Head of the Company and first office on the red ribbon. When acting, the Chairman may advance Company Debt up to three times (+£5 to the Balance each; more only with consent of players holding a majority of shares) and must then allocate the whole Balance to other office treasuries. The Chairman is elected rather than hired, sits on a piece that still counts as a share, earns no officeholder bonus, adds +1 to their attrition roll and decides dividends. Also called: Chair. Hastings: This is the shareholder's home office: fund the trades and fleets that keep Standing up and dividends flowing, because your income comes from shares, not bonuses. Benyon: The +1 attrition makes the Chair a fast route to a pensioner; support a Chairman who will fund the Presidencies you hold. Larkins: Lobby the Chair for money in Shipping and in the Presidencies your ships serve; a Chair who starves Shipping leaves your shipyards idle. Walsh: The Chair decides which President has money for your local alliances; promise to defend what you conquer so the Chair sees conquest as safe.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.11, 15, 18, 27
Acts second. May take Special Envoy checks as often as the office treasury allows, then may make two transfers in total, each moving one writer or ship between Presidencies or sea zones. The Director hires the three Presidents and is hired by the Chairman from current officeholders other than the Chairman and Governors (any writer if every office is vacant). Also called: DoT; Director. Hastings: Put a shareholder here: a hostile Director can steer ships and writers away from the trades that pay your dividends. Benyon: The Director both holds an office and hires Presidents, so it is an office to hold and a gatekeeper to court; trade appointments for promises. Larkins: Transfers decide which Presidency your fitted ships serve; pay the Director to keep them where your writers sit. Walsh: A successful Deploy opens every order in its target anyway, so ask the Director to spend envoys on regions you are not about to conquer.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.16, 18
Acts third and must spend its treasury until £2 or less remains: lease an extra ship for £2, fit a ship waiting on any shipyard for £3 (the owner's consent is not needed), or buy a permanent Company ship for £5, allowed only when no ship waits on a shipyard. Each ship goes to a sea zone of the Manager's choice. Hired by the Chairman from any writer. Also called: Shipping. Hastings: Fund Shipping generously: ships cap how many orders each President can fill, and that caps the Balance your dividends come from. Benyon: A low-stress office that still rolls attrition, and small fitting fees add up over five turns. Larkins: Your most important office: it decides when your shipyards' ships go to sea and start earning, so hold it or keep its holder sweet. Walsh: Ships do not fight, but a Presidency that trades well can afford your alliances; back Shipping for the Presidency your Army serves.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.16, 19
Acts fourth. May make two Army transfers (each moves one officer or regiment to another Army), must then assign every piece in Officers-in-Training to an Army, and finally appoints a new Commander in any Army with an empty Commander slot or where another family now has more pieces than the Commander's family. Hired by the Chairman from Commanders (if none, from officers, then from Officers-in-Training). Also called: MA. Hastings: Never give this office to a loose cannon: its holder decides which Army can attack and which is left to defend. Benyon: Worth holding mainly if you have officers; otherwise it is one more attrition roll and a bargaining chip. Larkins: Trade your support for this office for help with shipping or votes; you rarely need it yourself. Walsh: The soldier's keystone: placing new officers and choosing Commanders lets you build a majority in one Army, and appointing Commanders ignores Nepotism.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.16, 19
Each Presidency's office. The President decides the order in which they, their Commander and Governors act, takes the Trade action (at most one success per turn) and earns £1 per order filled, decides whether to pay for the Commander's local alliances, and hires the Governors of associated regions. Hired by the Director of Trade from that Presidency's writers or its Governors. Hastings: Presidents turn your allocation into Balance; fund the ones with ships and open orders, and expect them to protect your dividends. Benyon: The steadiest income in the game and a regular attrition roll; keep writers in each Presidency so you stay a candidate. Larkins: A President trading with your ships pays you twice: your shipyard bonus and, if you hold the office, the order bonus. Walsh: The President holds the purse for your alliances; holding the Presidency yourself, or allying with its holder, makes conquest affordable.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.16, 20–21, 22
One of the Company's three administrative zones, named after its home region: Bombay, Madras and Bengal. Each has an office box with its own treasury, a writers box, an Army, a sea zone (West, South and East Indian Ocean) and, once it conquers regions, the Governors of its associated regions. Hastings: Decide each turn which Presidencies are worth funding; concentrating money in one or two is cheaper per pound of trade. Benyon: Spread writers across Presidencies so a vacancy anywhere gives you a candidate. Larkins: Match your ships to the Presidency with the best open orders; a crowded sea zone with closed orders wastes ships. Walsh: Your Army belongs to one Presidency, and its associated regions are the only ones you can later reach; pick your Army with that map in mind.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 20–21
An office created when a Deploy conquers a region that was not Company-controlled; its card joins Vacant Offices. The associated President hires from the writers and officers of that Presidency (the rulebook says 'in the region'); a Commander cannot become Governor. Governors act during their Presidency's operations with Administer actions from a shrinking pool of 3 or 4 dice, as printed on the card. Also called: governorship. Hastings: Governors can tax £2 straight into the Company Balance; reward Governors who do, because each tax eases the Chair's borrowing. Benyon: A cheap extra office and another attrition roll; a 4-dice governorship is worth roughly twice a 3-dice one. Larkins: A Governor's taxes can fund the trade your ships carry, so a governorship in a Presidency you supply pays off twice. Walsh: The natural reward for conquest: your officers can be promoted to Governor, but every conquered region then has to be defended.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.16, 23, 24
The leader of one Army, placed by Military Affairs from the family with the most pieces there. Commanders are not officeholders: no office card, no attrition, no retirement, no expense, and no promotion to Governor. During their Presidency's operations a Commander may ask the President to buy local alliances and may Deploy as often as they can afford; they also defend Company regions associated with their Presidency. Hastings: Commanders create offices and loot but cannot retire; keep them answerable by deciding which Presidents get alliance money. Benyon: A Commander never rolls attrition, so it does nothing for a retirement plan; officers you might promote to Governor serve you better. Larkins: A strong Commander keeps conquered regions, and their open orders, safe for your ships when unrest boils over. Walsh: Your power base: Commanders earn trophies and the Commander's share of loot, but a catastrophic Deploy or a lost region costs half your trophies.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.19, 22, 23, 33
Exists only after a successful Special Envoy to China or the Envoy to China law; the Chairman hires it at once from any writer. Its treasury holds only ships (sent by Shipping or the Director, counting as East Indian ships). After Bengal operates it may try one Trade in China check with one die per ship; success adds £4 to the Balance per export icon in Company-controlled regions and pays the holder £1 per icon. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Also called: Superintendent. Hastings: China plus Governor taxes can carry the Company when India trade falters; consider funding the envoy once the Company controls export regions. Benyon: A further office to hold, and a lucrative one when several export regions are Company-controlled. Larkins: China is a new destination for ships; the Manager and Director decide whether yours sail there, so negotiate early. Walsh: Conquering regions with export icons is what makes China pay; pitch your conquests to the table that way.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.18, 25
Created only by passing the Governor General law: every Governor becomes a pensioner and Governor offices leave the game, and the Director of Trade's holder becomes Governor General with the same treasury and fatigue. It is hired like the Director, hires Presidents, adds £3 to the Balance per Company-controlled region each turn, and may take Govern checks (one success per turn) that pay £1 per Company region and give a ship, regiment or £2 tax per region, at a cost in unrest. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Also called: GG. Hastings: Its £3 per Company region can steady a late Balance, but experienced players advise against passing it as the first law of a 1710 game. Benyon: Passing it turns every Governor into a pensioner, a sudden retirement chance for families holding governorships. Larkins: Its Govern action can put Company ships in any sea zone, adding trade capacity that bypasses your shipyards. Walsh: It ends governorships, the military family's promotion path; weigh that before supporting the law.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.26
The family holding the Prime Minister dial, who in Parliament Meets reveals up to three laws, chooses one (a dilemma must be taken), sets the policy and votes first, but may not vote against their own law. The title is worth +2 power at the end, each law passed gives a passed-law token (+1 power), and a failed law hands the dial to the Opposition Leader. Many ties are broken in Prime Minister order, clockwise from the PM. Also called: PM. Hastings: A Chairman-PM can steer taxes and Power swaps on Company shares, but holding both titles makes you the table's target. Benyon: Not your main path; sell your votes to the PM for promises, and watch for window taxes aimed at estates. Larkins: The parliamentarian's engine: +2 power, passed-law tokens and control of which enterprise rises on the Power track often decide the power award. Walsh: Keep enough votes to block laws such as Treasure Reform that would send loot to the Company, or to back ones that add regiments.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 34, 35, 36
Anyone who votes against the current law joins the Opposition and cannot later vote for it; the player who has cast the most votes against holds the Opposition Leader marker (a tie leaves it with the previous holder). If the law fails, the Opposition Leader takes the Prime Minister dial and moves the policy one space either way, which then takes effect. With consent, players may add their votes to another opponent's total. Also called: Leader of the Opposition. Hastings: A failed law hands the PM title to the opposition's top voter; pool votes with an ally so a friendly family wins it. Benyon: Opposing cheaply can still pay: if your votes tip a law into failure, someone may pay you for them. Larkins: Leading the opposition against a doomed law is the cheapest way to take the PM's +2 power. Walsh: Combine your votes with a partner's to deny the dial to a rival who threatens your loot.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.35, 36
Seventeen cards track who holds each Company office; the family member sits on the office's space and the family keeps the card. Only office cards roll attrition, carry fatigue and can retire a family member to a prize. Commanders, writers and officers are not officeholders, and offices cannot be traded. Hastings: Every office you hold is a chance to retire, but the Chair's real lever is choosing who holds the others. Benyon: More offices means more attrition rolls; hold as many as you can and keep cash ready for the retirements they bring. Larkins: Pair your shipyards with an office or two so you have pensioners to spend your bonuses on. Walsh: Officers and Commanders roll no attrition; take at least one real office so your loot can become a retirement.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.2–3, 8, 11, 14
When an officeholder retires, is promoted, is removed or suffers a catastrophic failure, the office card goes face down in the Vacant Offices box. Vacancies are refilled in the Hiring phase in the ascending order printed on the card backs; an office with no eligible candidate, or whose hirer is vacant, stays empty and is skipped. With four or more vacant offices, Enlist Writer places one extra writer. Hastings: A turn with many vacancies is the Chair's best hiring market; line up promises before the phase starts. Benyon: Many vacancies is the moment to place writers in a wave and stand for several posts. Larkins: Vacancies are when shipping and presidency deals get struck; be a candidate or a consent-holder. Walsh: Military Affairs and governorships fall vacant too; a candidate officer in the right Army can claim them.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.11, 13, 14, 17
The board box that holds Company shares, beside the Chairman's seat. The value printed in the Court (+1/−1 VP in 1710) is what each share scores at the end: gained if the Company survives, lost if it fails. Shares in the Court elect the Chairman and give or refuse consent for extra debt. Also called: Court. Hastings: Your power base: a majority of the Court decides who is Chairman and whether the Company may borrow beyond three Debt. Benyon: Shares bought late still score and still vote for the Chair; a few can make you kingmaker in an election. Larkins: A single share can be the swing vote in a split Court; sell that vote for shipping or Parliament favours. Walsh: Holding a share keeps you in Chairman elections and gives you a say over the debt that funds your wars.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 14, 15, 18
