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(1) The Flanders map is not used for the introductory game. Player "Austria" plays against the two others. Of these, one is France & Bavaria, while the other is Prussia & Saxony. Austria's role is pure defense, while the other two are the attackers.
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(2) Generals and supply trains are the two types of playing pieces in the game. Pieces move from city to city along roads. Generals can move three cities a turn, supply trains two. Both can move one additional city by moving along main roads.
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(3) During its movement, a piece may never jump over another piece. Two generals of one power may unite to a stack. In addition, two generals of co-operating powers (for instance, Bavaria and France) may form a mixed stack. A general can eliminate an enemy supply train. Note that in difference to FRIEDRICH, a general has not to stop moving on eliminating the enemy supply train.
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(4) Generals may force march. A force march must be entirely on a main road, AND a general cannot force march on/through an enemy-controlled fortess, AND cannot force march on/through a city adjacent to an enemy piece (general or supply train). — On a force march, a general may move up to 8 cities. |
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(5) In order to win, the attackers must conquer fortresses. Generals conquer a fortress by moving through them, unless there is an Austrian general within three cities, in which case the city is protected. A protecting general can be driven off by a successful attack from an adjacent city.
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(6) Each power has a hand of Tactical Cards, which is kept secret from the other players in the game. At the start of its turn, a power draws additional cards, the number of which varies per power. The most important use of Tactical Cards is during combat.
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(7) The board is divided into squares, each of which is marked with a suit. In combat within that square, only Tactical Cards of that suit can be played to add to the strengths of the troops. Players must constantly adjust the locations of their generals to take into account the continually changing cards in their hands.
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(8) In combat, players take turns playing Tactical Cards to add to the strengths of their generals, which is denoted as a secret number on their army sheet. When one side runs out of cards or decides to give up, the weaker side loses troops equal to the difference in strength between the two sides and must retreat the same number of cities.
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(9) Supply trains are needed to keep generals in supply outside of their home country. If a general outside his home country is not within six cities of a supply train, he loses immediately 1 troop and is turned face-down. If still out of supply in the next turn, he will lose 2 troops. Furthermore, a face-down general cannot conquer fortresses, and is of no use for winning the game.
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(10) Austria has 2 hussars, which it places every turn on the Bohemia map. Every time an enemy general wants to trace supply through a hussar's city, he has to pay for supply (1 point of Tactical Cards per city of the supply path). — You cannot fight hussars. You can only try to move your generals into good positions.
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(1) The most obvious new element is the political display. This is a small separate board, which shows 3 tracks, one each for Saxony, Russia and Italy. On each track, there is a marker which can be moved by the use of Political Cards. If a marker reaches a box with a symbol, a penalty or a bonus is in effect. In the upper picture, Prussia (blue) is not allowed to use 1 general, and the Tactical-Cards-income of France (red) is reduced by 1.
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(2) Each turn, 2 Political Cards are turned face up. Some of them allow the movement of 1 or 2 political markers, some do not allow the movement of markers, but give a special bonus, for instance cost-free troops. Players bid for the cards by placing Tactical Cards face-down on the display.
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(3) When all players have placed their card, they are turned face up. The player with the highest card in the trump suit (which was determined beforehand) may pick one of the Political Cards. The picked card can be executed or discarded (which makes sense if it is of negative effect). Tactical Cards not in the trump suit are a bluff and are returned to the player.
In the upper example, France has the highest card and selects a Political Card. With that, France moves the marker on the Italy track 1 to the left. The result is that France will have its normal income. France is also allowed to move the marker on the Russia track by 1 to the left or 1 to the right. Since these are pro or contra Prussia, France might consider to negotiate with Prussia what it should do.
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(4) The top track on the display is the Saxony track. Saxony starts as Prussian ally, but can become neutral or can even become an Austrian ally. The Saxony marker is not only moved by Political Cards, but also by special game results like major battle victories.
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(5) At the beginning of the game, every major power has a certain number of victory markers in its pool. A major power wins the game by emptying its pool of victory markers. Typically, victory markers go on conquered fortresses. But there are also boxes, where victory markers may be placed whwnever a special condition is fulfilled.
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(6) For each major power, there are 2 boxes for major battle victories. Furthermore, there is: a) A box for the annexion of Silesia (=victory marker for Prussia); b) A box for the control of 3 elector fortresses (victory marker for France or the Pragmatic Army); c) A box for dominating Italy (France or Austria); d) A box for a successful Imperial Election (France or Austria).
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(7) For becoming Emperor, a power needs 5 out of 9 Electoral votes. There are 9 special fortresses which give the controlling power 1 vote each, for instance Berlin, Munich, or Trier. Which power controls which fortress is summarized on the Electoral College. The Imperial Election will be held between turn 4 and turn 7.
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(8) Victory! Here, Austria has emptied its pool by placing 8 victory markers on the board: 4 on conquered fortresses in Silesia, 1 on a conquered fortress in France, 1 for becoming Emperor, and 2 for major battle victories.
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