Statecraft: The Political Card Game Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What is Statecraft?
• Political Ideology
• Quickplay Set Up
• Basic Rules
  • The Objective
  • Each Turn
    • Manoeuvers
    • Announce Policy
    • Campaign for Supporters
    • Recruit Politicians
  • During Game
    • Budget
    • Discarding Cards from Manifesto
    • Incumbent Card
    • Policies & Actions Deck
• Card Anatomies
• Advanced Set Up
• Advanced Manoeuvers
  • Fire Politician
  • Poach Supporters
  • Play an Action Card
• Revealing an Event Card
• Card Clarifications
• Symbology and Action Reference

What is Statecraft?

Build a political party in your fictional world, recruiting politicians, developing a manifesto of winning ideas, campaigning for support and firing off salvos of slander at your cunning rivals, surviving catastrophes that shake up the nation you're playing the game of politics in.

Statecraft is a game where you get to explore a million different political scenarios, from the utterly ridiculous to mischievously devious. Will you be the shining light of hope in the world you've created, or a brutal dictator?

In your world, who will triumph?

Political Ideology

The main inspiration for Statecraft was an innovative method of demonstrating political ideology in 2 dimensions, where a political party, voter, or a particular policy is rated according to their degree of Socialism/Capitalism and Anarchism/Authoritarianism. By representing political ideas or agents in this way, we get a much richer perspective rather than categorising along one line, left/right or liberal/conservative.

This also enables us to model the wild inconsistencies of modern politics, allowing for someone to support some policies that are fundamentally conservative, while crying out for liberal legislation elsewhere. People are never as simple as a point on a graph, but using this system has given us the ability to show that! They might say something like "provided there is at least this much capitalism, I don't mind a bit of socialism".

Every supporter card in Statecraft is rated according to how many (or how few) policies of each of the four persuasions they want or are completely apathetic about, giving us a complex understanding of these fictional, but familiar people using a simple representation. They are also given a strategic complexity rating according to how extreme and how inconsistent they are, representing the difficulty in pleasing them with an absurd, but frighteningly realistic, agenda.

Every supporter card's data was randomly generated, and randomly assigned to a demographic. Any stereotyped pairings of demographic and ideology are entirely accidental.

Quickplay Set Up

See Advanced Set Up for instructions on how to set up Statecraft in over 200,000 ways.

1. Shuffle each of the colour coded decks and place face down on the play area.
2. Each player randomly draws a Faction Leader card and places it centrally in front of them. The unused faction leader cards are returned to the box. Ignore the special text on the Faction Leader cards for your first game.
3. Each player takes a Points Tracker and places it to one side of their play area. Each player puts a cube on the zeros of the tracker (and the 1 for the turn tracker). Nominate one player to keep track of the round. Each player should also take the 2 help cards for reference.
4. Place the Democratic Election Scenario card somewhere where everyone can read it. This is your Scenario, return all others to the box.
5. Place 6 random Supporter cards somewhere where everyone can read them, this forms the 'floating supporters' area. Return the other Supporter cards to the box.
6. All players draw 3 cards from the blue Policies and Actions deck, this forms their starting hand. (If you want a super simple set up, take out all the 'Action' cards from the blue deck and put them to one side, out of the game.)
7. Put the purple Events & Emergencies deck to one side, volatile political events and emergencies can be included into a game of Statecraft using the advanced rules - see Advanced Set Up.
8. Put the Incumbent Card to one side. The player with the highest chance of being embroiled in a sordid scandal if they were a politician starts first. If there is a tie, the player most likely to claim expenses to clean out their duck pond starts first.

The Game ends when all players have had 8 complete turns. As this game uses the Democratic Election scenario, the player with the most Supporter cards wins. The incumbent card breaks a tie. See Objective for further tiebreaks.

(The setup diagram on page 7 of the rulebook is illustrative and is not reproduced; the numbered steps above are the printed set up.)

