Peak Oil: Profiteer Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• The Introductory Game
• Solo Game & Variants
• Setup
• Gameplay
  • Flip a Contingency Card
  • Pick Actions
  • Call Actions & Take Turns
  • Action Impossible?
  • Tie-Breaker
  • Actions
  • Check For Game End
• Leaders
  • Blackmail Cards
• Blackmail & Using Religious Leaders
  • Blackmail
  • Use a Religious Leader
• Action 1 – Networking
  • Draw Blackmail Card
  • Bribe a Leader
• Action 2 – Sell Weapons
  • Gain Money
  • Move Troop
  • Place Troop
• Action 3 – Buy Drilling Rights
  • Pay Money
  • Place Drilling Pawn
  • Buyout
  • Political Leader
• Action 4 – Sell Oil
  • Choose Port
  • Gain Money
  • Remove Drilling Pawn
  • Military Leader
• Action 5 – Contingency
  • Hire Consultant
  • Use Event
• Game End
• Appendix I – Solo Rules
  • Setup
  • Gameplay
  • Handling Evil Corp
  • Pick Your Action
  • Evil Corp Turn
  • Your Turn
  • Contingency
  • End of the Game
• Appendix II – Variants
  • The Annoying Reporter
  • Shameless Cashgrab
  • Headhunting
  • Evil Corp for Two
• Appendix III – Card Clarifications
• Appendix IV – Small Strategy Hints
• Solo Game – Setup
• Solo Game – Round Breakdown

Components

The board is pictured and explained in the Setup section, on page 4. The rulebook (which you are holding in your hands) and Solo game cheat sheets are not pictured.

Language Versions. Note that all of the large cards (Contingency, Player Aid, and Complication cards) are included in multiple languages. You'll only need the cards that are in English, you can remove the rest. The quantities given here for each card type only refers to those written in English.

15 Blackmail cards. The Blackmail cards form the common Blackmail draw deck and are available to all players. Shown are some Blackmail cards from the red Faction (URFMF) and the card back.

• The number in a small cross serves as a reminder of how many copies of that card are found in the whole Blackmail deck, in this case three. Note that the distribution varies from Faction to Faction!

9 Leader chips. Each of the three Factions has three Leaders, a Political, a Military, and a Religious Leader. Shown are the Leader chips from the red Faction (URFMF) and the chip back.

• The number in the Blackmail symbol tells you how many Blackmail cards for that Leader are found in the blackmail deck, in this case three.
• The tower symbol on the Political Leaders serves as a reminder of its special power during the Action Buy Drilling Rights.
• The anchor symbol on the Military Leader serves as a reminder of its special power during the Action Sell Oil.

The Reporter marker is only used with the Reporter variant, see Appendix II. Return to the box before setup otherwise.

10 Drilling pawns (2 in each of 5 colors). These are used to mark player's Drilling Rights.

5 Player Aid cards. These provide a brief reminder of the available Actions, and of your player colour.

25 Action cards (5 in each of the 5 colours). Shown are the cards of the green Corporation (Edale Oil Co.) and their card back. The symbols along the bottom of the Action cards are only used in the Solo game, ignore them in the regular game.

26 Contingency cards. There are two kinds of Contingency cards; 8 Event cards (left) and 18 Consultant cards (center). Both kinds have tie-breaker charts on their backs (right) and together, they form the Contingency deck.

Note that the Event card Information Leak is only used with the Reporter variant, see Appendix II. Return to the box before setup otherwise.

8 Complication cards. Each has an interesting advertisement on its back (left). They are only used with the Shameless Cashgrab variant, see Appendix II. Return to the box before setup otherwise.

1 black six-sided movement die, 1 white Corruption marker, 15 Troop cubes. Each of the three Factions has five Troops in their colour.

Lots of paper bills. In the denominations $1, $5, $10, $20, and $50. You may exchange with the bank at any time. Your money is open information.

Note that this game refers to money in the traditional oil baron way: If we say "$1", we obviously mean "$1 Million".

Although these are not legal tender anywhere, feel free to use them as such. At your own liability.

The Introductory Game

For your first game, we recommend that you use the following two small rule changes. They limit the overall tactical scope somewhat, but create a game with a set length of exactly 14 rounds, providing a good introductory game.

We recommend that you first read the remaining regular rules, and then come back here for the changes detailed below.

Changes to Setup. Place the Corruption marker at 95 instead of 93.

Changes to Flip Contingency Card. If, at the start of a round, you flip an Event card face-up, apply its immediate effect, but do not place it on the Contingency discard pile. Instead, place the Event card next to the board and return it to the box at the end of the round.

This means that only the effect in the bottom half of each Event card is applied, but you may not use the Event Action described in the top half. So, if you use Action 5 - Contingency, there will either be a Consultant available, or the default Action printed on the board (gain $5), never an Event card.

Solo Game & Variants

The Solo game is detailed in Appendix I on pages 12-14. In Apendix II, on page 15, you will find the three variants: The Annoying Reporter, Shameless Cashgrab and Evil Corp For Two.

Setup

Place the board on the table, as shown. Once you are familiar wit the game, maybe try the map printed on the back: it shows a country with a north coast and uses the same rules, but plays slightly differently.

