Spheres of Influence: Struggle for Global Supremacy Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Map
  • What makes spaces adjacent?
  • Controlling spaces
  • Neutral territories
  • Territory benefits
• Factions
  • Friendly factions
• Start Locations
  • Receiving start location cards
  • Holding start location cards
  • Capturing start location cards
• Progress Chart
  • Regional production
  • Spheres & capital cities
  • Oil production
• Rounds
• Mobilization Phase
  • Forming the turn deck
  • Unit placement
• Turn Phase
  • Action 1: Passing
  • Action 2: Moving
  • Action 3: Attacking
  • Special dice
  • Local Resistance Rule
  • Action 4: Annexing
• Special Cards
• Winning
• Advanced Turn Deck

Components

• 1 game board
• 720 cubes / 8 colors
• 72 turn cards / 9 per faction
• 72 special cards
• 10 D6 + 1 D8
• 3 special dice
• 1 progress chart
• 18 start location cards

Design: Josh Lamont. Development: Josh & Frank Lamont. Graphic Design: True Destiny Media. Production: Panda Game Manufacturing.

Map

The map is divided into spaces that the game's factions will occupy and battle over. The land spaces are called territories; the sea spaces (the white dashed circles) are called sea zones. These spaces are connected to each other in several ways, and spaces which share a connection are adjacent. On a faction's turn, it will be able to take its units (its colored cubes) occupying one space and have them attack, move into or annex an adjacent space.

What makes spaces adjacent?

1. Territories that share a border (dotted white line or solid white line) are connected, and are adjacent to each other.
2. Territories that are connected together by an orange dashed line are adjacent.
3. Sea zones that are connected together by a white dashed line are adjacent.
4. Sea zones and territories connected to one another by blue dashed lines are adjacent.

At the extreme left end of the board, there is a sea zone and two dashed lines which "trail off" the edge of the map, labeled A-C. These link the left side of the board to the right side, where the same sea zone and sea connectors exist (labeled in the same order), allowing units to move and attack by traveling "around the world". Units occupying the sea zone labeled A on the left side of the board are simultaneously occupying the sea zone labeled A on the right side, since they are the same space. When a faction occupies the sea zone labeled A, it may choose to represent its units on either side of the map. Likewise, the connectors B and C create adjacency between the sea zones they respectively link on either side of the map.

Controlling spaces

If a faction has at least 1 unit in a space, it controls that space. Once a faction controls a territory, it may never totally "abandon" that territory and must always leave at least 1 unit there to maintain its control. However, factions do not need to maintain control of sea zones and are free to leave these spaces entirely empty when moving or attacking from them.

Territories are grouped together to form spheres of influence (or spheres for short). There are 18 spheres of influence on the board. Territories that make up a sphere of influence are colored similarly and are located near one another on the map. If a faction controls all of the territories that make up a sphere of influence, it controls that sphere. The ultimate goal of the game is to control the most spheres of influence at the end of the final round.

Example: Controlling a sphere. Blue and Red both control a number of territories in Africa. Red controls all the territories that make up the West African sphere of influence (all of the brown territories) and so controls that sphere. Blue only controls 3 of the 4 territories that make up the North African sphere of influence (the yellow territories), so it doesn't yet control that sphere.

Neutral territories

Certain territories are "grayed out" and contain no information (no regional production, oil fields, capital cities, or points of interest). These territories are called neutral territories, and they cannot be controlled, occupied, moved into or attacked under any circumstances.

Territory benefits

In Spheres of Influence, territories provide benefits to the faction that controls them. Each territory contains various indicators and symbols that describe the benefit conferred to its owner. Most of the benefits won't be experienced until the mobilization phase of each round, while others have an immediate effect as soon as the territory is taken. Many territories contain multiple indicators/benefits.

Regional production. Every territory (except neutral territories) contains a large number representing that territory's regional production. This number represents a combination of that region's real world population, military power, industrial output and natural resources. In the game, a faction's combined regional production total from all of its territories will be used to determine how many units that faction will place during the mobilization phase.

Oil field. Territories with an oil derrick symbol contain oil fields. During the mobilization phase of each round, factions will contribute a number of bonus turn cards to the global turn deck based on how many oil fields they control.

