Dark Empire: Revolution
Dark Empire: Revolution Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
120 cards:
- 75 hand cards with "Steam Noir" back:
- 65 faction cards: 13 cards per faction/colour, values 4-6 (3 x each), 7-8 (2 x each)
- 10 reinforcement cards, value +3
- 10 emperor cards (coat-of-arms back): 8 cards valued 8-13 (10/11 doubled); a 4-player card, value "5 +"; a 5-player card, value "10 +"
- 5 revolution cards (fist back), value 3
- 5 "victor" cards (question mark back), one for each faction
- 25 "temporary support" cards (back: blue text "Zeitweilige Unterstuetzung"): 5 sets, each containing one card per faction
Also: 6 scoring markers for the factions and the emperor; 46 revolution point tokens (also just called "tokens"), values 1 (18 x), 2 (16 x), 5 (6 x), 10 (6 x); 1 score track in three parts with numbered spaces 1-40. If players want to play without the point overview and scoring markers, they may use the back side.
Factions and German card text: Workers - Arbeiter; Calendrical Order - Kalendarischer Orden (special guards and police squad); Suffragettes - Suffragetten; Mechandros - Mechandros (steam powered machine men); Students - Studenten.
NOTE: Consider your first game as a learning experience to get a feeling for how the mechanisms work together. Using the system strategically to your benefit and subtly misleading your opponents is a more sophisticated challenge for future sessions ...
Game Overview
In "Steam Noir: Revolution" each player wants to lead a different faction, kept secret from their opponents, towards victory. After each round, faction cards are moved to the score track, counting both for the intermediate and final scoring.
However, the players also collect points in another way: the player who most supports the winning faction of a round gains tokens worth additional revolution points added towards their secret faction's final score.
The game's twelve rounds ("weeks") are divided into three periods ("months"). Each "month" is scored independently, providing players the chance to earn more points by supporting different factions.
At the end of the game each player reveals their secret faction and adds their collected revolution points to this faction. Usually, the player whose faction gained the most overall points wins the game.
But look out! If any one faction becomes too powerful, the other factions will fear the rise of another despot and turn against the ruling faction. In this case, the second strongest faction will lead the country into the future.
Additionally, once per round each player may act as a traitor and play a faction card for the benefit of the emperor, thus weakening a specific faction that round and making the defeat of the revolution more probable. This will happen if the emperor has the most points at the end of the game. In this case, the player whose faction has the fewest overall points wins the game - after all, this faction was least responsible for the trouble and will not face as much retribution.
Besides the points and the timing there is another aspect to the game: manipulating your opponents. It is explicitly intended that players may talk about everything - including collaborations, lies and disinformation. How much all of this happens depends heavily on each specific game group.
So, the aim of the game is to guide your secret faction to victory in the end - being careful not to pull too far ahead! Or, to help the emperor put down the revolution and win with your faction being the weakest.
Setup
a) First allocate three roles which need to be performed during the game to three players:
- The Dealer deals new cards to the players.
- The Shuffler shuffles all discarded and played cards thoroughly into the discard pile they maintain throughout the game.
- The Organizer creates new revolution and emperor card piles each month and maintains the scoring markers.
b) The Organizer shuffles the revolution and emperor cards separately and places four of each in two facedown piles in the middle of the table, some distance apart. He keeps the 5 surplus cards facedown within his reach for later use.
With four or five players, he selects the corresponding additional emperor card (4 players: "5 +" / 5 players: "10 +") and places it halfway underneath the emperor card pile, with the additional value visible. The other one is not used in the game. With three players, both cards are removed from the game.
c) Place the assembled score track to one side of the table. Leave enough space above and below the track for overlapping cards to be placed there. Place the scoring markers beside the track.
d) Place the sorted revolution tokens aside for future use.
e) Each player draws one facedown "victor" card, looks at it and places it facedown in front of them. This is the secret faction the player wants to lead to victory. Each player also gets a set of "temporary support" cards, containing one card per faction. The remaining "victor" cards and "temporary support" sets are removed from the game, unseen.
