Rurik: Dawn of Kiev

About

Rurik: Dawn of Kiev is a euro-style realm building game featuring area control, resource management, and a new mechanic - "auction programming."

Click here to see all the leaders in the game!

Establish your legacy by constructing buildings and performing great deeds or pursue your own agenda by ruling large areas of land and collecting tribute. Will you win over the hearts of the people to become the next Grand Prince or Princess of Kiev?

Rurik features:

• 71 miniatures (40+ mm and 28 mm scale)
• 64 custom wood resources
• 24 silk screened player pawns
• Novel mechanics
• Solo mode automa opponent who changes tactics

Rurik brings to life the ancient culture of Kievan Rus - the precursor to both Russia and Ukraine - with game design by Russian game designer Stanislav Kordonskiy and illustrations by Ukrainian artist Yaroslav Radeckyi.

• No guarantees of wide release. We are a small publisher with a limited retailer network (we are not in distribution yet).
• Kickstarter limited components. The 4 player trays with lids, Intrigue Cards, Metal Coins, and Playmat will only be available directly through PKG (at a higher price).
• Receive the game first. Receive Rurik at least a month before the retail release.
• Save money! Get 19% off the MSRP ($85) of Rurik.

Auction Programming. The gameplay in Rurik revolves around a central strategy board. Openly bid for actions with your advisors in this novel “auction programming” mechanic. Higher numbered advisors earn greater benefits, but lower numbered advisors resolve their actions sooner.

Action Resolution. Take turns resolving advisors. Always resolve your lowest numbered advisor, regardless of which action column it is on, and perform the action.

Ruling lands is important! It's easier to build and tax in lands you rule, although you can pay more to perform those actions even when you don't rule.

Scheme to keep a reward for yourself and potentially lay a trap for opponents that may attack you! After attacking another player, you must flip over scheme cards - if you find a casualty icon you also lose a troop.

Instead of fighting each other, you can also clear the land of rebels and earn rewards for your efforts.

Claim to the Throne. At the end of the round, determine how far you advance in your quest to claim the throne.

At the end of four rounds, the player with the most points wins! You score points primarily based on your success in ruling lands, building, and trading. You may also score points from warfare, your great deeds, and your secret agenda.

Watch a full 3 player playthrough below with the game designer (Stan Kordonskiy), Jeremy Howard, and Ryan Metzler (from The Dice Tower).

In Solo Mode, the AI changes between 3 modes throughout the game and within each mode has a different approach to bidding and resolving actions.

Its bidding is only revealed one bid at a time so you are never quite sure how it will play! The dynamic automa opponent has received a lot of high praise from playtesters and reviewers alike. You can watch a full playthrough of solo mode below.

If you are interested in any add-ons, manually increase your pledge by the amount listed for the rewards you would like.

We've selected reputable logistics partners around the world to ensure you receive your games safely and in a timely manner. This project is EU, CA, AU, and US friendly. This means that rewards bound to those regions ship from within their respective regions so backers in those regions will not pay any VAT, customs, or duties on their games upon arrival at their address.

We're offering a $16+ shipping subsidy to all backers from our actual shipping and and VAT charges. Backers in the following regions pay the remaining shipping as follows.

Backers in Zones 2-8 should back at the "(International)" reward levels to have cheaper shipping rates (we discovered cheaper rates after the project started and were not able to adjust shipping rates in the original rewards).

There are group pledge discounts available for international backers - for more information please send us a message.

There is no additional shipping charge for the metal coins (it is included in the $20). If you'd like to pledge for more than 1 copy of Rurik, backers in the US/EU/UK/CA/AU can pay for up to 4 games with no additional shipping charges. For backers in other regions or for more than 4 games, please message us for a shipping quote.

Note: Unfortunately we are not shipping to Brazil on this project - we will refund your pledge.

Thank you to our hundreds of playtesters who provided great input!

• Game Design: Stanislav Kordonskiy
• Development, Solo Design: John Brieger
• Illustrations: Finn McAvinchey, Yaroslav Radeckyi
• Graphic Design: Yoma
• Art Direction: Yoma
• 3D Models: Heriberto Valle Martinez
• Video Animation: Garth Vickers
• Plastic Trays: Dan Cunningham
• Publishing: Kirk Dennison, Emily Dennison, Ryan Vollmer

We love local game stores! If you are interested in carrying Rurik: Dawn of Kiev, please back at the Retailer pledge level and we will be in touch after you pledge. Buying direct from us is the only way to get the Intrigue Cards and Metal Coins. If you have any questions, feel free to email games [at] piecekeepergames [dot] com.

Risks and challenges

As with any board game production, there are always risks related to manufacturing issues, production delays, freight delays, and shipping damages (among other risks). However, we have done our best to minimize the potential risks prior to launching this project. This is the 3rd Kickstarter project for PieceKeeper Games.

The gameplay is complete* after conducting playtesting with over 100 players around the world (*we're still finalizing solo mode). We have our final manufacturing quotes in hand and the pre-production files are 90% complete for all content currently in the game. We have also been working closely with our global logistics partners to ensure a timely and safe delivery of your games.

Please know that our primary goals are transparency with you, our backers, and high product quality. We will keep you informed each step of the way - both concerning good and bad news. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback, we'd love to hear from you in the comments, via Kickstarter message, or email at games [at] piecekeepergames [dot] com.

Thank you for your interest in Rurik: Dawn of Kiev and PieceKeeper Games!

Happy gaming,
Kirk, Emily, & Ryan