spring, Summer, or Autumn Determine the active player. The active player is the one whose Cossack is furthest to the right, and has not yet had a turn this season. When the active player’s turn is finished, the next active player is determined, and play proceeds until all players have taken a turn. If more than one Cossack is on the same tile, the Cossack furthest to the right is considered first in player order.