Rise of Totalitarianism Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Game Overview
• The Game Board
• Markers, Cubes, Screens & Play Aid Mat
• Overview of Cards
• Prepare to Play
• Game Concepts
  • Alliance
  • Control of Leaders
  • Control of Governments
  • Vote Check
  • Choice of Candidates
  • How to count Electoral Votes
  • Effects of a Government Coalition
  • Re-rolls
• Sequence of Play
• Order of Play Phase
  • A. Calculate and collect Funding
  • B. Determine the Order of Play
• Card Phase
  • A. Prepare Decks
  • B. Deal Strategy Cards
  • C. Mulligans
  • D. Reserves
  • Handling Strategy Decks
• Political Phase
  • A. Draw Crisis
  • B. Play Strategy Cards
    • 1. Choose Cards
    • 2. Reveal Cards
    • 3. Apply Effects
  • Card Effects Icons
  • C. Place Action chits
  • D. Resolve Actions
    • Resolving an Action
    • Reactions
• Actions
  • Action: Propaganda
  • Action: Conflicts
    • Action: Unrest
    • Action: Putsch
  • Action: Arrest, Squads
    • Leader Harassment Table
  • Action: Release
  • Action: Law
  • Bonus Operations
    • 1. Hire a new Leader
    • 2. Influence a Minor Party
    • 3. Influence a Population
• Cleanup Phase
  • I. Effects of Conflicts
  • II. Government Stability Checks
    • A. Major Powers Stability Checks
    • B. Minor Nations Stability Checks
  • III. Elections
  • IV. Victory Points
  • V. Turn-end activities
• Victory Determination
• Card Symbols Reference
• Summary of Turn's Events
• Board Symbols Reference

Components

Each copy of Rise of Totalitarianism includes the following:

• two 18x18" mounted boards
• 90 game cards (9 Coup Cards, 15 Crisis Cards, 21 Communism Cards, 22 Fascism Cards, 22 Social-Democracy Cards and 1 Bonus Card)
• 90 small cubes (30 each in red, blue and black)
• 3 disks (one each in red, blue and black)
• 150 game counters:
  • 11 Regime Markers (1 for each Minor Nation)
  • 3 VP Markers and 3 Play Order Markers (1 VP and 1 Play Order Marker for each Ideology)
  • 13 Population Markers (7 for Italy, 6 for Germany)
  • 7 Votes Markers (1 for each Ideology and each Minor Party)
  • 8 Stable / Unstable Govt Markers
  • 2 Economy Markers, 3 War Reparations Markers and 1 Ruhr Marker
  • 2 Elections Markers (1 for each Major Power)
  • 39 Leader Markers
  • 56 Action chits
  • 1 Turn Marker and 1 Round Marker
• a 6-sided die
• 3 player screens
• a play aid mat
• this Rules Book
• a Play Book (downloadable or sold separately)

Game Overview

GOAL OF THE GAME – In Rise of Totalitarianism each player takes the role of an Ideology (Communism, Fascism or Social-Democracy) and has the goal of controlling, for as long as possible, the Governments of the Major Powers represented in the game (Germany and Italy) and of as many Minor Nations as possible (Austria, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Yugoslavia). Players earn Victory Points (VP) mostly through the control of the Governments of Major Powers and Minor Nations.

To achieve control of Minor Nations, players try to influence the political allegiance of such countries, or they attempt to destabilize and overthrow their Governments. In both cases players are aiming for the same goal: to draw the ideological orientation of the Governments into their sphere of influence.

To achieve control of Major Powers, on the other hand, players must use deeper and more complex mechanisms. One Ideology controls the Government of each Major Power at any time, with the other two Ideologies working in the background to influence public opinion and destabilize the Government. This causes the Government to fall and force new Elections, which are then won by the Ideology thanks to the shift of mass support towards it. In addition, Social-Democracy has the task of preserving Democracy by ensuring that the Governments are always determined by Elections. Fascism and Communism, in contrast, must attempt to put a totalitarian Regime in power – each Ideology has its own means and mechanism for doing this. Putting a Regime into power means that Elections will no longer take place in the nation – thus keeping the Government in power forever – unless the economic conditions and the stability of the country become so bad that the Regime is overthrown and new Elections can take place.

GAME-PLAY FUNDAMENTALS – All activities performed by players (Actions) to pursue their goals in Major Powers and Minor Nations are planned secretly by using Action chits. But planning these Actions is costly. Players pay these costs both by expending the Political Points (PP) provided by Game Cards (see below) and by using cubes, which represent the Funding granted to their Ideologies by bankers, industrialists, agrarians, foreign states, or more simply the political support of bureaucrats and institutions. Funding fluctuates with the fortunes and disgraces of the major political parties represented by the Ideologies, but also with the wealth of nations where these parties operate. Furthermore, Actions can be supported by Leaders, which represent the politicians and statesmen that historically emerged in the period and that are present in the game. Each Leader provides a bonus to the effectiveness of the Action he or she is tasked to accomplish. Such effectiveness is measured by Action Points (AP), that enable the Primary Goal of the Action and a set of additional Bonus Operations to be performed.

GAME CARDS – Game cards are a core element of the gameplay. There are three types:

1. Crisis Cards represent the most important historical events that generated troubles – or opportunities – during the timeline covered by the game. These cards trigger the Crises that must be resolved by players.
2. Strategy Cards are at the same time the engine and the fuel of players' operations. Each Ideology has its own Strategy Cards Deck. Strategy Cards provide the Political Points (PP) used by players to plan Actions, but they also enrich the gameplay with Events, Political Actions, Laws and further Crises. Events are cards whose effects are applied immediately after the card is played. Political Actions are endeavors performed by players using a card whose effects are applied only after a successful Political Action Attempt (die roll with various modifiers). Laws are cards whose effects cause a permanent change in the game rules. Laws come into effect only after a specific player's Action has been planned and successfully performed, i.e. the Law is "promulgated".
3. Coup Cards form an additional deck that is used to simulate a sort of "domino effect" throughout Minor Nations when a minor country's Government is overthrown. These cards add further Crises and Events.

Political Points (PP) are also provided by Crisis Cards and Coup Cards.

SEQUENCE OF PLAY – The game is played in Turns, each Turn representing a period of time spanning from one to four years. Every Turn is played according to a strict procedure called the Sequence of Play, which is divided into four Phases:

1. Players must first determine their Funding. The Funding allows players to choose their position in the Order of Play, which determines the order in which Actions and Reactions are performed.
2. During the Card Phase, players refill their hand of cards, and reshuffle and add new cards to the decks if required by the Turn.
3. The Political Phase is resolved in one to three Rounds, depending on the length of the Turn (usually the number of years). During each Round, a Crisis Card is drawn and resolved, players secretly choose and then simultaneously reveal Strategy Cards, apply their effects, plan and resolve Actions and carry out Reactions. At the end of each Round, a Crisis check is performed to verify the outcomes of every Active Crisis.
4. The Cleanup Phase ends the Turn. Besides the normal end-Turn management activities, during this Phase players must check the Economy of Major Powers and the Stability of Minor Nations and Major Powers. A good Economy (growth, profits, foreign capitals) or a bad Economy (economic crises, depression, debts, war reparations) will, respectively, improve or worsen the Stability of Major Powers.

If a Stability Check fails in a Major Power, Elections must take place to decide on a new Government Coalition in the Major Power. If a Regime rules the Major Power, the Stability check can fail only if the Economy is in the worst condition possible. If a Stability Check fails in a Minor Nation, the Government is overthrown and the political allegiance of the Minor Nation shifts towards the Ideology that contributed most to the change of the ideological orientation of the Government.

The Game Board

Rise of Totalitarianism is played on two mounted boards, that are placed side by side to make up a single game board. The game board contains a map of Europe with a large focus on Germany and Italy, and some tracks, tables and boxes. The map depicts the political make-up of Europe in 1919. All sections of the map contain areas that identify either a Region or a City of a Major Power, or a Battleground. Examine the board picture for details with a particular attention to the differences among the Map Area types and how Adjacency works.

Board elements (from the annotated board picture):

• General Records Track: VP Markers and colored disks are used here to indicate respectively the current VPs and PPs owned by players. Votes Markers are used here during the Elections to indicate the number of Electoral Votes controlled by the Ideologies and Minor Parties.
• Foreign Influence Table (see "Influence a Population" Bonus Operation, page 16).
• Regime Track: composed of 3 large rectangular boxes, one for each Ideology. Regime Markers are used here.
• Order of Play Track and Round Track: Play Order and Round Markers are placed here.
• Turn Track: Turn and Election Markers are placed here to indicate the current Turn, when Elections must take place or when a Regime has been established in Germany or Italy. Each Turn box indicates the number of Rounds and the Hand size, plus some useful notes on Era deck entry and other aspects of the game.
• Arrested or Confined Leaders, Leaders in Exile & Unaligned Leaders Boxes: Leaders are placed here according to their current state.
• Economy Track and War Reparations Payment Delay Track: Economy Markers and War Reparations Markers are used here. See also the Ruhr Occupied box on the left in Germany.
• Parliaments: Players use cubes and Leaders in these boxes to indicate the current composition of Parliamentary factions of Germany and Italy.
• Ideology Track: Population Markers are used here to track the Electoral Votes, the Funding Bonus and Political Support Modifiers. There are also Minor Party Tracks – cubes are used on them to track the Alliance of Minor Parties (Natural Allies are displayed in the first box for when no cube is present).

