1.0 Introduction #

Europa Universalis: The Price of Power is a board game that carries on the great legacy of the Europa Universalis video game series by Paradox Interactive. Those of you familiar with any of the video games that have come out during the series’ more than 20-year-long history will likely instantly recognize several of the concepts in this board game. That said, knowledge of the video games is not required to play or enjoy this game.

The starting point of the first Age of Europa Universalis: The Price of Power is the year 1444, in the aftermath of the Battle of Varna, where the Ottomans won a decisive victory against the combined Christian crusader forces. Europe is about to leave the Middle Ages behind and enter the Early Modern Era. The world is about to undergo changes like it never has before. No longer will civilizations in different parts of the globe exist in separate spheres with limited or no contact with the outside world. The lives of people across the whole planet are about to be irreversibly tangled together in a complex global web of power politics, imperialist expansion, colonization, trade, and cultural exchange, as well as wars and epidemics with disastrous consequences.

At the same time, science, political philosophy, and technology are starting to make progress at a rate never before seen in the history of mankind. This will impact warfare, forms of government, and religious institutions, as well as the daily lives of ordinary people, in ways that no one could have foreseen as it all began to happen.

While some states will flourish in this environment, and even grow into positions of global dominance, other civilizations will suffer and disappear almost completely.

A lot of what the colonial and imperialist powers of that era did in their struggle for glory and riches is of course highly problematic when viewed through modern eyes. Knowledge of the many key events and developments of that time period is nonetheless crucial to understanding how we have come to be where we are in the world of today.

The game views the world through the eyes of the European powers of that day and age, not because we endorse what they did, but because it is a way to help us understand some of the choices they made. Perhaps we can then see more clearly how or why parts of history unfolded in the way that they did, while also giving players the freedom to explore somewhat realistic “what if” scenarios in the setting of this time period.

This is a lot of ground for a board game to cover, and we have no pretensions of getting anywhere near a simulation of it all. Still, this game allows the players to immerse themselves in this highly interesting time period, and guide their chosen realms through a great chunk of history. Faced with challenges based on real historical events of the time, they will often need to make tough choices and negotiate with their opponents in order for their realms to thrive and grow.

We hope that this game will inspire people to dig deeper into this subject matter.