A. OATH OF OFFICE I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf61.pdf More on reddit.com

I found the game started to click for me when I considered the narrative and world behind it. Denizens are people and places, often located somewhere specific in the game 'world'. Your board and advisors travel with your pawn like a group, and travelling allows your group to 'meet' new people and use new places. Your warbands on your board also travel with you, which is why they make up your force for the site you're in etc You can't put resources on a denizen that already has them, because another political party has already paid them off, and they aren't interested. You take favor from a groups respective bank because THOSE PEOPLE are paying you for your support. Similarly, favor/secrets paid to those groups goes to their bank during Rest as you have paid THEM for their support. You're not just moving your pawn to a site to gain favor, you're moving your political group to a new part of the world to convince it's people to support you, or join your army. Taken separately I found the rules hard to remember, but when I put a narrative behind these rules, and specifically considered that my pawn was where my group was located in the world, it made more sense. More on reddit.com

A big part of Oath is that it's a social game. You need to be working together to beat down the person in the lead while being sneaky on your own. If you're an exile and notice the chancellor is flailing, you can ask to become part of the regime. It's a risk/reward for both of you, but both of your odds just increased. Make open alliances, find ways to dive the decks and watch for which discard pile is getting the win condition cards people are discarding. More on reddit.com

I’ll take a shot at some: Oath is sandbox war game about the rise and fall of empires. The game you play will be a single, unique chapter in a larger story. Decisions you make will echo into future sessions. The leader of the current Empire is the “Chancellor,” usually played by last game’s winner (or anyone). They win and hold on to their Empire by fulfilling their Oath to the people, which is different each game. Other players are typically “Exiles,” outcasts from the Empire. Their goal is to overthrow it, create their own, and vow a new Oath. They can do this (and win) a few ways: uphold the Chancellor’s Oath better than him, draw and fulfill a victory condition on a card from the draw deck, or become an imperial “Citizen” and win from within. More on this as we play. Each player will have a Pawn, a player board, and a reserve of fighters called “warbands.” Your Pawn represents you. Everything on and around your player board is with your Pawn (I.e., moves around the map with you and is accessible by you). Starting with the Chancellor, players take turns made up of several actions. By spending action points (“supply”), players can move their Pawn around the map, search the world (draw deck or discards) for useful new abilities or win conditions, trade with citizens to gain resources, muster an army, wage wars (“campaigns”), and more. After everyone has a turn, a new round starts. Each round after the fifth, if the Chancellor is fulfilling his Oath, he has a die roll’s chance of winning instantly (odds improve each round). If another player fulfills his Oath better the die isn’t rolled, so plan wisely! More on reddit.com