Capital city. Each sphere of influence has one territory that contains a capital city. Each capital city on the map corresponds to one of the game's 18 possible start locations. At the end of the final round, if multiple factions tie for controlling the most spheres of influence, their tie will be broken by whichever one of those factions control the most capital cities.

Point of interest. Territories marked with a compass icon contain a point of interest. Whenever a faction takes control of one of these territories by: moving into the space for the first time, taking the territory from another faction via combat, or using a special card, that faction's owner immediately draws a special card from the special card deck. From that point forward, that player may play that special card on behalf of any of his factions when that card's conditions are met. Note: Factions do not lose special cards as a result of losing control of a territory.

Magnifiers. Some of the smaller territories have a "magnifier" to highlight that territory's information. These magnifiers provide no benefits.

Factions

In Spheres of Influence players will compete against one another by controlling factions. Depending on the number of players, each player will control anywhere from 1-4 factions. Each faction is represented by its own color, matching colored cubes, and its own turn cards.

The 8 factions are: White, Green, Purple, Black, Blue, Brown, Red, and Yellow.

The chart below describes the number of factions each player will control based on how many players start the game.

Players	Factions
2 Players	3 or 4 Factions (players decide)
3 Players	2 Factions
4 Players	2 Factions
5+ Players	1 Faction

Once the number of factions is determined, each player will choose the faction(s) they want to command. As players choose their factions, they will take those factions' turn cards and place them into their own stack on the table in front of themselves, face up (It's usually best if these cards are ordered from lowest to highest, with the 2 base turn cards first, followed by the +1, +2, +3 and so on.) Players will also take their factions' units and place them within easy reaching distance.

Friendly factions

Factions owned by the same player are called Friendly Factions. For almost all purposes, friendly factions interact with one another as if they were owned by separate players. They do not "combine scores", they do not share regional production or oil production, they cannot share control of spaces, and they cannot move through one another's spaces. They'll have their own separate turns during the mobilization phase and the turn phase, and can't "swap" turns. However, their owner can play special cards on their behalf however he sees fit, regardless of whichever one of his factions was responsible the card being drawn in the first place (see Special Cards). Furthermore, friendly factions may uniquely perform the special "annex" action upon one another, allowing them to take territories from each other without entering into combat (see Annexing).

Start Locations

In Spheres of Influence each faction will begin the game with only a single territory under its control and will gradually expand from there. The territory that each faction begins the game with will be determined before the game starts, as players secretly draw and assign their start location cards to their factions.

There are 18 start location cards. Each card depicts a sphere of influence and a highlighted space denoting that sphere's capital, both of which are named at the bottom of the card. When a start location card is chosen and assigned to a faction, it will place 3 of its units on the space that corresponds to that card's highlighted territory (the space on the map that contains that sphere's capital city).

Example: Start location. If Blue is assigned the East Asia start location card, its 3 initial units will be placed on the board into the territory containing Tokyo.

Receiving start location cards

Once every player has selected their factions, the start location cards are shuffled and placed face down on the table. Then, one at a time, beginning with the player who shuffled the deck, and moving clockwise around the table, each player will take turns drawing the top 2 cards of the deck. Players will secretly look at their cards, choose one to keep, and return the other, face down, to the bottom of the deck. If players have multiple factions, this process repeats itself, with each player again drawing 2 cards, keeping one and returning the other, until each player has kept the number of start location cards equal to the number of factions he controls. The remaining start location cards (those never chosen and those returned to the deck) are set aside and removed from the game.

Once every player has enough start location cards, everyone reveals the cards they've chosen. Players will then assign their factions to the start locations they've kept. Each faction will then place 3 of its units into the territory that corresponds to the card it's been assigned to.

Holding start location cards

After placing its initial units on the table, each faction will keep its original start location card, placing it face up near its stack of turn cards. During the mobilization phase, for each start location card a faction presently owns, it will get to place a bonus unit on the board.

Capturing start location cards

Whenever a faction conquers a territory that corresponds to another faction's original start location card, it takes that card from whichever faction currently owns it and places it, face up, near its own stack of turn cards. The more start location cards a faction controls, the more units it gets to produce and, at the end of the final round, the better position it is in if there is a tie for first place.

Progress Chart

From the moment that each faction's first units are placed on the board till the end of the game, the progress of each faction is tracked on the progress chart.

