Westphalia

Westphalia Rulebook

Table of Contents

I. CONTEXT

1. WARS & PEACE

In 1618 in the Holy Roman Empire, a group of disgruntled Protestant nobles tossed three Catholic administrators out of a three-story window. Thus began the Bohemian Revolt, which by rights should have ended when the rebels were defeated in the 1620 Battle of White Mountain. Foreign intervention (Denmark from 1625-1630, Sweden from 1630 on, and France from 1631) prolonged the conflict that we now call the Thirty Years War.

The Holy Roman Emperors, Ferdinand II (until 1637) and his son, Ferdinand III, looked to their cousins in Spain for assistance, but Spain had its hands full with the Eighty Years War (1568-1648) against the Dutch Republic. The Dutch were fighting for independence from Spain, and by 1609, when the two sides agreed to a twelve-year ceasefire, it was clear that when the war ended, they would have their freedom. Spain's ambition wasn't to bring the Dutch Republic to heel, but to come to a peace settlement that would allow them to maintain some degree of honor and prestige. This wasn't just a matter of avoiding bad PR. Spain had been secretly teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for decades, kept afloat by loans it could never repay; each year's interest alone was greater than its annual income. Conspicuous displays of extraordinary opulence were used to convince the outside world (and more importantly, the bankers) that everything was fine, only adding to its staggering debts. Spain's public image was all it had; if that disappeared, so would its line of credit. And so, hostilities resumed and continued for another twenty-seven years after the ceasefire.

The major player in both of these conflicts from the 1630s on was France, which aligned itself with the Swedes against the Holy Roman Empire and with the Dutch against Spain.

France was Catholic, with its foreign and domestic policy

guided by the legendary Cardinal Richelieu, but both of its allies were Protestants fighting wars that at least gave lip service to questions of religious tolerance and liberty. But this seeming paradox did not bother the red eminence, whose aim was to fatally weaken the Habsburgs in Spain and the Empire, leaving France the dominant power in Europe. In 1643, after decades of fighting, peace negotiations began with over a hundred delegations meeting in various parts of Europe. This didn't mean that the fighting stopped; indeed, the various players continued to campaign, jockeying for leverage that they could then use at the negotiating table. An agreement might be within reach when a reversal on the battlefield would result in one side now asking for more. Diplomats on the losing side would drag their feet while they crossed their fingers, hoping to reclaim what had just been lost, and to gain some new leverage in the negotiations.

Finally, in 1648, three treaties were signed in Westphalia, ending the bloodshed. (Well, mostly: the war between Spain and France would continue for another dozen years or so, and as part of its war for independence, the Dutch had started fighting the Portuguese in 1601, a war that would last for a total of sixty years.) More than that, it ended an era, giving birth to the concept of Westphalian Sovereignty—in a nutshell, the idea that nations should not interfere in the domestic affairs of other nations. And we all know how well that turned out…

2. OVERVIEW

Westphalia is a game about the diplomatic negotiations and military campaigns that ended the Thirty Years War and the Eighty Years War, two wars that lasted for thirty and eighty years, respectively. Everyone involved was broke and exhausted and just wanted it to end, but they also wanted a settlement that would be worth the blood and treasure they

had expended. While talks were going on in Westphalia, their armies in the field were still campaigning, still killing each other, because a victory there would give them more leverage at the table. Folks on the losing side would stall during talks hoping their own army could reverse their losses. So, this is a game that alternates negotiation with military operations— Diplomacy Phases and Military Phases.

Each player controls a different power that has different goals they're trying to achieve. At the end of the game, if you've achieved your goal, you win. Multiple players can win if they meet their goals. The catch is, if all six players meet their goals, then the game goes to scoring, and only one player wins.

3. COMPONENTS

The game is played with one mapsheet, 142 wooden pieces, 56 Debt tokens, 36 cards, two dice, and these rules.

3a. Mapsheet

The mapsheet is dominated by an abstract representation of two theaters of conflict: the Holy Roman Empire, in which was fought the Thirty Years War, and the Spanish Netherlands, in which the Eighty Years War reaches its endgame. These theaters are distinct; Armies cannot move from one theater to another.

Each theater is made up of named Areas; Areas that share a border are adjacent, facilitating movement within a theater. Each Area contains one, two, or three Territories which the players can lay Claim to. Certain Areas have Set-Up information printed on them: Territories with a ring of the player's color receive one of their discs, while Areas with a small shield symbol receive their Army pawn. Note that the Holy Roman Empire had hundreds of political entities whose borders were not necessarily distinct; indeed, some such entities were made up of territories that were non-contiguous and sprinkled in among larger ones. Of necessity, the game map is greatly simplified.

Each player has a Home Area in the theater(s) in which they are active, indicated by a large shield. These Areas are inviolate; they cannot be entered by enemy Armies. This may seem counterintuitive at first. After all, why wouldn't you want to capture the Austrian homelands, or drive the invaders out of your empire? But recall that this is the end for decades of bloodshed, and that everyone is just really tired and broke. Even if they had the money and men to achieve a decisive victory - which they don't - that kind of antagonism would only prolong the conflict for another generation. At this stage, no one is really interested in "winning" the war; they just want to end it.

The Holy Roman Empire is divided into Catholic and Protestant Areas. Broadly speaking, Protestant Sweden only cares about Protestant Areas, and Catholic Bavaria only about Catholic Areas. Certain Protestant Areas can be forcibly converted by Bavaria into Catholic ones.

The mapsheet is also home to the Dutch Sea Box, which is used by the Dutch Republic player, and four tracks: a Phase Track, regulating the progress of the game, an Initiative Track, determining the order in which military operations are conducted, and the Liberties Track and Tolerance Track, which we will discuss in greater detail in Section I-6.

3b. Wood

The wooden pieces are as follows.

Units x 64

Units represent men and materiel used to wage war. This is an abstract measure that doesn't necessarily correspond to a fixed scale of x number of men per Unit; the game's military element focuses less on tactical nuance and more on operational maneuver and daring. Units, like many other things in the game, may be traded freely, even with hostile powers. This may represent mercenary companies, whose allegiances were suspect, the selling of munitions, or secret agreements. In practice these kinds of trades will happen often with your allies, and much more rarely with your enemies. The number provided is a hard limit; see II.4c.

Prestige x 15

Prestige is a measure of reputation, success, and surety. Prestige directly and positively impacts the rate at which Debts are accrued. However, there is only so much Prestige to go around; if the supply is empty, an action that would normally result in Prestige being gained does not.

