This is our third installment in a series going through the commands and special activities of the newly released COIN Series game, All Bridges Burning, Volume X. If you would like to read the previous two installments, they can be found here.

Terror

At first sight, the Terror command may seem familiar from many other previous COIN Series volumes, yet Terror in All Bridges Burning is quite unlike its cousins of the same name.

For historical reasons explained in detail in a previous InsideGMT article, the function of Terror in All Bridges Burning is to remove enemies. At the same time it leaves a history of Terror in the space of its occurrence. The Terror markers raise the cost of opposing Rally commands in the space thereby representing the intimidating effect of acts of Terror.

Terror is a command available to the Reds and Senate factions. Any spaces with a friendly, active cell may be selected. This means, Terror opportunities need to be set up by first activating friendly cells using the Activism command. The cost is one resource per selected space (including one resource if the Political Display is selected, of which more below).

Terror removes a single enemy, unless Polarization is at “6” or more, in which case Terror removes two enemies. As is familiar from elsewhere in the COIN Series, first all cells of the faction must be removed from a space before Administrations (red discs belonging to the Reds), Networks (blue discs belonging to the Moderates) or the Personality marker (of the Moderates) may begin to be removed. Removed pieces and the Personality go back to the piece owner’s Available Forces box.

If the Personality marker was removed, the Moderates must transfer three resources to the faction who removed the marker. Going after the Moderates’ Personality represents one of the ways the Reds and Senate may try to prevent the Moderates from reaching their victory threshold of having 15 or more resources.

Next, do remember to place one Terror marker in each Terror space. The Reds place Red Terror markers, Senate places White Terror. Keep in mind the stacking limit of two Terror markers, of any color, per space. If more Terror markers are due to be placed, simply ignore the placement.

Engaging in acts of Terror increases the level of Polarization as recorded on the Polarization track. As explained in a previous InsideGMT entry, excessively high Polarization may came to haunt players in the end game as too high levels will ultimately prevent victory (see the game’s victory conditions for more information).

Importantly, Polarization increases if and only if a Terror marker is placed in the space. And as noted above, if the stacking limit of Terror markers in the space has already been reached, no further markers can be placed, and therefore Terror in the space also does not increase Polarization.

Just to be clear, if the Terror command occurs in multiple spaces, Polarization increases by one for each of Terror marker placed during the execution of those commands. Note that the increase is applied only at the very end of the action. This means, if Polarization increases to six or more, the increased efficiency of Terror to remove enemies does not yet apply during the same command when Terror is conducted in a different space. It only applies whenever the Terror command is selected again, possibly by a different faction.

Note also that the Terror command may target the “political process” going on in the Political Display. That is to say, the Political Display contains political cubes and one of those can be removed by selecting the Political Display as the Terror target. No Terror marker is placed in the display and therefore also no Polarization increase is applied.

Finally, keep in mind that Terror may not remove troops, that is, Terror may not remove Russians or Germans. Also, the presence of a friendly Prepared marker (see a previous InsideGMT article) and any Capability marker protect the removal of the last cell of the marker owning faction in the space. Thematically, Terror would intimidate in civilian and political contexts, while military forces would not be similarly affected.

Foreign Relations

Foreign Relations is a funny little special activity that you may not be using often, but when you use it, the occasion often has momentous consequences for where the game is headed.

The function of this special activity is to adjust the level of foreign vassalage ―for the Reds it is the Russian Vassalage marker, for Senate the German Vassalage. Late in the game, the aim will be to decrease foreign involvement such that this part of the Reds and Senate victory conditions can be met.

Earlier in the game, the aim usually is the opposite: dial up friendly foreign involvement just a little to keep the pressure on the opponent. The level of German and Russian involvement determines the number of troops those non-player sides have on the map, which may help the Reds and Senate in their military campaigns against one other.

Inspecting the details of the procedure, you will notice that it is a lot cheaper ―in fact free!― to give the devil the small finger and increase foreign involvement. However, decreasing it is expensive.

The rule is, to decrease foreign Vassalage, you’ll be rolling 1d6 trying to roll at or below a target value. The target value starts at zero, to which each one resource spent adds a +2. The more you spend, the easier will it be to roll at or below the target value. If you wish to make the decrease a certainty, you have to pay three resources to bring the target value up to “6”. Anything below that is a gamble ―which you may occasionally be inclined to take. Note, finally, that you may only increase or decrease the foreign Vassalage that is friendly to your faction. Senate adjusts the German Vassalage and the Reds the Russian Vassalage.

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Previous Articles: 

All Bridges Burning: Examples of Play to Keep the Doctor Away #1: Rally + Prepare

All Bridges Burning: Examples of Play to Keep the Doctor Away #2: Activism + Political Event