How to play

Taking turns

Players declare one at a time, so nobody gets the best targets just by being quickest. The order follows the draft's seats round the table, and each round it starts one seat further along: round 1 with whoever drafted last, round 2 with whoever drafted first, and so on. On your turn, declare one war, fortify one of your countries or pass; then the turn moves on. Passing ends your declaring for the round, and anyone with no tokens left, or nothing to attack or fortify, is passed over. Once everyone is done, declaring is over until the next round.

A turn lasts up to 24 hours (5 minutes in live campaigns); after that it passes for you. The host can pass the turn for a player who is away. The war room shows the order and whose turn it is.

What you can attack

A country held by another player, when:

• it borders one of your countries, by land or across a sea lane (the dotted lines on the water);
• it isn't already caught up in a war;
• you have no truce or accord with its owner, and haven't broken an accord with them this round;
• one of your countries bordering it can launch the attack with a big enough stake (a bigger one if it’s fortified).

Targets lights up every country that qualifies; you also need a war token to declare. Select any other country to see why you can't attack it.

Where you attack from

One of your countries bordering the target, as long as it isn't caught up in another war or newly won (see After a war).

The stake

Your stake is what you risk: the country you attack from, plus any of your countries connected to it, together worth at least 110% of the target's value, rounded up. There's no upper limit. Win and you take the target; lose and the defender takes the whole stake.

A target worth 6 needs a stake of at least 7: say, the country you attack from, worth 5, and a connected one worth 2. The stake builder suggests the cheapest stake, and you can add or remove countries before you declare.

Reserves

When you declare, you can also set countries aside to meet a raise: your own, joined to the stake. If the defender raises and your reserves can bring the stake up to what the raise demands, they're added at once (the cheapest that will do) and the war goes ahead without waiting for you. If they can't, you answer the raise as usual. Everyone can see your reserves, and they're tied up until the answer is settled; whatever the raise doesn't need is free again.

Calling it off

Changed your mind? Until the defender answers, Call off ends the war at once: nothing changes hands and no truce follows, but the war token stays spent. Once the defender has answered, the declaration stands.

Fortifying

On your turn, instead of declaring war, you can spend 1 war token to fortify one of your countries, from its panel. Until the round after next starts, a war on it needs a stake of at least 150% of its value instead of 110% (the table's second row). Fortified countries carry a rampart on the map, so everyone knows before declaring. Fortifying again in a later round extends it. It ends early if the country changes hands, and a war declared before it keeps its stake.

The attacker's reply

A counter-offer goes back to the attacker, who has 24 hours (5 minutes in live campaigns) to reply:

• to a raise: Meet the raise with a stake of at least the amount demanded (the stake as it was, plus the value of the country put in), Raise again, or Withdraw;
• to a redirect: Fight for the offered country, or Withdraw.

With no reply, a raise or redirect is withdrawn. Withdrawing calls the war off: nothing changes hands, no truce follows, and the war token is spent, along with any token the defender paid for the counter.

Raising back and forth

A war's stakes can be raised up to 3 times, the defender's first raise included, each side in turn. Every raise is answered within 24 hours (5 minutes in live campaigns):

• the attacker raises again by staking at least 50% of the target's value more than the raise demands. Whatever they stake over it, up to the target's whole value and never more than the defender's most valuable free country, the defender must match;
• the defender answers with Meet the raise, putting in a country worth at least that much, with Raise again, putting in a country worth at least 50% of the target more (which the attacker must then add to the stake), or with Back down;
• once the last raise is made, the other side can only meet it or back down.

Raising accepts the war. Whoever has raised and then backs down, or lets the time run out, loses the war as declared, without a game: a defender hands over the target, and keeps the countries they put in; an attacker hands over the stake as declared, and keeps what they added since. A truce follows as after a battle, but no mission counts a war won this way.

Countries caught up in a war

From the declaration until the war ends, the target, the stake, countries raises put in and any country offered as a redirect are tied up: nobody can attack them, stake them or offer them in another war. Reserves are tied up until the answer is settled.

Peace terms

Either player can offer terms to end the war, from the declaration until its game is over, under Peace terms in the war's panel. Terms can hand over:

• from the attacker, any of the staked countries;
• from the defender, the target (and a country a raise put in), or instead one country worth less than the target;
• war tokens, one way or the other: as many as the player paying holds (tokens received can take a player past 3);
• and an accord for 1 to 10 rounds, signed with the peace.

