Kulikovo 1380: The Golden Horde

About this board game

Kulikovo 1380: The Golden Horde is a two-player tactical wargame with an approximately 180-minute play time, covering the pivotal medieval battle between the Golden Horde and the Russian principalities led by Muscovy.

For 150 years, Tatar armies had readily destroyed Russian opposition. Kulikovo marked the first sign that Russia was beginning to emerge from Tatar domination, although several more centuries would pass before that process was complete.

The game presents a conflict between the Golden Horde clan of Mongols and the collected principalities known as Russia. On the Russian side stands Grand Prince Dmitri Ivanovich of Moscow, later entitled Donskoi for his victory at Kulikovo, a battle fought near the Don River.

• Players: 2
• Play time: 180 minutes
• Style: Tactical historical wargame
• Complexity: Low and accessible
• Release year: 2006

Kulikovo is considered a major turning point of the Middle Ages. It showed that a western-style, “heavy” army could defeat the Mongols and represented the first major step toward unifying the various Russian principalities under Muscovite leadership.

Designed as a fast-playing, fun, and accessible wargame, Kulikovo 1380: The Golden Horde offers a focused treatment of this historically significant confrontation. Players familiar with ATO’s Suleiman the Magnificent or GMT Games’ Men Of Iron should find its approach familiar.