Statecraft Rules Booklet by Peter Blenkharn

a rd G a m e Th e P o li ti ca l C

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Th e Poli t i ca l Ca rd G ame

2 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

Contents 4 What is Statecraft? 5 Political Ideology 6 Quickplay Set Up 8 Basic Rules 14 Card Anatomies 16 Advanced Set Up 18 Advanced Rules 20 Inside the Box Board Games 21 Acknowledgements 24 Card Clarifications 26 Symbology and Action Reference 27 Quick Set Up Diagram

First time playing? >> Skip to page 6 for Quickplay Set Up

Inside The Box Board Games

What is Statecraft? Build a political party in your fictional world, recruiting politicians, developing a manifesto of winning ideas, campaigning for support and firing off salvos of slander at your cunning rivals, surviving catastrophes that shake up the nation youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re playing the game of politics in.

Statecraft is a game where you get to explore a million different political scenarios, from the utterly ridiculous to mischievously devious. Will you be the shining light of hope in the world youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve created, or a brutal dictator?

In your world, who will triumph?

4 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

Political Ideology The main inspiration for Statecraft was an innovative method of demonstrating political ideology in 2 dimensions, as shown here, where a political party, voter, or a particular policy is rated according to their degree of Socialism/Capitalism and Anarchism/ Authoritarianism. By representing political ideas or agents in this way, we get a much richer perspective rather than categorising along one line, left/right or liberal/conservative. This also enables us to model the wild inconsistencies of modern politics, allowing for someone to support some policies that are fundamentally conservative, while crying out for liberal legislation elsewhere. People are never as simple as a point on a graph, but using this system has given us the ability to show that! They might say something like

Every supporter card in Statecraft is rated according to how many (or how few) policies of each of the four persuasions they want or are completely apathetic about, giving us a complex understanding of these fictional, but familiar people using a simple representation. They are also given a strategic complexity rating according to how extreme and how inconsistent they are, representing the difficulty in pleasing them with a an absurd, but frighteningly realistic, agenda. Every supporter card’s data was randomly generated, and randomly assigned to a demographic. Any stereotyped pairings of demographic and ideology are entirely accidental.

7 7

The Middle Class

Agricultural Labour “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

1-SP-3

“You know the funny thing [...] I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people.”

Supporter

3 5

1-SP-32

Supporter

‘provided there is at least this much capitalism, I don’t mind a bit of socialism’.

Inside The Box Board Games

Quickplay Set Up See Advanced Set Up for instructions on how to set up Statecraft in over 200,000 ways. 1. Shuffle each of the colour coded decks and place face down on the play area. 2. Each player randomly draws a Faction Leader card and places it centrally front of them. The unused faction leader cards are returned to the box. Ignore the special text on the Faction Leader cards for your first game. 3. Each player takes a Points Tracker and places it to one side of their play area. Each player puts a cube on the zeros of the tracker (and the 1 for the turn tracker). Nominate one player to keep track of the round. Each player should also take the 2 help cards for reference. 4. Place the Democratic Election Scenario card somewhere where everyone can read it. this is your Scenario, return all others to the box. 5. Place 6 random Supporter cards somewhere where everyone can read them, this forms the ‘floating supporters’ area. Return the other Supporter cards to the box.

6. All players draw 3 cards from the blue Policies and Actions deck, this forms their starting hand. (If you want a super simple set up, take out all the ‘Action’ cards from the blue deck and put them to one side, out of the game.) 7. Put the purple Events & Emergencies deck to one side, volatile political events and emergencies can be included into a game of Statecraft using the advanced rules - see Advanced Set Up. 8. Put the Incumbent Card to one side. The player with the highest chance of being embroiled in a sordid scandal if they were a politician starts first. If there is a tie, the player most likely to claim expenses to clean out their duck pond starts first. The Game ends when all players have had 8 complete turns. As this game uses the Democratic Election scenario, the player with the most Supporter cards wins. The incumbent card breaks a tie. See Objective for further tiebreaks.

Skip to the Each Turn Section to start your game!

6 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

1. F a ct

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Le a d

P o li

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Sup

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P o li e rs

The Political Card Game

Budget Points

nL ea

Politicians in your inner circle have the

de 1-LE-2

Leader

Fac Natasha Musayev t io specialism.

-5

4. Democratic Election

-2

-1

_____ Republic of _________

4 -3

Politicians

E ve n ns

ts & Eme

rg e n

ci e s

Reference Card 1 Available Manoeuvres Reference Card 2

Poach: claim unsatisfied / satisfied supporter

1 2

Suppoter Jr. Politician Recruit: draw X politicians, install 1 into cabinet

Sr. Politician

Fire: remove one politician, return policies Faction Action to hand Leader

Event

6 7

Cost

(discard)

Campaign: match Card Types ideology with supporter, claim card, put in area

5 4 3

The game ends when each player has had 8 turns.

& Act io

Current Round

Supporters

5 -4

ci e s

Ideology Points

ti ci a

1 1

Emergency

The winner is the player with the most supporters. 1-SC-1

Agricultural Labour

The Middle Class “You know the funny thing [...] I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people.”

1-SP-31

Charity Workers “If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly, not dole out money at a whim.”

1-SP-16

1-SP-3

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

2 2

Supporter

t io

Supporter

ci e sP o li c ct &A ie sP io&onlsic Acie t io s& ns Ac

5 4

Supporter

7 7 P o li

Supporter

Single Parents “Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.”