Place the Corruption marker on the space marked 93 of the Corruption track. Corruption in our fictitious country starts at 93%.

Place the five Troop cubes of each Faction colour on the corresponding tracks.

Take the rightmost Troop from each track and place it on the corresponding Faction starting Region.

Each player picks a Corporation and takes the five Action cards, the player aid card, and the two Drilling pawns belonging to that Corporation.

Shuffle the Blackmail cards and place them as a face-down deck next to the board.

Shuffle the Leader chips face-down and give each player one at random. Place the remaining Leaders in a common supply next to the board, so all players can see them. Flip all Leader chips face-up.

Prepare the Contingency deck (as shown in the graphic on page 5):

1. Separate the Event cards from the Consultant cards. Keep both stacks face-down, with the coloured bars facing up.
2. Shuffle each stack separately.
3. Put aside one Event and two Consultant cards.
4. From the remaining cards, create and shuffle separately two stacks each containing three Event cards and eight Consultant cards.
5. Stack the Contingency deck as follows:
   • A – one shuffled stack at the bottom, then
   • B – the single Event card you put aside, then
   • C – the second shuffled stack, and lastly
   • D – on top the two Consultant cards you put aside.

Place the deck in the corresponding spot on the board.

Place the money somewhere as "the bank". Give each player 5 money. Your money is open information.

Keep the die ready.

The board. The "country" pictured on the board is split into Regions. Each Region shows the five die faces 1-5 along its borders, each one "pointing" outwards to a neighbouring Region. These are used for Troop movement.

Each Region marked with an oil tower symbol has an Oil Field. Each Oil Region is identified by a number (here: 4), which is only used in the Solo game.

Each of the three Factions has a starting Region, marked with their symbol. During Setup, put one Troop of the corresponding Faction in their starting Region.

Prepare the Contingency deck as shown below and put it on the space in the top right corner, marked with the deck icon.

The Contingency discard pile begins the game empty. It has a reminder for the Contingency Action available while it is empty: "Gain $5".

The Troops of the three Factions are kept on the Troop tracks in the lower right corner, whilst they are not in play. The chart below the tracks shows current prices for Bribes, Weapons, Drilling Rights, etc. as described later in the main rules.

The Troop track represents how the more Troops that a Faction has on the board – the stronger their military force and the less they pay for weapons, the more they demand for Drilling Rights and Bribes, and the less lucrative it is to use their Ports.

Each Oil Field is connected to one or more of the coastal Regions with oil ports, these are marked with anchor symbols.

Regions marked with "+$2" are especially profitable for Weapon Sales.

The Corruption track runs along the bottom. The white Corruption marker starts at the space marked 93. Once it reaches 100 (marked with a black skull), the game end is triggered.

Keep all uncontrolled Leaders, the Blackmail deck, the die and the bank in an easily accessible spot.

Each player receives $5, a random Leader, and all components of one Corporation: a player aid card, the two drilling pawns and five Action cards of the same colour.

Gameplay

The game is played in rounds.

Each round, first flip the topmost card of the Contingency deck and place it on the Contingency discard pile. If it is an Event, increase Corruption by one and carry out possible effects.

Then, all players simultaneously pick which Action they want to take this round and place the corresponding Action card from their hand face down on the table.

Once all players are ready, the Actions are called in order, and if a player has chosen the called-Action, they flip their Action card and take their turn. If multiple players have picked the same Action, the tie breaker chart on the topmost card of the Contingency deck dictates who goes first.

After all players have taken their Actions, the round is over. If Corruption is below 100%, play another round. Once it reaches 100%, the game end is triggered, and after a final round the player with the most money wins.

Flip a Contingency Card

At the start of each round, flip the topmost card from the Contingency deck face-up and place it on top of the Contingency discard pile.

If the card is an Event card, it has an effect on the whole round and offers a special Contingency Action. Read the text in the bottom half aloud.

Each Event increases Corruption by one. Do so by moving the marker on the Corruption track to the right one space. Most Events additionally change the rules for the current round. This effect applies for the whole round, even if the Event is removed from the discard pile during the round. The text at the top is the Action that is available when taking the Contingency Action. Also see Appendix III on page 16 for card clarifications.

If the card is a Consultant card, no special rules apply for this round and Corruption is not adjusted. This Consultant is available for hire by using the Contingency Action.

Pick Actions

All players simultaneously choose which Action they want to take this round.

From your five Action cards, pick one and place it face-down in front of you. Do not flip it face-up yet.

This Action card is not "spent", but returned to your hand at the end of yout turn. You may pick the same Action card again next round.

Call Actions & Take Turns

Call out the Actions in order, starting with Action 1 – Networking. Ask, for example, "Who has picked Action number one, Networking?".

When the Action you have picked is called, flip your Action card face-up and take your turn:

• First you may either Blackmail or use a Religious Leader, see page 8.
• Second, you take your chosen Action.
• Last, return your Action card to your hand.

Action Impossible?

Immediately before you take your turn, check if you are able to take the Action you picked. If not, instead of taking your turn, you may replace the card you revealed with your Action card "5 – Contingency". If you do so, you will take your turn when this Action is called. Note that you must take your turn if you can take your chosen Action. You may only swap your Action card if you are unable to take the Action. Also note that every player is always able to take the Contingency Action.

