Generalship: From the 4th Century B.C. to the 19th Century
Generalship: From the 4th Century B.C. to the 19th Century Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- (1) 49 general cards
- (2) 104 tactic cards
- 28 basic land tactic cards
- 24 advanced land tactic cards
- 28 basic naval tactic cards
- 24 advanced naval tactic cards
- (3) 40 technology cards
- (4) 24 map tiles
- 12 nation map tiles
- 12 neutral map tiles
- (5) 8 action tiles
- (6) 8 event tiles
- (7) 210 round wooden tiles
- brown: 30 regiments of light infantry, 30 regiments of heavy infantry, 30 regiments of musketeer, 30 regiments of archer, 30 regiments of artillery
- dark brown: 30 regiments of light cavalry, 30 regiments of heavy cavalry
- (8) 16 square wooden tiles
- black: 8 squadrons of galleys, 8 squadrons of galleons
- (9) 112 resource markers
- (10) 51 wooden cylinders
- 43 white, 2 yellow, 2 green, 2 red, 2 blue
- (11) 60 wooden cubes
- 15 yellow, 15 green, 15 red, 15 blue
Overview
You will compete using 49 highly famed generals in Europe from the 4th century B.C. to the 19th century. You choose a nation to rule: Austria, Byzantium, England, or France, and then appoint a general from the 49 ones available as your commander. Using this, you will run your nation internally by accumulating political power, increasing production and population, and developing technologies. You will handle your external politics by raising armies and managing alliance relationships.
While shaping history with other players, based on your efficient use of actions, the abilities of your commander, and a little bit of luck, you will be able to win by earning more victory points than your competitors. Specifically, players can earn victory points by winning battles or developing new technologies.
Once setup is done, the players start playing the game by doing two rounds and then a settlement phase and so on (see image above). Each round consists of one turn for each player played in turn order. A player on his or her turn chooses an action tile and executes that action. The remaining players then also perform an action from the same tile in turn order. This completes one turn. Then, following the turn order, the next player begins a new turn. After all players have completed two turns, the settlement phase is done. The details for the action tiles are on pages 8–18.
In the settlement phase, the players earn additional victory points, pay for the maintenance of their armies, and adjust the turn order. After this phase, again two rounds are played as described above and so on. The details of the settlement phase are explained on pages 28–29.
How to Win
- The player who first obtains to 10 victory points wins the game.
- When a turn is done and a capital is occupied by an army that does not belong to an ally, the game ends. A player who is occupying another player's capital can swap his or her victory points with the player of the occupied capital (if there are multiple players like this then do this in reverse turn order). The player with the most victory points wins the game.
Status Board
- Turn Order: The turn order is marked here by placing one wooden cube for each nation in the game in their color on the numbered circles. At game start use the following turn order: Austria, Byzantium, England, France.
- Alliance Status: If there are 3 or 4 players in the game, any allied players indicate their alliance status by placing their nation's wooden cubes together in a box. Nothing is placed here at the beginning of the game. This is not used in a game with 2 players.
- Number of Battles Status: Each player marks their number of battles here by using a wooden cube of their nation's color. Nothing is placed here at the beginning of the game.
- Paradigm of War: At game start place a white wooden cylinder in the upper left one of the 4 boxes. This indicates the current paradigm of war.
- Event Display: When some technologies are developed an event tile is drawn and placed on the according spot (right behind the technology) and then executed. Nothing is placed here at the beginning of the game.
- Technology Tree: A player who has developed a technology needs to mark it by placing a white wooden cylinder on the corresponding spot here. Nothing is placed here at the beginning of the game.
- Victory Point Status: Players indicate their victory points by placing a wooden cube of their nation's color here. Nothing is placed here at the beginning of the game.
Map Tiles
Each player chooses a nation and places the 3 tiles of their nation on the table.
Players also need to place map tiles for the neutral territory between the nations. First, place map tiles randomly in the corners of the neutral territory.
Then the remaining area of the neutral territory is filled up with random tiles. A sea tile can only be placed if there already is an adjacent sea tile. If there is no adjacent sea tile, draw another one until you get a field, forest, or mountain tile.
Map tile key: Field, Forest, Mountain, Sea. Nation tiles show the Capital, the Nation, and Neutral territory.
[Map setup diagrams for 2, 3 and 4 players are on the printed page; see the manual.]
Nations
- Austria: small population, but effective defense.
- Byzantium: a good balance between population and geography.
- England: small population, but is protected by the sea.
- France: large population, armies move in and out easily.
Nation player board key: (1) population position, (2) metal production, (3) fortress, (4) food production, (5) population growth number.
Army and Action Tiles
Units of infantry and cavalry are called regiments in the game. The infantry regiments are the brown wooden round tiles and the cavalry regiments are the dark brown wooden round tiles. A ship unit in the game is called a squadron and is represented by a black wooden square tile. There is an icon that specifically indicates the type of unit on one side of each wooden tile.
Unit icons: Light infantry, Heavy infantry, Musketeer, Archer, Artillery, Light cavalry, Heavy cavalry, Galley, Galleon.
A regiment or squadron is placed face down on a map tile, so that other players cannot see the icon. Each player may check their own unit tiles at any time of course.
In addition to regiments and squadrons it is important to know what a division and what a fleet is. A division is a stack consisting of regiments and squadrons in a field, forest, or mountain tile. A fleet is a stack consisting of regiments and at least one squadron in a sea tile. A single regiment or squadron in a map tile is also considered to be a division or fleet.
Setup
Setup the status board by turning the bottom of the game box face up and placing it on the table. Setup the map and the action tiles as described in the previous sections of the rules. Then for each type of cards (including the event tiles) separately shuffle them and place them as a face down deck each.
Each player selects a nation and takes the 2 wooden cylinders and 15 wooden cubes of their nation's color.
Deal out 5 general cards face down to each player. Each player also gets 5 population (white cylinders), 1 light infantry regiment, 2 food, and 1 metal.
Each player selects 2 of their 5 general cards and discards the remaining 3. From these 2 cards, each player selects one as their commander and places it face up on the table and then places their other card face down next to their commander.
The players receive 5 white wooden cylinders and place them on the circles numbered I–V of their nation tiles.
The 1 light infantry regiment each player receives is placed face down in the capital. Each player marks their units by putting a wooden cube of their color on top of each stack.
Each player receives 2 food and 1 metal. The resource markers are available in units of 1 and 3 (only).