Or nothing at all: a white peace. Only the two players ever see an offer. The other player accepts or turns it down within 24 hours (5 minutes in live campaigns), or it lapses; once the game is on, their next move turns it down, as a move does a draw offer. A new offer replaces your last one.

Accepted, the war ends at once: the game stops (its moves are kept, with no result), the terms change hands, any accord comes into force, and a truce follows as after a war fought out. The terms become public then. Peace is neither a win nor a loss.

Clock modifiers

The side with the edge gets extra time:

• the defender, +10% for home turf, and +10% more if the target is mountainous or an island;
• the attacker, +5% for each of their countries bordering the target (supply lines).

The two cancel out, and what's left, up to 25%, goes to one side: more starting time and increment in live games, more time per move in correspondence. Attack a mountainous target that three of your countries border, and the defender's +20% against your +15% leaves them 5% more time. The stake builder shows the clocks before you declare.

Rating handicap

Hosts can give weaker players more time. Each player's rating comes from their Lichess account (the rating for the campaign's kind of game, or the nearest kind they play), or a bot's level. Hosts can also let players without an established Lichess rating give their own. Ratings are frozen when the draft starts, and a game with an unrated player has no handicap.

For every 100 points between the two players, the weaker one gets 8% more time (up to 30%) with a light handicap, or 16% more time (up to 60%) with a full one. In live games the stronger player has as much less; in correspondence they keep their time, so nobody's deadline lands in the middle of their night. Gaps under 50 points don't count. The handicap comes on top of the clock modifiers, and the stake builder shows it before you declare.

How games end

By checkmate, resignation or running out of time. Stalemate, threefold repetition, fifty moves without a capture or pawn move, and positions where neither side can checkmate are drawn at once, with nothing to claim. Running out of time is a draw, not a loss, if your opponent has too little left to ever checkmate. You can offer a draw from the board; making a move declines your opponent's offer.

Over the board

Meeting up? Either player can offer to play the game over the board, on a real board, and the game moves there once the other accepts. The clocks here stop where they are and no moves are made online; bring your own clock. When the game is over, report it: the winner says "I won", or either player reports a draw, and the other confirms it. Unanswered within 24 hours (5 minutes in live campaigns), a report stands. "I lost" ends the game at once. A disputed report leaves the game on the real board, and either player can take it back online when no report is waiting, with the clocks as they were. Bots play online only.

Truce

Once a war is fought, ended by peace terms or by one side backing down, its two players can't declare war on each other for the rest of the round. A withdrawn war brings no truce.

Newly won countries

A country won in a war or handed over by peace terms can't be staked, or attacked from, for the rest of the round and the next one. It can still be attacked.

Points and claims

Your total is your mission points, plus the titles you hold right now. A claim waiting to score isn't a point yet.

• Mission points, 5: a public mission and the secret, scored and yours for good.
• A title, 1: counted while you lead, gone when someone passes you.
• A claim, 2: a position completed but not yet held long enough. It counts once it scores.

Mission pointsPermanent

A mission scores once: 2 points for a public mission, 3 for your secret. Scored points are yours for good: losing the countries afterwards costs nothing.

Pending claimsNot points yet

A position you have completed and must keep holding before it scores. Everyone sees it in the Missions tab, but it counts for nothing until it scores: lose the position and the claim ends, and a claim still waiting when the campaign ends doesn't count.

Title pointsTransferable

1 point for each title you hold, counted the moment you take it and gone the moment someone passes you. They're the only points that can be taken away.

Missions alone can make 11 points (all four public missions and the secret), more than the 10 to win, so no title is ever required. With titles, fewer missions will do: three public missions, the secret and one title make 10.

When points count

• At once: records. Campaign Veteran, Kingslayer, Lightning Campaign, Backstab, Iron Wall and Checkmate Artist are records of what you have done, such as wars won, which can't be undone: they score the moment they’re complete, with no claim and no waiting.
• At once: titles. A title moves, with its 1 point, the moment someone passes its holder. Taking one can win the campaign on the spot; losing one takes its 1 point away.
• After holding: positions. Every other mission is a position to hold. Completing one starts a claim, which scores once the round after next has started and every player has had their turns to declare war in a round since, if you have held it throughout and no war could still break it. See Claims.

Public missions

Everyone can see them from the lobby on, with their exact targets, and everyone can score each one once: someone else scoring a mission takes nothing from you. Countries you draft count toward them, but nothing scores during the draft.

New campaigns play Expansion, Strategic Positions, Great Powers and Campaign Veteran. The host can pick any other four before the draft, or have four drawn at random (at most one of them marked Long campaign), and draw new targets for them. Positions such as Strategic Positions count only once you have won one of their countries since the draft: the draft alone never scores them.

