Weimar: The Fight for Democracy Rulebook

Table of Contents

About this Rulebook and the Playbook
- Credits
1. Components
2. Main Scenario Setup
3. Overview
4. Flow of the Game
5. Game concepts
6. Appendix and reference
7. Index
- General
- Actions
- Cards
- Parties
Scenarios (from the Playbook)

About this Rulebook and the Playbook

Weimar is a complex game. Therefore, this rulebook first gives an overview of the different areas and the playable Parties before explaining the gameplay in detail. The bulk of gameplay decisions results from its more than 150 unique cards. Therefore, the game concepts are described in a separate chapter afterwards. With this structure, the gameplay remains compact and the rules for the different game concepts are in a single place.

The Playbook contains a comprehensive Example of Play covering an entire game round. It helps to better understand the rules described here and the dynamics of the game. We recommend reading the rulebook first and then taking a look at that example.

The Player Aids contain the round sequence as well as the symbols used, and can be a great help, especially during your first game. The Index at the back of this rulebook allows you to quickly find the relevant rules passage during the game.

This rulebook describes the "Main Scenario" which can take up to 6 rounds and 6 hours to complete. The Playbook contains 3 shorter scenarios that focus on the early and late republic, respectively. One of these can be played solo to help you learn the rules of the game.

The history of the Weimar Republic is characterized by the confrontation of a wide variety of forces, which is why many of these historical facets can be found in the game. However, we explicitly distance ourselves from any racist and anti-democratic stances. In the Design Notes in the last part of the Playbook, the designer Matthias Cramer gives an insight into the development of this work and which aspects were important to him. The picture credits for the images used on the cards and other components as well as a historical description of selected cards can also be found in the accompanying Playbook.

We, the designer and the publishers, wish you many exciting and historical hours playing and exploring Weimar.

Credits

Game Design: Matthias Cramer

Illustrations and graphics: Christian Opperer

Editing: Sebastian Wenzlaff, Uli Blennemann

English Translation and Rules Editing: Jonathan Bobal

English Version published by: Capstone Games, 2 Techview Dr., Cincinnati, Ohio 45215, under licence of Skellig Games GmbH, Parkweg 6, 35452 Heuchelheim, www.skellig-games.de / Spielworxx GmbH, Nielande 12, 48727 Billerbeck, www.spielworxx.de

1. Components

Each Weimar copy contains:

General

1 Game Board
1 Government Board (front with explanatory notes, back side without)
4 Party Boards for DNVP, KPD, SPD, Zentrum (front with explanatory notes, back without)
5 Six-sided dice
This Rulebook
1 Playbook (with an Example of Play, Scenarios, and Design Notes)

Cards

88 Party Cards (22 per Party)
16 Agenda Cards (4 per Party)
48 Timeline Cards (divided into 4 groups: gray, yellow, orange, and brown)
6 Round Cards (backs numbered from 1. to 6.)
13 Scenario Cards (explained in the Playbook)
1 Stresemann Card (double-sided active/inactive)
1 Reichspräsident Card (double-sided active/inactive)
7 Foreign Affairs Cards (backs numbered from 1 to 7)
3 Minor Party Cards for the DDP, DVP, USPD (double-sided)

Markers and Figures

130 Party Figures (30 per Party plus 10 NSDAP figures) — KPD, DNVP, SPD, Zentrum, NSDAP
4 Reserve Markers (1 per Party) — KPD, DNVP, SPD, Zentrum
37 Units (9x DNVP, 14x KPD, 3x SPD, 11x Government)
5 Reichspräsident Markers (Ebert, DNVP: Hindenburg, SPD: Braun, KPD: Thälmann, Zentrum: Marx)
2 Government Markers (1x with Chancellor symbol, 1x without)
9 Flag Tokens (3x each USA/UK, France, USSR)
31 Society Markers (general Markers in white, specific Markers in yellow)
23 Issue Markers (general Issues in white; specific Issues in yellow)
48 Threat Markers (general Threats in orange; Party Threats in Party color)
55 Victory Point Tokens (15x 1/3/5 VP and 10x 10 VP each)
1 Round Tracker
1 Economy Tracker
1 Foreign Affairs Tracker

2. Main Scenario Setup

Perform the following steps to set up the main scenario. Additional scenarios can be found in the Playbook. Any game materials set aside during setup may come into play through cards and actions during gameplay.

Game Board and Cards

Place the Game Board at the center of the table.
- a. Put the Round Tracker on space 1 of the round track (top left).
- b. Put the Foreign Affairs Tracker on the leftmost space "1918 Compiègne" of the Foreign Affairs Track (bottom left).
- c. Put the Economy Tracker on space 1 of the Economy Track (bottom).
- d. Put all white Issue Markers on their spaces on the right side of the Game Board. Put all yellow Issue Markers next to the Game Board.
Sort the Timeline Cards by the color of circle on their face. The color indicates when the cards are in play: gray (all rounds), yellow (rounds 1 + 2), orange (rounds 3 + 4), brown (rounds 5 + 6). Shuffle the gray and yellow Timeline Cards into a face-down deck and place it next to the Game Board. Set aside the remaining Timeline Cards (orange/brown).
Form a face up sorted deck of the 6 Round Cards, with Round Card 1 on top and Round Card 6 on the bottom. Place it to the left of the Game Board at the corresponding space.
Do the same with the 7 Foreign Affairs Cards and place the deck face up and sorted (Card 1 on top, Card 7 on the bottom) to the left of the Game Board at the corresponding space.
- Note: All players may look through the Round and Foreign Affairs Cards at any time.
At the beginning of the game, Friedrich Ebert is Reichspräsident. Place his Reichspräsident Marker on the Reichspräsident space at the top left of the Game Board. Set aside the remaining Reichspräsident Markers and the double-sided card Reichspräsident (A 08). They only come into play if Ebert dies as a result of an Event.

Parties

Each player chooses a Party to use, or assign them randomly; then each player takes their corresponding Party Board, Party Cards, Agenda Cards, and all Party Figures and Units for that Party.
- Note: The Party Boards are double-sided. Both are identical for the game. The front side contains explanatory notes and is suitable for your first games.
Distribute the Minor Party Cards as follows; place them, with your-Party's-side face up, at the bottom right of your Party Board:
- a. DDP is controlled by SPD.
- b. DVP is controlled by Zentrum; in addition, Zentrum takes the Gustav Stresemann Card and puts it in front of themself, with the active side face up.
- c. USPD is controlled by KPD.
Sort your Party Cards into three piles: 12 starting cards (showing no letter in the upper right), and two sets of 5 expansion cards each (showing a letter in the upper right). Shuffle your starting cards and place them face down in a deck at the top left of your Party Board. Put the expansion cards aside, you man look through them at any time.
Place your Agenda Cards face down in a pile at the top right of your Party Board. You may look at your Agenda Cards at any time and do not need to shuffle them.
SPD and Zentrum form the first Government as follows: The players controlling these Parties take 1 Government Marker each, with SPD taking the Government Marker showing the Chancellor symbol, and place them covering the "Opposition" space showing at the top left of their Party Board. Place the Government Board next to the Game Board so that both players can easily reach it.
Each Party and Government Board indicates which Units are available in its respective supply at the start of the game. Put all of the indicated Units into their supplies as shown on the boards. All other Units are not in play for the time being. Therefore, put them aside.

Setting up the Game Board

The following steps are also listed on the top Foreign Affairs Card Compiègne. Perform them in order and then remove this card from the game, leaving the Treaty of Versailles card visible atop that pile.

Designer's Note: On November 11, 1918, the armistice that ended the fighting of World War I was signed in a railroad car in the Compiègne forest. Therefore, this Event serves as a starting point for the setup.

Place the following Threat Markers on the Game Board:
- a. 3 Poverty: 1 each in 3 random different cities. Roll 2 dice for each placement, add them up and look at the city table on the Game Board to determine which city to place the Poverty Marker. Roll the dice again if you roll the same city again.
- b. 1 Blockade and 1 Inflation in the "Deutsches Reich" area ("DR Box" for short), which is located at the top left of the board.
- c. 1 Councils in München.
- d. 4 Unrest: 1 each in Berlin, München, Essen, and Hamburg.
Place all remaining Threat Markers next to the Game Board.
Place the indicated number of Party Figures in different cities of your choice, as well as in Parliament. Only 1 figure of each Party may be placed in each city – however, this only applies during game preparation. Each player places all of their figures at once, in this order:
- a. SPD: 6 figures to different cities, 7 figures to Parliament.
- b. KPD: 5 figures to different cities, 5 figures to Parliament.
- c. DNVP: 4 figures to different cities, 4 figures to Parliament.
- d. Zentrum: 3 figures to different cities, 3 figures to Parliament.
- Note: No city can hold more figures than it has spaces available. Also, all Seats in Parliament are considered equal, so positioning is irrelevant.
Place your Reserve Markers on the "+0" space of the Reserve (at the top right of the board).
Place all dice, Victory Point Tokens, Flag Tokens, and Society Markers next to the Game Board.

3. Overview

This chapter gives an overview of the Game Board, the symbology, and the Parties of Weimar. It does not contain specific rules and details but provides a foundation for the rules chapters that follow.

3.1. The Game Board

The German Empire and its Cities. In the left area, the German Empire is shown with 11 cities. Each city has spaces for 2 to 5 Party Figures. A figure in a city is considered to be a Party Base, which represents your Party's presence there.

Threat Markers. The Republic must defy various Threats represented by hexagonal Threat Markers. They come into play through different cards and action. Threat Markers are placed in cities; or, if they affect the entire Reich, in the "Deutsches Reich" Box, or DR Box for short. A seventh marker in the DR Box causes the Republic to descend into anarchy and ends the game immediately.

A – Parliament and Government. The right half of the Game Board represents the political level. At the top right is Parliament, with 24 Seats. These Seats can be occupied by Party Figures. The distribution of Seats determines the formation of Government at the end of each round. Parties in Government control Government Units and determine the results of Foreign Affairs. In addition, you can gain victory points of suffer losses at the end of each round as part of your government declaration.

B – Issue Markers and Opinion Track. Below Parliament is the Opinion Track, where you Debate Issue Markers. White Issue Markers represent general Issues, while yellow Issue Markers belong to specific Events. Issues typically start on space 0 of the Opinion Track. From there, Parties can advance them towards their own area to "win" an Issue, and then decide on its effects.

C – Other Areas of the Game Board. The mood of German society is represented by Society Markers, which are placed on the left on the Society Track (pushing any existing markers to the right). White markers represent the different groups in society (e.g., "Workers"), while yellow markers come into play as a result of special Events. The numbered areas around them represent the flow of the politics phase.

D. In the Reserve (at the top right), the Parties can save up to 2 Action Points for later actions. Dissolved Units are placed in the blue area below Breslau. The two dice tables shown are used to determine random cities and make Crisis Rolls.

E. At the top left edge is the Round Track, which is used to record the progress of the game. At the bottom are the areas and tracks for Foreign Affairs, and the progress of negotiations; for the Economy, and the resulting poverty or prosperity; and for the eventual rise of the NSDAP. (Round, Foreign Affairs, Economy, NSDAP.)

3.2. Symbology

Many effects in Weimar are represented by symbols. All symbols are listed on the enclosed Player Aids.

Most game components are represented by their own symbol – for example: 1 Party Base (figure in city), 1 Seat (figure in Parliament), 1 Unit, 1 Threat Marker, 1 Issue Marker, 1 Society Marker.

The symbols on the cards and boards always follow these basic rules:

A symbol is either colored and refers to the Party shown, or grayed out and accompanied by further details.
- EXAMPLE: A Party Base … "other" = of another Party; "any" = of any Party; "own" = of your own Party; SPD = of the Party shown (here: SPD).
An arrow pointing to the bottom right indicates that a game component is brought into play on the game board. An X indicates that it is discarded to the appropriate supply.
- EXAMPLE: "own" plus arrow = Bring 1 of your own Bases into play. "own" plus X = Remove 1 of your own Bases.
A symbol is always shown as many times as it corresponds to the number. A single symbol always stands for a number of 1 or "once". If a different number is meant, the symbol is shown several times.
- EXAMPLE: two "own" Base symbols with arrows = Bring 2 Party Bases into play.

3.3. The Parties

Party Board. Each Party Board has four areas around them to place cards and decks, and they also list the actions that can be performed in cities. Most actions are available to all 4 Parties, but they may differ in their cost and effect. The two sides of each Party Board are identical, other than the wood-colored side containing additional instructional text suitable for getting started.

Party Figures. Each Party has 30 figures in their Party's color. They can be placed in a city as a Party Base; or, placed in Parliament as a Seat.

Units. Each Party has a different number of Units in their color. They represent paramilitary units and powerful troops. In addition, there are white Units in the form of the Police and the Reichswehr, which are controlled by the currently-governing Parties. Units are moved to cities and grant additional dice for actions and reactions in their city. Zentrum does not have its own unique Units, but instead always has access to use Police Units (but not Reichswehr).

Party and Agenda Cards. Each Party has a unique Party deck, consisting of 12 basic Party Cards at setup, and two sets of 5 Expansion Cards each, which can be shuffled in as the game progresses. Some of the Party Cards are Politician Cards, which allow reactions to the actions of fellow players. You use 1 of your 4 Agenda Cards to determine your Party's alignment at the beginning of each round. You may look at them at any time.

The Minor Parties. There are 3 Minor Parties controlled by the players: USPD, DDP, and DVP. Each Minor Party has its own card, which shows the bonus that the controlling player receives during each Politics Phase. The Gustav Stresemann special card always belongs to the player who controls DVP.

The NSDAP is not "playable"; instead, your actions can cause the NSDAP to grow stronger, causing all players to collectively lose together.

Note: The term "Minor Party" is used to distinguish them from the other Parties, and does not reflect the historical significance of these Parties. The Design Notes in the accompanying Playbook contain further information on the "Minor Parties" and the NSDAP.

The political spectrum from socialist (left) to nationalist (right)

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF GERMANY (SPD) — Philipp Scheidemann

After the collapse of the empire, the SPD strove to maintain state order. It had to withdraw from the Government after the Kapp-Lüttwitz Coup, but led the grand coalition again in 1928. In 1933, the SPD was the only Party to vote against Hitler's Enabling Act.

Style of play and focus:

Defends the republic against threats
Strives to be part of Government
Militarily rather moderate
Strong in Debating

Game victory possible only by victory points, cannot win the game early.

Gains victory points …

For allowing few Poverty Threat Markers
For allowing no Regime Threat Markers
For good governance
By Party Cards "Legislation" (L set)

COMMUNIST PARTY OF GERMANY (KPD) — Rosa Luxemburg

The KPD emerged from the Spartacus League at the end of 1918 and thus sought to distance itself from the democratic left. The goal of the KPD, which was strongly influenced by Bolshevism, was to complete the revolution along Soviet lines.

Style of play and focus:

Overthrow of the Republic through the placement of Councils Threat Markers
Many paramilitary Units
Strong during Demonstrations
Can stay well under the radar in case of danger from the right side

Early game victory possible through having Councils Threat Markers in 4 cities (or in Berlin + 2 more) or absolute majority in Parliament.

Gains victory points …

For placing Councils Threat Markers
For allowing no Regime Threat Markers
By Party Cards "Moscow" (M set)

GERMAN ZENTRUM PARTY — Matthias Erzberger

As a conservative democratic Party, Zentrum was firmly anchored in Catholicism. The Party rejected the 1918 revolution, but was represented in almost all cabinets during the republican period. In 1918, the Bavarian members split off and founded the Bavarian People's Party (BVP).

Style of play and focus:

Defends the republic against threats
Strives to be part of Government
Does not have their own Units, but is always in control of all Police Units
Strong in Debating

Game victory possible only by victory points, cannot win the game early.

Gains victory points …

For allowing few Unrest Threat Markers
For allowing no Councils Threat Markers
For good governance
By Party Cards "Economy" (E set)

GERMAN NATIONAL PEOPLE'S PARTY (DNVP) — Alfred Hugenberg

After the collapse of the empire, the right had to reform and gathered in the DNVP. The Party saw itself as the loser of the revolution and did not participate in the new political system until the late 1920s.

Style of play and focus:

Overthrow of the Republic through the placement of Regime Threat Markers
Many paramilitary Units
Good chance to provide the Reichspräsident
Many advantages through the Foreign Affairs of the republic

Game victory possible early by having Regime Threat Markers in 4 cities (or in Berlin + 2 more) or absolute majority in Parliament.

Gains victory points …

For placing Regime Threat Markers
For allowing no Councils Threat Markers
By Party Cards "Presidential Decrees" (P set)

The Minor Parties and the NSDAP

INDEPENDENT SPD (USPD). In 1915, for the first time, about 20 Social Democrats voted against war bonds. The expulsion of these renegades from the Party led to the founding of the USPD. In the first months of the republic, it played a major role in the Government, but then quickly disappeared into insignificance and dissolved in 1922.

GERMAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (DDP). The left-liberal DDP saw itself as the guardian of democracy. Many intellectuals such as Albert Einstein were close to it.

DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S PARTY (DVP). The right wing of the former National Liberal Party under Gustav Stresemann, which rejected the possible unification with the DDP.

NATIONAL SOCIALIST GERMAN WORKERS' PARTY (NSDAP). Founded in 1919 as the German Workers' Party (DAP) and was initially a small anti-Semitic völkisch Party in Bavaria. Hitler helped the Party gain popularity in the 1920s. In the wake of the economic crisis in 1929, it rose to become a mass Party. In 1933, former Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen offered the NSDAP an alliance to form a new government, which sealed the end of the Weimar Republic when it took power.

4. Flow of the Game

A full game of Weimar can take up to 6 Game Rounds. Each round consists of these 4 successive phases:

Republic Phase (see 4.1): A round begins by applying any effects on the Round Card for this round. It depicts a significant historical Event, and brings the associated Issue Marker and often Threat Markers into play.
Agenda Phase (see 4.2): By choosing an Agenda Card, the players each determine their own unique strategy for that round. Then Timeline Cards are drawn from the Timeline deck and Party Cards from your individual piles.
Impulse Phase (see 4.3): During this main phase of the game, the players take turns playing exactly 1 card at a time; playing a card this way is considered an Impulse. When you play a card, choose 1 option for it: Activate the Event text on the card itself, Debate Issue Markers, or perform various other actions.
Politics Phase (see 4.4): At the end of each round, evaluate the Debated Issue Markers and the status of the Republic, then form a new Government based on the balance of Seats in Parliament.

Note: The phases are listed with their individual steps on the Player Aids.

Ties and the Golden Chancellor Rule

Anytime there is a tie for any reason, the Chancellor decides who wins and/or applies the effect among the tied players (unless specific rules tell you otherwise).

The Chancellor is determined during game setup, and then during each Politics Phase.

How the game ends

The main scenario ends after 6 rounds at the latest. In this case, the Republic has survived and the Party with the most victory points (VP) wins. VP are awarded by certain cards that trigger intermediate scoring (number of figures in cities or Parliament), as well as during each Politics Phase for achieving your Party goals. Governing Parties can receive additional VP for good governing (allowing few Threat Markers to be in play); but they can also lose VPs, and lose figures in the cities and/or Parliament at the end of each round.

The game immediately ends prematurely as soon as 1 of these situations occurs:

Overthrow of the Republic: The KPD or the DNVP wins immediately if it succeeds,
- A In the "Form new Government" step of the Politics Phase to have 50% or more of the occupied Seats in Parliament. (This condition is checked exclusively in this step, never otherwise), OR
- B 1 Councils or Regime Token is currently in any 4 cities, or in Berlin and 2 other cities.
NSDAP Seizure of Power C: Once the sixth Party Figure is placed on the NSDAP Track, the game ends immediately. All players lose together. The Party with the most figures on this track has enabled and made this seizure of power by the NSDAP possible.
The Republic sinks into anarchy D: As soon as the seventh Threat Marker would have to be placed in the DR Box, the game instead ends immediately. The Parties currently forming the Government each lose 8 VP for their failure. Then the Party with the most VP wins.