Claims x 50

Claims represent the possession of Territory within an Area. Each player has a set of Claims discs:

12 (white) Sweden
10 (blue) France
8 (red) Spain
8 (yellow) Bavaria
8 (orange) Dutch Republic
4 (black) Austria

One disc for each player is reserved for the Initiative Track. Austria, whose Claims are not represented by physical discs, uses their other three discs as markers on the remaining mapsheet tracks. The ability of a player to add new Territory to their domain is limited by the number of Claims discs that they have available.

Recatholicized markers x 6

These markers are placed by the Bavarian player to indicate that a Protestant Area has been Recatholicized.

Army Pawns x 7

Each player has one Army pawn in their color, except France, which has two (one for each theater). Army pawns are what maneuver on the map, and "contain" the Units in a player's possession.

3c. Debt Tokens

Debt Tokens, in denominations of 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, and 20, are accumulated over the course of the game. Players may "make change" at any time. Section I-5 gives a more complete accounting for their function and ramifications.

3d. Cards

The cards are divided into several small decks as follows.

Powers Cards x 6

These cards determine what role each player takes, and explains pertinent information about that role: Victory Conditions, Affinities, Hostilities, Recruitment, as well as the Debts and Units with which they begin the game. The Powers themselves are discussed in greater detail in section I-4. The reverse side of the card provides a summary of Final Scoring. Note: Early printings of the game gave the Dutch 8 Debt to start; this should be 16 Debt.

Commerce Cards x 9

Commerce Cards can be used to form trade agreements between the Dutch Republic and the other players, resulting in a reduction of Debt for both parties. Lurking within that deck however is the Portuguese Card, representing the Dutch Republic's continuing war with Portugal, and its adverse effect on Dutch mercantile concerns.

Unrest Cards x 8

Unrest Cards represent the demands of minor German states for increased Tolerance and Liberties, with the support, and sometimes at the instigation of, France and Sweden. In this way they exploited internal divisions within the unwieldy gestalt that was the Holy Roman Empire, and further diminished Habsburg power and authority.

Tolerance Adjustment Reminder Card x 1

This lonely fellow is present to remind players (and designers) of a couple of rules they almost always forget.

Arrears Cards x 6

These six identical cards are home to the Arrears Table (on the obverse) and a summary of Debt Resolution (on the reverse).

Austrian Goal Cards x 6

One of these cards provide a set of secret Thresholds that the Austrian player must be within to satisfy one of their victory conditions. In this fashion, the other players - allies and enemies both - are not quite sure what Austria can and cannot safely concede.

4. THE SIX POWERS

Each player controls a different political entity - a Power with different goals and relationships. These Powers can be naturally divided into two three-party partnerships, a Habsburg alliance (Austria, Bavaria, and Spain) and a French alliance (France, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic).

AUSTRIA

The Holy Roman Empire (for which Austria, as the Habsburg homelands, serves as a synecdoche) has lost the war. Ferdinand III knows this, has reconciled himself to it, and he knows that he will need to make concessions. Territory for his enemies, Liberties for his allies, Tolerance for his Protestant subjects. Every concession erodes imperial authority and prestige, and threatens to reduce the Holy Roman Emperor to a powerless figurehead. This is Ferdinand's dilemma: he needs to give away enough to make the hurting stop, without giving away too much.

Because the Austrian position represents not only its own interests, but that of an empire, they must also concern themselves with the fate of Bavaria (one of their subjects) and Spain (the other branch of the Habsburg family). The Austrian player has a lot of something that everyone fighting in the Holy Roman Empire wants: territory. Because of this, they can to some degree afford to be generous and to aggressively facilitate deal-making on behalf of their allies. Austria is at war with France and Sweden. They must assure victory conditions are met for Bavaria and Spain. They are unlikely to interact much with The Dutch Republic, though the Dutch have some interest in Tolerance and the Austrians probably wouldn't mind some Commerce.

BAVARIA

Bavaria's Elector, Duke Maximilian I, was a militantly catholic and fiercely independent autocrat. In the early stages of the war, his men did much of the fighting on Austria's behalf for which Austria promised to reward him handsomely. Decades later, the bill has now come due, and Bavaria expects territory and a larger degree of autonomy within the framework of the Empire. Though they are committed to the punishment of heretics and forced conversion back to the one true faith, Bavaria is primarily concerned with its own power and prestige rather than that of the Empire as a whole and Austria in particular. In fact, in 1631, they were more than willing to let Austria hang out to dry when they signed what proved to be a short-lived secret treaty with France. Bavaria is particularly adept at raising troops. This not only helps them to field a strong army, but gives them leverage with friends and enemies alike who might be looking to fill out their ranks. Their territorial acquisitions are more likely to be permanent, and they are eager to expand their power at the expense of their Habsburg allies.

Bavaria is at war with France and Sweden, though how vigorously they want to pursue that is up to them. Their most likely source of territorial acquisitions is Austria, who needs them to win. They are unlikely to interact as much with Spain or The Dutch Republic, though both of those Powers are likely to need troops, and both have something (Prestige and Commerce, respectively) that Bavaria wants.

SPAIN

Spain has been secretly teetering on the brink of economic collapse for decades, subsisting on larger and larger loans from bankers who have no idea how bad it is. Spain's total annual income is not even sufficient to pay the interest on these loans, let alone the principle. And now they're fighting two wars, which is three more than they can afford. This whole house of cards is built on Spain's reputation and prestige, and the one thing that keeps Philip IV up at night isn't the fear that the

Spanish will lose these wars - they knew they had lost the Eighty Years War about forty years in! - but that the resulting humiliation would shatter the myth of Spanish prestige, and with it, their access to credit.

Spain has a lot of something that nobody wants: Debt. They also have a lot of something everyone wants: Prestige, but the more they give that up, the more tenuous their own position becomes. The Spanish position is one of desperation; they are drowning in debt, hemorrhaging troops, and are fighting two enemies without an ally to take the pressure off. Spain has an incentive to make an early peace with the Dutch in order to stabilize this situation.

Spain is at war with France and The Dutch Republic. Their cousins in Austria depend on Spain achieving victory, and might help them move around some of their Debts. Their interactions with Sweden and Bavaria will be more limited, though both of those Powers are likely to want Prestige and might even give up troops or take on debt to get it.

FRANCE

France was ruled by Louis XIII when it got involved in the Thirty Years War, but it was Cardinal Richelieu who was calling the shots. Wishing to fatally weaken Habsburg power in Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, and thus leave France the major power in Europe, his red eminence pursued alliances with Protestant heretics against their fellow Catholics. Richelieu died in late 1642, followed by the king five months later, but their policies were pursued by Richelieu's successor Cardinal Mazarin, who had the full support of the four year old Louis XIV's mother and regent, Anne of Austria (of the Spanish Habsburg line).