A family member in the Court of Directors; the Chairman's piece counts too. Each share earns £1 per dividend, counts in Chairman elections and debt consent, is worth power at its Power-track value, and scores the Court's printed VP at the end (+1 in 1710) or loses it if the Company fails. Shares can be traded, except the Chairman's. Also called: share. Hastings: Shares are cheap VP and the votes that keep you in the Chair; buy them while the Company is healthy and the Court is thin. Benyon: A few shares tie you to dividends and the final share VP, and are tradable leverage in elections. Larkins: Shares give power while Company shares sit high on the Power track; a Parliament policy can push them up or down. Walsh: A share keeps you invested in survival; a military player with none invites suspicion that they will loot and let the Company sink.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.8, 9, 14, 15, 27
The track above the Court. The Seek Share family action places a family member on an empty space and pays its printed price (£2 to £5). At the end of the Family phase, for each point of Company Debt the rightmost waiting piece enters the Court as a share and Debt drops by one; leftover pieces slide right and wait. Hastings: Shares only appear while there is Debt, so a Chair who borrows also opens the door for the Court to grow. Benyon: A cheap seat may wait a turn or more behind the others; seek shares when Debt is already on the track. Larkins: A piece on the Stock Exchange is not a share yet: it earns nothing and votes for nothing until Debt converts it. Walsh: Buying shares also clears Debt, lowering the Company's expenses that the officers and regiments of your Army add to.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.13, 14
A track (0 to 8) recording Company borrowing. The Chairman may advance it three times per turn for £5 each (more with share-majority consent, never past the end); emergency loans also advance it; each Debt costs £1 in expenses every Revenue phase. Debt falls when Stock Exchange pieces become shares (one per Debt) and through laws such as Debt Restructure. Also called: Debt. Hastings: Borrow to fund trades early, but keep Debt at a level new shares can service; at maximum Debt one bad turn can sink the Company. Benyon: Debt funds the trades that pay office bonuses; support sensible borrowing while you hold several offices. Larkins: Debt is often what pays to fit your ships; back the borrowing that puts them to sea. Walsh: Debt funds alliances, and your officers add to the expenses it must cover; offer loot or defence in return.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.14, 18, 27
The Company's main cash, tracked by a red pawn on the track along the bottom edge; it has no upper limit and starts at £5 in 1710. Trades, Governor taxes and some laws add to it. The Chairman must allocate all of it to office treasuries each turn; in the Revenue phase it pays expenses, is compared with expectations and funds dividends. Also called: Balance. Hastings: Revenue is the Chair's report card: a Balance that clears expenses and expectations keeps Standing and dividends healthy. Benyon: Balance left after expenses can become dividends on your shares; trading well as a President feeds it directly. Larkins: Every order your ships fill raises the Balance; that is your argument for more Shipping money. Walsh: Loot normally goes to families, not the Balance; offer Governor taxes into the Balance to offset what your Army costs.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.4–5, 6, 18, 27
Cash always has a location. Family treasury cash is yours: it buys enterprises, shares, retirements, upkeep, taxes and votes, and can be given to other families at any time. Office treasuries hold Company money that only that office may spend; the Chairman fills them from the Balance, Presidents and Governors can add to their own, and money left in an office stays there. Hastings: Money you allocate is spent by others; attach conditions to it, and remember a President controls what is left in their treasury. Benyon: Keep a family cash floor for upkeep and retirements; office money can never pay for your estates. Larkins: Your shipyard bonuses land in your family treasury; spend them on votes or retirements, not idle savings. Walsh: Loot lands in family treasuries, but alliances are paid from the President's office treasury, so you need the President's agreement.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 18
How the public rates the Company, marked by a red pawn on a track whose spaces each show an expectations value (£4 to £16); 1710 starts on the 'S' space with £10 expectations. It falls for emergency loans, for missing expectations and for each region lost, and rises one space for Public Enthusiasm. If it reaches the leftmost space, the Company fails and the game ends at once. Also called: Standing. Hastings: Guard Standing above everything: your shares turn negative if it reaches the failure space. Benyon: Your estates are safe whatever happens, but a failed Company ends the game before your next retirement. Larkins: A falling Standing threatens the shipping bonuses you collect each turn; keep the trade engine running. Walsh: Lost regions cost Standing fast (1, then 2 more, and so on in one turn); garrison what you conquer.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 27, 29
The amount printed beneath the Standing marker. After expenses, Standing drops one space if the Balance is below expectations; if dividends pay out more than expectations, Standing rises one space (Public Enthusiasm). Hastings: Plan the budget so the Balance after expenses clears expectations; then a large dividend can even lift Standing. Benyon: Missing expectations repeatedly ends the game early; as a President, trade so the Company clears the bar. Larkins: Each extra ship's filled order helps clear expectations; that justifies spending on Shipping. Walsh: Your officers' expenses are paid before the expectations check; show the table what your Army returns.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.27
If the Balance cannot cover expenses, the Company must take emergency loans: each advances Debt one space and adds £5 until expenses are met (at maximum Debt, loans are still taken without moving the marker), and the Balance is then set to zero. Debt from emergency loans costs no expense that turn, and the loans cause Public Embarrassment. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: Budget so expenses are covered; emergency loans add Debt and cost Standing twice, through embarrassment and a zeroed Balance. Benyon: A Company forced into emergency loans may not last until your next retirement; push for a sound budget. Larkins: Ships at sea cost £1 each in expenses; keep fleets the Company can afford. Walsh: Officers and regiments add to expenses; a large idle Army can tip the Company into emergency loans.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.27
In the Revenue phase Standing falls one space if one or two emergency loans were taken this turn, two spaces if three or more. The separate expectations check still follows. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: Royal Protection exists to spare a Chair this penalty once; otherwise budget to avoid it. Benyon: An embarrassment can push Standing onto the danger spaces; count expenses before agreeing to a lean budget. Larkins: Leasing extra ships the Balance cannot afford can backfire through embarrassment. Walsh: An oversized Army is a common cause; keep your officers earning their keep.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.27
If the total cash paid in dividends this Revenue phase is more than the current expectations, Standing rises one space. Hastings: A strong trade turn lets the Chair pay dividends above expectations, lifting Standing and paying shareholders at once. Benyon: Enthusiasm pays your shares and buys the Company time; support it when you hold several. Larkins: It needs a big Balance, which needs ships; that is your pitch for a larger Shipping allocation. Walsh: A dividend turn is a good moment to ask for alliance money next turn, while the Company feels safe.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.27
In the Revenue phase, after expenses and the expectations check, the Chairman may pay any number of dividends. Each costs the Balance £1 per Company share (the Chairman's included) and pays each family £1 per share it holds. Hastings: Expect about £1–2 per share a turn; paying out everything forces new borrowing next turn. Benyon: Dividends are cash for retirements; a few shares make the Chair's decision your business. Larkins: Dividend money is family cash you can turn into votes in Parliament the same turn. Walsh: With no shares you get nothing from dividends; a share or two keeps you in the conversation.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.27
At the start of the Revenue phase the Balance pays £1 for each Debt, each officer and regiment in an Army (Commanders are free) and each ship in the three sea zones. If it cannot, emergency loans are taken. Hastings: Count expenses before borrowing: every Debt, officer, regiment and ship at sea costs £1 a turn. Benyon: Expenses come before dividends; a lean Company is the one that pays its shareholders. Larkins: Each ship at sea costs £1 a turn, so prove they earn more than that in filled orders. Walsh: Every officer and regiment costs £1 a turn; an Army that never deploys or defends is pure cost to the table.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.27
Phase VI: the Company pays expenses (taking emergency loans if needed), checks the Balance against expectations, and then the Chairman may pay dividends. Standing moves accordingly, and if it reaches the leftmost space the Company fails. Hastings: Your report card each turn; plan allocation with the Revenue sums in mind. Benyon: Revenue decides whether the game, and your retirement chances, carry on. Larkins: Ships cost and ships earn; Revenue is where the table sees which. Walsh: Army costs show up here; be ready to justify them.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.10, 27
A region the Company conquered with a successful Deploy: its tower and dome are removed, a Governor overlay is placed and its control token sits in the conquering Presidency. It has strength 0 when a Company Army deploys there, Special Envoys cannot open its orders, its unrest feeds attacks on the Company, and losing it costs Standing. Also called: Company region. Hastings: Each Company region adds Governor taxes but also a region to defend; three or four is a common ceiling. Benyon: Each one creates a Governor office, another post for your family to hold. Larkins: Its orders stay open after conquest, which helps the Presidency your ships serve. Walsh: Your conquests become Company regions you must defend with the same Army that took them.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.18, 22, 23, 29, 33
A Company-controlled region whose control token sits in a Presidency's box is associated with that Presidency. Its President hires its Governor; that Presidency's Commander may Deploy into it and into regions bordering it; other Presidencies' Commanders may not target it. A lost region is no longer associated. Hastings: Associations decide which President gains Governors and taxes; balance them so one President does not run the Company. Benyon: Governorships of associated regions are hired by that President; befriend the President before the conquest. Larkins: An associated region extends where that Presidency's Commander can reach, not where ships can trade. Walsh: Each association pushes your Army's reach one region further; plan chains of conquest along your Presidency's borders.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.22, 23, 29; official errata (BGG thread 2936700)
The Company fails if Standing reaches the leftmost space (through expectations, emergency loans or region losses) or a law causes it. The game ends at once (finish the Events phase or the vote first, if that is where it happened). In Final Scoring each share then costs its Court value in VP, each workshop scores 1 VP, and a random Company failure card replaces the final retirement. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: Your shares turn into negative VP; the shareholder has the most to lose and should keep the Company alive. Benyon: Failure cancels the final retirement you have been building towards; support survival unless you are clearly ahead. Larkins: Some failure cards punish shipyards or passed laws; a crash is a gamble even for a family with workshops. Walsh: One failure card punishes officers, Commanders and trophies; a military player is exposed if the Company falls.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 27, 29, 36
Six cards, one drawn at random only if the Company fails. Most blame one group and cut scores: for shipyards, for workshops, for passed-law tokens and the Prime Minister, for Governors, or for officers, Commanders and trophies; one (Court of Directors Blameless!) scores shares as if the Company had succeeded. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: Only one card spares shareholders; crashing the Company is almost never good for you. Benyon: Families whose points sit on estates are rarely targeted by these cards, but you lose the final retirement. Larkins: Cards that punish shipyards and passed laws aim straight at a shipowner-parliamentarian. Walsh: Military Rebuked! and the Governors card can wipe out a soldier's gains; don't assume a crash favours you.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.2–3, 9
