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 sits down as the Ottoman. You're an activated power: the England player runs you from setup, with your own hand and your own impulse (your turn in each round), first in every round. Rule SB p.11, 3.2 Video: The Sleeping Giants.

• You score for England, not for yourself. Your VP Baseline marker starts on 11, your starting VP (our table's ruling). England gains 1 VP for every 2 full spaces you climb above it and loses 1 VP for every 2 you fall below. Rule SB p.13
• You can be won over. The Sublime Porte, a Mandatory Event card, sets off a check for who controls you. Spain can knock you back to sleep; France or the Protestant can take you from England. Rule Card #37, 24.6
• Switched off for you: Home cards, Build Expedition, Patronize Artist or Scientist, espionage, and winning the game. Nobody can assassinate your leaders. The foreign war cards and your artists and scientists are out of our game. Rule 10, SB pp.11-13

The full rules, and what England can't do with two powers, are in Running Allies.

You start on 11 VP. Every VP you gain or lose moves your marker, which is what England scores from. Rule SB p.7

• Keys, 11 VP. You hold 6 keys, and 4 square markers are left on your card, so the last open box reads "4 Cards, 11 VP". Each key you take opens the next box, worth 2 VP more; each one you lose closes one. Keys also set your card deal. Rule 25.2, SB p.6
• Piracy. Each hit makes the target give up one of three things: a ship nearby, a random card, or 1 VP for Piracy. Spain may also downgrade its Armada instead, if the Armada is in or next to that sea zone. The target spreads the hits as evenly as it can. Rule 16.4
• Cyprus. When the Selim II card arrives, a Cyprus VP marker goes on the first of Cyprus, Candia or Corfu you don't hold. Take that space later and the VP is yours. Rule Card #6, 25.2
• No special VP, and no Suez Canal: it's built with the Grand Vizier card, which isn't in our game. Rule 25.2, 23.1, SB p.11

• Istanbul, your capital: Mehmed (battle 1, command 12), 8 regulars, 2 cavalry, and the naval leader Piyale Pasha with 3 galleys.
• The Balkans: Salonika, Athens and Belgrade 1 regular each, Buda 2 regulars, Scutari 1 cavalry.
• Algiers: Dragut (a naval leader who adds 2 piracy dice), 2 regulars and 3 corsairs. Rule SB p.6, 5.1

Square control markers sit on your 6 keys: Istanbul, Salonika, Athens, Belgrade, Buda and Algiers. You're dealt 4 cards for your keys, and no Home cards. Rule SB p.6, 10

Ruler: Suleiman I. Admin rating: save 2 cards, so you can carry 2 cards over to the next turn. At the start of Turn 2 he hands you the Selim II card if it's still in the deck. Rule 3.3, Ottoman power card

• Build Cavalry (1 CP). Nobody else has cavalry. A stack with cavalry adds 1 to its intercept and avoid battle rolls. Anyone else subtracts 1 when intercepting or avoiding a stack that has your cavalry. Rule 5.3, 13.2, 13.3, 17.2
• Build Corsair (1 CP), in any Ottoman home port, Algiers included. Corsairs can start piracy against any active major power, even one you're not at war with. In our game that means anyone but England. Rule 17.3, 16.4, SB p.11
• Initiate Piracy (2 CP). You roll 1 or 2 dice, plus the piracy rating of a leader like Dragut. Each 5 or 6 is a hit. Rule 16.4
• No mercenaries. You can't buy them, give them or receive them. Rule 17.2, 9.1

Piracy and sieges are taught in The Seas and Making War on Land.

• You're at war with Spain, and that war can't end on Turn 1. Rule SB p.7
• England is your ally. The two of you can never go to war with each other. Rule SB p.11
• Spanish Oran (1 regular) sits beside Algiers.
• The Empire borders your Balkans: Buda and Belgrade touch Szigetvar (Zrinyi and 1 regular). The Empire is asleep, and entering its spaces needs a war. Rule 13.1
• Declaring war costs you 2 CP on Spain, France, the Empire or the Protestant; 1 CP on Venice; and 1 CP on Portugal once the Death of King Sebastian card has been played. They pay the same to declare on you. Rule 9.4, Diplomatic Status chart
• Venice: you start with 2 influence there. Venice lists you as a Deactivate power, so if you win a Venice check, it goes to sleep or stays asleep. Rule SB p.7, 24.6

• Counting cavalry as assault dice. Cavalry roll no dice when you assault and add none to a garrison. They still count toward keeping a siege going, and they can be taken as losses. Their real job is catching and dodging armies. Rule 15.1, 15.3, 5.3
• Building in Algiers. You can't build land units or galleys there, only corsairs. Rule 17.2, 17.3
• Sending corsairs into defended water. The target rolls first. When you pirate with corsairs, each of its hits sinks one of your corsairs. Rule 16.4
• Forgetting the Sublime Porte. Lose that check and your hand is discarded, whoever wins it. England can buy influence with you to guard against it. Rule SB p.13, 24.5

Deep dives, all coming later: Naval Combat and Piracy; Diplomacy, Minors and War; Sieges and Assaults.

How England runs you, and how you could change hands: Running Allies.