Players can replace their commanders or they can be removed by other players during the game. The characteristics and abilities of each commander are very important for the game. Players should therefore understand the other players' commanders as well as their own.
The number of general cards placed face down next to the commander represents the player's political power. Players can increase their political power (i.e. place additional cards) with actions. In the settlement phase the turn order is adjusted by comparing the political power of the players. Political power can also be used in various situations during the game.
Actions
A turn begins with the player whose turn it is selecting an action tile. To select an action tile, that player places a wooden cylinder of his or her nation's color on an empty circle at the bottom of an action tile. Therefore, a player cannot select an action tile which has no more empty circles.
Every action tile consists of one or two possible actions. If there is only one action on the selected tile, then the player whose turn it is performs that action followed by every other player also doing that action in turn order of the remaining players, which completes the turn. In the case of the alliance action only the player whose turn it is executes the action completing the turn.
If the player selects an action tile with two possible actions, then he or she selects one of the two actions on that tile and executes that action. Then the other players in turn order each execute the other action on that tile. For example, if the player whose turn it is decides to do the production action, all other players must do the population growth action.
Once the first turn is done the second player in turn order begins a new turn. This continues in this way until each player has done 2 turns and thus used up their two cylinders. When this is done, you will see that there are only 2 empty circles remaining on all of the action tiles.
If during a turn any player fulfills the victory condition, the game ends immediately.
If on your turn you select the action tile shown on the left, you must select and perform either production or population growth. The other players then have to carry out the action that was not selected in turn order.
If you run out of resource markers then use some suitable replacements or make notes on paper.
(1) Production
Basically, your nation's population produces resources. The population cylinders must be placed on the circles of your nation's tiles in numerical order starting with circle number I. Before you do the production you must first relocate your population so that is in order. You can also choose to relocate population if there are multiple possibilities for your highest numbered circle.
Example: Your nation is France and you need to determine the type and quantity of resources you gain based on your population as follows:
- If you have no population at all, you don't produce any resources from within your nation.
- If you have 1–2 population, you produce 1 food.
- If you have 3–5 population, you produce 2 food.
- If you have 6 population, you have the choice of one of the two circles with the number VI. You can therefore rearrange your last population cylinder before doing production. So you may produce either 2 food and 1 metal or 3 food.
- If you have 7–9 population, you produce 3 food and 1 metal.
- If you have 10 population, you produce 4 food and 1 metal.
- If you have 11 population, you could also rearrange the last population cylinder before production, and produce either 4 food and 2 metal or 5 food and 1 metal.
If you have a map tile in your nation occupied by a division or fleet that does not belong to an ally, your production may be restricted. The population on occupied map tiles and all the population on numbers following these are not active. This means that you can neither use these for production nor rearrange them.
Example: A map tile within your nation, France, is occupied by a division of England who is not an ally as shown to the right. In this case the last population of your nation cannot be used for production and you also cannot rearrange it. Hence you will only produce 2 food using 5 population.
If France and England were in an alliance, you could carry out your production normally. With the current arrangement of population you would get 3 food. You would get 2 food and 1 metal instead if you first rearranged the last population to the other empty circle numbered VI.
Additionally, if you have map tiles in the neutral territory with a resource icon, you get the resources as indicated on those map tiles.
When you execute the production action, you can also exchange food and metal if you own the proper tile. This is either when playing England at full capacity of 7 population, or if you own a sea tile with the exchange icon on it (two semi-circle arrows). After completing production you can exchange resources once for each tile you own with an exchange icon as indicated there. For example, with England at full population, you could give up 2 food and get 1 metal, or give up 1 metal and get 2 food.
(2) Population Growth
You get some additional white wooden cylinders and place them on the empty circles within your nation tile in numerical order starting with the lowest numbered of your empty circles. Before you do the population growth action you must first relocate your population so that is in order.
The number of population you get is indicated on the map tile with the lowest numbered empty circle (i.e. where you would place population next). However, in the case of Austria or Byzantium at 6 population, you just add 1 population to your nation regardless of the location of the sixth population cylinder.
You cannot receive any more population cylinders while your nation is at its full population capacity. The maximum number of population you may place in your nation is 8 for Austria, 9 for Byzantium, 7 for England, and 11 for France.
If a map tile in your nation is occupied by a division or fleet of a player who is not an ally, your population growth may be restricted. All the empty circles on the occupied map tile and also all the higher numbered empty circles on other tiles of yours cannot be used, thus you cannot place population on them. Additionally, you are not allowed to rearrange population on an occupied map tile and all the population on higher numbered circles.
You also need to be careful when placing the population on circles with the same number. In the case of Austria, Byzantium, or France, there are 2 circles with the number VI. You must select one of these when placing your sixth population. Later on, when placing your seventh population, you must place it in the other circle with the number VI.
In case of Byzantium, there are 2 circles with the number IX. You may select one of them when placing the ninth population, and then you cannot place any more population. Likewise, in case of France, you can select one of two circles when placing your eleventh population, and then no more.
If you neither have a commander nor any unused general cards then, as an exception, you can appoint a new commander by using the rightmost card (also called "last card") of your political power cards.
The icons under the general's name on the card show the basic characteristics of the general. You especially need to be aware of the numbers next to the icons for advanced land and naval tactic cards. This is because that is the number of additional advanced tactic cards you will receive based on your commander in a battle. The highest this number can be is 3.
You get exceptional advantages by your commander's abilities (also called "skills") which are written on the bottom of the card. On some cards rivals are marked in the top right corner of the card. If your commander is the rival of the opponent's commander in battle, both players play as if neither had a commander in battle.
(1) General Cards Actions
If it is your turn and you select the action tile shown on the left, you must select either the action for the general cards or the action for the technology cards. For each of these actions you also need to choose the option of either receiving new cards or using cards you already have. The other players in turn order execute action you did not select.
Example: If you take 1 general card, the other players may each choose to either get 2 new technology cards or develop one technology using the technology cards they already have.
You may either draw 1 new general card and add it to your unused general cards or use any of the unused general cards you already own. If you choose the second option you may use any or all of your unused general cards to replace or appoint your commander and increase your political power. For example, if you have 3 unused general cards, you can use one to replace the commander and convert the other 2 cards into political power. The card of a replaced commander is discarded.
To strengthen your political power with an unused general card, place it face down below the right end of your cards already used for political power. If you have no political power cards, start a new row to the right to your commander. The number of face down cards there is your political power.