Each family has 18 wooden portrait pieces. They mark everything the family controls: officeholders, shares and Stock Exchange bids, writers, officers, Commanders, Governors, pensioners and members retired to prizes. A family that must place a piece and has none left must take one off a prize and lose that prize's VP. Also called: family piece. Hastings: Shares and the Chairman's seat use pieces too; a deep Court ties up pieces you will not get back until someone retires. Benyon: Pieces on prizes are your score; keep enough in supply that you never have to pull one back. Larkins: Writers and shares take pieces; shipyards and other enterprises are cards and use none. Walsh: Officers lost on a 6 return to your supply and can be enlisted again, but the turns spent building that Army are gone.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.2–3, 13
A family's unplaced pieces, or the shared stock of components. A piece returned to supply (after a catastrophic failure, writer loss, a 6 on an officer's loss roll, or an unpaid tax) comes home without retiring and scores nothing. Most components are limited to what is in the box, but cash, trophy/passed-law tokens, dice and regiments may be proxied if they run out. Hastings: A Chairman removed by catastrophe or an unpaid tax goes to supply, not to a prize; protect the seat. Benyon: Going to supply instead of the Pensioners box is the worst way to leave an office; avoid one- and two-die gambles. Larkins: Sunk ships go back to their shipyard, not the supply; your shipyards keep their value. Walsh: Officers lost in battle go back to supply; plan Deploys with enough dice that losses are worth it.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 13, 17
A glass marker each family places on the family action it takes. If it is already on the action you choose, you take that action twice; otherwise you take your new action once and move the marker. Extra actions from laws neither use nor move it, and Lady Glencora removes it from the game. Also called: opportunity token. Hastings: Repeating Seek Share doubles your Court growth, but the second share still needs Debt to convert. Benyon: Doubling Enlist Writer when vacancies open lets you stand for several offices at once. Larkins: Two shipyards in one turn is the classic double; buy the second only if Shipping will fit them. Walsh: Two officers a turn builds an Army majority quickly; take the best action first and let the marker break ties.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 13
In the Family phase, starting with the Chairman and going clockwise, each family takes one action: Enlist Writer, Enlist Officer, Seek Share, or buy a Luxury (£4), Shipyard (£2) or Workshop (£5). Then new Company shares are created from the Stock Exchange. Hastings: Seek shares when Debt is on the track; the Chairman acts first in this phase and can set the pace. Benyon: Writers keep you a candidate for vacancies; luxuries turn spare cash into secure VP. Larkins: Shipyards are a cheap, low-risk opening, but avoid a third or fourth when others already hold several. Walsh: Officers pay off only if you can dominate an Army; if nobody else enlists, the niche is yours.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.13, 14
A family member in one of the three Presidency writers boxes, placed by Enlist Writer (with one extra writer that turn if four or more offices are vacant). Writers are the hiring pool for Shipping, Presidents, Governors and the Superintendent; when their President trades they are placed on the filled orders, earning their family £1 each, and they return to their Presidency in Refresh. Hastings: One or two writers keep you a candidate, but flooding them only raises the price of every office. Benyon: Your route back into office: a writer in each Presidency means every vacancy has your name on it. Larkins: Writers earn when your ships carry trade; place them where your fleet sails. Walsh: Writers compete with officers for Governor posts; a soldier can rely on officers for that path.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.13, 16, 20–21, 36
If an event closes an order with a writer on it, the writer returns to its family's supply; a filled-order token is flipped to its closed side instead. Turmoil always strikes the northernmost open order first. Hastings: Losing writers shrinks the pool you hire from; a Chair should watch where Presidents place rival writers. Benyon: Ask Presidents to place your writers on safer, southern orders as part of any deal. Larkins: A lost writer is a lost £1 next turn; keep an eye on which region the top event tile pictures. Walsh: Writers on orders in regions you plan to conquer are safe once Deploy opens and pacifies the region.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.28, 31
A family member in an Army. Exhausting an officer adds one die to a Deploy or one point to a defence; each costs the Company £1 in expenses, rolls for loss (removed on a 6) after every Deploy it took part in, and earns its family £1 per round of loot. Officers can become Commanders and can be promoted to Governor. Hastings: Officers cost the Company every turn; insist that Armies deploy or defend for their keep. Benyon: An officer can be promoted to Governor, a cheap route to an extra attrition roll. Larkins: Officers are rarely your business; trade your support for military jobs for shipping favours. Walsh: Your core asset: officers give dice, loot rounds and Command, but two families racing for the same Army both lose.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.19, 22, 23, 27
The box where Enlist Officer places a family member (the box with the officer-in-training icon). When Military Affairs acts, every piece there must be assigned to an Army as an active officer. If no Commanders or officers exist, Military Affairs can be hired from this box. Hastings: Military Affairs, whom you hire, decides where these land; choose a holder whose plans you trust. Benyon: Not usually your concern unless you want an officer to promote to Governor later. Larkins: Rarely your concern; at most a bargaining point with Military Affairs. Walsh: Enlist when Military Affairs is friendly, or hold it yourself, so new officers join the Army you want to command.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.13, 16, 19; official errata (BGG thread 2936700)
Company soldiers in an Army, each giving one die when exhausted for a Deploy or one point of defence and costing £1 in expenses. Regiments never roll for loss, and their loot share goes to the bank. 1710 starts with one per Army; more come from Governors' Commission Regiment results and some laws. Hastings: Regiments defend without taking family pieces, but each costs £1 a turn; add them where conquests need holding. Benyon: A Governor who commissions regiments helps keep their own region safe. Larkins: Regiments are expense the Company pays; support them only where they protect trade. Walsh: Regiments add dice without diluting loot to rivals, though each takes £1 per round for the bank when it deploys.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.22, 23, 24, 27; 1710 scenario card
Seven temporary allies, each printed with a cost and strength and kept in a specific Army box. A Commander may ask their President to buy one from the President's treasury; it can then be used once that turn, for one Deploy (adding dice equal to its strength) or one defence, and is exhausted again in Refresh. In loot rounds each takes £1 for the bank. Hastings: Alliance money comes out of trade money; agree it with the President before allocating the Presidency's budget. Benyon: As President you can sell alliance funding for a share of the new governorship. Larkins: Every pound spent on alliances is a pound not rolled for trade; weigh which your ships need more. Walsh: Alliances add two or three dice for the price of one regiment's loot share; budget them into every big attack.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.4–5, 22, 23, 36
Each Presidency has an Army box with a Commander slot, a top half for active pieces and a bottom half for exhausted ones. Officers, regiments and bought alliances are exhausted (moved down) to roll Deploy dice or to defend, and become active again in Refresh. Hastings: An Army exhausted on attacks cannot defend that turn; ask Commanders to keep a reserve. Benyon: Not your focus, but an exhausted Army leaves Governors' regions exposed in Events in India. Larkins: Defended regions keep their orders open; an over-extended Army is a threat to trade routes. Walsh: Leave enough active pieces after deploying to meet the Crisis the Elephant is pointing at.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.19, 22, 33, 36
Small cards a family owns: shipyards (shipping), workshops (manufacturing) and luxuries (social); some prestige cards also count as enterprises of a type. Enterprises can be traded, give any votes printed on them, are taxed or rewarded by policies aimed at their type, and are worth power at the end according to the Power track. Hastings: A share is not an enterprise; Company shares have their own Power-track token. Benyon: Enterprises are tradable sweeteners in hiring deals. Larkins: Your enterprise type's Power-track position sets your end-game power; push it up with Power policies. Walsh: Few enterprises means little power from the Power track; your trophies make up the difference.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.2–3, 9, 13, 34
Costs £2 (Purchase Shipyard). Its named ship waits unfitted on the card until the Manager of Shipping fits it into a sea zone; while the ship is fitted the owner collects £1 each Bonuses phase. A shipyard gives 1 vote and is a shipping enterprise; a sunk ship returns to its shipyard to wait for refitting. Hastings: A shipyard adds a ship the Company can fit cheaply; owning one keeps you aligned with trade. Benyon: A low-risk early income that does not need an office. Larkins: The core of your position: cheap, steady income, a vote each, and power when shipping rises on the Power track. Walsh: One shipyard is cheap income; don't crowd the niche if a shipowner already dominates it.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.13, 19, 27, 28, 35
Costs £5. Pays £1 every Bonuses phase, gives 2 votes, and is a manufacturing enterprise. It scores 1 VP only if the Company fails, so the table may read a workshop buyer as a hedge against the Company. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: Workshops pay off mostly if the Company fails; a shareholder buying them sends a mixed message. Benyon: Expensive for its income in a five-turn game; buy one only for votes or as insurance. Larkins: Two votes for £5 helps a parliamentarian; manufacturing power swings with policies. Walsh: A workshop hedges a military player's exposure if the Company falls, but John Thorpe forbids them.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 13, 27
Costs £4 and gives 2 VP while owned (adjust VP if traded). It is a social enterprise with one window icon, so window taxes can hit it, and it has no income or votes. Hastings: A late luxury turns leftover cash into VP when no retirement is coming. Benyon: Your fallback when attrition will not cooperate; better late than early. Larkins: Luxuries count as social enterprises for power; watch where the social token sits. Walsh: In the last turn, convert loot to luxuries if you have no pensioner to retire.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 13, 34
A prestige card with an enterprise icon in its corner (shipping, manufacturing or social). It works as an enterprise of that type for power, policies and trading, and adds its own special ability printed on the card. Hastings: Tradable, so a prestige enterprise is good currency in a Chairman election. Benyon: If a spouse or restriction blocks other cards, these are often what remains in the display. Larkins: Vote-giving prestige enterprises (Social Magazine, Labour Newspaper, Rotten Borough) amplify a parliamentarian. Walsh: They count for power like any enterprise of their type; when that type sits high on the Power track, one can rival a trophy or two.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.12
Phase V: each family takes £1 for each shipyard with a fitted ship and each workshop it owns. Offices' own bonuses (a President's £1 per order, writers' £1, a Governor's £1 per success) are paid when those offices act. Hastings: Bonuses are family income independent of the Company's Balance. Benyon: Office bonuses arrive during Company Operation; this phase adds only enterprise income. Larkins: This phase is where your shipyards pay; a sunk or unfitted ship pays nothing. Walsh: Loot is your income; this phase adds little unless you own enterprises.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.20–21, 24, 27
Phase III: vacant offices are filled in ascending order of the numbers on their card backs. Each office is hired by a specific officeholder from the pool of candidates printed on its back; if a candidate exists the hirer must pick one, and if there is none, or the hiring office is vacant, the office stays vacant this turn. Hastings: You hire Director, Shipping and Military Affairs; name your price and favour shareholders, since your dividends depend on them. Benyon: Be in every candidate pool you can; hiring is where offices, and future retirements, change hands. Larkins: Shipping is hired from writers; a writer of yours makes you a candidate for the office you most need. Walsh: Military Affairs is hired from Commanders, and Governors from writers and officers; your Army is your candidacy.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.14, 16
Hiring a family member who already holds an office, for example a Director of Trade from current officeholders or a President from a Governor. The old office card goes to Vacant Offices in its proper order, to be filled later in the same Hiring phase, and its fatigue moves to the new card. Hastings: A promotion chain (Chair to Director to President to Governor) lets two partners staff the Company for a turn. Benyon: Promotion keeps a family member in office, but fatigue follows them, so a tired officeholder stays close to retiring. Larkins: Promoting your Manager of Shipping opens Shipping to a new writer; make sure the replacement is friendly. Walsh: Promoting your Governor to President keeps a Presidency's treasury, and its alliance money, in your hands.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.14