Place the progress chart on the table beside the game board. Then take 3 colored cubes from each faction involved in this match and place them near the chart – these will be the tokens used for updating that faction's progress. Then designate one player to be trusted with updating the chart. This will involve a fair amount of attention, so it should be the person best suited for the task.

The progress chart is separated into 3 distinct areas, each measuring a different piece of a faction's global standing.

• The top area measures a faction's combined regional production.
• The middle area measures how many spheres of influence and capital cities a faction controls.
• The bottom area shows how many territories with oil fields a faction owns.

Each faction will be represented in each area of the chart with one of its tokens. Whenever a faction gains or loses a territory on the board, the impact of that change will be felt on the progress chart by moving that faction's tokens forward or backward wherever it would be appropriate. As a consequence, gaining or losing certain territories might impact every area of the chart at once or might only impact a single area.

The progress chart has 3 main purposes:

• During the mobilization phase, it will tell factions how many units they get to place and in what order each faction will place its units.
• During the mobilization phase, it will tell factions how many turn cards they should contribute to the global turn deck.
• At the end of the final round, it will be used to determine the game's winner.

A faction's token can and will often occupy the same space as another faction's token on the progress chart. This is fine. If there are too many tokens on the same space, so that they cannot all fit, feel free to stack them on top of each other as necessary.

Regional production

Each space in this section of the chart carries two pieces of information: (1) a faction's regional production total - the combined regional production value of all its territories, and (2) the number of units a faction will produce during the mobilization phase based on that total.

Example: Red presently controls several territories, totaling 3 regional production value. During the mobilization phase, that number will allow it to place 2 units. Yellow controls 6 points of regional production value, which will allow it to place 3 units during the mobilization phase.

Spheres & capital cities

This area is separated into 5 rows. The rows represent the number of spheres of influence a faction presently controls. (The white number on the left shows the number of spheres each row represents.) Each space in that row shows how many capital cities a faction presently controls. A faction's progress is measured in this section only if it controls at least 1 sphere of influence.

Example: Red controls 1 sphere of influence (1st row) and 3 capital cities. Black controls 2 spheres of influence (2nd row) and 4 capital cities.

Oil production

This area is separated into 8 spaces resembling oil barrels. Each space contains 2 pieces of information – the number of oil fields a faction presently controls and the number of active turn cards a faction will contribute to the global turn based on that total.

Example: Red controls 2 territories containing oil fields, which will allow it to contribute 4 turn cards to the global turn deck during the mobilization phase. Yellow controls 3 oil fields, which will allow it to contribute 5 turn cards to the global turn deck during the mobilization phase.

Example: Progress chart in action. On White's turn, it takes a territory worth 3 regional production value containing a capital city from the Red faction, which also causes Red to lose a previously held sphere of influence. Both factions have their positions on the progress chart immediately adjusted to reflect those changes.

What happens if I have more regional production, spheres of influence, capitals cities, or oil fields than the progress chart can measure? This is fairly rare but when it happens, do your best to keep track of the extras by any means available to you (like using a notepad). However, you will receive no additional units for a regional production score beyond 49, and you will not contribute any more bonus turn cards for having more than 7 oil fields. That said, during the mobilization phase you will receive 1 bonus unit for each sphere of influence you control beyond the fifth, and those extra spheres and capitals will still be counted for determining the game's winner.

Rounds

The game play of Spheres of Influence is played out over a series of rounds, the number of which is set based on how many factions are playing.

Factions	Rounds
5-7 Factions	6 Rounds
8+ Factions	5 Rounds

At the start of the game, place the 8-sided die on the hour glass symbol on the board and use it as a count down timer. Set it so that its face up value is showing the number of rounds this particular match will have. At the end of each round, the die will be rotated down by a value of 1, indicating that a round has been completed. Once the die cannot be rotated any farther down, the game ends and a winner is determined (for bonus tie breaker rounds, you don't need to track the round number any longer).

Each round of Spheres of Influence is split into 2 phases - the mobilization phase and the turn phase. Once the last turn in the turn phase is completed, a round ends and the next round begins.

Mobilization Phase

The first phase of each round is called the mobilization phase. During this phase 2 things will happen: the turn deck will be formed and shuffled, and factions will take turns placing new units on the board. Once every faction has placed its units, the mobilization phase will end and the turn phase will begin.