Card key: (1) rival, (2) Christian icon, (3) coup d'état icon, (4) advanced naval tactic cards, (5) abilities, (6) Muslim icon, (7) advanced land tactic cards.
(2) Technology Cards Actions
You may either draw 2 new technology cards or develop one technology using the technology cards you already have.
There are two types of technology cards: either with 1 technology point or with 2 technology points.
This means that if you draw 2 new cards, you will at least get 2 technology points and at most get 4 technology points.
To develop a new technology, you need to pay the technology cost as indicated on the status board with technology cards you have. These cards are then discarded. If you only have cards in excess of the required points then you can still pay but the excess amount is lost.
Example: The technologies from Metallurgy to Gunpowder cost 3 technology points each. You can pay with 3 technology cards of 1 point each, or 1 technology card of 1 point and 1 technology card of 2 points. If you pay with 2 technology cards of 2 points each the excess point is wasted.
Technologies must be developed following the order as indicated on the technology tree. For example, Stirrups can only be developed when Metallurgy has already been developed. In order to develop Gunpowder, either Sea Navigation or Architecture needs to be developed first. It is not necessary for both them to be developed.
After developing a technology place a white wooden cylinder in the corresponding gray technology spot on the status board. This shows that this technology has been developed and is now available to all players. You get 2 victory points when you develop a technology from Metallurgy to Gunpowder. Every technology can only be developed once.
For the technologies beyond Gunpowder you pay with either technology points or resources and only get 1 victory point each. These have no effect beyond that. Use two additional white cylinders to mark the technologies that have been purchased in this section. Each of the 6 technologies here can only be purchased once.
When you earn victory points for developing a technology, you immediately update your victory points in the victory point section on the status board. If you do not have a cube there yet, place a wooden cube of your nation's color on the circle with your number of victory points. Otherwise move your wooden cube there to the new position indicating your new amount of victory points.
Example: If you earned 2 victory points by developing a new technology and you already had 5 victory points, you move your wooden cube from 5 to 7.
Even though you alone earn the victory points for developing a new technology, all players receive the other benefits of it. For example, after you develop Metallurgy, all players will be able to draft heavy infantry regiments. Only the technologies in the last section of the technology tree have no effect other than the player who developed the technology getting 1 victory point.
Finally, after developing a technology you need to check on events. If there is an empty event spot to the right of the newly developed technology, you must draw an event tile and place it there. The player who developed the technology and thus caused the event, must first execute the event for himself and then the remaining players in turn order also execute the event for themselves each.
There are 8 event tiles which are based on historical events. You will have up to 4 events in a game.
| Event | Effect |
|---|---|
| Coup d'État | If your commander has a coup d'état icon discard the rightmost card of your political power cards. |
| Pirate Eradication | If your commander has inherent advanced naval tactic cards get 1 victory point |
| Edict of Milan | If your commander has the Christian icon get 1 victory point. |
| The Crusades | Remove a commander with the Christian or Muslim icon. |
| Black Death | Players each remove the commander, one third of the population, and one third of the regiments and squadrons (fractions rounded down). |
| Witch Hunt | Your commander without the Christian icon is removed and replaced with the rightmost card of your political power cards. |
| Renaissance | The next technology is developed without any victory points awarded. The player who caused this event decides which to develop if necessary. This is only done once. |
| Thirty Years War | Remove a commander with the Christian icon. |
Alliance Action
If you select the action tile shown on the left on your turn you can change the alliance status of any or all players. After you complete the action the turn will be over. Other players do not do anything then.
Allied players cannot battle each other. Allied players cannot move their divisions or fleets into each other's map tiles. A player is only allowed to move into a nation map tile of an ally that is being occupied by another player who is not an ally. If you win the battle there you can stay on that map tile thereafter. If the alliance breaks up later on, you would even occupy that map tile then.
In the settlement phase you and allied players help each other for maintenance costs. Isolated divisions or fleets require higher maintenance costs. This can be avoided by using map tiles owned by allied players to break the isolation.
The alliance status is marked using colored cubes in the 2 boxes of the alliance section of the status board. Players belong to the same alliance if they each have a cube of their color in the same box. For example, if a red cube and a blue cube are together in the same box, this means that France and England are allied.
When carrying out the alliance action, you may change the alliance status of any or all players using the following 4 rules:
- There can be no more than 1 wooden cube of each color in the alliance section.
- With 3 players each box can take up to 2 cubes, with 4 players each box can take up to 3 cubes.
- You can put the cubes into boxes without cost, but you have to spend political power to take cubes out of boxes. To take out a cube, discard the rightmost card of your political power cards.
- If there is just one cube in a box after completing the action, you must remove it from the status board (at no cost).
Example: There are two alliances (see also image below). England and France are allied. Austria and Byzantium are allied. You want to change the alliances so that the only alliance is between England and Austria. In this case you have to discard the 2 rightmost cards of your political power. First, by discarding one card, you may remove the blue cube. By discarding another card, you can take out the yellow cube and put it into the box where the red cube is. Finally, you empty the box where the green cube is alone at no cost.
Draft and Upgrade Action
If you choose the action tile shown on the left on your turn, you can draft and upgrade units. You may draft and upgrade as many units as you want which you can pay for.
You are not allowed to upgrade any regiments or squadrons on the same turn they are drafted.
Once you have done your drafting and upgrading, the other players carry out the same action in turn order.
If all regiments or squadrons of some type are already on the map then you cannot draft these.
(1) Draft
To draft units you need to remove the necessary amount of population and pay resources depending on the type of unit. Basically, you gain 1 regiment or squadron by paying the necessary resources and removing 1 population. The necessary resources for each unit is indicated on the technology tree of the status board.
There is an exception for drafting light infantry regiment. You can draft 2 light infantry regiments for the same resource cost as for one (additional population still needs to be removed).
Example: In order to draft 1 light infantry regiment, you have to pay 1 population and 1 food. In order to draft 2 light infantry regiments you have to pay 2 population and 1 food. To draft 3 you need to pay 3 population and 2 food, and for 4 you need to pay 4 population and 2 food.
At the start of the game, you can draft light infantry, archer, light cavalry, and galley units. If you want to draft a more advanced type of regiment or squadron, the related technology needs to be developed first.
| Unit Type | Cost | Required Technology |
|---|---|---|
| light infantry | 1 food | - |
| heavy infantry | 1 food and 1 metal | Metallurgy |
| musketeer | 2 food and 1 metal | Gunpowder |
| archer | 1 food | - |
| artillery | 3 food and 1 metal | Gunpowder |
| light cavalry | 2 food | - |
| heavy cavalry | 3 food and 1 metal | Stirrups |
| galley | 2 food | - |
When removing population for drafting you take the population from the highest numbered downwards. However, if there is a map tile of yours occupied by a player who is not an ally, the population on the occupied tile and any higher numbered population is inactive and thus unavailable for drafting. You must use the highest numbered population that is not inactive instead.
