For 3 to 5 players. Playing time is approximately 45 minutes.
Original art: Franz Vohwinkel.
Based on the "Web of Power" boardgame from Rio Grande Games.

Idea of the game
Europe, the center of power in the 12th century. Influential Orders struggle for supremacy. By collecting Land cards, you can establish cloisters, bring advisors to council meetings, and improve your network of roads. According to which cards you choose, you can earn different amounts of victory points. At the end of the game, the player with the most victory points wins.

Contents
56 Land cards (4 x Danemark, 5 x England, 6 x Italien, 6 x Bayern, 6 x Ungarn, 7 x Kastilien, 7 x Franken, 7 x Sachen, 8 x Frankreich), 15 claiming stones, 8 Law cards, and 1 Scoring Chart.

The Land cards
These represent the different countries of medieval Europe. The number of cards for each Land occurs in different quantities; the number on the cards indicates how often. Most cards have a symbol in a circle at the top of the card - the Circle symbols. These represent the different powerful families from different countries that can place advisors in council meetings. Also, a ship or a carriage is shown at the top right of many of the cards. They indicate sea and land routes.

Set-up
- Copy the Scoring Chart before the first game.
- Keep a pen handy.
- Choose a startplayer.
- Shuffle the Land cards and lay them face-up in 4 rows of 14 cards each.
- The Law cards are shuffled and placed face-down on the Land cards marked with an "X" in the illustration in such a way that the upper edge of the Land card is not covered.
- Each player gets 3 claiming stones in the same color.

Course of the game
The startplayer goes first and the other players follow in clockwise order.

a) Take a card
The active player takes one or more cards from the left or right end of the rows of cards and places them face-up in front of himself, sorted by color. In the illustration, these would be the cards that are marked in dark gray.

There are restrictions on the cards that may be taken:
- If a player takes more than one card, they must all be of the same color.
- Players may take as many cards as they like, provided the total number of circle symbols on the cards taken in a turn does not exceed 2. Note: Ships and carriages don't count as circle symbols. Usually, this means that players will take one card with 2 circle symbols or two cards of the same color with one circle symbol each.

Players must always take at least one Land card.

Example: Andreas takes a card with 2 circle symbols. He may not take another card. Beate takes a card with 1 circle symbol. Then, she takes another card of same color with 1 circle symbol. She now may not take another card this turn.

b) Place a claiming stone
After a player has taken cards, he may place one of his claiming stones on any face-up Land card except for one which already has a claiming stone on it or one which belongs to another player (is face-up in front of the other player).
In a 3 player game, all players may play all 3 of their claiming stones
In a 4 or 5 player game, only 2 of the 3 stones are placed.
If a player has already placed all of his claiming stones according to these rules, he may subsequently move one of his stones to a different card instead of placing one.

c) Next player
Now the next player in clockwise order takes his turn.

Once all Land cards are taken, scoring and the end of the game take place.

Taking a Land card covered by a claiming stone
- If a player takes a Land card covered by his own claiming stone, he gets the stone back and may re-use it.
- If a player takes a Land card covered by an opponent's claiming stone, he must remove one of his own claiming stones from the game. The opponent gets his claiming stone back. If a player has no more claiming stones, he cannot take a card covered by an opponent's claiming stone. It is possible, therefore, if all remaining cards are covered by opponents' claiming stones, that a player may be forced to skip his turn.
Players may not take a Land card covered by their own claiming stone if it is possible for them to take another card.

Example: Andreas takes a Land card covered by one of Beate's claiming stones. As a result, Andreas must remove one of his claiming stones from the game. Since all of his stones are in play (lying on cards), he must remove one of his stones from a card. Beate gets back her claiming stone.

By using the claiming stones, players can, up to a point, reserve Land cards for themselves. If an opponent then takes the card anyway, he at least is required to lose one of his claiming stones for doing so.

Taking a Land card covered by a Law card
If a player takes a Land card covered by a Law card, he places the Law card face-down in front of himself. He may first look at it, of course. There are four different types of Law cards. Not all of them are positive:

"Anrechstein zuruecknehmen" (Take back a claiming stone): this card may only be played during a player's turn, after which it is removed from the game. When played, it allows the player to take back into his reserve one claiming stone that he had previously removed from the game.

"3 Symbole erlaubt" (3 symbols allowed): this card may only be played during a player's turn, after which it is removed from the game. When played, it allows the player to take Land cards with up to 3 circle symbols that turn.

"Verschiedene Farben moeglich" (Different colors allowed): this card may only be played during a player's turn, after which it is removed from the game. When played, it allows the player to take Land cards of different colors that turn.

"-2 Siegpunkte" (-2 victory points): this card is not revealed until the end of the game, at which time 2 points are subtracted from the score of the player holding it.

Scoring and the end of the game
When scoring, use the Scoring Chart to keep track of victory points won by country for each player. Start with Frankreich.

Land cards: The player with most Frankreich cards gets points equal to the total number of Frankreich cards held by all players, i.e. 8. The player with second-most Frankreich cards gets points equal to the number of Frankreich cards held by the player with the most Frankreich cards. The player with the third-most gets points equal to the number of Frankreich cards held by the second-most, etc.
If a player has no Land cards for a country, he scores no points for that country.
If several players have the same number of cards, they both receive the full score.

Examples: Andreas has collected 5 Frankreich cards. He has the most and thus scores 8 points. Beate has 2 Frankreich cards and scores 5 points - the number of Frankreich cards held by Andreas. Claus has 1 Frankreich card and scores 2 points - the number of Frankreich cards held by Beate.

Andreas and Beate have each collected 2 Danemark cards. Since there are only 4 Danemark cards, they are both tied for first and they both score the full 4 points.

The points for each country are recorded in the left column (Länder-wertung) of the Scoring Chart.

Symbol scoring: Now, determine who has the most circle symbols of any one type in Frankreich. The number of victory points awarded is equal to this number. Players who have fewer symbols of any type get no points. If several players tie for the most, they all get the full score. If a player has the same number of most symbols in more than one type, he still only gets points for one type.

Examples: In Frankreich, Andreas has collected 4 "Cross" symbols. Beate has collected 3 "Fan" symbols. Andreas thus has the most of any one type of symbol and scores 4 points. Because Beate has fewer symbols, she scores nothing.

In another game, Andreas has collected 2 "Fan" symbols, while Beate and Claus have each collected 2 "Cross" symbols. Since they all have an equal highest amount of any one type of symbol, they all score 2 points each.

Points for circle symbols are recorded in the right column (Symbol-wertung) of the Scoring Chart.

After completing Land cards and Circle Symbol scoring for Frankreich, score those for the each of the remaining countries.

Once all countries have been scored, total the two columns for each player, add the sums together, and enter the result in the Übertrag (Subtotal) box.

Chain scoring: Finally, the sea and land routes are scored. Players count the ships and carriages they each have collected. If a player has collected 5 or more ships, he scores point equal to the total number of ships he has collected. If he has collected 5 or more carriages, he also scores point equal to the total number of carriages he has collected.

Example: Andreas has collected 3 ships and 4 carriages. He has not collected at least 5 of either, so he scores no points. Beate has collected 7 ships but only 3 carriages, so she scores 7 points. Claus has collected 5 ships and 5 carriages and scores 10 points

These points are recorded in the Kettenwertung (Chain scoring) box and added to the players' subtotal scores. Players holding any "-2 Siegpunkte" (-2 victory points) Law cards subtract 2 points from their score. The player with the most points wins. In case of a tie, the tied player with the most Land cards wins. If there is still a tie, there is no winner.