Extended edition includes Crisis & Control expansion.
The Nation is in disarray and a war is waging between the classes. The working class faces a dismantled welfare system, the capitalists are losing their hard-earned profits, the middle class is gradually fading and the state is sinking into a deep deficit. Amidst all this chaos, the only person who can provide guidance is... you. Will you take the side of the working class and fight for social reforms? Or will you stand with the corporations and the free market? Will you help the government try to keep it all together, or will you try to enforce your agenda no matter the cost to the country?
Hegemony is an asymmetric politico-economic card-driven board game for 2-4 players that puts you in the role of one of the socio-economic groups in a fictional state: The Working Class, the Middle Class, the Capitalist Class and the State itself.
The Working class controls the workers. The Capitalist class controls the companies. The Middle class combines elements from both the Working class and the Capitalist. It has workers who can work in the Capitalist's companies but it can also build companies of its own, yet smaller. Finally the State is trying to keep everyone happy, providing benefits and subsidies when needed but trying also to maintain a steady income through taxes to avoid going into debt.
While players have their own separate goals, they are all limited by a series of policies that affect most of their actions, like Taxation, Labor Market, Foreign Trade etc. Voting on those policies and using their influence to change them is also very important. Through careful planning, strategic actions and political maneuvering, you will do your best to increase the power of your class and carry out your agenda. Will you be the one to lead your class to victory?
Hegemony is heavily based on actual academic principles such as Social-Democracy, Neoliberalism, Nationalism and Globalism, and allows players to see their real world applications through engaging gameplay. There are many ways to achieve hegemony- which one will you take?
—description from the publisher
- Excellent theme integration across factions
- Strong interaction and tension between players
- High production quality and component clarity
- Excellent reference aids and well-structured rulebook
- Solid replay value, especially with solo mode expansion
- Very long setup and overall playtime
- Steep learning curve and challenging teach to new players
- Not ideal for casual gamers or random pick-up-and-play sessions
- Voting mechanic can inject luck into outcomes
- Class struggle, governance, and policy interaction across factions
- A politically charged, post-industrial nation with factions representing working class, middle class, capitalist class, and the state
- Card-driven, multi-faction strategy with direct inter-player influence
- Root
- Merchant's Cove
- Crescent Moon
- Vast: Crystal Caverns
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- asymmetric roles — Each faction has unique rules, cards, and victory conditions, creating distinct playstyles.
- Card-driven actions — Action cards drive turns; players choose to play or discard for actions, creating tension and timing decisions.
- Inter-player interaction — Actions by one faction influence opportunities for others; dynamic negotiation and competition are core.
- Resource and needs management — Wages, goods, services, education and health influence scoring and the economy.
- Solo mode and expansion integration — Expansion crisis and control module yields AI opponents and new modular options for solo or varied counts.
- Voting bag and elections — Policies are decided via a random bag-drawn set of cubes, introducing luck and strategic risk.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it is a 35 plus page rulebook, it's got a lot of information in here
- it's asymmetrical meaning that your roles are different
- this game is a gamer’s game through and through
- the interaction is where it comes through mainly
- the board itself is a really cool Stark board
References (from this video)
- Rich four-player interaction with deep strategic choices
- Strong role balance when played with four
- Three-player or two-player variants lose some key dynamics
- Expansion balance can shift the perceived fairness
- Social/economic policy competition
- Governing state with classes and policy
- Asymmetric roles with dynamic policy changes
- Civic structures (thematic peers)
- Power Grid (policy influence)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Policy & events — Policy changes and events shape player powers and scoring
- Role-based classes — Working class, capitalists, middle class, and state compete via actions and events.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is essentially a side effect to carcassonne
- I think works best at four players
- Terra Incognita expansion which let's face it is essential for this
- you can't play Mr Nice Guy in dominant species
- Abyss just works that bit better especially much better than two
- you want four players when you're playing it
- Terra Mara is a Quined Games Edition
- the four classes of hegemony hegemony is perfectly good at threee
References (from this video)
- Richly thematic and structurally deep; four asymmetrical classes drive varied strategies.
- Layered mechanics (cards, workers, production, elections) create emergent strategic depth.
- Policy/election subsystem provides meaningful, recurring tension and scoring opportunities.
- Steep learning curve; rules are extensive and interdependent.
- Very long setup and playtime, which may deter casual players.
- Requires careful tracking of multiple tracks (wages, legitimacy, policy markers, storage).
- Class struggle, political economy, policymaking, and legitimacy dynamics
- A nation-state with four competing classes (Working Class, Middle Class, Capitalist Class, State) across five rounds, with policies, elections, and public services shaping outcomes.
- asymmetric multi-class political economy simulation with elections and policy shifts
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card-driven action system — Each class uses an action card deck to perform a main action, followed by basic and free actions; cards are drafted from class-specific decks and discarded after use.
- Legitimacy and scoring — Legitimacy tracks for each class impact scoring; events and policy changes alter legitimacy; at endgame, points are allocated based on remaining resources and policy markers.
- Market and export — Export/Import cards govern trading transactions; foreign trade and tariffs affect pricing and revenue; some goods can be stored in a free trade zone with different rules.
- Policy tracks and elections — Seven policy tracks (A/B/C sections) influence rules; proposals trigger elections, which determine if policy changes pass and reward victory points.
- Production and needs management — In production, all operating classes produce goods/services and pay wages; players must meet population needs with food/health/education; storage capacity matters.
- Resource management and procurement — Vardus (currency) and goods/services are managed; resources are bought from multiple sources (capitalist, middle class, state public services, foreign market) with tariffs and tariffs implications.
- Taxes, loans, and IMF intervention — Taxes are multipliers based on policy; loans can be taken with penalties; IMF intervention can reorder policy tracks and wage levels under stress.
- Worker assignment and company operation — Players assign workers to company slots to activate operations; middle class can open and staff its own companies; skill matching and commitment affect production.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- hegemony is a highly thematic asymmetric political economic car driven board game for two to four players simulating an entire nation its policies and its economy
- Germany is played over a series of five rounds
- this is a highly asymmetrical game in all classes performed differently in each one of these faces