France is playing a dangerous and expensive game, largely striking at her enemies through proxies, and furthering her own goals by furthering those of her Protestant allies. Play this game well and the French player will cripple the Habsburgs and ensure French ascendency; play it poorly and France will find itself overextended without much to show for it. France is perhaps the most difficult of the six Powers to play, and requires subtlety and deftness.

France is at war with Austria, Bavaria, and Spain. France must ensure victory conditions are met for Sweden and The Dutch Republic.

SWEDEN

Sweden's entry into the war was a whirlwind of successes and conquests, fueled by Protestant zeal and the military adventurism of its dynamic and popular King Gustavus Aldophus the Great. His death on the battlefield a couple years in brought the whole grand adventure to a screeching and demoralizing halt. Six-year-old Christina ascended to the throne, with real

power being exercised by a regency council headed by Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. Seeking to ratify Sweden's early conquests as compensation for their losses, Oxenstierna kept the Swedish army in Germany for another sixteen years, plunging them into deep arrears. By the end of the war, Sweden could not afford to pay off and demobilize their army without financial compensation in addition to territorial gains.

If the Swedish player is more militantly inclined, they might find it easier to take new territories than to ask for them. But without French assistance, Sweden can find itself pummeled by the one-two punch of Austria and Bavaria, and so might pursue a more reconciliatory note, perhaps trading positioning on the Liberties/Tolerance tracks in exchange for territory, or vice-versa.

Sweden is at war with Austria and Bavaria. France needs Sweden to achieve victory in order to win themselves. Sweden's dealings with Spain and The Dutch Republic will be more limited, though Sweden might agree to concessions toward Spain's cousins in Austria in exchange for Prestige, and shares a vested interest in the Tolerance track with their fellow Protestants in the Dutch Republic.

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC

The Dutch Republic won their independence half-way through the Eighty Years War, and yet they're still fighting the Spanish, these days largely out of deference to their French allies, who insisted on a combined settlement with Spain. But the Dutch are merchants, not soldiers; war is expensive and they just want to get back to making money. Negotiations for a separate peace (spurred in part by worries that the French would double-cross them by agreeing a separate peace with Spain themselves) began in 1646 under the rule of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. He would die a year before the resulting 1648 Peace of Munster was concluded. This didn't exactly allow them to get back to business as usual they would remain at war with Portugal for another fifteen years, and would get into it with Cromwell's England four years later - but it did mark the dawn of an era of prosperity and expansion that is commonly known as the Dutch Golden Age. The Dutch Republic's primary bargaining chip - and it's a doozy - is the Commerce that their ships bring into the game. Concluding an early peace with Spain greatly increases these opportunities, but eases up the pressure on the Dutch player's sole adversary. But money does have a way of turning enemies into friends… The Dutch Republic is at war with Spain, though this can change during the game. France needs the Dutch to win in order to win themselves. Dealings with the other Powers will generally be limited but you'd be surprised what you can get in exchange for a Commerce Card.

5. THE SINEWS OF WAR

It can be argued that all wars are fought because of money. New territories are valuable in that they provide new resources to exploit and new subjects to tax. Wars of independence are fought in pursuit of economic autonomy as much as loftier goals of personal liberty. Even the wars of religion were economic in nature; tolerance of Protestantism hurt the Vatican's bottom line. And all these wars, of course, are fought with money. Soldiers need to be armed, fed, and paid. Armies of the period were often deep in arrears. This inability to meet monthly payroll often resulted in demoralized and disgruntled soldiers who sometimes took their frustrations out on the populace (when they didn't mutiny). Even the Dutch, who had made prompt payment of debts into something like a national pastime, found themselves running short of the cash they needed for each month's payroll. This they solved by switching to a nine month calendar (with eight of these being 42 days long); each soldier was still paid the same amount every month, there just happened to be fewer months now. The soldiers actually went along with this, because even with a 25% pay cut, they were at least being paid. Others attempted to adopt some form of the "Dutch month", but managed to still fall into arrears, resulting in mutinies. Like all investments, the idea with war is to gain more than what you put into it; after expending all that blood and treasure, you better have something to show for it. This is after all what kept Sweden in the war after the death of Gustavus Adolphus, and of course the longer they were stuck in the quagmire, the more it cost, and the more remote that possibility became. In a way, this is what kept everybody in the war long after they wanted to call it quits, and long after it became apparent that gaining anything that could be worth the cost was impossible.

This, in a nutshell, is what the game is about: everyone is deep in the red and wants what they gain or retain in the Westphalian settlement to get them as close to breaking even as possible. Territory, Prestige, prerogatives (Liberties and Tolerance), and trade all reduce Debts at the end of the game, and are the primary things players should be trying to acquire via their negotiations.

6. POLITICS AND RELIGION

Voltaire rather famously quipped that the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire. And to be sure, it wasn't particularly holy, and it was decidedly very German, but that leaves the question of, was it an empire? Certainly the Emperors themselves thought so, and the Habsburgs sought to exercise and maintain central and ultimate authority over the literal hundreds of polities that made

up the HRE. But each of those polities had their own rulers, administrations, laws, traditions, and privileges that were jealously guarded and defended as "German Liberties". The top priority of any of these German princes wasn't the good of the "Empire", but of their own territory.

The most powerful and vocal of these princes were the Electors, who were responsible for "electing" a new Emperor upon the death or abdication of his predecessor. These elections were largely about form and technicality, with the throne passing to a male heir as in a hereditary monarchy. The House of Habsburg held a monopoly on imperial power from 1440 until the dissolution of the empire in 1806. But the fact that there were "elections" at all, even ones that were just for show, indicates how tenuous the emperor's claims to autocratic power were.

This question of local autonomy versus central authority was not unique to the Empire, though given the sheer number of component states it was certainly more complex, and after the Reformation it became more incendiary. The idea that the Thirty Years War was purely confessional in nature - that it

was about Protestants and Catholics - is not entirely accurate, though confessional identities and religious zeal did inform the political and military struggles that followed. And the religious conflict did provide a pretext that allowed first Denmark and then Sweden to invade the empire and make a play for new territory.

And so beyond the usual negotiations about land and reparations, the Westphalian settlement also concerned itself with constitutional and confessional questions, with the authority of the Emperor, the liberties of the individual polities, the supremacy of the Catholic faith, and the tolerance of Protestantism, with the last extending even to questions of which sects of Protestantism would be extended tolerance (in the end, only Lutherans and Calvinists would make the cut). These issues are represented in the game by the Liberties and Tolerance tracks. Eager to weaken imperial authority, France and Sweden insisted that the German Protestant princes also have seats at the table, and encouraged these princes to push for their own personal agendas - and this is what is represented by the game's Unrest Step.

