How to Play Oath

Game Objective

In Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile, players seek victory in different ways, reflecting their roles in the empire. The game can end in four distinct ways: Usurper's Victory, Visionary's Victory, Stable Regime's Victory, or War Exhaustion Victory. Each of these victory conditions is tied to the player's status (Chancellor, Citizen, or Exile) and control of key elements such as the title of Oathkeeper, Revealed Visions, Popular Support, Darkest Secret, relics, banners, and sites.

The game is a chronicle of power, loyalty, and ambition, where the winner, at the end of the game, has the opportunity to shape the world's history through the Chronicle.

Setup

If this is your first time playing, refer to the Play Guide for initial setup. Otherwise, follow these steps:

1. Place the Map on the table. Distribute the Site Cards recorded in the Chronicle and their Relic Cards, Structures, and Denizens to the corresponding site spaces on the map. Fill the Capital completely, then the Provinces completely, then the Wilds completely, from top to bottom.
2. Place the Round Marker on the first space (with a star) of the round track and the Visions Purchased Marker on the “0” space (with a star) of the Visions Purchased track.
3. Place the Objective Reference recorded in the Chronicle near the map.
4. Gather the following components in the shared supply: 10 attack dice, 6 defense dice, the end die, 36 influence tokens, 20 secret tokens, the Darkest Secret Banner, and the Popular Support Banner on the side that does not have the Mob identification.
5. Place 1 Influence Token on Popular Support and 1 Secret Token on Darkest Secret.
6. Place 3 Influence Tokens in each of the 6 Influence Reserves. If playing with 5 or 6 players, place 4 influence tokens in each reserve.
7. Choose one player to be the Chancellor. Seat that person near the Capital. The other players sit in random positions.
8. The Chancellor takes the Chancellor's Board and their 24 purple troops, their pawn, their Supply Marker, the Imperial Reliquary, and the Great Scepter Relic Card.
9. Each player, except the Chancellor, in turn order, chooses any Exile or Citizen Board on the side recorded in the Chronicle, and takes 14 Troops, the Pawn, and the Supply Marker of the same color.
10. Each player places their Supply Marker on the leftmost space of their Supply track.
11. The Chancellor takes 2 Influence Tokens and 1 Secret Token from the shared supply and places them on their board.
12. The Chancellor places 3 Troops on their board, 2 Troops on the top site of the Capital, and 1 Troop on each other face-up site that has at least one intact denizen or structure card.
13. If playing with the Oathkeeper of Devotion objective, the Chancellor takes the Darkest Secret. If playing with the Oathkeeper of the People objective, the Chancellor takes the Popular Support.
14. The Chancellor takes the Oathkeeper Title on the Oathkeeper side.
15. Each Exile and Citizen places 1 Influence Token and 1 Secret Token from the shared supply on their board. Each Exile places 3 Troops of their own color on their board. Each Citizen places 3 Purple Troops on their board.
16. Place Influence and Secret Tokens on sites that have this revelation orientation. (If there is not enough influence, the Chancellor chooses how to distribute it.)
17. The Chancellor draws 4 Relic Cards and places them, randomly, one in each of the 4 spaces of their Imperial Reliquary, all face down.
18. Place the remaining Relic Cards in the “Relic Deck” space on the map.
19. Take 3 Cards from the bottom of the world deck. Place 1 card in each discard pile. (If you have not rebuilt the world deck, take 10 face-down Denizen Cards from the pile and shuffle them with 2 random Vision Cards, forming a pile of 12 cards. Take 15 face-down Denizen Cards from the pile and shuffle them with the other 3 Vision Cards, forming a pile of 18 cards. Place the pile of 12 on top of the pile of 18 cards, and stack all 30 on top of the remaining denizen cards.)
20. Each player in turn order draws 3 Cards from the bottom of the world deck.
21. Place the rest of the world deck in the “World Deck” space on the map.
22. Advance the Visions Purchased Marker a number of spaces equal to the number of Visions purchased, if this has occurred.
23. Starting with the Chancellor, each player in turn order does the following:
    • Places their Pawn on any face-up site. The Chancellor must place their pawn on the top site of the Capital.
    • Chooses 1 Card as a face-down advisor.
    • Discards the other 2 Cards.

Game Flow

Oath is played over up to eight rounds. In a round, starting with the Chancellor and proceeding clockwise, each player takes their turn, which consists of three phases:

1. Awaken Phase
2. Action Phase
3. Rest Phase

Once each player has had a turn, the round ends. Check if Stable Regime Victory has occurred and then advance the round marker clockwise one space.