1-SP-28

Government Employees “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

1-SP-20

Agricultural Labour “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

1-SP-1

Supporter

8. E ve n

ts & Eme

rg e n

ci e s

Incumbent

Inside The Box Board Games

Basic Rules The Objective

If there is a tie in a game of Statecraft, the incumbent card breaks the tie. If there is a tie which can’t be broken by possession of the incumbent card, order some pizza, watch a few episodes of House of Cards then play Statecraft again.

Each game’s end condition is given by the scenario card, which can vary wildly. In all games of Statecraft, you’re seeking to dominate as the most powerful and influential faction. Each scenario card also has an end condition and a win condition. When the game end condition is met the game ends immediately, no more actions may be made, and then the winner is determined by the ‘win condition’ indicated on the scenario card. This system recreates the hugely varied power structures of the world’s politics, and reflects that even with the same people, politicians and policies, the game may not be won by the same party.

Example Game End Conditions --

After a specified number of player turns, the game immediately ends.

The game continues until one player has all the supporter cards

The game ends when one player has more than half of the supporter cards

The game ends when every supporter card has been claimed

The game ends when all the cards from the Policies and Actions deck are exhausted

Example Game Win Conditions Coup D’etat

People’s Kingdom of ____

Player with highest number of supporters wins

Player with the highest budget deficit (lowest number on budget tracker)

Player with most extreme manifesto wins (difference between authoritarian and anarchism + difference between free market and socialism)

Player with most balanced manifesto wins (player whose average ideology points across all

Supporters

The game ends when one player has 4 supporters.

Politicians

The winner is the player with the most supporters.

Whenever a player announces/ denounces a security policy, all players draw a card. © Inside the Box Board Games

1-SC-3

Some scenario cards carry special text which can make the game more challenging, fast paced or strategic, developing a range of interesting and replayable game styles so that each game of Statecraft is unique.

If the second game results in another unbroken tie, each player should enter themselves into an election, first one to get assassinated wins.

areas is closest to 3.5)

8 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

>> Each Turn

Manoeuvers

Each player may perform as many actions, known in Statecraft as ‘Manoeuvers’ (this is to save confusion with Action Cards) as they want per turn, provided they can expend the cards needed for each action.

Manouevers are player actions, which can be taken in any order, as many times as is possible by a player on their turn. Some manoeuvers cost cards to play (which means you discard them), others use the cards you’ve played in specific ways. You don’t have to do anything on your turn if you don’t want to. You could spend all that taxpayer time on watching Rahdo Runs Through on YouTube or failing to show up for national security meetings.

At the end of each player’s turn, they must replenish their hand up to 3 cards by drawing from the action/policy deck. If players have more than 3 cards, they must discard cards until they have 3.

Drawing and resolving an event card does not count towards your 3 cards, so when the next player starts, you should have 3 cards (unless there are any other effects in play!)

Each player is seeking to build up a team of politicians, so that they can cover their bases with all 4 of the specialisms that enable policies to be played. These policies give players the ideology points that they need to entice supporters to their faction, and ultimately win the game. Action cards provide players with an edge. Event cards create volatility in the game which disadvantages leading players. Emergencies really get things moving.

Pages 10 through 13 describe the possible manoeuvers in detail.

Inside The Box Board Games

Strict Border Security

Example: If you were to

announce this policy with the “Strict Border Security” side face up,

-1

Ideology points cannot be more than 7 or be below 0, if any action forces either of these to occur, they just stay at 0 or 7. “There’s a limit to how much Jimmy likes Communism, equally, there’s a limit to how much Jane hates the Free Market”

you would move your tracker up 2 ‘Socialism’,

Random ID Checks

All policy cards also have a cost, indicated by the small bubble next to the ideology points banners, which indicates for each option, the effect on your budget. Positive numbers get you money, so move your tracker up, negative numbers cost you money, so move your tracker down. (If denouncing, do the opposite - see below)

-2

1-PO-22

The policy being announced must then be tucked under the top of a politician card with the matching specialism symbol to the policy card you’ve just announced, ensuring that the card’s ideology points are visible. These ideology points are then added to the party’s points tracker.

Each policy card has a small indicator at the sides of each card which describes the ideology points of the reversed policy option, so you don’t have to read upside down.

To announce a policy the active player reveals the policy card and announces which option from the card their party is endorsing.

deducted from the party’s points tracker. All politicians and leaders can denounce up to 3 policies.

Announce Policy

up 1 ‘Authority’ and down 2 on your budget

Campaign for Supporters To claim a supporter card from the floating supporter pool (these represent supporters who have not been convinced by the gratuitous lies or idealistic propositions of any particular faction) the active player must do the following:

Each politician can have up to 3 policies in their ‘portfolio’, i.e. up 3 policy cards poking out the top of the respective politician cards.

1. For each ideology on your ideology tracker, check against the supporter card to ensure that the supporter is satisfied by your manifesto

A player may also indicate that they are ‘denouncing’, rather than ‘announcing’ a policy. In this case the card is tucked under the bottom of the politician, and the points are

2. If all of your ideologies satisfy the supporter, the supporter card is claimed and placed in your area where other players can still see the important information

10 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

Checking to see if a supporter card is ‘satisfied’ by your policy group For each ideology, you must have a number of ideology points which matches the supporter card you are seeking to claim. If all 4 ideologies meet this condition, you may claim that supporter card. The dark blue torn banner on the Agricultural Labour Supporter Card indicates that they will tolerate no more than 1 ideology points for ‘Authoritarianism’

The other coloured banners indicate that this support requires at least 4 ideology points of ‘Capitalism’ and 5 of ‘Socialism’. You’ll notice that there’s a gap on the right, this shows that the supporter is indifferent about ‘Anarchism’ meaning that it doesn’t matter how many points you have for this ideology when you claim the card. On each card there is a small symbol in the bottom right corner. This indicates how strategically difficult the card is to claim.

