The game board is a map of the Italian Peninsula and its nearby countries, including the southeast of France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, the coasts of the Adriatic Sea, Tunis, and the Mediterranean islands Corsica and Sardinia.

Each player has a set of tokens that represent three types of military units: armies, fleets and garrisons.

Machiavelli includes two 6-sided dice that are used only with some optional or advanced rules, such as natural disasters or assassinations.

The rule book describes four official scenarios that explain the initial setup of the military units of each player.

In the 1980 book The Complete Book of Wargames, game designer Jon Freeman liked the components, commenting, "Machiavelli is one of the most attractive games available; color is rampant, and the counters, each with the particular emblem of the country involved, are spectacular."

He did note one issue, saying, "The only major lack is a system for handling religion, a prime motivating factor of the times."

"In most of the scenarios — especially those with fewer players — an initial period of land-grabbing is followed by endless turns of stalemate, as most countries assume positions of unmovable strength.

Mike Breault explained "With all this depth, richness, and historical context, Machiavelli's gameplay still flows smoothly and swiftly along.