Hegemony: Lead Your Class to Victory

The main game board is placed in the center of the table. The four Capitalist companies (Supermarket, Shopping Mall, College, Clinic), two Middle Class companies (Convenience Store, Doctor's Office), and three Public Sector companies (University Hospital, Technical University, National Public Broadcasting) are placed face-up on their designated areas, each with a medium wage marker. A face-down deck is created for the remaining Public Sector companies and Immigration cards. Current policy markers are placed on the Politics Table according to the rulebook's initial setup. The State Treasury starts with 120 Vardis (the game's currency) and a certain number of Health, Education, and Influence resources based on the player count. The Round marker is set to 1, and the Tax Multiplier to 5. Each player receives their player board and components of their color. The Working Class starts with 30 Vardis, 1 Influence cube, 3 Bill Proposal markers, and 1 Vote marker. The Middle Class starts with 40 Vardis, 1 Influence cube, 3 Bill Proposal markers, and 1 Vote marker. The Capitalist starts with 120 Vardis, 1 Influence cube, 3 Bill Proposal markers, and 1 Vote marker. Working Class and Middle Class players place their Population and Prosperity markers on their starting spaces. The Capitalist places their Wealth marker on the starting space. Working Class and Middle Class players place Food and Health resources in their depots. The Capitalist places Food, Luxury, Education, and Influence in their depots. Initial prices for Food (12 Vardis) and other resources (8 Vardis) are set for Middle Class and Capitalist. The Free Market board is placed next to the Capitalist board. Each player shuffles their Action cards and draws 7 for their starting hand. A face-down deck of Company cards is created for Middle Class and Capitalist, revealing 3 for Middle Class and 4 for Capitalist. Eight cubes of each player color (excluding the State) are placed into the Voting Bag. Remaining cubes, resources, money, workers, and tokens are kept in separate supplies.

Hegemony is played over five rounds, during which each player, representing a distinct social class, strives to advance their own interests. The ultimate goal is to accumulate the most Victory Points by the end of the game. Each class has unique objectives and strategies for scoring, reflecting their real-world counterparts. For instance, the Working Class focuses on prosperity and unionization, the Middle Class on personal wealth and business ownership, the Capitalist on capital accumulation and market dominance, and the State on legitimacy and effective governance through policies.

Each round in Hegemony is structured into five distinct phases: Preparation, Actions, Production, Elections, and Scoring. The Preparation phase is skipped in the first round. In the Actions phase, players take turns in a fixed order (Working Class, Middle Class, Capitalist, State). On their turn, a player must either play an Action card from their hand to activate its described effect or play a card to perform one of their basic class-specific actions. Players can also perform one free action before or after their main action. Five rounds of actions are performed, after which players will have two cards remaining in hand for the next round. The Production phase is unique as it is played in reverse turn order, starting with the State and ending with the Working Class. The Elections and Scoring phases follow, with specific rules for each.

At the end of each round, players score Victory Points based on their class's progress and political alignment. The Working Class scores points by advancing on the Prosperity track and by establishing Trade Unions. The Middle Class also scores points by advancing on the Prosperity track, similar to the Working Class, and by managing their own businesses. The Capitalist scores points by accumulating wealth and expanding their businesses. The State scores points by maintaining legitimacy in the eyes of other factions and by implementing policies that align with its agenda. Additionally, all factions can earn extra Victory Points at the end of the game based on the final state of the Politics Table, reflecting how well their political interests were maintained throughout the game.

The game concludes after the fifth round. The player who has accumulated the most Victory Points is declared the winner. In the event of a tie, the player with more policies aligned with their class's ideology (Socialist for Working Class, Centrist for Middle Class, Neoliberal for Capitalist) wins. If a tie persists, the player with the most vote cubes remaining wins. For the State, in case of a tie, the last visible Political Agenda card is checked. If there's still a tie, the State wins if it's one of the tied players; otherwise, the player with the most vote cubes wins.