The game board contains some tracks and tables including:

Order of Play Track – Each one of the three boxes that compose this track represents a rank in the Order of Play. This is the order that players must use when resolving most game activities during play. Play Order Markers are used on these boxes. These markers are used also to track if each player has used his own Re-roll option. Players are allowed to re-roll any one die roll once per turn. Every time a player re-rolls, he must flip his Play Order Marker to the No Re-roll side.

Ideology Track – a chart of rounded boxes, connected to each other by a grid of thick white lines, and forming a network of paths. Proceeding clockwise from the top corner, the larger boxes on the edges represent the Dominance Areas of Fascism, Communism and Social-Democracy. The three boxes connected to every Dominance Area are the Influence Areas of the Ideologies. The remaining boxes represent the Dominance Areas of Minor Parties (Socialists, Catholics, Liberals and Nationalists). Dominance Areas are always filled with a picture, Influence Areas always are filled with a color matching with the Ideology.

The Minor Party Tracks are displayed next to each Minor Party Dominance Area. These tracks are used to monitor the political allegiance of Minor Parties. Each Minor Party Dominance Area has two tracks, one for Italy and the other for Germany. The presence of cubes in these tracks is used to show which Ideology each Minor Party is currently Allied with. More details can be found in the Natural Ally rules (Game Concepts section) on page 6 and in the Elections rules on page 18.

Population Markers are used in the rounded boxes of the Ideology Track to monitor the political orientation of public opinion in Major Powers; one or two Electoral Votes icons indicating a number and the symbol of an Ideology or a Minor Party are printed in each box. More details can be found in the Play Aid Mat and in the Elections rules on page 18.

The Ideology Track is divided into three sectors, with each sector separated from the others by a jagged yellow line. Each sector identifies the Political Support Zone of an Ideology and indicates the Political Support Modifier and the Funding Bonus provided to that Ideology by the Population Markers present in its boxes, as displayed in the bottom part of each marker. Example: The Population Marker of Italian Industrialists is in the Political Support Zone of Social-Democracy, so it provides the player with a +1 Funding Bonus (+2 if Committed) and +1 die roll modifier (1x the "+1" bonus printed next to the Political Support symbol) to every Political Action Attempt.

The Screens and the Mat contain a comprehensive set of tables and tracks and a summary of the key game rules.

Economy Track – This track is used to monitor the Economy of Major Powers. The position of Economy Markers within this track indicates the current Economy Modifiers, which are used in Stability Checks and in Political Action Attempts when required by cards. This track also provides some important informations about the War Reparations that must be paid by Germany to the Allies (Great Britain, USA and France). This information and the matching War Reparations Boxes (see also the Ruhr Occupied box in Germany) are used during the Economy Checks for Germany. More details can be found on the Play Aid Mat and in the Economy Check rules on page 17.

Parliaments – For each Major Power there is a Parliament section composed of 5 boxes, which are used to indicate the political strength of the parties in the Parliament with cubes and Leader Markers. Parliaments also contain other boxes where the Leader Markers of the current President and Chancellor (of Germany), and the Prime Minister (of Italy) are placed. The Leaders (not the President) and cubes in the Parliament determine the Votes controlled by each player. The Vote Modifier is printed next to each Parliament – this modifier is used when required by cards.

Stability Tracks – There are tracks for each Minor Nation that are used to monitor the Nation's Stability and the VP Value. Cubes are placed on these tracks when Conflicts spread to these countries, starting from the leftmost box and proceeding to the right. Important: Cubes can never be placed in dotted boxes.

Designer's Note: The Stability Tracks simulate that the more a Minor Nation is attacked by ideological struggles, the more its Stability and VP Value drop, making the nation less stable and easier to overthrow its government, but also less profitable.

Regime Track – This track is used to monitor the political allegiance of Minor Nations and whether these nations actually provide VPs to players. When a Minor Nation's Regime Marker is in an Ideology's box and is flipped to the VP side, then the Minor Nation provides that Ideology with the number of VPs currently indicated on its Stability Track.

Markers, Cubes, Screens & Play Aid Mat

Many Markers are used to track and record game parameters, conditions and various kinds of situations. In addition, each Ideology has a Screen and set of 30 colored wooden cubes in its own colors: Social-Democracy: blue, Fascism: black, Communism: red. A common Play Aid Mat is also included.

Marker details (from the annotated pictures):

• Action chits: (hidden) chit's owner; icon of the Action Type; (disclosed) Action Value, Leader Bonus, Cube Allowance; Action Group: P – Propaganda, C – Conflicts, L – Laws.
• Leader Markers (committed side shown): Leader Name, Dotted Leader, Leader's Nationality, Death Value (NA: the Leader cannot be killed). Markers of Minor Party Leaders also contain the symbol of the Minor Party the Leader belongs to (see Board Symbols Reference in the cover page).
• Population Markers (committed side shown): Population Nationality, Population Type (name can be found in the Legend box on the game board), Electoral Votes value, Political Support Modifier and Funding Bonus. When a symbol is present on the rear side of the marker, the effect is applied when the Population is Committed (see cover page).

When setting up the game, players take all cubes matching their Ideology's color and put them next to their own Screen, thus forming the Reserve. During the game, players calculate the Funding of their Ideologies and move an equivalent number of cubes from the Reserve to the Pool. The Pool must be placed behind the Player Screen, hidden from other players, and is composed of all cubes provided by the Funding and all Leaders currently aligned with the player's Ideology.

Pool Cubes & Reserve Cubes – Every time a cube is employed for a task, the player takes a cube from the Pool (unless otherwise indicated by the Game or Card Rules). Every time a cube is removed because it is no longer needed for the task it was employed for (e.g. the cube was "expended"), the cube is returned to the Reserve.

Cubes are used in several ways, but mainly to pay the Funding cost of Actions and to indicate Votes in Parliament boxes. Cubes are also used, for example, to mark the Control of Minor Party Leader's by Ideologies or when indicated by Card Rules (e.g.: the USSR or Turkey boxes in the game board).

The number of cubes provided in the game is an absolute limit. For example, a player with no Reserve Cubes cannot take a cube from the Reserve when a card requires this, or cannot add a cube to the Pool when the Funding allows it.

Overview of Cards

The Game Cards are the engine of the game. Except for the Bonus Card, all Game Cards belong to one of five decks: the Crisis Deck, the Coup Deck and three Strategy Decks (one for each Ideology). The Cards provide Crises, Political Actions, Events, Laws and Political Points (PP) to pay the cost of Actions. There are four types of Game Cards: Crisis Cards, Political Action Cards, Event Cards and Law Cards. Each Strategy Deck is divided into three Era Decks (identified by a color: Red, Blue and Black), each containing the historical (or hypothetical) events that happened in 1919-22, 1923-28 and 1929-33, respectively. Crisis Cards, on the other hand, have a specific Entry Turn printed on them.

Card anatomy:

• Political Points (PP) value of the card, printed inside a yellow-red colored circle.
• Difficulty value of the Political Action.
• Identification code (ID) of the Card (the text color indicates the Era Deck the card belongs to).
• Die roll modifiers for Political Action Attempts. If there is a small flag, the modifier is determined by the matching Major Power.
• Card Name.
• Conditions (red bold-italic).
• Card Effects (in many cases shown with icons).
• Bottom of the card: conditions for discarding or removal from play (red bold-italic).
• Event Cards have no Difficulty value because their Effects are automatically applied.
• Crisis Cards of the Crises Deck have an Identification code (ID) and an Entry Turn (when the Card is added to the deck). There are also Crisis Cards in the Strategy Decks and the Coup Deck (they only have the ID).
• The Political Point (PP) value of the Crisis Card. If the card belongs to the Crisis Deck or Coup Deck, all players receive these PPs after it has been played as long as the Crisis is Active. If the card belongs to a Strategy Deck, only the owning Ideology receives PPs.
• Crisis check: this section of the card illustrates the activities that must only be performed during the Crisis check step of the Political Phase and only if the Crisis is Active. In most cases the Crisis check require a player to perform a Political Action Attempt, for which the card indicates the Difficulty value and some modifiers.

Effects are shown on all cards, in many cases in the form of icons. However, these effects, hereafter called Card Effects or Card Rules, are applied:

• for Political Action Cards, only when the Political Action is successfully performed;
• for Law Cards, only when the Law is promulgated;
• for Event and Crisis Cards, when they enter play.

Similarly, conditions are checked:

• for Political Action Cards to determine if the Political Action can be attempted (after the card has been played);
• for Law Cards to determine if the Law can be proposed (after the card has been played);
• for Event and Crisis Cards to determine if the card can be played.

The Card Effects of some cards may last for the part of the Turn or even through for many Turns. This is marked on such cards with a specific symbol. These cards are played as Active Events and must be placed on the table close to the bottom-right corner of the game board, face up and visible to all players, as a reminder of their lasting effects.

Other cards produce effects that may last for some Turns, but are played as Marker Cards rather than as Active Events, and placed in front of players. This is marked by a specific symbol. The number printed inside the symbol always indicates the PP value of the card.

MANDATORY – Mandatory Cards must always be played before the end of the Turn when the conditions for play have been fulfilled (i.e. by the last Round of the Turn during which they were dealt into a hand, provided the conditions are met). Mandatory cards only become mandatory when dealt into a hand; if they never appear during a game, then they never occur.

The Effects of Political Action Cards are applied only with a successful Political Action Attempt. The Effects of Law Cards are applied only when the Law is successfully promulgated. Laws are promulgated by Law Actions. If the Law Action fails, then the Law does not pass. The Difficulty Value and Modifiers are also printed on Law Cards, but are not used for the resolution of a Political Action Attempt; they are used instead for the resolution of Law Actions.