Each player receives: 1 "victor" card (kept secret from other players) and 1 set of "temporary support" cards.
f) The Dealer shuffles all hand cards and deals nine cards to each player. He places the remaining cards beside him as the draw pile.
g) Each player looks at their cards, chooses two, and places these facedown to their left. Each player picks up the two cards to their right. From these nine cards, they discard two cards facedown (the Shuffler starts the discard pile with these). Doing so, players should think about which faction they will "temporarily support" in the first month (see Month, below). Each player starts the game with seven hand cards.
Layout: the draw pile is by the Dealer, the discard pile by the Shuffler, the emperor card pile and revolution card pile in the middle, and the Organizer keeps the revolution and emperor cards for future months. Each player starts with 7 hand cards, a secret "victor" card and a "temporary support" card set.
Course of the Game
The game consists of three "months", each divided into four "weeks". Every week each player plays three cards. Players may freely communicate about their (pretended) plans, cards and intentions; but it is forbidden to show any cards to other players.
NOTE: The need to communicate may seem unnecessary in the first few sessions of the game, but it helps guard particularly well against traitors becoming too strong.
Month
At the beginning of each month all players secretly choose one card from their set of "temporary support" cards. They place the set as a facedown pile in front of them, with the chosen card on top.
This top card represents each player's prediction for which faction will be the strongest during the forthcoming month.
After the next monthly scoring, the chosen card is removed from the game and cannot be chosen again.
Example: This player has strong hand cards for the mechandros. Despite his secret "victor" being a different faction, he chooses the corresponding mechandros card from his "temporary support" set. He then places the set in front of him, the mechandros card on top. Thus he bets that the mechandros will be the highest at the next monthly scoring, earning him additional revolution points.
Week
At the beginning of each week, reveal the top cards of both the emperor and the revolution card piles and place these on top of their respective piles. These cards now count towards the week's total for this faction and the emperor.
Example: 3 for the suffragettes, 17 for the emperor.
All players now choose one card from their hand and place it in front of them, facedown. When everybody has chosen a card, players point simultaneously, without hesitation and unambiguously with their card to either the revolution or emperor card - becoming a traitor card. It is not allowed to change sides during this action. Then, all players immediately reveal their cards and place them on the table.
Attention! Each player is only allowed to play one of his three cards within a week as a traitor card!
Faction cards are always placed orientated towards the player who played them, so it is clear who placed which card. Reinforcement cards are attached directly to any faction card already in play (see below).
All players collaboratively check the strength of each faction and the emperor, so that all players are up to date with the current standings. To do so, add the faction cards of each faction on the revolution side (no matter who played them), but subtract the traitor cards of this faction!
The strength of the emperor is calculated by the emperor card (including "5+" or "10+") plus all traitor cards from any faction.
Players choose their next card for this week, which is played in the same way, placing all their faction cards in a straight row. Thus the factions become stronger as the week progresses (see the example of weekly scoring).
Reinforcement cards ("+3") are attached to any faction card already played, adding 3 to the value of this card.
A reinforcement card cannot be attached to a card played at the same time - so it may never be a player's first card during a week. Reinforcement cards can be placed on any faction card or traitor card, regardless of who played it. Reinforcing an opponent's traitor card still counts as playing one traitor card a week.
The orientation of a reinforcement card is of no importance, since it is no longer assigned to its original player. There is no limit to how many reinforcement cards (of one or more players) may be added to any single faction card.
NOTE: For example, you may upgrade your own "6" into a "12" with two reinforcement cards. Or shovel points to a player who doesn't want them. Or support another player who played your secret "victor" faction because you have no faction cards yourself. If your gaming group worries about too much chaos because of hands reaching over the table placing several reinforcement cards at the same time, you may agree upon the following: Whenever a player is attaching a reinforcement card, they must call out, at the moment of playing, which card is the "target".
(Illustration: a 6 with a reinforcement card has now a value of 9.)
Players perform this simultaneous play of one card three times; then the week is finished and weekly scoring takes place.