Forming the turn deck

Every faction has 9 turn cards, 2 of which are base turn cards (which are labeled as such), and 7 of which are bonus turn cards, which have a "+" value on the top right and bottom left corners of the card. During each round's mobilization phase, every faction will contribute a number of their turn cards (called active turn cards) from their reserve pile to form the global turn deck.

The number of cards that each faction will contribute is:

2 base turn cards + 1 bonus turn card for each oil field they control

Once every faction has contributed the correct number of active turn cards to the global turn deck, shuffle the deck and place it face down on the table near the board.

Exception: For the first round of the game, a faction receives no bonus turn cards (regardless of whether or not its start location contains an oil field). Each faction only contributes its 2 base turn cards to form the game's initial global turn deck.

Example: Contributing turn cards. During the mobilization phase, Red controls no oil fields, so it only contributes its 2 base turn cards to the global deck. Yellow controls 1 oil field, so it contributes 3 cards (its 2 base turn cards plus its +1 bonus turn card). Blue controls 2 oil fields, so it contributes 4 cards (its 2 base turn cards plus its +1 & +2 bonus turn cards).

Unit placement

Factions take turns placing units in order of how far they are along the regional production section of the progress chart, so that the faction who has the highest regional production score places first. Placement then proceeds in descending order until the faction with the lowest score places last. Powerful factions are rewarded by placing more units, but smaller factions are compensated by being able to "react" to their rivals. If factions are tied for placement order, the faction who is farthest along on the spheres & capital cities section of the chart places first, with spheres of influence ranking higher than capital cities. Factions which are still tied have their tie broken by whichever one of them is farthest along in oil production. Factions that are tied in every section of the progress chart have their tie broken by rolling a 6-sided die. Whichever faction rolls higher places first.

When it's a faction's turn to place units, it places a number of units equal to:

The unit production number associated with its regional production score + 1 bonus unit for each start location card it owns + 1 bonus unit for each sphere of influence it controls + 1 bonus unit for any special card a player voluntarily discards (not plays)*

*On a faction's turn to place units, that player's owner may opt to discard any number of special cards to place the same number of bonus units on that faction's behalf. When a player does this, ignore the card's usual effect. Playing a special card in its ordinary way, which causes it to be discarded, will not result in receiving these special bonus units.

When it's a faction's turn to place units, they can only place units on territories they control. Units cannot be placed on sea zones, unoccupied territories, or territories controlled by other factions (including friendly factions). Factions may disperse new units among their territories however they wish. Once a faction has placed all of its units, the next faction takes its turn and places its units. This process continues until every faction has placed all of its units. If a faction still has units to place, but has run out of cubes, use the cubes of one the factions not presently playing as a substitute.

Exception: For the first round of the game, factions skip unit placement. Each faction begins with only their first 3 initial units on their start location.

Once every unit has been placed, check to see if any player wants to use any special cards that are played at "the end of the mobilization phase". Following this, the mobilization phase is complete and the turn phase begins.

Example. The order placement here is: 1st Red, 2nd Blue, 3rd White, 4th Yellow, 5th Purple, and 6th Green. Red is the farthest along on regional production so it places first. White and Blue are tied for placing next, but Blue is farther along on the spheres section of the chart, so it places second, and White places third. Yellow and Purple are tied in regional production and in spheres and capital cities, but Yellow is farther in oil production, so it goes fourth, making Purple fifth. Green is last in regional production, so it places units last.

Apart from counting bonus units from start location cards, here's how many units each of the above factions would place on their turns (RP = regional production, SOI = spheres of influence):

Red: 9 (9 from RP) Blue: 11 (9 from RP + 2 from SOI) White: 10 (9 from RP + 1 from SOI) Yellow: 7 (6 from RP + 1 from SOI) Purple: 7 (6 from RP + 1 from SOI) Green: 5 (5 from RP)

Turn Phase

The second phase of each round is the turn phase. During this phase, factions will have an opportunity to move their units, attack other factions, expand their borders, and play special cards.

One at a time, flip and reveal the top card of the global turn deck (flipped turn cards are returned to their owners). The faction whose card is revealed takes a turn, performing a single action. Once that action is complete, the next turn card on top of the global turn deck is flipped and revealed, and that faction takes a turn, again performing a single action. This process repeats itself until every card in the global turn deck has been revealed. Once the last turn has been played, the round ends.

Some special cards refer to the "start" of a turn. These cards are played between a new turn card being revealed and an action being executed (an attack might be declared, but no dice have been rolled yet).