Political Action and Law cards still provide Political Points (PP). Players can always use their PP Value even if the Political Action was not carried out or the Law did not pass (either if the listed conditions were not fulfilled or if the attempt failed).

Crisis Cards provide Political Points (PP) as long they remain in play as Active Crises: for all players if they belong to the Crises or Coup Deck, or for only one player if they belong to that player's Strategy Deck.

Card Rules are always to be treated as Game Rules even when they have a temporary effect on the game. Card Rules always take precedence over the Game Rules when they contradict each other. Red text in bold (non-italic) "Rule Change: ..." is always printed on cards when the Card Rules introduce a significant modification to the Game Rules. Black text in bold "Card Change: ..." is printed when the Card Rules change the Effects of another card.

Prepare to Play

Rise of Totalitarianism can be played in a full Campaign that covers Turns 1-8 (1919-1933) and has a duration of about 8 hours. Or it can be played in shorter Scenarios:

• Scenario A covers the Turns 1-3 (1919-1922) and has a duration of about 3 hours.
• Scenario B covers the Turns 4-8 (1923-1933) and has a duration of about 5 hours.
• Scenario C covers the Turns 6-8 (1929-1933) and has a duration of about 3.5 hours.

Once players have chosen the Campaign or the Scenario to play, they can find the instructions to set up the game in the Play Book. To set up and play the full Campaign, simply use the game setup information of Scenario A and play the game until the end of Turn 8 (or when the Game End Condition is fulfilled, see page 18), i.e. do not interrupt the game at the end of Turn 3 and do not apply the End Game Victory Modifiers of any Scenario.

If playing Scenario B or C, players may agree to adopt the special end game VP Modifiers listed in the Play Book, but if they decide to use them, then Social-Democracy and Fascism must be assigned to players by bidding – details can be found in the Play Book.

Each player must arrange his Screen, cards, Action chits, cubes and Leader Markers in front of himself: Reserve, Player's Hand, Marker Cards, Card Reserve (defined in Card Phase on page 9), and Player's Pool.

Hereafter, sections of the rules that describe a procedure or a calculation method of key importance for game-play are printed within a box with a black border.

Game Concepts

The following sections explain some important game concepts that need to be examined before the Sequence of Play.

Alliance

This game concept identifies the Ideology a Minor Party is currently Allied with and determines which player controls the Minor Party's Electoral Votes. The Alliance status of a Minor Party is determined by the cubes that are currently in the matching Minor Party Track, as follows:

• If no cube is present, then the Ally is the Natural Ally indicated by the symbol displayed in the first box of the track.
• Otherwise the Ally is the Ideology with most cubes.
• In case of a tie, the Ally is the Ideology with a cube in the box furthest from the flag (check the arrows connecting the boxes to determine the direction).

Control of Leaders

Leaders that are in the Leaders in Exile, Arrested or Confined Leaders and Unaligned Leaders boxes are never under the control of players. Leaders who belong to an Ideology are always under the control of that player if in his Pool or deployed on the board, provided they are not placed in any one of the above listed boxes.

Minor Party Leaders are considered under the control of players if in the Pool of a player. Otherwise, if placed on the map:

• If a Minor Party Leader is in an Area and is stacked with an Action chit, then the owner of the Action chit controls the Leader.
• If a Minor Party Leader is in an Area but is not stacked with any Action chit, then it is controlled by the current Ally of its Minor Party.
• If a Minor Party Leader is in a Parliament box, a Control Cube must always be placed on the Leader Marker at the moment the Leader is deployed in the box; the cube identifies the player who controls the Leader.

Control of Governments

As introduced above in the Game Overview section, the Control of Governments is the primary goal and source of VPs for players. The Control of (Major Power) Governments is obtained through Control of the Leaders who hold the seats of Chancellor (in Germany) and Prime Minister (in Italy).

The following game concepts will be widely used during the game:

• German Government Player – the player who controls the German Chancellor.
• Italian Government Player – the player who controls the Italian Prime Minister.
• Government Players – the players who control the Italian Prime Minister and the German Chancellor. They may be the same person.

Vote Check

This procedure is performed when a motion requires the approval of the German or Italian Parliament (e.g.: a Political Action or the approval of a Government or of a Law). Each player sums the number of his Vote Cubes, adding 2 for each Controlled Leader in the Parliament (never of the President). The motion passes if 50% plus one of Votes is cast in its favor. Some motions may require a larger majority of 2/3 (two-thirds) of Votes. Always round up fractions.

Choice of Candidates

When required to choose a Candidate for the National Elections in Italy or Germany or the German Presidential Elections in Germany, each player selects a Leader of the matching Nationality who fulfils at least one of the requirements below:

• a Leader currently in the player's Pool
• a Leader controlled by the player who is currently in any Parliament box (e.g.: Prime Minister, Chancellor, President). Exception: Ebert can never be chosen as candidate for the Chancellorship even before the end of Turn 2 (1920-1921).
• a Leader currently in the Unaligned Leaders Box, provided he/she belongs to the player's Ideology or to an Allied Minor Party.

Some particular situations may arise after an Election:

A. If a Minor Party Candidate is elected President or Chancellor or Prime Minister, then his/her Leader Marker is placed in the appropriate Parliament box and the control of the Leader need be marked with a Control Cube of the player's matching color placed over the Leader Marker as explained on page 6.

A1. Any Candidate not elected must be returned to the Unaligned Leaders Box if he/she has been picked from there.

B. If a Candidate currently holding the position of Chancellor is elected President, then the owning player must immediately appoint a new Chancellor by choosing a new Candidate and passing a Vote Check. If the Vote Check fails, then National Elections must immediately take place in Germany: a new Chancellor must be elected.

Important Exception: Ignore case B until the end of Turn 2 (1920-1921) or if a Regime has been established in Germany. In both situations the position of Chancellor and President can be held by the same Leader.

C. If a Candidate currently holding the position of President is elected Chancellor or if Ebert resigns while holding the position of President, then German Presidential Elections must take place during the Cleanup Phase; flip the Turn Marker accordingly.

D. If a new President is elected and he replaces President Ebert (hard printed on the map), then Ebert immediately resigns and is no longer in play. Furthermore, when Ebert resigns while holding the Chancellorship, then the National Elections must immediately take place in Germany: a new Chancellor must be elected.

How to count Electoral Votes

Check the current position of every Population Marker on the Ideology Track. The Nationality of the Population Marker must be the same as the Major Nation where the Elections are taking place (Germany or Italy, not both).

Calculate the Electoral Value of each Population: sum the Electoral Votes of the marker with the Electoral Votes of the box where the marker is currently located. Award this sum to the Ideology or Minor Party indicated on the box by moving the corresponding Votes Marker on the General Records Track.

Some boxes contain the Electoral Votes of an Ideology and a Minor Party. In such cases the Electoral Value is calculated twice – first for the Ideology and then for the Minor Party – and awarded individually.

Example: The Population Marker of Italian Industrialists displayed in the picture generates 3 Electoral Votes for Social-Democracy and 3 Electoral Votes for the Italian Liberals.

Effects of a Government Coalition

Every time an "Influence a Minor Party" Bonus Operation causes a cube to be removed from a Minor Party Track box marked with the Govt. Coalition symbol (second and third boxes of each track), proceed as follows:

• the acting player may add one Vote Cube to his Parliament box or to Marginal if he does not have a Parliament box (the cube is taken from the Reserve) and
• the Ideology that owns the removed cube must remove one Vote Cube from its corresponding Parliament box if any (the cube is returned to the Reserve).

Important: Ignore any Vote Cube removal that would cause the loss of all Votes in the Parliament. For this limitation, also count the Votes of present Leaders.

More details on the "Influence a Minor Party" Bonus Operation can be found on page 16.

Re-rolls

Players may Re-roll once per Turn proceeding as follows:

1. Flip the Order of Play Marker to the No Re-roll side and roll the die again.
2. Apply the new result.

The Re-roll Markers are flipped to the Re-roll Allowed side at the end of the Turn. The player is not allowed to Re-roll again until the beginning of the next Turn.

Sequence of Play

The game is played over eight Turns as indicated by the turn sequence of the Turn Track. Every Turn consists of four Game Phases. Game Phases must be played according to the specific sequence as indicated in the Sequence of Play below. Some phases are divided into steps and resolved in a specific sequence. In addition, the Political Phase is resolved through a sequence of Rounds.

Depending on the Phase or step being resolved, players may perform their activities simultaneously or act according to a specific sequence.

The Order of Play determines the activation order for all players for the current Turn. The Active Player can carry out any game activity or Action permitted by the rules during the current Phase, step or Round. When the Active Player completes his activities or actions he must publicly state that he has completed his activation: then, the next player, according to the Order of Play for the current turn, becomes the Active Player.

1. Order of Play Phase:

a) Calculate and collect Funding. b) Determine the Order of Play.

2. Card Phase:

a) Prepare Decks. b) Deal Cards. c) Mulligans. d) Reserves.

3. Political Phase:

The Phase is divided into one to three Rounds. Each Round is resolved in five steps:

a) Crisis Draw. b) Play Strategy Cards. b) Place Action chits. c) Resolve Actions. d) Perform Crisis checks.

(Step lettering as printed.)

4. Cleanup Phase:

a) Reveal survived Conflicts and perform Economy Checks. b) Resolve any Putsch in Capitals. c) Verify Stability of Major Powers and Minor Nations. d) Resolve Elections. e) Update the VP Track and check the Game End Condition. f) Check the release of Arrested or Confined Leaders. g) Return Leaders from Exile. h) Reset Order of Play (Re-roll) and flip Conflicts to Hidden.

