PART 5
TURN 2, ROUND 5, USSR
Here we go…there are two more Action Rounds left in this second Turn. Let’s see what Moscow decides on this time…
Of course the Communists would have one of the more powerful US cards in his hand. And of course he’d just blow it on the Space Race track, which of COURSE gives him +2 VP. That’s now +13 VP in favor of the bloody Russians.
PART 4
TURN 2, ROUND 4, USSR
The USSR plays TRUMAN DOCTRINE, and the game prompts me to remove Influence in one country. I’m not really sure this is a bad thing…obviously, he’s playing this for its whole 1 Op, and the Event has to fire…which makes me think he doesn’t have much in the way of cards.
Volko Ruhnke is rapidly becoming one of the most-recognized strategy game designers in the US, as his COIN series is taking over the world. He’s visited with us before, in discussing A Distant Plain before its release a few years ago. He comes back for a more broad-based look at the COIN series as we ramp up for several COIN events this summer at Origins.
Volko Ruhnke: Hello GrogHeads!
GrogHeads: Hey there! Did you have any idea the COIN series was going to take off like it did when you first designed Andean Abyss? When you were working on AA, were you designing with the intent of a “system” or was it just a one-off that you were able to expand?
VR: I did not have any idea that the series would take off in the sense of popularity, as my main objective was to bring at least a few wargamers and other boardgamers into some then rather little-gamed topics regarding modern insurgency and counterinsurgency.
I did from the start envision a system and a series, and that plan was part of Andean Abyss’s appeal to Gene Billingsley from my first phone call with him to pitch the project. I can document that claim, as the original printing of Andean Abyss says “COIN Series, Volume I” right on the cover, and the ad copy played up that aspect.
PART 3
TURN 2, ROUND 3, USSR
In a dick move, the USSR player puts UN INTERVENTION out there, which means he can play another card and ignore the Event that would normally fire, if he played it solely for Ops. So that means a nice juicy US card is about to enter play.
PART 3
TURN 2, ROUND 2, USSR
(AUTHOR NOTE: I’m going to dispense with the TURN # ROUND # screenshots from here on, since it’s moot and already titled in the text.)
Looks like the USSR goes with ARAB-ISRALEI WAR for its 2 Ops, placing 1 Influence in Cameroon, Africa (gaining Control) and 1 Influence in Nicaragua (gaining Control there, too).