4.1. Republic Phase

Advance the Round Tracker 1 space and discard the top Round Card so that the number of the new card (top left) corresponds to the current round. Skip this step in round 1.

Resolve all effects on the Round Card of the current round, but ignore anything below "POLITICS PHASE". The first four Round Cards bring a yellow Issue Marker into play which can be Debated during this round. The Party that wins this Issue in the Politics Phase (see 4.4 step 2), then activates the green or the yellow area of the Round Card (of their choice). The final two Round Cards 5 and 6 have other effects, each of which is listed on the card.

EXAMPLE: Protecting Republic Law is the Round Card for round 1, and it tells you to find the (yellow) "Protecting Republic Law" Issue Marker and place it on the "0" space of the Opinion Track. Issue Markers are not resolved until the Politics Phase; therefore, ignore all text below "POLITICS PHASE" on the Round Card that placed the Issue Marker.

Round 3 and 5: Shuffle in new Timeline Cards

The Timeline deck always consists of cards with a gray circle plus the cards of the current stage (see box). So, at the beginning of the game, it consists of gray and yellow cards.

At the beginning of rounds 3 and 5, the deck of Timeline Cards is adjusted. The symbols printed on the Round Cards (as shown here) remind you of this.

Round 3: Search the Timeline deck and discard pile and remove all yellow circle Timeline Cards from the game. Add all set-aside orange circle Timeline Cards to the Timeline deck, then shuffle it together with the discarded Timeline Cards to create a face-down Timeline deck. The Timeline deck should now consist of only gray and orange circle cards.
Round 5: Proceed as described above, but remove the orange cards and shuffle in the brown cards. The Timeline deck should now consist of only cards with gray and brown colored circles.

Note: Gray cards are never removed this way. Instead, they are only removed when played and indicated on the card itself.

Timeline Card Classification. The color of the circle in the upper left corner indicates when a Timeline Card is in play, thus providing a chronological grouping. Gray cards are always in the deck, all others only for 2 rounds each: gray (all rounds), yellow (rounds 1 + 2), orange (rounds 3 + 4), brown (rounds 5 + 6).

4.2. Agenda Phase

Each player draws 2 Timeline Cards from the Timeline deck into their hands.

Each player looks at all 4 of their Agenda Cards; then simultaneously, chooses 1 Agenda Card to place face-down in front of themselves (and the rest back next to their board). The Agenda Card you choose determines your Party's alignment for the round, which Issues you will bring into play, and whether you may draw additional Party Cards.

Important: You always have all four Agenda Cards to choose from, they never leave the game.

Simultaneously, each player turns over their chosen Agenda Card and places it face up on their Agenda deck. Each player then resolves the effects on their played Agenda Card:

First, all players bring all white Issue Markers into play that are specifically named on their Agenda Cards (e.g., Economy or Media). The order does not matter. Put them on the respective indicated spots of the Opinion Track.
- Note: Four of the white Issues are available twice, so they can come into play twice in the same round. They are marked with I and II, respectively, so that you can tell them apart. These markings have no other meaning. If such an Issue comes into play, take marker I first. If the same Issue comes into play again, take marker II. (More on Issue Markers, see 5.3.)
After that, each player performs all other effects on their Agenda Cards 1 player at a time, in turn order. In most cases you will be placing Markers, Party Bases, or Seats. If you are instructed to place any white Issue Marker, choose 1 of those still available which has not been put on the Opinion Track yet.

Note that some Agenda Cards have effects that last until the end of the round.

Finally, each player draws 3 Party Cards, plus additional cards if their Agenda Card says to draw them. Now, each player will have 5 or more cards in hand for the following Impulse Phase.

Order of play. Whoever won the Reparations Issue last round starts. Otherwise, the Chancellor decides who starts. After that, play continues in a clockwise direction.

Add Expansion Sets. Each Party has two separate 5-card Expansion Sets that can be used to adapt their Party deck. If your chosen Agenda Card tells you to use an Expansion Set, take all 5 cards of the corresponding Expansion Set and shuffle them together with your draw deck and discard pile to form your new Party draw deck. If you choose the same Agenda Card again later, ignore this effect.

EXAMPLE: SPD and KPD shuffle an expansion set of cards into their deck via an Agenda Card. Then the SPD draws 3 cards because their Agenda Card Socialism has no effect on the number of cards they draw. However, KPD has chosen Revolution Now! which causes them to draw 1 additional Party Card. SPD starts the Impulse Phase with 5 cards, while KPD starts with 6 cards.

4.3. Impulse Phase

In the Impulse Phase, each player plays 1 card at a time, in turn order, until all players have no cards left in hand. Playing a card is considered to be an Impulse. You may never pass. The order of play is the same as in the Agenda Phase (starting with the player who won the Reparations Issue; otherwise, the Chancellor decides).

All players that chose an Agenda Card that allows them to play a card "at the beginning of the Impulse Phase" does so now (in turn order).

Note: Cards whose Events state they "may only be played in the first or second Impulse" may also be played now.

On your turn, you must play 1 card from your hand to perform 1 of the following three options:

Perform Actions: by using the value in the larger-sized circle of the card as Action Points to perform actions in a single city.
Debate: by using both values of the card to move two different Issue Markers on the Opinion Track.
Activate the card's Event: Resolve the instructions on the card.

Note: The numerical value in the larger-sized circle of a card is not necessarily greater than the other value; however, you always use the value in the larger-sized circle to perform city actions regardless.

The following important basic rules apply to playing a card:

When you play a Timeline Card, you must perform its Event. In addition, you use the card before or after you activate its Event to Debate or for Actions. You determine the order. The symbol on the left of the cards reminds you of this.
When you play a card for its Event, it is removed from the game, if indicated at the bottom of that card. Otherwise, Timeline Cards always go into the Timeline Card discard pile, and Party Cards go into the Party's personal discard pile.

Play a card for its Event

When you play a card for its Event, you resolve its text effects below the photo from top to bottom. Ignore the values in the circles in the top left corner.

You must perform all effects, if possible, unless explicitly stated otherwise (e.g., "optional"; "or").
If you cannot do everything, do as much as you can.
If you have a choice between several effects, you must choose the effect that you can do as much of as possible (see example 2).

Some Events let you perform City Actions (e.g., Demonstration). Such actions are part of the Event and do not cost any Action Points. However, all the rules of the action apply to them.

Important: When you play a Timeline Card for its Event, you also use the card for a Debate or Actions. When doing this, you choose to perform the Debate or Actions immediately before you resolve the Event, or after you resolve the Event. (This does not apply when you a play a Party Card for its Event.)

After you perform the Event, check the bottom of the card to see if you must remove this card from the game. If not, place the card in its appropriate discard pile. If the card is a Foreign Affairs Card (Treaty of Rapallo or Germany in The League of Nations), place it face up next to the Foreign Affairs deck instead. It can be negotiated from then on (see "Action: Foreign Affairs", 5.8).

EXAMPLE 1: The SPD plays Pact with the Old Powers (see left) for its Event, and activates all three effects showing on it from top to bottom, in this order: two Units are moved, a Fight or Counter-Coup is performed, and an Unrest is removed from this city (where the Fight or Counter-Coup was performed). This Event then tells you to remove this card from the game.

EXAMPLE 2: The DNVP plays Cell of Order Bavaria. Zentrum must choose 1 option: a) Lose two Seats and give DNVP two Seats (in Parliament); or, b) Place a Regime Marker in München. There is already a Regime Marker in München, so Zentrum must perform the first effect, because this effect can be resolved (Zentrum has 1 Seat, so it is able to lose it).

Reserve

When you play an card to perform Actions, you may "store" unused Action Points in your Reserve, up to your limit of 2. Track this using your Reserve Marker on the Reserve Track (located at the top right corner of the board).

You may spend any number of your Reserve Points during any of your future Debates or City Actions. Alternatively, you may use them to react to another player's action (see Reactions, 4.4). Action Points in your Reserve remain until you spend them.

Play a card to Debate

When you play a card to Debate, you advance 2 different Issues on the Opinion Track, one by the value inside the larger-sized circle, and another by the value inside the smaller-sized circle.

You must always advance Issues orthogonally (never diagonally) and always in a way that is advantageous to you (e.g., you cannot move it towards another player).
Issues cannot be advanced off the edges of the Opinion Track.
You may choose any Issue on the Opinion Track, no matter where it is.
Any number of Issue Markers may be placed on each space.
Issues that are on the enlarged "0 space" move as if they started their advancement on space 0 in the center of the Opinion Track. (I.e., Issues may be moved freely between the two "0" spaces.)

In addition, you may spend any of your Reserve Points to increase card values as you wish to advance the chosen Issues further. However, you may not advance a third Issue by spending Reserve Points. Spend 1 Reserve Point to advance a single Issue 1 additional space. You may do this twice in a row (if you have 2 Reserve Points), to advance a single Issue 2 additional spaces, or advance each Issue you are already advancing 1 additional space each.

An Issue that is on a square that shows only your color is considered to be controlled by you. This does not yet have any immediate effect during the Impulse Phase. The Parties will resolve any Issues they control during the Politics Phase (see 4.4).

Note: Anytime you advance an Issue, all the rules mentioned in this section always apply.

EXAMPLE: SPD plays Pact with the Old Powers to Debate (see card to the left). A They use the "3" in the larger-sized circle to advance the Media Issue 3 spaces towards SPD control (to a space in SPD's "2" column). B They use the "2" in the small circle to advance the Security Issue to space 0, then chooses to spend 1 Reserve Point to move it 1 additional space (to SPD's "1" space). Both Issues are now controlled by SPD as they each lie on a space exclusively of SPD's color (red).

Play a card for Actions

When you play a card for actions, gain Action Points (AP) according to the value inside the larger-sized circle. Ignore the value in the smaller-sized circle – even if it has a larger value!

You may now use these APs to perform actions in a single city of your choice. You may perform any number of actions (until you run out of APs), some allow you to perform them multiple times, others not. In addition, you may spend any number of your Reserve Points to increase your AP available this turn.

You may perform actions only in your chosen city.
Any effects (such as placing or removing markers) take place only in your chosen city.

To perform an action, spend as many APs as indicated on your Player Board, then resolve the action according to your Player Board.

Most actions are available to all Parties but may have minor differences. Always follow any specific rules found on your Party Board. Two actions (Fight / Foreign Affairs) can only be performed by the governing Parties. All actions are explained in the following chapter with context to individual game concepts.

The following actions are available:

Reserve (see above): Save Action Points for later use.
Coup/Counter-Coup (see 5.10): Place or remove Councils/Regime Markers.
Demonstration (see 5.6): Place Party Bases in your chosen city.
Fight (Government only, see 5.9): Dissolve an opposing Unit.
Mobilize (see 5.9): Move Units into your chosen city.
Take Control (see 5.9): Take over or regain control of a Reichswehr Unit.
Foreign Afairs (Government only, see 5.8): Negotiate a Foreign Affairs Card on display.
Reaction (see 4.4): Only used when Reacting to an action of another player.

Note: If you are allowed to perform any of the actions listed here by an effect, all of the rules listed here apply to it.

EXAMPLE: SPD plays Pact with the Old Powers and gains 3 APs to use to perform actions in a single city of their choice. They use 1 AP to Mobilize, to move a Unit to this city; 1 AP to perform a Demonstration, to place a Party Base in this city; and since they do not want to do anything else this Impulse, they use the final 1 AP to increase their Reserve by 1.

Reactions

There are two ways to react during another player's action (during their turn): Either with a Reaction showing on the Party Boards (to React to an action performed in a city); or with a Politician Card from your hand (to React to the specific indicated trigger on the Politician Card). It is not possible to react to your own actions (exception: special cards Gustav Stresemann and Reichspräsident, see 5.14).

Reaction to the Demonstration, Coup, Counter-Coup, and Fight action. When a player announces a Demonstration, a Coup/Counter-Coup, or a Fight in a city, you may React to it by spending 1 Reserve Point; in addition, you must have 1 or more Party Bases in the targeted city.

Starting from the active player, all players are asked in turn until 1 player decides to React, or all have declined to React. Only 1 Reaction is allowed per trigger (the first player in turn order to React will be the only player that can React to this action).

The Reaction's effect is activated before the reacted-to action/effect. To React, spend 1 Reserve Point and perform a Success Roll (see 5.5) according to the information on your Party Board. You get to roll a number of dice equal to the strength of your Units in the city; or, in case of the SPD, to the number of your Bases in the city. Resolve the effect that corresponds to your final result.

Note: The Parties have different titles for the Reaction Action (e.g., "Strike"; "Street Fight"), and they are purely thematic in nature and have no relevance to gameplay.

Reaction with a Politician Card. In addition, there are Politician Cards that can be used to react to various effects. Each card indicates when the card can be used to React. Some Politician Cards can even be used to React to a Reaction that is currently taking place.

Again, only 1 reaction per trigger is possible, and players take turns deciding if they are going to React.

When you play a Politician Card as a Reaction, discard it and draw a Party Card from your deck afterwards.

EXAMPLE: Zentrum announces a Counter-Coup in Berlin. DNVP reacts to this with its Reaction (Street Fight) from its Party Board. SPD wants the Counter-Coup to succeed and responds with its Otto Wels Politician Card: DNVP's Reaction result is reduced by 1. It could not use Otto Wels to support the Counter-Coup with +1, since it has already been reacted to by DNVP.

4.4. Politics Phase

In the last phase of each round, perform the following steps in the order given. The steps are listed both on the Game Board and on the Player Aids:

Check Issue majority
Resolve won Issues
Resolve Society Track
Score Parties
State of the Republic
Seats by Minor Parties
Check the size of Parliament
Form new Government

1. Check Issue majority

For each Party, count how many Issues it has won. An Issue is won by a Party if the Issue is on a space of the Party's color exclusively. Issues on divided (2-color) spaces count as half a win for each corresponding Party.

Whoever has won the most Issues gains 3 Seats in Parliament.
Whoever won the second most Issues gains 1 Seat in Parliament.

In case of a tie, add up the values of the spaces of each Party's Issues. Also add up the values of divided spaces. Each space has a value according to its column/row (1 to 6). The Party with the higher total wins the tie. If there is still a tie, the Chancellor decides who wins the tie.

EXAMPLE: DNVP and Zentrum are tied with having the most won Issues (2.5 each; Media I counts as 0.5, since on a divided space). Zentrum has Issues corresponding to values 3, 2, and 1 (for a total of 6), while DNVP has Issues corresponding to values 3, 1, and 1 (for a total of 5). Zentrum has the higher tie-breaker value, so they gain 3 Seats (and DNVP gains 1 Seat).

2. Resolve won Issues

Before you resolve any Issues, discard all Issues from both "0" spaces of the Opinion Track without effect: Return white Issues to the supply on the Game Board. Remove yellow Issues from the game.

First, resolve all white Issues according to the order on the Game Board, from top left to bottom right: first Economy I, then Economy II, then Media I, etc. Their effects can be found on the Player Aids and in the Appendix (see 6.5).

After all white Issues are resolved, resolve all yellow Issues. The Chancellor determines the order that yellow Issues are resolved in. Their effects are described on the corresponding card.

Whoever has won an Issue makes all decisions for it. You must perform all effects if possible, unless explicitly stated otherwise (E.g., "optional"; "or"). If you cannot do everything, do as much as you can. If you have a choice between two separate options, you must choose the option that you can do as much of as possible.

If the Issue is on a divided space, both Parties must decide by consensus what option/effects to activate; otherwise, the Issue is discarded with no effect.

More about Issue Markers: see 5.3.

EXAMPLE: Zentrum has won the yellow Issue "Armored Cruiser" and chooses to resolve the green option on the card of the same name. Zentrum and DNVP each gain 2 VP, and the yellow Society Marker "Armored Cruiser" is placed on the Society Track. After that, both the card and Issue Marker are removed from the game as indicated at the bottom of the card.

3. Resolve Society Track

Resolve each Society Marker on the Society Track, 1 at a time, from left to right. Do not remove Society Markers from the track after resolving them.

Most Society Markers grant an advantage to the specified Party, such as gaining a Party Base, Seat, or VP; or being able to move Units. An overview of all Society Markers and their effects can be found in the Appendix (see 6.4).

More about Society Markers: see 5.2.

EXAMPLE: There are two Society Markers on the Society Track. First, KPD gains 1 VP from the "Soldiers" marker. Then, the yellow "Armored Cruiser" marker, which Zentrum had previously brought into play, grants Zentrum 1 Seat. In addition, Zentrum may choose whether SPD loses 1 Seat or KPD loses 1 Seat.

4. Score Parties

In this step, gain VP for your achievements in the cities of the Republic:

The KPD receives:

2 VP for each Councils Marker on the Game Board.
2 VP if there are 0 Regime Markers on the Game Board.

The SPD receives (max.):

2 VP if there are 2 or less Poverty Markers on the Game Board.
2 VP if there are 0 Regime Markers on the Game Board.

The Zentrum receives (max.):

2 VP if there are 2 or less Unrest Markers on the Game Board.
2 VP if there are 0 Councils Markers on the Game Board.

The DNVP receives:

2 VP for each Regime Marker on the Game Board.
2 VP if there are 0 Councils Markers on the Game Board.

After that, each player that controls a Minor Party gains a bonus:

Whoever controls the USPD gains 1 Reserve Point (up to their maximum of 2).
Whoever controls the DDP may remove 1 of their own Party Bases to perform 1 Foreign Affairs action (see 5.8), but only if they are also in Government. Otherwise, this bonus does not apply.
Whoever controls the DVP takes the Gustav Stresemann Card, and places it active-side up in front of themself. If you already had it, keep it and flip it active-side up.

5. State of the Republic

The following four steps are performed by the Government.

Economy: Check the position of the Economy Tracker on the Economy Track. Put the markers indicated below its current position into play in randomly determined cities (using 2 dice and the city table on the Game Board). This ranges from 2 Poverty Markers to 2 Prosperity Markers.
Government Declaration: Check all cities and count how many Threat Markers are in each. Each Prosperity Marker in a city "cancels" 1 Threat Marker in that same city (the Threat Marker is not counted, but remains in the city):
- The governing Parties, in total, gain 1 VP for each city with 0 Threat Markers. They must divide the total VP gained equally among themselves (with the Chancellor's Party gaining the larger share in the case of unequal division).
  - EXAMPLE: In Essen and Köln, there are no Threat Markers. In München, there is 1 Councils and 1 Prosperity, which "cancels" the Councils for this scoring. The 2 governing Parties gain 3 VP in total, one Party receives 1 VP, and the Chancellor's Party receives 2 VP.
- For each city with 2 or more Threat Markers, each governing Party loses 1 Seat in Parliament. (To confirm, this is each Party, not spread evenly like the VP is to the left.)
Threats: Count how many Threat Markers are in the DR Box, then subtract 1 from this total: Each governing Party makes this many Crisis Rolls (see 5.4).
- EXAMPLE: There are 3 Threat Markers in the DR Box. The two governing Parties, SPD and Zentrum, must therefore make 2 Crisis Rolls each.
Stabilization: Remove 1 "Instable State" marker and 1 "Violent Peace" marker from the DR Box, if present.

6. Seats by Minor Parties

Each Minor Party grants a number of Seats in Parliament to the player who controls it. The number depends on the current round and is indicated on the respective Minor Party Card.

EXAMPLE: KPD controls the USPD during the Politics Phase of the fourth round. In return, KPD gains 1 Seat in Parliament. During rounds 5 and 6, KPD would no longer receive a Seat from controlling the USPD.

7. Check the size of Parliament

Check the Seats in Parliament. If there are greater than 24 Seats in total (i.e., all Seats are filled, and there are 1 or more figures in Parliament's Overflow), reduce each Party's Seats as follows:

Each Party that has 4-6 Seats must remove 1 of their Seats each.
Each Party that has 7-9 Seats must remove 2 of their Seats each.
Each Party that has 10 or more Seats must remove 3 of their Seats each.

If there are still more than 24 Seats after removing Seats, repeat the above steps again.