A hiring officeholder may choose their own family's candidate only with the verbal consent of every other family that has a candidate in that office's pool. It does not apply to the Chairman election or to Military Affairs appointing Commanders; a nepotism promise card stands in for one family's consent, and the Hiring Preference blackmail card lets a candidate ignore the rule. Hastings: When every family has a candidate, hiring your own is costly; collect consent promises early. Benyon: Putting one writer in a pool forces the hirer to ask for your consent, and you can sell it. Larkins: Your consent is a cheap currency to trade for shipping and voting favours. Walsh: Commander appointments ignore Nepotism, but Governor and Military Affairs hires do not; buy consent for those.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.14, 15, 19
When the Chairman is vacant, the former Chairman announces how many shares make a majority (more than half). Any player with a share may campaign; the first to gather support from players controlling a majority becomes Chairman and moves one of their shares to the Chairman's seat. If nobody can, the former Chairman picks any player with a share, themselves included. Hastings: Keep shares and allies so you can win or at least decide elections; as former Chairman you break deadlocks yourself. Benyon: A few shares make you a swing voter; sell your support for an office or a promise. Larkins: A single share can decide a close election; trade it for Shipping or a Presidency. Walsh: Elections are by shares, not offices; without a share you watch from the side.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.15
London Season step 1: roll one die per office card held, adding +1 per fatigue on the card and +1 for the Chairman. On 1–2 nothing happens; on 3–4 add a fatigue; on 5 or more the officeholder retires to the Pensioners box and the office card goes face down to Vacant Offices with its fatigue cleared. The final retirement repeats this roll. Hastings: The Chair's +1 means frequent turnover; have cash ready for a retirement and allies ready for the next election. Benyon: Every office is a lottery ticket for retirement; holding many, with fatigue on them, is how you score. Larkins: Shipping and a Presidency together give you two rolls a turn. Walsh: Commanders never roll; only real offices give you pensioners.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 11
Orange cubes on an office card each add +1 to its attrition roll; they follow the officeholder on promotion and are cleared when the office falls vacant. Ships also have a fatigued side: a storm roll of 3–4 flips a ship to it, and a fatigued ship that rolls 3 or more sinks. Hastings: A fatigued Chair is likely to retire next London Season; plan the succession. Benyon: Fatigue is welcome: it pushes your officeholders toward retirement and points. Larkins: A fatigued ship sinks on any storm roll of 3 or more; expect to pay for refitting. Walsh: Fatigue on your offices brings retirement closer; on your Governors that means a pensioner to fund.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.11, 14, 28
A family member who left office through attrition (or a law such as Governor General). In the Retirements step the family may pay to move each pensioner to a prize; any pensioner not retired returns to supply at the end of the London Season. Hastings: A pensioner with no cash is wasted; keep a reserve or arrange a loan before the London Season. Benyon: The moment your plan pays: have the money ready for the best prize you can afford. Larkins: Your bonuses are what pay for pensioners; spend them here rather than hoarding. Walsh: Loot is only worth points once a pensioner spends it; keep an office so you have one.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.11, 12
Starting with the Chairman (or former Chairman) and going clockwise, each family may pay a prize's cost to move each pensioner onto it and gain its VP. The cash spent is set aside to rank the prestige-card picks, then paid to the bank. Retirement is the game's main source of victory points. Hastings: Your shares score once; retirements score every time the Chair turns over, so the +1 attrition helps you here. Benyon: Two cheap prizes beat one dear one for the same VP and are safer against upkeep and taxes. Larkins: A big retirement buys first pick of the London Season Display; time it when a card you want is showing. Walsh: Retire early for cards, late for houses; a military family's few pensioners should go to the highest prize they can afford.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.11, 12
The five boxes on the board's left edge. Cost / VP / upkeep / windows: £2 / 0 / £0 / 0; £4 / 2 / £1 / 1; £8 / 4 / £2 / 2; £14 / 8 / £3 / 3; £20 / 12 / £4 / 4. Several families can share a box; family members on prizes cannot be traded. Also called: estate. Hastings: The £2 prize scores nothing but still earns a prestige pick; use it when cash is short. Benyon: Higher prizes give better VP per pound of upkeep, but a single unpaid upkeep loses more. Larkins: Windows on big estates make you a target for window taxes in Parliament. Walsh: Prize upkeep comes due every turn; loot is irregular, so keep a reserve.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.11, 36; game board
In Upkeep and Refresh each family pays every prize's printed upkeep for each of its family members there. A family that cannot pay returns that piece to supply and loses the prize's VP; other families may lend or give cash first. Hastings: Keep a cash floor; a Chair who pays all cash into shares can lose an estate. Benyon: Many estates mean a big bill every turn; promise cards like 'Take £2 or less' can cover a shortfall. Larkins: Shipyard income covers upkeep reliably; plan retirements against it. Walsh: Loot is lumpy; don't let a dry turn cost you an estate.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.36
Prizes, luxuries and some prestige cards show window icons. Whenever a tax policy showing the window icon is enacted, every family also pays £1 per window on its prizes and enterprises, losing any piece or card it cannot pay for. Windows also break ties for prestige picks and in Final Scoring. Hastings: Many windows make you a target; keep cash when the dial sits near a window-tax space. Benyon: Big estates carry many windows; vote against laws whose policy lands on a window tax. Larkins: As PM, steering the dial to a window tax hurts estate-heavy rivals; as a target, shipyards carry no windows. Walsh: A window tax can strip an estate you cannot pay for; budget loot accordingly.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 11, 12, 34
Phase I, skipped on the first turn: attrition, then retirements, then prestige cards. Families pick from the London Season Display in order of cash spent on retirements this turn (ties: most window icons, counting new estates, then Prime Minister order); each retiring family must take or discard one card. The display is then refilled to three and unretired pensioners go home. Hastings: Retiring as Chairman often hands you the first pick; plan which card you want. Benyon: The phase your strategy is built for; spend enough to pick first when the display holds a good spouse. Larkins: A parliamentarian wants vote-giving prestige cards and blackmail for power. Walsh: Blackmail cards add power for the award; a soldier can value them over spouses.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.11, 12
Three cards dealt from the shuffled prestige-and-blackmail deck: prestige cards face up, blackmail face down. The picking family may peek at face-down blackmail. Whatever is left is discarded and three new cards are dealt every London Season, even if nothing was taken. Hastings: The display is public; you can plan your next retirement around a card you want. Benyon: Check the display before retiring; spending one more pound can win first pick. Larkins: Remember the 'Take my card from the London Season Display' promise lets a partner pick before you. Walsh: Face-down cards are blackmail; peeking when you pick tells you whether they add power you need.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.4–5, 12
Twenty cards won in the London Season: ten spouses and ten enterprise cards (such as Rotten Boroughs, Social Magazine, Foundry and Shipbuilders) with special powers. Prestige cards are face up and public; they are shuffled together with the ten blackmail cards. Hastings: Tradable prestige enterprises are useful currency in Court politics. Benyon: Spouses are the only VP that can never be taxed or traded away; take them when offered. Larkins: Vote-giving prestige enterprises suit a parliamentarian. Walsh: Take what adds power if you are in the power race; otherwise a spouse's VP.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.2–3, 12
A prestige card that gives VP (one spouse gives power instead) and usually a retirement discount, but imposes a restriction for the rest of the game. Spouses can never be transferred. Discounts stack and each can be used once per London Season and once in Final Scoring, but they lower the amount you count as spent for picking order. Hastings: Pick a spouse whose restriction does not touch shares or the Chair; Joseph Sedley would force you out. Benyon: Spouses are secure VP and discounts make every later retirement cheaper; they suit a retiree perfectly. Larkins: Avoid Violet Effingham (no shipyards) and Lady Newcome (no enterprise votes); others cost you little. Walsh: Avoid William Collins (no officers); restrictions on writers or workshops barely touch a soldier.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 12
Ten one-shot cards kept face down until played; they can be traded, and shown to others, only while face down. After use they lie face up and cannot be transferred. Every blackmail card a family holds, used or not, counts its printed power at the end; none may be played after the game ends unless the card says so. Hastings: Scandal cards can remove officeholders; a held card is a deterrent against a rival Chair. Benyon: Hiring Preference wins you an office despite Nepotism; blackmail can be traded for promises. Larkins: Most cards are 1–2 power whether played or not (two print none), often enough to swing the power award. Walsh: Diplomatic Connection can spoil a rival's Deploy; held cards also add power.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.8, 9, 12
Families may trade enterprises, face-down blackmail cards, family cash, shares (not the Chairman's) and promise cards. Immediate transfers are binding; promises of future action are not, except through promise cards. Offices, writers, officers, prize pieces, spouses, passed laws, used blackmail, the PM dial and trophies cannot be transferred, and a transferred item cannot produce its effect a second time in the same phase. Hastings: The Chair's leverage is where money goes; sell allocations and appointments, ideally for promises. Benyon: Pay for offices with cash or promises now; the office is the asset that matters to you. Larkins: Your votes, consent and shipping fees are your currency; set small routine prices. Walsh: Offer loot shares or defence in return for alliance money; only the cash you hand over is binding.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.8
Each family has five promise cards to give away in deals. Whoever holds one may call it in to force the guarantor to fulfil it if they can; cards can also be passed to third parties or handed back. No promise can be called in once the game is over. Hastings: A consent or bonus promise from a rival keeps them invested in your Company running well. Benyon: Promises are how you pay for offices when cash is short; price them carefully. Larkins: Your 'vote with my enterprises' promise is valuable to a PM; sell it at a premium. Walsh: Promises let you buy alliance funding or consent now and pay later.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.8, 9
Counts as the guarantor family's consent when the holder hires their own family member. Played while an office is being hired; it cannot be used for a Chairman election or for appointing a Commander, which are not hires. Hastings: Collecting these from rivals lets you staff the Company with your own family. Benyon: Gather them if you often hire Governors or Presidents. Larkins: A cheap promise to give; it gains value when held by whoever is hiring. Walsh: Useful when your President hires your officer as Governor.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.8, 14
Used at the start of the guarantor's turn in the prestige-card step: the holder picks a card in the guarantor's place (and may peek at blackmail). It does not stop the holder taking a card through their own retirements. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: An expensive promise; the holder now wants you to retire big. Benyon: Never give this cheaply: prestige picks are your best long-term VP. Larkins: Worth buying when you want a particular vote-giving card. Walsh: Holding one gives you a card without a pensioner, which a soldier often lacks.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.8, 12
The holder may call it at any time to take up to £2 from the guarantor's family treasury, even to stop them paying upkeep. If it interrupts a Family-phase purchase, the guarantor may undo that action and choose another. Hastings: Remember it raises your cash floor: a called £2 at upkeep can cost you an estate. Benyon: A good way to pay for consent now, but keep £2 spare until it comes back. Larkins: Cheap to give, but holding rivals' £2 promises is a weapon at upkeep time. Walsh: When loot runs dry, this promise is how you pay for consent or alliances.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.8, 36
Used during Company Operation after one of the guarantor's offices has acted: the holder takes the bonus that office earned this turn. It cannot take a share of loot, and if a Governor was removed by catastrophic failure, its bonus cannot be taken. Hastings: A Director or Chair who holds a President's bonus promise now shares in that Presidency's trade. Benyon: Selling your bonus promise for an office is a common, fair price. Larkins: Take this promise from a President you supply with ships to share their profit. Walsh: Loot is exempt, so this promise costs a soldier little to give.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.8, 20–21