Expansion

Grow your empire’s total value well past what you drafted.

Regional PowerLong campaign

Hold most of the value of one marked region, with a country in it won after the draft.

Strategic PositionsLong campaign

Hold any three of five marked countries at once, one of them won after the draft.

The Great ConnectionLong campaignUp to four players

Hold two marked countries with six to ten countries between them, and an unbroken chain of yours linking them through a country won after the draft.

Campaign Veteran

Win four wars as the attacker, against three different opponents.

Great Powers

Hold three of the most valuable countries, all of them won after the draft.

Across the Seas

Win two attacks launched across sea lanes, and keep what they took.

Continental BridgeLong campaign

Hold one connected block spanning three continents, with a country in it won after the draft.

ConsolidationLong campaignFree drafts

Pull a scattered empire together into one block.

Two Fronts

Win new ground on two continents.

Mare NostrumLong campaignUp to four players

Hold twelve Mediterranean countries, at least three on each of its shores, one of them won after the draft.

Two BillionLong campaign

Win countries home to two billion people, and hold them.

Great Expanse

Win 20 million km² of land, more than Russia, and hold it.

Seven WondersLong campaign

Hold three countries with wonders of the world, two of them won after the draft.

Kingslayer

Declare war on the leader of the race while they’re four or more points ahead of you, and win it.

Lightning Campaign

Win two wars you declared in the same round.

Secret missions

When the draft ends, each player is dealt up to three secret options that fit their empire (each at least two steps from done: conquests, or wins for the missions about battles), chooses one within 24 hours (5 minutes in live campaigns), and can't change it. Anyone still choosing when time runs out gets the best fit. Other players see only that you're ready.

A secret mission is revealed to everyone, with its exact targets, when you come within one step of it: for most missions, one conquest or one win away. Missions to hold named countries (seas and regions, mountains, straits and the Hidden Triangle) are revealed only once complete. Completing any mission always reveals it. Once revealed it stays public, even if you lose ground.

Northern Passage

Hold two of the four countries of the North Atlantic crossing, from Canada to the United Kingdom.

Caribbean Chain

Hold two of the four Greater Antilles.

Pacific Passage

Hold two of the four countries of the South Pacific from Australia to Fiji.

Mediterranean Arc

Hold two of the four countries on the arc of the western Mediterranean.

Central Asian Union

Hold three of the five countries of Central Asia.

Black Sea

Hold three of the six countries around the Black Sea.

Baltic League

Hold five of the nine countries around the Baltic.

Gulf Hegemon

Hold four of the eight countries around the Persian Gulf.

Caspian

Hold three of the five countries around the Caspian Sea.

Nordic

Hold three of the five Nordic countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland.

Horn of Africa

Hold two of the four countries of the Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia.

Andean Spine

Hold three of the five countries along the Andes.

Mekong

Hold three of the five countries of the lower Mekong.

Island Empire

Hold three of six marked islands, two of them won after the draft.

Mountain Kingdom

Hold two of three marked mountain countries close together.

Buffer Zone

Hold a marked country of yours and every country around it.

UnificationLong campaign

Join two separate pieces of your drafted empire.

EncirclementLong campaign

Surround a marked country held by someone else.

Hidden Triangle

Hold two of three marked countries lying in different directions from your empire.

Silk RoadLong campaign

Join China and Italy with an unbroken chain of your countries.

Cape to CairoLong campaign

Join South Africa and Egypt with an unbroken chain of your countries.

Pan-American HighwayLong campaign

Join the United States and Chile with an unbroken chain of your countries.

Strait Keeper

Hold both shores of a marked strait.

Two-Theater Power

Grow on two marked continents at once.

Protected Expansionfour players or more

Expand while accords with two partners guard your back.

Half of Humanity

Rule half of the world’s people.

Nemesisthree players or more

Take four countries from a marked rival, and hold them.

Backstab

Break an accord, then take two countries from that partner within the next two rounds.

Iron Wallfour players or more

Win three wars as the defender.

Checkmate Artist

Win three wars by checkmate.

If fewer than three fit, Measured Expansion fills in: gain 26 value over your draft, with 3 new countries. If nothing fits at all, the host decides whether that player goes on without one.

