As we speak, All Bridges Burning is all finished and the components have been sent to the printer. The wait is almost over!

In a range of previous InsideGMT articles we spent a great deal of time looking at the game’s treatment of the Finnish Civil War. Alongside that, a series of event card spoilers were published in the Player’s Aid blog (links to the event card spoilers can be found here).

In the present article, we will look in detail at the solitaire system for All Bridges Burning. We do so by continuing the non-player example of play to be contained in the Playbook of the game. Once you have received your copy of the game, this article can serve as a further learning resource when using the game’s solitaire system. I plan to continue to play through this example of play in a series of future posts.

However, before we get on with the example of play, let’s talk a little bit about the solitaire system.

First a Little Bit of History

The COIN non-players ―or the bots, as they are commonly called― have by now a longer and intricate development history.

It all began with the series creator Volvo Ruhnke’s original and innovative bots for Andean Abyss. Soon the “botman” Örjan Ariander joined the team that produced such classic bot designs as contained in Cuba Libre, Fire in the Lake, and more. I had my hand in the bots for A Distant Plain and Colonial Twilight ―in the former case I updated Volko’s original work― while Volko and Örjan handled most of the other bots in the series, sometimes alone, sometimes in a team with designers and playtesters.

The latest incarnation of the bots are the cards-based bots available on COIN Series volume IX, Gandhi, by Bruce Mansfield and the team. As we speak, Bruce is hard at work adapting the system for Fire in the Lake.

Solitaire with Three Factions

In All Bridges Burning, however, the solitaire system design issue had to be looked at from a slightly different angle. For the first time in the series, All Bridges Burning adapts the COIN eligibility system for three factions. This had consequences for the non-player system design.

One consequence of the three-player system is that, on the whole, the factions in the game tend to play many more limited commands ―that is, quick and short actions taken in a single space and/or with a single piece. Moreover, All Bridges Burning is a lighter COIN game, so the speed of play tends to be greater than in many of the more monumental COIN games.

My first reflex, then, when designing the solo system for All Bridges Burning, was to seek to maintain that speed of play also in solitaire play. The basic idea is, you reveal a solo card, conduct the command detailed on it ―often a limited command― and you’re done.

Putting the solo system in the cards and cards only, seemed ideal to get the job done. I wished to remove the need to consult external play aid sheets as far as I could. Apart from an occasional glance at the event instructions sheet, and the Propaganda Round procedures sheet once in a campaign, the solo cards is all you need. I hope this becomes evident in the extended example of play that comprises the rest of this post.

Non-player Example of Play

This example continues play from where the non-player example of play contained in the Playbook for All Bridges Burning stops. In the example below, all three factions are run by the solitaire system.

(Note that just like its predecessor flowcharts, the non-player cards presume the player knows the rules for the game’s actions already ―the cards do not explain the rules pertaining to the actions.)

Moderates Event

The Moderates are first eligible. The “NP to Play” marker on the current event card reminds us of the Moderates having passed earlier to pick up the current event ―this happened in the extended example of play contained in the All Bridges Burning Playbook.

The event is #8 General Strike. The text says “Resource +3. Place an Available Moderates Network anywhere”. We thus adjust the Moderates resources cylinder from “4” to “7”. The event instructions tells us to place a Network where there are the most Moderates Cells already. Within that, we are told to prefer town spaces over provinces.

These instructions pick out the town of Turku, the only space with two Moderates cells, and therefore also the space with the most Moderates. We place one blue Network disc in that town space. With that, the Moderates turn is done.

Reds Rally

The Reds are up next. Per the solitaire sequence of play, we first check whether the non-player faction wishes to play the current event ―which is impossible, as the Moderates already did so.

Alternatively, the Reds could pass to pick up the next event. However, the next event, #19 Political Struggle, has no non-player symbols for Reds, nor is it a Capability event, each of which would potentially trigger a pass. The Reds therefore default to conducting a command instead.

