Nations

To set up Nations, first shuffle the progress cards into four decks (one for each age) and the event cards into four decks (one for each age). Randomly determine player order, then each player chooses a color and takes their wooden pieces. Players place one disc on the player order track, one on the heritage track (starting at 1), and one on a difficulty level (Chieftain recommended for first play). The remaining two discs are placed on the 0 value of the military strength and stability tracks. The white round marker is placed on the 'A' space of Age I (Antiquity), and the black war marker is placed in the war box. The progress board is filled with face-up progress cards from the Age I deck, with four columns for two players and an additional column for each extra player. Players then select their starting nation board, place meeples on the population track, and take starting food, stone, gold, and VP chips according to their nation's starting amounts. Finally, players take their player order card and a player aid tile.

The objective of Nations is to build the most successful civilization by accumulating the highest number of victory points (VPs) by the end of the game. Players achieve this by strategically acquiring progress cards (buildings, military, colonies, golden ages, advisors, wonders, and natural wonders), deploying workers to generate resources, managing military strength and stability, and responding to historical events. Every decision, from resource management to card acquisition and worker placement, should contribute to maximizing VP generation and outmaneuvering opponents over the course of eight rounds.

A player's turn consists of taking one action from the Action Phase list. These actions include: A) Buying a Progress Card from the central market, paying its gold cost and placing it on their player board (potentially replacing an existing card). B) Deploying a Worker from their undeployed pool or another card to a building or military card, paying the stone cost and immediately adjusting military strength or stability if applicable. C) Hiring an Architect to advance construction on a normal wonder, paying stone and placing an architect on the wonder card. D) Taking a Special Action as indicated on certain cards. E) Taking a Turmoil Card, which decreases stability by 2 but allows the player to either gain 2 gold or play an unplayed Dynasty card. F) Exploring to advance construction on a natural wonder by placing a brown cube on a spyglass marker. Players continue taking turns in player order until all players have passed, signaling the end of the Action Phase.

Victory points (VPs) are accumulated throughout the game and are the primary measure of success. Players earn VPs from various card effects, events, and specific actions. At the end of each age (after rounds 2, 4, 6, and 8), VPs are scored for the books track, with players earning 1 VP for each player behind them on the track. During the final End Game Scoring after the 8th round, players tally their total VPs from: VP chips collected during the game, colonies (each colony grants 2 VPs), completed wonders and natural wonders (each grants 3 VPs), deployed workers on buildings and military cards (VPs are scored from left to right, with workers beyond the card's limit not scoring), and remaining resources (food, gold, stone, books, military strength, and stability are summed, divided by 10, and rounded down to determine additional VPs).

The game concludes after the eighth round, which marks the end of Age IV. Following the resolution phase of the eighth round, the End Game Scoring phase begins. During this phase, players calculate their final victory points (VPs) from all sources: accumulated VP chips, colonies, completed wonders (both normal and natural), deployed workers on buildings and military cards (scoring from left to right up to the card's limit), and remaining resources (food, gold, stone, books, military strength, and stability are summed, divided by 10, and rounded down). The player with the highest total VP count is declared the winner. In case of a tie, the player with the higher military strength wins. If still tied, the player with higher stability wins. If still tied, the player with more books wins. If still tied, the player with more gold wins. If still tied, the player with more stone wins. If still tied, the player with more food wins. If still tied, the player with the lower player order number wins.