Important: Once placed, Seats from the NSDAP are never removed.

EXAMPLE: The total number of occupied Seats is 28, distributed as follows: SPD: 10, Zentrum: 3, KPD: 8, DNVP: 7. This total of 28 occupied Seats exceeds the number of fixed Seats (24). Therefore, Seats are reduced: SPD has to remove 3 of their Seats, KPD and DNVP 2 each, and Zentrum has to remove no Seats at all because they have less than 4 Seats. After this cut, 21 Seats are occupied, so there is no need to repeat this procedure.

8. Form new Government

First, check if an Overthrow occurs. If at least 50% of the occupied Seats belong to either KPD or DNVP, this Party immediately wins the game (see "Game Objective and End", 4. Flow of the Game).

Important: Any percentage of occupied Seats always refers to the total number of occupied Seats (i.e., the percentage of actual figures that are physically placed in Parliament).

EXAMPLE: There are 11 figures in Parliament (= 11 occupied Seats). Of these, 6 Seats are held by the KPD, giving it more than 50% of the occupied Seats; so the KPD immediately wins the game.

Otherwise, a new Government is formed (or the current Government remains). To do this, perform the following steps:

If either SPD or Zentrum alone has 50% or more of the occupied Seats, this Party has an Absolute Majority and forms the Government alone.
Otherwise, try to form the largest of the possible coalitions (in terms of number of Seats). Add up the Seats of the three possible coalitions (see box) and go through them in order, from the largest number of Seats to the smallest. If there is a tie, the Chancellor decides the order.
- a. The Parties in question may reject the coalition. However, if both Parties agree to the coalition, they form the new Government.
  - Important: SPD and Zentrum must form the Weimar coalition as soon as they are asked; they may not refuse.
- b. Otherwise, the next smallest possible coalition is asked until a Government is finally formed.

EXAMPLE: The distribution of Seats in Parliament is as follows: SPD: 6, Zentrum: 3, KPD: 2, DNVP: 8. No Party has an Absolute Majority. Therefore, the largest of the possible coalitions is asked first, which is the right-wing coalition (Zentrum + DNVP) with 11 Seats. The DNVP declines. Then follows the Weimar coalition (SPD + Zentrum) with 9 Seats. SPD and Zentrum are not allowed to refuse so they form the new Government.

When the Government has been formed, each Party takes a Government Marker and covers the "Opposition" space on its Party Board with it. The Government Party with more Seats in Parliament becomes Chancellor and takes the Government Marker with the Chancellor symbol. Any tie will be decided by the previous Chancellor as usual.

Note: A single-Party Government only takes the Chancellor Government Marker, and the other is unused.

EXAMPLE (continued): SPD has more Seats (6) than Zentrum (3) and therefore receives the Chancellor's Government Marker. Zentrum receives the other Government Marker.

Possible coalitions. In addition to a possible sole Government of SPD or Zentrum, there are three possible coalitions:

Weimar Coalition: SPD and Zentrum
Left-wing Coalition: SPD and KPD
Right-wing Coalition: Zentrum and DNVP

Other coalitions are not possible. Accordingly, one of the democratic Parties is always part of the Government, otherwise the game ends prematurely with the victory of the sole governing radical Party.

Special case: DNVP or KPD in Government. Should the DNVP or KPD enter Government, their Party Threat Markers on the Game Board are flipped face down. These flipped markers are inactive and ignored in all scoring. However, game effects can still remove them.

As long as the DNVP or KPD is in Government, it cannot bring any more of its Party Threat Markers into play. As soon as the Party leaves the Government, it turns its Threat Markers face up again.

More about Party Threat Markers (see 5.10).

Designer's Note: The Parties are either on the side of the Republic or instigating a revolution - trying to do both at the same time is out of the question.

Special case: Minority Cabinet. A Majority Government requires at least 50% of the occupied Seats in Parliament. If the new Government does not have this amount, it forms a Minority Cabinet instead. In this case, the Threat Marker "Minority Cabinet" is placed in the DR Box. This marker is removed only if a Majority Government is formed during a future round. If this is the Seventh Threat Marker in the DR Box, the game ends immediately (see 4. Flow of the Game). A Minority Cabinet has no other effects.

EXAMPLE (continued): The Parties of the new Weimar coalition together have only 9 of the total 19 occupied Seats and thus do not have at least 50%. Therefore, it is a Minority Cabinet, and the "Minority Cabinet" Threat Marker is placed in the DR Box.

End of Round

Finally, resolve all effects in play that occur at end of round. These include the Foreign Affairs Card Treaty of Versailles and the Reichspräsident Card.

5. Game concepts

This chapter describes in detail all game elements and related effects that are triggered by Events, Debates, or Actions.

5.1. Victory Point Tokens

Any victory points (VP) you earn during the game are taken from the supply in the form of VP Tokens. If you lose VP, put them back into the supply accordingly.

VPs are always open and public information, and can be exchanged with the supply at any time.

5.2. Society Markers

Society Markers reflect the mood of German society and which segment of the population supports which Parties. Most Society Markers grant the indicated Party an advantage such as a Party Base, a Seat, the movement of a Unit, or VP. They are resolved at the end of each round in the Politics Phase (see 4.4).

White Society Markers always belong to a group (e.g., workers or soldiers). There are several markers from each group with different effects. If you are allowed to place a white Society Marker of a particular group, you place an available marker of that group of your choice.

Yellow Society Markers are always linked to specific events and come into play due to these.

A new marker is always "pushed" into the track from the left. There can be a maximum of 7 markers there. A marker remains in play on the track until it is removed by an effect or "pushed out" because the track is full. If a marker is pushed into a full track, the marker on the far right is returned to the supply with no effect.

All Society Markers and their effects are listed in the Appendix (see 6.4).

Symbols: a named group marker (e.g., "The Rich") = Place a white Society Marker of your choice from the "The Rich" group. A generic white Society Marker = Place any white Society Marker. A named yellow marker (e.g., "Labor Welfare") = Place the mentioned yellow Society Marker (here: Labor Welfare).

5.3. Issue Markers

Issue Markers typically start on space "0" of the (cross-shaped) Opinion Track. Any number of markers may be placed on each space, stacked in any order. The "0" space has an additional area, which is enlarged to have more space to see Issues, but both "0" spaces are functionally the same and markers can be freely moved between them.

During the Impulse Phase, Parties can play cards (see 4.3), to Debate and move Issue Markers towards their own colored area. In the Politics Phase, Issues are evaluated (see 4.4). A Party decides the impact of Issues they win.

White Issue Markers represent general Issues and come into play primarily through Agenda Cards. Four of the Issues are available twice, so they can come into play twice in the same round. They are marked with I and II, respectively, so that you can tell them apart. These markings have no other meaning. If such an Issue comes into play, take marker I first. If the same Issue comes into play again, take marker II. Both markers are treated separately and can be won by different Parties, for example.

Yellow Issue Markers belong to certain Events and come into play through them.

All white Issue Markers and their effects are listed in the Appendix (see 6.5) and on the Player Aids. The effects of yellow Issue Markers are described on their corresponding card.

Symbols: any white Issue Marker; any Issue Marker; the shown Issue Marker (here: Security); the yellow Issue Marker mentioned in the text.

5.4. Crisis Rolls

Various effects instruct a Party to make a Crisis Roll. When you need to make a Crisis Roll, roll exactly 2 dice. Then perform all effects that correspond to your highest die. (Ignore the second die if both show the same value.) The effects are listed in the table on the Game Board. If you cannot perform 1 of the effects, ignore it.

EXAMPLE: SPD must make a Crisis Roll. It rolls a 1 and a 2. Only the 2 counts, so it loses 1 Seat and must remove 1 Party Base. Since SPD does not currently have any Party Bases, it only loses the Seat.

5.5. Success Rolls

Most actions (and some Events) have their impact decided by a Success Roll. Each Success Roll follows this sequence in order:

Determine the number of dice: Look at the board or card to see what your die count is. This can be a fixed number and/or depend on how many Bases/Units you have. Each Unit contributes dice according to its strength (1 or 2, see 5.9).
- You can never roll more than 5 dice. If your number is higher, you still roll only 5 dice.
- If you get to 0 dice or less, you cannot perform the action.
Reaction: If your action can be Reacted to, one player may React (see 4.4). Often, a successful Reaction will reduce the number of dice you roll or your result. (Typical Reaction results: 5–6 = opponent −1; 7+ = opponent's result −1.)
Increase result: Some actions give you the option to spend 2 additional Action Points to increase your result by 1. You must make this decision before rolling the dice.
Roll the dice and determine the result: Roll all dice once.
- Only your highest die counts (if you roll multiple highest dice, only 1 of them counts).
- If you roll more than a single 6, your result increases by 1 for each additional 6.
- Only after doing this, you apply any modifications (result +1/-1, if any).
- Note: You cannot apply modifications to 'artificially' roll a 6 to further increase your result.
Resolve effect: Resolve the effect that corresponds to your final result. The exact effects are indicated on the board or card (depending on the action). Often a low result can lead to a negative effect. (Result bands are typically shown as 1 / 2–4 / 5+.)

EXAMPLE: You have 4 dice available for an action. Another player performs a successful Reaction (your result –1). With your roll you get: 3 5 6 6. Your highest die is a 6. Since you have an additional 6, your result increases by 1 to result in a 7. After applying the modification (–1 by the Reaction), your final result is 6.

5.6. Party Bases in cities

Figures can be placed as Party Bases in cities through the Demonstration action and various Events. They represent the support of the local population and are needed to respond to enemy actions in a city. Each city has spaces for 2 to 5 Bases.

When you place a Party Base, take a figure from your own supply and place it in your chosen (or the indicated) city. If all Party Base spaces in the city are already occupied – instead of placing a figure – remove an opposing Party's Base of your choice from the city.

If you must remove a Party Base, take 1 of your figures from any city (or the indicated city) back into your supply.

Symbols: "own" Base plus arrow = Place a Party Base in a city (here: one of your own). "any" Base plus X = Remove a Party Base from a city (here: any one).

EXAMPLE: SPD may place a Party Base in Leipzig. Since all spaces there are already occupied, SPD removes 1 of the DNVP Bases there instead. DNVP takes the removed figure back into their supply.

Action: Demonstration

The main goal of a Demonstration is to place new Party Bases in the chosen city. This action costs 1 AP. You may only perform it once per Impulse. A Reaction is possible (see 4.4).

You determine the effects with a Success Roll according to the information on your Party Board. You get 1 die, plus a number of dice equal to the strength of your Units in the city. You may spend 2 additional AP before rolling to increase the final result by 1. Perform the Roll and resolve the effect that corresponds to your result.

SPD: SPD rolls 3 dice (regardless of their Units in the city).
Zentrum: Before the Success Roll, Zentrum may move 1 Police Unit into the city (without additional costs, taken from any other city or the supply).

Note: The Parties have different titles for this action such as "March" or "Beer Tent". These are purely thematic and have no gameplay effect.

5.7. Parliament

Parliament has 24 fixed Seats. A Party Figure placed in Parliament represents 1 Seat of that Party in Parliament.

When you gain a Seat, place 1 of your Party Figures on an empty space of Parliament. All Seats are of equal value, so any seat that is still vacant can be chosen. If all 24 Seats are occupied, place the figure on the "overflow" square to the right of it instead. Any number of figures may be placed in overflow. Figures in overflow are considered to be in a "Seat" and "in Parliament" for all rules. In step 7 of the Politics Phase, excess Seats are cut (see 4.4).

If you lose a Seat, remove 1 of your figures from Parliament (taken first from overflow if possible), and put it back into your supply.

Symbols: a Seat with an arrow = gain 1 Seat; a Seat with an X = lose 1 Seat.

5.8. Government and Foreign Affairs

The distribution of Seats in Parliament determines the formation of the Government in step 8 of the Politics Phase (see 4.4). At least 1 of the democratic Parties (SPD/Zentrum) must always be part of the Government. Otherwise, the game ends prematurely with the victory of the sole governing radical Party (see 4. Flow of the Game).

Parties that are in Government control the white Government Units and can perform the Foreign Affairs action. In addition, they have the opportunity to gain additional VP in Step 5 of the Politics Phase (see 4.4) but also risk losing Seats. The Party in Government with the most Seats controls the Chancellor, and decides the winner of all ties in case of doubt.

Foreign Affairs is represented by cards that stand for important conferences and treaties on the way out of international isolation. The cards of the Foreign Affairs deck on display come into play in a fixed order and correspond to the spaces of the Foreign Affairs track. There are two Timeline Cards (Treaty of Rapallo and Germany in the League of Nations) that may come into play and are then placed next to the Foreign Affairs deck.

Parties that are in Government can negotiate any Foreign Affairs Card on display as part of a Foreign Affairs action. There are three ways to perform a Foreign Affairs action:

For 2 Action Points, if you perform actions during the Impulse Phase (see 4.3).
- Note: This action option is not indicated on the Government Board. Instead, it is listed (along with its cost) on each individual Foreign Affairs Card.
In Step 2 of the Politics Phase, if you win a Foreign Affairs Issue (see 4.4).
In Step 4 of the Politics Phase, if you control the DDP (see 4.4).

Flag Tokens. Flag Tokens represent the relationship between the three main post-war negotiating partners (USA/UK, France, USSR) and increase the chances of success in Foreign Affairs negotiations. Flag Tokens are always placed in the Foreign Affairs Token area at the bottom left of the game board.

Action: Foreign Affairs (Government only)

Choose 1 Foreign Affairs Card that you want to negotiate. This can be either the top card of the Foreign Affairs deck, or 1 of the revealed and face up Foreign Affairs Cards. If there are effects indicated above the Success Roll, perform them. (Often the DNVP will gain advantages from this.)

Exception: If the Treaty of Versailles card is resolved, the Violent Peace Threat Marker is not placed in the DR Box until after the success roll. Thus, if there are already 6 Threat Markers in the DR Box, the Treaty of Versailles can still be resolved in order to remove all Blockade Threat Markers and thus prevent the Republic from failing.

You determine the results with a Success Roll according to the information on the chosen card. Usually, you get to roll 1 die, plus 1 die for each flag of the shown nation that is in play (see box above). Many cards give you +1 to your final value during a round. Check after your roll:

Necessary result reached? Resolve all specified effects and remove the card from the game. If it was the top card of the Foreign Affairs deck, also move the Foreign Affairs Tracker 1 space to the right. The next card of the Foreign Affairs deck is now available.
Otherwise, the card remains in play for a later attempt.

Note: This action does not take place in any particular city. Therefore, it can be performed in addition to the actions in your chosen city.

5.9. Units and street fighting

Each Party has a different number of their own unique Party Units (in their color) that they control. In addition, there are white Government Units, in the form of Police and Reichswehr. They are always controlled by the current governing Parties in Government.

Zentrum: Zentrum does not have its own Units. Instead, it always has control over Police Units (not Reichswehr), even when it is not in Government.

All Units are listed in the Appendix (see 6.2).

The Party and Government Boards show the respective Unit's supply. It indicates which Units are available in the supply from the beginning of the game, and which can only be added by cards. Only Units that are in the supply can be used. All other Units are not (yet) in play and cannot be interacted with in any way.

When a Party plays an Event with Unit reinforcements, it takes the specified Units not yet in play and places them in its supply (unless otherwise specified).

Unit strength. Units have a strength of 1 or 2 (indicated by small dice symbols in the corners) and grant a corresponding number of dice for actions and Reactions in their city. The illustrations on the markers provide no gameplay effects.

Control over Government Units. Government Units (Police/Reichswehr) are always controlled by the current governing Parties. Additionally, Zentrum always controls Police Units (regardless if they are in Government or not). The DNVP can use the Take Control action to gain control of Government Reichswehr Units (not Police!), turning them to their black side; while SPD and Zentrum can use the Take Control action to take back control of Units the DNVP took control of.

Action: Take Control

Take Control of 1 Reichswehr Unit (of any strength!) in the chosen city. This action costs 2 AP (DNVP: 3 AP).

KPD cannot perform a Take Control action. Any democratic Party must be in Government to perform this action.

As DNVP, turn 1 white Reichswehr in the chosen city to its black-colored side; it is now considered a DNVP unit. As SPD or Zentrum, turn 1 black-side-up Reichswehr in the chosen city back to its white side.

In either case, no Success Roll is required to do so.

Move Units

Units can be moved with the Mobilize action as well as some Events. Anytime you Move a Unit, you may choose to move it from the supply (found on the Party or Government Board) or from any city, then you can move it to any city (or the city mentioned in the text). There may be any number of Units in a city. Units that are not yet in play cannot be moved under any circumstances.

Action: Mobilize

Move 1 Unit under your control either from your supply (Party/Government Board), or from any city, to the chosen city. This action costs 1 AP. You cannot move Units by the Mobilize action from the Dissolved Unit area (only specific effects allow this).

Dissolve Units

When you Dissolve a Unit, take the Unit from the city indicated and place it in the Dissolved Unit area below Breslau. From there, they can only be placed back in a city by a specific effect (see symbol on the right) or by winning a Security Issue Marker. Dissolved Units cannot be moved by a Mobilize action.

Important: Government Units (including black-side-up Reichswehr) can never be Dissolved; and you cannot Dissolve any type of Unit in the supply of any Party Board.

Action: Fight (Government only)

Use the Fight action to attempt to Dissolve 1 Opposing Unit using the Government Units in the chosen city. This action costs 2 AP. You may only perform it once per Impulse. A Reaction is possible (see 4.4).

Choose 1 Party that is in opposition and has at least 1 Unit in the city to be the Opposing Party for this action. You determine the effects with a Success Roll according to the information on the Government Board. You get to roll 1 die plus a number of dice as follow:

Add up the strength of all Government Units in the city.
If the DNVP agrees, also add the strength of all flipped Reichswehr Units (black side up).
Then subtract the strength of all Opposing Units in the city.

Your final value is increased by 1 if the KPD is your opponent. In addition, you may spend 2 additional AP before the roll to increase the final value by 1. Perform the Roll and resolve the effect that corresponds to your result.

5.10. Threat Markers

Orange Threat Markers are general in nature. On the back of the Poverty Markers are green Prosperity Markers. In addition, there are Party-specific Threat Markers of the DNVP and KPD. They represent local Government power in a city.

If a Threat Marker is to be put into play: the symbol and text (if any) show where to place it (in the DR Box, if it affects the entire country; or in a specific or random city). If a Threat Marker is to be placed in a random city, roll 2 dice and use the sum in combination with the city table on the Game Board to determine the city.

Anytime a Threat Marker is removed, it goes back into the supply (from where it can put into play again later).

Symbols: Bring the shown marker into play … in the DR Box / in the city mentioned in the text / in a random city.

Threats in a city

There can be a maximum of 1 Poverty or Prosperity, 1 Unrest, and 1 Party Threat Marker in a single city at the same time. Other Threat Markers are never placed in cities. The following rules apply:

Poverty/Prosperity (12x): Can come into play through Events or actions. Cancel each other out: If a Prosperity Marker is to be placed in a city when there is already a Poverty Marker there, the Poverty Marker is removed instead. Conversely, Poverty removes Prosperity. If a second marker of the same type is to be placed at the same city, apply the following:

Poverty: Place the Poverty Marker in the DR Box instead (maximum 2 there, and any more beyond 2 are ignored).
Prosperity: Instead of placing the marker, a Poverty Marker is removed from the DR Box (if present).

Unrest (11x): Can come into play through Events or actions. Improves the actions of the DNVP and KPD. Maximum 1 per city (never in the DR Box). If a second Unrest Marker must be placed in a city, do not place it instead.

Threats in the DR Box

Threat Markers that affect the entire country, and mostly come into play as a result of Events, are placed in the DR Box (at the top of the Game Board). If a marker is to be placed here, and there is none left in the supply, ignore placing that marker.

Threats in the DR Box have no immediate effect on the game. However, too many markers will cause the Republic to descend into anarchy. Once the Seventh Threat Marker must be placed in the DR Box, instead of placing the seventh marker, the game ends immediately (see "Game Objective and End", 4. Flow of the Game).