Once an action is complete, a faction is allowed a short time to play a special card (which, for instance, might give them a bonus action) before declaring their turn truly "done".

There are 4 possible actions a faction can take on its turn:

Action 1: Passing

A faction does nothing (though special cards may still be played).

Action 2: Moving

A faction moves at least 1 unit from one space to an adjacent space, if that space is unoccupied OR if that space is already occupied by units already owned by that faction (which is called redeploying).

If the units who are being moved occupy a territory, at least 1 unit must "stay behind" to maintain control of that territory, as factions may never entirely vacate a territory once it comes under its control. However, they may completely abandon a sea zone.

Example: Moving units. On Red's turn, it moves units from one territory it controls to an adjacent unoccupied space (in this case another territory). It must leave at least 1 unit behind.

Example: Illegal move. Red cannot entirely vacate a territory once it controls it, and it would have needed to leave at least 1 unit behind.

Example: Redeploy. On Red's turn, it moves a unit from a territory it controls to an adjacent territory it already controls. This is called a redeploy. It still must leave at least 1 unit behind.

Example. On Red's turn, it moves units from a sea zone it controls to an adjacent space. Factions are allowed to vacate sea zones, so it doesn't need to leave any units behind.

Example. On Red's turn, it moves a unit from a territory to a sea zone. It must leave at least 1 unit behind in order to maintain control of the territory (in this case, it leaves 2 units behind).

Sea zone move + special bonus action: If the units a faction moved began their turn on a sea zone, and the space they moved to was another sea zone, any unit on that sea zone (not only the units just moved, but any other unit on that space) may take a bonus action (moving or attacking), so long as the second action also resolves on another sea zone.

Example: Bonus sea move. On Red's turn, it moves a unit on a sea zone to a sea zone, allowing it to take a bonus action with any units on the sea zone it just moved to. In this case, it moves again.

Example. On Red's turn, it controls a sea zone containing 3 units. It moves 2 of those units to another sea zone, which already contains 2 more of its units (for a total of 4). It's allowed to take a bonus action with any of the units that occupy that space (so long as it resolves on another sea zone), so Red decides to move all 4 of those units (though he could have moved less).

Action 3: Attacking

A faction declares an attack from a space it presently controls with at least 1 eligible unit (more on this below) against an adjacent space controlled by an opponent's faction.

When a faction declares an attack, a battle begins, which can last multiple combat rounds. Regardless of the number of combat rounds, the attack itself is still considered to be a single action.

To initiate a round of combat, the attacking faction must commit 1-5 eligible units from the space it wants to attack from to fight. All units are considered eligible, unless the space is a territory, in which case 1 unit is ineligible, and must "stay behind" in order to maintain control of that territory. The unit that stays behind cannot participate in the fight. (No dice are rolled on its behalf, and it is unaffected by kills scored by the defender or cards which effect "attacking units" since its not actually attacking.) As a consequence, attacks cannot be declared from territories that contain only 1 unit. When attacking from a sea zone, all units are considered eligible since factions may abandon sea zones completely.

Examples: Eligible units for attacking.

• Red cannot attack Blue from a space since it has no eligible units there, as its only unit must maintain control of that territory and therefore cannot leave.
• Red can attack Blue. However, though the space it controls has 3 units, only 2 of them are eligible, as the third unit must stay behind and maintain control of that territory.
• Though the territory Red controls has 7 units, 6 of which are eligible, only 1-5 units can be committed per round of combat. So Red attacks with 5 units, while the 6th eligible unit waits in reserve.
• The same situation as above, except that Red decides to attack with only 3 units, leaving 3 eligible units in reserve.
• Even though it only has 1 unit, Red can attack Blue since sea zones can be entirely abandoned.
• When attacking from a territory to a sea zone, a faction must still leave at least 1 unit behind.

The defending faction automatically commits the most units it can, up to 5, to fight during each round of combat. Unlike the attacker, all units in the defending space are considered eligible for combat (they're essentially fighting to the last man).