Order of Play Phase

Players determine the Order of Play for the current Turn - this is the order in which players are activated. The player indicated by the Order of Play is termed the Active Player. This Phase is resolved in two steps, as follows.

A. Calculate and collect Funding

Determining the Funding for each player is a prerequisite for the Order of Play and is therefore the very first step that need be performed at the beginning of each Turn.

Later, at the end of the Crisis checks step of each Round, players must calculate and collect their Funding again. Refer to the following paragraph for the calculation procedure.

Each player determines his Funding by summing the following elements:

• The Funding Base of his Ideology (printed in the top section of his Screen).
• Any Funding Bonus provided by Population Markers in his Political Support Zone.
• Any Funding Bonus provided by Marker Cards, Active Crises and Active Events.

Remember to subtract any Funding Penalty caused by Marker Cards, Active Crises and Active Events.

Example: Fascism has played F4 'Fritz Thyssen' as a Marker Card and F13 'The Zaniboni-Acerbo Pacification Pact' is an Active Crisis. The Funding for Fascism is 5, calculated as follows: the Funding Base is 2, +2 Funding Bonus provided by card F4, -1 for the Funding Penalty caused by F13, +2 for the Funding Bonus provided by the Political Support of the Italian Middle Class (Committed and in the Dominance Area of Nationalists) and the German Industrialists.

B. Determine the Order of Play

In order of Funding, from highest to lowest, each player chooses his position in the Order of Play Track and places his Turn Marker there. Resolve any tie using the Tie-Breaking Order: Communism, Fascism, Social-Democracy.

Designer's Note: Choosing last position provides several benefits because the player can then plan Actions after seeing the opponents' moves. Furthermore, the player uses Reactions first. On the other hand, choosing the first position also provides some benefits because, for example, the first player chooses the order in which the Crises are resolved and the Minor Nations are checked for Government Stability, and this can be turned to his favor of him by using the Re-roll capability.

Card Phase

During the Card Phase, players may discard, decks are prepared, cards are dealt, and player may move cards into Reserve. This Phase is resolved according to the sequence of steps below:

A. Prepare Decks

In Order of Play, players prepare the Strategy Decks for the turn as follows:

1. Players who saved cards from the previous turn may now discard as many cards as they wish. Players may also discard any cards that are in Reserve slots. They may keep as many cards in hand as they wish.
2. On Turn 4 (1923-1924) the Blue Era Cards must be added to their matching Strategy Decks. On Turn 6 (1929-1930) the Black Era Cards must be added. 2.1) If new Era Cards have been added into the Strategy Decks, then reshuffle the decks with their respective discard piles. 2.2) Otherwise, if no new Era Cards have been added to the Strategy Decks, then the decks must not be reshuffled.
3. Check the Entry Turn of Crisis Cards and add any new card entry to the Crisis Deck, then reshuffle.

B. Deal Strategy Cards

Players are dealt their cards for the current turn. Payers receive as many cards as required to replenish their hands. The Hand size is indicated in the current Turn box. Coup Cards are not counted towards the Hand size limit.

When the last card from the deck is given to a player, the corresponding deck is reformed by shuffling all discards. Marker Cards, Active Events and eliminated cards are not shuffled back into the decks.

C. Mulligans

In Order of Play, each player may discard and draw a new hand of cards, but only once per turn. In addition, as part of the Mulligan, the player must also discard any cards saved from previous turns.

Discarded cards are revealed to all opponents and then added to the Ideology's discard pile.

Reserve Cards are never discarded as part of a Mulligan.

Very Important: Mandatory Cards and Coup Cards can never be discarded as a part of a Mulligan.

Very Important: Mandatory Cards and Coup Cards can be never saved as Reserve Cards.

D. Reserves

Players may decide to move cards from their hand into their Reserves, but not vice versa. Each player may save these Reserve Cards for future use during the Political Phase.

The size of these Reserves is fixed. Each player has two Reserve slots in which he can save his Strategy Cards.

Handling Strategy Decks

While in a player's hand, Strategy Cards are kept hidden from opponents. During the game, played cards are discarded (place face up on the matching Ideology's discard pile) or removed from play as indicated on the card.

The effects of some cards last a long time. These may be Marker Cards or Active Events and are placed on the table, face up and visible to all players, as a reminder of their continuing effect(s), in front of players (Marker Cards) or near the bottom-right corner of the game board (Active Events).

Political Phase

The Political Phase is divided into Rounds. During each Round, players first draw and apply the effects of the top Crisis Card. Then players choose and play one Strategy Card each, and they may also play any one Coup Card from their hand if they wish. After the effects of all played cards have been resolved, players then expend the PP Value of the cards to plan Actions. Then players resolve Actions, one per player in Order of Play, and Non-Phasing Players can respond by carrying out Reactions.

The number of Rounds conducted by players is indicated in the Turn Track, next to the hourglass symbol.

Each Round must be resolved according to the following sequence of steps, with all players completing a step before advancing to the next one.

A. Draw Crisis

The first player in Order of Play now draws the top card of the Crisis Deck, unless the Crisis Deck is empty, in which case no card is drawn and the deck is not reshuffled in any way. The card is revealed to all players and placed next to the bottom section of the game board. The card enters the game as an Active Crisis.

The first player must immediately resolve only the Effects of:

• the Active Crisis that has just been drawn;
• (Important) any Active Crisis whose card was turned over during the Crisis check of the previous Round (e.g.: CR#2, CR#4, CR#18).

The Effects of an Active Crisis drawn in any previous Turn or Round are not applied if the card has not been turned over.

When resolving the Card Effects, all choices are made and all operations conducted by the first player, unless otherwise indicated on the card (e.g.: Government Player).

Important: During this step, only the Effects printed above the Crisis check section of the card need to be resolved, never those displayed in the Crisis check step.

B. Play Strategy Cards

This step is played in the following sequence:

• Choose Cards – each player secretly chooses the Strategy Card (and any one Coup Card) to play.
• Reveal Cards – players simultaneously reveal the chosen cards.
• Apply Effects – players apply the effects of Events, roll dice and apply the Effects of successful Political Actions, etc. Then they record the available PPs on the General Records Track.

1. Choose Cards

Players simultaneously and in secret choose the cards to play. Each player must play one Strategy Card, if available. Strategy Cards saved in Reserves do not need to be played, but they may be played. In addition, each player may play one Coup Card per Round from his hand.

When you play a card, place it face down in front of you. Place any Coup Cards next to the Strategy Card.

2. Reveal Cards

Players now reveal all played Cards.

3. Apply Effects

Apply the effects of every card played, one by one, in Order of Play. Each card type requires a particular procedure as described below:

Event Cards – the Effects of Events are applied automatically. Any unfulfilled condition printed on the card prevents players from playing the card; so, if the card has been played, that means that its Effects can be applied.

Crisis Cards – any Crisis that enters play as a consequence of a player's Strategy Card play immediately becomes an Active Crisis and is placed next to the appropriate section of the game board. The owning player applies the Card Effects (not the Crisis check).

Law Cards – the Effects of Law Cards are not applied now. They are applied only if and when a Law Action has been successfully performed in the Major Power indicated by the small flag next to the card's die roll modifiers. The Action can be performed for the Law Card only if the conditions printed on the card (if any) has been fulfilled. Otherwise, no Law Action can be performed for the Law Card and the card provides PPs only.

Political Action Cards – the Effects of Political Action Cards are applied only after a successful Political Action Attempt has been performed by the owning player. A Political Action Attempt occurs if the Card's conditions have been fulfilled. If the conditions have not been fulfilled, then the Political Action Attempt does not occur and the card provides PPs only.

The Political Action Attempt is resolved by rolling a die. If the modified die roll result is equal to or greater than the Difficulty Value of the Political Action, then the attempt is successful and the Card Effects are applied.

Apply the following modifiers to each Political Action Attempt only if the icon displayed on the card is actually present on the card (note that the Attempt may require a Vote Check):

• +1 for each "1x" Political Support provided by a Population Marker in the player's Political Support Zone (regardless of marker's nationality);
• +2 for each "2x" Political Support provided by a Population Marker in the player's Political Support Zone (regardless of marker's nationality);
• +2 if the Vote Check succeeds (50% plus one of Vote required), or -2 if the Vote Check fails;
• +? for the current Economy Modifier.

Important: A small flag icon of Italy or Germany (or the "Govt." text inside a rectangle box) is always present on the card, next to the symbol of the Vote and Economy Modifiers. The flag indicates the Major Power whose Parliament (for Vote Modifiers) or Economy Marker (for Economy Modifier) needs be checked to determine the actual modifier. The text "Govt." – which is present on some Crisis Cards – means that the Major Power is the one of the Government Player who rolls the die.

Important reminder: Do not forget that each player may Re-roll once per Turn! Details can be found in the Game Concepts section on page 7.

Important Note: Even if the conditions of a Political Action or Law Card have not been fulfilled, the card can still be played. In fact, the conditions only apply to the Political Action Attempt (Political Action Card) or the Law Action (Law Card). Furthermore, if a card requires a target to be designated and none are eligible, then the Political Action Attempt does not occur, even if the card's conditions (if any) have been met. In such a case the card only provides PPs.

MANDATORY – Remember that "MANDATORY" Events must be played before the end of the Political Phase, provided the conditions (if any) have been satisfied.

Important: Whenever a Political Action Attempt is successful, the player must always apply the Effects of the card. If the outcome of the Political Action Card's Effects is not beneficial to him, then he can Re-roll in the hope of getting a failure.