Weekly Scoring
The weekly scoring is performed in two successive steps (see example below).
1. Distributing revolution points
First, all players check which revolutionary faction is the strongest after each player has played three cards. Then they look at the cards lying in front of each player counting towards the revolution.
- The player who supported this week's strongest faction the most (by having the highest total value for this faction in front of them) gains two points in the form of tokens.
- The player who has played the single highest card (including reinforcements) for this faction gains one point.
One player can meet both these criteria and gain a total of three points.
Until the next monthly scoring, the tokens are placed on top of each player's set of "temporary support" cards. Only after that are they placed onto their secret "victor" faction card.
Ties: In case of ties between factions and/or players, all tied parties receive the benefits of being strongest and obtain points.
Rare special case: When a player has supported more than one tied faction the most, he receives multiples of 2 points!
NOTE: All points you gain as tokens are added to the total of your secret "victor" faction during the final scoring of the game. This might double the final total of a faction and lead to some surprises.
2. Placing cards to be scored
The strongest faction (or more than one, if tied) is now compared to the strength of the emperor.
If the strongest faction is stronger than the emperor, the player who supported this faction the most (and gained two points) places one of the faction cards he played for this faction below the score track. The symbols on the track indicate the corresponding "column" in which to place the cards. The cards stay there until the next monthly scoring.
Only faction cards played towards the revolution side can be moved to the score track - not traitor cards. Cards are placed to the score track without any reinforcement cards attached to them.
If the emperor is stronger than the strongest faction, the emperor card is moved to the score track.
For each card moved to the score track, the scoring marker is moved forward on the score track a number of spaces equal to the strength of the card. These points count towards the final score.
When two markers meet on a space, they are piled up, the upper one diagonally, so that the marker underneath can still be recognised.
(Illustration: a workers' 8 is placed to be scored.)
Ties: In the case of tied strongest factions, cards of all tied factions are placed to the score track. If the emperor is part of the tie, the emperor card is also placed there, accordingly.
In the case of tied players with the most support to the strongest faction, each tied player places a card to the score track. To do so, each player picks up the cards in question and chooses one of them. Now the players place their chosen card simultaneously to the score, and their other cards back onto the table.
It is possible that cards of several factions and the emperor card are moved to the score track.
Rare special case: If one player has supported more than one tied faction the most, he places more than one of his cards to the score track.
Example of weekly scoring: The player on the right has placed a card as a "traitor" next to the emperor card - thus the emperor has a total of 21 (5 + 10 + 6). The calendrical order (green) ends with a total of 25 points (the traitor cards being subtracted from his strength: 11 + 8 + 3 + 9 - 6). The students (blue) end with a total of 15 points (7 + 8). Suffragettes, workers and mechandros don't have to be taken into consideration. The player in the foreground has supported the strongest faction the most (11) and has also played the highest card for this faction (again 11). He gains 3 points in the form of tokens and places his "8" to the score track - without its reinforcement card.
NOTE: The emperor tends to become more dangerous towards the end of the game. During their first sessions, players should be rather careful not to play "traitor cards" too soon and imprudently, just to weaken an opponent's faction. This may accidentally result in the emperor becoming too strong too quickly.
Re-organize
First, the Shuffler discards all of the traitor and reinforcement cards.
Next, each player may pick up one of the cards they played during this week back into their hand. The remaining cards go to the Shuffler to discard.
Additionally, players may discard, facedown, any number of hand cards (yes, all of them if you really want!). The Shuffler thoroughly shuffles the discard pile.
Then, the Dealer deals each player as many cards as they need to refill their hand to seven. If the draw pile is exhausted, the shuffled discard pile is used as the new draw pile.
The Organizer lays aside the revealed revolution card and, if it has not been placed to the score track, the revealed emperor card.
If the revolution card pile is exhausted, four weeks have been played, the month is ending and a monthly scoring is carried out.
Monthly Scoring
For the monthly scoring, only the faction cards placed below the score track and the revolution point tokens on the players' "temporary support" sets are used. The emperor does not play any part in it.
