As I write this, the preorders placed on All Bridges Burning have just been charged and the game is due to begin to ship within the next few weeks.

In the last few InsideGMT articles on All Bridges Burning, we looked at the game’s solitaire system in action (see those articles here, here, and here). In the course of the next few posts, we shall go through the base game commands and special activities to hopefully help gamers ease into playing the game with minimum effort.

Let’s begin the series with a look at one of the most central of all commands in the game, the Rally command.

Rally Command

The function of a Rally is to place new force pieces onto the map. In All Bridges Burning we call the familiar octagon-shaped pieces cells. The board spaces into which pieces may be placed are towns and provinces.

Key to understanding the intricacies of game play in All Bridges Burning, just like in all of the COIN Series, is understanding the conditions under which pieces of particular factions ―and how many of them― may be placed in a given space.

In All Bridges Burning, the chief determinant with regard to Rally is the space’s Support-Neutral-Opposition status. The white Senate faction benefits from Support, the Reds from Opposition, and the Moderates from the Neutral status.

More specifically, starting from placing one cell as a kind of “base allowance”, for each level of Support in the selected space the Senate may place one additional cell of theirs in the space ―thus, one for Passive, two for Active Support. For example, in a space with Active Support, the Senate would be entitle to place three cells: 1 “base allowance”, +1 for each of the two levels of Support, so three in total. In a space with Passive Support, the Senate places two cells, and, finally, in a Neutral space, just one cell. For the Reds, the mechanic is the same except for substituting Opposition for Support. We will talk about the Moderates below.

Thus, key to getting better at assembling large armies is manipulating the spaces’ level of Support and Opposition. Conversely, if you want to keep the opponent small in a given space, adjusting the Support and Opposition levels is key.

Note that placed cells come from the faction’s Available Forces box and are always placed on the map with the symbol-side down. If the faction no longer has available cells, they may first remove any of their cells from the map back to Available and immediately place them in the selected Rally space. Keep this rule in mind ―you are likely to use it.

Now, unlike some other volumes in the COIN Series, no space can be made complete out of bounds for enemy Rallies. That is to say, for example, even if a space had Active Support, the Reds could still select that space as a Rally location. However, actually getting to place cells in such a space would be relatively costly for the Reds. Let me explain.

All Bridges Burning has a so-called offsetting rule. That is, where each level of Support boosts the Senate Rally by allowing them to place an additional cell there, conversely, each level of Opposition in the space means Senate place one cell less there. For the Reds, the opposite again applies. In this context, offsetting means, the Rallying faction may pay each resources to offset the negative effect of Support/Opposition in the Rally space. Offsetting neutralizes the negative effects.

For example, in an Active Opposition space, the Senate Rally there would cost three resources and place just one cell. The total cost consists of: one resource for covering the “base allowance”, then two more resources, one each for offsetting each of the two levels of Opposition in the selected space.

The math for the number of cells placed in the selected space goes as follows: one cell for the “base allowance”, minus two cells, one for each of the two levels of Opposition. Offsetting is therefore necessary for Senate to get to place any cells at all in an Opposition space.

One more thing. Alongside the Support-Opposition level of a space, any Terror markers placed there by the Terror command of an opposing faction reduces the number of cells to be placed by one. There are Red and White Terror markers in All Bridges Burning. The offsetting rule applies here as well: resources may be paid to offset the reducing effect of enemy Terror.

For the Moderates, the above rules apply as follows. The Moderates prefer Neutral spaces, as each level of Support or Opposition decreases the number of to-be-placed Moderates cells by one ―as with Senate and the Reds, offsetting with resources is allowed. Moderates, however, completely ignore the effects of Terror markers.

For the Reds, the Rally command offers an option that the other factions do not have. Instead of placing cells, in one selected Rally space the command may be used to replace two Reds cells with one Reds Administration disc.

Note that just like with cells, if no Administration discs are Available, the Reds player may remove an on-map Administration to Available and immediately place it elsewhere. The Reds player is going to be making use of this rule often, so take careful note of it.

Finally, all players should note that the number of spaces that the Reds and Senate Rally command may select depends, one to one, on the level of Polarization. Thus, if Polarization is “3”, only three Rally spaces may be selected. That said, the rule also is that always at least two Rally spaces may be selected, regardless of the Polarization level.

Prepare Special Activity

Prepare is a special activity used by the Reds and Senate to prepare for war. There are two kinds of preparations these factions may engage in with this special activity.

One use is to place a Prepared marker in one selected space. The only requirement is that the selected space contains a friendly cell.

The Prepared markers are held in the Capabilities box on the map (or if you prefer, just place the markers next to the board somewhere). Important is that there is a fixed number of these markers in play, namely, three. The markers are double-sided, one red for the Reds to use, one white side for Senate to use.

What are these markers good for? A Prepared marker protects one friendly cell from removal through Terror and, if Attacked, affords the defenders extra Strength in defense.

The second use of the Prepare special activity is to sabotage, or to remove sabotage, from railway lines. Railways are used by the powerful Trains capability markers, the movement of which Sabotage of railways stops, literally on its tracks.

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Previous Article Series: All Bridges Burning Solitaire System (Parts 1-3)