Example: Your nation is France and one of your nation map tiles is occupied by a division of England who is not your ally (see image below). In this case, since only the population in the capital can be used for drafting, you need to remove 3 population from the capital in order to draft 3 regiments. If France and England were allied you would remove one population from the top right tile and the 2 highest numbered from the top left tile instead.
After drafting a regiment or squadron you get the corresponding wooden tile and place it on a map tile. You need to show the other players the type of regiment or squadron you have drafted and then place it face down on the map.
- You must place any newly drafted regiments in your capital. In the rare case that units of an allied player are in your capital, you cannot draft any regiments.
- You must place any newly drafted squadrons in a field or forest tile of yours that is adjacent to a sea tile. If you do not have any such tile or all of them contain units of other players, you cannot draft any squadrons.
You need to indicate your new divisions and fleets by placing a cube of your nation's color on top of them each.
(2) Upgrade
The possibilities and costs for upgrading a regiment or squadron are determined by the available technologies and your number of battles. You can upgrade an existing unit only to a type along a same branch of the technology tree. The possible types are linked to each other along the lines of the status board. The related technology for the regiment or squadron must have been developed before the upgrade action.
For every regiment or squadron you upgrade now you must immediately decrease your number of battles by 1. You need already have acquired a number of battles (1–5) by previously fighting battles with other players. This is marked with a cube of your color in the appropriate section of the status board (see image to right). If you use up your entire number of battles remove your cube from this section of the status board. You cannot upgrade any more units then until you increase your number of battles again (to a number 1–5).
Example: Upgrading a light infantry regiment to a heavy infantry regiment has no resource cost, only the decreasing of the number of battles by 1. This is because the necessary resources for drafting a light infantry is 1 food and the necessary resources for drafting a heavy infantry are 1 food and 1 metal. The difference is 1 metal, which is reduced to zero for every number of battles 1–5.
If you want to upgrade a light infantry to a musketeer the amount and type of resources to be paid varies. If the number of battles is 1–2, you can pay either 1 food or 1 metal (because you can reduce the cost by either 1 food or 1 metal). If the number of battles is 3–5, then there is no cost because it is reduced by both 1 food and 1 metal.
In the same manner you can upgrade a heavy infantry to a musketeer, an archer to an artillery, a light cavalry to a heavy cavalry, and a galley to a galleon.
You also need to pay a certain amount of resources for each unit you upgrade. This amount of resources is calculated as the difference in resource costs for drafting between the two unit types (i.e. the cost for the upgraded unit type minus its current type). The required resources for drafting each unit type is indicated on the status board.
The number of battles also reduces the resource cost as indicated on the status board. You need to pay 1 food or 1 metal less if the number of battles is 1 or 2. You pay 1 food and 1 metal less if the number of battles is 3–5.
Replace the regiment or squadron tile with the upgraded version on the same map tile. Acquiring a regiment or squadron through upgrading costs less than through drafting. Also it can be an advantage to immediately get a more advanced type of regiment or squadron on an important map tile.
March Action
If you select the action tile shown on the left on your turn you can move your units. Each of your regiments and squadrons starts the turn with a number of movement points (also called "mobility") which you can use up. You may move any or all of your units.
If you move your division or fleet into a map tile which contains a division or fleet of a player who is not your ally, that map tile becomes a battleground. After the battle has been resolved, you continue to move other units which still have movement points.
You complete your march action followed by the other player's march actions in the turn order.
Once all players have completed their march actions, you need to change the paradigm of war and then the turn is over.
You can move a regiment or squadron to a nearby map tile by using its movement points (MP). If a regiment or squadron has used up its movement points, it cannot move anymore that turn.
The movement point cost to move a regiment or squadron depends on the unit type and the map tile moved into.
At the start of a turn infantry units have 1 MP, cavalry units have 2 MP, and squadrons (ship units) have 2 MP. Basically, you can move an infantry to a nearby field, forest, or mountain tile, a cavalry to a nearby field or forest tile, and a ship to a nearby sea tile.
Basic March Rule
| Unit | Field | Forest | Mountain | Sea |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infantry (1 MP) | costs 1 MP | costs 1 MP | costs 1 MP | - |
| Cavalry (2 MP) | costs 1 MP | costs 2 MP | - | - |
| Ship (2 MP) | - | - | - | costs 1 MP |
There are some additional rules to the above basic march rules. For instance, a squadron starts in a field or forest tile next to a sea tile because of drafting. This means that ships are allowed to be in map tiles other than sea tiles. The assumption is that there is always a port in field or forest tile next to the sea, which allows ships to go in and out. Also, you can move a regiment from a field or forest tile to an adjacent sea tile by boarding a squadron in the sea tile.
Before reading the additional march rules related to ships, you need to be aware of the basic features of ships.
Up to 5 regiments may be aboard a squadron. Indicate this by stacking the regiments on top of the squadron. If there are several squadrons on a sea tile, you have keep them in such a way that is it clear which regiments are aboard which squadrons. This can be done by stacking them accordingly.
In a naval battle you will fight your opponent by using regiments that belong to your fleet. Artillery units in a fleet can only participate in naval combat if you have a galleon unit there. Cavalry units are never allowed to participate in naval combat.
Additional Ship Movement Rules
- You can move a squadron in a field or forest tile to an adjacent sea tile by using up its entire movement points. The squadron may have regiments from the same tile on board which move together with them.
- You can move a squadron in a sea tile to an adjacent field or forest tile using up its remaining movement points. For any regiments on board this also ends their move.
Boarding and Landing Regiments
- A regiment in a field or forest tile can board a squadron in an adjacent sea tile for 1 MP. This also uses up all the remaining movement points of the squadron. Any other regiments from adjacent tiles can still board the same squadron beforehand though.
- A regiment on a squadron in a sea tile can land on an adjacent field or forest tile, which ends its movement. The squadron uses up all its remaining movement points after landing regiments to adjacent field and forest tiles.
In short, units cannot move anymore that were moved or involved with moving between a field or forest tile and sea tile.
