A Round, Phase by Phase
Hegemony's five rounds and five phases: preparation, the Action Phase with Main and Free Actions, production, wages, feeding and taxes, elections and scoring — plus the shared rules for Workers, Companies, buying and selling.
The five rounds
Hegemony lasts 5 rounds (Round track on the main board). Each round has five phases, always in this order. Every phase has steps for each class; the class pages give the details: Working Class, Middle Class, Capitalist Class, State.
| Phase | Order of play | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation | Each class its own steps | New round set up (skipped in round 1) |
| Action | Working → Middle → Capitalist → State | 5 turns each |
| Production | State → Capitalist → Middle → Working | Wages and production, Food, IMF check, taxes |
| Elections | Working → Middle → Capitalist → State | Bag refill, a vote for every proposed Bill |
| Scoring | — | Round points, State Event penalties |
Roles not in play (2 and 3 players) are skipped. If timing matters inside a phase, the General Player Aid lists the exact order of every step.
Preparation Phase
Skipped in round 1. Move the Round marker on, then each class does its steps:
- Everyone with Loans pays 5 interest per Loan.
- Working and Middle Class: Prosperity drops (1 step for Working, 2 for Middle), draw back to 7 cards, add new Workers and Immigrants (Policy 7).
- Capitalist Class: draw back to 7, refresh its Company Market to 4, then new Business Deal cards (Policy 6) and a new Export card — before the other classes get their new Workers.
- Middle Class: refresh its Company Market to 3.
- State: 2 new Events, a new Political Agenda, draw back to 7.
Action Phase
Each class takes 5 turns, in the order Working, Middle, Capitalist, State. After 5 turns each, 2 cards stay in each hand for the next round.
Main Action
On your turn choose one card from your hand and either:
- play it for its effect, if its Requirement (usually a Policy section, e.g. 2B / 2C) is met now; or
- discard it (face up) to take one of your class’s Basic Actions instead.
When a card’s effect tells you to take a Basic Action, that action’s normal rules apply unless the card changes them.
Free Action
You may also take one Free Action, before or after your Main Action. Each class has its own list (on its Player Aid).
Legitimacy symbols on cards
Many Action cards show class symbols with a number at the bottom. In 4-player games only, when
the card is played for its effect, the State moves the matching Legitimacy markers on its board by
that much (+1/3 means +1 for every 3 of what the card moved). Ignore them with fewer players, and
whenever the card is discarded for a Basic Action.
Production Phase
Four steps, each done by all classes in reverse order (State, Capitalist, Middle, Working) before moving to the next step.
Produce Goods and Services
Every class that owns Companies (State, Capitalist, Middle) pays the Wage shown for each operational Company to whoever controls its Workers — one Wage per Company, not per Worker — then takes the Company’s production into its storage. Committed Workers stand up again once their Company has produced.
In 2- and 3-player games the Public Companies still produce: pay their Wages from the State Treasury and put their services in Public Services. Each Public Service holds at most the total production of the State’s Companies of that kind (open or not) plus 6; any excess is lost.
Cover Needs
The Working and Middle Classes must feed their people: Food equal to their Population. Use Food you already have first, then buy the rest from any sources. If nobody sells Food you must import it; if you cannot pay, you must take a Loan.
Check IMF
If the State has more Loans than Fiscal Policy allows, it may pay them off at 55 each; if it still has too many, the IMF intervenes.
Pay Taxes
Each class pays its taxes, by the current Taxation Policy, to the State Treasury (never back to the supply): Working, Middle, Capitalist.
Elections Phase
Skipped if nobody proposed a Bill. Otherwise the bag is refilled and every proposed Bill is voted on, Policy 1 first: see Bills and Elections.
Scoring Phase
The State first applies the penalty of each Event still on the board. Then each class scores its round points: Working Class Trade Unions, Middle Class free Prosperity, Capitalist Wealth, State Legitimacy and Political Agenda (see each class page).
After round 5, go to Game End and Scoring.
Workers and Companies
These rules are shared by everyone who moves Workers.
- Your Workers are your class’s only. Unless an effect says otherwise, “Workers” means your own. Keep your Population track equal to your number of Workers at all times.
- Unskilled Workers (gray) fill gray slots. Skilled Workers (green Agriculture, blue Luxury, white Health, orange Education, purple Media) fill the slot of their colour and any gray slot.
- All or nothing. A Company is operational only with every slot filled, all by Workers of the same class. You cannot fill part of a Company. If you move a Worker out, the rest of that Company’s Workers become unemployed at the end of the action (you may refill the gap in the same action).
- Automated Companies (big gear
, no slots) are always operational, need no
Workers and pay no Wages. A normal Company with a Machinery token still needs its Workers.
Committed Workers
Assigned Workers are laid down: they are committed until their Company produces. A committed Worker cannot be moved, its Wage cannot be lowered and its Company cannot be sold. Raising a Wage (Adjust Wages, Give Bonus) also commits the Workers there; a Policy change does not. A Company other than a Middle Class one cannot mix committed and uncommitted Workers: if that happens, all are uncommitted.
Wages
Each Company shows three Wage levels: L3 (high), L2, L1 (low). The owner chooses, but never below the minimum set by Labor Market.
Buying goods and services
The Buy Goods & Services action (Working and Middle Class) buys one kind of resource from up to 2 sources, at most your Population from each source.
| Source | Food | Luxury | Health | Education | Influence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capitalist Class (its prices) | yes | yes | yes | yes | — |
| Middle Class (its prices) | yes | yes | yes | yes | — |
| Foreign Market (board price + tariff) | yes | yes | — | — | — |
| State (Policies 4 and 5) | sometimes | sometimes | yes | yes | yes, 10 each |
Foreign Market prices are printed under the Import area (Food 10, Luxury 6); the tariff from Policy 6 goes to the State, the price to the supply. Bought resources go to your Goods & Services area.
Selling to the Foreign Market
The current Export card lists 8 transactions (two for each of Food, Luxury, Health and Education). A Sell to the Foreign Market action may do any of them, each at most once per action: spend the goods shown, take the money. The card stays for the whole round and every class may use all 8 transactions again on their own later actions. Influence is never exported.
Component limits
You are limited to the pieces in the box, except money. With no Voting cubes left you cannot add more; with no Influence left nobody can gain it. If a needed skilled Worker colour has run out, take an unskilled one; if an unskilled one is needed and none is left, take a skilled one of your choice.