Inflation (3x): During setup, 1 Inflation Marker was placed in the DR Box. Events can place more Inflation Markers in the DR Box (maximum 3). Inflation Markers can be removed by introducing "Rentenmark" (see "Unique card details", 6.1).

Blockade (3x): During setup, 1 Inflation Marker was placed in the DR Box. At the end of each round, 1 more Blockade Marker is placed in the DR Box (maximum 3) until the Treaty of Versailles Foreign Affairs Card is successfully negotiated. This permanently removes all Blockade Markers from the game (see "Unique card details", 6.1).

Violent Peace (2x): Placed in the DR Box by Events and Foreign Affairs Cards (maximum 2). In the Politics Phase of each round, remove 1 Violent Peace Marker from the DR Box (see 4.4).

Instable State (2x): Placed in the DR Box by the NSDAP track and Coup actions of the radical Parties (maximum 2). In the Politics Phase of each round, remove 1 Instable State Marker from the DR Box (see 4.4).

Minority Cabinet (1x): Placed in the DR Box when a Government is formed that does not have at least 50% of the occupied Seats in Parliament (see 4.4). Removed only when a new Government is formed with at least 50% of the Seats.

Black Friday (2x): Placed in the DR Box by the Round Card of the same name and the Timeline Card Banking Crisis. Cannot be removed, and remains permanently in the game.

Party Threat Marker in a City

Any Radical Party can win the game early by placing Regime (for DNVP victory) or Councils (for KPD victory) Markers either in any 4 cities; or, in Berlin and 2 other cities.

With the Coup action (and some Events), DNVP can place a Regime Threat Marker, and KPD can place a Councils Threat Marker. Placing a Party Threat Marker automatically removes any Party Threat Marker that was already there; thus, there can only be 1 Party Threat Marker (in total among all kinds, flipped or not) in a city at the same time. The democratic Parties can remove Threat Markers with a Counter-Coup.

An Uprising Marker is a precursor to a Councils Threat Marker, and can be placed by the KPD by a Demonstration action; and by a further Demonstration action by the KPD, it can be replaced by a Councils Marker.

If DNVP or KPD enter Government, their Party's Threat Markers are flipped to their inactive side. They are ignored in all scoring. Only when the Party leaves the Government does it turn its Threat Markers back to the front side.

Action: Coup/Counter-Coup

Both actions work similarly, but differ in their objectives:

The radical Parties attempt to place a Regime or Councils Marker with a Coup. To do this, the Party must be in opposition (not in Government), and there must not already be 1 of their markers in the city.
The democratic Parties try to remove a Regime, Councils, or Uprising Marker with a Counter-Coup. For this to happen, the Party must be in Government and there must be a Regime, Councils, or Uprising Marker in the city.

This action costs 4 AP (DNVP: 3 AP). You may only perform it once per Impulse. A Reaction is possible (see 4.4).

You determine the effects with a Success Roll according to the information on your Party Board. You get to roll a number of dice equal to the strength of your Units minus the strength of Opposing Units (see table):

KPD / DNVP: You roll 1 additional die if there is Unrest in the city. In addition, your result is increased by 1 if Poverty is in the city; or if there is not, you may spend 2 additional AP to increase your result by 1.
SPD / Zentrum: Your result is increased by 1 if Prosperity is in the city; or if there is not, you may spend 2 additional AP to increase your result by 1.

Perform the Roll and resolve the effect that corresponds to your result. As usual, if spending AP to increase your result, you must do this before you roll.

Important: After each successful Coup, check if the game ends prematurely, either by too many Councils, Republics, or Regime Markers; or by too many Threat Markers in the DR box. Otherwise, check if the condition for the current economic level is still met and lower it if necessary (see 5.11).

Opposing Units

A Coup/Counter-Coup is always directed against the current "power" in the chosen city. Their Units are considered the "Opposing" Units and Party:

	Your Units	Opposing Units
SPD Counter-Coup	All SPD and Government Units	All Units of the Party whose Threat Marker is in the city (KPD or DNVP)
Zentrum Counter-Coup	All Government Units	All Units of the Party whose Threat Marker is in the city (KPD or DNVP)
KPD Coup	All KPD Units	Threat Marker of another Party present? Then: All Units of that Party (KPD or DNVP). Otherwise: All Government Units. Plus optional: All Units of other Parties present there*
DNVP Coup	All DNVP units (including flipped black-side-up Reichswehr Units)	Threat Marker of another Party present? Then: All Units of that Party (KPD or DNVP). Otherwise: All Government Units. Plus optional: All Units of other Parties present there*

* All other Parties with Units in the city choose in a clockwise order whether to remain neutral or to oppose the Coup. If they decide to oppose, their Units also become Opposing Units.

EXAMPLE: In the last round, KPD performed a Coup to place a Councils Marker in Essen. Later, SPD performs a Counter-Coup in Essen. They gain dice for all SPD (+1) and Government Units (+3), and they lose dice for all KPD Units (–1). They succeed on the Success Roll and remove the Councils Marker. After that, the DNVP sees an optimal chance to perform a Coup. Since there is no longer a Councils Marker there, the Government Units are the only guaranteed Opposing Units, depending on if SPD and KPD decide to oppose the Coup with their Units or not.

5.11. Economy

The Economy Track at the bottom of the Game Board shows the state of the German economy. The level of the Economy Tracker determines how much Poverty or Prosperity comes into play during the Politics Phase of each round (see 4.4). Various Events, Foreign Affairs Cards, and winning an Economy Issue Marker can affect the economy for better or worse.

For the Economy Tracker to reach level 4, there must be no more than 2 Councils and/or Regime Markers on the Game Board, and none at all for level 5. If the Economy Tracker is to be moved to the right, but the condition is not met, forfeit making this movement.

Important: The condition of the current economic level must be met at all times. Therefore, always check it when a Regime/Councils Marker comes into play. If the condition is no longer met at any time (e.g., due to a successful Coup), immediately move the Economy Tracker 1 space to the left.

Symbols: −1 with the Economy symbol = Move the Economy Tracker 1 space to the left. +1 with the Economy symbol = Move the Economy Tracker 1 space to the right. A "max 0!" box shows the condition that must be met to advance to the following Economy level.

5.12. NSDAP and NSDAP Track

The NSDAP is not a playable Party. Instead, your actions and decisions determine how strong their influence becomes.

Some Events instruct or give you the choice to place a Party Figure on the NSDAP Track. Figures are always placed there from left to right on the first unoccupied space. When you place a figure there, you must immediately resolve all effects shown below the box where you placed your figure. From the second space, the NSDAP gains Seats in Parliament and a Threat Marker comes into play (e.g., Unrest in a random city, or the Instable State Marker in the DR Box).

Once the sixth Party Figure is placed on the NSDAP Track, the game ends immediately (see "Game Objective and End", 4. Flow of the Game). All players lose together. The Party with the most figures on this track has enabled and made this seizure of power by the NSDAP possible.

5.13. Minor Parties (DDP, DVP, USPD)

Each Minor Party is always controlled by 1 of 2 eligible Player Parties:

DDP: SPD / Zentrum
DVP: DNVP / Zentrum
USPD: KPD / SPD

The initial allocation takes place during game setup. After that, control can change during the Politics Phase. Whoever wins the Issue Marker of a Minor Party determines who gains control of the corresponding Minor Party. A choice may only be made between the eligible player Parties.

Whoever controls a Minor Party receives its corresponding card, flips it to their Party's side, and places it at the bottom right of their Party Board. Each Minor Party grants its owner two benefits during the Politics Phase:

A unique bonus during step 4 of the Politics Phase (see 4.4); and,
Additional Seats during Step 7 (see 4.4), the number of which depends on the Minor Party and the current round.

5.14. Special Cards (Stresemann/Reichspräsident)

The Gustav Stresemann Card always belongs to the player who controls the DVP. As soon as control of DVP changes, this card also changes hands (without being flipped). It can be used as a Reaction to repeat any die roll. This can be your own die roll or that of another player, and you/they must accept the new result.

The Reichspräsident Card only enters the game when Friedrich Ebert (the Reichspräsident at the beginning of the game) dies, and a new Reichspräsident is elected (see 6.1). From that point on, the Reichspräsident Card belongs to the player whose Party won the election. The Reichspräsident Card can be used to perform a Debate just after you played a Party Card (not a Timeline Card) for Actions or its Event. In other words: after fully resolving a Party Card, use that same Party Card again to immediately perform a Debate as normal (but ignore the text on the Party Card afterwards).

Important: Both cards are the only exception that you can use to 'React to yourself'. They can be used once per Game Round. After they are used, they are flipped to their inactive side, and during the Politics Phase they are flipped back to their active side.

6. Appendix and reference

6.1. Unique card details

Cards marked with this symbol are additionally explained in this section. Check here if you have a question about any of these cards during the game.

Iron Front (SPD Card S 22). The middle effect of the card delays the NSDAP's rise to power. However, this can open up interesting possibilities for political opponents. As soon as the next Party Figure would be placed on the NSDAP Track by any player (e.g., by an Event); instead, do not place that figure. The other effects of the played card are still performed (only the NSDAP placement is canceled).

Friedrich Ebert Dies (Timeline Card A 63). This card causes the death of the current Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert and the election of a new Reichspräsident. The election takes place in two ballots. Each Party automatically provides a candidate for whom there is a corresponding Reichspräsident Marker.

Each player rolls 1 die and adds the number of their own Party Bases in all cities. This is the number of votes for each of the two ballots. After rolling, you may lose 1 of your own Seats to roll again, but you must accept the new result. In the 1st ballot, everyone automatically votes for their own candidate. Consequently, the candidates of the two Parties with the most votes advance.

Whoever played the card determines the order in the 2nd ballot. Each player votes with all their votes for any of the two candidates. Whoever receives the most votes becomes the new Reichspräsident and places their Party's Reichspräsident Marker on the space for the current Reichspräsident (in the DR Box). They also receive the Reichspräsident Card with its active side up.

Petition against Young Plan (Round Card A 06). This card is activated only if the Petition against Young Plan Foreign Affairs Card has been successfully negotiated. In this case, the petition against this plan will take the form of an election. Otherwise, it is ignored.

Each player rolls 1 die and adds the number of their own Party Bases in all cities. This is the number of their votes. After rolling, you may lose 1 of your own Seats to roll again, but you must accept the new result.

The Chancellor determines the order in which votes are cast. Everyone votes with all of their votes for either YES (for the petition) or NO (against the petition). Then either the left or right effect is activated, depending on the result. In case of a tie, the Chancellor decides, as usual.

The Strike on Prussia (Timeline Card A 75). If you play this card (regardless of Party) and want to perform the effects of the Event, you must place your own Party Figure on the NSDAP Track. Alternatively, you can decline, and not place the figure or perform the effects. However, if you decline as an SPD/KPD/Zentrum player, the DNVP player immediately resolves the effects instead, for free, without placing a figure on the NSDAP track.

Rentenmark (Round Card A 02) and End of Hyperinflation (Zentrum Card Z 12). The game begins with Inflation in play, represented by 1 Inflation Marker in the DR Box. As the game progresses, more Inflation Markers may come into play as a result of Events. Two cards offer the option of eliminating inflation by "introducing Rentenmark": the Round Card 2 Rentenmark and the Zentrum Party Card End of Hyperinflation.

If the introduction succeeds, all Inflation Markers in play are removed. In addition, no more Inflation Markers can come into play in the future. Corresponding effects are ignored.

Rentenmark can be introduced only once. Once this is done by 1 card, the Event introducing Rentenmark on the other card can no longer be resolved.

Treaty of Versailles (Foreign Affairs Card A 11). At the beginning of the game, there is 1 Blockade Marker in the DR Box. As long as the Foreign Affairs Card Treaty of Versailles is in play, another Blockade marker is placed in the DR Box at the end of each round. Once the card is successfully negotiated, all Blockade Markers are removed from the game. No more Blockade Markers can come into play in the future. Corresponding effects are ignored.

Important: If the Treaty of Versailles is resolved, the Violent Peace Threat Marker is not placed in the DR Box until after the success roll. Thus, if there are already 6 Threat Markers in the DR Box, the Treaty of Versailles card can still be activated in order to remove all Blockade Threat Markers and thus prevent the Republic from failing.

6.2. Units (Listing)

This table lists all Units, and how many exist of each type in total. Next, how many are available at the start of the game is noted (in their corresponding supplies); and finally, the cards that bring the rest of their kind into play through reinforcement card effects are noted.

SPD Units

Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold (3x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (S 25, D Set).

Government Units

Police (5x). All in the supply from the beginning. No further reinforcement.

Reichswehr, Strength 1 (3x). In the supply at the start: 1x. Additional Units from the cards:

1x Garde-Kavallerie-Schützen (Z 08, basic)
1x Treaty of Rapallo (Timeline Card A 33)

Reichswehr, Strength 2 (3x). In the supply at the start: 1x. Additional Units from the cards:

1x Returning Soldiers (Timeline Card A 53)
1x Treaty of Rapallo (Timeline Card A 33)

KPD Units

Soldiers (3x). All in the supply from the beginning. No further reinforcement.

Workers (3x). All in the supply from the beginning. No further reinforcement.

Spartacist Uprising (3x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (K 10, basic).

Rote Ruhrarmee (2x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (K 22, R set).

Roter Frontkämpferbund (3x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (K 23, R set).

DNVP Units

Freikorps, Strength 1 (3x). In the supply at the start: 2x. Additional Unit from the card: 1x Marine-Brigade von Loewenfeld (D 07, basic).

Freikorps, Strength 2 (3x). In the supply at the start: 1x. Additional Units from the cards:

1x Returning Soldiers (Timeline Card A 54)
1x Marine-Brigade Erhardt (D 08, basic)

Stahlhelm (3x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (D 27, P set).

6.3. Threat Markers (Listing)

This table lists all Threat Markers. After the name of the markers, their number is indicated. The description of the Threat Markers is the same as on the Threat Markers chapter (5.10) and are repeated here only for the sake of completeness.

Threat Markers in Cities and/or the DR Box

Poverty: The second Poverty Marker is placed in the DR Box instead (maximum 2 there, and any more beyond 2 are ignored).
Prosperity: Instead of placing the marker, a Poverty Marker is removed from the DR Box (if present).

Unrest (11x): Can come into play through Events or actions. Improves the actions of the DNVP and KPD. Maximum 1 per city (never in DR Box). If a second Unrest Marker must be placed in a city, do not place it instead.

Threat Markers exclusively in the DR Box

Blockade (3x): During setup, 1 Blockade Marker was placed in the DR Box. At the end of each round, 1 more Blockade Marker is placed in the DR Box (maximum 3), until the Treaty of Versailles Foreign Affairs Card is successfully negotiated. This permanently removes all Blockade Markers from the game (see "Unique card details", 6.1).

Violent Peace (2x): Placed in the DR Box by Events and Foreign Affairs Cards (maximum 2). In the Politics Phase of each round, remove 1 Violent Peace Marker from the DR Box (see 4.4).

Black Friday (2x): Placed in the DR Box by the Round Card of the same name and the Timeline Card Banking Crisis. Cannot be removed, and remains permanently in the game.

Party Threat Marker

Regime/Councils/Uprising (4x each): Placed in cities by the DNVP or KPD with the Coup action and can be removed by a Counter-Coup (see 5.10). These Parties win the game early if they place their associated marker in: any 4 cities; or, Berlin and 2 other cities (see 4. Flow of the Game). An Uprising is a precursor to a Councils and can be placed by the KPD using Demonstrations (see 5.6). These markers are flipped over as soon as their Party enters Government (see 4.4).

6.4. Society Marker (Listing)

This table describes 1 white Society Marker representative of each possible effect. The yellow markers are listed in full.

White Society Markers

The Rich: The specified Party (here: Zentrum) may Mobilize (i.e., move) the specified Units (2x Police).
Workers: The specified Party (here: SPD) places 1 Party Base in a city of their choice.
The Poor: The specified Party (here: DNVP) puts the specified Threat Marker (here: Unrest) into play in a city of their choice.
Workers: The specified Party (here: KPD) gains 1 Seat.
Farmers: The indicated Party (here: Zentrum) gains 1 victory point.
Citizens: The Party controlling the indicated Minor Party (here: DDP) gains 1 victory point.

Yellow Society Markers

Protecting Republic Law: The Chancellor chooses any 1 Unit and Dissolves it (you cannot choose a Government Unit).
USPD: SPD receives all the benefits of the USPD, just as if it controlled the USPD.
Red Flag: KPD removes 1 of its Party Bases from any city; if they do, they place 1 Uprising Marker in that city.
Revolution!: KPD may Mobilize (i.e., move) 1 of its Dissolved Units (from the Dissolved Units area) to a city of their choice.
Unemployment Insurance: A Poverty Issue Marker comes into play on SPD's "3" space.
Thule Society: The Stab in the Back Issue Marker comes into play on DNVP's "1" space.
Stinnes-Legien Agreement: SPD gains 1 Seat and Zentrum places 1 Party Base in any city they choose.
Swimming Trunks: SPD loses 1 Seat.
Labor Welfare: SPD gains 1 Seat and chooses 1 option to resolve: Zentrum loses 1 Seat or DNVP loses 1 Seat.
Armored Cruiser: Zentrum gains 1 Seat and chooses 1 option to resolve: SPD loses 1 Seat or KPD loses 1 Seat.

6.5. Issue Markers (Listing)

This description of all white Issue Markers can also be found on the Player Aids. The options of the yellow Issue Markers are indicated on the corresponding card.

Marker	Option 1	Option 2
Economy	Move the Economy Tracker on the Economy Track 1 space to the right (if conditions are met). Then put 1 Prosperity Marker into play in a random city.	Place 2 Party Bases in any cities.
Media	Choose 1 white Society Marker from the supply and put it into play on the Society Track.	no second option
Security	Choose 1 city: Dissolve 1 Unit of your choice in this city (you cannot choose a Government Unit), and remove 1 Unrest Marker from this city.	Move 1 of your own Units from the Dissolved Units area into any city.
Foreign Affairs	Selectable only as a governing Party: Place 1 flag of your choice in the Foreign Affairs area at the bottom left of the board. Then you may perform 1 Foreign Affairs action (see 5.8).	Gain 1 victory point.
Poverty	Remove any 1 Poverty Marker from the Game Board (city or DR Box).	Gain 1 Seat in Parliament.
Reparations	Draw 1 Party Card for the next round. You also become the starting player in the next round.	no second option
Stab in the Back	DNVP places 2 Party Bases in any cities and gains 1 Seat in Parliament.	Remove 1 of your Party Bases from any city. (Note: Choosing this option allows you to avoid Option 1.)

Minor Parties. Determine the player who gains control of the corresponding Minor Party. You may only choose between players whose Parties are indicated on the card of the corresponding Minor Party.

Once a player gains control of a Minor Party, they take the corresponding Minor Party Card and flip it to the side that shows their Party.