Played after a law and policy are proposed but before voting: the holder casts votes with the guarantor's enterprises as if they owned them, and may even use a Prime Minister's enterprises against the PM's law. Lady Newcome removes her family's copy from the game. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: Buy one before a vote that threatens Company shares. Benyon: Your enterprises may be few; this is a cheap promise for you to sell. Larkins: Your enterprise votes are your power in Parliament; sell this promise only at a premium. Walsh: A soldier with few enterprises can sell this cheaply.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.8, 35
India is divided into eight regions: Punjab, Delhi, Bombay, Maratha, Bengal, Hyderabad, Mysore and Madras. Each has orders, a strength (its tower levels), a political status (sovereign, dominated, or Company-controlled) and a loot/control token. Bombay, Madras and Bengal are also the Presidencies' home regions. Hastings: Read the map for where the Company can earn: open orders reachable from home ports with ships to fill them. Benyon: Regions that host your writers are the ones whose events matter to you. Larkins: Each Presidency's sea zone serves its home port and the regions beyond; stack ships where open orders chain. Walsh: Weak regions bordering your Presidency are your targets; strong empires next door are your threats.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 7
Circles inside regions, each worth its printed £ value to the Company Balance when a President fills it, linked to neighbours by dotted lines. Trade must start at the Presidency's home port and continue through connected open orders, so a closed order breaks the chain beyond it. Hastings: Count open, reachable order value when deciding which Presidencies to fund. Benyon: As President you choose which writer sits on which order; that is a quiet bargaining chip. Larkins: More ships fill more orders only if enough open orders connect to the home port. Walsh: A Deploy opens every closed order in its target, which can unlock a whole trade route.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 20–21
The heavy-outlined order in each Presidency's home region (Bombay, Madras, Bengal) where every trade must begin. A President may never fill orders in another President's home region, even if that President is vacant. Hastings: A closed home port shuts a Presidency's trade entirely; reopening it is worth an envoy. Benyon: Trading only in your home region avoids the extra-region dice penalty. Larkins: Ships are useless in a sea zone whose home port is closed; ask the Director to move them. Walsh: A Commander may Deploy into their own President's home region, but never another President's.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 20–21
An order covered by a closed-order token cannot be filled. Turmoil, successful Rebellions, Cascades, Foreign Invasions and region loss in an Invasion close orders; Special Envoys, Peace and successful Deploys reopen them. Hastings: Closed orders cap the Balance; paying for envoys or conquest to reopen them is an investment. Benyon: Closures can strand your writers' income; keep an eye on events. Larkins: Closed orders make your ships idle; push the Director to reopen orders in your sea zone's routes. Walsh: Conquest reopens every order in the target, a strong argument for funding your Deploy.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 18, 23, 28, 31
An order a President filled this turn, marked by a writer or, if the Presidency has run out of writers, by a filled-order token (the back of a closed-order token). Writers and tokens come off in Refresh; if an event closes a filled order, the token is flipped to its closed side. Hastings: Orders filled by tokens pay the Company but no family; that is fine for the Balance. Benyon: Orders with tokens instead of writers are bonuses nobody collects; enlist writers where they would sit. Larkins: Your ships can fill more orders than there are writers; the Company still earns. Walsh: Orders your conquest opens can be filled the same turn if your President trades after you act.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.20–21, 28, 36
A President declares the regions to trade in, home region included, then makes a check with one die per £1 spent, minus one die per declared region beyond home. On success they place one writer per ship in their sea zone on open, empty orders in those regions, starting at the home port and each next to one already placed; the Balance rises by the orders' values, the President takes £1 per order and each family £1 per writer of theirs placed. One successful trade per President per turn. Hastings: Trades are your dividends; fund enough dice that a failure does not ruin the turn. Benyon: Never risk an important trade on one or two dice; a catastrophe sends your President home without retiring. Larkins: Each of your ships in the sea zone is one more order filled; that is the case for buying and fitting them. Walsh: If your Commander acts before the trade, an opened order can lengthen the route.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.17, 20–21
The three oceans beside the map: West feeds Bombay, South feeds Madras, East feeds Bengal. Ships there set how many orders that Presidency can fill, cost £1 each in expenses and face storms. Hastings: Ask Shipping to put ships where the open orders are, not where they are easy to send. Benyon: As President, lobby for ships in your sea zone; they set your trade ceiling. Larkins: Spread your fleet so one storm face does not hit all of it. Walsh: Your Presidency's sea zone also decides which home region a Foreign Invasion strikes.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 19, 20–21, 27, 28
Player ships belong to shipyards: unfitted on the card, fitted at sea (earning the owner £1 a turn) and back on the shipyard if sunk. Extra ships are leased by Shipping for £2 and return to supply in Refresh; Company ships (the other side of the same tokens) are permanent, bought for £5 or built by Governors. Storms only affect player ships. Hastings: Player ships are the cheapest lasting capacity (£3 to fit); Company ships need no fitting but cost £5 and only when shipyards are empty. Benyon: Storm-proof Company and extra ships suit a President who wants dependable trade. Larkins: Every fitted ship pays you £1 a turn until a storm sinks it; keep shipyards stocked so Shipping must fit yours before buying Company ships. Walsh: Ships cost £1 each in expenses, the same as an officer; argue for the balance between them.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.2–3, 19, 24, 28, 36
Most India actions are checks: gather the dice the action allows, remove any penalty dice, roll, and read the lowest die. 1–2 is a success; 3–4 a failure that may be retried if resources remain; 5–6 a catastrophic failure. With three dice the odds are 70% success, 26% failure and 4% catastrophe; with four, 80%, 19% and 1%. Also called: success check. Hastings: Fund at least three or four dice on checks that matter; cheap one-die rolls cost more in the long run. Benyon: A catastrophe costs you an office without a retirement; insist on enough dice. Larkins: Plan for failure: keep money in reserve for a retry rather than one huge roll when the penalty is small. Walsh: Even six-die attacks fail sometimes; leave a reserve and a defence.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.17
A check whose lowest die is 5 or 6. The office takes no further actions this turn, the officeholder returns to their family's supply without retiring, and the office card goes to Vacant Offices with its fatigue cleared. After a catastrophic Deploy the Commander's family also returns half its trophies (rounded up) and the Commander is removed. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Also called: catastrophe. Hastings: A catastrophic trade costs the Company its Presidency's turn; fund enough dice to make it rare. Benyon: The worst way to lose an office: no pensioner, no prize. One die carries a 33% risk. Larkins: A failed President leaves your ships unused for the turn. Walsh: A catastrophic Deploy costs half your trophies and your Commander; never attack on one or two dice.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.17, 23
An office may not take an action that could have no effect or no chance of success, such as trading without a ship to fill an order, or deploying into a Company-controlled region that has no closed order and no unrest. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: You cannot order a pointless action to burn a rival's money; budget accordingly. Benyon: A President with no ships cannot trade, so no ships means no trade bonus. Larkins: Without ships in a sea zone that Presidency cannot trade at all; that is your leverage. Walsh: A pacified Company region with no unrest or closed orders is not a legal Deploy target.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.17, 22
The Director of Trade's check: each £1 from the office treasury buys one die, with no penalty. On success, open one closed order in a region that is not Company-controlled, or open trade with China (creating the Superintendent of Trade in China). It may be repeated while money lasts. Hastings: Envoys that reopen a closed route can be cheaper than an extra ship; fund one when a key order is shut. Benyon: Ask the Director to reopen orders on your Presidency's route as part of any hiring deal. Larkins: An envoy that reopens orders in your sea zone's reach puts your ships to work. Walsh: Envoys cannot open orders in Company regions; that is your Army's job.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.18
A Commander's attack. Target the President's home region, a region associated with the Presidency, or a region bordering an associated region; never another President's home region or another Presidency's Company region, and a Company region only if it has a closed order or unrest. Roll one die per officer or regiment exhausted plus each alliance's strength, minus the target's strength (and its whole empire's); then each exhausted officer rolls and is lost on a 6. Hastings: A well-supported early conquest helps the Company, but each region is one more to defend. Benyon: Conquest creates a Governor office, a new post for your family. Larkins: Conquest opens orders but strips Army pieces for the turn; make sure defence is not left empty. Walsh: Attack weak regions with plenty of dice; loot, trophies and a governorship all depend on success.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.22, 23; official errata (BGG thread 2936700)
On a successful Deploy, take £4 per tower level in the target plus its loot token's value if still face up (at least the number of surviving officers used + 1). Pay it out in rounds: the Commander £1 plus £1 per own officer, then each other family clockwise £1 per officer, then £1 to the bank per regiment and alliance; repeat until it runs out. A region's loot token pays only once. Hastings: Loot goes to families, not the Company; a Chair should expect the soldier to pay their way in other forms. Benyon: An officer in a busy Army earns loot rounds without commanding. Larkins: Not your income, but loot fuels rivals' retirements; watch who profits. Walsh: The Commander's extra £1 a round plus your own officers' rounds make you the main earner; dominate the Army you fight with.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.23
After a successful Deploy the Commander's family takes one trophy per tower level of the target, and a Commander who beats off an attack on the Company takes one. Each trophy is +1 power at the end and cannot be traded, but half (rounded up) are lost after a catastrophic Deploy or a region loss. Hastings: Trophies feed a rival's power total; keep an eye on the power race. Benyon: Rarely yours, but they decide the power award VP that can outweigh a retirement. Larkins: Trophies compete directly with your enterprise power; count them before the last vote. Walsh: Your main power source; protect them by defending conquests and avoiding risky attacks.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 23, 29, 33
Orange cubes in Company-controlled regions, added by each failed Administer and by each Tax after a Governor's first in a turn. In an attack on the Company each unrest adds +1 to the primary attack's strength, and every other Company region with unrest suffers its own Rebellion of that strength. Successful Deploys, Peace with the Elephant inside the region, and beaten-off attacks clear it. Hastings: Unrest anywhere makes every attack on the Company a multi-region crisis; limit Governor over-taxing. Benyon: As Governor, stop rolling after a failure; unrest can cost the region and your office. Larkins: Lost regions close orders; unrest is a threat to trade routes. Walsh: Every unrest cube is a strength point your Army must meet; garrison regions that carry it.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.23, 24, 31, 33
A Governor's check using the remaining dice pool, with no penalty; the pool drops by one after every roll. On success the Governor takes £1 (£2 if the previous roll was not a success) and chooses: start or finish a Company ship (two successes), commission a regiment for the President's Army, or Tax £2 into the Balance or the President's treasury. A failure adds unrest; the Governor stops on a catastrophic failure, when dice run out, or by choice. Hastings: Tax into the Balance supports dividends; agree that with Governors who hold shares. Benyon: Each success pays you £1 or £2; stop before the pool gets small enough to risk catastrophe. Larkins: Two successes build a permanent Company ship for the President's sea zone without any fitting cost. Walsh: Commissioning regiments strengthens the Army that defends your Governor's region.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.24
