Gandhi includes a brand new Solitaire system, called Arjuna, that replaces the flowcharts that have become a staple of the COIN Series. Players who play COIN Solitaire have asked many questions about how the system works – and don’t fear! – COIN Series Developer Jason Carr is here to walk through the design, ergonomics, and play of Arjuna. This installment shows Arjuna in action in the late campaign.

With the Campaign card lurking in the deck, and my Raj first Eligible, let’s consider the Victory Conditions when playing with Arjuna. Unlike a regular game of Gandhi, a Solitaire player can never win the game before the final campaign card; in other words, I can only win by both preventing all the other Factions from winning early and winning on the Final card due to margin of Victory. So while my Raj is in good shape, and likely to be above my Victory Condition when the first Campaign comes up, that won’t be enough for me to win. So, I need to be thinking about the longer term implications of my movements when playing.

Establishing Control across India was a good decision for this Campaign, but it’s unlikely to be sustainable during a full game of Gandhi, so I would like to generate as much Support as possible to create a better base for the Raj in future Campaigns. To that end, I take the Event – it lets me remove Protest or Unrest from up to two spaces and shift those spaces towards Support for fewer Resources than using Imperialism. I select East Bengal, removing Protest and paying to shift to Support, then I select West Bengal, removing Protest and paying to shift to Neutral. Not the most Earth-shattering play, but it will slow down both NV Factions in addition to helping me.

The Revolutionaries pass to try to take advantage of the upcoming Critical Event, Nankana Massacre Stuns India. But, before they can play the next card – Campaign! – a Campaign card is revealed and immediately becomes the Current card. We pause to execute a Campaign round. Here is the state of the map immediately before the Campaign:

Campaign instructions for Arjuna are on the back of the Sequence of Play – the player simply follows the Campaign Round on the Sequence of Play, flipping to the back whenever Arjuna has to make a decision. First, we check if anyone has won – keeping in mind the modified Non-player Victory conditions – and since no Arjuna-controlled Faction is at their Victory Condition, nobody has won. Next, we place Strike markers on all Railways with Protest markers (none), more Activist with cubes (there are 2), and any Railways adjacent to uncontrolled Cities (none). Now we award Raj resources equal to the Econ value of all Railways without Strikes. 11 Econ worth of Railways are blocked by Strikes, so Raj gains an additional 29 resources. These are added to the remaining 11 Resources from the previous Campaign, to a total of 40. I then have to pay 2 Resources for each piece in Jail, so I pay 10 Resources. Since NP Revolutionaries do not use Resources, we skip the next step. 

Next is the Support Phase. As the Raj I can conduct Imperialism for a max of 2 shifts in up to 4 Cities and Provinces that I Control, and have both Troops and Sepoys. For each space I select I have to release 2 Activists from Jail. Since I just paid to keep them there, I will choose to shift no spaces. Now Congress, then the Muslim League, can shift spaces up to Unity, with their own pieces and no Raj Control, 2 levels towards Active Opposition. Congress gets to choose first, and if they don’t shift Unity spaces, then the Muslim League may select the remaining spaces. There’s one eligible space, Punjab, which receives 2 shifts.

Next the Muslim League places a Base in a space without Raj Control. The Muslim League can consider States with this decision, and does, selecting Jammu & Kashmir for the new Base. Finally, the Revolutionaries place a base following the same constraints – they select from among the Princely States without cubes, per their Place Base column. The Random Spaces Map selects Mysore. Now we redeploy.

First we appoint the new Viceroy. All Hail Lord Chelmsford! His special ability will make my Assault Operations less expensive. Then I may move my Troops to Cities, and then remove all but 1 of them from each City (they go home to Britain, or are deployed elsewhere in the Empire). I can leave Troops in a province but must pay 2 Resources for each Troop left outside a city. I opt to leave my pieces as they are and pay 4 Resources for the Troops in Punjab and East Bengal, as insurance.

Congress must redeploy the Activist on the Railway, and may also relocate their pieces to any spaces without Raj Control. There are limited options since the Raj Controls so much of the map, but Congress redeploys as such:

• Since Bihar is at Active Opposition, the Activists there move to Punjab, Central India Agency, and Orissa (1 Pop spaces with the most support).
• The Activist on the Railway moves to Jammu and Kashimir (Selected Randomly from among Neutral 1 Pop spaces since all 1 Pop spaces without Raj Control, and with Support, already have an Activist).
• Gandhi does not move.

Now the Muslim League Redeploys; only the Activist on the Railway needs to be moved, and it travels to Punjab. Last the Revolutionaries Redeploy, moving 1 Guerrilla from East Bengal to the new Base in Mysore, and 2 Guerrillas to Punjab.

Looks like Punjab is going to be a hot spot.

Finally, we reset the Campaign. Note two things that are special about Arjuna. First, we shuffle the Arjuna deck, changing up the combinations of cards we can expect to see. Secondly, we place a single Protest in a space Congress selects using their Place Protests column. This gives Arjuna a small edge in the next campaign, allowing Congress to begin with a little more flexibility. So, Congress places a Protest in United Provinces.

Thanks for reading along with our Campaign of Gandhi. I hope it has inspired you to play the game with the Arjuna System, and that it brings you long hours of enjoyment. Next week, we will close out this series with a look back at how we designed the Arjuna system, and some practical tips for organizing your physical space when playing Gandhi.

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Previous Article in this Series: The Arjuna Chronicles #9: Simla Conference Divides India

Next Article in this Series: The Arjuna Chronicles #11: Arjuna Wrap Up and Design Notes