The final settlement greatly weakened imperial authority. On the religious question, it affirmed the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, which allowed each ruler of each state to determine the official religion (cuius regio, eius religio). Additionally it allowed persons who were not of that faith to practice their own faith privately. Unsurprisingly, this didn't thrill Pope Innocent X, who called it "null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all time".

7. THE CAMPAIGN SEASON

It is seldom acknowledged that the fighting of battles is the least valuable and most perilous use of an army. An army holds territory, compels compliance, and projects and enacts the political will of its masters. Fighting a battle risks the destruction of the army, and thus its ability to further these other aims and goals. This inherent risk is reduced if one can manage to fight a battle in a way that favors them, with a numerical or tactical advantage that makes victory more certain. Of course the enemy is unlikely to accept battle on terms that are so obviously disadvantageous unless they are trapped.

This operational art of war, of coming to grips with the enemy at the time and place of your choosing, and of slipping away when the odds are not in your favor, is the primary focus of the game's Military Phase. Players who just want to march armies around and clobber each other will soon find themselves with shattered, vulnerable armies, and will be yielding prestige up to the enemy. The ability to correctly decide when to accept battle and when to refuse it is vital; likewise, the ability to predict whether or not your opponent will accept your attack. Whether accepted or refused, an Intercept will end your opponent's activation, but it's not always advantageous to immediately Intercept at the slightest provocation; the more territory the enemy attempts to gobble up, the more vulnerable they become, and the more likely your victory. If they are too vulnerable however, they won't accept when you do want a battle and the Prestige that comes with it.

A conundrum, and one that's complicated by the fact that even when the odds are in your favor, and when victory seems all but guaranteed, the outcome is still uncertain, and can still result in disaster and defeat.

8. DIPLOMATIC VICTORIES

At this late stage, none of the powers are trying to "win" the war. The outcome has been decided for a long time, and our dramatis personae is less concerned with who the winner is than with achieving their own aims and protecting their own prerogatives. And the simple fact of the matter is that no one can achieve those goals without the help of, and without helping, somebody else - including your enemies. The armies fighting in the field aren't fighting for strategic dominance, but tactical gains that will improve their position in the final settlement, or give them something that they can trade to someone who wants it in exchange for something that they want.

To put it more simply: this is a negotiation game. It is mathematically impossible for any player to win without trading something with someone at sometime. Sometimes these trades will be unequal, benefiting one player much more than the other, but since multiple players can win, what does that matter? Meeting your victory conditions at times will seem impossibly difficult. The best way to pursue your victory is to help others to pursue theirs.

At least, to a point. Because if all six players meet their victory conditions, only one player will walk away with the win (likely a Catholic power, though those Dutch can be sneaky). That will only happen if the other five players are perfectly content to spend the better part of two hours working like mad to achieve their own conditions but are happy with letting the sixth alone profit from their labors.

II. LAWS OF PLAY

1. NEGOTIATION

During Preliminaries and each Diplomacy Phase, all players may freely and openly negotiate with any or all other players, regardless of hostility status, to exchange the following things at any rate of exchange that all parties to the trade can agree upon:

Units
Debts
Prestige
Claim to Territory
Commerce
Cessation of hostilities (Spain/Dutch)
Turn order on Initiative Track
Tolerance
Liberty

Players may give these things freely to another player with nothing given in return, provided the other party accepts the trade. Players may only trade things that they possess. No player is required to accept a trade.

Players additionally may promise to do something or not to do something during the current Diplomacy Phase or next Military Phase; these promises are binding.

2. PRELIMINARIES

Layout the mapsheet. Into the following Areas, place the following pieces:

Holy Roman Empire

Lorraine: 1 French Army & Claim
Comte: 1 French Claim
Alsace: 1 French Claim
Bavaria: 1 Bavarian Army & Claim
Upper Palatinate: 1 Bavarian Claim
Austria: 1 Austrian Army
Mecklenburg: 1 Swedish Army & Claim
Pomerania: 1 Swedish Claim
Brandenburg: 1 Swedish Claim
Brunswick: 1 Swedish Claim

Spanish Netherlands

Flanders: 1 Spanish Army & 3 Claims
Artois: 1 Spanish Claim
Hainault: 2 Spanish Claims
Brabant: 1 French Army & Claim
Antwerp: 1 Dutch Army & Claim

Place black discs on the following tracks:

Liberties Track: "0" space
Tolerance Track: "3" space
Phase Track: Left-most space

Shuffle the six Powers cards and deal one to each player. Players may at this time trade these cards (and thus what Power they will play), and may utilize anything that would be controlled at the start of the game by their desired Power to facilitate these trades. (For example, if Tom is dealt Sweden but wants to play Austria, he can offer to give Sweden possession of one of Austria's territories.) Once these negotiations have concluded, the players take the starting Units, Debts, and Prestige as indicated on their cards, as well as the wooden pieces associated with that Power and an Arrears card. One disc from each player is set aside as an Initiative Marker.

Austria shuffles the Austrian Goal Cards and draws three, choosing one and discarding the rest without revealing them.

Shuffle and place the Commerce Cards near the Dutch Republic player; shuffle and place the Unrest Cards near the Sweden player. Place the Tolerance Adjustment Reminder Card near the Tolerance Track.

The game begins with the first Diplomacy Phase.

3. FLOW OF PLAY

The game is played over alternating Diplomacy Phases and Military Phases, and ends after the fourth Diplomacy Phase. The Diplomacy Phase consists of several steps, some of which are performed by only one player, and some of which are performed by some or all players simultaneously. The Military Phase consists of a Military Turn for each of the six players; during their Military Turn, each player may campaign with each of their Armies.

At the end of the game, Debt is resolved according to various criteria, and then victory is adjudicated.

4. DIPLOMACY PHASE

The steps of the Diplomacy Phase are as follows, and are always performed in this order:

Initiative Step (all players)
Arrears Step (all players)
Recruitment Step (all players)
Roll for Italy Step (Spain & France)
Roll for Gold Step (Spain)
Roll for Trade Step (Dutch Republic)
Unrest Step (Sweden & France)
Final Step (all players)

Note again that Negotiation happens throughout the Diplomacy Phase.

4a. Initiative Step

One disc for each player is placed in an opaque container, randomized, and then drawn one at a time, placing each drawn disc on the Initiative Track, with the first disc going on the first space, the second the next, etc. This will be the order in which players will resolve their Military Turn.

4b. Arrears Step

Using the Arrears Table, each player cross-references their current total Debts with their current total Prestige to arrive at their Arrears. Immediately they accumulate that much Debt. This accrual happens simultaneously for all players; you cannot trade Debt or Prestige while this is being accumulated, though you can do so before all players accrue the new Debts.