Stacked orange levels showing a region's strength; the dome on top does not count. Strength is subtracted from Deploy dice and used in Invasions and Rebellions. Leader and Peace add levels, failed attacks remove them, and a conquest removes the tower entirely. Hastings: Tall towers next to Company regions mean dangerous invasions; watch where they grow. Benyon: Not your focus, but strong neighbours threaten the regions your Governors hold. Larkins: Strong regions keep orders closed and resist conquest; trade routes through them stay shut. Walsh: Every level is a die off your Deploy, but also a trophy and £4 of loot if you win.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 22, 31, 32
The cap on each region's tower, marking local rule. A sovereign region shows a dome with a large flag or no flag, a dominated one a small flag; a region with no dome (a Company region) counts as dominated and can rebel. Conquest removes the dome; region loss puts it back with one tower level. Hastings: A dome returning to a Company region signals lost Standing. Benyon: Domes back on the map mean Governor offices lost. Larkins: A returning dome usually comes with closed orders. Walsh: No dome means your region; keep it that way by defending it.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 23, 29
Three sets of metal flags track empires: the capital flies a flag with a star, each region it dominates a smaller flag of the same colour. Flags are added by successful Invasions and removed when a region rebels free, a capital falls or an empire shrinks to its capital. Hastings: A growing empire next to Company land is a threat to Standing. Benyon: Watch flags near your Governors' regions. Larkins: Empires combine strength, so their regions are harder to reopen by conquest. Walsh: Deploying into any member of an empire subtracts the whole empire's strength; target lone regions or capitals carefully.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 7, 32
A capital region plus at least one region it dominates. Empires combine their regions' strength for Invasions and when a Deploy targets any member. A successful Invasion by a flagless region starts a new empire (if a star flag remains); a captured capital loses all its flags; an empire reduced to its capital disbands. Hastings: An empire on a Company border can invade with combined strength; fund defence where empires grow. Benyon: Imperial growth can swallow regions your writers trade in. Larkins: Empires make trade routes through their lands harder to reopen. Walsh: Conquering a capital breaks the whole empire, but you must beat its combined strength.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.7, 22, 23, 32
A region flying a small flag (part of another region's empire) or with no dome. When the Elephant faces its sovereign or stands inside it, it threatens a Rebellion. Company-controlled regions have no dome, so a Crisis there is a rebellion against the Company. Hastings: Every Company region counts as dominated, so the Elephant can always arrive to threaten one. Benyon: Governors' regions can rebel; keep unrest low. Larkins: A successful Rebellion closes the rebel region's orders. Walsh: Be ready to defend when the Elephant stands inside one of your conquests.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 7, 30
A region with a large (capital) flag or a dome without a flag. When the Elephant reaches a sovereign region it points across one of its borders, threatening an Invasion, and a Leader event adds a tower level to it. A dominated region's sovereign is the capital that rules it. Hastings: A strong sovereign beside the Company is a standing threat to Standing. Benyon: Sovereign neighbours can invade the regions your Governors hold. Larkins: Sovereign regions keep their orders under local control; envoys can open them, conquest can too. Walsh: Sovereign regions are your Deploy targets, but Leader events make them stronger each time.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.6, 30, 31
The resin Elephant always marks the next looming Crisis. On a border, its tail marks the attacking region and its head the defender (an Invasion); standing inside a region, or facing that region's sovereign, it marks a Rebellion. Crisis and Peace events happen where the Elephant stands. Also called: Crisis marker. Hastings: Where the Elephant points tells you which Presidency needs its defence funded this turn. Benyon: An Elephant inside a Governor's region is a warning to stop taxing. Larkins: Peace where the Elephant stands can reopen orders across its border. Walsh: If it faces one of your conquests, keep enough Army pieces active to defend.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.7, 30, 32
After Crisis, Peace and Shuffle events (and some redirects) the Elephant moves to the region pictured on top of the event stack, or after a successful Invasion to the victorious capital (Imperial Ambitions). In a Company region it stands in the centre; in a dominated region it faces its sovereign; in a sovereign region it points across the border whose shape matches the one on the tile just resolved, moving clockwise past any region the attacker already dominates. Hastings: The top tile is public, so you can often foresee the next threat and budget defence. Benyon: Watch the stack to see whether a Governor's region is next. Larkins: A march into your trade regions can bring closures; plan ships for open routes. Walsh: Read the next tile before deploying; leave defenders where the Elephant is heading.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.30, 31, 32
After a successful Invasion Crisis the Elephant marches to the victorious capital's region instead of the region on top of the stack, so a growing empire tends to strike again. If every neighbour already belongs to its empire, the Elephant is placed on the border shown on the redirect arrow, pointing at the capital: a looming Rebellion. Hastings: A successful invasion near Company land is likely to be followed by another; fund defence there. Benyon: Empires on the move can reach your Governors' regions in consecutive events. Larkins: Expanding empires can close trade routes turn after turn. Walsh: An empire on a roll is a strong enemy; strike it when it overextends.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.30
An event tile with a strength modifier (−1 to +3). It strikes where the Elephant stands, not where the top tile points: if the attacker (tail) is sovereign it is an Invasion, if dominated a Rebellion; if the defender is Company-controlled it becomes an attack on the Company. The Elephant then marches. Hastings: A Crisis aimed at a Company region can cost Standing; know where the Elephant stands before Revenue. Benyon: A Crisis in a Governor's region can remove that office without retirement. Larkins: Crises reshape which orders are open next turn. Walsh: Each Crisis against the Company is a chance to win a trophy by defending.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.32, 33
A sovereign region attacks the region the Elephant faces. It succeeds if the attacker's strength (with its whole empire) plus the tile's modifier is greater than the defender's (with its empire): the defender takes the attacker's flag, a flagless attacker founds a new empire if a star flag remains, and a captured capital's empire shatters. If it fails, the attacker loses a tower level. Hastings: An Invasion of a Company region is an attack on the Company and can trigger rebellions everywhere there is unrest. Benyon: Invasions that hit Company regions can remove Governors. Larkins: Invasions that succeed against a Company region close all its orders. Walsh: Defending against an Invasion wins a trophy; losing costs half your trophies.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.32
A dominated region attacks only the region that dominates it; other empire members do not count. It wins if its strength plus the modifier is greater than its sovereign's: the rebel becomes sovereign, loses its flag and closes all its open orders (a Cascade if all are closed). A failed Rebellion costs the capital one tower level. Hastings: A Rebellion in a Company region is an attack on the Company; unrest makes it stronger. Benyon: A Governor's region in rebellion can be lost along with the office. Larkins: Successful rebellions close orders, sometimes with writers on them. Walsh: Rebellions against empires weaken them, opening targets for your Army.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.32
When any Crisis targets a Company-controlled region, resolve it first (adding +1 strength per unrest there), then a Rebellion in every other Company region with unrest, at strength equal to its unrest. The associated Commander (or Military Affairs or the Chairman if vacant) must exhaust Army pieces equal to the strength, or all they can; falling short loses the region, while a successful defence clears its unrest and earns a trophy. Hastings: One attack can cascade into several region losses; unrest is the Chair's real Standing risk. Benyon: A lost region removes its Governor without retirement; defend Governor regions first. Larkins: Keep Armies strong enough that conquests do not collapse and close trade. Walsh: Every successful defence is +1 trophy; every failure costs half your trophies.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.29, 33
When an attack on the Company succeeds: the Commander's family returns half its trophies (rounded up) and the Commander is removed; officers in that Army rout on a 6; the Governor is removed without retiring; the region gets back its dome with one tower level and its control token loot-side down, no longer associated; an Invasion also closes its orders. Standing then falls 1 for the first region lost this turn, 2 more for the second, and so on. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: Several losses in one turn can end the game; never let the Company hold more regions than it can defend. Benyon: A lost region takes a Governor office with it and gives no pensioner. Larkins: A lost region's orders usually close; trade through it stops. Walsh: Region loss is the soldier's nightmare: half your trophies and your Commander gone.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.29; official errata (BGG thread 2936700)
Close the northernmost open order in the region pictured on top of the event stack, sending any writer there home. If that region's orders are all closed already, a Cascade follows. Hastings: Turmoil can close the orders that make a Presidency worth funding; spread trade across regions. Benyon: Ask Presidents to keep your writers off the northernmost orders. Larkins: A closed order can strand a ship's worth of trade; watch the top tile. Walsh: Turmoil only closes orders; your Army can reopen them by conquest.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.28, 31
Each family takes £1 for each of its writers on an order in the region pictured on top of the event stack and in every region bordering it. Writer Graft Reform does not stop this. Hastings: A small bonus for families with writers placed this turn. Benyon: Writers on orders can pay twice in one turn: once for the trade, once for a Windfall. Larkins: More ships mean more writers placed, and more chances at Windfall. Walsh: Writers, not officers, collect Windfall; a family with no writers gains nothing.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.31
The Elephant marches first; then this tile is shuffled into the rest of the draw stack, and the discarded tiles are shuffled and placed on top, so recently seen events will soon return. Hastings: Events already seen will come back; plan for repeats. Benyon: Expect the same disruptions in your regions again. Larkins: Closures you have just survived may recur. Walsh: Crises will return; keep defence in mind.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.30, 31
If the region pictured on top of the stack is sovereign, it gains a tower level. Otherwise the event is a Rebellion in that region using the modifier printed on the tile; if a Company region with the Elephant inside rebels successfully, the Elephant marches. Hastings: A Leader in a Company region is a Rebellion against the Company; unrest adds to it. Benyon: A Leader striking a Governor's region tests that region's defence. Larkins: Stronger towers make conquest, and the reopening of orders, harder. Walsh: Each Leader makes a target tougher; attack before they grow.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.31, 32
Where the Elephant stands: open any orders connected across its border and add a tower level to each region it touches that is not Company-controlled. If it stands wholly inside a region, open all that region's orders and clear its unrest instead. Then the Elephant marches. Hastings: Peace inside a Company region clears unrest, a free reprieve for Standing. Benyon: Peace can calm a Governor's region. Larkins: Peace reopens orders across the Elephant's border, which may help your routes. Walsh: Peace also strengthens neighbouring towers, making later conquests harder.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.31
Roll the storm die; for each storm shown, an Invasion of die-roll strength strikes the linked home region (West–Bombay, South–Madras, East–Bengal; all three on the all-storms face; the region on the top tile if no storm). If it succeeds, the region's orders close, its flags go (a Company region gets its dome back) and its strength becomes half the roll, rounded down. The designer has ruled that unrest does not count here, though some groups disagree. Not demonstrated in this tutorial's game. Hastings: A rare tile, but it can strike Company home regions; another reason to keep Armies strong. Benyon: A successful Foreign Invasion of a Company home region removes its Governor. Larkins: It closes every order in the region it conquers, hitting a home port hard. Walsh: Each home region's Army is its defence; keep it able to meet a roll of up to 6.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.33; storm die faces
