At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba’s imports.

John F. Kennedy, October 1960

The United States had extensive financial interests in Cuba and had initially supported Batista’s regime against the revolutionary forces, until it imposed an arms embargo in March 1958. As Kennedy himself admitted in a pre-election speech in 1960, Cubans had legitimate grievances against the US, but it initially seemed like reconciliation with the new regime might be possible. However, as the pace of agrarian reform intensified US-Cuban relations began to sour, and in October 1960 a new embargo on non-essential exports to Cuba was declared – this embargo, in Cuba called el bloque (the blockade) is still in place today. Plans to overthrow the Castro regime were secretly initiated by Eisenhower and then inherited by Kennedy, leading to the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961 and subsequent infiltration and assassination attempts. The United States faction in Resisting Revolution represents hardliners within the US government, military, and intelligence services who are determined to overthrow Castro and prevent the Soviet Union from establishing permanent military bases on the island. In this article I will outline some key features of the United States faction and their new menu of Operations and Special Activities.

The design of the United States and Soviet Union factions in Resisting Revolution takes inspiration from the recently released Sovereign of Discord (designed by Stephen Rangazas), which features two ‘foreign sponsor’ factions with less board presence but their own tracks and other special rules. Factions of this kind must work closely with their local ally, encouraging more negotiation between players than in other games where even allied factions are able to operate relatively independently from one another. In Resisting Revolution both of these factions possess ‘Escalation’ tracks, which represent how much attention and resources their respective governments are currently willing to spend on Cuba. The number of spaces they can select for Operations is constrained by the track value instead of Resources, and more pieces for each faction are unlocked as their Escalation increases. The US Escalation track also unlocks additional Guerrilla and Base pieces for the Resistance, as Cuban exile organizations relied heavily on US sponsorship. Each track can be raised and lowered in different ways, but if either the United States or Soviet Union passes, they must reduce their own Escalation and may be able to reduce their opponent’s Escalation – during this tense period of the Cold War they must keep up pressure in order maintain their current level of activity, or else foreign policy doves may seek to de-escalate the situation.

As an ‘external’ faction, the United States has only three Operations to choose from, all making use of their small number of Cells. Infiltrate allows them to place Cells in Provinces or move Cells to adjacent spaces, and can also be used to place Guerrillas (US-trained exiles) and increase Resistance Resources (although in exchange the United States player might require cooperation from their local ‘partner’). Sabotage allows them to use Cells to reduce Support and place Sabotage counters, or to provoke Guerrillas into launching local uprisings (the latter is less reliable but also requires less preparation). Finally, they can use Cells to Agitate and increase Opposition in spaces with Sabotage or Terror counters. The United States’ objective is to undermine the Cuban government with a combination of Sabotage and Opposition, and so their basic approach is fairly straightforward: infiltrate cells, sabotage industrial and agricultural targets, and agitate the local population.

The two Special Activities available to the United States faction represent more advanced capacities of their intelligence services and military. First, they are able to Reconnoiter spaces with Government Leaders or any Soviet pieces, removing (exfiltrating) Cells or Guerrillas in order to place Intel counters that allow them to reroll dice, increase their Escalation level, and impede Soviet victory. At higher Escalation levels they can instead use spy planes to place Intel counters, although this will require a roll against the Soviet Escalation level in order to evade radar and anti-air installations. Second, they are able to utilize the euphemistically named ‘Executive Action’, either to carry out assassination attempts on Government targets or, at higher Escalation levels, to launch air strikes against Soviet Bases (possibly provoking a backlash and increasing Soviet Escalation). Both types of Executive Action require a die roll to succeed, so a cautious player will want to Reconnoiter their target first. Both also both place Terror counters, providing fuel for Agitate Operations as US agents are able to capitalise on any damage caused. The United States therefore has several options available to deploy against the Cuban government, ranging from infiltration and economic sabotage to assassination attempts and even air strikes. In the fourth and final article in this series we will look at how the Soviet Union faction is able to pursue their own regional interests in Cuba.

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Previous Articles:

Resisting Revolution: The Government

Resisting Revolution: The Resistance