Political Cards (Second Edition)

This page lists all Political Cards in Twilight Imperium Second Edition

Base Game

There are 34 Political Cards in the base game

Card	Special	Text
Arms Reduction	-
Budget Deficit
Closing the Wormholes	LAW
Colonization Licensing	LAW
Cost Overruns	-
Crown of Thalnos	LAW
Dispute Resolution	-
Economic Revitalization	-
Forced Economic Independence	LAW
Free Trade	LAW
Holder of Mecatol Rex	-
Holy Planet of Ixth	LAW
Humane Labor	LAW
Labor Force Politics	LAW
Limits to Individual Power	LAW
Long Term Truce	LAW
Manifest Destiny	-
Mass Mobilization	-
Minister of Commerce	LAW
Minister of Exploration	LAW
Minister of Internal Security	LAW
Minister of Policy	LAW
Public Execution	-
Regressive Rhetoric	LAW
Revote	-
Science Community Speaker	-
Short Term Truce	LAW
Subsidized Studies	LAW
Technology Buy-back	LAW
Technology Investigation Committee	-
Technology Tariffs	LAW
Trade Embargo	LAW
Trade Restrictions	LAW
Unconventional Weapons	LAW

Hope's End Expansion

Political Cards

Card	Special	Text
Ancient Artifact	-	For: Roll a die. 1-5: All units, leaders and ships in the Mecatol System are destroyed and every fleet and planetary force adjacent to the Mecatol System immediately must sustain 2 Combat rolls (resulting in hits on 5+) 6-10: All players may immediately take two technology advances of their choice (tech prerequisites still apply) Against: Discard this card
Brutality Backlash	-	For: All Shock Troop status counters are immediately removed from the Ground Forces on the board Against: Players who voted "For" immediately must destroy their own Shock Troops
Compensated Disarmament	-	Elect Planet All ground forces on this planet are removed, but the planet's controller receives 6 credits for each Ground Force unit removed and retains control of the planet
Core Stability	LAW	For: During each Economy Phase, all needed Action Cards are drawn and placed face up on the table. The player with the highest influence may choose their Action Cards first, followed by the player with the second most influence etc. Against: No action cards are drawn during the next Economy Phase
Imperial Survey	-	For: All face-down Domain Counters are revealed for the remainder of the game. The strength of all "Hostile Locals" counters are doubled. Against: Immediately place new random Domain Counters on all Neutral planets without Domain Counters
Forbidden Research	-	Elect Player The elected player may not purchase any technology this Technology Phase
Holder of Hope's End	LAW	The owner of Hope's End receives +10 votes For: The player who controls Hope's End may spend 5 credits to purchase Shock Troops instead of Ground Force units on Hope's End (Spacedock required) Against: This turn, the player who controls Hope's End may purchase Ground Force units on the planet for 2 credits per unit (no Spacedock required)
Minister of Peace	LAW	Elect player Give this card to the elected player. This player may discard this card at any time to cancel a fleet's movement into a system containing an enemy fleet as long as they control neither fleet. The moving fleet may thereafter move into a different system in range of its movement
New Constitution	-	For: All current LAWS are discarded. Pool all Deed cards and draw 15 planets. These planets are subject to Insurgence checks Against: The player with the highest influence may discard a current LAW of their choice
Open the Trade Routes	-	For: Each player receives a "Trade Agreement" Action Card from the Action Card deck. If not enough such cards are present, the players with the least influence receive no cards Against: This turn, during the Economy Phase, players must give half of their Trade Income to the player on their left
Preemptive Strike	LAW	For: All players must pay 10 credits (in Gold and/or military units of equal value) for each step they have advanced on the Progression chart. All future L1Z1X Event Cards are discarded without effect Against: Discard this card
Protection of our Finest	LAW	For: Dreadnoughts may not bombard a planet containing an enemy leader Against: The free leaders of all players that voted "Against" immediately return to a planet in the player's home system
Quarantine	-	Draw Random Neutral Planet For: No units may enter or leave this planet's system or any adjacent system for 1 turn Against: Players who vote "Against" must make Insurgence Checks for each friendly planet in or in a system adjacent to the system containing the planets in question
Prisoner Exchange	-	For: All leaders are immediately freed Against: Each player who voted "Against" but owns one or more Leaders held captive by other players must make an Insurgence Check on each planet in their Home System
Prophecy of Ixth	-	Elect Player The elected player's fighters fight at +1 for the duration of the game The elected player loses this ability if they do not purchase at least 2 new fighters during each Economy Phase
Research Grant	LAW	For: A planet with a Technological Specialty now receives a credit of exactly '2' but the credit counts towards purchasing all technology fields Against: No 'General' (Yellow) technology advances may be acquired this round
Resource Management	LAW	For: During the Economy Phase, players may draw extra Action Cards by paying 5 Credits for each extra card. Players may not hold more than their limit. Against: All players with 3 or more Action Cards must immediately discard 2
Speaker for the Council	LAW	Elect player Give this card to the elected player. This player may discard this card during the Political Phase to override an "Elect" vote. The Minister may single-handedly determine the outcome
Training the Young	LAW	For: Players may spend 15 credits during the Economy Phase to return 1 of their leaders to play after it is killed. The leader is placed on a planet in the player's home system Against: All players may immediately draw 1 Action Card for every friendly leader killed
Troops for the L1Z1X War	-	Each player secretly bids a number. Reveal the bids simultaneously. Each player must now remove their bidding number of ground forces from play. The player(s) (if tied) who bid highest may draw 4 Action Cards. The player(s) who bid lowest must discard all of their action cards
War Crimes	-	Elect Leader This leader is immediately Captured by the player to the right of the player who controls the leader

