In the four-player variant of the game, two teams of two players each face off. Each team chooses a faction, and then each player on a team takes a bag and 1 Royal Coin. Teams share 8 Control Markers.
Each player places their Royal Coin into their bag, and the team places Control Markers onto each of the 3 matching location spaces on the board. The other 8 locations are neutral.
Shuffle the 16 Unit Cards then give each player 3, either randomly (if playing the standard game) or by drafting (if playing with the advanced drafting rules). These are the 3 units that player will have available this game.
Give each player the coins matching their 3 unit cards. Put 2 coins of each type into your bag, and the rest into piles next to the matching Unit Cards. These coins form your supply.
Flip the Initiative Marker. One player whose faction matches the face-up side of the coin takes has initiative. You are now ready to begin.
Game Play
Players should sit so that team members are sitting opposite each other, with the other team players to their left and right (so that teams have alternate opportunities to act throughout the game).
The player with initiative will take the first action in a round, followed by the player to their left. Play continues in a clockwise direction until all coins have been used. A player cannot use the Claim Initiative action to take the Initiative Marker from their teammate.
Team Interaction
Each team shares control of their locations. Either teammate may deploy a unit into an unoccupied, controlled location. Units in a team are considered friendly for the purposes of tactics. A player may not use a recruit action to recruit a unit for their teammate. All communication between teammates must be open.
End of the Game
The game ends as soon as one team places their last Control Marker. The team that placed the Control Marker wins.
Drafting in the Four-player Game
During set up, deal 12 random Unit Cards face-up in the middle of the play area. Determine which team will draft first by flipping the Initiative Marker. The team members decide which one of them will draft first.
The first player drafts a Unit Card, followed by the next player to their left. This continues clockwise until the fourth player is reached.
The fourth player then picks 2 Unit Cards, and the drafting then switches to counter-clockwise, with each player drafting one card until the first player is reached.
After the first player has drafted their second card, the second player (to the left of the first player) drafts their third card, and this continues around the table clockwise until the first player takes the last remaining card.
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