First, the players reveal the topmost card of their "temporary support" set. The points on the tokens gained this month are added to the card values of the revealed faction below the score track. Points from tokens of more than one player may be added to the same faction, making it even stronger. The month's totals of all revolutionary factions are compared.
Six additional points in the form of tokens are equally distributed between all players who temporarily supported the strongest faction this month.
A player who solely supported the strongest faction receives the full 6 points. Two players receive 3 points each, three players receive 2 points each, and four or five players receive 1 point each.
If no player supported the strongest faction, then no points are awarded.
Example of monthly scoring (4 players): In one of the weeks, two factions were tied, so five cards were moved to the score track. The points that the players gained this month are added to the factions they have "temporarily supported":
- Cal. Order: 0 points
- Workers: 8 + 6 = 14 points
- Mechandros: 0 + 4 = 4 points
- Students: 6 + 0 = 6 points
- Suffragettes: 10 + 0 + 4 = 14 points
Players 1, 2 and 4 have supported the strongest factions (workers and suffragettes), so each of them gains 2 points.
After the monthly scoring all players place all their revolution point tokens on their "victor" card.
Now is a good time to change markers into larger denominations, so all players can easily see each other's points.
The revealed "temporary support" cards are removed from the game, thus players can choose each faction only once per game.
At the end of the 1st and 2nd months, the Organizer makes room for the next monthly scoring by moving all of the cards from below the score track to above the score track. The Organizer should arrange the cards so that all scored card values are visible to everyone.
The Organizer reshuffles all revolution cards and all emperor cards not yet scored, and places four of each kind as two facedown piles again. Any additional emperor card (in a four or five player game) stays in place on the table.
If there are fewer than four emperor cards left for the new pile (when five or more have already been scored), simply use them all. If the pile is exhausted, the remaining weeks of the month are played without an emperor card (in a four or five player game, lay the additional card aside). In this case, players cannot place cards as traitor cards.
Now the next month can commence.
After the third monthly scoring, the game ends and a final scoring takes place.
Final Scoring
Each player reveals their "victor" card and moves the corresponding scoring marker as many spaces forward as they have revolution points from tokens.
The emperor's strength does not change any further.
If a strength above "40" needs to be scored, flip the marker over to its "40+" side and place it slightly to one side of the score track and continue counting up from 40 again.
Winner
The position of the scoring markers on the score track shows the influence and power gained by each of the five factions and the emperor after three months of constant revolution. The winner is determined in three successive steps:
1. Victorious emperor?
If the emperor marker is on the same space or ahead of the strongest faction, the revolution has failed. The winner of the game is the player whose faction has the lowest total on the score track - they will face the least furious revenge from the emperor.
When playing with three or four players, only factions with a "victor" card assigned to a player are considered for victory.
In case of a tie, the tied player whose faction has the fewest points only from the scored cards wins the game.
If there is still a tie, all tied players share equally the disreputable victory of treachery.
If there is at least one faction ahead of the emperor on the score track, we have a ...
2. Victorious Revolution!
The emperor is chased out of the country. Remove the emperor scoring marker from the game and celebrate the glorious victory of the revolution!
The faction with its marker furthest ahead on the score track seizes power ... at least for the moment. The player with this faction wins the game - as long as condition 3 does not occur (see below).
When playing with three or four players, should the winning faction not be assigned to a player (very rare!), the player whose faction is next on the score track wins the game.
3. New rulers too powerful?
If the leading faction is ahead of the next faction by 15 points or more, it is obviously too ambitious! It is instantly disempowered and the faction with the second most points on the score track will lead the country into the future. The player with this faction wins the game.
When playing with three or four players, should the winning faction not be assigned to a player, the player whose faction is next on the score track wins the game.
In case of a tie the tied player whose faction has gained more points only from the scored cards wins the game.
If there is still a tie, the tied factions and players share the victory.
Example of final scoring: The students seize power having gained a total of 45 points. The emperor flees the country. However, since the students are 16 points ahead of the mechandros condition 3 takes place. Therefore, the player with the mechandros "victor" card wins the game.