In the 16th century, Russia began to expand eastward to develop the vast areas of Siberia. This stage in history is closely associated with the name "Stroganov".

In the game Stroganov, players try to collect the best furs to gain wealth and fame as they travel across the vastness of Siberia. They will travel through Siberia in the spring, summer and autumn before returning home each winter. After four years (rounds), the player who has used his actions the best and collected the most victory points wins.

Every year the players must move east through the landscape. They can spend horses if they want to travel further. Once they have progressed, they can take a basic action such as trading or collecting furs or coins. Finally, they can take more advanced actions such as visiting a village, setting up a yurt, accepting a Tsar's wish (map), setting up a hunting lodge, or purchasing a landscape field. All of these actions - combined with exploration and some story telling along the way - earn players victory points at the end of the game.

Every winter, players return to Tyumen to prepare for a new year.

After four years, the game ends, with players scoring victory points based on collecting the correct landscape tiles, fulfilling the Tsar's wishes, building hunting lodges, collecting furs, and more.

The Games Friends: Stroganov looks beautiful and has a pretty unique theme. The actions are not too complicated, but the choice of symbols sometimes makes it feel more difficult than it actually is. Due to the changing tiles on the board, there is sufficient variation, but despite this, this game will not be on the table every week due to the enormous competition from other games in this genre. But, definitely recommended to try!