Tie-Breaker

Any time multiple players have picked the same Action, they take their turns in the current tie-breaker order shown on the back of the topmost card of the Contingency deck. Tied players take turns in order from top to bottom.

Tie-breaker example: This card is currently on top of the Contingency deck. If multiple players pick the same Action, they will take their turns in this order: Generic Inc goes first, then Yamjam 1908, then Edale Oil Co., then Omnicorp and lastly Cloudhouse Petrols.

Actions

There are 5 different Actions, described in more detail on the following pages:

1. Networking – Gather blackmail material on Leaders and then bribe one Leader to get them under your control.
2. Sell Weapons – Earn money by selling weapons to one of the Factions. A new Troop of that Faction enters the board and moves around, possibly resulting in combat.
3. Buy Drilling Rights – Secure the Drilling Rights for one of the Oil Fields.
4. Sell Oil – Sell the Oil from one of your Oil Fields and earn lots of money.
5. Contingency – Use an Event Action or hire one of the useful Consultants.

Check For Game End

Lastly, once all players have taken their turn, the round is over. Check if Corruption has reached 100%. If not, start a new round.

However, if Corruption has reached 100% the end game is triggered: Play a final round, then the game ends and the player with the most money wins. For more detail see Game End on page 12.

Leaders

Each Faction has three Leaders, represented by chips. At any time, each Leader token is either in the common supply ("uncontrolled"), or in front of a player. If a Leader chip is in front of you, you "control" that Leader.

Controlling at least one Leader of a Faction is required to Sell Weapons to or Buy Drilling Rights from that Faction. Additionally, each of the three Leader types has a special power:

• The Political Leader gives you Drilling Rights for free. See Political Leader on page 10.
• The Military Leader allows you to intercept Oil Deliveries. See Military Leader on page 11.
• The Religious Leader can take over the office of another Leader in the same Faction. See Religious Leader on page 8.

Blackmail Cards

Blackmail cards represent "interesting information" on the private lives of the Leaders.

For each Political and Military Leader there are between one and three Blackmail cards. There are no such cards for the Religious Leaders, as the pure of mind never stray from the righteous path.

Important. You may only hold up to three Blackmail cards in your hand. If you ever have to draw above this, draw first, then discard down to three.

The number of Blackmail cards for each Leader varies from Faction to Faction and is noted in the small white cross symbol.

There are two Blackmail cards for the Political Leader of the URFMF. The Leader chip as well as both of these cards are marked with a "2" in the cross symbol.

Blackmail & Using Religious Leaders

At the start of your turn, before you take your Action, and no matter which Action you are going to take, you may either Blackmail, or use the power of a Religious Leader to gain control of a Leader. You may not do both.

If you are unable to perform the Action you picked, and decide not to switch your Action card as described on page 6, you take your turn as usual. If you do so, you may first attempt to Blackmail or use a Religious Leader, and take control of a Leader. If you can now perform the Action you originally picked, you may do so. However, if you are still unable to perform that Action, your turn ends; return your Action card to your hand.

Blackmail

Reveal and discard a single Blackmail card from your hand. Take the corresponding Leader chip, either from the common supply or from another player, and place it in front of you.

However, if another player controls the Leader you are attempting to Blackmail, they may block your attempt by revealing a single Blackmail card for that same leader from their hand. In this case, both cards are discarded and the Leader remains with that player.

Players may not block your attempt to Blackmail an uncontrolled Leader.

Use a Religious Leader

Sometimes, a Leader proves to be disappointingly weak of faith and needs to be executed. In such cases, by ancient decree, the Religious Leader has to take over their office.

Discard a Religious Leader you control to the common supply. Take either the Military or Political Leader chip of the same Faction and place it in front of you. It does not matter if that Leader was currently controlled or not.

It is not possible to block the power of the Religious Leader with a Blackmail card or by any other means.

Action 1 – Networking

Networking is the industry term for "digging up dirt and bribing".

You may only take this Action if you control three or fewer Leaders. If you control four or more Leaders you are unable to take this Action.

Note that you may, at any time, discard any Leaders you control to the common supply.

Draw Blackmail Card

First draw the top card from the Blackmail deck and look at it. You may hold up to three Blackmail cards. If you ever hold more, discard down to three. Keep your Blackmail cards secret.

If the deck is empty, first shuffle the discarded Blackmail cards to form a new deck. Remember, you may only Blackmail before you take your Action, so you'll have to wait until your next turn to use your new card to Blackmail!

Bribe a Leader

Secondly, you may bribe one controlled or uncontrolled Leader. Check the current Bribe rate of their Faction: In the row with the bribe icon, find the column corresponding to the rightmost Troop cube of this Faction on the Faction track. If this Faction has no Troops left on the track, use the number to the far left.

Pay that sum to the bank. If the Leader is currently controlled, additionally pay the same sum again to the player currently controlling the Leader. Lastly, take the Leader and place it in front of you, you now control them.

Other players may not block this in any way. After all, they have been paid as well...

Example: The current Bribe rate for a Government (brown) Leader is $6, for the NLF (blue) $4, and $1 for the URFMF (red).