4c. Recruitment Step

Using their Powers Card, each player consults their Recruit Number. The player gains this number of Units. If there are less than 17 Units in the pool (a rarity), no players gain Units. During this step, the Dutch Republic may place Units in the Dutch Sea Box as Ships (to a maximum of six Ships).

4d. Roll for Italy Step (Spain & France)

To represent the war in Italy, either Spain or France (it doesn't matter who) rolls two dice, rerolling any doubles. The lower of the two die results is used; each side (Spain first) must then resolve this result by doing one of the following:

Returning a number of Units to the supply equal to the die result, OR
Accruing a number of Debts equal to the die result

4e. Roll for Gold Step (Spain)

If Spain is at war with the Dutch, Spain rolls one die. If the result is greater than the number of Ships in the Dutch Sea Box, they gain one Prestige. If the result is less than or equal to the number of Ships in the Dutch Sea Box, they accrue two Debts.

If Spain is at peace with the Dutch, they do not roll, but automatically gain one Prestige.

4f. Roll for Trade Step (Dutch Republic)

The Dutch Republic rolls one die. If the result is less than or equal to the number of Ships in the Dutch Sea Box, they draw and take possession of one Commerce Card (if at war with Spain) or two Commerce Cards (if at peace with Spain). If the result is greater than the number of Ships in the Dutch Sea Box, they draw nothing.

One of the cards in the deck is the Portuguese card. This counts as one of the Dutch Republic's card draws, but contributes nothing of value and is reshuffled. Before resolving any second card draw (if at peace with Spain), the Portuguese card is shuffled back into the deck.

At the end of the Step, regardless of the result, half of the Ships are discarded from the Dutch Sea Box (rounding up), reentering the general supply as Units.

4g. Unrest Step (Sweden & France)

Sweden and France jointly decide whether they want to flip over zero, one, or two Unrest Cards. Each card flipped will result in the immediate removal of one Unit for both of these players. The number of cards to be flipped is decided upon before any cards are flipped. If France and Sweden cannot reach an agreement, zero cards are flipped. If two cards are to be flipped, the first is flipped and resolved completely before the second is flipped.

When a card is flipped, Sweden and France must decide if one of them wants to take on the additional Debts indicated on the card. (This decision might be made because another player decides to immediately take those Debts off their hands.) If one of them does so, the indicated track is advanced one space. If neither does so, Austria has the option of taking on the additional Debts indicated on the card to regress that track one space.

Once resolved, the card is removed from the game.

4h. Final Step

Players assign up to eight Units to each of their Armies (each player having one, save France which has two; France should designate which Units belong to which Army). Any armies in excess of eight that are not traded to another player are discarded back to the Supply. This Final Step concludes when all players agree that they have nothing further to trade or discuss, at which point the game proceeds to the next Phase on the Phase Track.

5. MILITARY PHASE

During the Military Phase, each player resolves their Military Turn, in the order indicated on the Initiative Track. When it is France's go, they take two Military Turns in a row, one for each Army.

Each activated Army may move from one Area in their Theater to an adjacent Area, as many times as they like, until the Army ends its turn voluntarily or until it participates in (or Refuses) a Battle.

When an Army enters or occupies an Area containing an enemy Claim, they may (but are not required to) attempt to replace one of those Claims with their own. When they announce their intention, the enemy has the opportunity to Intercept. If they choose not to Intercept, the acting Army removes the enemy Claim, replacing it with their own, and removes one of their Units back to the supply. They cannot replace a Claim if it will bring their total to zero Units.

A player's Home Area is inviolate; it can never be entered by an enemy Army and the Claim there cannot be replaced. Note that the Dutch and French share a Home Area in the Spanish Netherlands.

An Army may replace multiple Claims in a single Turn, even Claims in the same Area, each time pausing to allow the enemy to Intercept. An Army cannot replace friendly Claims, only enemy.

An Army that enters an Area containing an enemy Army must Attack it.

An Army with zero Units at the start of its activation does nothing.

5a. Interception

If the acting player's Army announces its intention to replace a non-acting player's Claim in an Area, a hostile non-acting player in that theater may Intercept if they choose, provided they can trace a chain of Friendly Areas to the Area in question. An Area is a Friendly Area if it contains at least one Claim belonging to the Intercepting player or one Claim belonging to a player to whom the Intercepting player is friendly. Interception is optional, and declining to Intercept when one Claim is replaced does not prevent them from Intercepting when another Claim is in question in that same turn, even in the same Area. If two players are hostile to the acting player in that theater, only one of them may Intercept, with the player whose Claim is to be replaced being given the option first.

When a player Intercepts, they move their Army to the Area containing the enemy Army, and a Battle occurs (see 5c below). After resolving the Battle and any Retreats, the acting Army's turn ends.

An Army with zero Units cannot Intercept.

5b. Campaigning

If the acting player's Army enters an Area containing an enemy Army, then they Campaign against that Army, resolving a Battle (see 5c). If there are two enemy Armies present in the same Area, then the acting Army will Campaign against both of them jointly. If the acting Army wins the Battle, and there is at least one Claim belonging to one of the enemy Armies, they may replace one with their own, discarding one of their Units accordingly. After resolving the Battle and any Retreats, the acting Army's turn ends.

5c. Battle

Each Battle has two sides, the Attacker and the Defender(s). If it is the result of Interception, the acting player is the Defender and the non-acting player the Attacker.

If it is the result of Campaigning, the acting player is the Attacker and the non-acting player(s) the Defender(s).

Before resolving the Battle, the Defender has the option to Refuse Battle. If this option is exercised, the Defender moves their Army into an adjacent Friendly Area. No Battle is resolved, but this does end the acting player's turn, and if the acting player was the Attacker, they are able to replace a Claim as if they had won a Battle. If no adjacent Friendly Areas are available, the Defender cannot Refuse Battle.

If the Defender cannot or does not Refuse Battle, then the Battle is resolved. Count all Units in the Defending Army (or Armies), and double it: this is the Defense Strength. Count all Units in the Attacking Army, then add the sum of two dice rolled by the Attacker: this is the Attack Strength. If the Attack Strength is greater than the Defense Strength, the Attacker wins the Battle. Otherwise, the Defender wins. Exception: if the Attacker rolls doubles (snake eyes, box cars, etc.), the Defender wins automatically.

Each participating Army loses Units equal to the lesser of the two die results (if doubles are rolled, only the Attacker loses Units). The player who loses the Battle returns one Prestige to the supply (ignore this if they have no Prestige); the player who wins the Battle then gains one Prestige from the supply (if no Prestige remains in the supply, none is gained). If a Protestant Power (Sweden or the Dutch Republic) wins a Battle, Tolerance is increased by one. If the acting player wins the Battle, they convert a Claim before ending their turn.

