From the publisher's website: This expansion to the base game will add two additional decks of cards. One deck, the Intrigue deck, adds new mechanics for acting against your opponents. Create a trade pact and exchange resources or hire privateers to hamper his production. Use spies to sabotage, steal and misdirect. The second deck introduces races and racial modifiers to the game. Each player will draw a race card at the start of a game which will then alter the rules for that player according to the races special abilities and special penalties.