Requires at least 4 ideology points of ‘Capitalism’ and 5 of ‘Socialism’.

5 4 1

Will tolerate no more than 1 ideology point for ‘Authoritarianism’. It doesn’t matter how many ideology points you

Agricultural Labour “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

Strategy Rating 1-SP-4

Supporter

have for ‘Anarchism’ when you claim this card.

Easy

Moderate

Difficult

Inside The Box Board Games

Recruit Politicians

Only policy cards which match one of a politician’s specialisms can be played onto that politician.

To recruit a politician a player must do the following: 1. Discard a card from your hand. 2. Draw politician cards from the politician deck according to the number indicated on the scenario card. 3. Lay them out face up for all players to see and select one. Discard any unused politicians into a separate pile, this is known as the ‘retired politicians’. 4. Place the politician into an unoccupied space in your ‘cabinet’ as close as possible to your leader - you may have up to two politicians either side of your leader.

(The two politicians directly adjacent to the leader are referred to as the ‘inner circle’) If there are no politicians left, the retired politicians pile is shuffled and is then used as the new politician deck.

Sr. Politician

Maya Banerjee

Aya Murray

12 Statecraft: The Political Card Game 1-PL-5

Known for trying to bribe a Known for employing every police officer single member of their family

1-PL-22

Jr. Politician

Note the symbol(s) in the top left of the politician card, this indicates their ‘specialisms’, which determines which policy cards they can accommodate in their portfolio.

Economy

Security

Welfare Infrastructure

Replacing an existing politician If the player wishes to recruit a politician into a space in the cabinet which is currently occupied, then they may do so if there is at least one specialism common between the replaced politician and the new one. Senior politicians can only be recruited by replacing a politician. You cannot replace your leader in this way.

Jr. Politician

Sr. Politician

Any policies in the new politician’s portfolio that are not supported by their specialisms are returned to the player’s hand, and the player’s points tracker is adjusted to reflect those policies being lost.

During Game

The above also applies to the Politicians deck, they like to ‘retire’ then curiously and slyly return to public life.

Budget

6 5

Budget Points

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

Discarding Cards from Manifesto

3 2 1

Current Round

If you are forced to discard a card from 7 8 9 includes 10 11denounced 12 your manifesto (which policies), move that card from your 14discard 15 pile 16 and 17 adjust 18 your manifesto13 to the trackers to reflect the fact you’ve lost that policy. (i.e. do the opposite of what you did when you played it)

Incumbent Card Players must ensure that the incumbent card is held player who 7 by the 7 7 currently controls the 6 6 6 most supporter cards, if there 5 is a tie, 5 the 5 incumbent card stays 4 it is. 4 4 where

Ideology Points

When playing policy cards, players will adjust their budget tracker to reflect the amount of income and expenditure their faction is promising. Players may not play a policy card 7 if it would result in their budget being in a surplus of more than 5, or a deficit of less than -5. The Political Card Game

Incumbent

3 start of 3 the game 3 the incumbent card At the isn’t2assigned 2 to anyone, 2 unless otherwise stated by a Scenario card. If there is some 1 that the 1 above 1 doesn’t apply in the reason case of a tie, then the players with the most 0 0 0 supporter cards must secretly bid a number of cards from their hand. The player with the highest bid discards those cards and claims the incumbent. In the case of a further tie, the incumbent card is placed to one side and remains out of play until a clear lead is established.

Policies & Actions Deck Once all the cards from the deck are gone (discarded, in players’ hands or played into the game area) then all cards in the Policies, Actions and Events discard pile are shuffled together and form the new deck.

Inside The Box Board Games

Card Anatomies Scenario 1. Number of supporters you draw from the deck to start off the game

Hereditary Establishment

The Duchy of ________________

Supporters

3 5

The game ends when all supporters have been claimed.

2. Number of politicians you draw to choose from when recruiting

Politicians

The winner is the player with the most supporters.

3. How you win this game

4. When this game ends

1-SC-4

Senior politicians cannot be replaced by recruiting a new politician. © Inside the Box Board Games

5. This scenario’s special rules

Leader/Politician

1 2

Known for relentless advocacy of a private healthcare system

1-PL-19

Draw one more card than usual when recruiting politicians.

2. The ‘faction logo’ of this leader (purely thematic)

Lukas De Sousa

Sr. Politician

Peyton Horowitz 1-LE-6

Leader

1. The specialisms of this leader/politician (which policy types can be played onto this leader/politician)

3. This leader’s special ability

1 0

2 1-PO-39

Narrow Definition Of Marriage

3 2 2 1 Broad Definition Of Marriage

14 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

Policy 1. The policy type of this policy (this symbol must match the politician you play it on!) 2. The ideology points you add to your points tracker when you play this policy 3. The amount this policy affects your budget (negative indicates you move your budget tracker down)

1 3

1. A minimum of 2 ‘Socialism’ points and 5 ‘Anarchism’ points are required in your manifesto to claim this supporter

32 5

2. A maximum of 3 ‘Authoritarianism’ points are permitted in your manifesto to claim this supporter

The Middle Class “You know the funny thing [...] I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people.”

