Hidden Leaders Duel (2025)

Overview

As the fighting and turmoil subsides, the two remaining candidates vie for control of the newly established Senate Chambers and attempt to secure the power to rule Oshra peacefully. They do so by offering influential Heroes a position in their secret Council of Leaders. Whoever builds the strongest influence, will win.

Gameplay In 7 turns, players manipulate the two rows of Heroes and secretly ask some of them into their Council of Leaders.

Setup

Shuffle the Hero and Leader cards. Deal each player 3 Hero cards (to be kept secret). Deal each player 1 Leader card (to be kept secret) and add it to your Council Create 2 rows of 7 face-down Hero cards on the table (so that only their faction will be visible, but not their strength). Create a face-down draw pile of the remaining 8 Hero cards and place it next to the 2 Hero card rows. Leave space for a face-down Council of Hero cards for each player (to be kept secret).

Gameplay Play in turns. When it is your turn:

Take 2 heroes from either of the 2 rows on the table and put them in your hand. You can take any hero you want (face up or face down) as long as the hero is not blocked or blocking another hero. Now put 2 cards from your hand back into the open slots in the rows you just created. Put the cards back face up (so that their strength is shown). You can play any heroes you like, even the 2 heroes you just took. Take 1 card from your hand and either: Add it face down to your secret council of leaders. You can have as many leaders as you want, but do note that the strength of these leaders will not count towards your final score. Place it face down (so that their strength is not visible) on top of an unblocked hero in one of the rows to block it. Place it such that the faction and strength (if face up) of the hero below it can still be seen. Finally, draw 1 card from the draw pile. If there are no more cards on the draw pile, skip

this step. The game ends when both players have emptied their hands after 7 turns each.

Scoring To determine the final score, proceed as follows:

Reveal your Leader and Heroes in your Council Then, consider each of the 4 factions (Imperial Army - red, Hill Tribes - green, Water Folk - blue, Undead - black) separately in no specific order: Determine the total Influence per faction, adding together all values of 1 faction . If applicable, also add your Leader’s value to the total Influence. See who has the highest total Influence of the chosen faction. Now check which of the 2 rows of heroes has the most Heroes of this faction. The player with the highest total Influence will get all Heroes from this row (face up, face down, blocked, and blocking) and add them to their Army. The other player will get the heroes from the other row. In case of a tie, either because the Council of both players have equal Influence or because there is an equal number of Heroes in both rows, players will take the Heroes from the row closest to them. If a player has no Leader or Heroes of the chosen faction under consideration, the heroes from the row they obtained will be discarded. Discard all cards in the Council. They don't count towards the final score. Each player counts the total Strength of Heroes in their Army. The player with the highest total Strength wins and becomes the new Emperor. In case of a tie, the player with more Heroes in their Army wins. If there is still a tie, a rematch is due.

—description from the publisher