Basic Rules

The Objective

If there is a tie in a game of Statecraft, the incumbent card breaks the tie. If there is a tie which can't be broken by possession of the incumbent card, order some pizza, watch a few episodes of House of Cards then play Statecraft again.

Each game's end condition is given by the scenario card, which can vary wildly. In all games of Statecraft, you're seeking to dominate as the most powerful and influential faction.

Each scenario card also has an end condition and a win condition.

When the game end condition is met the game ends immediately, no more actions may be made, and then the winner is determined by the 'win condition' indicated on the scenario card.

This system recreates the hugely varied power structures of the world's politics, and reflects that even with the same people, politicians and policies, the game may not be won by the same party.

Example Game End Conditions

• After a specified number of player turns, the game immediately ends.
• The game continues until one player has all the supporter cards.
• The game ends when one player has more than half of the supporter cards.
• The game ends when every supporter card has been claimed.
• The game ends when all the cards from the Policies and Actions deck are exhausted.

Example Game Win Conditions

• Player with highest number of supporters wins.
• Player with the highest budget deficit (lowest number on budget tracker).
• Player with most extreme manifesto wins (difference between authoritarian and anarchism + difference between free market and socialism).
• Player with most balanced manifesto wins (player whose average ideology points across all areas is closest to 3.5).

(The example scenario cards 'Coup D'etat' and 'People's Kingdom of ____' are shown on page 8 as illustrations.)

If the second game results in another unbroken tie, each player should enter themselves into an election, first one to get assassinated wins.

Each Turn

Manoeuvers

Each player may perform as many actions, known in Statecraft as 'Manoeuvers' (this is to save confusion with Action Cards) as they want per turn, provided they can expend the cards needed for each action.

Manoeuvers are player actions, which can be taken in any order, as many times as is possible by a player on their turn. Some manoeuvers cost cards to play (which means you discard them), others use the cards you've played in specific ways. You don't have to do anything on your turn if you don't want to.

At the end of each player's turn, they must replenish their hand up to 3 cards by drawing from the action/policy deck. If players have more than 3 cards, they must discard cards until they have 3.

Drawing and resolving an event card does not count towards your 3 cards, so when the next player starts, you should have 3 cards (unless there are any other effects in play!)

Each player is seeking to build up a team of politicians, so that they can cover their bases with all 4 of the specialisms that enable policies to be played.

These policies give players the ideology points that they need to entice supporters to their faction, and ultimately win the game.

Action cards provide players with an edge. Event cards create volatility in the game which disadvantages leading players.

Emergencies really get things moving.

Pages 10 through 13 describe the possible manoeuvers in detail.

Announce Policy

To announce a policy the active player reveals the policy card and announces which option from the card their party is endorsing.

The policy being announced must then be tucked under the top of a politician card with the matching specialism symbol to the policy card you've just announced, ensuring that the card's ideology points are visible. These ideology points are then added to the party's points tracker.

All policy cards also have a cost, indicated by the small bubble next to the ideology points banners, which indicates for each option, the effect on your budget. Positive numbers get you money, so move your tracker up, negative numbers cost you money, so move your tracker down. (If denouncing, do the opposite - see below)

Example: If you were to announce this policy with the "Strict Border Security" side face up, you would move your tracker up 2 'Socialism', up 1 'Authority' and down 2 on your budget.

Each policy card has a small indicator at the sides of each card which describes the ideology points of the reversed policy option, so you don't have to read upside down.

Ideology points cannot be more than 7 or be below 0. If any action forces either of these to occur, they just stay at 0 or 7. "There's a limit to how much Jimmy likes Communism, equally, there's a limit to how much Jane hates the Free Market."

Each politician can have up to 3 policies in their 'portfolio', i.e. up to 3 policy cards poking out the top of the respective politician cards.

A player may also indicate that they are 'denouncing', rather than 'announcing' a policy. In this case the card is tucked under the bottom of the politician, and the points are deducted from the party's points tracker. All politicians and leaders can denounce up to 3 policies.