To bribe an NLF Leader controlled by another player, you would pay $4 to the bank and another $4 to the controlling player.

Action 2 – Sell Weapons

For no particular reason you command a considerable stockpile of surplus military equipment. Coincidentally, your new friends are more than happy to take some of it off your hands...

You may only Sell Weapons to a Faction that you control at least one Leader of, and that still has at least one Troop cube on their track. First, decide which Faction to Sell Weapons to.

Gain Money

Check the price this Faction currently pays: In the Sell Weapons row, find the column corresponding to this Faction's rightmost Troop cube on the Faction track. Take that much money from the bank.

If you place the new Troop into one of the richer Regions marked with "Sell Weapons +$2", immediately gain an extra $2.

Move Troop

Third, roll the die. The newly-placed Troop moves to the neighbouring Region corresponding to your roll, as indicated by the die icons on the Region's inside borders.

If the target Region is already ruled by the same Faction, you decide into which neighbouring Region the Troop moves. You may not move it to a Region already ruled by its own Faction. You may only move it to an unruled Region, or a Region ruled by an opposing Faction.

Note. You do not gain the extra $2 if the Troop you placed moves into a Region marked with "+$2", only if you place it in such Region.

If the new Troop is now in the same Region as an opposing Troop, combat ensues and everybody dies: return both Troop cubes to the leftmost empty spaces on their respective Faction tracks.

If the new Troop is alone in its Region, there is no combat. Their Faction now rules that Region.

Note. Rulership change in a Region does not affect who owns the Drilling Rights for that Region (also see Buy Drilling Rights on page 10).

Note. At the end of movement, there should never be more than a single Troop in each Region.

Place Troop

Next, take the rightmost Troop cube of this Faction from the track and place it into any Region on the map ruled by this Faction. A Faction rules a Region if one of their Troop cubes is present. A Region without Troop cubes is unruled.

You may not place the Troop into a Region where all neighbouring Regions are already ruled by the same Faction.

If the Faction currently does not rule their own starting Region, you may place the Troop into that Region instead. This Troop will not move.

Example: You Sell Weapons to the NLF (blue). You earn $4. You take the last NLF Troop from the Track and may place it into any of the Regions marked A, B, or C, but not into D, since all neighbouring Regions of D are already ruled by the NLF. At B, you even earn an additional $2. Obviously, you place it there, and take $2 from the bank.

On a roll of 2, the new Troop at B will move to E, attacking the URFMF, if you roll a 1, it will move to F, if you roll a 5, it will move to G. It will never move to A or C, as those are already ruled by the NLF. So, on a roll of 3, 4, or the house icon, you get to decide if the Troop moves to E, F, or G.

You roll a 2, and the Troop moves to E. The new NLF Troop and the red URFMF Troop already there combat, leading to the destruction of both. You take both Troops and place them back on their respective Tracks.

Another Example: You sell to the Government (brown) and earn $8! As no Government Troops are on the map, you must place the new Troop in their starting Region F. It does not move.

Action 3 – Buy Drilling Rights

You may only buy the Drilling Rights for an Oil Region that is currently ruled by a Faction that you control at least one Leader of. A Faction rules a Region if their Troop cube is present. You may not buy Drilling Rights for unruled Regions. Pick one of the permitted Regions.

Pay Money

Check the price the ruling Faction currently demands: In the Buy Drilling Rights row, find the column corresponding to this Faction's rightmost Troop cube on the Faction track. Pay that much money to the bank. If this Faction has no Troops left on the track, use the number to the far left.

Place Drilling Pawn

Place one of your drilling pawns on the Region to mark your rights ownership. You may only own two Drilling Rights at the same time, if you buy a third, first give up one you already own. There may only be one player's drilling pawn in any Region at any time.

Your drilling pawn remains in the Region and you keep the Drilling Rights even if the Region becomes unruled or comes under the rule of a different Faction due to combat or for other reasons. As long as nobody offers a better deal, the new rulers are happy to continue a good working relationship.

Buyout

If another player owns the Drilling Rights for a Region, this is marked by their drilling pawn in that Region. Only if they do not control any Leader of the Faction currently ruling that Region, you may buy out these Drilling Rights. To do so, return the other player's pawn from that Region to that player and buy the Rights for that Region as described above. All other limitations apply.

Political Leader

Because you're such good friends and they know someone that knows someone...

If you control the Political Leader of a Faction, you do not pay anything when you buy a Drilling Right from that Faction. You get it for free instead.

Important. You may not combine the Political Leader's special power with a Buyout as described above. It's a massive hustle and cost to forge all these documents, bribe police et al, and even your best friend can't do that for free!

Example: You control the Military Leader of the Government (brown) and the Political Leader of the NLF (blue). You may buy the Drilling Rights for either of the two Regions marked A, which are ruled by the Government, or either of the Regions marked B, ruled by the NLF. As the orange player does not control any NLF (blue) Leaders, you may also buy the Drilling Rights for the Region marked C.

Currently, the Government takes $10 per Drilling Right, the NLF $8, and the URFMF rules no Region and thus can not sell any Drilling Rights.

As you control the Political Leader of the NLF, if you buy a Drilling Right from that Faction, you get it for free.