Final March Rule
Editor's note: the printed Final March Rule is a grid on page 17 whose cell alignment does not survive text extraction. The cell entries are transcribed below as printed, with the unit and the tile they apply to; check the grid on page 17 of the manual.
- Infantry (1 MP), into a field: costs 1 MP.
- Infantry (1 MP), into a forest: uses up all MP from sea (Squadron uses up all remaining MP).
- Infantry (1 MP), into a sea tile: costs 1 MP from field or forest.
- Cavalry (2 MP), into a field: costs 1 MP.
- Cavalry (2 MP), into a forest: costs 2 MP.
- Cavalry (2 MP), into a sea tile: uses up all MP from sea (Squadron uses up all remaining MP).
- Ship* (2 MP), into a field: uses up all remaining MP from sea (Regiments use up all MP).
- Ship* (2 MP), into a sea tile: costs 1 MP.
* Check the details regarding ships in the text above.
A division or fleet that has finished its movement is marked by placing one more colored cube on it (thus 2 in total). This is also done for units that have been in a battle. A division which defends against an attack of another player will therefore not be able to move later in the same turn.
If you move your units into a map tile which contains a division or fleet of another player who is not your ally, that map tile becomes a battlefield. The player under attack may immediately mobilize divisions or fleets that can reach the battlefield (these need to have not finished their movement yet). The player doing his or her turn can then also reinforce the battlefield in the same manner. Players must keep in mind that the abilities of the commander are not applicable for these reinforcements. After that, the battle is resolved.
A land battle is fought between two players in a field, forest, or mountain tile. A naval battle is fought between two players in a sea tile. The details for battles are on pages 19–22.
Withdrawing Units from Battle
- When withdrawing from a land battle or after losing a land battle, you need to move all your regiments there to one adjacent field, forest, or mountain tile that you own (the abilities of the commander are not applicable for that and cavalry cannot withdraw into a mountain). If there is no such tile, then you lose all of these. If you have squadrons in your division, you must move these to an adjacent sea tile of yours. These are also all lost if there is no such tile.
- When withdrawing from a naval battle or after losing a naval battle, you need to move the fleet to an adjacent sea tile of yours. You first need to remove any regiments that exceed the capacity of 5 regiments per squadron and then retreat the remaining fleet. If there is no sea tile of yours adjacent to the battlefield, then you lose your entire fleet.
Once the battle has been resolved, you can continue to move other units of yours which have not spent any movement points yet. You can also cause battles as many times as you want on your march action. If you have units left that did not move on your march action (i.e. any divisions and fleets with only one cube on top of them each at the end of your march action) you will be able to add them to the battles where you are attacked later on in the turn (wherever they can reach).
You take over any map tile in the neutral territory where you move a unit into. If there are units of a player who is not an ally in the map tile, then you must first win the battle though. You indicate a map tile in the neutral territory that you have taken over by placing a cube of your color in it. If there is a cube of another player there it is removed.
You can also move units into nation map tiles of another player who is not an ally. In this case though, you only own the map tile while you are occupying it. If your units move out of there your ownership is gone. It can be useful to occupy opponent's nation tiles to prevent or hinder actions like production.
Your units cannot move into nation tiles of an ally, unless there are units there of a player who is not an ally. Then you may go in and battle those units. If you win the battle, your units can remain there. You temporarily own that tile like above but your ally can still use the population in that tile for his or her actions.
Once the turn ends all players remove one wooden cube from each of their divisions and fleets that have two.
Lastly, the paradigm of war is changed by moving the white wooden cylinder one box clockwise on the paradigm of war section of the status board.
The paradigms of war are (clockwise starting from top left): the era of infantry, the era of cavalry, the era of fortress, and the era of ships.
Battle
If you move your units into a map tile where there are units of a player who is not an ally, that map tile becomes a battlefield. The battle is resolved there after adding reinforcements. The player who moved units into there thus causing the battle is the attacker. The other player is the defender.
A battle consists of up to 2 attacks (also called "combat"). The attacker can carry out an attack only after successfully defending against the defender's attack. However, if the attacker succeeds with an ambush, he or she can skip this and only carry out his or her attack. You can only lose units if you lose defending against an attack. You never lose any units when attacking (regardless if successful or not).
You carry out combat by combining units in battle with tactic cards. Every unit of yours that you can match with one of your basic tactic cards can participate in combat. You can gain an advantage by additionally using the advanced tactic cards. To improve your chances of winning a battle, you need to get as many tactic cards as possible.
You get tactic cards when a battle occurs, and you must return them all when the battle ends. In other words both the attacker and defender randomly draw cards from the entire set of tactic cards in every battle. The basic tactic cards have a silver symbol on the back, the advanced ones have a golden one.
If you win the battle, you may either earn victory points or discard the opponent's commander.
The steps of a battle are:
- Defender decides whether to force the attacker to withdraw without any combat.
- Both receive and exchange tactic cards.
- Both decide whether to withdraw or not.
- Attacker decides on an ambush.
- Both can additionally exchange tactic cards.
- Defending player attacks. Attacking player defends.
- Defending player defends. Attacking player attacks.
(1) Forcing Attacker to Withdraw without Combat
The defender may decide to force the attacker to withdraw without any combat. If defender decides to do this, he or she must give the rightmost card of his or her political power cards to the attacker, who accordingly adds it to his or her political power cards. The attacker must then withdraw his or her units from the battlefield. If the defender has no political power cards then he or she cannot do this.
If the attacker withdraws at this stage, only the number of battles for the attacker is increased by 1. The attacker indicates this accordingly on the appropriate section of the status board.
If the initial number of battles was 0, the attacker places a cube in the circle marked as 1. If the number of battles was 1–4, the attacker's cube is moved one number up. The maximum number of battles is 5.
(2) Both Receive and Exchange Tactic Cards
In case of a land battle, the players can only get land tactic cards. In case of a naval battle they can only get naval tactic cards. Tactic cards consist of basic tactic cards and advanced tactic cards.
The attacker and defender each get 5 basic cards. However, if there is a fortress icon on the map tile of the battlefield and Architecture has not been developed yet, the defender gets 1 more basic card. Then the players need to check various conditions to determine how many advanced tactic cards they receive. They get cards for all of the following conditions they fulfill.
Number of Advanced Tactic Cards
- 1 basic amount: Both players get 1 advanced tactic card.
- 2 commander: Both players get advanced tactic cards for their commander. For example, if your commander is Alexandros III, you get 3 advanced land tactic cards but no advanced naval tactic cards.
