How to Play World Order in 27 Minutes

World Order: How to Play

World Order is a deck-building, area-control game in which players represent the United States, the EU, Russia, or China. Through diplomacy, economic development, and military posturing, each power seeks influence across seven world regions. Most points come from placing influence cubes and winning regional majorities.

Game Structure

The game lasts six rounds, with scoring after rounds three and six. Each round has four main stages:

1. Preparation: Draw cards, reveal new countries, set turn order, produce resources, and choose a focus.
2. Actions: Players take turns until each has taken four actions.
3. Research: Buy ability cards to improve your deck.
4. Aftermath: Collect investment returns, resolve prosperity and military threats, and score if it is a scoring round.

On a turn, players usually play a card to take its action. Alternatively, they can play a card face down for $10 or use a one-time strategic asset. Unused strategic assets are worth two points at game end.

Actions and Key Rules

• Improve relations: Spend diplomacy to gain a country as an ally. Existing allies in that region can be exhausted to reduce the cost. Some countries cannot ally with certain powers. Gaining a second copy of a starting ally adds its icons to the original card.
• Engage: Spend diplomacy to establish a presence in a region where you have an ally. This places an engage token and an influence cube. The token can later provide income or extra defense.
• Place influence: Cubes score points based on the spaces they cover. Cubes placed in permanent spaces stay on the board; cubes on the temporary track can be pushed off when that track fills. A region is scored only when all its permanent influence spaces are filled.
• Move armies: Tanks can move to regions within your zone of influence—generally, regions where you have a flag or a military base. Moving each tank costs money. Military threats can make other powers lose points, but players do not fight directly.
• Build a base: Use a ready ally that permits a base, pay the costs, and move tanks from your player board into that region. Building a base also places influence and can extend your zone of influence.
• Growth and production: Growth cards provide points and abilities, with their level determining when they become active. Production generates primary resources directly; secondary resources require primary resources or money. Excess production can be sold, subject to resource limits.
• Trade: Export goods that your allies want to earn money, then import resources from allies or other players. Trade can also provide diplomacy in some circumstances. Players buying from an AI faction pay the supply, and AI factions are treated as having resources in stock.
• Investment: Pay to invest in a ready ally, place an FDI token, and add influence in the region. Investments return money during Aftermath; their influence is often their greater value.
• Research: After four actions, discard the cards used and those remaining in your hand, gaining the exit bonuses shown on them. Spend research points to buy cards from the market. Purchased cards go on top of your deck, so they’ll be available next round.

In games with two or three players, automated factions also add influence and may move tanks or trade based on their revealed cards.

Preparation, Focus, and Scoring

Each round, players choose a domestic, diplomatic, or military focus, gaining immediate and ongoing benefits. The military focus improves both threat and defense; domestic provides extra research.

During Aftermath:

• Investments pay out.
• Players can spend cell phones to increase prosperity for points and money.
• Threats are resolved by comparing enemy tanks (threat) with your own tanks (defense) in regions within your zone of influence. Higher enemy threats can cost you points. An engage token can be spent to add defense based on your allies in that region.

At each scoring phase, only regions whose permanent influence spaces are full are scored. Each cube scores a point, and players receive additional rewards according to their regional ranking. Ties can be broken by tank counts; otherwise, tied players receive the lower reward.

Players also compete for rewards for having the most money, tanks on the map, and allies. The powers have special scoring rules: China benefits from investments across regions, Russia from military presence in its zone, and the US can lose points if it fails to lead in enough regions.

At game end, unused strategic assets are worth two points each. The highest score wins.

Optional Module

The Executive Orders card is an optional once-per-game ability that lets a player take any basic action. Keeping it unused earns three points at the end of the game.

Strategic Tips

• Plan influence placement carefully: permanent cubes are harder to remove, while temporary spaces can provide immediate points.
• Use allies to reduce diplomacy costs, and consider whether exhausting them is worth the benefit.
• Track which regions are likely to fill their permanent spaces so you can compete for scoring there.
• Balance military presence against its costs; tanks deter threats but do not directly win battles.
• Invest and develop production to support influence, trade, and future actions.
• Keep an eye on opponents’ regional strength and scoring opportunities, not just your own board.

Featured Gamer and Sources

Shay Parker of RTFM presents the tutorial. The game is World Order by Hegemonic Games; the video notes that RTFM’s Patreon backers voted for it to be taught.