Campaign for Supporters

To claim a supporter card from the floating supporter pool (these represent supporters who have not been convinced by the gratuitous lies or idealistic propositions of any particular faction) the active player must do the following:

1. For each ideology on your ideology tracker, check against the supporter card to ensure that the supporter is satisfied by your manifesto.
2. If all of your ideologies satisfy the supporter, the supporter card is claimed and placed in your area where other players can still see the important information.

Checking to see if a supporter card is 'satisfied' by your policy group

For each ideology, you must have a number of ideology points which matches the supporter card you are seeking to claim. If all 4 ideologies meet this condition, you may claim that supporter card.

The dark blue torn banner on the Agricultural Labour Supporter Card indicates that they will tolerate no more than 1 ideology point for 'Authoritarianism'.

The other coloured banners indicate that this support requires at least 4 ideology points of 'Capitalism' and 5 of 'Socialism'.

You'll notice that there's a gap on the right, this shows that the supporter is indifferent about 'Anarchism' meaning that it doesn't matter how many points you have for this ideology when you claim the card.

On each card there is a small symbol in the bottom right corner. This indicates how strategically difficult the card is to claim (Easy, Moderate or Difficult).

Recruit Politicians

Only policy cards which match one of a politician's specialisms can be played onto that politician.

To recruit a politician a player must do the following:

1. Discard a card from your hand.
2. Draw politician cards from the politician deck according to the number indicated on the scenario card.
3. Lay them out face up for all players to see and select one. Discard any unused politicians into a separate pile, this is known as the 'retired politicians'.
4. Place the politician into an unoccupied space in your 'cabinet' as close as possible to your leader - you may have up to two politicians either side of your leader. (The two politicians directly adjacent to the leader are referred to as the 'inner circle'.)

If there are no politicians left, the retired politicians pile is shuffled and is then used as the new politician deck.

Note the symbol(s) in the top left of the politician card, this indicates their 'specialisms', which determines which policy cards they can accommodate in their portfolio. The specialisms are Economy, Security, Welfare and Infrastructure.

Replacing an existing politician

If the player wishes to recruit a politician into a space in the cabinet which is currently occupied, then they may do so if there is at least one specialism common between the replaced politician and the new one.

Senior politicians can only be recruited by replacing a politician. You cannot replace your leader in this way.

Any policies in the new politician's portfolio that are not supported by their specialisms are returned to the player's hand, and the player's points tracker is adjusted to reflect those policies being lost.

During Game

The above also applies to the Politicians deck, they like to 'retire' then curiously and slyly return to public life.

Budget

When playing policy cards, players will adjust their budget tracker to reflect the amount of income and expenditure their faction is promising. Players may not play a policy card if it would result in their budget being in a surplus of more than 5, or a deficit of less than -5.

Discarding Cards from Manifesto

If you are forced to discard a card from your manifesto (which includes denounced policies), move that card from your manifesto to the discard pile and adjust your trackers to reflect the fact you've lost that policy. (i.e. do the opposite of what you did when you played it)

Incumbent Card

Players must ensure that the incumbent card is held by the player who currently controls the most supporter cards, if there is a tie, the incumbent card stays where it is.

At the start of the game the incumbent card isn't assigned to anyone, unless otherwise stated by a Scenario card. If there is some reason that the above doesn't apply in the case of a tie, then the players with the most supporter cards must secretly bid a number of cards from their hand.

The player with the highest bid discards those cards and claims the incumbent. In the case of a further tie, the incumbent card is placed to one side and remains out of play until a clear lead is established.

Policies & Actions Deck

Once all the cards from the deck are gone (discarded, in players' hands or played into the game area) then all cards in the Policies, Actions and Events discard pile are shuffled together and form the new deck.

Card Anatomies

Scenario

1. Number of supporters you draw from the deck to start off the game.
2. Number of politicians you draw to choose from when recruiting.
3. How you win this game.
4. When this game ends.
5. This scenario's special rules.

