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A War of Whispers

2-4 players 30-60 min 7.3 Board Game Geek Rating

In this strategic game, 2-4 players control secret societies manipulating five warring empires. Players hold hidden loyalty tokens for each empire and deploy agents to council positions that execute empire actions. The goal is ensuring your most valued empires control the most cities by game's end. Victory comes from maximizing points based on your loyalty investments and territorial control.

Published 2019

A War of Whispers

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Choose player components
Each player selects a matching player board, set of 9 agent tokens, and 5 loyalty tokens in their secret society's design
2
Place turn markers
Put the "1" turn marker beside the "Start" space on the board and place the other three turn markers (2, 3, 4) near the turn tracker
3
Create banner reserves
For each of the 5 empires, place all 20 banners (cubes) of that color beside the board near their associated empire symbols
4
Prepare empire decks
Split the 40 empire cards into 5 separate decks by empire, shuffle each deck, and place beside its corresponding empire on the board
5
Set up starting banners
Place banners on the map in regions showing small banner images, matching the color to the empire's region color
6
Determine first player
Choose who goes first by any method; that player takes the first player marker
7
Assign secret loyalties
Each player shuffles their 5 loyalty tokens and randomly places them face-down on the 5 loyalty slots on their player board (Devout x4, Dutiful x3, Affiliated x2, Unallied x0, Opposed x-1)

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Retrieve agents (after turn 1)
Starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player removes 1 of their agents currently on the board
2
Deploy agents
Starting with the first player, take turns placing 1 agent on any open council position until each player has placed 2 agents (3 agents in 2-player games)
3
Resolve empires clockwise
Beginning with the Bear empire, each empire takes its turn proceeding clockwise around the board
4
Activate council positions
Within each empire, council positions act in order: Sheriff, Steward, Marshal, Chancellor
5
Determine control
If your agent occupies a position, you control it; empty positions are controlled by the next clockwise agent in that council
6
Sheriff action - Add banners
Add 2 banners to any region(s) controlled by this empire
7
Steward action - Harvest resources
Add banners based on farm icons, or draw cards based on city icons in controlled regions
8
Marshal action - Attack
Move any number of banners from one controlled region into an adjacent enemy-controlled region
9
Chancellor action - Draw or swap
Draw 1 card from the empire's deck, or swap this agent with another position in the council and take that action
10
Check supply limits
At end of each empire's turn, regions may contain maximum 4 banners (6 if region has a farm); return excess to supply
11
Time card plays
Play cards immediately before, during, or after any action taken for a council position you control
12
Pay card costs
Discard empire cards matching the symbols shown next to the chosen ability; the played card counts toward this cost
13
Resolve effects
Follow the card's instructions, then shuffle all played/discarded cards back into their empire decks
14
Discard excess cards
Each player must discard down to a maximum hand size of 5 cards
15
Mark the turn
Place the current turn marker on the next space of the turn tracker
16
Pass first player
The first player marker passes clockwise to the next player
17
Swap loyalties (optional)
In player order, each player may swap 2 of their unrevealed loyalty tokens
18
Reveal swapped tokens
If you swap, you must flip both tokens face-up; they remain revealed for the rest of the game

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Trigger game end
The game ends immediately after the fourth turn marker is placed, skipping the Swap and Cleanup phases
2
Reveal all loyalties
All players flip their loyalty tokens face-up to show their empire allegiances
3
Calculate scores
For each loyalty token, multiply the number of cities that empire controls by your loyalty multiplier for that empire (x4, x3, x2, x0, or x-1)
4
Sum total points
Add together all five loyalty token scores to determine your final score
5
Determine winner
The player with the highest total score wins
6
Break ties
If tied, the player who swapped loyalty tokens fewer times wins; if still tied, the player with the most empire cards in hand wins

watch & Learn

Let the pros teach you with these top videos.

A War of Whispers - setup e regolamento in italiano (tutorial) [SUB ITA]

A War of Whispers - setup e regolamento in italiano (tutorial) [SUB ITA]

Instructional

A War of Whispers - German Review

A War of Whispers - German Review

Review

MORE VIDEOS

FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

PDF RULEBOOK

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