Ethnos

To set up, place the game board in the center of the play area. Shuffle the prestige tokens (blue star back) face-down and draw 3 for each of the 6 regions, placing them face-up in ascending order. Each player chooses a color, takes a player aid, and all control markers of that color, placing one marker on the '0' space of the prestige track. Find and set aside the 3 dragon cards. Shuffle the setup deck (Ethnos back) and deal 6 face-up to determine the clans used in the game (or 5 for 2-3 players; specific clans are recommended for first games). Collect all cards for the chosen clans, shuffle them together to form the ally deck, and place it face-down. Return unused clan cards and setup cards to the box. Place any clan-specific components (e.g., Koi board, Bear token, Fox tokens, Monkey settlement boards) near the main board, adjusting for player count as needed.

The objective of Ethnos: Second Edition is to earn the most prestige points by the end of the game. Players do this by collecting ally cards and playing them in sets (parties) to gain control over regions on the game board and activate special abilities. Prestige is awarded both during the game (for controlling regions) and at the end of each age (for controlling regions and the size of played parties). The player with the highest total prestige at the end of the final age is crowned the new Emperor of Ethnos and wins.

The game is played over three ages (or two in 2-3 player games). At the start of each age, players draw one card into their hand, and a number of face-up cards equal to twice the number of players are dealt from the ally deck to form the ally pool. The deck is then split, dragon cards are shuffled into the bottom half, and the halves are recombined. On your turn, you must perform one of two actions: 1) Recruit one ally: Take any one face-up card from the ally pool, or draw the top card from the ally deck. If you take a face-up card, it is not replaced. If you draw a dragon card, reveal it immediately and set it aside, then draw a replacement. 2) Play a party of allies: Reveal a set of 1-10 cards from your hand that are either all of the same clan or all of the same color. Choose one card as the leader. If the number of cards in your party is greater than the number of your control markers in the region matching your leader's color, you may place one of your control markers in that region. Then, activate your leader's special ability. All cards not included in the played party must be discarded face-up into the ally pool. If you start your turn with 10 cards, you must play a party.

Scoring occurs at the end of each age. First, for each of the 6 regions, players determine who has the most control markers. The player with the most markers earns prestige from the highest-valued token in that region's age-specific slot (e.g., Age I token for the first age). The player with the second most markers earns prestige from the next highest token, and so on. In case of ties, prestige is divided evenly (rounding down). If multiple players tie for a position, they combine the prestige from all positions they tied for and divide it. After region scoring, players earn additional prestige based on the size of each party they played during that age, using a chart on the board (e.g., 1 card = 0 prestige, 6+ cards = 15 prestige).

The game ends immediately when the third dragon card is revealed (or second dragon in 2-3 player games). All players discard any cards remaining in their hands. Then, the end-of-age scoring procedure is performed for the current age. After all scoring is complete, the player with the highest total prestige on the prestige track wins. In case of a tie for prestige, the tied player with the most control markers on the main board wins. If there's still a tie, the tied player who played the single largest party in the last age wins. If a tie still persists, check for the second largest party, and so on. If all tie-breaking conditions are exhausted, tied players share the victory.