Twenty round tiles drawn in the Events in India phase, as many as the storm die shows. Each face shows an event (Crisis, Turmoil, Leader, Windfall, Peace, Shuffle or Foreign Invasion), often with a shape for the Elephant; the back of the top tile in the stack pictures the region where most events strike, so the next location is public. Also called: Ganjifa tile. Hastings: The top tile tells you which region is next; factor it into allocation. Benyon: Check the top tile before agreeing where your writers will sit. Larkins: The top tile can warn of a Turmoil in your trade region. Walsh: The top tile predicts where the Elephant will go; position defenders accordingly.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.28, 31
A custom die rolled at the start of Events in India. Its faces are West 2, East 2, South 3, 4, 4, and all three storms with 1: the sea zone or zones shown suffer storms, and the number sets how many event tiles are flipped. Hastings: Two in six faces bring four events; budget for a turbulent India. Benyon: More events mean more chances of closures and rebellions in your regions. Larkins: Each sea zone is hit on two faces in six (its own and the all-storms face); spread your ships. Walsh: Four-event turns bring more Crises; keep defence ready.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.28; storm die faces
Roll a die for each player ship in each storm-struck sea zone (Company and extra ships are immune): 1–2 safe; 3–4 the ship becomes fatigued, or sinks if already fatigued; 5–6 it sinks. Sunk ships return unfatigued to their shipyard, to be refitted later. Hastings: Storms can gut next turn's trade; a Company ship never sinks. Benyon: Storms can leave your Presidency short of ships next turn. Larkins: Your income's main risk: a sunk ship earns nothing until Shipping pays to refit it. Walsh: Not your concern directly, but storms drain the Company's money that would fund alliances.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.28
If an event must close an order in a region whose orders are all already closed, that region overflows: close every open order connected to its orders in neighbouring regions (where a connected order is already closed, close that region's northernmost open order instead). A region that ends with every order closed cascades too, but each region overflows only once per tile. Hastings: A fully closed region next to a trade route spreads closures; reopen it before it cascades. Benyon: Cascades can kill writers in neighbouring regions. Larkins: Cascades can shut routes far from the event's region. Walsh: Conquering a fully closed region reopens it and stops it from cascading.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.28
Each game turn runs nine phases in order: London Season, Family, Hiring, Company Operation, Bonuses, Revenue, Events in India, Parliament Meets, and Upkeep and Refresh. The London Season is skipped on the first turn, and the 1710 scenario ends after turn 5. Hastings: Your decisions cluster in Hiring, the start of Company Operation and Revenue. Benyon: Your scoring happens in the London Season; everything else sets up the next one. Larkins: Your income arrives in Company Operation and Bonuses; your power play happens in Parliament. Walsh: Your action is in Company Operation and your risk in Events in India.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 10
Phase IV: each office acts in turn along the red ribbon: Chairman, Director of Trade, Manager of Shipping, Military Affairs, then the Presidencies of Bombay, Madras and Bengal (each with its Commander and Governors in the order the President chooses), then China if open. Vacant offices are skipped; the Chairman keeps the phase moving. Hastings: You act first; your allocation sets everyone else's options. Benyon: As President, order your Commander and Governors before you trade when their actions add money or open orders. Larkins: Shipping acts before the Presidencies, so ships it fits trade the same turn. Walsh: Commanders act inside their Presidency's operations, after Military Affairs has placed officers.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.10, 17, 20–21, 25
Phase IX: pay prize upkeep, then (except after the last turn) return writers to their Presidencies, filled-order tokens and dividers to supply and extra ships to supply, make exhausted officers and regiments active again, exhaust any bought alliances, and advance the turn marker. Hastings: Extra ships leased this turn vanish; Company ships stay. Benyon: Upkeep comes due here; keep cash after Parliament's taxes. Larkins: Leased extra ships go back to supply, so next turn's capacity depends on fitted and Company ships. Walsh: Your Army becomes active again, but bought alliances must be paid for again.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.36
Phase VIII: the Prime Minister brings one law to a vote with a policy attached. Families vote in rounds starting with the PM; if support ends at −1 or less the law fails and the Opposition Leader becomes PM, otherwise the law passes and its policy and text take effect. Hastings: Use Parliament to protect share value and Company finances; laws like Debt Restructure help the Chair. Benyon: Never waste a vote: sell it for cash or a promise if the law does not touch you. Larkins: Your arena: enterprise votes plus cash decide laws, policies and who holds the PM's +2 power. Walsh: Laws about loot, regiments and Governors change a soldier's game; vote accordingly.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.34, 35, 36
Twenty-five cards (20 laws and 5 dilemmas) plus a separate Deregulation card unused in 1710; Royal Protection starts passed in 1710. Each shows an icon that fixes which policy space the dial must reach, a starting support value, and text that changes the rules permanently once passed; some also grant an extra family action. Hastings: Know which laws protect the Company (Debt Restructure) and which hurt it. Benyon: Some laws favour retirees (Inclosure Acts) and some threaten officeholders (Board of Control). Larkins: As PM, draw with an eye on what happens if the law fails as well as if it passes. Walsh: Treasure Reform and Army Spending reshape a military game; watch for them.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.2–3, 34, 36
A law card marked as a dilemma at the top. If revealed, the Prime Minister must stop drawing and put it to the vote; most dilemmas have both an 'If passed' and an 'If failed' effect, resolved at once. Hastings: Drawing a third law risks a dilemma that may hurt the Company. Benyon: Some dilemmas remove an officeholder or lower Standing; vote with your offices in mind. Larkins: A PM who keeps drawing gambles on a dilemma; stop when you have a usable law. Walsh: War Against France! removes officers and regiments if passed; vote to protect your Army.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.34, 36
Each dial space pairs a consequence with a target (an enterprise type or Company shares): Tax makes each family pay £1 per target owned, losing any it cannot pay for (even the Chairman's share); Bonus pays £1 per target from the bank; Power swaps the target's power token with the next higher one (if it is already on top, any two other tokens swap instead). The policy takes effect when the law passes, or after the new PM shifts it when the law fails. Hastings: A tax on Company shares can unseat a cash-poor Chairman; keep cash when the dial points at shares. Benyon: Bonus policies on shares pay shareholders; taxes on social enterprises hit luxuries and estates' windows. Larkins: Power policies on shipping lift your shipyards' end-game value; steer the dial there. Walsh: Policies rarely target soldiers directly; trade your votes for the ones that do matter to you.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.34, 36
The round board kept by the Prime Minister, with 14 policy spaces and a pointing arm; it cannot be traded and is worth +2 power. After choosing a law, the PM turns the arm clockwise or counter-clockwise to the first space matching the law's icon, and when a law fails the new PM moves it one space either way. In 1710 the arm starts on Power for manufacturing. Also called: PM dial. Hastings: The dial's position tells you whether share taxes or bonuses are next; plan cash around it. Benyon: Know which window-tax spaces sit next to the arm before voting. Larkins: Read both directions before choosing a law: the icon decides where the arm can stop. Walsh: The dial is +2 power to whoever holds it, often decisive in a soldier-versus-parliamentarian power race.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.4–5, 34, 36; Prime Minister dial
Support for a law starts at the value printed on its card and is tracked by the Votes marker. In rounds from the PM clockwise, each family may cast votes for or against: £1 from the family treasury per vote, plus the vote icons on cards in its play area (turned when used). The PM may call further rounds, a round with no votes ends voting, and the law fails at −1 or less. Hastings: Cash spent on votes is cash not spent on shares; vote only where the outcome matters. Benyon: Sell your votes; a few pounds can decide a law. Larkins: Shipyards give a vote each and vote-giving prestige cards more; you can outvote cash-rich families. Walsh: Votes are cheap leverage for a family without enterprises; trade them for alliance money.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.34, 35, 36
When a law passes, the Prime Minister takes a passed-law token (the same pieces as trophies). Each is worth +1 power at the end, cannot be traded, and can cost VP under one failure card. Hastings: Passing laws as PM adds power; a Chairman-PM can pursue the award too. Benyon: Rarely yours; worth knowing when counting rivals' power. Larkins: A long-serving PM collects these tokens toward the power award. Walsh: Your trophies and a rival PM's tokens are the same kind of power; count both.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 36
A separate end-game measure used only for the power award. It comes from enterprises and Company shares (at their Power-track value), +2 for holding the PM dial, +1 per passed-law token, +1 per trophy, and the power printed on blackmail cards (used or not), on one spouse (Becky Sharp) and on one prestige enterprise (Scottish Castle). Rulebook p.9's list of cards worth power leaves out Scottish Castle, but its face prints the same round power badge. Hastings: Shares count for power while their token sits high; a Policy can raise or drop it. Benyon: Not your main path, but the award can outweigh a retirement; don't let a rival take it unopposed. Larkins: Decide early whether you are in the power race; enterprises, the PM and laws are your sources. Walsh: Trophies are your power; with a few blackmail cards you can contest the award.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.9
The board track holding four power tokens: social, Company share, shipping and manufacturing. The top position is worth 2 power for each item of that kind, the next 1, and the bottom two 0. Power policies swap tokens; 1710 starts social at 2, Company shares at 1, shipping and manufacturing at 0. Hastings: Keep Company shares high on the track; a share then scores VP and power. Benyon: Luxuries are social enterprises; social at the top makes them worth power too. Larkins: Swapping shipping upward is the shipowner's main power lever. Walsh: Your trophies are unaffected by the track; rivals' power rises and falls with it.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.4–5, 9, 34; game board
In Final Scoring the family with the most power gains VP and the second gains less, by the board's table for the final turn: after turn 5 of 1710, 5 VP and 2 VP. Families tied for most each take the lower award and no other award is given; a tie for second gets nothing. Hastings: Short-1710 winning scores are low, so 5 VP is a big swing; contest it or deny it. Benyon: Even if you are out of the race, choose who wins it with your votes. Larkins: Your main route to points beyond retirements; aim for first, not second. Walsh: Trophies can win you the award; protect them.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.9; game board
The score: VP come from retirements to prizes, spouses, luxuries, the power award, Company shares (if the Company survives) and workshops (if it fails). Each family's marker moves on the Victory Point track, which has no upper limit and can go below zero. Money left at the end is worth nothing. Also called: VP. Hastings: Shares and dividends feed retirements; your VP still come mostly from prizes. Benyon: Your plan in one line: offices, attrition, retirements, spouses. Larkins: Bonuses become VP only through retirements, luxuries and the power award. Walsh: Loot becomes VP only if you have pensioners or luxuries to spend it on.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 11, 12, 13
After the scenario's last turn (turn 5 in 1710), or at once if Standing reaches the failure space, no more deals, promises or blackmail are allowed. Then: 1) the power award; 2) Company shares score the Court value (or lose it after a failure, when workshops score 1 VP each); 3) a final retirement if the Company survived, or a failure card if not. Ties go to the most window icons, then Prime Minister order. Hastings: Your shares score here; keep the Company alive to the end. Benyon: The final retirement is one last attrition roll for every office you hold. Larkins: Settle every deal before the game ends; promises cannot be called afterwards. Walsh: Trophies count only for power; spend loot before the end.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.9
If the Company survives, every family rolls attrition for each office it holds and may retire any resulting pensioners to prizes, using spouse discounts once more. No prestige cards are taken. Hastings: Hold offices to the end: each one is a last chance at a retirement. Benyon: End with as many offices and as much cash as possible. Larkins: Keep cash for the final retirement; it is the last place money turns into VP. Walsh: Commanders do not roll; a military family should hold at least one office at the end.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.9, 11, 12