Event Cards

Event Cards are not technically political cards since they cannot be affected by the Veto action card or be influenced by any Card or special ability that would otherwise affect regular Political cards. However, they are drawn during the Political phase just like agenda cards

Each event card contains an Action rather than an agenda.

When an Event card is drawn, its effect are read aloud and resolved immediately

After resolution, another political card is drawn and the Political Phase continues as normal

Card	Number	Text
Council Coup	1	(1) In order of highest influence, players declare either 'Loyal' or 'Rebel'. Discard this card if all players declare for either (2) All players secretly bid a number. That number is then revealed simultaneously (3) All players must remove a number of Friendly Ground forces equal to their bid If the combined Loyalists bid the highest number of Ground Forces, all Loyalists each receive 30 credits and 4 Action Cards If the combined Rebels bid the higher number of Ground Forces, all Loyalists are executed (lose all Action Cards and cannot initiate any Space or Invasion Combat during this turn)
L1Z1X Invasion	1	Place a counter on the progression chart symbolising L1Z1X advancement During every Progression Phase, advance the counter 1 field. If the counter reaches 'Imperium Rex', the L1Z1X invasion has been successful and all players lose the game The counter is removed if one or more players, at any time, remove a total of 120 credits worth of military units from the board
L1Z1X Raiders	1	Select a random neutral planet Immediately place 4 counters in this planet's system. These counters are L1Z1X Dreadnoughts and will immediately attack any fleet (as per normal space battle rules) in this system and any fleet the raiders encounter later Immediately before every Political Phase, roll for a random hex side (as per the Gravity Rift rules). If a legal move, the Raiders will move 1 space to this side. On a result of 7-10, they do not move
Major Rebellion	1	(If players immediately remove a combined total of 100 credits worth of military units from the board, discard this card) Draw a random Neutral planet. All non-home system planets in this system and all adjacent systems must make Insurgence Checks. If a planet is made Neutral by the result of an Insurgence Check, all planets in its system and surrounding systems must make insurgence checks Each planet may be the target of no more than 2 insurgence checks during the rebellion
Minor L1Z1X Invasion	2	(1) Draw a Neutral Planet (2) All non-neutral planets in this planet's system and all non-neutral planets in the surrounding systems are immediately invaded by 3 L1Z1X Ground Forces (use generic counters). Resolve combat immediately. Surviving invaders will remain and defend the planet If a player fleet containing Dreadnoughts or Cruisers is present, the planets of that system are not affected by this invasion
Stellar Maelstrom	1	Draw one random Neutral planet The systems adjacent to this planet's system shift two steps clockwise. If the drawn planet is located in the outermost mapboard ring, ignore and draw another random neutral planet