- 3 fortress on the battlefield: If there is a fortress on the battlefield and Architecture has been developed, the defender gets 1 advanced card (instead of the 1 more basic card).
- 4 paradigm of war: Both players check the current paradigm of war and get a number of advanced tactic cards for that.
- In the era of fortress the following happens. If Architecture has not been developed yet, the defender gets 1 advanced tactic card instead of the 1 basic tactic card for being in a fortress. If Architecture has been developed, the defender gets 2 advanced tactic cards in total for being in a fortress, that is 1 advanced tactic card in addition to the 1 advanced tactic card he or she would get for being in a fortress anyway.
- If it is not the era of fortress, the defender and attacker each get advanced tactic cards for their units in battle (see table below).
| Paradigm of war | Units | Advanced tactic cards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 era of infantry | 3 / 4+ infantry regiments | get 1 / 2 advanced land tactic cards |
| 2 era of cavalry | 2 / 3+ cavalry regiments | get 1 / 2 advanced land tactic cards before / after Architecture development |
| 3 era of fortress | fortress on the map tile (see bullet above) | defender: 1 advanced land tactic card instead of 1 basic card (Architecture not developed) / 2 advanced land tactic cards in total (Architecture developed) |
| 4 era of ships | 1 / 2+ squadrons | get 1 / 2 advanced naval tactic cards |
A player who has no commander receives only 5 basic tactic cards in any case. If the commanders of the two players in battle are rivals of each other, then it is played as if neither player had a commander in this battle.
Each player first checks the tactic cards they have received. Then they may exchange some of them. The players may each once discard a number advanced tactic cards they choose and receive the same number of basic tactic cards. The defender exchanges cards first, the attacker second.
(3) Deciding Whether to Withdraw or Not
Both defender and attacker may decide whether to withdraw their units or not. In order to withdraw his or her units, a player needs to use the advanced tactic card no. 7, "Withdrawal".
The defender may withdraw first by showing a withdrawal card. However, if the attacker presents the advanced tactic card no. 8, "Chase", the withdrawal of the defender is cancelled. If the defender did not withdraw, the attacker can withdraw by presenting a withdrawal card. In the same way the defender may prevent that by presenting a chase card. Presented tactic cards are then discarded.
If either the defender or the attacker withdraws his or her units, both players add one to their number of battles and the battle ends.
(4) Deciding on an Ambush
If this stage is reached some combat will be carried out in any case. An attacker usually needs to successfully defend against an attack by the defender to then do his or her own attack. If the attacker succeeds with an ambush though, he or she can skip the defender's attack and start with his or her own attack. This means the attacker can prevent the loss of units and has a better chance of winning the battle.
For an ambush an attacker needs to use the advanced tactic card no. 6, "Ambush". If the defender then presents the advanced tactic card no. 7, "Withdrawal", the ambush of the attacker is cancelled. However, if the attacker additionally presents the advanced tactic card no. 8, "Chase", the ambush is successful after all. Presented tactic cards are discarded of course.
(5) Additional Exchange of Tactic Cards
The players may now exchange tactic cards again before any attacks are resolved. First the defender discards up to 5 tactic cards and receives the same number of basic tactic cards by removing his or her rightmost card of political power. The defender may repeat this as many times as he or she wants, consuming a political power card every time.
The players create a separate pile of discarded tactic cards. These may not be used anymore for this battle. If there are no more basic tactic cards remaining then no more exchanges may be done.
Once the defender finishes exchanging cards, the attacker may also exchange tactic cards as many times as he or she wants in the same way.
(6)–(7) Attacks
If the attacker was not successful with an ambush or chose not to do one, then he or she is first attacked by the defender.
The defender selects any or all of his or her regiments and squadrons in battle and adds some selected tactic cards. All of these are kept face down. The attacker then also selects units and cards in the same way. Then both players reveal their units and tactic cards and then determine the winner by calculating the defender's attack (ATK) value and attacker's defense (DEF) value.
Regardless who the attacker and who the defender is of the battle, the player who is attacking calculates the ATK value and the other player calculates the DEF value.
- If the ATK value of the defender is greater than DEF value of the attacker, the defender is successful with his or her attack and wins the entire battle. The attacker must then withdraw his or her remaining units after losing some of them. The defender is rewarded for winning the battle. Both players increase their number of battles by 1.
- If the ATK value of the defender is equal to or smaller than DEF value of the attacker, no units are lost and both players need to carry out another attack. This time with an attack by the attacker instead. Both players discard the tactic cards they just used.
If there was an ambush, players start combat at this point.
Using the same method as above (i.e. for the defender's attack) the attacker first selects units and cards. Then the defender does the same. The attacker calculates his or her ATK value while the defender calculates his or her DEF value.
- If the ATK value of the attacker is greater than DEF value of the defender, the attacker wins the battle. The defender must then withdraw his or her remaining units after losing some of them. The attacker is rewarded for winning the battle.
- If the ATK value of the attacker is equal to or smaller than the DEF value of the defender, neither players lose any units and the defender wins the battle. The attacker has to withdraw his or her units. The defender is rewarded for winning the battle.
In either case both players increase their number of battles by 1.
Reward for Winning a Battle
- A victorious attacker earns 2 victory points, a victorious defender 1 victory point.
- The winner may remove the opponent's commander instead of earning victory points.
Once the battle is over, the players must return all remaining tactic cards and gather the discarded tactic cards as well so that complete decks of tactic cards are available for the next battle.
You can find more details on combat (i.e. attacks) on the following pages. This includes how to get units involved, how to calculate ATK and DEF values, how to determine the winner, how to determine losses, etc.
Combat
(1) Attacks in a Land Battle
A maximum of 5 regiments from all of the player's units in battle can participate in an attack (either attacking or defending against it). In order for the regiments to fight, you need to match basic land tactic cards with the regiments. In other words, all the regiments need to be indicated on the basic land tactic cards you selected. You are only allowed to pick one option among the list on the card and match it with the number of and type of regiments accordingly. A card can be matched with multiple regiments, but only as indicated on the card. You cannot match more than one basic tactic card per regiment.
To calculate the total ATK or DEF values to determine a winner, you just add up the numbers on the selected basic tactic cards matching with the selected units.
You may additionally present only one card from the advanced land tactic cards no. 1–5 and earn a bonus to your ATK or DEF total. To use an advanced tactic card, the composition of your regiments participating in combat must satisfy the condition on the card.
