1. 01 In our 4-player game
2. 02 How you score
3. 03 What you start with
4. 04 Only you
5. 05 Your Turn 1 situation
6. 06 Traps
7. 07 What experienced players say
8. 08 Your deep dives

Nobody plays the Empire. You start asleep: no hand, no impulse (no turn in the round), no regular in your capital in Winter. Rule SB p.11, SB p.13, SB p.16 The video on this is The Sleeping Giants.

• How you wake up. A check for who controls you comes from German Intervention (a Mandatory Event card), from Rudolf II (a Mandatory Event from Turn 3), or from a declaration of war on you while you're asleep. You can be checked at most once a turn. Rule Card #4, Card #87, SB p.12, 24.6
• Once awake, you're someone's ally, with a hand, an impulse and a VP Baseline. Your VP don't count for you: your controller gains 1 VP for every 2 full spaces you climb above the baseline, and loses 1 for every 2 you fall below. Rule SB pp.12-13
• Switched off for you: Home cards, Build Expedition, Patronize Artist or Scientist, espionage, and winning the game. Nobody can assassinate your leaders. Rule 10, SB pp.12-13
• Also out of our game: your secret religious preference (so the "up to 7 VP" box is never used), War with Poland, and your artists and scientists. Rule SB p.11, SB p.13
• Marriages still happen while you sleep. A power with at least 1 influence with you can spend 1 to announce a marriage to one of your royals. England, France and the Protestant start with 1 influence with you for exactly this reason. Rule SB p.11, SB p.13

Who rolls in a check, your first hand, and what changes when you wake: Running Allies.

You start on 8 VP. Once you're awake, every VP you gain or lose moves your marker, and your ally gains or loses VP for the gap from your baseline. Rule SB p.7, SB p.13

• Keys, 8 VP. You hold 4 keys, and 4 square markers are left on your card, so the last open box reads "4 Cards, 8 VP". Each key you take opens the next box, worth 2 VP more; each one you lose closes one. Rule 25.2, SB p.7
• Master of Central Europe, 1 VP a turn. At the end of each turn, if you hold Prague, Vienna and Buda with none in unrest, you add 1 VP. Buda starts Ottoman, so you'd have to take it. Rule 23.5, 25.3

• Vienna, your capital: Schwendi (battle 1, command 8), 2 regulars and 2 mercenaries.
• Prague, Augsburg and Frankfurt: 1 regular each.
• Szigetvar, on the Ottoman border: Zrinyi (battle 1, command 6) and 1 regular.
• Mercenaries for Hire: the track on your card starts on 4. Rule SB p.7

Square control markers sit on your 4 keys: Vienna, Prague, Augsburg and Frankfurt. Rule SB p.7

Ruler: Maximilian II. Admin rating: save 1 card (carry 1 card over to the next turn), no card bonus. When the Rudolf II card is played, Rudolf takes over, your capital moves to Prague, and you get 1 extra card a turn. Rule 3.3, HRE power card, Card #87

• The Mercenaries for Hire track. Each turn's Diplomacy Phase starts with negotiations, where players make deals. In them you can grant (give) up to 4 mercenaries to another power, taken from the map or from this track. Any you don't grant are lost: the track drops to 0 when negotiations end. Rule 9.1
• In our game whoever runs you can't grant your mercenaries to their own power, and nobody can grant mercenaries to you. Rule SB p.11, 9.1
• Winter choice. While you're awake, instead of a regular in your capital you may add 2 mercenaries there, or move the track to 4. You can pick the track even if your capital has fallen. Rule 20.6, SB p.13
• Buy Diplomatic Influence (1 CP). Once you're awake you can buy influence with the Papacy, Venice and Ireland. Your markers there are set aside until then. Rule 24.5, SB p.11

Deals are taught in The Rest of the Turn.

• You're at peace with everyone. The only wars at the start are Spain against the Ottoman and England against France. Rule SB p.7
• Nobody can enter without a war, and a war on you while you sleep sets off a check for who controls you. Rule 13.1, SB p.12
• Your neighbours: Szigetvar touches Ottoman Buda (2 regulars) and Belgrade (1 regular). On the Rhine, French Metz (1 regular) touches your spaces Strasbourg and Trier.
• Declaring war on you costs Spain 4 CP, England 3, France 3, the Protestant 2 and the Ottoman 2. You pay the same on them. Rule Diplomatic Status chart, 9.4
• You can never declare war on a minor power: the Diplomatic Status chart lists the Papacy, Venice and Ireland as "Possible Ally", and Portugal and Scotland as "N/A". Rule 9.4

• Sitting on your mercenaries. Ungranted Mercenaries for Hire are gone when negotiations end. Rule 9.1
• Counting on your minor allies. If you're knocked back to sleep, any Papacy, Venice or Ireland allied to you goes to sleep with you. Rule SB p.13
• Forgetting Master of Central Europe needs Buda. Prague and Vienna alone score nothing, and a key in unrest doesn't count. Rule 23.5

Deep dives, all coming later: Diplomacy, Minors and War; Marriage and Patronage; Winter.

How to win the Empire over, and what changes when you do: Running Allies.