The loser must then retreat to any Friendly Area not occupied by the enemy, through a path of adjacent Friendly Areas. They may only pass through a non-Friendly Area if there is no other Path to their chosen Friendly destination, and they lose a Unit for each non-Friendly Area they pass through.

5d. Recatholicization

If Bavaria begins its Military Turn in sole possession of a Protestant Area (all Claims are Bavarian), it is Recatholicized: place a Recatholicized Marker in the Area. Recatholicization is permanent and cannot be reversed, even if Bavaria loses its territory there. Bavaria cannot trade claims to Recatholicized Areas. The moment that an Area is Recatholicized, the Tolerance Track is immediately regressed one space (but never below zero).

5e. France's Two Armies

France has two Armies, and takes a Turn for each, one after the other in the order of that player's choosing. However, if France's first Army loses a Battle, they forfeit the opportunity to activate their second Army.

6. TERRITORIES & CLAIMS

Sweden, France, Bavaria, and Austria can all own Territory in the Holy Roman Empire. These first three players indicate ownership of a point of Territory within an Area by placing a Claim marker. Austria does not use Claim markers in the Holy Roman Empire, but owns all points of Territory without discs.

The Dutch Republic, France, and Spain can all own Territory in the Netherlands.

7. TOLERANCE & LIBERTIES

Austria "owns" the Tolerance and Liberties Tracks, but shares ownership of each with two "junior partners". Unless a Track is moved due to Unrest, Protestant Victory, or Recatholicization, Austria must be in agreement with one of its junior partners to effect movement of a marker on its Track.

Austria's junior partners for the Tolerance Track are Sweden and the Dutch Republic.

Austria's junior partners for the Liberties Track are Sweden and Bavaria.

8. PEACE

Hostilities between Spain and the Dutch Republic may be ended voluntarily by agreement of those powers. Once Hostilities are ended, they become Friendly, and can no longer Intercept or Campaign against one another (the Dutch Army will be removed from the map), nor replace each other's Claims.

The cessation of Hostilities between Spain and the Dutch Republic have special effects on the Roll for Gold and Roll for Trade steps of the Diplomacy Phase. When Hostilities cease between these Powers, remove the Dutch Army from the map.

Other players may agree to a Truce, effective only during the upcoming Military Phase; this is a binding promise not to take action against one another (no attacking, no intercepting, no attempts to convert Claims).

9. DEBT RESOLUTION

At the conclusion of the fourth Diplomacy Phase, the game ends: Debt is resolved, and then victory adjudicated. Debt Resolution consists of the following steps performed in this order:

Fluctuation
Commerce
Taxes
Units/Ships
Rights & Prestige

There is no further negotiation allowed once Debt Resolution has begun.

9a. Fluctuation

Austria rolls the two dice. Each player accrues additional Debts equal to the lower of the two die results; if doubles are rolled, no additional Debts are accrued.

9b. Commerce

Each player besides the Dutch Republic reduces their Debt by the amount on any Commerce Cards in their possession. The Dutch Republic reduces their own Debt by the sum of Commerce Cards in the possession of other players, with the caveat that if a player possesses more than one Commerce Card, the Dutch Republic only counts the lowest-valued card in their possession. This sum is also called the Dutch Republic's Trade Agreements.

9c. Taxes

Sweden and Bavaria each reduce their Debt by the number of points of Territory that they personally possess in the Holy Roman Empire. Sweden only counts Protestant Claims, Bavaria only Catholic ones. Each of these players additionally reduces their Debt by an additional 1 Debt for each multi-point Area in which they possess all the Territory. Austria reduces its Debt by the number of Areas (not Territory) in the Holy Roman Empire that do not possess any Swedish, French, or Bavarian Claims. France then additionally reduces its Debt by the number of Areas (not Territory) in the Holy Roman Empire that do possess Swedish, French, or Bavarian Claims.

In the Netherlands, the Dutch Republic reduces their Debt by the number of points of Territory that they personally possess. Spain and France compare their holdings to see which side has more Claim markers placed in the Netherlands (France counts Dutch territory in this case). The side with more reduces their Debt by 5 Debts, and the other side gets nothing. If tied, France receives the reduction.

9d. Units/Ships

Each player reduces their Debt by half of their remaining Units (including Ships), rounding up.

9e. Rights & Prestige

All players reduce their Debt by the amount of Prestige they possess.

Sweden reduces its Debt by the sum of the Tolerance and Liberties Tracks.

The Dutch Republic reduces its Debt by the current position of the Tolerance Track.

Bavaria reduces its Debt by the current position of the Liberties Track, and by the number of Recatholicized Areas on the map.

10. VICTORY

Victory Conditions (VCs) for each player are checked in the following order: Bavaria, Spain, Austria, the Dutch Republic, Sweden, France.

10a. Bavaria VCs

The Liberties Track is greater than the Tolerance Track.
The sum of the Liberties Track and Bavarian Claim markers is greater than Bavaria's Debts.

10b. Spain VCs

Spain has less than 25 Debts.

10c. Austria VCs

Austria has not exceeded the Thresholds on their Goal

Card: the Territory Threshold is the maximum number of Claims discs allowed in the Holy Roman Empire, the Authoritarian Threshold the maximum sum of the Liberties and Tolerance Tracks, and the Debt Threshold the maximum amount of Austrian Debts.

Exceeding any of these Thresholds will disqualify Austria from winning the game.

Bavaria and Spain's VCs have been met.

10d. The Dutch Republic VCs

Dutch Trade Agreements (see 9b) are greater than

Dutch Debts.

10e. Sweden VCs

The sum of the Tolerance Track and Swedish Claim markers is greater than Sweden's Debts.

10f. France VCs

France has less than 20 Debts.
The Dutch Republic's and Sweden's VCs have been met.

10g. Winners

If less than six players met their Victory Conditions, all players who did meet their Victory Conditions share in the victory. If zero players met their Victory Conditions, they all share in defeat.

If all six players met their Victory Conditions, then proceed to scoring to determine one winner.

11. SCORING

Each player scores negative Victory Points (VPs) equal to their current number of Debts. Then, all players belonging to a given Affinity score the same VPs for that group's collective achievements.

11a. Catholic Powers

Catholic Powers score 1 VP for each Catholic (including Recatholicized) Area in the Holy Roman Empire. Catholic Powers score negative VP equal to the current position of the Tolerance Track plus the number of Areas containing Swedish or Dutch Claim markers.

11b. Protestant Powers

Protestant Powers score VP equal to the current position of the Tolerance Track.

11c. Major Powers

Major Powers score 1 VP for each Unrest Card remaining in that deck.