7. Index

General

Agenda Cards, selection → Agenda Phase, 13
Crisis Roll, 20
Dice roll
- Crisis roll, 20
- Success roll, 21
Economy Marker/level, 26
Election as Reichspräsident → Cards / Friedrich Ebert Dies
Enemy Units, 25
Expansion sets, 13
Form Government, 19
Golden Chancellor Rule, 12
Government Units, 23
Inflation → Rentenmark (A 02), 27
Issue Markers, 20
- Move → Play card to Debate, 14
- Overview in the appendix, 31
Minor Parties, 26
- Additional Seats, 18
- Bonus in Politics Phase, 17
Minority Cabinet, 19
Party Base, 21
- Full city, 21
- Place, 21
Party deck, 11
- Expand (with expansion set), 13
Play order, 13
Random city, 24
Reaction, 16
Reichspräsident, 16, 26
- Election → Cards / Friedrich Ebert Dies
- Special card, 26
Reichswehr, 23
Remove card from game, 14
Rentenmark, → Cards / Rentenmark
Reserve, 14
Seats (in Parliament), 22
Select Agenda Card → Agenda Phase, 13
Society Markers, 20
- Bring into play, 20
- Overview in the appendix, 30
- Process, 17
Society Track, 8
- Full, 20
- Place new markers, 20
Strength (of Units), 23
Success roll, 21
Tie → Golden Chancellor Rule
Threat Marker, 24
- Bring into play, 24
- End of turn (KPD/DNVP) → Form Government
- Overview in appendix, 29
Units, 23
- Dissolve/move, 23
- Enemy, 25
- Government Units, 23
- Overview in the appendix, 28
- Own, 23

Actions

Coup, 25
Counter-Coup, 25
Demonstration, 21
Fight (Government only), 23
Foreign Affairs (Government only), 22
Mobilize, 23
Reaction, 16
Reserve, 14
Take Control, 23

Cards

End of Hyperinflation (Z 12) → Rentenmark
Friedrich Ebert Dies (A 63), 27
Gustav Stresemann, 26
Iron Front (S 22), 27
Petition against Young Plan (A 06), 27
Reichspräsident, 26
Rentenmark (A 02), 27
The Strike on Prussia (A 75), 27
Treaty of Versailles (A 11), 27

Parties

DNVP, 10
- In the Government → Special cases, 19
- Regime Marker, 25
- Reichswehr, Take Control, 23
KPD, 10
- Councils Marker, 25
- In the Government → Special cases, 19
- Uprising Marker, 25
SPD, 10
Zentrum, 10
- Control over Police, 23
- No Units of their own, 23

Scenarios (from the Playbook)

The rulebook teaches the "Main Scenario" of Weimar, which is for exactly 4 players and can last up to 6 rounds of play. In addition to this main scenario, there are 3 other scenarios described in this playbook:

Republic on the Brink (solo): A solo scenario about the first 2 rounds of the game, suitable for deepening your understanding of the rules.
The War of Brothers (4 players): Takes place over the first 2 rounds of play and is thus very similar to the beginning of the main scenario, but much shorter. It is a good introduction for new players.
Dancing on the Volcano (4 players): Runs over the last 2 rounds of the game and thus focuses on the years 1929 to 1933, when the financial crisis and the rise of the NSDAP pose major challenges to the Republic.

1. Republic on the Brink (solo)

This scenario is played solo and lasts 2 rounds. It's best for internalizing the rules and gameplay before you explain the game to others.

You take control of the SPD and – with some restrictions – of Zentrum. Your opponents (KPD, DNVP) are "semi-automatic" bots. You determine their actions via decision tables. After the 2 rounds you check if you have won based on 10 criteria. Since the SPD is your "main Party", 4 of the criteria depend on the success of the SPD.

Weimar is a very dynamic game, where every single card requires multiple decisions. Therefore, there are no flowcharts typical for bots: They would be too complicated to be fun. Instead, their behavior is largely determined by prioritized decision tables. These priorities define the gameplay and desired behavior of the bots.

General rule: You have to facilitate that the bots play in the best way possible to try and defeat you.

1.1. Game Setup

The game setup corresponds to the normal game setup (see 2. Main Scenario Setup). Follow the instructions there. Randomly determine the seating order of the Parties. As usual, in the first round, the Chancellor (you) decides which Party starts. After that, the game proceeds in a clockwise direction.

The game comes with 5 double-sided Overview Cards for this scenario. Place them in your play area where you can easily see them.

1.2. Game End and Victory

This scenario ends no later than the Politics Phase of Round 2. Then go through the 10 criterions in the table on the right and check how many you have met:

5 or more criteria met is a small victory.
8 or more criteria met is a big victory.

All other results and any early end of the game are considered a defeat.

No.	Category	Criterion
1	Seats in Parliament	SPD has 10+ Seats in Parliament.
2	Party Bases	SPD has 10+ Bases in cities.
3	Economy	Economy at level 3+.
4	Foreign Affairs	"London Ultimatum" successfully completed.
5	Inflation	No Inflation in play.
6	Councils / Regimes	At most 1 city with a Councils and/or Regime Marker.
7	Threats in the Empire	At most 2 Threat Markers in DR Box.
8	victory points	SPD has 15+ victory points.
9	Government	SPD is in Government after the last Policy Phase.
10	Dissolved Units	3+ Dissolved Units of KPD and/or DNVP

Note: An indication like "3+" always means "3 or more".

1.3. Rules for your Parties

You play SPD and Zentrum, the 2 Parties of the "Weimar Coalition", with SPD as Chancellor. With SPD, you have complete control. However, to simulate the rivalry between these two Parties, you must apply the following rules for Zentrum:

Debate with value 1: Whenever Zentrum has a value of 1 available for a Debate, you must move an Issue currently controlled by SPD if possible.
Remove Base: Whenever Zentrum is about to remove an enemy Base, roll 1 die first.
- 1 or 2? You must remove an SPD Base if possible.
- 3 to 6 or there is no SPD Base? You are free to choose.
Reactions to KPD/DNVP: Whenever Zentrum is eligible (Base + Reserve Point) to React to a KPD or DNVP action, roll 1 die.
- KPD action? On 3 or more, Zentrum performs the Reaction.
- DNVP action? On 5 or more, Zentrum performs the Reaction.

Note: These rules are also summarized on one of this scenario's Overview Cards.

1.4. Rules for Bot Parties

1.4.1 Overarching rules

The following overarching rules apply to bots:

In the spirit of the Party: Whenever an action is not fully determined by the scenario rules, always make the decision in the best interest of the bot, following the prioritization of the corresponding decision table.
React whenever possible: Whenever a bot has the opportunity to React, it performs that Reaction.
No politicians for Reactions: Bots play their cards in hand in a random order. Therefore, they cannot use their Politician cards for Reactions.
Neutral in Coups: When a Coup is performed, the Units of the other bot (or both bots, if you (the player) performs a Counter-Coup) are always considered neutral.
City selection on Crisis Rolls: If a bot must choose a city due to the effect of a Crisis Roll, it selects the city lowest in priority on which the effect can be applied.
Winning Issues: When a bot wins an Issue, it always chooses the option that helps it the most.

1.4.2. Opponent priority

Whenever a bot needs to choose a Party or player for a negative effect, it chooses the first Party in the following list that can perform the corresponding effect as completely as possible. (In the rare case of a positive effect, the bot goes through the following list from back to front).

KPD: Zentrum > SPD > DNVP
DNVP: SPD > KPD > Zentrum

1.4.3. City priority for Bases and Units

Whenever a bot needs to select a city to place its own Base or Unit, follow the table below. Note only the two conditions for "Base" or "Unit", depending on what is to be placed. The bot chooses the city with the highest priority to which condition #1 applies. If there is no such city, it goes through all cities for condition #2. Otherwise, it chooses the city with the highest priority without any other condition.

Important: When placing Bases, skip all cities that do not have enough free spaces.

		KPD	DNVP
Place Base	#1	City with a Councils or Uprising Marker (Councils preferred)	City with at most 1 opposing Base
	#2	City without own Base	City without own Base
Place Unit	#1	City with 2+ Threat Markers (Poverty, Unrest, Regime)	City with a Councils or Uprising Marker (Councils preferred)
	#2	City without enemy Unit	City with Poverty or Unrest (City with both preferred, otherwise Poverty before Unrest)
otherwise		City highest in priority list	City highest in priority list

City priority list KPD: 1. Berlin, 2. Hamburg, 3. München, 4. Essen, 5. Köln, 6. Breslau, 7. Leipzig, 8. Frankfurt, 9. Stuttgart, 10. Rostock, 11. Königsberg.

City priority list DNVP: 1. Königsberg, 2. Rostock, 3. München, 4. Berlin, 5. Essen, 6. Breslau, 7. Hamburg, 8. Stuttgart, 9. Köln, 10. Frankfurt, 11. Leipzig.

EXAMPLE 1: The KPD bot must place a Base. It checks all cities for condition 1: There is an Uprising in Berlin (priority 1) and a Councils Marker in Essen (priority 4) and Frankfurt (priority 8). Since the bot prefers cities with a Councils Marker, it selects the one of them higher in the priority list: Essen.

EXAMPLE 2: Now the DNVP bot may place a Base. There is currently no city for which condition #1 applies (at most 1 opposing Base). Therefore, it checks the cities for condition #2. The first city according to the priority list in which DNVP does not have its own Base is München. Therefore, the bot places the Base in München.

1.4.4. Agenda Phase

Select Agenda Card. The bots select their Agenda Card according to the following table:

	KPD	DNVP
Round 1	"Revolution Now!"	Roll 1 die: 1-3: "March Through the Institutions" (Ignore the card-drawing effect.) 4-6: "Populism"
Round 2	Roll 1 dice: 1-3: "March Through the Institutions" 4-6: "Populism"	"With Power to the Power" — Additionally, bring the "Stab in the Back" Issue into play on square 0 (if not already in play). Additional effect Reinforcements Card: Find the first Reinforcements Card from the draw pile and shuffle it into DNVP's deck.

Bring any Issue into play. When a bot brings an Issue into play designated as "any" through their Agenda Card, they prioritize their choice as follows:

KPD: Poverty before Reparations
DNVP: DVP (if not already under own control) before Stab in the Back

Prepare hand cards. Both bots each receive 2 Timeline Cards (as usual) and they each draw 3 Party Cards from their respective decks. Bots, however, do not have an actual hand of cards. Instead, shuffle each of these 5 cards into a face-down deck. The deck of 5 cards is considered to be the respective bot's "hand of cards". In each Impulse, turn over the top card of the corresponding bot's "hand of cards" deck and resolve it.

1.4.5. Impulse Phase

During a bot's turn in the Impulse Phase, draw the top card from their "hand of cards" deck and resolve it. Important: The cards work differently for the bots than they do for you. In most cases, a bot will perform multiple options – depending on whether it is a Republic or Party Card.

Revealed card is a Timeline Card. If the drawn card is a Timeline Card, the bot resolves all 3 options (Event, Action, Debate) in the following order, one after the other:

First the Event of the card.
Then an Action with the value in the large circle.
Finally, a Debate with the value in the small circle.

Revealed card is a Party Card. If the drawn card is a Party Card, the bot always resolves 2 of 3 options (Event, Action, Debate). To do this, go through the following list and resolve the first entry whose condition is true:

Value in small circle 3 or higher?
- First the Event, then Debate with the value in the small circle.
Value in large circle exceeds value in small circle by 2 or more?
- First the Event, then an Action with the value in the large circle.
Otherwise, roll 1 die:
- 1–2: First the Event, then Debate with the value in the small circle.
- 3–4: First the Event, then an Action with the value in the large circle.
- 5–6: First Debate with the value in the small circle, then an Action with the value in the large circle.

1.4.6. Debate

Whenever a bot needs to choose an Issue to Debate, follow the table below. The bot chooses the Issue with the highest priority (from 1 to 9) that matches condition #1. If there is no such Issue, it goes through all Issues for condition #2 or #3. Otherwise, the bot simply selects the Issue with the highest priority. The Issues with priority 1 to 5 are "important" Issues for the bot, all other Issues are not.

Important: A bot always tries to move an Issue by the entire possible value; if impossible to do so, it does not select that Issue, but continues to move through the Issues until an entire movement is possible.

If the bot tries to Debate 2 Issues (e.g., by an Event), first choose the Issue for the value in the large circle of the card. Then choose the second Issue for the value in the small circle of the card in the same way.

	KPD	DNVP
Condition 1	Issue that can reach at least a KPD space with value 2.	Issue that can reach at least a DNVP space with value 2.
Condition 2	Issue of the category "important", which is already controlled by the KPD (but only if the movement can be resolved entirely).	Issue of the category "important" controlled by SPD or Zentrum.
otherwise	Issue with the highest priority	Issue with the highest priority
Category "important"	1. Media, 2. Poverty, 3. USPD, 4. Issue of the current Round Card, 5. Security	1. Stab in the Back, 2. Issue of the current Round Card, 3. Reparations, 4. DVP, 5. Security
Category "other"	6. Reparations, 7. Economy, 8. Foreign Affairs, 9. Stab in the Back	6. Economy, 7. Media, 8. Poverty, 9. Foreign Affairs

1.4.7. Action (in a city)

When a bot performs an action in a city, it always performs exactly 1 action. Bots always try to perform a Coup if they have enough action points, otherwise a Demonstration. In both cases, they prefer actions for which they have at least 3 dice available. The basic procedure is as follows:

Empty Reserve: First, the bot takes all the points from its Reserve and adds them to the card value it has available for that action. This supplies the bot's Action Points (AP).
Select action: If the bot has enough AP for a Coup (KPD: 4+ / DNVP: 3+), it will perform the Coup or at least Prepare Coup. (Prepare Coup is a new special action available only to bots, see below). Otherwise, the bot will perform a Demonstration. In both cases, the bot spends AP necessary for the action.
Excess AP: If the bot has more AP than it needs for the selected action, it spends this excess AP according to the specifications in the table on the next page. Note the differences between the two bots. The KPD bot tries to increase its result by +1 (for 2 AP) as a priority, while the DNVP bot always saves the first surplus AP in the Reserve and uses the other AP for the special action Prepare Coup.
Select target city: To select the target city for the action, the bot goes through the three conditions in the table from top to bottom and chooses the first one that meets the requirement. It resolves the action in the targeted city. If several cities are possible, the bot first chooses the city in which it has the most dice available for the action; and then, if necessary, the city higher in the city priority list.

Special action: Prepare Coup. With this special action, the bot tries to gather enough Strength in a city, so they have at least 3 dice available for the Coup. The KPD bot prefers cities with any Regime Markers, and the DNVP bot prefers cities with any Councils or Uprising Markers (condition #1). If it is not possible to obtain at least 3 dice in a city, the bot chooses a city according to condition 3 and only resolves the Prepare Coup special action there without resolving the actual Coup afterwards.

Important: It is possible that a bot only fulfills condition 1 or 2 for the selection of the target city by Prepare Coup (see example 1).

The bot gathers more Units in the target city as follows:

Take Control (2 AP, DNVP only) if there is an Reichswehr in the target city.
Mobilize Units from supply to the target city (1 AP).
Mobilize Units from cities lowest in priority (according to the city priority list) to the target city (1 AP).

Note: The Prepare Coup special action is only available to the bots in this scenario.

The following table summarizes the approach of the bots:

	KPD	DNVP
Action Selection	4+ AP? → Coup. Otherwise → Demonstration	3+ AP? → Coup. Otherwise → Demonstration
Excess AP?	1 AP left? Save in Reserve. 2 AP left? Spend for +1. 3+ AP left (only Coup)? First +1 for 2 AP, then Prepare Coup with all remaining AP.	Save the first remaining AP in Reserve. Then Prepare Coup with all remaining AP.
Demonstration:	1. In a city with Uprising and 3+ dice. 2. In a city without a KPD Base. 3. In any city.	1. In the city with the most dice. 2. In a city with KPD Units. 3. In the city with the most Threat Markers.
Coup:	1. In a city with Regime and 3+ dice. 2. In a city with 3+ dice. 3. Only Prepare Coup in a city without a Councils/Uprising Marker and with the fewest opposing Units.	1. In a city with any Councils or Uprising Markers and 3+ dice. 2. In a city with 3+ dice. 3. Only Prepare Coup in a city without a Regime Marker and with fewest opposing Units.

Examples

EXAMPLE: The DNVP bot performs an action in a city with a card value of 4. Together with their 2 Action Points from the Reserve, the bot has a total of 6 Action Points (AP). The bot spends 3 AP on the Coup action. The bot saves the first of the 3 remaining AP in the Reserve. With the 2 remaining AP, the bot performs the "Prepare Coup" action.

The only city with a Councils or Uprising Marker (condition 1) is Köln. There, the DNVP bot currently has only 1 die for the Coup (Freikorps 2 minus Soldiers 1). However, the bot can still "Prepare Coup" with their 2 remaining AP: For these 2 AP, the bot takes control of the Reichswehr and flips it over. This increases their Strength to 4, with minus the Soldier Unit, gives 3 dice for the Coup. Then the bot performs the Coup.

EXAMPLE 2: This time, the DNVP bot only has a total of 5 AP: 3 AP for the Coup action, 1 AP in Reserve, and 1 AP for "Prepare Coup". Essen is the only city with a KPD Threat Marker (condition 1). However, the 1 AP is not enough to get to 3 dice for the Coup here. So, the bot tries to fulfill condition 2. In Stuttgart, the bot lacks only 1 strength to get 3 dice. Therefore, the bot moves a Unit from its supply to Stuttgart for 1 AP and performs the Coup there.

EXAMPLE 3: The KPD bot has 5 AP available and uses 4 AP for the Coup action. Since only 1 AP remains, it saves it in Reserve. The bot first checks condition 1, but there is no city with a Regime Marker. Condition 2 is also not met because the bot does not have enough Strength in any city to have 3 dice. Therefore, condition 3 applies: There are several cities without any Councils Markers and without opposing Units; the bot therefore chooses the one with the highest priority and resolves "Prepare Coup" there, hopefully to have enough Strength for a Coup in the next Impulse.

2. The War of Brothers (4 players)

This scenario is for exactly 4 players and takes place over the first 2 rounds. "The War of Brothers" is thus similar to the beginning of the main scenario, but much shorter. It is well suited as an introduction when new players are present or only limited time is available.

2.1. Game Setup

The game setup corresponds to the normal game setup (see 2. Main Scenario Setup), with the following exception:

Remove the Timeline Card No-Confidence Vote (A 28) from the game without replacement.

The game comes with 4 double-sided Overview Cards for this scenario, 1 per player. Place them in your play area where you can easily see them.

2.2. Special Rules

This scenario follows the normal rules. There are no special rules.

2.3. Game End and Victory

This scenario ends after the Politics Phase of round 2 (at the latest), at which point the Republic has survived. However, the game can also end prematurely as usual. For this, the normal rules apply (see 4. Flow of the Game).

If the Republic survives, perform the following additional final scoring steps.

SPD / Zentrum (respectively)	KPD	DNVP
−1 VP: "London Ultimatum" not successfully completed	+1 VP per Councils Marker in cities	+1 VP per Regime Marker in cities
−1 VP: Economy not at level 4+	+1 VP: 2+ Uprising Markers in cities	+1 VP: 4+ Unrest Markers in cities
−1 VP: Not in Government after last Politics Phase	+1 VP: No Dissolved KPD Unit	+1 VP: No Dissolved DNVP Unit
−1 VP: 4+ Threat Markers in DR Box	+1 VP: 4+ Seats in Parliament	+1 VP: 5+ Seats in Parliament
−1 VP: 1+ Inflation in DR Box

Note: An indication like "2+" always means "2 or more".

3. Dancing on the Volcano (4 players)

This scenario is for exactly 4 players and goes over the last 2 rounds. It begins in round 5 and thus focuses on the years 1929 to 1933, in which the economic crisis and the rise of the NSDAP bring the Republic to the brink of the abyss. This is an advantageous starting situation for the DNVP. Therefore, SPD and Zentrum must make some efforts to weaken them together. The endorsement of the Young Plan may bring economic relief, but also poses dangers and other advantages for the DNVP.

3.1. Game Setup

The game setup mostly follows the normal game setup (see 2. Main Scenario Setup) with the following changes:

Game Board and Cards

Changed positions of the markers
- a. Round Tracker: space 5
- b. Foreign Affairs Tracker: "1925 Locarno"
- c. Economic Tracker: Level 3
Timeline Cards
- a. Remove the following Timeline Cards from the game: A28, A31–40, A51–58, A61–70
- b. Create and shuffle a face-down deck consisting of these Timeline Cards only: A21–27, A29, A30, A71–80
Round Cards
- a. Remove Round Cards 1-4 from the game.
- b. Place the remaining 2 Round Cards face up in a pile with card 5 Black Friday on top.
Foreign Affairs Cards
- a. Remove the first 5 Foreign Affairs Cards (A10-A14) from the game.
- b. Place the remaining 2 Foreign Affairs Cards face up in a pile with the Young Plan on top.
Reichspräsident: Hindenburg is Reichspräsident. The DNVP player receives the Reichspräsident Card.