The Reds will be playing a limited command only. A key rule of the solitaire system for All Bridges Burning is, non-players only play a full command with a special activity if the bot faction is last eligible on that card.

To find out which command the Reds bot chooses, we are to draw a Reds non-player card. Each non-player power has its own mini-deck of non-player cards containing action instructions.

The card drawn is #49 Activism, named after the command it details. The green condition on the card has us roll a 1d6 ―we roll a 5― and compare it to the number of currently active Reds cells on the map, which is three. The condition is met. However, the second condition is not met, namely, that there are no Reds Administrations without Reds cells on the map ―for there is one such Administration there, in Uusimaa. We discard the Activism card and draw again.

The second non-player Reds card is #48 Rally. The first priority on this card is to secure any unprotected Administrations. Uusimaa is therefore selected as the Rally target space and three Reds cells placed there. This concludes the Reds play already.

Senate Rally + Prepare

The last eligible faction to play is the Senate. As the last eligible faction, they will be looking to conduct a full command with a special activity. Remember that the non-player card drawn and the situation on the board might always lead them to conducting a limited command instead.

As with the Reds, in absence of relevant non-player symbols on the cards, the current and the upcoming events are of no interest to the non-player Senate this time.

We proceed to drawing a non-player Senate card. The first card we get is the Terror card, but knowing that there are no active Senate cells on the map, and that per the base game rules, an active cell is needed for conducting Terror, we proceed straight to drawing a new card.

The second card we get is #54 Rally. The card’s green top conditions are met ―it is Phase I and there are Senate cells available. Therefore, we proceed to Rally. The preliminaries state that the Senate is to Rally in up to three spaces. As a mnemonic aid for ourselves, let’s grab three pawns, place them on the map as we select spaces below, and so we’ll know when we’ve hit the three spaces limit.

Looking at the Rally card we note that the first priority will trigger only if a 1 or 2 is rolled. We roll 1d6 ―it is a 3, so there is no action on this priority this time.

The second priority is to Rally such as to create Senate control in a space with one or more population. Looking at the map, the only space where this is possible is Varsinais-Suomi. Let’s mark the space with one of the pawns and place a single Senate cell there. (The number of cells placed in the Rally space is dictated by the rules of the base game.)

The third Rally priority tells us to seek to create Senate control in a zero population space, and within that, preferably Mikkelin lääni, if it is not already Senate controlled. Rallying there will indeed establish Senate control in that space, so Mikkeli becomes our second Rally space.

We’ve got one more pawn to place. The fourth Rally priority targets a support space with less than three Senate cells there. There are two such spaces on the map right now (Vaasa and Pohjanmaa), so we select one randomly: Pohjanmaa. Two Senate cells are placed there. This concludes the Rally part of the Senate action.

To find a special activity to go with a command, just look further down on the non-player command card you have just drawn. On the Rally card, right below the Rally priorities, the first listed special activity is Foreign Relations. The green condition for that special activity is fulfilled ―German vassalage is at three. Of the priorities that follow, the second priority can be attempted to be conducted, subject to a die roll. So, we roll a die ―a 3 again. Therefore, no action occurs on this point.

We therefore move on to the next listed special activity, Prepare. There is no sabotage on the map, so we may move straight to the second priority: we are to place a Prepared marker in a town closest to Helsinki. This would include Helsinki itself. Since there is a Senate cell in Helsinki, per the base game rules, the Prepare special activity is possible there.

We place a Prepared marker showing the white Senate side with the cell in Helsinki. Available Prepared markers can be held in the capabilities box on the map. There is a fixed number of them in play ―three― and each marker has two sides: one red, the other white. Also keep in mind that the general priorities listed in the rules of play for non-players specify that a non-player will never place a second Prepared marker of their own color in one and the same space. Helsinki will thus never receive a second red Prepared marker ―unless the newly placed marker is removed in the course of play, of course.

This concludes the Senate turn and, with that, also the round. Per the base game rules, we now adjust the eligibility order, discard the current event, then reveal a new one.

We will continue the playthrough in the next installment.

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