3. This supporter doesn’t care about the ‘Capitalism’ ideology

1-SP-32

Supporter

4. The strategy rating of this supporter

Action (Advanced)

Social Media Campaign

@public @voters #realchange #voteforme

1. This action’s effect

1 1-AC-5

Action

Shuffle the unused supporter cards together, draw one, and add that to the floating supporters.

Event/Emergency (Advanced)

NATURAL DISASTER

1. The name of the event/emergency

2. The choices every player must choose from to respond to the event with effects that apply to all players and additional effects that apply only to the incumbent player

Corruption Scandal

The incumbent player must choose one of their supporters and remove it from the game.

1-EM-5

Lose 1 supporter : Discard a card

1-EV-7

Event

Close Ranks

Emergency

Scapegoat Lose 1 politician : Forfeit turn

3. The effect of the emergency

Inside The Box Board Games

Advanced Set Up This process provides you with one of over 200,000 possible setups with the core Statecraft set. 1. Shuffle each of the colour coded decks and place face down on the play area. 2. Each player randomly draws a Faction Leader card and places it centrally front of them. The unused faction leader cards are returned to the box. 3. Each player takes a Points Tracker and places it to one side of their play area. Each player puts a cube on the zeros of the tracker (and the 1 for the turn tracker). Nominate one player to keep track of the round. Each player should also take the 2 help cards for reference. 4. Randomly draw a Scenario Card and place it somewhere where everyone can read it. this is your Scenario, return all others to the box. Read the win condition, end condition and special text to all players, resolving any start of game effects as necessary. 5. Draw the number of Supporter Cards indicated on your Scenario Card and place them in the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;floating supportersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; area. Return the other Supporter Cards to the box. 6. All players draw 3 cards from the Policies and Actions deck, this forms their starting hand.

16 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

7. Deal the Events cards into 3 piles face down. Shuffle 1 pile into the Policies & Actions deck for a regular game, 2 piles for a disruptive game, and 3 for a chaotic game. 8. Put the Incumbent Card to one side. 9. The player with the highest chance of being embroiled in a sordid scandal if they were a politician starts first. If there is a tie, the player most likely to claim expenses to clean out their duck pond starts first. Alternatively, each player shouts over each other making bold pronouncements about things they will do for the group, with the most outrageous player winning the first turn. The Game ends according to the end condition described on your Scenario Card. If this is a specific number of turns, nominate a player to keep track of the turns on their points tracker.

1. F a ct

io n

Le a d

P o li

e rs

ti ci a

Sup

P o li e rs

ci e s

The Political Card Game

Budget Points

nL ea

Politicians in your inner circle have the

de 1-LE-2

Leader

Fac Natasha Musayev t io specialism.

-5

-3

-2

-1

4. Egalitarian Society

Central ________________

Supporters

1 7

Politicians

E ve n ns

rg e n

S ce n ci e s

Available Manoeuvres Reference Card 2

Poach: claim unsatisfied / satisfied supporter

1 2

Suppoter Jr. Politician Recruit: draw X politicians, install 1 into cabinet

Sr. Politician

Event

Cost

(discard)

Campaign: match Card Types ideology with supporter, claim card, put in area

Fire: remove one politician, return policies Faction Action to hand Leader

6 7

a ri o

Reference Card 1

5 4 3

The winner is the player with the most balanced S ce manifesto.n a ri

ts & Eme

Current Round

The game ends when each player has had 10 turns.

5 -4

& Act io

Ideology Points

p o rt

1 1

Emergency

os 1-SC-7

The incumbent player may draw up to 2 cards at the start of their turn.

Agricultural Labour

The Middle Class “You know the funny thing [...] I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people.”

1-SP-31

Charity Workers “If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly, not dole out money at a whim.”

1-SP-16

1-SP-3

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

2 2

Supporter

t io

Supporter

ci e sP o li c ct &A ie sP io&onlsic Acie t io s& ns Ac

5 4

Supporter

7 7 P o li

Supporter

Single Parents “Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.”

1-SP-28

Government Employees “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

1-SP-20

Agricultural Labour “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

1-SP-1

Supporter

8. E ve n

ts & Eme

E ve n rg e n

ci e s

ts & Eme

E ve n rg e n

ci e s

ts & Eme

rg e n

ci e s

Incumbent

Inside The Box Board Games

Advanced Manoeuvers Fire Politician A player may fire a politician in their cabinet by discarding that politician and returning all policies in their portfolio to their hand. The player then adjusts their points tracker to reflect the lost policies. This action costs 1 card, which the player must discard from their hand before returning the fired politician’s policies to their hand.

Notes on firing politicians: 1. If a politician is removed from a player’s cabinet other than by that player firing them as an action, then all of the policy cards attached to that politician are discarded rather than returned to the player’s hand.

manifesto, you may poach that supporter card. This action costs 1 card, which must be discarded from your hand. If you satisfy the supporter but they are still satisfied by their current host, you may poach that supporter, but this will cost you 2 cards, which you must discard from your hand.

Play an Action Card To execute an action card in their hand, a player must announce that they are playing an action card, then reveal that card and discard it. They must then carry out the action as given by the ‘special text’ of the card.

2. If an inner circle politician is removed, and there is an ‘outer circle’ politician adjacent to them, the outer circle politician and their portfolio, move with them into the ‘inner circle’.