Leader/Politician

1. The specialisms of this leader/politician (which policy types can be played onto this leader/politician).
2. The 'faction logo' of this leader (purely thematic).
3. This leader's special ability.

Policy

1. The policy type of this policy (this symbol must match the politician you play it on!).
2. The ideology points you add to your points tracker when you play this policy.
3. The amount this policy affects your budget (negative indicates you move your budget tracker down).

Supporter

1. A minimum of 2 'Socialism' points and 5 'Anarchism' points are required in your manifesto to claim this supporter.
2. A maximum of 3 'Authoritarianism' points are permitted in your manifesto to claim this supporter.
3. This supporter doesn't care about the 'Capitalism' ideology.
4. The strategy rating of this supporter.

Action (Advanced)

1. This action's effect.

Event/Emergency (Advanced)

1. The name of the event/emergency.
2. The choices every player must choose from to respond to the event with effects that apply to all players and additional effects that apply only to the incumbent player.
3. The effect of the emergency.

Advanced Set Up

This process provides you with one of over 200,000 possible setups with the core Statecraft set.

1. Shuffle each of the colour coded decks and place face down on the play area.
2. Each player randomly draws a Faction Leader card and places it centrally in front of them. The unused faction leader cards are returned to the box.
3. Each player takes a Points Tracker and places it to one side of their play area. Each player puts a cube on the zeros of the tracker (and the 1 for the turn tracker). Nominate one player to keep track of the round. Each player should also take the 2 help cards for reference.
4. Randomly draw a Scenario Card and place it somewhere where everyone can read it. This is your Scenario, return all others to the box. Read the win condition, end condition and special text to all players, resolving any start of game effects as necessary.
5. Draw the number of Supporter Cards indicated on your Scenario Card and place them in the 'floating supporters' area. Return the other Supporter Cards to the box.
6. All players draw 3 cards from the Policies and Actions deck, this forms their starting hand.
7. Deal the Events cards into 3 piles face down. Shuffle 1 pile into the Policies & Actions deck for a regular game, 2 piles for a disruptive game, and 3 for a chaotic game.
8. Put the Incumbent Card to one side.
9. The player with the highest chance of being embroiled in a sordid scandal if they were a politician starts first. If there is a tie, the player most likely to claim expenses to clean out their duck pond starts first. Alternatively, each player shouts over each other making bold pronouncements about things they will do for the group, with the most outrageous player winning the first turn.

The Game ends according to the end condition described on your Scenario Card. If this is a specific number of turns, nominate a player to keep track of the turns on their points tracker.

(The 2 Player Set Up diagram on page 27 of the rulebook is illustrative and is not reproduced.)

Advanced Manoeuvers

Fire Politician

A player may fire a politician in their cabinet by discarding that politician and returning all policies in their portfolio to their hand. The player then adjusts their points tracker to reflect the lost policies. This action costs 1 card, which the player must discard from their hand before returning the fired politician's policies to their hand.

Notes on firing politicians:

1. If a politician is removed from a player's cabinet other than by that player firing them as an action, then all of the policy cards attached to that politician are discarded rather than returned to the player's hand.
2. If an inner circle politician is removed, and there is an 'outer circle' politician adjacent to them, the outer circle politician and their portfolio, move with them into the 'inner circle'.
3. They like to get snuggly with the leader.

Poach Supporters

If your manifesto satisfies a supporter that has been claimed by another player, and that supporter is no longer satisfied by their current host, you may poach that supporter card. This action costs 1 card, which must be discarded from your hand.

If you satisfy the supporter but they are still satisfied by their current host, you may poach that supporter, but this will cost you 2 cards, which you must discard from your hand.

Play an Action Card

To execute an action card in their hand, a player must announce that they are playing an action card, then reveal that card and discard it. They must then carry out the action as given by the 'special text' of the card.

Revealing an Event Card

Event cards are shuffled into the Policies & Actions deck but have purple, rather than a blue, back. When a player is forced to draw an event card they reveal it and read it out to all players.