However, you want to buy out the Drilling Right for Region C from the orange player. In that case, you may not use your Political Leader special power and have to pay the regular price all the same. You pay $8 to the bank, remove the orange drilling pawn from the Region and place yours there.

Action 4 – Sell Oil

Oil always gets you roughly the same price on the international market. Unfortunately, stronger Factions tend to impose ridiculous "port fees" on your meager profits. But getting anything done in anarchistic, unruled Regions is cost-intensive. Surprisingly, work gets done cheaper if the workforce is sufficiently protected and motivated by people with guns...

Choose Port

First, choose one Region where you own the Drilling Rights. Then choose one of the Oil Ports connected directly to that Drilling Region by a Pipeline. You do not need a Leader to Sell Oil.

Gain Money

If both Drilling Region and Oil Port are currently ruled by Factions (those may be different Factions), check which price you get: In the Sell Oil row, find the column corresponding to the rightmost Troop cube of the Faction ruling the Port on the Faction track. If this Faction has no Troops left on the track, use the number to the far left.

If either the Drilling Region, or the Oil Port, or even both are unruled, you will only get the minimum price of $15. As a reminder, this price is also noted to the far right in the Sell Oil row.

Currently, at a Government-ruled (brown) Port you would gain $20 for your Oil, and at a Port ruled by the NLF (blue) you would gain $30.

The URFMF does not rule any Ports where you could sell oil.

Remove Drilling Pawn

Lastly, return your drilling pawn from the Drilling Region to your personal supply.

Military Leader

If you control the Military Leader of the Faction ruling the Port Region another player uses to Sell Oil, the military "repurpose" some of that Oil for you. That player has to pay you $10 after Selling their Oil.

It does not matter if the player Selling Oil controls a Leader of the same Faction or not.

Action 5 – Contingency

Depending on the card on top of the face-up Contingency discard pile, with the Contingency Action you either hire a Consultant or use an Event. If there are no cards on the Contingency discard pile, use the instructions printed on the board instead – take $5. Also see Appendix III for card clarifications.

If multiple players take this Action on the same turn, the first player (in regular tie-breaker order) takes the Consultant card or Event Action on top of the Contingency discards, the next player takes the newly revealed Consultant or Event Action and so on.

Hire Consultant

If the top card of the Contingency discard pile is a Consultant, take it and place it in front of you. The power explained on the card is now available to you until game end. Most Consultants modify certain Actions with special rules that apply to you if you take the corresponding Action.

Use Event

If the top card of the Contingency discard pile is an Event, follow the instructions written on the top half of that card (increase / decrease Corruption, gain / pay money etc.), then return the card to the box.

Game End

Even you have to recognize at some point that your best intentions and idealism will not save this country...

If, at the end of a round, the Corruption marker has reached the rightmost spot on the Corruption track, marked with the skull icon, Corruption has reached 100% and the game end is triggered. Play one final round, then the game ends.

Once the game has ended, all players count their Money. Whoever has the most, wins. In case of a tie, consult the current Contingency deck tie breaker chart.

Note that you only check if the game end is triggered at the end of each round. Even if Corruption reaches 100% at the start of a round, during the "Flip Contingency card" step, you still finish this round, then the game end is triggered and you play the final round.

We certainly could make up a "better" or "more thematic" tie breaker here, but if you really manage to end the game with the exact same wealth as one of the other players, you deserve to lose (or win) in a brutally random way.

Appendix I – Solo Rules

So, suppose you have no friends, or the ones you have prefer partying and dating to playing board games (those fools!). Furthermore, suppose you forgot that and crowdfunded this game either way. You now have a perfectly fine board game but no one to play it with. Have no fear. Read on. We've got you covered.

The solo game uses the same rules as the regular game, with the changes detailed below. Mainly, you play alone against the game, no Contingency card is flipped each round, and the corresponding Action differs.

Setup

Unless mentioned below, set up as in the regular game (board, Troops, money etc).

Evil Corp. Pick one of the five Corporations as your opponent, from here on refered to only as Evil Corp. Each Corporation plays a bit differently:

• Edale Oil Co. – Very easy opponent
• Cloudhouse Petrols – Easy, but volatile
• Yamjam 1908 – Medium
• Generic Inc – Hard, but beatable
• Omnicorp – Nigh impossible. You need luck.

Decide which will be Evil Corp for this game. For your first solo game, we recommend Edale Oil Co. Shuffle the five Action cards of your enemy of choice and place them as the face-down Evil Corp Action deck close at hand.

Take the Action cards and Drilling pawns of one of the other four Corporations for yourself. Keep all remaining pawns at hand for use by Evil Corp. Return the Action cards of the remaining three Corporations to the box.

Blackmail Deck & Leaders. As usual, shuffle the Blackmail cards to form the Blackmail deck. Draw one of them as your starting hand and take the corresponding Leader chip. Do not take a random Leader chip as you would in regular Setup. Put the remaining eight Leader chips into the common supply.

Contingency Deck. Find the Consultant cards that have a car pictured in the lower right corner. Shuffle them and put them as a face-up stack on the space for the Contingency draw deck. Return all remaining Consultants and all Events to the box.

Gameplay

Each round, first you, the human player, pick your Action that you'll execute later this round.