Slander Opponent Replace an opponent’s politician with another politician drawn from the deck. Action

Poach Supporters

18 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

Action

Remove 1 policy from an opponent’s manifesto and add it to your hand.

The truth is as malleable as plasticine.

1-AC-6

If your manifesto satisfies a supporter that has been claimed by another player, and that supporter is no longer satisfied by their

You accuse your opponent of taking bribes from corporations.

Misinformation Campaign

1-AC-2

3. They like to get snuggly with the leader.

Revealing an Event Card

Emergencies

Event cards are shuffled into the Policies & Actions deck but have purple, rather than a blue, back. When a player is forced to draw an event card they reveal it and read it out to all players.

Emergencies are a special type of event card which do not have any options. they are simply read out and the effect is carried out by all players individually or collectively as appropriate. Emergency cards are sneaky as they appear like event cards from the back of the card, but are much more potent.

Incumbent

Manifesto Pledge Failure

Deploy Spin Doctor : Lose 1 supporter

Any politicians with the infrastructure specialism are discarded along with their policies. For every policy card discarded from a player’s manifesto, that player draws a card. © Inside the Box Board Games

Some events refer to ‘blue’, ‘red’, ‘green’ or ‘yellow’ policies, these are those where the policy choice’s highest (or joint highest) value is on the blue (Authoritarian), red (Socialism), green (Anarchism) or yellow (Capitalism) areas respectively.

Event

Public Apology -

Inside the Box Board Games Discard 2 cards from© hand

Compromise with opponent 1-EV-10

Let next player randomly steal one of your cards

1-EV-6

Political Deadlock : Discard 2 cards Government Shutdown

Event

Draw two new supporter cards and put them in the floating supporters area

1-EM-2

If a player is unable to do a specific action, they continue as normal (although if of the two actions they can do one, they must do that one)

Event cards are discarded after their effects have been resolved.

1-EM-1

Some cards only affect the incumbent. If there is no incumbent in this case, nothing happens and play continues as normal

Some emergencies require that players discard a card (or pretend to) as part of a collective action, if REFUGEE CRISIS this is the case, then players secretly choose a card (or NUCLEAR MELTDOWN nothing) and reveal all at once. Emergency

Every player must choose from one of the two options available on the card. The incumbent player has to also carry out additional effects associated with each choice as indicated on the card. These additional effects are indicated by the incumbent symbol.

Emergency

Events

Other events refer to ‘freeplaying’ a policy, this means the policy is announced/denounced, then the player who’s used that policy may immediately draw a new card.

Inside The Box Board Games

itbboardgames.com/

Inside the Box Board Games Inside the Box Board Games LLP is a indie tabletop publishing and design company based in Oxford, UK. We’re focused on designing innovative and engaging games across a range of themes that keep players coming back for more. As well as publishing our own games, like Molecular and Statecraft, we’ve been recruiting fledgling game designers to develop their games with us.

20 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

LLP

If you want to join us as a full partner in the business, as a game designer, as an illustrator, graphic designer, videographer, or want to connect with us as a reviewer, game store or otherwise, then hit us up on our website! We’re going to make awesome games, will you join us?

Acknowledgements Chief Spin Doctor: Zak Eidsvoog

Billionaire Donor: Thirsty Meeples

An enormous thanks to Zak, who’s been an incredible asset to the team, turning out amazing illustrations in record time and putting together the brilliant design work on Statecraft. He’s transformed the idea and a thousand spreadsheets into a whole world of art.

Big shout out to the clan at Thirsty Meeples, the spiritual home of ITB, for supporting us the whole way, helping us recruit playtesters, giving us great advice and constantly bigging us up to the local tabletop scene.

Grassroots Activists: Our Kickstarter Backers Thank you to each and every one of you for making our dream of making this game a reality. You’re the best! Karlene Kearl