For every unit committed by a faction during a round of combat, that faction gets to roll a 6-sided die. Both factions roll their combat dice simultaneously, and any special dice they're eligible to roll, and then each faction will determine the number of kills and blocks they scored (see Scoring Kills and Special Dice below). Any kills scored by one faction, which aren't blocked by the other faction's special dice, will result in the opposing faction losing a participating unit. Killed units are removed from the board and returned to their owners' reserve of units. Once both factions have removed any killed units, that round of combat is finished. The attacker, if able, may then decide to continue into another round of combat, again committing 1-5 eligible units, and the process repeats itself. Combat rounds continue until:

1. The space is conquered by the attacker once every defending unit has been killed. The attacker may then move in as many eligible units as he likes from the space he just attacked from (even those who did not participate in the battle), so long as he moves in at least as many units which survived the last round of combat. This ends the attack.
2. The attacker decides to cancel the attack after completing any round of combat. This ends the attack.
3. The attacker is unable to attack because he no longer has enough eligible units to continue attacking. This ends the attack.

Example: Rounds of combat. Combat Round 1: Red attacks with 5 units against Blue's 4 units. Combat Round 1 results: Red kills 2 Blue units; Blue kills 2 of Red's units. Combat Round 2: Red decides to continue into another round of combat, now with 4 units vs Blue's 2. Combat Round 2 results: Red kills 2 of Blue's units (all of them), while Blue kills 1 of Red's units. Combat finished: Having killed all of Blue's units, Red is able to move into Blue's former space. At least the survivors of the final round of combat must move into the newly conquered territory. In this case, 3 units move. (Red attacks Blue. After 2 rounds of combat, he succeeds in killing all of Blue's units and is able to take Blue's territory. Note: After round 1, Red could have decided to stop attacking. If he had, this would have completed his action.)

Scoring Kills - When a faction rolls its combat dice during a round of combat, the faction's owner organizes those dice into "groups" (a group can contain as little as a single die or as many as 5 dice), with the aim of creating as many groups whose total value is 6 or more as possible. For every group formed, a kill is scored against the opposing force. Leftover dice and "remainders" have no effect. Successful kills rolled only effect those units participating in the current round of combat - there are no "overkills" or "carry overs".

Example: Scoring kills. White attacks from a sea zone (where all units are eligible) with 5 units against Blue's 3 units. White rolls 5 dice; Blue rolls 3 dice. Both factions organize their dice into as many groups whose value is ≥ 6. Although there were some other potential combinations, in the end, White could only organize 2 groups whose value is ≥ 6. Blue is able to organize 2 groups whose value is ≥ 6. Each group of dice formed whose value is 6 or more scores a kill against the other faction. In this case, both factions formed 2 groups, so they each score 2 kills against the other faction. Since White attacked, and since it has some units remaining, it decides to continue into another round of combat, using 3 units against Blue's remaining unit. Both factions organize their dice into as many groups whose value is ≥ 6. White is only able to form one group. Blue isn't able to form any groups. White kills Blue's final unit. It must move in at least the survivors of the final round of combat, so it moves 3 units taking the space.

Special dice

Special dice represent tactical advantages, giving the faction who has them an extra edge in combat. In most battles, at least one faction (usually the defender) will be able to roll at least 1 special die. In most cases, special dice (except special dice gained from desperate fighting) are rolled each round of combat until the battle ends.

A special die has 6 faces - 2 that are blank, 2 that are blocks, and 2 that are bonus kills. During a round of combat, if a faction rolls the kill symbol, a bonus kill is added against the opposing faction. If a faction rolls the block symbol, one of the opponent's kills is ignored. If a faction rolls the blank side, nothing happens. Bonus kills and blocks only effect the units participating in the current round of combat. Kills and blocks do not carry over into subsequent rounds.

Combat situations & special dice:

1. Fortified: When a faction is attacking from a territory to a territory, the defender rolls 1 special die each round of combat.
2. Blockade: When a faction is attacking from a territory to a sea zone, the defender rolls 1 special die each round of combat.
3. Naval combat: When a faction is attacking from a sea zone to a sea zone, no special dice are rolled by either faction.
4. Storming the beach: When a faction is attacking from a sea zone to a territory, the defender rolls 2 special dice each round of combat.
5. Desperate fighting: During a round of combat, a faction may voluntarily discard a special card (not to "play it" but as an alternative to its usual effect). This will allow that faction to roll a bonus special die for that round of combat only. Multiple special cards may be discarded in the same round to add further bonus dice. Factions may wait to see the results of the other dice being rolled before deciding to commit to desperate fighting.