Next, Evil Corp takes their turn. It does three things, in this order:

1. Evil Corp Sells Weapons
2. Evil Corp Blackmails a Leader
3. Evil Corp takes an additional Action

Lastly, you take your turn, using the Action you picked earlier.

If, at the end of the round, Corruption is at 100%, the game ends immediately, there is no final round – count your money and see how well you fared. Otherwise, play another round.

Note that you do not flip a Contingency card at the start of the round.

Handling Evil Corp

Do not keep track of the Evil Corp's money. Evil Corp is assumed to always have sufficient funds. In other words, Evil Corp uses the bank as their personal money supply.

All Leaders in the common supply are controlled by Evil Corp.

Obviously, as Evil Corp has no arms, hands, or other agency, you will need to do all their work for them, even if it really annoys you.

Pick Your Action

Use your Action cards to choose which Action you want to take later this round. Obviously, you don't have to keep your card face-down.

Evil Corp Turn

On their turn, Evil Corp first sells Weapons, then blackmails, and then takes an additional Action.

Evil Corp Sells Weapons. Evil Corp sells to the Faction that currently has the most Troops left on their track. If tied, Evil Corp sells to the tied Faction whose track is closer to the top of the board. This means they would rather sell to the Government, then the NLF and finally the URFMF – in that order.

Take the rightmost Troop cube from this Faction's track and place it in its starting Region. Keep moving the Troop randomly until it either reaches an unruled Region – leave the Troop there – or until it enters a Region occupied by a Troop of an opposing Faction, resulting in both Troops eliminating each other in Combat. Either of these may already occur in its starting Region.

To move a Troop randomly, roll the die and move the Troop cube to the corresponding neighbouring Region. Count the result of the house icon as the result "1". When moving randomly, you never get to decide which direction a Troop moves into, and friendly Troops do not "block" Regions or stop the movement.

Evil Corp Blackmails. Flip the topmost card from the Blackmail deck face-up and place it on the Blackmail discard pile. You may always consult the discard pile, in fact you may find it simpler to keep it splayed.

Evil Corp attempts to Blackmail the Leader corresponding to the card just flipped. If you control this Leader, return it to the common supply. If Evil Corp already controls this Leader, it will instead blackmail the Religious Leader of the same Faction. If it also controls this Religious Leader, it will not blackmail at all this round.

You may discard a matching Blackmail card to block Evil Corp's Blackmail attempt, as you would against real players. If you do, the Leader remains in your control.

Evil Corp Takes an Additional Action. Flip the top card from the Evil Corp Action deck face-up and place it on the Evil Corp discard pile. You may always consult the discard pile, in fact you may find it simpler to keep it splayed.

If the Evil Corp deck is empty, first reshuffle the discards to form the new Evil Corp Action deck. That way, all five Evil Corp Action cards are played before the deck is reshuffled.

This Action card has the three icons "Sell Oil", "Buy Drilling Rights No.4", and "Increase Corruption", in this order.

Each Action card has one, two, or three icons (see next page) along the bottom edge. Check these icons from left to right and apply the first that can be applied. Ignore remaining icons. If none can be applied, Evil Corp takes no additional Action this round. Lucky you.

Buy Drilling Rights No.X. Each Oil field tower on the board has a small number next to it. Evil Corp tries to buy the Drilling Rights for the Oil Region corresponding to the number next to this icon (here: "4"), following the regular rules. Remember, do not track any Money Evil Corp spends.

If there is no Drilling pawn in this Region, place one of Evil Corp's pawns. Evil Corp may possess more than two Drilling Rights, if necessary, use pawns of unused Corporations.

If you hold the Drilling Rights for this Region, but do not control a Leader of the Faction ruling the Region, Evil Corp buys out your Rights. Replace your pawn with one of Evil Corp's pawns.

If Evil Corp can't buy the Drilling Rights for this Region – because the Region is currently unruled, it already holds these Rights, or you hold them but can't be bought out – ignore this icon.

Sell Oil. If Evil Corp currently holds any Drilling Rights, it Sells Oil, using up one of them. Remove one of its Drilling pawns from the board and increase Corruption by one. Remember, do not track Evil Corp's Money.

Evil Corp never checks which Port will yield the largest profit for itself, it only tries to minimize your profits. It tries to Sell in a way that won't allow you to Steal Oil. If this gives Evil Corp multiple viable options, either because there are multiple ones you do not profit from, or because you profit from all of them, it Sells from the Oil Field with the highest number. If you are able to Steal Oil, gain the usual $10, taking it from the bank.

If Evil Corp can't Sell Oil because it has no Drilling Rights, ignore this icon.

Increase Corruption. Evil Corp does something very profitable that further unsettles the Region. Something so unfathomably sneaky, you will never find out what it actually was. Increase Corruption by one. Evil Corp can always do this, never ignore this icon.

Your Turn

Take your turn the same way you would in the regular game. The Actions work the same as in the regular game, with the following exceptions.

When Networking, you only pay the bribe sum once, to the bank, even though Evil Corp controls all uncontrolled Leaders.

To buy out a Drilling Right from Evil Corp, you need to control all three Leaders of the Faction ruling the Region.