Example of Political Action Attempt: The Fascism player attempts the Political Action F20 'Institutions of Special Courts'. A die is rolled, and the result is 1. The Economy Marker of Italy is in the 0 box of the Economy Track, so nothing is added. +3 is then added for the Political Support Modifiers (+2 for the "2x" support of the Italian State & Institutions and +1 for the "1x" support of the German Industrialists). Then, +2 is added because Fascism gets a Vote Check passed in the Italian Parliament. Therefore the final result is 5, which is not enough for success. The Fascism player decides to Re-roll. He flips his Play Order Marker to the No Re-roll side and rolls the die again. This time the result is 2 – just enough for success! The effects of card F20 can be performed. If the Fascism player had decided to not Re-roll, he could have saved F20 in any of his empty Reserve slots to attempt it again in any later Round.

After the Card Effects have been fully applied, the player must discard or remove the card from play depending on what is indicated on the card. Political Action Cards – when unsuccessfully attempted during the Political Action Attempt – must be discarded at the end of the Strategy Cards Play step.

However, in lieu of discarding – either because the Political Action Attempt failed or the Event or Political Action Card has been fully activated and the card indicates it is to be discarded – players may always decide to move cards to the Reserve. Each player may place one card in any one empty Reserve slot for future use during the Political Phase. Cards removed from play cannot be placed in Reserve. Remember also that Mandatory Cards and Coup Cards can never be saved in Reserve. Furthermore, some cards explicitly indicate that they cannot be saved in Reserve (e.g.: all "Article 48" cards).

After all Card Effects have been fully applied, the players must move their disks to the appropriate boxes of the General Records Track to mark the amount of PPs received:

• Each player receives the PP value of the Strategy Card he played. The other players do not receive such PPs.
• All players receive each the PP value of any Active Crisis that belongs to the Crisis Deck or Coup Deck.
• Each player receives the PP value of any Active Crisis that belongs to his own Strategy Deck. The other players do not receive such PPs.
• Players never receive the PP value of Marker Cards, Active Events and promulgated Law Cards.

Important: In the case no PP is received by a player, then he receives a minimum 1 PP.

Card Effects Icons

The Effects of many cards are shown with icons – refer to the summary printed on the cover of this Rules Book. The icons for all Card Effects and their descriptions are given below.

Marker Card symbol – If this symbol is shown among the Card Effects, the card is played as a Marker Card and must be placed face up in front of the owning player or the player indicated in the text printed in brackets ( ) next to the symbol. Example: in Crisis Card CR#8 'Matteotti Kidnapped' the text "(Communism)" is displayed next to the Marker Card symbol, indicating that the Crisis Card becomes a Marker Card of the Communism player.

The number inside the symbol is always equal to the PP Value of the card and is used as follows. The owning player may decide to discard his own Marker Card at any moment of the game in order to remove from play any one Marker Card – of any player, even one of his own – whose PP Value is equal to or lower than the number indicated in the symbol. Very Important: the card must be discarded and cannot be saved in Reserve.

If the locker symbol is shown on the Marker Card, then the card cannot be voluntarily discarded; it can only be targeted by another Marker Card.

Remove / Discard symbols – These symbols indicate respectively that a card must be removed or discarded from play. In such cases they trigger individual effects, such as discarding or removing from play a particular card (Card ID indicated next to the symbol) or a Marker Card with a given PP Value range (number indicated inside the symbol). Details can be found on the rear cover of this Rules Book.

Marker Cards usually have a Victory Points Bonus or a Funding Bonus or Funding Penalty. This is indicated, respectively, by a "+X VP" or by the cube symbol. The color of the cube always indicates the Ideology that receives the Funding Bonus or Penalty. If the cube is white, then the identity of the target player is indicated by a neighboring symbol or text. Refer to the rear cover of this Rules Book for details.

Very Important: The VP Bonus, Funding Bonus or Penalty are applied immediately after the card is played as a Marker Card, which means that the target player immediately adds or removes VPs or cubes. Similarly, if the card is discarded or removed from play, then the player must immediately subtract the VP Bonus or any cube(s) currently in the Pool, according to what was originally awarded by the Marker Card.

Important (easily missed rule): Remember that Active Events are not Marker Cards! They are removed from play only when the red colored conditions (if any) printed in the bottom section of the card have been fulfilled. They can never be removed from play by sacrifying a Marker Card!

Influence symbol – The symbol indicates that the player can Influence, i.e. move, a Population Marker by one box on the Ideology Track. Details on the INFLUENCE operation can be found on page 14. The "2x" label, if present, indicates how many moves can be performed. The direction of the movement and any restrictions on the designation of the Population Markers are usually indicated next to the icon. Example: in Crisis Card CR#13 'The Great Depression' the Crisis check section indicates that each Government Player, after a failed Crisis check in his Major Power, must move the Population Markers of that Major Power's Middle Class and Workers towards the Dominance Area of any opponent.

Deploy Action chit symbol – The symbol indicates that all players, in Order of Play, can deploy one Action chit onto the map on its Hidden side at no PP cost. The player may freely deploy a number of cubes in the target area up to the Cube Allowance value of the chit placed. For example, if the Cube Allowance is 2, then the player may deploy 0, 1 or 2 cubes. All cubes are taken from the Reserve. Leaders can always be stacked under the Action chit at no PP cost. When the text "# x" is printed on the left of the symbol, that means that the player may perform this activity up to # times (the card also indicates how to determine this number #). Furthermore, some additional instructions are displayed on the right of the symbol, such as the Ideology that may perform the activity (in this case only one player may deploy chits) and any geographical limitations for the placement of chits (e.g.: Germany only, Italy only, Balkans only). More details on the placement of Action chits, cubes and Leader Markers can be found in C. Place Action Chits below.

C. Place Action chits

In Order of Play, each player now expends his PP allowance by placing Action chits, Leader Markers and cubes onto the map. The Order of Play determines the order of activation for all players. The Active Player expends up to his PP allowance: he is not required to expend all his PPs. Very Important: Unexpended PPs are saved for the following Round, but not for the next Turn: saved PPs are lost at the end of the last Round of the Political Phase.

Every time the Active Player expends one or more PPs, he must move his disk on the General Records Track to mark the amount of available PPs after this expenditure.

When the Active Player completes his activities he must publicly state that he has completed his activation: then, the next player, in Order of Play, becomes the Active Player. This step is over when all players have completed their activations. Then the next step (Resolve Actions) can begin.

Political Points can be expended as follows:

• 2 PPs to place a Putsch Action chit*
• 1 PP to place any other Action chit*
• 1 PP to place a cube (taken from the Pool) where the player already has an own Action chit
• +1 PP per cube taken from the Reserve

*: a number of cubes up to the Cube Allowance of the Action chit can be placed in the target Area at no PP cost, provided the cubes are taken from the Pool (otherwise expend +1 PP per cube taken from the Reserve).

Action chits are always placed on the map on the Hidden side, so that they are not visible to the other players. When expending PPs, Putsch chits must be deployed in the map on the side showing their PP cost, never on the Established side. Indeed, they have no Hidden side!

A Leader Marker can be stacked under the Action chit at no PP cost, so that it is not visible to the other players. Italian Leaders can be used in Italy, German Leaders in Germany, and both can be used in Minor Nations. Leaders must be picked from the player's Pool (Exception: See Law Action on page 15).

Example: Communism has 6 cubes (Funding) and 8 PPs. Chits are displayed in the picture on the visible side for the purpose of this example.

(1) One PP is expended to place a cube (taken from the Pool) in Schleswig-Holstein & Mecklenburg (a Conflicts chit is already present because it has been left in the Area, on the Hidden side, during the previous Round). (2) & (3) Two PPs are expended to place a Propaganda and an Unrest chits (1 PP each) in Northern Germany with three cubes (taken from the Pool). One cube is added by expending one PP. In the end the Cube Allowance limits have been respected: 2 cubes for each chit. Liebknecht and Luxemburg are stacked under the chits at no PP cost. (4) Two PPs are expended for the Putsch in Cologne, and two cubes (taken from the Pool) are deployed in the City at no PP cost; two more cubes are added, taken from the Reserve, by expending the last two PPs.

D. Resolve Actions

In Order of Play, each player resolves one Action and an opponent performs a Reaction until all Actions have been resolved.

1. All Action chits must be revealed, i.e. they are flipped to the disclosed side. This must be done both for the Action chits that have been placed during step C and the Conflicts chits that were flipped to their Hidden side after the Action was successfully performed during the previous Round (see page 14). Very Important: Chits in Conflicts boxes are moved to the Battleground (not the Established Putsch chits).
2. Then, players must reveal the identity of any Leader stacked under the chits.
3. Now, in Order of Play, each player declares which Leaders are Committed (by flipping Leader Markers to the Committed side).

Designer's Note: Committing a Leader significantly increases the value of the Action the Leader is stacked with (see below) but makes the Leader more at risk from harassment by opponents.

Important: Always keep Leader Markers stacked under their Action chits. Their abilities are granted to that Action only!

4. Finally, the step is resolved with a sequence of player impulses. The first player in the Order of Play becomes the Active Player at the start of the Action step.

During his impulse, the Active Player designates one of his Action chits and resolves the corresponding Action. Then, the other players – in reverse Order of Play – may react. After one Reaction has been performed, the impulse ends, the next player in Order of Play becomes the Active Player, and a new impulse begins. The sequence of impulses is repeated until all Actions have been resolved.

Resolving an Action

Every time a player must resolve the Action of an Action chit in an Area (Target Area), follow the procedure below.