Parties

Minor Parties
- a. Remove the USDP and the DDP (each card and Issue Marker) and the Gustav Stresemann Card from the game.
- b. The DNVP controls the DVP.
Party Cards: Adjust your decks according to the specifications on the next page (or the Overview Cards).
Units
- a. All Police and Reichswehr Units start in the Government's supply.
- b. Adjust your Party Units according to the specifications on the next page (or the overview cards).

Setting up the Game Board

Place the following Threat Markers on the game board:
- a. 4 Prosperity to different random cities
- b. 1 Poverty in a random city (must be a city without Prosperity, re-roll if necessary).
- c. 2 Unrest to different random cities
- d. 1 Regime in München
Party Figures:
- a. SPD: 3 figures to different cities, 6 figures to Parliament
- b. Zentrum: 2 figures to different cities, 5 figures to Parliament
- c. KPD: 5 figures to different cities, 3 figures to Parliament
- d. DNVP: 7 figures to different cities, 5 figures to Parliament
Reserve Markers:
- a. SPD and Zentrum: 1 point each
- b. KPD and DNVP: 0 points each

New, additional steps

Place 1 DNVP Figure on the first space of the NSDAP track.
Place 2 Flags of each nation in the Foreign Affairs area.
Place the following Society Markers from left to right on the Society Track:
- Unemployment Insurance
- Armored Cruiser
- Workers (SPD +1 Seat)
- The Poor (KPD +1 Base),
- The Poor (DNVP places Unrest)

Adjustment of Party Cards and Units. Take the Overview Card of your Party. All adjustments are listed there.

Remove all cards from the game that are shown in the table. Your Party Decks consist of all the remaining basic Party Cards plus the expansion cards shown in the table.

Assemble the components on your Party Boards as shown in the table. Place Units that are already Dissolved in the Dissolved Unit area on the board. Finally, remove from play the Units shown at the bottom of the table.

	SPD	KPD	Zentrum	DNVP
Remove Agenda Cards:	SA1 (Socialism)	KA1 (Revolution now!)	ZA2 (Economic Competence)	DA2 (We Need a Strong Man)
Remove Party Cards:	S07, S10, S11, S27, S28	K09, K10, K12, K22, K24	Z08, Z12, Z27, Z28, Z29	D04, D07, D08, D09, D11
Expansion cards in the Party Deck:	S26, S29, S30	K21, K23, K25	Z26, Z30	D26–30
Units in supply	as shown on Party Board	1x plus 1x	as shown on Party Board	1x plus 1x
Dissolved Units:	none	2x plus 2x	none	2x plus 2x
Remove Units:	none	3x plus 2x	none	none

3.2. Special Rules

This scenario follows the normal rules. There are no special rules.

3.3. Game End and Victory

This scenario ends after the Politics Phase of round 6 (at the latest), at which point the Republic has survived. In this case, additionally perform the following final scoring steps:

−2 VP for each Party Figure on the NSDAP Track.
+3 VP for each Party in Government after the last Politics Phase.

However, the game can also end prematurely as usual. The normal rules apply for this.

Weimar: The Fight for Democracy Rulebook

Table of Contents

About this Rulebook and the Playbook
- Credits
1. Components
2. Main Scenario Setup
3. Overview
4. Flow of the Game
5. Game concepts
6. Appendix and reference
7. Index
- General
- Actions
- Cards
- Parties
Scenarios (from the Playbook)

About this Rulebook and the Playbook

We, the designer and the publishers, wish you many exciting and historical hours playing and exploring Weimar.

Credits

Game Design: Matthias Cramer

Illustrations and graphics: Christian Opperer

Editing: Sebastian Wenzlaff, Uli Blennemann

English Translation and Rules Editing: Jonathan Bobal

1. Components

Each Weimar copy contains:

General

1 Game Board
1 Government Board (front with explanatory notes, back side without)
4 Party Boards for DNVP, KPD, SPD, Zentrum (front with explanatory notes, back without)
5 Six-sided dice
This Rulebook
1 Playbook (with an Example of Play, Scenarios, and Design Notes)

Cards

88 Party Cards (22 per Party)
16 Agenda Cards (4 per Party)
48 Timeline Cards (divided into 4 groups: gray, yellow, orange, and brown)
6 Round Cards (backs numbered from 1. to 6.)
13 Scenario Cards (explained in the Playbook)
1 Stresemann Card (double-sided active/inactive)
1 Reichspräsident Card (double-sided active/inactive)
7 Foreign Affairs Cards (backs numbered from 1 to 7)
3 Minor Party Cards for the DDP, DVP, USPD (double-sided)

Markers and Figures

130 Party Figures (30 per Party plus 10 NSDAP figures) — KPD, DNVP, SPD, Zentrum, NSDAP
4 Reserve Markers (1 per Party) — KPD, DNVP, SPD, Zentrum
37 Units (9x DNVP, 14x KPD, 3x SPD, 11x Government)
5 Reichspräsident Markers (Ebert, DNVP: Hindenburg, SPD: Braun, KPD: Thälmann, Zentrum: Marx)
2 Government Markers (1x with Chancellor symbol, 1x without)
9 Flag Tokens (3x each USA/UK, France, USSR)
31 Society Markers (general Markers in white, specific Markers in yellow)
23 Issue Markers (general Issues in white; specific Issues in yellow)
48 Threat Markers (general Threats in orange; Party Threats in Party color)
55 Victory Point Tokens (15x 1/3/5 VP and 10x 10 VP each)
1 Round Tracker
1 Economy Tracker
1 Foreign Affairs Tracker

2. Main Scenario Setup

Game Board and Cards

Place the Game Board at the center of the table.
- a. Put the Round Tracker on space 1 of the round track (top left).
- b. Put the Foreign Affairs Tracker on the leftmost space "1918 Compiègne" of the Foreign Affairs Track (bottom left).
- c. Put the Economy Tracker on space 1 of the Economy Track (bottom).
- d. Put all white Issue Markers on their spaces on the right side of the Game Board. Put all yellow Issue Markers next to the Game Board.
Sort the Timeline Cards by the color of circle on their face. The color indicates when the cards are in play: gray (all rounds), yellow (rounds 1 + 2), orange (rounds 3 + 4), brown (rounds 5 + 6). Shuffle the gray and yellow Timeline Cards into a face-down deck and place it next to the Game Board. Set aside the remaining Timeline Cards (orange/brown).
Form a face up sorted deck of the 6 Round Cards, with Round Card 1 on top and Round Card 6 on the bottom. Place it to the left of the Game Board at the corresponding space.
Do the same with the 7 Foreign Affairs Cards and place the deck face up and sorted (Card 1 on top, Card 7 on the bottom) to the left of the Game Board at the corresponding space.
- Note: All players may look through the Round and Foreign Affairs Cards at any time.
At the beginning of the game, Friedrich Ebert is Reichspräsident. Place his Reichspräsident Marker on the Reichspräsident space at the top left of the Game Board. Set aside the remaining Reichspräsident Markers and the double-sided card Reichspräsident (A 08). They only come into play if Ebert dies as a result of an Event.

Parties

Each player chooses a Party to use, or assign them randomly; then each player takes their corresponding Party Board, Party Cards, Agenda Cards, and all Party Figures and Units for that Party.
- Note: The Party Boards are double-sided. Both are identical for the game. The front side contains explanatory notes and is suitable for your first games.
Distribute the Minor Party Cards as follows; place them, with your-Party's-side face up, at the bottom right of your Party Board:
- a. DDP is controlled by SPD.
- b. DVP is controlled by Zentrum; in addition, Zentrum takes the Gustav Stresemann Card and puts it in front of themself, with the active side face up.
- c. USPD is controlled by KPD.
Sort your Party Cards into three piles: 12 starting cards (showing no letter in the upper right), and two sets of 5 expansion cards each (showing a letter in the upper right). Shuffle your starting cards and place them face down in a deck at the top left of your Party Board. Put the expansion cards aside, you man look through them at any time.
Place your Agenda Cards face down in a pile at the top right of your Party Board. You may look at your Agenda Cards at any time and do not need to shuffle them.
SPD and Zentrum form the first Government as follows: The players controlling these Parties take 1 Government Marker each, with SPD taking the Government Marker showing the Chancellor symbol, and place them covering the "Opposition" space showing at the top left of their Party Board. Place the Government Board next to the Game Board so that both players can easily reach it.
Each Party and Government Board indicates which Units are available in its respective supply at the start of the game. Put all of the indicated Units into their supplies as shown on the boards. All other Units are not in play for the time being. Therefore, put them aside.

Setting up the Game Board

Place the following Threat Markers on the Game Board:
- a. 3 Poverty: 1 each in 3 random different cities. Roll 2 dice for each placement, add them up and look at the city table on the Game Board to determine which city to place the Poverty Marker. Roll the dice again if you roll the same city again.
- b. 1 Blockade and 1 Inflation in the "Deutsches Reich" area ("DR Box" for short), which is located at the top left of the board.
- c. 1 Councils in München.
- d. 4 Unrest: 1 each in Berlin, München, Essen, and Hamburg.
Place all remaining Threat Markers next to the Game Board.
Place the indicated number of Party Figures in different cities of your choice, as well as in Parliament. Only 1 figure of each Party may be placed in each city – however, this only applies during game preparation. Each player places all of their figures at once, in this order:
- a. SPD: 6 figures to different cities, 7 figures to Parliament.
- b. KPD: 5 figures to different cities, 5 figures to Parliament.
- c. DNVP: 4 figures to different cities, 4 figures to Parliament.
- d. Zentrum: 3 figures to different cities, 3 figures to Parliament.
- Note: No city can hold more figures than it has spaces available. Also, all Seats in Parliament are considered equal, so positioning is irrelevant.
Place your Reserve Markers on the "+0" space of the Reserve (at the top right of the board).
Place all dice, Victory Point Tokens, Flag Tokens, and Society Markers next to the Game Board.

3. Overview

3.1. The Game Board

3.2. Symbology

Many effects in Weimar are represented by symbols. All symbols are listed on the enclosed Player Aids.

Most game components are represented by their own symbol – for example: 1 Party Base (figure in city), 1 Seat (figure in Parliament), 1 Unit, 1 Threat Marker, 1 Issue Marker, 1 Society Marker.

The symbols on the cards and boards always follow these basic rules:

A symbol is either colored and refers to the Party shown, or grayed out and accompanied by further details.
- EXAMPLE: A Party Base … "other" = of another Party; "any" = of any Party; "own" = of your own Party; SPD = of the Party shown (here: SPD).
An arrow pointing to the bottom right indicates that a game component is brought into play on the game board. An X indicates that it is discarded to the appropriate supply.
- EXAMPLE: "own" plus arrow = Bring 1 of your own Bases into play. "own" plus X = Remove 1 of your own Bases.
A symbol is always shown as many times as it corresponds to the number. A single symbol always stands for a number of 1 or "once". If a different number is meant, the symbol is shown several times.
- EXAMPLE: two "own" Base symbols with arrows = Bring 2 Party Bases into play.

3.3. The Parties

Party Figures. Each Party has 30 figures in their Party's color. They can be placed in a city as a Party Base; or, placed in Parliament as a Seat.

The NSDAP is not "playable"; instead, your actions can cause the NSDAP to grow stronger, causing all players to collectively lose together.

The political spectrum from socialist (left) to nationalist (right)

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF GERMANY (SPD) — Philipp Scheidemann

Style of play and focus:

Defends the republic against threats
Strives to be part of Government
Militarily rather moderate
Strong in Debating

Game victory possible only by victory points, cannot win the game early.

Gains victory points …

For allowing few Poverty Threat Markers
For allowing no Regime Threat Markers
For good governance
By Party Cards "Legislation" (L set)

COMMUNIST PARTY OF GERMANY (KPD) — Rosa Luxemburg

Style of play and focus:

Overthrow of the Republic through the placement of Councils Threat Markers
Many paramilitary Units
Strong during Demonstrations
Can stay well under the radar in case of danger from the right side

Early game victory possible through having Councils Threat Markers in 4 cities (or in Berlin + 2 more) or absolute majority in Parliament.

Gains victory points …

For placing Councils Threat Markers
For allowing no Regime Threat Markers
By Party Cards "Moscow" (M set)

GERMAN ZENTRUM PARTY — Matthias Erzberger

Style of play and focus:

Defends the republic against threats
Strives to be part of Government
Does not have their own Units, but is always in control of all Police Units
Strong in Debating

Game victory possible only by victory points, cannot win the game early.

Gains victory points …

For allowing few Unrest Threat Markers
For allowing no Councils Threat Markers
For good governance
By Party Cards "Economy" (E set)

GERMAN NATIONAL PEOPLE'S PARTY (DNVP) — Alfred Hugenberg

Style of play and focus:

Overthrow of the Republic through the placement of Regime Threat Markers
Many paramilitary Units
Good chance to provide the Reichspräsident
Many advantages through the Foreign Affairs of the republic

Game victory possible early by having Regime Threat Markers in 4 cities (or in Berlin + 2 more) or absolute majority in Parliament.

Gains victory points …

For placing Regime Threat Markers
For allowing no Councils Threat Markers
By Party Cards "Presidential Decrees" (P set)

The Minor Parties and the NSDAP

GERMAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (DDP). The left-liberal DDP saw itself as the guardian of democracy. Many intellectuals such as Albert Einstein were close to it.

DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S PARTY (DVP). The right wing of the former National Liberal Party under Gustav Stresemann, which rejected the possible unification with the DDP.

4. Flow of the Game

A full game of Weimar can take up to 6 Game Rounds. Each round consists of these 4 successive phases:

Republic Phase (see 4.1): A round begins by applying any effects on the Round Card for this round. It depicts a significant historical Event, and brings the associated Issue Marker and often Threat Markers into play.
Agenda Phase (see 4.2): By choosing an Agenda Card, the players each determine their own unique strategy for that round. Then Timeline Cards are drawn from the Timeline deck and Party Cards from your individual piles.
Impulse Phase (see 4.3): During this main phase of the game, the players take turns playing exactly 1 card at a time; playing a card this way is considered an Impulse. When you play a card, choose 1 option for it: Activate the Event text on the card itself, Debate Issue Markers, or perform various other actions.
Politics Phase (see 4.4): At the end of each round, evaluate the Debated Issue Markers and the status of the Republic, then form a new Government based on the balance of Seats in Parliament.

Note: The phases are listed with their individual steps on the Player Aids.

Ties and the Golden Chancellor Rule

Anytime there is a tie for any reason, the Chancellor decides who wins and/or applies the effect among the tied players (unless specific rules tell you otherwise).

The Chancellor is determined during game setup, and then during each Politics Phase.

How the game ends

The game immediately ends prematurely as soon as 1 of these situations occurs:

Overthrow of the Republic: The KPD or the DNVP wins immediately if it succeeds,
- A In the "Form new Government" step of the Politics Phase to have 50% or more of the occupied Seats in Parliament. (This condition is checked exclusively in this step, never otherwise), OR
- B 1 Councils or Regime Token is currently in any 4 cities, or in Berlin and 2 other cities.
NSDAP Seizure of Power C: Once the sixth Party Figure is placed on the NSDAP Track, the game ends immediately. All players lose together. The Party with the most figures on this track has enabled and made this seizure of power by the NSDAP possible.
The Republic sinks into anarchy D: As soon as the seventh Threat Marker would have to be placed in the DR Box, the game instead ends immediately. The Parties currently forming the Government each lose 8 VP for their failure. Then the Party with the most VP wins.

4.1. Republic Phase

Advance the Round Tracker 1 space and discard the top Round Card so that the number of the new card (top left) corresponds to the current round. Skip this step in round 1.

Round 3 and 5: Shuffle in new Timeline Cards

The Timeline deck always consists of cards with a gray circle plus the cards of the current stage (see box). So, at the beginning of the game, it consists of gray and yellow cards.

At the beginning of rounds 3 and 5, the deck of Timeline Cards is adjusted. The symbols printed on the Round Cards (as shown here) remind you of this.

Round 3: Search the Timeline deck and discard pile and remove all yellow circle Timeline Cards from the game. Add all set-aside orange circle Timeline Cards to the Timeline deck, then shuffle it together with the discarded Timeline Cards to create a face-down Timeline deck. The Timeline deck should now consist of only gray and orange circle cards.
Round 5: Proceed as described above, but remove the orange cards and shuffle in the brown cards. The Timeline deck should now consist of only cards with gray and brown colored circles.

Note: Gray cards are never removed this way. Instead, they are only removed when played and indicated on the card itself.

4.2. Agenda Phase

Each player draws 2 Timeline Cards from the Timeline deck into their hands.

Important: You always have all four Agenda Cards to choose from, they never leave the game.

Simultaneously, each player turns over their chosen Agenda Card and places it face up on their Agenda deck. Each player then resolves the effects on their played Agenda Card:

First, all players bring all white Issue Markers into play that are specifically named on their Agenda Cards (e.g., Economy or Media). The order does not matter. Put them on the respective indicated spots of the Opinion Track.
- Note: Four of the white Issues are available twice, so they can come into play twice in the same round. They are marked with I and II, respectively, so that you can tell them apart. These markings have no other meaning. If such an Issue comes into play, take marker I first. If the same Issue comes into play again, take marker II. (More on Issue Markers, see 5.3.)
After that, each player performs all other effects on their Agenda Cards 1 player at a time, in turn order. In most cases you will be placing Markers, Party Bases, or Seats. If you are instructed to place any white Issue Marker, choose 1 of those still available which has not been put on the Opinion Track yet.

Note that some Agenda Cards have effects that last until the end of the round.

Finally, each player draws 3 Party Cards, plus additional cards if their Agenda Card says to draw them. Now, each player will have 5 or more cards in hand for the following Impulse Phase.

Order of play. Whoever won the Reparations Issue last round starts. Otherwise, the Chancellor decides who starts. After that, play continues in a clockwise direction.

4.3. Impulse Phase

All players that chose an Agenda Card that allows them to play a card "at the beginning of the Impulse Phase" does so now (in turn order).

Note: Cards whose Events state they "may only be played in the first or second Impulse" may also be played now.

On your turn, you must play 1 card from your hand to perform 1 of the following three options:

Perform Actions: by using the value in the larger-sized circle of the card as Action Points to perform actions in a single city.
Debate: by using both values of the card to move two different Issue Markers on the Opinion Track.
Activate the card's Event: Resolve the instructions on the card.

The following important basic rules apply to playing a card:

When you play a Timeline Card, you must perform its Event. In addition, you use the card before or after you activate its Event to Debate or for Actions. You determine the order. The symbol on the left of the cards reminds you of this.
When you play a card for its Event, it is removed from the game, if indicated at the bottom of that card. Otherwise, Timeline Cards always go into the Timeline Card discard pile, and Party Cards go into the Party's personal discard pile.

Play a card for its Event

When you play a card for its Event, you resolve its text effects below the photo from top to bottom. Ignore the values in the circles in the top left corner.

You must perform all effects, if possible, unless explicitly stated otherwise (e.g., "optional"; "or").
If you cannot do everything, do as much as you can.
If you have a choice between several effects, you must choose the effect that you can do as much of as possible (see example 2).

Some Events let you perform City Actions (e.g., Demonstration). Such actions are part of the Event and do not cost any Action Points. However, all the rules of the action apply to them.

Reserve

Play a card to Debate

When you play a card to Debate, you advance 2 different Issues on the Opinion Track, one by the value inside the larger-sized circle, and another by the value inside the smaller-sized circle.

You must always advance Issues orthogonally (never diagonally) and always in a way that is advantageous to you (e.g., you cannot move it towards another player).
Issues cannot be advanced off the edges of the Opinion Track.
You may choose any Issue on the Opinion Track, no matter where it is.
Any number of Issue Markers may be placed on each space.
Issues that are on the enlarged "0 space" move as if they started their advancement on space 0 in the center of the Opinion Track. (I.e., Issues may be moved freely between the two "0" spaces.)