If you Sell Oil and Evil Corp controls the Military Leader of the Faction ruling the Port, it will always steal Oil, reducing your profits by $10, as usual.

Contingency

As you do not flip Contingency cards at the start of the round, there is never a card on the discard pile. If you take a Contingency Action, you may either hire the topmost Consultant from the face-up Consultant stack, or take $5 and return the topmost Consultant to the box.

Note that in the solo game Corruption is only increased by Evil Corp, either when it sells Oil, or when it takes the Increase Corruption Action.

End of the Game

If, at the end of a round, Corruption is at 100%, the game ends. Count your money. If you have at least $100, you win, overcoming the almighty Evil Corp. Otherwise, your puny Corporation is hopelessly crushed by the overpowering economic wit that is Evil Corp. Try again, the next country in need is waiting for you...

If you manage to win, compare your result to this little chart, to see how well you fared.

Money	Result
$100 - $129	Mediocre! Maybe try an easier opponent.
$130 - $149	Decisive! (That means that you did do very well.)
$150 - $165	Obliterating! You should consider a career in Big Oil.
$166 or more	Unreal! You must be cheating. Try a harder opponent.

Appendix II – Variants

Use these variants at your own discretion. The first two have been made possible thanks to our fabulous crowdfunding backers. A big Thank You!

The Annoying Reporter

There is a War Reporter at loose in the country, investigating the leading personalities, scrutinizing their lives and generally making things hard for you. This variant makes for slightly more antagonizing play.

During Setup, after giving Leaders to players, select a random uncontrolled Leader. Place the Reporter marker on that Leader. The Leader with the Reporter marker always counts as under investigation.

Before preparing the Contingency deck, return the Event card Development Aid to the box and replace it with the Event card Information Leak.

Changes to Player Turns. Instead of Blackmail, or using a Religious Leader at the start of your turn, you may discard a Blackmail card to move the Reporter to any Leader of the matching Faction. That may be the Leader shown on the card, or one of the other two Leaders of that same Faction. Take the Reporter from the Leader they are currently investigating and place it on the new Leader.

A Leader under investigation by the Reporter may not be used for their benefits. They won't buy your Weapons, secure Drilling Rights, steal Oil, or have other Leaders executed. They behave in a very presentable way, that is best described as – bad for business. You may still bribe, Blackmail and control them, but they are otherwise quite useless. They count as a controlled Leader if you take an Action 1 – Networking.

Shameless Cashgrab

A certain publisher becomes greedy and wants to add more content to their crowdfunded game, whilst also advertising their other games. This variant adds funky special rules to the game which mess stuff up. In short, your run-of-the-mill "bonus content" added as an afterthought.

This expansion consists of eight cards, called Complication cards. Pick four or select them at random, and remove the rest from the game.

When preparing the Contingency deck, shuffle two Complication cards face-down into each half (letter A and C on page 5) of the deck.

Changes to Flip Contingency Card. If, after you flip the Contingency card for the round, the next card on the Contingency deck is a Complication card, immediately flip that card face-up as well and place it next to the board.

The special rules on a face-up Complication card immediately become active. If you reveal a Complication card and there is one already active, return the older one to the box.

Headhunting

This variant gives seasoned players a bit more control over the Contingency Action. Some consider it vital.

Before taking Action 5 - Contingency, you may Headhunt: pay $1 to the bank and set aside the top card of the Contingency discard pile. You may Headhunt any number of times. Then, take the Contingency Action using either the current top card of the Contingency discard pile, or using one of the cards you set aside. Lastly, return all Contingency cards set aside but not used to the top of their discard pile in their original order.

Evil Corp for Two

Allows to use Evil Corp in games with two players.

Set up as for the regular game, but also prepare the Evil Corp Action deck as for the Solo game as described on page 12. Use either Edale Oil Co. or Cloudhouse Petrols as Evil Corp.

Gameplay and win condition remain unchanged from the regular game, but in between Pick Actions and Call Actions, resolve the Evil Corp turn as described on page 13.

Against two real players, Evil Corp tries to Sell Oil in a way that neither player profits from. If undecided, it Sells from its highest-numbered Oil Field. Also, it does not increase Corruption when Selling Oil, only through its Increase Corruption Action.

Appendix III – Card Clarifications

Unless otherwise noted, all Consultant powers only apply during your turn.

Corporate Lawyer. The Region must still be ruled by one of the three Factions.

Coup. Should a player be unable to take their Action this round, they take no Action at all.

Cultural Advisor. If you use this power, you may not attempt to Blackmail or use a Religious Leader this turn.

Insider. First, decide on the order for all players that picked the same Action as you, then the players concerned, including you, must take their Actions in this order.

Negotiator. Resolve this before a Contingency card is flipped. At that point, no other player may interact with your Leaders (Blackmail, etc).

New Management. Collect all 15 Blackmail cards from all players, the discard and the draw stack, shuffle them together as during setup, and deal to each player the same number of cards as they had before. The remaining cards form the new draw deck.

NGO Intervention. Any player that picks Sell Weapons will instead perform Contingency.

Operations Expert / Advisor. Pick a Troop on the map. Move it as if you had rolled a house icon, see page 9 for movement rules.