Ray Ocampo

Abe Haga

Wendie Cavanaugh

Suzanna Biffle

Yetta Kothari

Nella Wismer

Elene Chill

Annette Glynn

Shawnta Cantrelle

Gilbert Petro

Teri Schapiro

Gemma Borg

Ila Verdejo

Major Gannon

Filiberto Michel

Venita Gash

Vanesa Poppell

Merrie Rakowski

Rufina Vidal

Neva Gatling

Takisha Grays

Syble Reagan

Maricruz Macaluso

Jorge Haverland

Clarisa Paschke

Tiara Dabney

Carter Porch

Wendie Cavanaugh

Quinton Cangelosi

Henry Kissane

Daren Shoe

Elene Chill

Barrie Disher

Alease Lubinsky

Frankie Wedgeworth

Teri Schapiro

Darwin Alejandre

Evia Kanode

Lasandra Eakin

Filiberto Michel

Donnette Marton

Dena Lange

Dick Ng

Rufina Vidal

Andria Helms

Jerome Mascio

Hiroko Bjork

Maricruz Macaluso

Samual Oviatt

Karlene Kearl

Ray Ocampo

Carter Porch

Faviola Maltby

Suzanna Biffle

Yetta Kothari

Daren Shoe

Ingrid Keala

Annette Glynn

Shawnta Cantrelle

Frankie Wedgeworth

Wilton Horton

Gemma Borg

Ila Verdejo

Lasandra Eakin

Vella Wachowiak

Venita Gash

Vanesa Poppell

Dick Ng

Evan Calle

Neva Gatling

Takisha Grays

Hiroko Bjork

Selene Nova

Jorge Haverland

Clarisa Paschke

Inside The Box Board Games

Quinton Cangelosi

Maricruz Macaluso

Dena Lange

Wilton Horton

Barrie Disher

Carter Porch

Jerome Mascio

Vella Wachowiak

Darwin Alejandre

Daren Shoe

Karlene Kearl

Evan Calle

Donnette Marton

Frankie Wedgeworth

Suzanna Biffle

Selene Nova

Andria Helms

Lasandra Eakin

Annette Glynn

Abe Haga

Samual Oviatt

Dick Ng

Gemma Borg

Nella Wismer

Faviola Maltby

Hiroko Bjork

Venita Gash

Gilbert Petro

Ingrid Keala

Ray Ocampo

Neva Gatling

Major Gannon

Wilton Horton

Yetta Kothari

Jorge Haverland

Merrie Rakowski

Vella Wachowiak

Shawnta Cantrelle

Wendie Cavanaugh

Syble Reagan

Evan Calle

Ila Verdejo

Elene Chill

Tiara Dabney

Selene Nova

Vanesa Poppell

Teri Schapiro

Henry Kissane

Abe Haga

Takisha Grays

Filiberto Michel

Alease Lubinsky

Nella Wismer

Clarisa Paschke

Rufina Vidal

Evia Kanode

Gilbert Petro

Quinton Cangelosi

Maricruz Macaluso

Dena Lange

Major Gannon

Barrie Disher

Carter Porch

Jerome Mascio

Merrie Rakowski

Darwin Alejandre

Daren Shoe

Karlene Kearl

Syble Reagan

Donnette Marton

Frankie Wedgeworth

Suzanna Biffle

Tiara Dabney

Andria Helms

Lasandra Eakin

Annette Glynn

Henry Kissane

Samual Oviatt

Dick Ng

Gemma Borg

Alease Lubinsky

Faviola Maltby

Hiroko Bjork

Venita Gash

Evia Kanode

Ingrid Keala

Ray Ocampo

Neva Gatling

Dena Lange

Wilton Horton

Yetta Kothari

Jorge Haverland

Jerome Mascio

Vella Wachowiak

Shawnta Cantrelle

Wendie Cavanaugh

Karlene Kearl

Evan Calle

Ila Verdejo

Elene Chill

Suzanna Biffle

Selene Nova

Vanesa Poppell

Teri Schapiro

Annette Glynn

Abe Haga

Takisha Grays

Filiberto Michel

Gemma Borg

Nella Wismer

Clarisa Paschke

Rufina Vidal

Venita Gash

Gilbert Petro

Quinton Cangelosi

Maricruz Macaluso

Neva Gatling

Major Gannon

Barrie Disher

Carter Porch

Jorge Haverland

Merrie Rakowski

Darwin Alejandre

Daren Shoe

Wendie Cavanaugh

Syble Reagan

Donnette Marton

Frankie Wedgeworth

Elene Chill

Tiara Dabney

Andria Helms

Lasandra Eakin

Teri Schapiro

Henry Kissane

Samual Oviatt

Dick Ng

Filiberto Michel

Alease Lubinsky

Faviola Maltby

Hiroko Bjork

Rufina Vidal

Evia Kanode

Ingrid Keala

Ray Ocampo

22 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

Yetta Kothari

Jorge Haverland

Merrie Rakowski

Darwin Alejandre

Shawnta Cantrelle

Wendie Cavanaugh

Syble Reagan

Donnette Marton

Ila Verdejo

Elene Chill

Tiara Dabney

Andria Helms

Vanesa Poppell

Teri Schapiro

Henry Kissane

Samual Oviatt

Takisha Grays

Filiberto Michel

Alease Lubinsky

Faviola Maltby

Clarisa Paschke

Rufina Vidal

Evia Kanode

Ingrid Keala

Quinton Cangelosi

Maricruz Macaluso

Dena Lange

Wilton Horton

Barrie Disher

Carter Porch

Jerome Mascio

Vella Wachowiak

Darwin Alejandre

Daren Shoe

Karlene Kearl

Evan Calle

Donnette Marton

Frankie Wedgeworth

Suzanna Biffle

Selene Nova

Andria Helms

Lasandra Eakin

Annette Glynn

Abe Haga

Samual Oviatt

Dick Ng

Gemma Borg

Nella Wismer

Faviola Maltby

Hiroko Bjork

Venita Gash

Gilbert Petro

Ingrid Keala

Ray Ocampo

Neva Gatling

Major Gannon

Wilton Horton

Yetta Kothari

Jorge Haverland

Merrie Rakowski

Vella Wachowiak

Shawnta Cantrelle

Wendie Cavanaugh

Syble Reagan

Evan Calle

Ila Verdejo

Elene Chill

Tiara Dabney

Selene Nova

Vanesa Poppell

Teri Schapiro

Henry Kissane

Abe Haga

Takisha Grays

Filiberto Michel

Alease Lubinsky

Nella Wismer

Clarisa Paschke

Rufina Vidal

Evia Kanode

Gilbert Petro

Quinton Cangelosi

Maricruz Macaluso

Dena Lange

Major Gannon

Barrie Disher

Carter Porch

Jerome Mascio

Merrie Rakowski

Darwin Alejandre

Daren Shoe

Syble Reagan

Donnette Marton

Frankie Wedgeworth

Tiara Dabney

Andria Helms

Lasandra Eakin

Henry Kissane

Samual Oviatt

Dick Ng

Alease Lubinsky

Faviola Maltby

Hiroko Bjork

Evia Kanode

Ingrid Keala

Ray Ocampo

Dena Lange

Wilton Horton

Yetta Kothari

Jerome Mascio

Vella Wachowiak

Shawnta Cantrelle

Karlene Kearl

Evan Calle

Ila Verdejo

Suzanna Biffle

Selene Nova

Vanesa Poppell

Annette Glynn

Abe Haga

Takisha Grays

Gemma Borg

Nella Wismer

Clarisa Paschke

Venita Gash

Gilbert Petro

Quinton Cangelosi