Note: Anytime you advance an Issue, all the rules mentioned in this section always apply.

Play a card for Actions

When you play a card for actions, gain Action Points (AP) according to the value inside the larger-sized circle. Ignore the value in the smaller-sized circle – even if it has a larger value!

You may perform actions only in your chosen city.
Any effects (such as placing or removing markers) take place only in your chosen city.

To perform an action, spend as many APs as indicated on your Player Board, then resolve the action according to your Player Board.

The following actions are available:

Reserve (see above): Save Action Points for later use.
Coup/Counter-Coup (see 5.10): Place or remove Councils/Regime Markers.
Demonstration (see 5.6): Place Party Bases in your chosen city.
Fight (Government only, see 5.9): Dissolve an opposing Unit.
Mobilize (see 5.9): Move Units into your chosen city.
Take Control (see 5.9): Take over or regain control of a Reichswehr Unit.
Foreign Afairs (Government only, see 5.8): Negotiate a Foreign Affairs Card on display.
Reaction (see 4.4): Only used when Reacting to an action of another player.

Note: If you are allowed to perform any of the actions listed here by an effect, all of the rules listed here apply to it.

Reactions

Note: The Parties have different titles for the Reaction Action (e.g., "Strike"; "Street Fight"), and they are purely thematic in nature and have no relevance to gameplay.

Again, only 1 reaction per trigger is possible, and players take turns deciding if they are going to React.

When you play a Politician Card as a Reaction, discard it and draw a Party Card from your deck afterwards.

4.4. Politics Phase

In the last phase of each round, perform the following steps in the order given. The steps are listed both on the Game Board and on the Player Aids:

Check Issue majority
Resolve won Issues
Resolve Society Track
Score Parties
State of the Republic
Seats by Minor Parties
Check the size of Parliament
Form new Government

1. Check Issue majority

Whoever has won the most Issues gains 3 Seats in Parliament.
Whoever won the second most Issues gains 1 Seat in Parliament.

2. Resolve won Issues

Before you resolve any Issues, discard all Issues from both "0" spaces of the Opinion Track without effect: Return white Issues to the supply on the Game Board. Remove yellow Issues from the game.

After all white Issues are resolved, resolve all yellow Issues. The Chancellor determines the order that yellow Issues are resolved in. Their effects are described on the corresponding card.

If the Issue is on a divided space, both Parties must decide by consensus what option/effects to activate; otherwise, the Issue is discarded with no effect.

More about Issue Markers: see 5.3.

3. Resolve Society Track

Resolve each Society Marker on the Society Track, 1 at a time, from left to right. Do not remove Society Markers from the track after resolving them.

More about Society Markers: see 5.2.

4. Score Parties

In this step, gain VP for your achievements in the cities of the Republic:

The KPD receives:

2 VP for each Councils Marker on the Game Board.
2 VP if there are 0 Regime Markers on the Game Board.

The SPD receives (max.):

2 VP if there are 2 or less Poverty Markers on the Game Board.
2 VP if there are 0 Regime Markers on the Game Board.

The Zentrum receives (max.):

2 VP if there are 2 or less Unrest Markers on the Game Board.
2 VP if there are 0 Councils Markers on the Game Board.

The DNVP receives:

2 VP for each Regime Marker on the Game Board.
2 VP if there are 0 Councils Markers on the Game Board.

After that, each player that controls a Minor Party gains a bonus:

Whoever controls the USPD gains 1 Reserve Point (up to their maximum of 2).
Whoever controls the DDP may remove 1 of their own Party Bases to perform 1 Foreign Affairs action (see 5.8), but only if they are also in Government. Otherwise, this bonus does not apply.
Whoever controls the DVP takes the Gustav Stresemann Card, and places it active-side up in front of themself. If you already had it, keep it and flip it active-side up.

5. State of the Republic

The following four steps are performed by the Government.

Economy: Check the position of the Economy Tracker on the Economy Track. Put the markers indicated below its current position into play in randomly determined cities (using 2 dice and the city table on the Game Board). This ranges from 2 Poverty Markers to 2 Prosperity Markers.
Government Declaration: Check all cities and count how many Threat Markers are in each. Each Prosperity Marker in a city "cancels" 1 Threat Marker in that same city (the Threat Marker is not counted, but remains in the city):
- The governing Parties, in total, gain 1 VP for each city with 0 Threat Markers. They must divide the total VP gained equally among themselves (with the Chancellor's Party gaining the larger share in the case of unequal division).
  - EXAMPLE: In Essen and Köln, there are no Threat Markers. In München, there is 1 Councils and 1 Prosperity, which "cancels" the Councils for this scoring. The 2 governing Parties gain 3 VP in total, one Party receives 1 VP, and the Chancellor's Party receives 2 VP.
- For each city with 2 or more Threat Markers, each governing Party loses 1 Seat in Parliament. (To confirm, this is each Party, not spread evenly like the VP is to the left.)
Threats: Count how many Threat Markers are in the DR Box, then subtract 1 from this total: Each governing Party makes this many Crisis Rolls (see 5.4).
- EXAMPLE: There are 3 Threat Markers in the DR Box. The two governing Parties, SPD and Zentrum, must therefore make 2 Crisis Rolls each.
Stabilization: Remove 1 "Instable State" marker and 1 "Violent Peace" marker from the DR Box, if present.

6. Seats by Minor Parties

Each Minor Party grants a number of Seats in Parliament to the player who controls it. The number depends on the current round and is indicated on the respective Minor Party Card.

7. Check the size of Parliament

Each Party that has 4-6 Seats must remove 1 of their Seats each.
Each Party that has 7-9 Seats must remove 2 of their Seats each.
Each Party that has 10 or more Seats must remove 3 of their Seats each.

If there are still more than 24 Seats after removing Seats, repeat the above steps again.

Important: Once placed, Seats from the NSDAP are never removed.

8. Form new Government

First, check if an Overthrow occurs. If at least 50% of the occupied Seats belong to either KPD or DNVP, this Party immediately wins the game (see "Game Objective and End", 4. Flow of the Game).

Important: Any percentage of occupied Seats always refers to the total number of occupied Seats (i.e., the percentage of actual figures that are physically placed in Parliament).

EXAMPLE: There are 11 figures in Parliament (= 11 occupied Seats). Of these, 6 Seats are held by the KPD, giving it more than 50% of the occupied Seats; so the KPD immediately wins the game.

Otherwise, a new Government is formed (or the current Government remains). To do this, perform the following steps:

If either SPD or Zentrum alone has 50% or more of the occupied Seats, this Party has an Absolute Majority and forms the Government alone.
Otherwise, try to form the largest of the possible coalitions (in terms of number of Seats). Add up the Seats of the three possible coalitions (see box) and go through them in order, from the largest number of Seats to the smallest. If there is a tie, the Chancellor decides the order.
- a. The Parties in question may reject the coalition. However, if both Parties agree to the coalition, they form the new Government.
  - Important: SPD and Zentrum must form the Weimar coalition as soon as they are asked; they may not refuse.
- b. Otherwise, the next smallest possible coalition is asked until a Government is finally formed.

Note: A single-Party Government only takes the Chancellor Government Marker, and the other is unused.

EXAMPLE (continued): SPD has more Seats (6) than Zentrum (3) and therefore receives the Chancellor's Government Marker. Zentrum receives the other Government Marker.

Possible coalitions. In addition to a possible sole Government of SPD or Zentrum, there are three possible coalitions:

Weimar Coalition: SPD and Zentrum
Left-wing Coalition: SPD and KPD
Right-wing Coalition: Zentrum and DNVP

As long as the DNVP or KPD is in Government, it cannot bring any more of its Party Threat Markers into play. As soon as the Party leaves the Government, it turns its Threat Markers face up again.

More about Party Threat Markers (see 5.10).

Designer's Note: The Parties are either on the side of the Republic or instigating a revolution - trying to do both at the same time is out of the question.

End of Round

Finally, resolve all effects in play that occur at end of round. These include the Foreign Affairs Card Treaty of Versailles and the Reichspräsident Card.

5. Game concepts

This chapter describes in detail all game elements and related effects that are triggered by Events, Debates, or Actions.

5.1. Victory Point Tokens

Any victory points (VP) you earn during the game are taken from the supply in the form of VP Tokens. If you lose VP, put them back into the supply accordingly.

VPs are always open and public information, and can be exchanged with the supply at any time.

5.2. Society Markers

Yellow Society Markers are always linked to specific events and come into play due to these.

All Society Markers and their effects are listed in the Appendix (see 6.4).

5.3. Issue Markers

Yellow Issue Markers belong to certain Events and come into play through them.

All white Issue Markers and their effects are listed in the Appendix (see 6.5) and on the Player Aids. The effects of yellow Issue Markers are described on their corresponding card.

Symbols: any white Issue Marker; any Issue Marker; the shown Issue Marker (here: Security); the yellow Issue Marker mentioned in the text.

5.4. Crisis Rolls

5.5. Success Rolls

Most actions (and some Events) have their impact decided by a Success Roll. Each Success Roll follows this sequence in order:

Determine the number of dice: Look at the board or card to see what your die count is. This can be a fixed number and/or depend on how many Bases/Units you have. Each Unit contributes dice according to its strength (1 or 2, see 5.9).
- You can never roll more than 5 dice. If your number is higher, you still roll only 5 dice.
- If you get to 0 dice or less, you cannot perform the action.
Reaction: If your action can be Reacted to, one player may React (see 4.4). Often, a successful Reaction will reduce the number of dice you roll or your result. (Typical Reaction results: 5–6 = opponent −1; 7+ = opponent's result −1.)
Increase result: Some actions give you the option to spend 2 additional Action Points to increase your result by 1. You must make this decision before rolling the dice.
Roll the dice and determine the result: Roll all dice once.
- Only your highest die counts (if you roll multiple highest dice, only 1 of them counts).
- If you roll more than a single 6, your result increases by 1 for each additional 6.
- Only after doing this, you apply any modifications (result +1/-1, if any).
- Note: You cannot apply modifications to 'artificially' roll a 6 to further increase your result.
Resolve effect: Resolve the effect that corresponds to your final result. The exact effects are indicated on the board or card (depending on the action). Often a low result can lead to a negative effect. (Result bands are typically shown as 1 / 2–4 / 5+.)

5.6. Party Bases in cities

If you must remove a Party Base, take 1 of your figures from any city (or the indicated city) back into your supply.

Symbols: "own" Base plus arrow = Place a Party Base in a city (here: one of your own). "any" Base plus X = Remove a Party Base from a city (here: any one).

EXAMPLE: SPD may place a Party Base in Leipzig. Since all spaces there are already occupied, SPD removes 1 of the DNVP Bases there instead. DNVP takes the removed figure back into their supply.

Action: Demonstration

The main goal of a Demonstration is to place new Party Bases in the chosen city. This action costs 1 AP. You may only perform it once per Impulse. A Reaction is possible (see 4.4).

SPD: SPD rolls 3 dice (regardless of their Units in the city).
Zentrum: Before the Success Roll, Zentrum may move 1 Police Unit into the city (without additional costs, taken from any other city or the supply).

Note: The Parties have different titles for this action such as "March" or "Beer Tent". These are purely thematic and have no gameplay effect.

5.7. Parliament

Parliament has 24 fixed Seats. A Party Figure placed in Parliament represents 1 Seat of that Party in Parliament.

If you lose a Seat, remove 1 of your figures from Parliament (taken first from overflow if possible), and put it back into your supply.

Symbols: a Seat with an arrow = gain 1 Seat; a Seat with an X = lose 1 Seat.

5.8. Government and Foreign Affairs

Parties that are in Government can negotiate any Foreign Affairs Card on display as part of a Foreign Affairs action. There are three ways to perform a Foreign Affairs action:

For 2 Action Points, if you perform actions during the Impulse Phase (see 4.3).
- Note: This action option is not indicated on the Government Board. Instead, it is listed (along with its cost) on each individual Foreign Affairs Card.
In Step 2 of the Politics Phase, if you win a Foreign Affairs Issue (see 4.4).
In Step 4 of the Politics Phase, if you control the DDP (see 4.4).

Action: Foreign Affairs (Government only)

Necessary result reached? Resolve all specified effects and remove the card from the game. If it was the top card of the Foreign Affairs deck, also move the Foreign Affairs Tracker 1 space to the right. The next card of the Foreign Affairs deck is now available.
Otherwise, the card remains in play for a later attempt.

Note: This action does not take place in any particular city. Therefore, it can be performed in addition to the actions in your chosen city.

5.9. Units and street fighting

Zentrum: Zentrum does not have its own Units. Instead, it always has control over Police Units (not Reichswehr), even when it is not in Government.

All Units are listed in the Appendix (see 6.2).

When a Party plays an Event with Unit reinforcements, it takes the specified Units not yet in play and places them in its supply (unless otherwise specified).

Action: Take Control

Take Control of 1 Reichswehr Unit (of any strength!) in the chosen city. This action costs 2 AP (DNVP: 3 AP).

KPD cannot perform a Take Control action. Any democratic Party must be in Government to perform this action.

In either case, no Success Roll is required to do so.

Move Units

Action: Mobilize

Dissolve Units

Important: Government Units (including black-side-up Reichswehr) can never be Dissolved; and you cannot Dissolve any type of Unit in the supply of any Party Board.

Action: Fight (Government only)

Add up the strength of all Government Units in the city.
If the DNVP agrees, also add the strength of all flipped Reichswehr Units (black side up).
Then subtract the strength of all Opposing Units in the city.

5.10. Threat Markers

Anytime a Threat Marker is removed, it goes back into the supply (from where it can put into play again later).

Symbols: Bring the shown marker into play … in the DR Box / in the city mentioned in the text / in a random city.

Threats in a city

There can be a maximum of 1 Poverty or Prosperity, 1 Unrest, and 1 Party Threat Marker in a single city at the same time. Other Threat Markers are never placed in cities. The following rules apply:

Poverty: Place the Poverty Marker in the DR Box instead (maximum 2 there, and any more beyond 2 are ignored).
Prosperity: Instead of placing the marker, a Poverty Marker is removed from the DR Box (if present).

Threats in the DR Box

Violent Peace (2x): Placed in the DR Box by Events and Foreign Affairs Cards (maximum 2). In the Politics Phase of each round, remove 1 Violent Peace Marker from the DR Box (see 4.4).

Black Friday (2x): Placed in the DR Box by the Round Card of the same name and the Timeline Card Banking Crisis. Cannot be removed, and remains permanently in the game.

Party Threat Marker in a City

Any Radical Party can win the game early by placing Regime (for DNVP victory) or Councils (for KPD victory) Markers either in any 4 cities; or, in Berlin and 2 other cities.

Action: Coup/Counter-Coup

Both actions work similarly, but differ in their objectives:

The radical Parties attempt to place a Regime or Councils Marker with a Coup. To do this, the Party must be in opposition (not in Government), and there must not already be 1 of their markers in the city.
The democratic Parties try to remove a Regime, Councils, or Uprising Marker with a Counter-Coup. For this to happen, the Party must be in Government and there must be a Regime, Councils, or Uprising Marker in the city.

This action costs 4 AP (DNVP: 3 AP). You may only perform it once per Impulse. A Reaction is possible (see 4.4).

KPD / DNVP: You roll 1 additional die if there is Unrest in the city. In addition, your result is increased by 1 if Poverty is in the city; or if there is not, you may spend 2 additional AP to increase your result by 1.
SPD / Zentrum: Your result is increased by 1 if Prosperity is in the city; or if there is not, you may spend 2 additional AP to increase your result by 1.

Perform the Roll and resolve the effect that corresponds to your result. As usual, if spending AP to increase your result, you must do this before you roll.

Opposing Units

A Coup/Counter-Coup is always directed against the current "power" in the chosen city. Their Units are considered the "Opposing" Units and Party:

	Your Units	Opposing Units
SPD Counter-Coup	All SPD and Government Units	All Units of the Party whose Threat Marker is in the city (KPD or DNVP)
Zentrum Counter-Coup	All Government Units	All Units of the Party whose Threat Marker is in the city (KPD or DNVP)
KPD Coup	All KPD Units	Threat Marker of another Party present? Then: All Units of that Party (KPD or DNVP). Otherwise: All Government Units. Plus optional: All Units of other Parties present there*
DNVP Coup	All DNVP units (including flipped black-side-up Reichswehr Units)	Threat Marker of another Party present? Then: All Units of that Party (KPD or DNVP). Otherwise: All Government Units. Plus optional: All Units of other Parties present there*

* All other Parties with Units in the city choose in a clockwise order whether to remain neutral or to oppose the Coup. If they decide to oppose, their Units also become Opposing Units.

5.11. Economy

5.12. NSDAP and NSDAP Track

The NSDAP is not a playable Party. Instead, your actions and decisions determine how strong their influence becomes.

5.13. Minor Parties (DDP, DVP, USPD)

Each Minor Party is always controlled by 1 of 2 eligible Player Parties:

DDP: SPD / Zentrum
DVP: DNVP / Zentrum
USPD: KPD / SPD

A unique bonus during step 4 of the Politics Phase (see 4.4); and,
Additional Seats during Step 7 (see 4.4), the number of which depends on the Minor Party and the current round.

5.14. Special Cards (Stresemann/Reichspräsident)

6. Appendix and reference

6.1. Unique card details

Cards marked with this symbol are additionally explained in this section. Check here if you have a question about any of these cards during the game.

If the introduction succeeds, all Inflation Markers in play are removed. In addition, no more Inflation Markers can come into play in the future. Corresponding effects are ignored.

Rentenmark can be introduced only once. Once this is done by 1 card, the Event introducing Rentenmark on the other card can no longer be resolved.

6.2. Units (Listing)

SPD Units

Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold (3x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (S 25, D Set).

Government Units

Police (5x). All in the supply from the beginning. No further reinforcement.

Reichswehr, Strength 1 (3x). In the supply at the start: 1x. Additional Units from the cards:

1x Garde-Kavallerie-Schützen (Z 08, basic)
1x Treaty of Rapallo (Timeline Card A 33)

Reichswehr, Strength 2 (3x). In the supply at the start: 1x. Additional Units from the cards:

1x Returning Soldiers (Timeline Card A 53)
1x Treaty of Rapallo (Timeline Card A 33)

KPD Units

Soldiers (3x). All in the supply from the beginning. No further reinforcement.

Workers (3x). All in the supply from the beginning. No further reinforcement.

Spartacist Uprising (3x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (K 10, basic).

Rote Ruhrarmee (2x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (K 22, R set).

Roter Frontkämpferbund (3x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (K 23, R set).

DNVP Units

Freikorps, Strength 1 (3x). In the supply at the start: 2x. Additional Unit from the card: 1x Marine-Brigade von Loewenfeld (D 07, basic).

Freikorps, Strength 2 (3x). In the supply at the start: 1x. Additional Units from the cards:

1x Returning Soldiers (Timeline Card A 54)
1x Marine-Brigade Erhardt (D 08, basic)

Stahlhelm (3x). None in the supply at the beginning. All 3 from the card of the same name (D 27, P set).

6.3. Threat Markers (Listing)

Threat Markers in Cities and/or the DR Box

Poverty: The second Poverty Marker is placed in the DR Box instead (maximum 2 there, and any more beyond 2 are ignored).
Prosperity: Instead of placing the marker, a Poverty Marker is removed from the DR Box (if present).

Threat Markers exclusively in the DR Box

Violent Peace (2x): Placed in the DR Box by Events and Foreign Affairs Cards (maximum 2). In the Politics Phase of each round, remove 1 Violent Peace Marker from the DR Box (see 4.4).

Black Friday (2x): Placed in the DR Box by the Round Card of the same name and the Timeline Card Banking Crisis. Cannot be removed, and remains permanently in the game.

Party Threat Marker

6.4. Society Marker (Listing)

This table describes 1 white Society Marker representative of each possible effect. The yellow markers are listed in full.