Awaken Phase

You must resolve the following steps in order:

1. Popular Support: If you possess Popular Support, resolve its “Awaken:” ability in this order:
   1. Place or Return Influence: You must place an influence on it or move an influence from it to the influence reserve that has the least influence. (If there is only one influence on it, you must place an influence on it unless you have none). In case of a tie for least influence, choose one of the tied influence reserves.
   2. Repeat if Mob: Repeat step I one more time if Popular Support is on the Mob side.
   3. Flip to Mob: If Popular Support has six or more influences, flip it to its Mob side, if it is not already.
2. Check for Victory: If you are an Exile, check if Usurper's Victory and Visionary's Victory have occurred.
3. Flip to Usurper: If you are an Exile and possess the Oathkeeper title, flip it to its Usurper side.
4. Use Site Ability: If your pawn is on the Salt Plain, Mine, or Sunken City, you can take an influence or secret from there.

Action Phase

In any order, you can take any number of actions: main actions, minor actions, and “Action:” abilities. You must finish one action before taking another action. You may not take actions, and you may take the same action multiple times as long as you can pay the costs. To take an action that costs Supply, you must move your Supply marker one space to the right for each Supply you spend.

Rest Phase

You must resolve the following steps in order:

1. Return Influence: Move any influence tokens on denizens and structures to their corresponding suit influence reserves.
2. Return Secrets: Move any secret tokens on denizens, structures, and relics to your board. Flip face up any face-down secret tokens on your board.
3. Recover Supplies: If you are an Exile or the Chancellor, move your Supply marker to the Supply space listing the number of troops in your personal reserve. If you are a Citizen, recover your Supply up to the space that matches the Chancellor's Supply.
4. Save Supplies: Move your Supply marker one additional space to the left for each unused Supply this turn. You cannot recover Supply beyond your leftmost space.
5. Use Rest Abilities: You may use any “Rest:” abilities, once each, in any order.

Actions and How to Play

During the Action Phase, players can perform main actions, minor actions, and use “Action:” abilities.

Main Actions

1. Explore (2–4 Supplies)

1. Spend Supplies: Spend 2 Supplies if drawing from a discard pile, or spend the Supplies shown by the Visions Purchased track if drawing from the world deck.
2. Draw Three Cards: Draw from the world deck or the discard pile of the region where your pawn is (not both). If drawing from the world deck, draw one card at a time. If drawing a Vision card from the world deck (not from a discard pile), announce that you drew a Vision, stop drawing cards immediately, and advance the Visions Purchased marker one space.
3. Discard Cards: Discard all cards you drew except one.
4. Play a Card: Play the remaining card to your site, to your advisors, or to your Revealed Visions space if it is a Vision and you are an Exile – or you may discard it. You must follow the card's restrictions.
   • Playing to your Site: You cannot play the card to your site if it is already at maximum capacity. Place the card face up next to your site. Gain an influence, taking it from the influence reserve corresponding to the suit of the card you played.
   • Playing to your Advisors: You can have up to three advisors (face up or face down). Place the card to the right of your board, face up or face down. If playing an advisor that exceeds your advisor limit, you will need to discard an advisor first.
   • Playing Vision Cards: Visions cannot be played to a site. The Chancellor and Citizens cannot play face-up Vision cards, except for Conspiracy. When playing a face-up Vision, except Conspiracy, place it in your Revealed Vision space. If you already had a Vision in your Revealed Vision space, discard that Vision.
   • Playing Conspiracy: Any player can play Conspiracy face up. When playing Conspiracy face up, you can burn a secret to take any relic or banner from a player whose pawn is at your site. To do this, you must have at least two advisors of the same suit as one of that player's advisors. Finally, return Conspiracy to the game box.

2. Recruit (1 Supply)

1. Pay the Cost: Spend 1 Supply and place an influence on an intact denizen or structure card (cannot be on a relic or ruin) that has no influence or secrets and is at your site.
2. Gain Troops: Gain two troops. (Take them from your personal reserve and place them on your board.) If you are a Citizen, gain purple troops, instead of troops of your color.

3. Negotiate (1 Supply)

1. Spend Supply: Spend 1 Supply.
2. Resolve Negotiation: Choose one of the following two options:
   • Place a secret on an intact denizen or structure card that has no influence or secrets on it at your site. Gain an influence, plus one influence for each of your face-up advisors that match the suit of that card, all coming from the influence reserve that matches the suit of the card on which you placed the secret.
   • Place two influences on an intact denizen or structure card that has no influence or secrets at your site. Gain a secret from the shared supply for each of your face-up advisors that match the suit of that card. (You cannot negotiate with relics or ruins.)

4. Recover (1 Supply)

1. Spend 1 Supply