Neva Gatling

Major Gannon

Barrie Disher

Inside The Box Board Games

Card Clarifications Social Media Campaign Where ‘Voter’ is used, it’s intended to mean ‘Supporter’.

Play a policy card onto another player’s manifesto. This card cannot be used to denounce a policy on behalf of another player.

Action

GLOBAL PANDEMIC

Emergency

Surge In Support

Recession Play policy card : Discard a card

Brutal Cutbacks Discard manifesto policy card : Discard another card

1-EV-1

1-AC-9

Action

Recession For Brutal Cutback, discard a card currently played into your manifesto.

Frenzied Spending

Event

Surge in Support Claim any floating supporter, even if they aren’t satisfied by your manifesto.

Perform an additional action this turn.

Negate an action your opponent takes.

24 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

Collaborate +1 Budget : Give 1 card to 2 other players

Cut off Relations -1 Budget : Discard 2 cards

1-EV-5

1-AC-10

Foreign Espionage For Collaborate, give one card each to two players.

Foreign Espionage

Event

Partisan Espionage When a player reveals their action, yell ‘AHA’ and discard both cards without effect.

Partisan Espionage

Action

The incumbent player must choose one of their supporters and remove it from the game.

Natural Disaster If there is no incumbent, this affects all players. 1-EM-5

1-AC-7

Action

NATURAL DISASTER

Secret Negotiations Not your literal hand, the cards in it.

Swap your hand with an opponent.

What you’ll find will make you shudder.

Global Pandemic This card initiates a ‘secret ballot’ as described on page 19.

Secret Negotiations

Shockingly, you’ve managed to marshal some enthusiasm.

All players may discard a welfare card from their hand. If any player does not, all voters in the game are shuffled together. Two are drawn and removed from the game, the rest are put into the floating voters area.

1-EM-3

1-AC-6

Misinformation Campaign Adjust the target player’s tracker to reflect the loss of the policy.

Emergency

Misinformation Campaign

The real power is in the back room.

False Accreditation Policy card must match the target politician’s specialism(s).

Remove 1 policy from an opponent’s manifesto and add it to your hand.

The truth is as malleable as plasticine.

Pin your mistakes on them, and watch the carnage.

1-AC-14

@public @voters #realchange #voteforme

1-AC-5

Action

Shuffle the unused supporter cards together, draw one, and add that to the floating supporters.

False Accreditation

Action

Social Media Campaign

Corruption Scandal Scapegoat Lose 1 politician : Forfeit turn

Close Ranks Lose 1 supporter : Discard a card

1-EV-7

Event

Corruption Scandal If you choose Scapegoat and are incumbent, miss your next turn.

1-LE-9

Leader

Nathaniel Tawfeek

Nathaniel Tawfeek Ability can only be activated once for every ‘recruit politician’ action.

Sectarian Violence To remove a policy, discard it.

Politicians

The winner is the player with the most extreme manifesto.

The incumbent player may remove a policy from any player’s manifesto by discarding a card.

Promise Culture If it’s your turn, and you meet the condition, player to your left discards one of your cards.

Promise Culture

Sacred State of _________

Supporters

The game ends when each player has had 8 turns.

Politicians

The winner is the player with the greatest budget deficit.

Viva La Revolución

The United _____ of _____

Politicians

The winner is the player with the most supporters.

Every player discards entire hand at end of turn before redrawing. 1-SC-2

Hereditary Establishment

The Duchy of ________________

The game ends when each player has had 8 turns.

1-SC-5

Supporters

Former _____ of _________

Supporters

At the start of a player’s turn if they have more policies than supporters, the player to their left discards one of the active player’s policies.

1-LE-10

Leader

Lukas Ozturk Once per game, ignore a regular event’s effects.

The game ends when all supporters have been claimed.

Sectarian Violence

Lukas Ozturk Ability cannot be used to ignore an Emergency card.

Once per turn, players may recruit a politician without discarding a card. Players may eliminate a politician in an opponent’s cabinet by discarding all cards in their hand.

One Party State Partisan Espionage may negate the politician elimination action, but the offending party must still discard hand.

1-SC-9

Supporters

Politicians

The winner is the player with the most supporters.

When an opponent attempts to recruit a politician, discard a card to reduce the number they draw by one. Can only be done once for each instance.

The game ends when the action deck is empty.

Supporters

The game ends when all supporters have been claimed.

1-SC-8

One Party State

Sacred State of _________

Politicians

The winner is the player with the most supporters.

Incumbent

Incumbent Card If you currently control this card, make sure you look menacingly at other players.

Hereditary Establishment This ability only blocks a player replacing their own politicians.

1-SC-4

Senior politicians cannot be replaced by recruiting a new politician.

Viva La Revolución Do not reshuffle the policy/action discard deck when depleted. The game has ended!