Example: Special dice. White attacks Blue from a sea zone with 4 units against Blue's 3 units, who are defending a territory. White rolls 4 dice, while Blue rolls 3 dice and 2 bonus special dice, since White is "storming the beach". White forms two groups. Blue forms 1 group, plus a bonus kill & a block. White is able to form 2 groups of ≥ 6; however, Blue rolls a block which cancels one of White's kills against him, so White only scores 1 kill. Blue is able to make 1 group of ≥ 6 and rolls a bonus kill with his other special die, so Blue scores 2 kills. Once the killed units are removed, if the attack is continued, Blue still rolls 2 special dice per combat round, regardless of how many defenders remain.

Local Resistance Rule

If a battle for a territory resolves in such a way that all of the defending faction's units have been removed from that territory, but the attacker no longer has enough eligible units to move into it, the defender gets to maintain control of that territory by placing 1 new unit into that space.

Example. Although White killed all of Blue's units, it lost so many units that it can no longer take control of Blue's territory. So the local resistance rule applies - Blue places 1 new unit into the territory it just lost, preserving its control of that space.

Examples: Local resistance rule.

• Although Red killed all of Blue's units, it has no eligible units left to take Blue's territory, as its final unit is not eligible. (It must stay behind to maintain control of its own territory.) Here, the local resistance rule applies; Blue places 1 new unit in its territory.
• In this situation the local resistance rule does not apply. Although Red lost all of its units who fought in the last round of combat, it still has at least 1 eligible unit left that can move into the newly conquered territory.

Action 4: Annexing

A faction may move units (using normal movement rules) into a space controlled by a friendly faction (another faction that shares the same owner), so long as it moves more units into that space than are presently there. If so, remove all of the friendly faction's units from that space (and from the board entirely), and the faction who just moved units into that space immediately takes control of it. This is called annexing.

A player does not draw a special card when annexing a territory, regardless of whether or not the territory contains a point of interest.

Example: Annexing. The same player owns both the Red and Blue factions. On Red's turn, Red moves 3 units into Blue's territory (which contains fewer units), annexing that territory. Blue's units in that space are removed from the board, and Red takes control of that space.

Special Cards

Before the game begins, shuffle the special cards into a deck and place them face down beside the board. Whenever a faction takes a territory containing a point of interest by any means other than by annexing, that faction's owner draws the top special card from the special card deck, keeping it a secret from the other players and places it into his hand.

When a card's conditions are met, a player may play a special card on behalf of one of his factions. To do this, he shows the card to the other players, follows its instructions, and then discards the card by placing it face up into a pile next to the special card deck (its discard pile).

Using Special Cards - Special cards are one of the only things that friendly factions "share", as it's the factions' owner who draws and holds the special cards, not the factions themselves. That means that a player who controls 2 factions can use one of his factions to take a point of interest - allowing his owner to draw a special card - and later have that card played on behalf of his other faction.

Each special card describes the conditions in which it can be played. A player may play any number of special cards into the same situation (i.e. the same turn, the same round of combat) so long as those cards' conditions have been met. Special cards can be played the same turn they were drawn. Unless otherwise stated, playing a special card does not count as an action.

When a player uses a special card, he plays it on behalf of one of his factions. The "you" in a special card's text refers to the faction on whose behalf the card is being played. Most of the time, when a player plays a special card on a faction's behalf it usually only effects that particular faction. So if a Bob owned Blue & Red, and it was Blue's turn, and Bob played Oil Boom, the units generated by that card would only effect Blue (since Blue is the "you" in that situation, and since the card is played on "your turn"). If Bob wanted Red to get those units, he'd have to wait till Red's turn and then play Oil Boom.

Example: Playing a special card. Bob owns 2 factions, Red and Blue. During the mobilization phase, when its Red's turn to place units, Bob plays the Draft card on Red's behalf, revealing it to the other players, and then places 2 additional Red units on the board. Bob then discards Draft. Note that Blue doesn't get to place any additional units - this card was not played on Blue's behalf, so it receives no benefit. (Draft: Play this card during the mobilization phase when its your turn to place units. Place 2 additional units this round.)

Alternative Ways To Play Cards - Instead of playing a special card in its usual way, it may be discarded to either place a bonus unit during the mobilization phase (see Unit Placement) or to provide a bonus special die during a single round of combat (see Desperate Fighting).