11d. Minor Powers

Minor Powers score VP equal to the current position of the Liberties Track.

11e. HRE Powers

HRE Powers score VP equal to the amount indicated on Austria's Goal Card.

11f. The Winner

The single player with the highest positive score (or, if all scores are negative, the negative score closest to zero) wins the game. Ties are adjudicated in favor of the tied player who is closest to the first space on the Turn Track.

APPENDIX: TEACHING SCRIPT

What follows is the teaching script that the designer uses when teaching and "running" the game. This isn't a "simpler" version of the rules—the rules are the simplest version of the rules— but might help in introducing the game to others.

INTRODUCTION

This is a game about the negotiations that ended the Thirty and Eighty Years Wars, two wars that lasted for thirty and eighty years, respectively. Everyone involved was broke and exhausted and just wanted it to stop, but they wanted the final settlement to be something that was worth all that blood and treasure. And so while negotiations were going on, they kept campaigning, kept fighting major battles with thousands of casualties, because a victory in the field would give them some tactical leverage at the negotiation table. The other side might then drag their feet on making a deal, hoping their army would win so that they could reverse those diplomatic gains. So, this is a game that alternates negotiation and warfare: Diplomacy Phases and Military Phases.

Each of us controls a different historical participant, a Power, which each have their own ways to win the game. These aren't mutually exclusive, so players who meet their goals can share in the victory. However, if everyone meets their goals, the game goes to scoring and only one player wins.

NEGOTIATION

So I'm going to start by explaining the stuff we can negotiate with. Trades can be made at any time during the Diplomacy Phase, and at any rate of exchange people can agree on. Territory: So, the map is made up of Areas, and each Area has one, two, or three points of Territory - these circles. Generally, if you have a disc there, called a Claim, you have a point of Territory. So, you can trade Claims to Territory. Now, there are two Theaters - the Holy Roman Empire, and the Spanish Netherlands. And the general rule is that in order to give away or receive territory in a Theater, you need to have a pawn there. Units: These are your soldiers, and they're represented on the map by your pawn. Each army can have up to 8 Units. Debt: There is no money in the game, only Debt, and you don't want it but only ever seem to get more of it. At the end of the game, the things you accomplished will get rid of some of your Debt, and how much Debt you have remaining is going to determine if you win or not. You can trade Debt, and again, you don't want it, but maybe they're only going to give you something you want if you also take Debt.

Prestige: This is the reputation and "soft power" of your nation, and it functions as a sort of Credit Score

that determines how much extra Debt (interest) you accrue each turn. The higher the Prestige, the lower the rate at which you accumulate Debt. Besides being traded, Prestige can be brought into the game by Spain, and is won or lost in Battles.

Commerce Cards: These are Trade Agreements brought into the game by the Dutch, and they will reduce your Debt by the amount indicated at the end of the game. Turn Order: You can swap your place on the Initiative Track, which determines the order of turns in the Military Phase.

Promise to do something, or not: You can make short-term (the current phase or next phase) binding promises to take or not take certain actions.

Adjusting Tolerance & Liberties Tracks: Certain players can agree to move these markers up and down, and we'll get into why they’ll want that later.

So, all these things can be traded during the Diplomacy Phase. You can't trade or make any kind of agreement during the Military Phase. You're going to forget this, so I'm gonna say it again: no negotiation in the Military Phase.

MILITARY PHASE

I'm actually going to talk about the Military Phase now, because the Diplomacy Phase is a little procedural. So, real quick, during the Military Phase, each player has one Military Turn in the order on the Initiative Track. France has two pawns, so that player might get two turns in a row, provided they don't botch the first turn.

During the Military Phase, you move your pawn from one Area to the next. You can't leave the Theater you're in, but you can move to any adjacent Area, and you can move as many Areas as you like, one at a time, even if you don't have a Claim disc there. The only Area you can't enter is an enemy's Home Area - that's the one with the big shield. One thing you can do when you're in an Area is attempt to take Territory - to change an enemy's Claim to your own. Hostile Powers - people you're at war with - can try to stop you. Let's say they don't; then you change out the Claim disc, one Unit from your army goes back to the supply (it's acting as a garrison), and you keep going with your turn. If they do try to stop you, this is called Interception. In order to Intercept, they have to show a path of Areas from their pawn to your pawn made up of Friendly Areas - these are Areas that have at least one Claim that either belongs to them or someone they're friendly with. If two Powers are at war with you, the one whose Claim you're trying to switch gets first dibs, and if they don't want to Intercept, then the second one gets the option.

When you're intercepted, you can either stay and fight a battle, or you can refuse battle by moving to a friendly area. You can move through multiple friendly areas to get there. If there are no friendly areas to retreat to, you can't refuse battle. If you refuse battle, your turn ends. If you decide to fight a battle, then your turn ends after the battle. You can also initiate a battle by moving into an Area containing an enemy army pawn, and they get the option to stay or refuse. The person who moves into the Area to initiate the battle is the Attacker, and the person who is given the option to fight or refuse is the Defender.

How a battle works: the Defender has strength equal to twice their number of Units. 6 Units? Strength is 12. The Attacker gets strength equal to their number of Units - 6 Units is 6 Strength - plus 2d6. If the Attacker total is greater than the Defender total, they win. Same or less, the Defender wins. If the Attacker rolls doubles, no matter what the total is, that's a military disaster, and the Defender wins automatically. It helps tremendously if every time there's a battle, one of the other players reminds the Attacker not to roll doubles.

Whatever the lower die result is, both players lose that number of Units, unless it was doubles, in which case only the Attacker does. The loser of the battle loses one Prestige (if they have any) and must retreat through friendly areas to any friendly area. If they have to go through non-friendly areas, they lose a Unit for each one. The winner of the battle gains a Prestige, and if it was your turn, you get to convert a Claim provided you have a Unit left to do it. If France loses a battle during their first Military Turn, they don't get to take their second.

The other battle effect is that if a Protestant Power wins a battle, they advance Tolerance for Protestants. This is really easy to forget, so we have a little card here to remind us. So that's the Military Phase in a nutshell.

DIPLOMACY PHASE

The Diplomacy Phase has a number of steps and we follow those in order. We'll go through this in more detail during the first turn, and it's all printed on the map, so don't try to remember all this. So, real quick: Initiative: We randomly determine turn order.

Arrears: We all get more Debt according to our current Debt and Prestige.

Recruitment: We all get some new Units according to our Power's card. The Dutch player gets to put some Units (Ships) in the Dutch Sea Box.

Roll for Italy: Spain and France either lose Units or take on more Debt, so that's fun.

Roll for Gold: Spain tries to bring in stuff from the New World.

