Council of Bees

The hive is in danger, and not all of the dangers are from external threats. the Beeconomy is dragging, Comblessness is rampant, and some are talking about leaving to start a new colony.

The Council of Bees must address all of these issues. They must right the ship. But how can they when each of them has their own agenda and the council halls are dripping with honey?

This is a game about bee politics. You will be trying to advance certain issues, your agenda, in order to win the game. The players are senior bees in the Council of Bees, the group that makes laws for the hive. Laws are made when a bill is passed. The hive is divided into regions and the 5 biggest regions can each create a bill. Bills are made up of cards. Most cards will affect one issue of concern for the hive. The bills will be voted on by junior bees (dice). As a senior bee, you can assign which region a bee will vote in. This is called beemandering.

But then there's honey... the root of all evil. Honey can earn you more actions and persuade other players to help pass a bill. But the worst of all is Dirty Honey. That's honey from Lob-bee-ists in exchange for favors that don't help and may even hurt the hive. Oh, how dark is the underbelly of Bee politics? But in the long run, you're doing to help advance your cause... aren't you?

In Council of Bees, the hive is concerned with 7 different issues. You will use your political prowess to help advance the efforts of your favorite issue, or perhaps more sinisterly, to impede the efforts of your political foes.

Akin to gerrymandering, beemandering is the process of assigning bees (dice) to voting regions in order to slant the political process in your favor. You don't have complete control over how the other bees will vote, but you can control where they vote.

The Voting Hall of the Concil of Bees have 5 main Regions: Hivepool, Combton, Honeyville, Queen's Haven and Apiopolis. Each Region will consider one bill at a time. A bill is made up of cards that effect the 7 issues of the hive. Junior Bees will do the voting based on their color (issue) and number (acceptable effect). But as a senior Bee, the players can drive what issues are in the Bills as well asssign the Junior Bees to a particular region to vote. Beemandering will allow you to maximize the vote of bees you agree with and "waste" some Bee votes on issues you don't care about.

Dirty Honey is where the real underbelly of bee politics thrives. These are issues sponsored by Lob-bee-ists (not all of them conspicuous) which don't benefit the hive as a whole. In fact, these issues may actively work against the hive's best interest. But what they do have is honey... and lots of it.

What's a little harmless bill to look into Flat Hiveism, when it could give you the honey you need to make a real difference in the hive? Governement contract for Goldbee Wax Honey Lending? Why not? Someone has to get the contract. Why not get a little honey out it yourself?

In the end, who will be the master politician and who are the wanna-bees?