1. Calculate the Action Points (AP) value of the Action by summing the following (always round up any fractions):

   • Action Value (doubled if a Leader is stacked)
   • +? per Leader Bonus if applicable* (+1 if icon only)
   • +die roll & modifiers if Law Action for Law Card**

   *: the Leader Bonus is applied only if its icon matches with the icon of the Action Type printed on the Action chit. The modifier is usually printed on the Leader Marker; if only the icon is visible, the Leader Bonus is +1.

   **: if the Action Type is a Law Action and the Action is performed for a Law Card that has been played during the Strategy Cards Play step, add the result of a die roll modified by any Modifier printed on the card, as is done for Political Action Attempts (details can be found on page 10).

   The Active Player may increase the AP Value of his Action by expending cubes (no more than 4): +1 AP per each cube expended. Expended cubes are taken from the Target Area or from any adjacent Area and are returned to the player's Reserve. Control Cubes cannot be expended.

2. Calculate the Action Difficulty – as explained in the Actions sections – and compare it with the AP Value of the Action. The Action is successful if the AP Value is greater than or equal to the Action Difficulty.

If the Action is successful, fulfill the Primary Goal of the Action (see following chapters); then use any positive difference between the AP Value of the Action and the Action Difficulty to perform the Bonus Operations described in pages 15 and 16. Finally, whether or not the Action was successful, return the Leader (if any) to the Pool and the Action chit to the Reserve. Important Exception: Most Conflicts, if successful, require the Action chit to be kept in the Target Area, flipped on its Hidden side (or the Established side for Putsch chits).

Reactions

Non-Phasing Players may respond to the Action carried out by the Active Player with Reactions that are declared at the end of each impulse, immediately after the resolution of an Action. Each Non-Phasing Player, in reverse Order of Play, declares if he wants to perform a Reaction. If he declares a Reaction, then he performs it and the next player cannot perform any Reaction; then the player impulse is ended. Otherwise, if he passes, the next player may declare a Reaction.

For each Reaction the Non-Phasing Player designates a Reaction Area – i.e. one Area that currently contains pieces (cubes, Leader Markers, Action chits) owned by him – and performs as many of the following activities as he wishes:

A) The Non-Phasing Player can expend one cube to remove one opponent's cube. Control Cubes cannot be expended/removed.

B) The Non-Phasing Player can expend one Leader to remove up to two opponent's cubes, provided the Leader is currently stacked under an Action chit; lone Leaders can never be used for Reactions. Designer's Note: Leaders can remain alone after an opponent's Reaction, as explained below.

C) The Non-Phasing Player can expend one Action chit to remove one opponent's Action chit, provided:

• the target chit is not on its Hidden side or an Established Putsch, and
• the Action Value of the target chit is lower than or equal to that of the Non-Phasing Player, and
• no opponent's cube has remained in the Reaction Area and
• the conditions printed in the Reactions Table are respected (see Player Screens), i.e. the Action Type of the chit expended by the Non-Phasing Player is allowed for the Reaction against the opponent's chit.

Expended or removed cubes and Action chits are returned to their respective Reserve. Expended Leaders are returned to the owning players' Pool. Important: If a Law Action chit is removed, then return its Leader to the Parliament (see page 15).

Very Important: The Non-Phasing Player may designate his own pieces and target pieces in the Reaction Area or in any adjacent Area. The player's own and the target pieces need not be in the same Area.

Actions

The full list of Actions is detailed in the following sections:

Action: Propaganda

The purpose of this Action is to Influence a Population or a Minor Nation.

Action Difficulty – If the Action chit has been placed in a Major Power's Area, designate a Population in the Target Area whose Population Marker of the matching Major Power and Population Type is actually "moveable" on the Ideology Track, i.e. it must not already be Committed in the Active Player's Dominance Area. The Action Difficulty is equal to:

• the Resistance Value of the Population in the Target Area,
• modified by the matching Population's Resistance Modifier for the Active Player's Ideology (if any, printed on the Player Screen),
• modified by +1 if the Population is currently Committed in any Dominance Area.

If the Action chit has been placed in a Battleground, designate a Minor Nation in the Battleground; then the Action Difficulty is equal to the Minor Nation STABILITY, calculated as follows:

• the Stability Value printed in the flag icon on the map,
• subtract the number of cubes in the Stability Track,
• modify by -1 if an Unstable Govt Marker is in the Area,
• modify by +1 if a Stable Govt Marker is in the Area.

Important: The STABILITY can never be lower than 0.

Primary Goal – If the Action is successful, INFLUENCE the Action's target:

If the Action chit has been placed in a Major Power's Area, move the target Population Marker by one space on the Ideology Track in any direction. If the Population Marker is currently Committed in an opponent's Dominance Area, flip it over before moving it. If the Population Marker is already in a Dominance Area, it may be flipped to the Committed side. When the Population is thus Committed, then immediately apply any effect printed on the side of the marker (details on the symbol can be found on page 12 and on the rear cover of this Rule Book).

If the Action chit has been placed in a Battleground, move the target Minor Nation's Regime Marker on the Regime Track to any box of the Active Player's choice, provided the marker is not on the VP side. If the marker is on the VP side, the Active Player flips it over and the Ideology indicated by the marker's current position loses the number of VPs indicated on the leftmost empty box of the Minor Nation's Stability Track. If the marker is already in the Active Player's Ideology box of the Regime Track, but not yet on the VP side, the Active Player flips it and the number of VPs as indicated above is awarded to his Ideology. When required by the situations described above, always move VP Markers to reflect the change in VP.

After the INFLUENCE operation in a Minor Nation, one of the Active Player's unexpended cubes (if any) must be moved from the Battleground to the leftmost available box of the target Minor Nation's Stability Track.

Restrictions: use of Zeppelin chits is allowed only in Germany.

Action: Conflicts

Action: Unrest

The purpose of these Actions is to destabilize nations.

Action Difficulty – If the Action chit has been placed in a Major Power's Area, proceed as per Propaganda Actions with only one difference: designated Population need not be actually "moveable" on the Ideology Track. If the Action chit has been placed in a Battleground, proceed as per Propaganda Actions.

Primary Goal – If the Action is successful, flip the chit to the Hidden side and:

• if in a Major Power's Area, keep it in the Target Area;
• if in a Battleground, move it to the target Minor Nation's Conflicts box; then one of the Active Player's unexpended cubes (if any) must be moved from the Battleground to the leftmost available box of the target Minor Nation's Stability Track.

In both cases the owning player will have to resolve the Action again in the subsequent Round, if any.

Action: Putsch

Putsch is similar to Unrest, but more powerful and costly. The purpose of this Action is to establish a local revolutionary government in order to significantly destabilize a nation.

Action Difficulty – This is determined as for the Unrest – see above.

Primary Goal – If the Action is successful, proceed as per the Unrest, see above.

Details: Putsch chits have no Hidden side. When the Action is successfully resolved the chit is flipped to the Established side. Very Important: Established Putsches remain on the map until removed (by Arrests, Squads or Elections), they do not need to be resolved again in subsequent Rounds. Established Putsches in Capitals that survive the Political Phase determine a change of Government.

Restrictions: the Putsch chits may be placed only in City Areas or Battlegrounds. In addition, Capitals (Berlin and Rome) may be selected only if all of the Player's other Putsch Action chits (if any) are already Established anywhere on the map.

Action: Arrest, Squads

The purpose of this Actions is to remove an opponent's Action chit and/or a Leader from the map.

Action Difficulty – Designate a target: it may either be an opponent's Action chit (potentially with a Leader stacked under the chit) or an opponent's lone Leader (not stacked under a chit). The target may be in the Target Area or in any adjacent Area.

If the target is an Action chit, the Action Difficulty is calculated as follows:

• Action Value of the target chit (doubled if a Leader is stacked under the chit, do not add any Leader Bonus);
• increased by the half of the target chit's Cube Allowance value (rounding up).

If the target is a lone Leader, the Action Difficulty is 2.

Primary Goal – If the Action is successful, remove the target Action chit (if any) from the map and return it to the Reserve. Then, if a Leader was stacked under the chit or if a lone Leader has been designated as the target, roll on the Leader Harassment Table (see below).

If the Action is Squads, the Active Player may decide to flip the chit to the Hidden side and keep it in the Major Power's Area or move it to the target Minor Nation's Conflicts box instead of returning it to the Reserve.

Important (easily missed rule): No cube needs be moved to the Stability Track in the case of Battlegrounds.

Restrictions (for the Arrest only): if the Target Area is in a Major Power, the Active Player must be its current Government Player; otherwise the Regime Marker of at least one Minor Nation in the Battleground must be in the Active Player's Ideology box of the Regime Track. Very Important: Only non-Arrest Conflicts Action chits can be targeted by the Arrest!

Leader Harassment Table

Roll a die and apply the result as follows:

A. If the target Leader is not Committed, the Leader is Captured if the result is 1 or 2.

B. If the target Leader is Committed, first check if the result is equal to the Leader's Death Value (if any, "NA" means he cannot be killed): if the result is equal to (any of) the Death Value(s), then the Leader is Killed (see below). Otherwise, the Leader is Captured if the result is 1, 2 or 3.

• If the Leader is not Captured, his marker remains in the Area.
• If the Leader is Captured, his marker must be placed (on the Uncommitted side) in: the Arrested or Confined Leaders Box if harassed by an Arrest Action, or the Leaders in Exile Box if harassed by Squads.
• If the Leader has been Killed, his marker is removed from play.

Action: Release

The purpose of this Actions is to release a Leader from the Arrested or Confined Leaders Box and return him to the Pool.

Action Difficulty – The Action Difficulty is 4.