There is one more condition required to use the advanced tactic card no. 5, "Irregular". To use this card, your commander needs to be able to lead a war elephant, a horse archer, or a horse artillery. For example, if your commander is Pyrros I, you can use an irregular card with 3 or 4 cavalry regiments and earn an ATK bonus or DEF bonus that corresponds to a war elephant. However, Pyrros I cannot use a horse archer or a horse artillery even though the composition of regiments satisfies the condition of them, because his ability is restricted to a war elephant only.
The player doing the attack first selects his or her regiments and tactic cards face down. The player who is defending against the attack then likewise selects his or her regiments and cards. Then both players reveal their regiments and tactic cards and calculate the ATK and DEF totals.
Example: A player who is doing an attack selects 4 heavy infantry regiments and 1 archer regiment together with 3 basic tactic cards. More specifically, he or she has matched the following:
- the basic tactic card no. 2, close range infantry [3 regiments], with 3 regiments of heavy infantry
- the basic tactic card no. 5, long range infantry [1 or 2 regiments], with 1 regiment of archer
- the basic tactic card no. 7, infantry or cavalry [1 regiment], with 1 regiment of heavy infantry
By adding up the ATK value of each card matched with regiments, the player gets a ATK total of 20.
Example: A player is defending against an attack selects 2 light infantry regiments and 1 light cavalry regiment together with 2 basic tactic cards that match them and additionally 1 advanced tactic card. More specifically:
- the basic tactic card no. 1, close range infantry [1 or 2 regiments], is matched with 2 regiments of light infantry
- the basic tactic card no. 3, cavalry [1 or 2 regiments], is matched with 1 regiment of light cavalry
Additionally he or she presents the advanced tactic card no. 3, "Hammer and anvil" to earn a bonus to his or her DEF total.
By adding up the DEF value of each card matched with regiments and the DEF bonus from the advanced tactic card, the player gets a DEF total of 16.
In the previous example because the ATK value is greater than the DEF value, the player doing the attack would win the combat. The other player (defending against the attack) then needs to lose some units. The amounts depends on the difference between the ATK and DEF totals. The player losing units can choose which units to remove from all of his or her units involved in the battle (i.e. not just from the ones involved in the combat).
The DEF value total of the eliminated regiments (see table below for values) must be greater than or equal to the difference between the ATK and DEF totals. If the DEF total of all player's regiments involved in battle is smaller than this difference, he or she must remove all those units.
If there are any ships, the player may withdraw all these without loss (this only applies to a land battle).
Example: The division of the player who lost against an attack is composed of 1 archer, 2 light infantry, and 1 light cavalry regiments. He or she can and must choose the regiments to lose from among all these. As the difference between the ATK and DEF totals was 4 according to the previous combat example, there would be the following 3 options for the player:
- remove 2 regiments of light infantry
- remove 1 regiment of light infantry and 1 regiment of archer
- remove 1 regiment of light cavalry
Land Battle Unit Values
| Unit Type | ATK | DEF |
|---|---|---|
| light infantry | 3 | 2 |
| heavy infantry | 4 | 4 |
| musketeer | 4 | 5 |
| archer | 4 | 3 |
| artillery | 8 | 2 |
| light cavalry | 4 | 6 |
| heavy cavalry | 5 | 8 |
(2) Attacks in a Naval Battle
A player may choose to fight with up to 3 regiments and 1 squadron from all of his or her units involved in a naval battle. In the same manner as for land combat players must also select tactic cards, only naval ones instead in this case.
In order to use artillery in naval combat, you need to select a galleon unit to fight with it. Cavalry cannot be used in any case in naval combat.
Before calculating the ATK and DEF totals, the style of combat needs to be determined first. There are three styles of combat in a naval battle: hand-to-hand, shooting, and bombardment.
The players do not directly choose the style of combat, instead it is determined based on the composition of units participating in combat as follows:
- hand-to-hand: if there is at least 1 regiment of light infantry or heavy infantry
- shooting: if there are no light infantry and no heavy infantry, and at least 1 regiment of archer or musketeer
- bombardment: if there are only artillery regiments
Each player determines their own combat style and then they are compared to determine the final style to be used.
If the styles of the two players are the same then that is the one to be used. If they are different, then select one using the following priority (from highest to lowest): bombardment, hand-to-hand, shooting.
Example: A player participates in combat with the regiments for the hand-to-hand style. The other player selected regiments for the shooting style. The two players therefore need to fight hand-to-hand combat.
To determine the winner of the attack, you need to calculate ATK or DEF totals in different ways based on the combat style as follows:
- With hand-to-hand or shooting styles, you get the ATK and DEF totals by adding up the according numbers from the selected basic tactic cards.
- With the bombardment style you also get the ATK total by adding up the numbers from the selected tactic cards. The DEF value however is determined by the type of squadron: DEF 15 for a galley and DEF 20 for a galleon.
You may additionally present only one card from the advanced naval tactic cards no. 1–5. The advanced naval tactic cards no. 1–3 can give a bonus to the ATK total. If the composition of regiments in combat satisfies the condition on the advanced tactic card, you can use that advanced tactic card.
By selecting the advanced naval tactic cards no. 4 or 5, you can change how the attack is resolved:
- If your style is shooting combat, you can use the advanced tactic card no. 4, "Evasion of hand-to-hand combat". Use this card to fight in the shooting style even if the opponent's style is hand-to-hand.
- If you are not in the bombardment style, you can use the advanced tactic card no. 5, "Evasion of bombardment combat". Use this card to cancel the combat if the opponent's style is bombardment. This means that a player defending against an attack wins the combat. Therefore, when attacking in combat, you need to avoid selecting this card.
The player doing the attack first selects his or her regiments, squadron, and tactic cards face down. Then the other player does likewise. Then they are revealed and the combat style is determined to finally calculate the ATK and DEF totals based on that.
Example: A player who is attacking in combat has selected 3 regiments of musketeer, a squadron of galleons, 2 basic tactic cards matched with these, and 1 advanced tactic card. More specifically:
- the basic tactic card no. 4, shooting combat [2 regiments], is matched with 2 regiments of musketeer
- the basic tactic card no. 3, shooting combat [1 regiment], is matched with 1 regiment of musketeer
Also, by playing the advanced tactic card no. 4, he or she avoids the opponent's hand-to-hand combat.