People Starving. For the rest of the game, this Faction has one Troop less. In case of a tie, remove the Troop from the furthest track up.

Presidential Election. This round, each player places two Action cards face-down in front of them, and will take two turns. You must choose two different Actions. If an Action you have picked is called, reveal your Action card, and take turns in tie breaker order. No matter what, you may only use the Contingency Action once.

Religious Fanaticism. Starting with the Government, followed by the NLF and then the URFMF, perform this for each Faction: take the rightmost Troop from their track, place it in their starting Region and move it randomly as described in the Solo rules on page 13.

Sales Representative. When selling for $15 or $35 the Sales Representative has no effect.

Technician. Apply the rules for Stealing Oil at a Port, with the difference that you must control the Military Leader of the Faction ruling the Drilling Region. You may not steal in the Drilling Region and the Port. You may steal in the Drilling Region while another player steals at the Port. This may mean that the player Selling Oil loses money from that Action. If they don't have enough money, they pay you first.

Veteran. The Region must still be ruled by one of the three Factions.

Appendix IV – Small Strategy Hints

Remember, to win, you need the money! You earn most by Selling Oil through safe Ports. Some Events also grant substantial funds.

Try to anticipate what other players are about to do, and get yourself into a position to profit from that. For example, if you are quite certain that a player will Sell Weapons to a Faction you control the Political Leader of, and the new Troops can only secure an available Drilling Region, go for Drilling Rights.

Act anti-cyclical. If the other players haggle over Drilling Regions and Ports, get some low-key Leader and keep selling Weapons under the radar.

Do not underestimate Religious Leaders. They enable you to sell Weapons and buy Drilling Rights, are immune to Blackmail, and are often less contested. Sometimes, getting a Religious Leader now to take over the Leader you actually want just when you need them is easier and open to less meddling from your pesky opponents.

A good way to secure your Leaders is by selling Weapons to them, even if it may not always seem like the most lucrative option. More Troops on the board means a higher Bribe, which makes it less likely that other players will Bribe away your Leader of that Faction.

Solo Game – Setup

Place the Corruption marker on 93. Place the Troop cubes on their matching tracks. Place one Troop on each matching starting Region.

Pick a Corporation to be Evil Corp:

• Edale Oil Co. – Very easy opponent
• Cloudhouse Petrols – Easy, but volatile
• Yamjam 1908 – Medium
• Generic Inc – Hard, but beatable
• Omnicorp – Nigh impossible. You need luck.

Shuffle their Action cards, and place them as the face-down Evil Corp deck close-by.

Take the Action cards and Drilling pawns of one of the remaining Corporations for yourself.

Shuffle the Blackmail cards, and place as the face-down Blackmail deck close-by. Draw one for yourself and take the corresponding Leader chip. Place remaining Leader Chips in the common supply.

Find all Consultant cards with a car in the bottom right corner, shuffle them and place as a face-up deck on the Contingency spot. Return all remaining Contingency cards to the box.

Keep money and die ready. Take $5.

Solo Game – Round Breakdown

A. You Pick Your Action for the round.

B. Evil Corp Sells Weapons to the Faction that currently has the most Troops left. If tied, to the one higher up. Place the Troop in its starting Region and move it randomly.

C. Evil Corp Blackmails a Leader: Flip a Blackmail card. Evil Corp Blackmails that Leader, or, if already under Evil Corp control, the matching Religious Leader.

D. Evil Corp takes an Additional Action:

Flip an Evil Corp Action card. Check the icons from left to right and apply the first that can be applied. Ignore remaining icons.

• Buy Drilling Rights No.X icon – If possible, Evil Corp buys the Drilling Rights for the Region corresponding to the number next to this symbol (here: 4).
• Sell Oil icon – If possible, Evil Corp Sells Oil. It tries to minimize your profits. If undecided, it Sells from the Oil Field with the highest number. Increase Corruption by one.
• Skull icon – increase Corruption by one.

E. You may Blackmail / Use Religious Leader.

F. You Take Your Action:

• Networking – Draw a Blackmail card. Then, you may Bribe a Leader. Only pay the Bribe sum once, to the bank.
• Sell Weapons – Sell to a Faction matching a Leader you control. Gain money, place and move a Troop.
• Buy Drilling Rights – Buy from a Faction matching a Leader you control. Pay money, place a Drilling pawn.
• Sell Oil – Sell at a Port connected to one of your Drilling pawns. Gain money and remove the Drilling pawn. Evil Corp steals if possible.
• Contingency – Take the topmost Consultant or gain $5 and discard the topmost Consultant.

If, at the end of the round, Corruption is at 100%, the game ends immediately.

If you have at least $100, you win. Check the solo victory chart below to rate your result.

Remember:

• There is no Contingency deck, you do not flip a Contingency card at the start of a round.
• You may keep all discards open and splayed for easy reference and planning.
• Evil Corp uses the bank as their money supply, do not track any money they gain or lose.
• Evil Corp controls all Leaders in the common supply.

Solo Victory Rating Chart

Money	Result
$100 - $129	Mediocre! Maybe try an easier opponent.
$130 - $149	Decisive!
$150 - $165	Obliterating!
$166 or more	Unreal! Maybe try a harder opponent.