White Society Markers

The Rich: The specified Party (here: Zentrum) may Mobilize (i.e., move) the specified Units (2x Police).
Workers: The specified Party (here: SPD) places 1 Party Base in a city of their choice.
The Poor: The specified Party (here: DNVP) puts the specified Threat Marker (here: Unrest) into play in a city of their choice.
Workers: The specified Party (here: KPD) gains 1 Seat.
Farmers: The indicated Party (here: Zentrum) gains 1 victory point.
Citizens: The Party controlling the indicated Minor Party (here: DDP) gains 1 victory point.

Yellow Society Markers

Protecting Republic Law: The Chancellor chooses any 1 Unit and Dissolves it (you cannot choose a Government Unit).
USPD: SPD receives all the benefits of the USPD, just as if it controlled the USPD.
Red Flag: KPD removes 1 of its Party Bases from any city; if they do, they place 1 Uprising Marker in that city.
Revolution!: KPD may Mobilize (i.e., move) 1 of its Dissolved Units (from the Dissolved Units area) to a city of their choice.
Unemployment Insurance: A Poverty Issue Marker comes into play on SPD's "3" space.
Thule Society: The Stab in the Back Issue Marker comes into play on DNVP's "1" space.
Stinnes-Legien Agreement: SPD gains 1 Seat and Zentrum places 1 Party Base in any city they choose.
Swimming Trunks: SPD loses 1 Seat.
Labor Welfare: SPD gains 1 Seat and chooses 1 option to resolve: Zentrum loses 1 Seat or DNVP loses 1 Seat.
Armored Cruiser: Zentrum gains 1 Seat and chooses 1 option to resolve: SPD loses 1 Seat or KPD loses 1 Seat.

6.5. Issue Markers (Listing)

This description of all white Issue Markers can also be found on the Player Aids. The options of the yellow Issue Markers are indicated on the corresponding card.

Marker	Option 1	Option 2
Economy	Move the Economy Tracker on the Economy Track 1 space to the right (if conditions are met). Then put 1 Prosperity Marker into play in a random city.	Place 2 Party Bases in any cities.
Media	Choose 1 white Society Marker from the supply and put it into play on the Society Track.	no second option
Security	Choose 1 city: Dissolve 1 Unit of your choice in this city (you cannot choose a Government Unit), and remove 1 Unrest Marker from this city.	Move 1 of your own Units from the Dissolved Units area into any city.
Foreign Affairs	Selectable only as a governing Party: Place 1 flag of your choice in the Foreign Affairs area at the bottom left of the board. Then you may perform 1 Foreign Affairs action (see 5.8).	Gain 1 victory point.
Poverty	Remove any 1 Poverty Marker from the Game Board (city or DR Box).	Gain 1 Seat in Parliament.
Reparations	Draw 1 Party Card for the next round. You also become the starting player in the next round.	no second option
Stab in the Back	DNVP places 2 Party Bases in any cities and gains 1 Seat in Parliament.	Remove 1 of your Party Bases from any city. (Note: Choosing this option allows you to avoid Option 1.)

Once a player gains control of a Minor Party, they take the corresponding Minor Party Card and flip it to the side that shows their Party.

7. Index

General

Agenda Cards, selection → Agenda Phase, 13
Crisis Roll, 20
Dice roll
- Crisis roll, 20
- Success roll, 21
Economy Marker/level, 26
Election as Reichspräsident → Cards / Friedrich Ebert Dies
Enemy Units, 25
Expansion sets, 13
Form Government, 19
Golden Chancellor Rule, 12
Government Units, 23
Inflation → Rentenmark (A 02), 27
Issue Markers, 20
- Move → Play card to Debate, 14
- Overview in the appendix, 31
Minor Parties, 26
- Additional Seats, 18
- Bonus in Politics Phase, 17
Minority Cabinet, 19
Party Base, 21
- Full city, 21
- Place, 21
Party deck, 11
- Expand (with expansion set), 13
Play order, 13
Random city, 24
Reaction, 16
Reichspräsident, 16, 26
- Election → Cards / Friedrich Ebert Dies
- Special card, 26
Reichswehr, 23
Remove card from game, 14
Rentenmark, → Cards / Rentenmark
Reserve, 14
Seats (in Parliament), 22
Select Agenda Card → Agenda Phase, 13
Society Markers, 20
- Bring into play, 20
- Overview in the appendix, 30
- Process, 17
Society Track, 8
- Full, 20
- Place new markers, 20
Strength (of Units), 23
Success roll, 21
Tie → Golden Chancellor Rule
Threat Marker, 24
- Bring into play, 24
- End of turn (KPD/DNVP) → Form Government
- Overview in appendix, 29
Units, 23
- Dissolve/move, 23
- Enemy, 25
- Government Units, 23
- Overview in the appendix, 28
- Own, 23

Actions

Coup, 25
Counter-Coup, 25
Demonstration, 21
Fight (Government only), 23
Foreign Affairs (Government only), 22
Mobilize, 23
Reaction, 16
Reserve, 14
Take Control, 23

Cards

End of Hyperinflation (Z 12) → Rentenmark
Friedrich Ebert Dies (A 63), 27
Gustav Stresemann, 26
Iron Front (S 22), 27
Petition against Young Plan (A 06), 27
Reichspräsident, 26
Rentenmark (A 02), 27
The Strike on Prussia (A 75), 27
Treaty of Versailles (A 11), 27

Parties

DNVP, 10
- In the Government → Special cases, 19
- Regime Marker, 25
- Reichswehr, Take Control, 23
KPD, 10
- Councils Marker, 25
- In the Government → Special cases, 19
- Uprising Marker, 25
SPD, 10
Zentrum, 10
- Control over Police, 23
- No Units of their own, 23

Scenarios (from the Playbook)

Republic on the Brink (solo): A solo scenario about the first 2 rounds of the game, suitable for deepening your understanding of the rules.
The War of Brothers (4 players): Takes place over the first 2 rounds of play and is thus very similar to the beginning of the main scenario, but much shorter. It is a good introduction for new players.
Dancing on the Volcano (4 players): Runs over the last 2 rounds of the game and thus focuses on the years 1929 to 1933, when the financial crisis and the rise of the NSDAP pose major challenges to the Republic.

1. Republic on the Brink (solo)

This scenario is played solo and lasts 2 rounds. It's best for internalizing the rules and gameplay before you explain the game to others.

General rule: You have to facilitate that the bots play in the best way possible to try and defeat you.

1.1. Game Setup

The game comes with 5 double-sided Overview Cards for this scenario. Place them in your play area where you can easily see them.

1.2. Game End and Victory

This scenario ends no later than the Politics Phase of Round 2. Then go through the 10 criterions in the table on the right and check how many you have met:

5 or more criteria met is a small victory.
8 or more criteria met is a big victory.

All other results and any early end of the game are considered a defeat.

No.	Category	Criterion
1	Seats in Parliament	SPD has 10+ Seats in Parliament.
2	Party Bases	SPD has 10+ Bases in cities.
3	Economy	Economy at level 3+.
4	Foreign Affairs	"London Ultimatum" successfully completed.
5	Inflation	No Inflation in play.
6	Councils / Regimes	At most 1 city with a Councils and/or Regime Marker.
7	Threats in the Empire	At most 2 Threat Markers in DR Box.
8	victory points	SPD has 15+ victory points.
9	Government	SPD is in Government after the last Policy Phase.
10	Dissolved Units	3+ Dissolved Units of KPD and/or DNVP

Note: An indication like "3+" always means "3 or more".

1.3. Rules for your Parties

Debate with value 1: Whenever Zentrum has a value of 1 available for a Debate, you must move an Issue currently controlled by SPD if possible.
Remove Base: Whenever Zentrum is about to remove an enemy Base, roll 1 die first.
- 1 or 2? You must remove an SPD Base if possible.
- 3 to 6 or there is no SPD Base? You are free to choose.
Reactions to KPD/DNVP: Whenever Zentrum is eligible (Base + Reserve Point) to React to a KPD or DNVP action, roll 1 die.
- KPD action? On 3 or more, Zentrum performs the Reaction.
- DNVP action? On 5 or more, Zentrum performs the Reaction.

Note: These rules are also summarized on one of this scenario's Overview Cards.

1.4. Rules for Bot Parties

1.4.1 Overarching rules

The following overarching rules apply to bots:

In the spirit of the Party: Whenever an action is not fully determined by the scenario rules, always make the decision in the best interest of the bot, following the prioritization of the corresponding decision table.
React whenever possible: Whenever a bot has the opportunity to React, it performs that Reaction.
No politicians for Reactions: Bots play their cards in hand in a random order. Therefore, they cannot use their Politician cards for Reactions.
Neutral in Coups: When a Coup is performed, the Units of the other bot (or both bots, if you (the player) performs a Counter-Coup) are always considered neutral.
City selection on Crisis Rolls: If a bot must choose a city due to the effect of a Crisis Roll, it selects the city lowest in priority on which the effect can be applied.
Winning Issues: When a bot wins an Issue, it always chooses the option that helps it the most.

1.4.2. Opponent priority

KPD: Zentrum > SPD > DNVP
DNVP: SPD > KPD > Zentrum

1.4.3. City priority for Bases and Units

Important: When placing Bases, skip all cities that do not have enough free spaces.

		KPD	DNVP
Place Base	#1	City with a Councils or Uprising Marker (Councils preferred)	City with at most 1 opposing Base
	#2	City without own Base	City without own Base
Place Unit	#1	City with 2+ Threat Markers (Poverty, Unrest, Regime)	City with a Councils or Uprising Marker (Councils preferred)
	#2	City without enemy Unit	City with Poverty or Unrest (City with both preferred, otherwise Poverty before Unrest)
otherwise		City highest in priority list	City highest in priority list

City priority list KPD: 1. Berlin, 2. Hamburg, 3. München, 4. Essen, 5. Köln, 6. Breslau, 7. Leipzig, 8. Frankfurt, 9. Stuttgart, 10. Rostock, 11. Königsberg.

City priority list DNVP: 1. Königsberg, 2. Rostock, 3. München, 4. Berlin, 5. Essen, 6. Breslau, 7. Hamburg, 8. Stuttgart, 9. Köln, 10. Frankfurt, 11. Leipzig.

1.4.4. Agenda Phase

Select Agenda Card. The bots select their Agenda Card according to the following table:

	KPD	DNVP
Round 1	"Revolution Now!"	Roll 1 die: 1-3: "March Through the Institutions" (Ignore the card-drawing effect.) 4-6: "Populism"
Round 2	Roll 1 dice: 1-3: "March Through the Institutions" 4-6: "Populism"	"With Power to the Power" — Additionally, bring the "Stab in the Back" Issue into play on square 0 (if not already in play). Additional effect Reinforcements Card: Find the first Reinforcements Card from the draw pile and shuffle it into DNVP's deck.

Bring any Issue into play. When a bot brings an Issue into play designated as "any" through their Agenda Card, they prioritize their choice as follows:

KPD: Poverty before Reparations
DNVP: DVP (if not already under own control) before Stab in the Back

1.4.5. Impulse Phase

Revealed card is a Timeline Card. If the drawn card is a Timeline Card, the bot resolves all 3 options (Event, Action, Debate) in the following order, one after the other:

First the Event of the card.
Then an Action with the value in the large circle.
Finally, a Debate with the value in the small circle.

Value in small circle 3 or higher?
- First the Event, then Debate with the value in the small circle.
Value in large circle exceeds value in small circle by 2 or more?
- First the Event, then an Action with the value in the large circle.
Otherwise, roll 1 die:
- 1–2: First the Event, then Debate with the value in the small circle.
- 3–4: First the Event, then an Action with the value in the large circle.
- 5–6: First Debate with the value in the small circle, then an Action with the value in the large circle.

1.4.6. Debate

	KPD	DNVP
Condition 1	Issue that can reach at least a KPD space with value 2.	Issue that can reach at least a DNVP space with value 2.
Condition 2	Issue of the category "important", which is already controlled by the KPD (but only if the movement can be resolved entirely).	Issue of the category "important" controlled by SPD or Zentrum.
otherwise	Issue with the highest priority	Issue with the highest priority
Category "important"	1. Media, 2. Poverty, 3. USPD, 4. Issue of the current Round Card, 5. Security	1. Stab in the Back, 2. Issue of the current Round Card, 3. Reparations, 4. DVP, 5. Security
Category "other"	6. Reparations, 7. Economy, 8. Foreign Affairs, 9. Stab in the Back	6. Economy, 7. Media, 8. Poverty, 9. Foreign Affairs

1.4.7. Action (in a city)

Empty Reserve: First, the bot takes all the points from its Reserve and adds them to the card value it has available for that action. This supplies the bot's Action Points (AP).
Select action: If the bot has enough AP for a Coup (KPD: 4+ / DNVP: 3+), it will perform the Coup or at least Prepare Coup. (Prepare Coup is a new special action available only to bots, see below). Otherwise, the bot will perform a Demonstration. In both cases, the bot spends AP necessary for the action.
Excess AP: If the bot has more AP than it needs for the selected action, it spends this excess AP according to the specifications in the table on the next page. Note the differences between the two bots. The KPD bot tries to increase its result by +1 (for 2 AP) as a priority, while the DNVP bot always saves the first surplus AP in the Reserve and uses the other AP for the special action Prepare Coup.
Select target city: To select the target city for the action, the bot goes through the three conditions in the table from top to bottom and chooses the first one that meets the requirement. It resolves the action in the targeted city. If several cities are possible, the bot first chooses the city in which it has the most dice available for the action; and then, if necessary, the city higher in the city priority list.

Important: It is possible that a bot only fulfills condition 1 or 2 for the selection of the target city by Prepare Coup (see example 1).

The bot gathers more Units in the target city as follows:

Take Control (2 AP, DNVP only) if there is an Reichswehr in the target city.
Mobilize Units from supply to the target city (1 AP).
Mobilize Units from cities lowest in priority (according to the city priority list) to the target city (1 AP).

Note: The Prepare Coup special action is only available to the bots in this scenario.

The following table summarizes the approach of the bots:

	KPD	DNVP
Action Selection	4+ AP? → Coup. Otherwise → Demonstration	3+ AP? → Coup. Otherwise → Demonstration
Excess AP?	1 AP left? Save in Reserve. 2 AP left? Spend for +1. 3+ AP left (only Coup)? First +1 for 2 AP, then Prepare Coup with all remaining AP.	Save the first remaining AP in Reserve. Then Prepare Coup with all remaining AP.
Demonstration:	1. In a city with Uprising and 3+ dice. 2. In a city without a KPD Base. 3. In any city.	1. In the city with the most dice. 2. In a city with KPD Units. 3. In the city with the most Threat Markers.
Coup:	1. In a city with Regime and 3+ dice. 2. In a city with 3+ dice. 3. Only Prepare Coup in a city without a Councils/Uprising Marker and with the fewest opposing Units.	1. In a city with any Councils or Uprising Markers and 3+ dice. 2. In a city with 3+ dice. 3. Only Prepare Coup in a city without a Regime Marker and with fewest opposing Units.

Examples

2. The War of Brothers (4 players)

2.1. Game Setup

The game setup corresponds to the normal game setup (see 2. Main Scenario Setup), with the following exception:

Remove the Timeline Card No-Confidence Vote (A 28) from the game without replacement.

The game comes with 4 double-sided Overview Cards for this scenario, 1 per player. Place them in your play area where you can easily see them.

2.2. Special Rules

This scenario follows the normal rules. There are no special rules.

2.3. Game End and Victory

If the Republic survives, perform the following additional final scoring steps.

SPD / Zentrum (respectively)	KPD	DNVP
−1 VP: "London Ultimatum" not successfully completed	+1 VP per Councils Marker in cities	+1 VP per Regime Marker in cities
−1 VP: Economy not at level 4+	+1 VP: 2+ Uprising Markers in cities	+1 VP: 4+ Unrest Markers in cities
−1 VP: Not in Government after last Politics Phase	+1 VP: No Dissolved KPD Unit	+1 VP: No Dissolved DNVP Unit
−1 VP: 4+ Threat Markers in DR Box	+1 VP: 4+ Seats in Parliament	+1 VP: 5+ Seats in Parliament
−1 VP: 1+ Inflation in DR Box

Note: An indication like "2+" always means "2 or more".

3. Dancing on the Volcano (4 players)

3.1. Game Setup

The game setup mostly follows the normal game setup (see 2. Main Scenario Setup) with the following changes:

Game Board and Cards

Changed positions of the markers
- a. Round Tracker: space 5
- b. Foreign Affairs Tracker: "1925 Locarno"
- c. Economic Tracker: Level 3
Timeline Cards
- a. Remove the following Timeline Cards from the game: A28, A31–40, A51–58, A61–70
- b. Create and shuffle a face-down deck consisting of these Timeline Cards only: A21–27, A29, A30, A71–80
Round Cards
- a. Remove Round Cards 1-4 from the game.
- b. Place the remaining 2 Round Cards face up in a pile with card 5 Black Friday on top.
Foreign Affairs Cards
- a. Remove the first 5 Foreign Affairs Cards (A10-A14) from the game.
- b. Place the remaining 2 Foreign Affairs Cards face up in a pile with the Young Plan on top.
Reichspräsident: Hindenburg is Reichspräsident. The DNVP player receives the Reichspräsident Card.

Parties

Minor Parties
- a. Remove the USDP and the DDP (each card and Issue Marker) and the Gustav Stresemann Card from the game.
- b. The DNVP controls the DVP.
Party Cards: Adjust your decks according to the specifications on the next page (or the Overview Cards).
Units
- a. All Police and Reichswehr Units start in the Government's supply.
- b. Adjust your Party Units according to the specifications on the next page (or the overview cards).

Setting up the Game Board

Place the following Threat Markers on the game board:
- a. 4 Prosperity to different random cities
- b. 1 Poverty in a random city (must be a city without Prosperity, re-roll if necessary).
- c. 2 Unrest to different random cities
- d. 1 Regime in München
Party Figures:
- a. SPD: 3 figures to different cities, 6 figures to Parliament
- b. Zentrum: 2 figures to different cities, 5 figures to Parliament
- c. KPD: 5 figures to different cities, 3 figures to Parliament
- d. DNVP: 7 figures to different cities, 5 figures to Parliament
Reserve Markers:
- a. SPD and Zentrum: 1 point each
- b. KPD and DNVP: 0 points each

New, additional steps

Place 1 DNVP Figure on the first space of the NSDAP track.
Place 2 Flags of each nation in the Foreign Affairs area.
Place the following Society Markers from left to right on the Society Track:
- Unemployment Insurance
- Armored Cruiser
- Workers (SPD +1 Seat)
- The Poor (KPD +1 Base),
- The Poor (DNVP places Unrest)

Adjustment of Party Cards and Units. Take the Overview Card of your Party. All adjustments are listed there.

Remove all cards from the game that are shown in the table. Your Party Decks consist of all the remaining basic Party Cards plus the expansion cards shown in the table.

	SPD	KPD	Zentrum	DNVP
Remove Agenda Cards:	SA1 (Socialism)	KA1 (Revolution now!)	ZA2 (Economic Competence)	DA2 (We Need a Strong Man)
Remove Party Cards:	S07, S10, S11, S27, S28	K09, K10, K12, K22, K24	Z08, Z12, Z27, Z28, Z29	D04, D07, D08, D09, D11
Expansion cards in the Party Deck:	S26, S29, S30	K21, K23, K25	Z26, Z30	D26–30
Units in supply	as shown on Party Board	1x plus 1x	as shown on Party Board	1x plus 1x
Dissolved Units:	none	2x plus 2x	none	2x plus 2x
Remove Units:	none	3x plus 2x	none	none

3.2. Special Rules

This scenario follows the normal rules. There are no special rules.

3.3. Game End and Victory

This scenario ends after the Politics Phase of round 6 (at the latest), at which point the Republic has survived. In this case, additionally perform the following final scoring steps:

−2 VP for each Party Figure on the NSDAP Track.
+3 VP for each Party in Government after the last Politics Phase.

However, the game can also end prematurely as usual. The normal rules apply for this.