Events

Every player must choose from one of the two options available on the card. The incumbent player has to also carry out additional effects associated with each choice as indicated on the card. These additional effects are indicated by the incumbent symbol.

Some cards only affect the incumbent. If there is no incumbent in this case, nothing happens and play continues as normal.

If a player is unable to do a specific action, they continue as normal (although if of the two actions they can do one, they must do that one).

Event cards are discarded after their effects have been resolved.

Some events refer to 'blue', 'red', 'green' or 'yellow' policies, these are those where the policy choice's highest (or joint highest) value is on the blue (Authoritarian), red (Socialism), green (Anarchism) or yellow (Capitalism) areas respectively.

Other events refer to 'freeplaying' a policy, this means the policy is announced/denounced, then the player who's used that policy may immediately draw a new card.

Emergencies

Emergencies are a special type of event card which do not have any options. They are simply read out and the effect is carried out by all players individually or collectively as appropriate. Emergency cards are sneaky as they appear like event cards from the back of the card, but are much more potent.

Some emergencies require that players discard a card (or pretend to) as part of a collective action, if this is the case, then players secretly choose a card (or nothing) and reveal all at once.

Card Clarifications

Social Media Campaign: Where 'Voter' is used, it's intended to mean 'Supporter'.

False Accreditation: Policy card must match the target politician's specialism(s).

Misinformation Campaign: Adjust the target player's tracker to reflect the loss of the policy.

Global Pandemic: This card initiates a 'secret ballot' as described on page 19.

Secret Negotiations: Not your literal hand, the cards in it.

Natural Disaster: If there is no incumbent, this affects all players.

Surge in Support: Claim any floating supporter, even if they aren't satisfied by your manifesto.

Recession: For Brutal Cutbacks, discard a card currently played into your manifesto.

Partisan Espionage: When a player reveals their action, yell 'AHA' and discard both cards without effect.

Foreign Espionage: For Collaborate, give one card each to two players.

Corruption Scandal: If you choose Scapegoat and are incumbent, miss your next turn.

Nathaniel Tawfeek (Leader): Ability can only be activated once for every 'recruit politician' action.

Lukas Ozturk (Leader): Ability cannot be used to ignore an Emergency card.

Viva La Revolución: Do not reshuffle the policy/action discard deck when depleted. The game has ended!

Hereditary Establishment: This ability only blocks a player replacing their own politicians.

Egalitarian Society: The extra 2 cards is in addition to your regular 3, hand size restrictions at end of turn still apply.

One Party State: Partisan Espionage may negate the politician elimination action, but the offending party must still discard hand.

Sectarian Violence: To remove a policy, discard it.

Promise Culture: If it's your turn, and you meet the condition, player to your left discards one of your cards.

Incumbent Card: If you currently control this card, make sure you look menacingly at other players.

Symbology and Action Reference

Available Manoeuvers (cost in cards, discarded)

• Campaign: match ideology with supporter, claim card, put in area. Cost 0.
• Poach: claim unsatisfied / satisfied supporter. Cost 1 (or 2 if the supporter is still satisfied by their current host).
• Recruit: draw X politicians, install 1 into cabinet. Cost 1.
• Fire: remove one politician, return policies to hand. Cost 1.

Card Types (cost in cards, discarded)

• Action: play action card from hand. Cost 0.
• Announce: play policy card from hand and tuck under top of relevant politician. Cost 0.
• Denounce: play policy card from hand and tuck under bottom of relevant politician for negative points. Cost 0.

Symbol Meanings

• Card types: Supporter, Jr. Politician, Sr. Politician, Faction Leader, Event, Action, Emergency, Incumbent.
• Specialisms: Economy, Security, Welfare, Infrastructure.
• Ideologies: Socialism, Free Market, Capitalism, Authoritarianism, Anarchism.

(The Quick Set Up Diagram on page 27 of the rulebook is illustrative and is not reproduced.)