Europa Universalis: The Price of Power

Europa Universalis: The Price of Power is the sort of box that makes you wonder whether your group has quietly agreed to punish you for something. It takes more from the gloriously overcooked computer game than from the old 100-plus-hour board-game marathon, but it has no interest in pretending to be light. Its long development was not excused away, either: the designer pulled back an earlier ruleset because it was not good enough, then rebuilt it. Sensible move.

Economy, religion, exploration and complicated diplomacy among 15 to 20 states all have to fit somewhere, so naturally there is a weighty 48-page rulebook containing rules and rules alone. You need a solid grasp of perhaps half of it before you can properly start pulling levers. Yet the rulebook makes sense — strict but fair, if we are grading it — and its design choices generally feel purposeful rather than like another opponent at the table.

You will not learn this in one play. It needs reconnaissance runs: enough time to understand how each country breathes and, more importantly, how to build the diplomatic game around the neutral states. This is where you get your hands on the other players: alliances, interests, and the constant danger of leaving someone to watch from the sidelines. In our two-round trial game, fighting began immediately, colonies appeared, and everyone learned that your next move is never entirely your own. What happens next?

I have not played enough yet to speak for every corner of it, but the first impression is immensely strong. If it holds together in full games, it belongs on the podium with the big historical designs: it delivers the taste of a monster game in roughly a tenth of the time. The solo mode, with its multiple bot decks, also looks as ambitious as the subject deserves. Quietly, alarmingly excellent.