How Competing Special Cards Interact - Sometimes special cards will be played by different players into the same situation with competing purposes. Whenever this happens, the effects of those cards are resolved in the order that they were played.

Examples: Competing special cards.

• During a round of combat, the attacker rolls 2 kills and plays Sniper (played first: add an extra kill against your opponent), which adds a bonus kill, for a total of 3 kills. The defender then plays Heavy Armor (played second: cancel any kills your opponent just scored against you), which ignores all 3 of those kills.
• During a round of combat, the attacker rolls 2 kills. The defender plays Heavy Armor (played first), which ignores those kills. The attacker then plays Sniper (played second), which adds a bonus kill. Assuming that this kill is not blocked by a special die roll, the attacker would score 1 kill this round of combat.

Special Cards That "Remove Units" - The following special cards remove units: Anti-Air, Nuclear Missile, Drone, Rocket Fire, ICBM, Sub Strike.

Removed units do not count as units that were killed. As a result, rolling "blocks" with special dice, or playing cards which cancel kills or ignore kills (like Heavy Armor) do not stop units from being removed. Units who are removed outside of the context of a battle do not trigger the Local Resistance Rule. Removed units return to their owner's reserve pile of units.

Winning

At the end of the final round (see Rounds), the faction who controls the most spheres of influence wins the game for its owner. If multiple factions tie for first place, their tie is broken by whichever one of them controls the most capital cities. If multiple factions are tied for capitals, that tie is broken by whichever one of them controls the most original capital cities (the most start location cards). If there is still a tie, the game continues into bonus rounds, except that each of the factions tied for first place (in spheres, capital cities, and original capitals) will place 3 bonus units during the next round's mobilization phase. The game continues into multiple bonus rounds until a single faction finishes a round in first place, winning the game for its owner.

Tie Exception - Whenever there is a tie for the game's winner, and the only factions tied are owned by the same player (friendly factions), then that player wins (no further ties need to be broken and no bonus rounds need to be played).

Optional Tiebreaker - To constrain the game from going into a bonus round (or multiple bonus rounds), you may choose to implement this optional tiebreaker rule. The decision to implement this rule should be decided at either the beginning of the game, or the onset of the final round, or the onset of a bonus round (the decision when and if to implement this rule is up to the players).

Rule: If multiple factions are tied for spheres, capitals and original capitals, their tie is broken by whichever faction has the most regional production. In the event of a further tie, that tie is broken by whichever one of those factions controls the most oil fields.

Advanced Turn Deck

The following section offers alternative rules for managing the global turn deck. These rules don't change the game - they just offer a different way to manage turn cards. They're a little more complex than the standard rules, but experienced players often prefer them since it speeds up the game. For your first match, it's recommended that you just use the standard rules (see Forming the Turn Deck).

1. At the start of the first round, each faction contributes its 2 base turn cards to form the global turn deck, like normal.
2. Factions that begin the game on a territory with an oil field also contribute a bonus turn card, but this card goes into a newly formed global turn deck discard pile, which will be placed next to the global turn deck itself. These cards will always be left face up.
3. During the turn phase, revealed turn cards will be placed into the global turn deck's discard pile, instead of immediately going back to their owners' reserve piles.
4. Whenever a faction takes an oil field, it will immediately contribute a bonus turn card to the global turn deck's discard pile.
5. At the end of each round, audit the discard pile by removing any bonus turn cards from it that factions no longer have. For the most part, cards don't need to be "counted", especially if players remember that certain factions didn't lose any oil fields during the last round. In instances when factions lost more oil in the last round than they at one time had, or when players can't remember, the discard pile can easily be audited by:
   • A. Checking the number of turn cards that each faction should have by looking at the oil production section of the progress chart.
   • B. Comparing that number with whatever the lowest valued bonus turn card is in that faction's reserve pile. If that card has a higher value, then search the discard pile and remove the excess bonus turn cards for that faction until it's correct. For example, if the progress chart says that White has 1 oil (3 turns), but the lowest valued card in its reserve pile is +3, then you know that its 2 base, +1 and +2 turn cards are presently in the discard pile. To fix this, you'd quickly search for the +2 card, remove it, and place it back in its reserve pile.
6. During the subsequent mobilization phases, take the audited discard pile from last round, shuffle it and place it face down on the table. It forms that round's new global turn deck.