Claims: holding a position

When you complete a position, it becomes a public claim, and every player can see what you must hold. It scores only when all of these are true:

• the round after next has started: a claim made in round 3 can score from round 5, never sooner, so every rival gets a whole round to respond;
• every player has had their turns to declare war in a round since: declaring is over for that round, everyone having passed or run out of things to declare with (whoever has no war tokens and nothing to do is passed over). A round that ends before its turns are over, at the host's word or on a schedule, can't cut this short: the claim waits for a round whose turns run their course;
• you have held it the whole time; and
• no war you're in could still break it. A war that can't touch it doesn't matter.

Lose the position and the claim ends, with nothing scored; complete it again and a new claim starts. Swapping which targets you hold doesn't end a claim, as long as the mission never stops being complete. Records and titles never wait for a claim: see When points count.

Titles

Largest Population, Largest Territory, Largest Economy and Greatest Military Might are worth 1 point each. When round 1 starts, each goes to the player whose countries add up to the most people, the most land, the largest GDP, or the greatest military might. From then on a title moves the moment someone passes its holder, in a war, a peace or anything else that moves a country, and its points go with it: there is no claim and no waiting, so taking a title can win the campaign on the spot.

A holder who is only matched keeps the title. If someone passes the holder level with another player, or several players share the lead when round 1 starts, nobody holds it until one of them leads alone.

Military might counts each country's share of the world's military spending and its share of the world's armed forces, averaged, both by their square roots, so that no superpower owns it: an empire of middling armies can outrank one giant. The Missions tab shows who holds each title, their figure and yours, and each holder's name carries the title's token.

Reaching the target

The campaign is won the moment anyone reaches 10, whether a mission scored or a title moved. When several players reach it with the same change, the highest total wins, and equal totals share the victory.

The campaign then ends and can no longer change: wars still underway are cancelled without a winner (their moves are kept), tokens held back as tribute or paid for a counter still unanswered go back, offers of peace lapse, and every secret mission is revealed in the final results.

The last round

Round 25 is the last (the host can choose another, or none, in the lobby). If nobody has reached 10 by the time the host moves on from it, the campaign ends as if someone had won, and the most victory points win, then the largest population, then the most land, then the largest GDP. Players level on all of it share the victory. Wars still underway then are called off, with nothing changing hands. Points count as they stand then: titles held at that moment count, but claims still waiting to score don't, so a position has to be complete by round 23 to score in time.

The host can also end the campaign sooner, at the foot of the war room: it ends the same way, on points as they stand. Once a campaign is over, everyone has 7 days to look over the results, and then it is deleted for everyone.

Talk

The Diplo tab has a channel for the whole campaign, private messages between any two players, and dispatches reporting every war, accord and new round.

Accords

An accord is a promise between two players not to attack each other, for 1 to 10 rounds. Propose one under Accords in the Diplo tab; only the two of you see the proposal. The other player signs or declines within 24 hours (5 minutes in live campaigns), or it lapses. Signed accords are public, and while one holds, neither partner can declare war on the other. Wars already underway carry on.

Terms are optional: everyone can read them, but the game doesn't enforce them. To extend an accord, sign a new one with the same partner. Accords can be signed from the start of the draft. An accord can also come with peace terms, signed the moment they're accepted.

Breaking an accord

Either partner can Renounce an accord at any time. It ends at once and everyone is told. The breaker loses 20 reputation and can't declare war on the former partner for the rest of the round, but the betrayed player may strike straight away.

Reputation

Everyone starts with 100. Each whole round an accord holds earns both partners 2, paid when the next round starts; breaking one costs 20. Reputation doesn't change what you can do. It shows everyone who keeps their word.

How fast

Bots answer straight away. In a correspondence game a bot replies to your move within seconds, so you can play the whole game in one sitting; in a live game it takes a few seconds a move. A bot can play several games at once.

Levels

The level sets only how well a bot plays chess; every bot plays the map the same way. The host can change a level until the draft starts, and everyone sees each bot's level. Ratings are rough: the levels played one another, and the results are pinned to Stockfish's own calibration of level 3, which is measured against other engines. Take them as a guide rather than a match for your online rating.

Standing in for a player

If a player goes quiet, the host can hand their empire to a bot, from the draft on: open the player's empire page (their name in the standings) and choose Hand to a bot. The bot plays the empire as its own, and everything stays the player's: countries, wars, accords, secret mission and points. Meanwhile the player can read everything and chat, and gets no notices the bot deals with. They take the empire back with Take it back whenever they return, and the host can hand it back too.

Dealing with a bot

Bots don't read messages. To deal with one, propose an accord or offer peace terms: it signs or accepts when that's worth more to it than war. Offered a draw, a bot takes it when a draw wins it the war, refuses when a draw loses it, and otherwise takes it unless it's doing better on the board.