Publisher: Hobby World
Player Count: 2-4 Players
Game Length: 120-180 Minutes
Complexity 3/5
Ivan IV Vasilyevich, came to power as the Grand Prince of Moscow and later, the first Tsar and Grand Prince over all of Russia. Despite a relatively short life, Ivan the Terrible saw Russia move from a medieval state to a modern empire, introducing new technology, encouraging trade routes and triggering wars which both evolved and took a toll on its population. In The First Tsar, players lead boyar families as they compete for prestige and favor as you work to fortify cities and build your personal empire by any means necessary. Bribe and outwit your opponents in pursuit of the Tsar’s favor and possibly the throne.
Played over 4 turns or decades, players will gather each round at the Kremlin to choose actions for that decade. Grow your influence over the Russian state, gather resources, trade in foreign goods, acquire new titles and estates, fortify your presence with construction projects or seek fame on the military front lines. The Tsar’s favor isn’t just a turn mechanic, but a pivotal feature essential to gaining an advantage over your opponents. But just as Ivan was prone to mood swings and bouts of anger, aggressive families can force the Tsar’s preference at any point.
Set as a sequel to Rurik: Dawn of Kiev, The First Tsar embraces tight turns, cutthroat actions and multiple paths to victory. As a fan of designer Stan Kordonskiy (Dice Hospital, Endless Winter, Nova Roma), it’s safe to say this is clearly his most mature design to date. In this review, I’ll break down the mechanics, the production and share my final thoughts to help you determine if The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible should be your next euro game purchase.
ON YOUR TURN
The game takes place over the 4 decades of Ivan the Terrible’s reign as Tsar. Each decade, you’ll send 3 boyars, representing your family to the Kremlin where you’ll choose from 5 available actions. While any player can take any of the individual actions, this part of the game promotes tense player interaction thanks to a bidding system where boyars can “bribe” officials to gain additional actions often pivotal to your success. Committing a one-time, open bid with your boyar allows all other players who haven’t played in the space a chance to trump your bid – so bidder beware. A glaring theme throughout the game is the Tsar’s favor, an instrument to determine turn order, but even more critical, a tool to break ties throughout the entire experience. In this initial phase, players with the Tsar’s favor break bidding ties.
In turn order, players resolve their boyar actions one at a time and can only commit to grabbing the action bonus twice, so even if you have the means, you’re going to be limited, creating some very interesting decisions.
The game’s map is broken up into 5 separate regions, not including the military front, where influence will provide resource production as well as end of round control bonuses. These areas are activated by boyar actions either adding warriors to the board or producing in those areas. The trade action allows you to exchange resources for foreign goods which are critical to meeting assignment card goals. Players may also use actions to draft title and estate cards earning you ongoing bonuses and end game scoring respectively or drafting and/or completing assignment cards.
I don’t want to linger too long on the planning phase, but it’s so critical as you play a sort of cat-and-mouse game with your opponents through bidding and planning. The entire game plays very tight, but missteps in this phase can easily lead to your downfall. Not to diminish the following action phase where you execute these actions one at a time. Paired hand-in-hand with your planning, the order in which you activate boyar actions can help you get the jump on an opponent, ensure a greater resource return, grab a more enticing assignment, title or estate card… or even fumble by showing too much of your strategy at the wrong time. It all plays out under the oversight of the Tsar’s favor, which can fluidly trade hands through a variety of different actions and abilities interwoven throughout all the phases of the game. You might think you have an advantage to deploy more warriors on the board with the action bonus, but the Tsar’s favor may change hands prior to your action and a tie may overturn what you thought was a lucrative bribe.
Players can’t even relax during the end of round phase. As you resolve influence in the regions, rewards earned can alter the outcome of future region resolutions. Once again, the Tsar’s favor plays a part in breaking ties, but can shift through the collecting of rewards. These are all things you have to take into consideration from the very beginning of each turn as you plan your strategy. While it’s not a game that’s complex mechanically, every choice you make feels heavy and important. You really see the fruit of your decisions for better or for worse. Mistakes can be punishing, but it’s not a game where you can’t recover either… just don’t make too many of them as you only have 12 actions.
ARTWORK & COMPONENTS
Overall, the production is solid, but not spectacular. Artwork and graphic design across the board gives off that old-school euro feel, but is paired with more rich and decadent illustrations. The quality of the cardboard and pieces are fine and get the job done. The wooden resources are a nice touch, but the flimsy individual player boards feel like a miss.
PROS & CONS
➕ Deep planning and tough choices present a rich experience
➕ Interaction produces an almost paranoid state keeping you on your toes
➕ Simple gameplay makes way for tough strategic turns
➕ In a lesser game, the Tsar’s favor would simply be a turn order mechanic, but here, it’s thoroughly routed in every facet of the game.
➕ Victories during play or in the end are extremely satisfying, giving you a sense of accomplishment.
➖ Due to the nature of the game, turns are prone to some serious analysis paralysis.
➖ Setup is a bit of chore
➖ While game length isn’t a negative (time to value ratio is solid), the general time investment (2-3 hours) will turn some people off.
WHY WOULD YOU LIKE THIS GAME?
While not complex mechanically, The First Tsar delivers a nail-biting experience full of heavy decisions and game altering consequences. This is great for fans of tight, classic euros who enjoy delving deeply and extolling over strategic decisions. There are some modern twists and fans of the genre will find the interaction and tension anything but dry.
WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT THE GAME?
The Tsar’s favor really takes the cake. In a game of limited resources and tough decisions, having authority over an opponent can either break a tie or cause them to turn in fear. Of course it’s something you need to protect as it’s continually in the back of everyone’s mind. This is such an excellent tool that’s both mechanically and thematically outstanding.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The First Tsar: Ivan the Terrible has been a major surprise. It’s thoroughly captivating and exciting from a thinking, euro gamer’s perspective. It vents those old-school, euro vibes where play is tight and choices can be a struggle. Your limited actions heighten the fact that every turn counts for something and will have an impact on the overall game.
The game’s overall tension really stands out. Meticulous planning is key, but also being able to pivot when necessary stirs a truly engaging experience. Pressure from your opponents will regularly make you question your plans and there is little reprieve throughout any of the game’s stages. Fulfilling assignments efficiently feels validating, but celebrations are brief as you quickly shift to rewards in the next phase.
Game length may turn some players off, but this is the kind of game you’ll want to make time for. Played with the right group of gamers, this is one of those satisfying experiences that you’ll come back to again and again. I’ve really enjoyed those moments when opponents realize the impact of the Tsar’s favor revealing the depth of the game – that nothing is certain and you’ll have to fight for everything you get.
The Last Tsar is a game that will absolutely engage the more strategic thinker and demand your attention.