Roll for Commerce: The Dutch try to draw new Commerce Cards, then lose some Ships. (These last two rolls both depend on the number of Ships in the Sea Box.)

Unrest: France and Sweden might flip some cards that might advance the Liberties or Tolerance track.

Final Step: This is basically where we finish up negotiations because there are no negotiations in the Military Phase. Everyone has to have no more than 8 Units in their army. France has two armies, so will have two sets of Units on either side of their Powers card.

ASYMMETRICAL STUFF

So, that's the basic structure of the game, Diplomacy Phase followed by Military Phase, and you're doing all this to meet your goals. So, now let's talk about the Six Powers. It's helpful to think of them as existing in two coalitions of three players each.

HABSBURG COALITION

AUSTRIA: They know they've lost the war, they just need to satisfy the demands of their enemies and their friends to make it stop. So, they have a bunch of stuff - every Territory circle that doesn't have a disc, belongs to Austria - but are giving it away. Without giving away too much that it diminishes them as Holy Roman Emperor.

To simulate this, Austria has a Goal Card - they'll draw three and pick one - with Thresholds they have to meet. Debt, that's the amount of Debt they have left at the end of the game. Territory: total number of discs in the Holy Roman Empire. Authoritarian: the sum of the two tracks, Tolerance and Liberties.

So, the lower these tracks are, the better for Austria. And how these tracks work is, in order to negotiate a move up or down, a deal has to be made between Austria and one of the other two powers for the track Bavaria and Sweden for Liberties, Sweden and the Dutch for Tolerance.

So, if Austria meets all three conditions on their Goal Card, they can win, but there's a catch - they also need to make sure that Bavaria and Spain win. If either or both of them lose, so does Austria.

Austria is at war with France and Sweden.

BAVARIA: They're super-duper Catholic and super-duper independent. They did a lot of the heavy lifting early in the war for Austria, and now it's time to collect and to push back against the Protestant heretics. They want Liberties to be high and Tolerance to be low.

If Liberties is higher than Tolerance, and if their final debt is less than their total Claims plus the Liberties track, Bavaria wins. They're only going to count Claims in Catholic areas however.

One thing Bavaria can do is turn Protestant Areas into Catholic Areas. If at the start of their Military Turn they own all the points of territory in a Protestant Area, they get to place one of these Recatholicization cylinders. Now it's Catholic again and counts for them, and it stays Catholic for the rest of the game. They can’t trade it, but it can be taken over. Whenever a cylinder is placed, Tolerance goes down one.

Bavaria like Austria is at war with France and Sweden. SPAIN: They're broke and they've been broke for awhile and are hiding it, basically coasting on their reputation/ Prestige.

Spain is pretty simple: they start the game with 20 Debt, and have to somehow end the game with less than 25.

Spain is at war with France and the Dutch Republic.

ANTI-HABSBURG COALITION

FRANCE: France is playing power politics: they want to diminish Spain by supporting the Dutch and diminish Austria by supporting Sweden. To further this they're actually fighting three wars, the two on the map plus one in Italy and Spain that won't actually end until another fifteen years.

France wins by having less than 20 Debt, and they need to make sure that the Dutch Republic and Sweden both win.

France is at war with Spain, Austria, and Bavaria.

DUTCH REPUBLIC: The Dutch have been fighting for independence from Spain for eighty years, and they just want to get back to making money.

The Dutch get to bring in these Commerce Cards. How these work is that if at the end of the game some other player holds them, that player gets to reduce their Debt by that much, and so does the Dutch. If the Dutch player holds onto it, it doesn't do anything. The other catch is if a player has more than one Commerce Card, the Dutch only gets to count one of the cards, the lower value card. The sum of the cards that are held by the other five players - but only the lowest for each - is called the Dutch player's total Trade Agreements.

In order to win, the Dutch Republic player needs their Trade Agreements to be higher than their Debt.

The Dutch Republic is only at war with Spain. One thing these two players can do is they can end hostilities early. Why the Dutch player wants to do this is that it allows them to focus on Commerce. Normally if they

succeed on their Commerce roll, they get to draw only one card, but if they're at peace with Spain, they get to draw two.

Now, in the Commerce deck, there is a card called the Portuguese card, because the Dutch are also at war with Portugal. This counts as your card draw, but just gets reshuffled back into the deck. And if you get two card draws, you resolve them separately - so you might draw this one twice in a row, heads up.

SWEDEN: Sweden made gains early on and have been waiting around for the war to be over ever since, and it's been very costly. They want something to show for it.

To win, their Claims plus the Tolerance track must be greater than their Debt. Sweden only counts Claims in Protestant Areas.

Sweden is a junior partner for both tracks, so they might have a lot of leverage there.

Sweden is at war with Austria and Bavaria.

GAME END

So, when we get to the end of the phase track, we resolve Debt and check for victory. Debt Resolution has a few steps which are listed on the back of your Arrears card.

Fluctuation: Someone rolls two dice, and everyone gets more Debt equal to the lower die roll. If doubles are rolled, there's no extra Debt.

Commerce Cards: Like we went over before, you reduce it by the number on the card.

Taxes for Sweden, Bavaria, and the Dutch: For every Claim, you reduce your Debt by one. If you have all the Claims in a multi-Claim Area, you reduce it by an additional point. Bavaria only counts Catholic Areas, Sweden only Protestant.

Taxes work differently for Austria, France, and Spain. Austria counts the number of Areas that have zero discs, and reduces by that much. France counts the number of Areas with discs, and reduces by that much. Over in the Spanish Netherlands, France and Spain look to see who has the majority of Claims (France counts the Dutch Claims), and that player only reduces their Debt by five.

Units/Ships: Divide the Units and Ships you have left by two, rounding up, reduce by that amount.

Prestige: Reduce by the Prestige you hold.

Tracks: If you're a junior partner, reduce by the number on the track.

Recatholicized Areas: Finally, Bavaria gets one Debt knocked off for every Recatholicized cylinder they have on the map.

After we reduce all this Debt, you compare the Debt you have left to your victory conditions and see if you won. Note that most things that reduce your Debt are also the things you measure your remaining Debt against, so in a way these things count "double".

Now, if between one and five players win, those players win. You share in the victory. If all six players "win", then we have to go to Final Scoring, and then one player wins. So, this is our first game: chances are we're not all going to win. So I'm not going to go over the Final Scoring except to say that each Power falls into certain groups, called Affinities, which let

them score for different things. The scoring is listed on the back on the Powers card; please don't confuse Final Scoring with your victory conditions or the Debt Resolution, because they're not the same thing.

GAME START

So, now I'm going to deal out the Powers cards, and here's one last thing: you can trade which Power you are before the game starts, using any of the Units, Debt, Territory, and Prestige that the Power you want would start the game with.