Egalitarian Society

Central ________________

Supporters

The game ends when each player has had 10 turns.

Politicians

The winner is the player with the most balanced manifesto.

1-SC-7

The incumbent player may draw up to 2 cards at the start of their turn.

Egalitarian Society The extra 2 cards is in addition top your regular 3, hand size restrictions at end of turn still apply.

Inside The Box Board Games

Reference Available Manoeuvers

Cost (Discard)

Campaign: match ideology with supporter, claim card, put in area

0 12

Poach: claim unsatisfied / satisfied supporter

1 1

Recruit: draw X politicians, install 1 into cabinet Fire: remove one politician, return policies to hand

Card Types

Cost (Discard)

Action: play action card from hand Announce: play policy card from hand and tuck under top of relevant politician Denounce: play policy card from hand and tuck under bottom of relevant politician for -ve points

0 0 0

Symbol Meanings

Supporter

Jr. Politician

Faction Leader

Event

Sr. Politician

Economy

Security

Welfare

Action

Infrastructure

Incumbent

Socialism

Emergency

Free Market Capitalism

Authoritarianism

Anarchism

26 Statecraft: The Political Card Game

2 Player Set Up 1-PO-14

Employer Pensions

1 1 1 1

1-LE-2

1-PL-25

1 3 2

Charitable Incentives

1 1

Private Healthcare Insurance

-1

1 Per1 Unit Tax

Known for fraudulently claiming housing support

Free Market

Rowan Thompson

Current Round

-5

-3

-4

-2

-1

0 1

Budget Points

1 1

1 2

1-PL-22

1-PL-7

Aya Murray

Flat Rate Tax 1-PO-28

2 2

Known for employing every single member of their family

1-PO-27

Nuclear Disarmament

-2

Nuclear Deterrent

Enforced Volunteering

specialism.

Natasha Musayev

1-PO-2

have the

Politicians in your inner circle

Punitive Wealth Tax

Isoke Akerele

1-PL-1

Known for demanding a private suite in a public hospital

Known for thinking Iran is landlocked

Jr. Politician

The Political Card Game

1 2

0 1

Ideology Points

1-PO-4

1 2

Healthcare Vouchers 1

1-PO-3

Aggressive Corporation Taxation

-2

State Pensions

1 -3

Sr. Politician

1-PO-29

1 1

Leader

Ad Valorem Tax

Sr. Politician

-1

Caveated Unemployment Payments

Benedict Skelly

1-PO-1

Jr. Politician

4 Progressive Tax

Other Player Supporter

Supporter

1-SP-3

1-SP-20

1-SP-16

Sr. Politician

Jr. Politician

State Media Monopoly

1 1

Oppose Public Works

Faction Leader

Sr. Politician

1-PO-43

-1

1-PO-40

1-PO-2

Sr. Politician 1-PO-2

Leader

1-PO-43

Kimberly Ozturk Known for selling off military assets to foreign companies

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

Current Round

1 3 Sr. Politician

Known for relentless advocacy of a private healthcare system

Per Unit Tax

-2 1

1 2 Subsidised Public Transport

Jr. Politician

Budget Points

-1

Once a turn, discard a card to draw a card.

Lukas De Sousa

Aggressive Policing

Ad Valorem Tax

The Political Card Game

Sports Funding

State 2 Media Monopoly

1 1

Chris Zhang

1 1

Per1 Unit Tax

1-PL-20

Politicians

1 -1

1-PL-19

1 1

1-LE-1

Known for likening the unemployed to insects

Protected Free Press

1-PL-18

Known for collaborating with media moguls

Anatoly Khatri

Sports Funding

1 -1

Politicians

Ideology Points

Ad Valorem Tax

Enforced Exercise in Schools 1

1-PO-30

Sam Murray

1-PL-10

Cabinet

2 1-PO-42

1-PO-41

Denounced Policies

1 -1

Community Policing 1

Announced Policies

1-SP-31

2 1

Unfunded Transport

1-PO-30

Protected Free Press

-2

Single Parents

Floating Supporter Area

Enforced Exercise in Schools

Massive Public Works Expenditure

“Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.”

1-SP-28

Action Action

1-SP-1

Supporter

2 2

-1

6 7

Supporter

Current Scenario

The Middle Class

Politicians Deck

“You know the funny thing [...] I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people.”

Policies & Actions Deck

Government Employees

1-SC-1

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

The winner is the player with the most supporters.

1-PL-17

1-PL-7

1-AC-1

Known Knownfor forthinking recklessly Iran downplaying is landlocked an epidemic

5 4 3

The game ends when each player has had 8 turns.

Benedict VasilikiSkelly Klyosov

Agricultural Labour

Po lit Su Su ic ia ns pp or Su pp Su te pp or te pp or te rsrsrs or te rs 1-AC-12

The illegitimate son of James V Ever thought this all seemed of Scotland was the first to be awfully familiar? assassinated with a firearm.

Supporter

5 4

Remove an opponent’s leader All players give their entire hand from the game and replace to the player to their left. them with a new leader card.

Po lic ie s & Su pp Su Ac Su pp or or te Su pp te rstio ns pp or te or te rsrsrs

Politicians

Charity Workers

“If a rich man wants to help the poor, he should pay his taxes gladly, not dole out money at a whim.”

_____ Republic of _________

Supporters

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

7 7

Agricultural Labour

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

Supporter

Democratic Election Political Assassination Rotation

Points Tracker

Player Area

Inside The Box Board Games

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