Primary Goal – If the Action is successful, the Target Leader (see below) is moved to the Active Player's Pool (also if he is a Minor Party Leader and the Minor Party is not Allied with the Active Player's Ideology).

Restrictions: a Target Leader must be designated. The Target Leader must currently be in the Arrested or Confined Leaders Box and must belong to the Active Player's Ideology or to a Minor Party. The Action chit must be placed in the Capital of the Target Leader's Nation.

Action: Law

The purpose of this Actions is to promulgate a social or economic or nationalization reform in a Major Power or to apply the effects of a Law Card.

Action Difficulty – If the Action is performed to apply the effects of a Law Card that has been played, then the Action Difficulty is equal to the card's Difficulty Value. Otherwise, choose the type of Reform as follows.

• Social Reform: 3
• Economic Reform: 4
• Nationalization Reform: 5

Primary Goal – If the Action is successful, apply the effects of the Law Card (if any) and place it next to the top-left corner of game board. Otherwise apply the effects of the selected Reform type:

• Social Reform: INFLUENCE a Population in the Target Area (details can be found on page 14).
• Economic Reform: Apply the effects of a Social Reform, then improve the Economy of the Target Capital's Nation, i.e. flip the Economy Marker to the Growth side or move it one space to the right if already on the Growth side.
• Nationalization Reform (Germany only): Apply the effects of Social and Economic Reforms; then flip any one War Reparations Marker to the Delay side.

Restrictions: the Action chit must be placed in Berlin or Rome and a Leader of matching Nationality must be moved (with any Control Cube if belonging to a Minor Party) from the Major Power's Parliament box (may be the President if in Germany, but not Ebert) and stacked with the Action chit at the moment the chit is revealed. Return the Leader (and the Control Cube) to the Parliament box when the Action has been resolved or nullified.

Bonus Operations

Immediately after the Primary Goal of a successful Action has been fulfilled and before any Non-Phasing Player's Reaction takes place, the Active Player may expend any difference between the calculated Action's AP Value (see page 13) and the Action Difficulty (see pages 14 and 15) to perform any combination of the Bonus Operations listed below:

Important: Unexpended APs are lost and can never be saved for the next Action.

Example: a Propaganda Action generated 7 APs and the Action Difficulty is 4; so only 4 APs have been expended and the Active Player can use the remaining 3 APs to perform Bonus Operations.

1. Hire a new Leader

• Conditions: Designate a Leader in the Unaligned Leaders Box. No more than one "Hire a new Leader" Bonus Operation may be performed per Action resolution. The Leader's Nationality must be the same as the Target Area's Major Power or Neighbor (if Battleground). The Leader must belong to the Active Player's Ideology or to any Allied Minor Party.
• Cost: 2 APs
• Effect: the Leader Marker is added to the Active Player's Pool.

2. Influence a Minor Party

• Conditions: Designate a Minor Party Track. No more than one "Influence a Minor Party" Bonus Operation may be performed per Action resolution. The Minor Party's Nationality must be the same as the Target Area's Major Power or Neighbor (if Battleground).
• Cost: 1 AP
• Effect: Add a cube or remove the last cube in the Minor Party Track (check arrows); the cube is taken from or returned to the Reserve. Then check any Government Coalition change in the designated Minor Party Track and apply the effects (see page 7).

3. Influence a Population

• Conditions: Designate a Population in the Target Area or any one Population of a Neighbor (if Battleground). The Population Type must be actually "moveable" on the Ideology Track.
• Cost: # APs calculated as per Propaganda Action (see page 14) if the Target Area belongs to a Major Power or by rolling a die on the Foreign Influence Table in Battlegrounds (then apply any Active Player's Resistance Modifier).
• Effect: INFLUENCE the designated Population as per Propaganda Action (details can be found on page 14).

Example of Actions, Reaction & Bonus Operations

Following the example on page 12, Social-Democracy and Fascism have planned Actions and deployed Leaders and cubes as displayed in the picture (Marx has been taken from the German Parliament). After all chits have been revealed, players declare – in Order of Play – that they Commit all their Leaders. The Order of Play is: Communism, Fascism, Social-Democracy. So the Communism player begins the 1st impulse.

(1) Communism resolves the Putsch in Cologne expending all cubes in the City. The AP Value is 5 (1 for the Action Value plus 4 for the cubes). Then he designates German Workers: the Action Difficulty is 3 (4 for the Resistance Value modified by -1 for the Resistance Modifier). So, the Action is successful, the chit is flipped to the Established side and the remaining 2 APs are used to hire the Leader Levi.

(2) A Reaction is performed by the Social-Democracy player, who expends four cubes in Northern Germany to remove the red cubes in the Region. Then, he expends his Unrest Action chit (value 2) to remove the Communism Unrest chit (in accordance with the Reaction Table rules), thus leaving the Leader Luxemburg alone.

(3) 2nd impulse: Fascism resolves the Squads Action, targeting the red Propaganda in Northern Germany. He expends all his cubes. The AP Value is 4 (2 for the Action Value plus 2 for the cubes). The Action Difficulty is 3 (target chit's Action Value 1 doubled for Liebknecht, +1 for the Cube Allowance divided by two). So, the Action is successful, the red chit is returned to the Reserve and Fascism decides to keep the Squads in the Area, flipped on the Hidden side. Fascism rolls the die to determine the fate of Liebknecht and gets 5, the Leader is assassinated! The remaining 1 AP is used to Influence the German Catholics Minor Party: one black cube is placed in the corresponding Minor Party Track.

(4) 3rd impulse (no Reaction takes places): Social-Democracy resolves the Arrest against Luxemburg (alone), expending the remaining cube in Northern Germany. The AP Value is 6 (2 for the Action Value doubled for Papen, +1 for the Leader Bonus and +1 for the cube). The Action Difficulty is 2. So, the Action is successful and the Arrest chit and Papen are removed from the map. A die is rolled to determine the fate of Luxemburg, the result is 3, just enough to capture the Leader (because Committed) whose marker is moved to the Arrested or Confined Leaders Box; the Re-roll opportunity is saved for the future. The remaining 4 APs are used to Influence the German Industrialists (Resistance 3) whose Population Marker is moved one space towards the Dominance Area of Social-Democracy and to Influence the German Catholics (1), thus removing the black cube that has just been placed.

(5) 4th impulse: Communism resolves the Unrest Action in Schleswig-Holstein & Mecklenburg. The 3 AP Value (2 for the chit, 1 for the cube) exceeds the 2 Difficulty Value (modified Resistance of German Workers). So, the Action is successful (the chit is flipped to the Hidden side) and the 1 AP excess is used to Influence the German Catholics with a red cube.

(6) 5th impulse: Social-Democracy's resolves the Law Action in Berlin expending the 2 cubes in the City. The AP Value is 6, enough for a Nationalization Reform (5) and to Influence the German Catholics (1).

E. Perform Crisis checks

At the end of each Round, the first player in Order of Play must resolve all pending Crises. Follow the procedure below:

1. Return lone Leaders from the map to the current controlling player's Pool and unexpended cubes from the map to Reserves. Very Important: Unused Pool Cubes remain in the Pool.
2. Resolve all Crisis checks. Only the Active Crises need to be resolved, not those that are considered as ended or no longer active (e.g.: remaining on the table as Active Events). The first player in Order of Play chooses the sequence in which Crisis Cards are checked. However, the identity of the player who must resolve each Crisis check – potentially by rolling the die for a Political Action Attempt – is usually indicated on the card; otherwise it must be handled by the first player.
3. Finally, calculate and collect the Funding for players as described on page 8. Important: This is not done on the last Round of the Political Phase.

Cleanup Phase

During this Phase players check the effects of Conflicts on the Economy of Major Powers and on the Stability of all nations. Elections take place when scheduled on the Turn Track or when a Government is overthrown by Conflicts. Players then perform the Turn-end operations and update the VP Track. The Cleanup Phase must be resolved according to the following sequence of steps with all players completing a step before advancing to the next one.

I. Effects of Conflicts

Each player must first reveal all his Action chits. Putsch chits are not flipped but remain on the Established side. All other Conflicts are flipped over and the Government Players must perform the Economy Checks as indicated on the Play Aid Mat. Each Government Player must perform all checks of his Major Power, in the order printed on the mat.

In addition to the short summary printed on the mat, please note the following.

During step #3 of the Economy Checks, the Government Player must roll a die for each Conflicts chit in his Major Power: if the die roll result is lower than or equal to the chit's Action Value, then flip the Economy Marker to the Crisis side or move it one space to the left if already on the Crisis side. Important: In case of a Putsch chit, the Economy suffers such a crisis only if the die roll result is lower than the chit's Action Value.

During step #5, if the Economy Modifier is lower than 0, then Germany cannot pay War Reparations and suffers a crisis, unless the required number of Allies offer a delay as indicated in the current position of the German Economy Marker and by the current side of the War Reparations Markers.

Example: The German Economy is -1, War Reparations cannot be paid, but the War Reparations Markers of USA and Great Britain are on the Delay side; so, the penalty of step #5 is not inflicted!

After the Economy Checks, players must perform the procedure described below for any Established Putsch chit in a Major Power's Capital that survived the Political Phase. Use the Order of Play when multiple Established Putsch chits are in the same Capital.

1. Remove the Established Putsch and return it to the Reserve.
2. The owner of the Putsch Action chit immediately appoints a new Prime Minister (for Italy) or Chancellor (for Germany) according to the rules of Candidate selection (see page 7).
3. Then he can place 2 Vote Cubes in his Parliament box (Marginal if none); cubes are taken from the Reserve.