Example: A player who is defending against an attack in combat has selected 2 regiments of heavy infantry, 1 regiment of light infantry, a squadron of galleys, and 2 basic tactic cards matched with these. More specifically:
- the basic tactic card no. 2, hand-to-hand combat [2 regiments], is matched with 2 regiments of heavy infantry
- the basic tactic card no. 7, infantry [1 regiment], is matched with 1 regiment of light infantry
In the above example you can see that the style of the player who is attacking is shooting combat and the style of the other player is hand-to-hand combat. Normally the two players would fight in hand-to-hand combat. However, because of the advanced tactic card submitted by the player who is attacking, the two players carry out the combat in the shooting style. Adding up the numbers you get an ATK total of 12 and a DEF total of 10 based on the shooting combat style.
In the previous example, since the ATK total is greater than the DEF total the attack was successful. The player defending against the attack loses units in the same manner as in a land battle. However, the elimination method is different for each style of combat as follows:
- If you lose in hand-to-hand or shooting combat, you must choose regiments to eliminate. The DEF total of the regiments to eliminate must be greater than or equal to the difference between the ATK and DEF totals. In this case the DEF values of the artillery, light cavalry, and heavy cavalry units is 2. If the DEF total of all your regiments in battle is smaller than the difference between the ATK and DEF totals, you must also remove ships (the DEF value for galley units is 15 and for galleons it is 20).
- If you lose in bombardment combat, you must choose ships to eliminate instead. The DEF total of the eliminated squadrons (DEF 15 for galley, DEF 20 for galleon) must greater than or equal to difference between the ATK and DEF totals. If the DEF total of the eliminated ships is less than that difference, then all ships are lost. All regiments on board are automatically eliminated if there are no ships left.
Using the previous combat example: The fleet of the player who lost defending against an attack is composed of 2 heavy infantry, 1 light infantry, 1 artillery, 1 light cavalry, and 1 galley unit. He or she needs to choose his or her losses from the regiments after losing in a shooting style combat. The difference between the ATK and DEF totals is 2, so he or she needs to eliminate 1 regiment of any type.
If you lose a ship but still have enough other ships on the battlefield to carry the remaining regiments then you can rearrange them so that they are carried by other ships. If you do not have enough carrying capacity left (at 5 regiments per squadron) though then you must remove regiments accordingly.
Naval Battle Unit Values
| Unit Type | Hand-to-hand ATK | Hand-to-hand DEF | Shooting ATK | Shooting DEF | Bombardment ATK | Bombardment DEF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| light infantry | 3 | 2 | - | 2 | - | 15 or 20 |
| heavy infantry | 4 | 4 | - | 4 | - | 15 or 20 |
| musketeer | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | - | 15 or 20 |
| archer | 2 | 2 |
* You need to use a DEF value of 2 for artillery, light cavalry and heavy cavalry when they are used as losses.
Settlement
After all players have done two turns each (as player who selected the action tile), the players each get their 2 wooden cylinders back that were placed on the action tiles.
The players then earn victory points based on map tiles owned, pay the maintenance fee for their units, and finally adjust the turn order. After that a new round begins with the player first in turn order selecting an action tile again.
(1) Victory Points for Map Tiles Owned
Players who own 3 or more map tiles in the neutral territory each earn 1 victory point. The victory points are awarded in turn order, so that if a player gets 10 victory points first, he or she wins the game.
(2) Unit Maintenance Fee
In sequence of turn order each player pays the maintenance fee for their units. Before paying the maintenance fee players may get rid of regiments and squadrons to avoid payment.
If you do not have enough food to pay the maintenance fee, you must remove regiments and squadrons as necessary.
There are two types of maintenance fees: one is for the total number of divisions and fleets and the other is for the size of each division or fleet. In short, the players need to pay a higher maintenance fee if his or her units are scattered in a wider area, and if the size of each division or fleet is greater.
Maintenance fee for the total number of divisions and fleets
- No fee for a total number of divisions and fleets of 4 or less.
- If your total number of divisions and fleets is 5, you must pay 1 food.
- You must pay one more for every additional division or fleet.
Example: You have 4 divisions and 2 fleets. You need to pay 2 food.
Maintenance fee for the size of each division or fleet
You must also pay for the size of each division or fleet you have. The size of a division or fleet is the sum of values depending on the type of units as follows. For each infantry unit add 1, for each cavalry unit add 1.5, and for each ship unit add 1.5. Round the total down individually for each division or fleet.
- No maintenance fee for a division or fleet of size 4 or less.
- For a division or fleet of size 5 you must pay 1 food.
- You must pay one more food each size higher.
Example: You have 2 divisions. One is composed of 3 infantry regiments and the other is composed of 5 cavalry regiments. The size of the infantry division is 3 so there is no maintenance fee for that. The size of cavalry division is 7. Thus you need to pay 3 food for that.
Example: You have 5 divisions and the sizes of them are 3, 3, 4, 5, and 6. You need to pay 1 food for the total number of divisions, 1 food for the division of size 5, and 2 food for the division of size 6. Therefore to maintain your units without any losses, you need to pay 4 food.
There is one more thing you need to be aware of when calculating the maintenance fees. You need to pay more for an isolated division or fleet. A division or fleet is considered to be isolated if there is no path of supply from your capital to the map tile on which division or fleet is.
A path of supply is an imaginary line starting from your capital to the division or fleet. You may only draw this line through map tiles that are owned by you or an ally. If this line goes uninterrupted from your capital to your division or fleet then it is not isolated. If you can draw no such line then it is isolated.
Example: If the two map tiles in your nation that are not your capital are both occupied by a player who is not an ally, then all the divisions and fleets outside of your capital are considered to be isolated.
Each isolated division or fleet is counted as 2 (instead of 1) when calculating the total number of divisions and fleets. Also, the size of each isolated division or fleet is doubled (before rounding down).
Example: The size of an isolated division of 5 cavalry regiments is 15.
(3) Adjustment of Turn Order
The players adjust the turn order based on their political power. A player with a higher political power will have a higher priority in turn order. The player second in turn order begins. If his or her political power is greater than that of the player first in turn order, they are swapped. Indicate this by exchanging the colored cubes in the turn order section of the status board.
Then if the political power of the player third in turn order is higher than the player second in turn order, they are also swapped. Repeat this process as in the example below until a player with the least political power is last in turn order and a player with the most political power is first in turn order.
In other words order the players by their political power (from highest to lowest). Players tied in political power stay in the same turn order as previously between each other.
Example: The political powers of nations are 2 for England, 3 for France, 3 for Austria, and 4 for Byzantium. [The printed example's resulting order is shown in a diagram on page 29 of the manual.]