A law (card 50) already passed at the start of 1710. If the Company would take emergency loans, the Chairman may discard it to avoid those loans and cancel the remaining expenses; Standing then does not drop for embarrassment, though the expectations check still applies. Hastings: Your one-time insurance as Chairman: it lets a single bad turn pass without emergency loans, so you can afford a little more risk. Benyon: It shields the Standing that keeps the game, and your retirements, going. Larkins: It covers one bad turn only; keep pressing for a budget that funds ships. Walsh: It does nothing against region loss; Standing drops for lost regions are untouched.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.27; 1710 scenario card
A law (bonus icon, starting support −4): each family member on a prize earns its family £1 in the Bonuses phase. Hastings: Pays retirees, not shareholders; support it only if you already hold estates. Benyon: Made for you: every estate becomes a small pension that helps pay its own upkeep. Larkins: Its bonus icon lands the dial on a bonus space; check which enterprise type that would pay before voting. Walsh: Soldiers retire late; this pays your rivals first.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.27, 34
A law (power icon, starting support 0): once per turn, after any office except the Chairman finishes acting, the Prime Minister may remove its officeholder, who returns to supply without retiring, and the office goes to Vacant Offices. Hastings: It cannot touch the Chair, but a hostile PM could strip every other office you rely on. Benyon: Dangerous for an office-heavy family: a removed officeholder goes home without retiring. Larkins: As PM it is enormous leverage over every office; expect the table to pay you not to use it, or to vote it down. Walsh: Commanders are not offices, so your Army survives it, but your Governors and Presidents do not.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.34, 36
A law (power icon, starting support 0): writers' £1 trade bonuses go to the Company Balance instead of their families; Windfall still pays writers, and it discards Writer Privileges if that law is in force. Hastings: More money in the Balance helps dividends; a shareholder can support it. Benyon: It cuts the income from your writers; oppose it if they are your path back into office. Larkins: Writers placed on your ships' orders stop paying you; weigh that against your power policy. Walsh: Writers rarely matter to a soldier; trade your vote.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.20–21, 34
A dilemma: the Prime Minister must take it, then chooses any law (even a dilemma) from the discard pile to put to the vote instead. After the vote, all discards, this turn's draws and this card are shuffled back into the law deck. With an empty discard pile it is shuffled back and a new law drawn. Hastings: A PM can revive a law that failed earlier; remember which laws are in the discard pile. Benyon: Revived laws can threaten offices again; budget votes accordingly. Larkins: A tool for a PM: pick the discarded law that suits you best. Walsh: Watch for revived laws that target loot or Armies.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.34
A law (Company-share icon, starting support −2): every Governor adds one die to their dice pool, but a failed Administer places 2 unrest instead of 1. With a Governor General, a successful Govern earns £3 more and a failure places 2 unrest in each region. Hastings: More dice for Governors means more taxes for the Balance, but doubled unrest raises the risk of losing regions. Benyon: An extra die makes governorships more lucrative; stop after a failure. Larkins: Its share icon points the dial at a Company-share policy; know which before voting. Walsh: Better Governors, but every failure now threatens your Army's regions twice as fast.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.24, 34
A law (shipping icon, starting support −1): each President's £1-per-order bonus goes to the Company Balance instead of the President's family. Hastings: More Balance for dividends; a shareholder who is not President can favour it. Benyon: It strips Presidents' trade income; oppose it if you hold Presidencies. Larkins: Its shipping icon puts a shipping policy on the dial; the policy may matter more to you than the law. Walsh: Presidents fund your alliances; a poorer President may be less generous.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.20–21, 34
A law (shipping icon, starting support −3): Trade in China pays £5 instead of £4 per export icon, and the Superintendent of Trade in China office is created if it does not exist. Hastings: Creates a new revenue line for the Company if export regions are Company-controlled. Benyon: Creates a new office to hold. Larkins: Ships sent to China earn for the Company; a new market for your fleet. Walsh: Its value depends on conquered export regions; it rewards past conquest.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.25, 34
A law (tax icon, starting support −3): Company Debt moves to the leftmost space. Extra action: after their family action, families may seek a share. Hastings: Wipes Debt and its expenses, but with no Debt, Stock Exchange pieces cannot become shares until the Chair borrows again. Benyon: A healthier Company lasts long enough for more retirements. Larkins: Its tax icon lands the dial on a tax policy; check which enterprise type pays. Walsh: Lower expenses leave more room for Armies; usually worth supporting.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.13, 14, 34
A law (social icon, starting support −5): families no longer pay window taxes (a Tax Collectors owner may still add one). Extra action: buy a luxury. Hastings: Mostly neutral to a Chair; the policy it brings may matter more. Benyon: Protects your estates from window taxes; a retiree can support it. Larkins: Its social icon points the dial at a social policy, which can swap the power order. Walsh: Protects estates bought with loot; a cheap vote to support.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.13, 34
A law (tax icon, starting support −3): a family whose opportunity marker is not on the workshop action, or that has none, pays £3 instead of £5 for Purchase Workshop (not for an extra workshop from Calico Acts). Hastings: Cheaper workshops tempt families to hedge against the Company. Benyon: Cheap workshops add income and votes but no VP while the Company survives. Larkins: Its tax icon can land the dial on a window-tax space, which families with estates will fight. Walsh: Cheaper workshops hedge a soldier against Company failure.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.13, 34
A spouse: 2 VP and a £1 retirement discount. Restriction: the family may no longer take or own blackmail cards; face-down ones must be traded or discarded, face-up ones discarded. Hastings: Costs you blackmail power and Scandal threats; fine if you have none. Benyon: A painless spouse for a retiree who wants VP, not blackmail. Larkins: Blackmail is power; this spouse costs a parliamentarian in the power race. Walsh: Blackmail like Diplomatic Connection helps soldiers; think twice.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.12
A spouse: 2 VP and a £2 retirement discount. Restriction: the family may no longer enlist writers as its family action (the Tenure Limits law's extra writer is still allowed). Hastings: A Chair with shares can live without writers, but loses candidacy for vacancies. Benyon: Hurts a family that returns to office through writers. Larkins: Writers matter little to a shipowner; the discount is welcome. Walsh: Soldiers enlist officers, not writers; an easy spouse to take.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.12
A spouse: 2 VP and a £2 retirement discount. Restriction: the family's opportunity marker leaves the game, so it can never take a family action twice; extra actions from laws and the extra writer at four or more vacancies still work. Hastings: A shareholder who rarely repeats actions loses little. Benyon: A big discount at the cost of doubled actions; usually worth it. Larkins: Hurts a family that doubles shipyard purchases. Walsh: Hurts a family that doubles officer enlistment.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 13
A spouse: 2 VP and a £2 retirement discount. Restriction: the family may no longer buy or own workshops; any it has must be traded or discarded. Hastings: Workshops rarely suit a shareholder; easy to take. Benyon: Easy VP and a discount for a family without workshops. Larkins: Costs you workshop votes; fine if your votes come from shipyards. Walsh: Costs a soldier only the workshop hedge against Company failure.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.12
A spouse: 3 VP and a £2 retirement discount. Restriction: the family's enterprises lose their vote icons, its 'Vote with my enterprises' promise leaves the game, and enterprises it transfers cannot vote that turn. Hastings: Three VP for a family with few enterprise votes is a bargain. Benyon: Your votes come from cash anyway; take the 3 VP. Larkins: Disastrous for a parliamentarian: it silences every shipyard vote. Walsh: A soldier with few enterprises loses little.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 35
A prestige card that is a manufacturing enterprise: it gives 4 votes when the vote concerns a manufacturing or shipping policy. Hastings: Useful only on manufacturing or shipping policies. Benyon: Tradable; a sweetener in hiring deals. Larkins: Four votes on shipping policies is exactly the parliamentarian's fight. Walsh: A tradable card; sell it to the family that values the votes.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 35
A manufacturing enterprise: its owner takes £1 from the bank each time any family buys a workshop or a regiment is added to an Army. Hastings: Slow income in a five-turn game unless regiments are being added. Benyon: Small but steady if Governors commission regiments. Larkins: Counts as manufacturing for power and policies. Walsh: Pays when regiments are added; it suits a Governor who commissions them.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.12
A social enterprise (three copies): 3 votes on every law. The Masses Demand Franchise! dilemma can reduce each to one vote. Hastings: Votes in Parliament help defend share value. Benyon: Tradable votes to sell. Larkins: Three votes on every law, plus social power when social is high on the Power track. Walsh: Votes you can trade for alliance money.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 35
A social enterprise: 4 votes when the vote concerns a social or Company-share policy. Hastings: Four votes on Company-share policies protect share value. Benyon: Tradable votes for social policies, which touch luxuries and estates' windows. Larkins: Strong votes plus social power; a prize for a parliamentarian. Walsh: Tradable; sell it if you are not in the power race.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 35
A shipping enterprise: its owner takes £1 from the bank for each extra ship or Company ship the Manager of Shipping buys. Hastings: Encourages leasing; the Company gains capacity either way. Benyon: Extra income if Shipping leases ships. Larkins: A natural fit: it pays when Shipping buys ships and counts as shipping for power. Walsh: Small income; tradable.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 19
A manufacturing enterprise: with the PM's consent, its owner may make the proposed policy include an extra window tax (decided before voting); if they win a vote as Opposition Leader, they may add one to the policy they choose. It works even under Window Tax Repeal. Hastings: A window-tax weapon against estate-heavy rivals. Benyon: A threat to retirees; avoid letting a rival hold it. Larkins: Adds teeth to a parliamentarian's policy choices. Walsh: Lets you tax estates bought by rivals.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 34
A blackmail card (1 power): play during hiring when you are a candidate; the hiring player must choose you, and you may use it to ignore Nepotism. It does not work in a Chairman election, which is not a hire. Hastings: Secures an office the hirer would deny you, but not the Chair. Benyon: A guaranteed office, and so a guaranteed attrition roll. Larkins: Can win you Shipping when the Chair would hire someone else. Walsh: Can force your officer into a governorship.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 14
A blackmail card (2 power): play when taken from the display, or any time after the Revenue phase in a turn, to force a President or Governor (or the Governor General) to leave office without retiring. Hastings: Unseat a President who will not trade on your terms. Benyon: A threat to your offices; it removes without retirement. Larkins: Worth 2 power even if never played. Walsh: A threat to your Governors and a 2-power card.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.12
A blackmail card (2 power): play when taken from the display, or any time after the Revenue phase in a turn, to force any office other than a President or Governor (or Governor General) to leave office without retiring. Hastings: It can unseat the Chairman; a rival holding it threatens you. Benyon: It can remove your Director or Shipping without retirement. Larkins: Removes a hostile Manager of Shipping; 2 power if unplayed. Walsh: Can remove Military Affairs if a rival holds it.
Rule reference: Rulebook p.12
A blackmail card (1 power): play after a check to force a President (or firm) to reroll a Trade roll with half as many dice, rounded down; zero dice counts as a failure. Hastings: A rival's trade can be spoiled; budget a reserve for a retry. Benyon: Fewer dice raise a President's catastrophe risk; a threat to your offices. Larkins: Spoiling a trade wastes ships; use it only for leverage. Walsh: A cheap power point and a bargaining threat.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 20–21
A blackmail card (2 power): play after a check to force a Commander to reroll a Deploy roll with half as many dice, rounded down; zero dice counts as a failure. Hastings: A check on a reckless Commander. Benyon: Rarely relevant except as power. Larkins: Two power, and leverage against a military rival. Walsh: In a rival's hand it can ruin your attack; in yours it is 2 power.
Rule reference: Rulebook pp.12, 22