II. Government Stability Checks

Players must perform the following steps in order:

A. Major Powers Stability Checks

First, Government Players must verify the Stability of their Major Power(s). Major Powers are checked one by one, with the first player in Order of Play choosing the sequence. Do not check Major Powers that have no Conflicts chits or whose Elections Marker is in the current Turn box. For each nation, the Government Player calculates the Stability Target by summing the Action Value of all Conflicts chits in the Major Power's Areas.

Then he rolls a die and modifies the result as follows:

• +2 [4] for the Leader in the Chancellor / Prime Minister box [4 if a 2nd Leader is present as per 'Foreign Affairs Minister' (SD12)]
• +[-]2 (Germany only) for the Leader in the President box [subtract if the controlling player opposes the Govt.]
• +[-]1 per each of the above Leaders with the bonus symbol on the Uncommitted side [subtract if the player controlling the President opposes the Govt.]
• +? the current Economy Modifier (if negative, then subtract)
• +? the sum of any Political Support Modifier(s) of the Government Player (see page 10)

If the modified result is equal to or lower than the Stability Target, the Government is overthrown and proceed as follows:

a) If the Elections Marker is on the Regime side and the Economy Marker is in the -4 box, then perform the following steps 1-2. b) If the Elections Marker is on the Regime side and the Economy Marker is not in the -4 box, then the Government Player must pass a Vote Check with at least 2/3 (two thirds) of all Votes (rounding up). Steps 1-2 are performed only if the Vote Check fails. c) If the Elections Marker is on the Elections side, then perform the following steps 1-2 anyway.

1. Flip the marker to the Elections side (if on the Regime side) and place it in current Turn's box.
2. Elections must take place during the next step of Cleanup Phase.

B. Minor Nations Stability Checks

The first player in Order of Play determines the Stability Target for each Minor Nation with at least one chit in its Conflicts box – in the order he wishes – by summing the Action Value of all Conflicts Action chits in the Minor Nation's Conflicts box.

Then he rolls a die and modifies the result by adding the current STABILITY (see page 14, Re-roll allowed).

• If the modified result is greater than the Stability Target, remove any Stable Govt Marker and place an Unstable Govt Marker (if none is present).
• If the modified result is equal to or lower than the Stability Target, perform the following steps 1-5, provided a winning Ideology can be determined. The winning Ideology is the one with the most cubes in the Stability Track, or the owner of the rightmost cube in case of a tie. If no cube is present, count the value of Conflicts chits instead.

1. Move the Regime Marker to the winning Ideology's Regime Track box (if the marker leaves a box, then subtract VPs from the owning Ideology, provided the marker is on the VP side as per INFLUENCE, see page 14).
2. Remove any Stable Govt or Unstable Govt Markers and Conflicts chits in the Minor Nation's Conflicts box.
3. If the winning Ideology has at least one cube in the Stability Track, then place a Stable Govt Marker in the Conflicts box and flip the Regime Marker to the VP side; otherwise it must be on the No VP side.
4. Award VPs if the Regime Marker is on the VP side (VPs are calculated as explained on page 14), then remove all cubes from the Stability Track except the leftmost one.
5. The winning Ideology must now draw a Coup Card and apply its Effects if marked as PLAY IMMEDIATELY.

III. Elections

Players must first check if the German Presidential Elections should take place: they are scheduled on Turn 1 (1919), Turn 4 (1923-1924) and Turn 7 (1931-1932). Furthermore, the German Presidential Elections must take place every time the seat of President of Germany is vacated, for example when any of the conditions listed on page 7 occur.

German Presidential Elections must always be resolved before any National Election in Germany or Italy. The National Elections are resolved in Germany and Italy when required, as indicated by the position of the matching Elections Marker. Important: If the Elections Marker is on the Regime side, no National Elections take place.

To resolve the Elections (Presidential or National) perform all the steps indicated on the Play Aid Mat. Do not forget to remove all Leaders and cubes in the Parliament before the National Elections. In addition to the summary printed on the mat, please note the following:

Every time a player adds the Votes of an Allied Minor Party, the matching Votes Marker must be flipped to the Coalition Votes side and the Votes Marker of the player's Ideology is moved as many spaces to the right on the General Records Track as the number of Votes controlled by the Minor Party. The Coalition Votes side then helps players to easily determine the Minor Parties that contributed to the Elections victory in order to update the Minor Party Tracks.

IV. Victory Points

First, award VPs to the Government Players as follows.

• If the Elections Marker is on the ELECTIONS side: +4 VPs to Social-Democracy for each Controlled Major Power's Government; +3 VPs to Fascism and Communism for each Controlled Major Power's Government.
• If the Elections Marker is on the REGIME side: +5 VPs to the Ideology that Controls the Government of Germany; +4 VPs to the Ideology that Controls the Government of Italy.

Then, check whether the Game End Condition applies: if the difference in VPs between the highest and lowest-ranked players is at least 30, the game is over and the winner is determined as indicated in the Victory Determination section.

V. Turn-end activities

Players must perform the following steps in order:

a) Check the release of Arrested or Confined Leaders: roll a die for each Leader in the Arrested or Confined Leaders Box. If the die roll result is greater than or equal to 3, then return the Leader to: his Pool if dotted and belonging to an Ideology, or the Unaligned Leaders Box if not dotted or belonging to a Minor Party.

b) Return each Leader in the Leaders in Exile Box to: his Pool if dotted and belonging to an Ideology, or the Unaligned Leaders Box if not dotted or belonging to a Minor Party.

c) Flip all Play Order Markers to the Re-roll allowed side. Flip all Conflicts Action chits to the Hidden side (Established Putsch chits are not flipped).

d) Move the Turn Marker to the next Turn's box. If Turn 8 (1933) or the last Turn of the Scenario has been completed, then the game is over and the winner is determined as indicated in the Victory Conditions section below.

Victory Determination

This procedure is performed at the end of the game. Follow the steps below in order:

1. The player with the lowest VPs must compare his VP total with every opponent. If he has 8 or more VPs less than every other player, then award him 2 VPs for each of his own Conflicts Action chits currently on the map.
2. (Scenario only) Apply any end-game Scenario VP Modifiers as indicated in the Play Book and on the Play Aid Mat.
3. The player with the most VPs is the winner. Ties are resolved in favor of the player with the highest ranking position in the Tie-Breaking Order: Communism, Fascism, Social-Democracy.

Card Symbols Reference

• Play as a Marker Card (the number inside the symbol is variable and indicates the PP Value of the Marker Card).
• Play as a Marker Card to provide a VP bonus (the number inside the symbol is variable and indicates the PP Value of the Marker Card; the VP bonus and the player benefiting are indicated on the card).
• Play as a Marker Card to provide a Funding bonus (the number inside the symbol is variable and indicates the PP Value of the Marker Card; the Funding bonus is variable, the player benefiting is indicated by the cube color).
• Marker Cards can be discarded at any time to remove from play any one Marker Card whose PP Value is <= discarded card's value; the card must be discarded and cannot be saved in Reserve.
• The locker symbol indicates that the Marker Card cannot be voluntarily discarded; it can only be targeted by another Marker Card.
• Play as Active Event (place next to the bottom-right section of the Board).
• When not associated with the Marker Card symbol, the Funding bonus icon indicates that the corresponding player (cube color) receives a Funding bonus (usually associated with an Active Event).
• Discard the indicated Marker Card (Card Code and Title).
• Remove from play the indicated Marker Card (Card Code and Title).
• Remove from play any one Marker Card (the number inside the symbol is variable and indicates the maximum PP Value of the target Marker Card).
• INFLUENCE a Population (the '2x' text, if present, indicates how many times this operation can be performed). The card usually also indicates some restrictions on moveable Population(s) and movement direction.
• All players, in Order of Play, can deploy one Action chit at no PP cost (Hidden side) with a Leader Marker and up to as many Reserve Cubes as the chit's Cube Allowance. Further instructions often indicate how many times this activity can be performed, if there are any geographical limits and which Ideology can act.
• Perform a Political Action Attempt (some cards indicate also a Difficulty value modifier). The Attempt is performed by the player indicated by the icon printed next to the die.

Summary of Turn's Events

Turn 1 (1919): Political Phase: At the end of the 1st Round flip the Leader Marker of Orlando to the side of Nitti; Orlando is no more in play. Cleanup Phase: German Presidential Elections must take place; Elections are scheduled in Italy if Crisis CR#2 has not been successfully resolved.

Turn 2 (1920-1921): Cleanup Phase: Elections are scheduled in Germany; Elections are scheduled in Italy if Crisis CR#2 has been successfully resolved.

Turn 3 (1922): No particular event scheduled for this Turn.

Turn 4 (1923-1924): Card Phase: Blue Era Decks enters play. Cleanup Phase: German Presidential Elections must take place.

Turn 5 (1925-1928): Card Phase: Deal cards for the Turn to be resolved in three Rounds; then, after the Mulligans, the player with lowest VPs may reduce the number of Round to 2 by removing CR#11 or CR#12 from play (reshuffle Crises).

Turn 6 (1929-1930): Card Phase: Black Era Decks enters play.

Turn 7 (1931-1932): Cleanup Phase: German Presidential Elections must take place.

Turn 8 (1933): Card Phase: Deal cards for the Turn to be resolved in one Round only. The 2nd Round is played only if CR#18 enters play.

Board Symbols Reference

Symbols shown: Economy Modifier, Vote Modifier, Political Support Modifier, Italian Government Player, German Government Player, and the Minor Party symbols (Catholics, Liberals, Socialists, Nationalists) and Ideology symbols (Social-Democracy, Fascism, Communism).