Start

After the session officially starts, players are spawned with the following stats:

• The dealer's initial level-1 tile and capital is at the center of the map, while the others spawn on level-1 tiles at the four corners of the map;
• Each player is given 5 infantries at the capital tile;
• The dealer starts with 6 gems, while the others each start with 5 gems;
• The dealer starts with 5 gold while the others start with 2;
• All players start with 2 attack points, but the dealer can store a maximum of 3.

As you can see, the dealer has a slight advantage. In addition to being geographically better poised for diplomacy, the dealer starts with more gems and gold. It comes with a tradeoff though — being surrounded by the other players, the dealer is often more vulnerable to attacks.