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 early-mid campaign.

Our campaign is well underway, and the Muslim League is first Eligible on Great Bengal Famine. Up to now, only the Raj (me) has executed any Events, but that’s about to change! Let’s quickly review how Arjuna decides whether to execute the event:

Since the Muslim League is first Eligible, they use the top half of the NP Eligibility chart. The first question is whether the Current Event is Critical and effective. To determine if an Event Card is critical, we examine the row of Faction Icons that grace the top of each Event Card. Here’s the card for Great Bengal Famine:

Note the Arrows and Rifles under the Faction Icons? That indicates that if Arjuna is controlling that Faction, it should consider this Event to be a Critical Event. Each Event has different Factions that consider it to be Critical. In some cases, no Factions consider the Event to be Critical; in the case of Great Bengal Famine, all Factions consider the Event to be Critical! Must be quite the Event! Note that all Arjuna Factions except the Raj will implement the shaded Event text unless the card has a light border around their Icon, indicating they should implement the unshaded text.

The choice of Arrows and Rifles is a bit of flavor – the Arrow is a callback to Arjuna, the master archer of the Mahabharata, and the Rifle is a reminder that the Raj and Revolutionary Factions are willing to resort to violence to achieve their ends.

Now we know that Great Bengal Famine is a Critical Event for the Muslim League, but is it an effective Event? How would we know? In previous COIN Series games, there were instructions for each Event provided on a separate card, which gave instructions on how to implement the Event text; Gandhi dispenses with these entirely; instead each Event text is able to be implemented using the same Space Selection Priorities charts as Operations! But that does leave the possibility of an Event being executed that has no effect, or an effect that is undesirable for the executing Faction. So, each Event is checked before being implemented to see if it is effective.

This is a snippet from a chart provided on the player aid (edited to show only ML). So, let’s consider the Event Text and see whether the event is effective: “In 2 spaces with Raj Control, either set each space to Passive Opposition or add 1 Unrest marker to each.” We can ignore the second option, because that would definitely make the Event ineffective; instead let’s see if there are (exactly!) 2 spaces with Raj Control that we can set to Passive Opposition:

Again, note that the Muslim League will only execute the event if there are Muslim spaces it can set to Passive Opposition using the Event (thereby adding Muslim Opposition). Right away we see that Baluchistan, Northwest Frontier, Punjab, and Assam all have Raj Control and can have Opposition added, so the Event is effective. Now we use the appropriate column in the Muslim League Space Selection Priorities chart to select from among those spaces: the “Shift to Opposition” column. Note that the Event doesn’t tell us what column to use – usually this is straightforward enough that players can determine it quickly – but the correct column is listed in the Rulebook if there is any doubt.

The Muslim League first selects Punjab because it is a 2-Pop space, then randomly between the remaining spaces, selecting Northwest Frontier. Now the Revolutionaries are Eligible. Since the Event has already been chosen, the Revolutionaries will take an Operation with Special Activity. They reveal Arjuna card Y, and because so many of their Guerrillas are Active, they flip it to the YY side. On this card, the Revolutionaries perform the Aid Special Activity before performing the Unrest Operation.

The first instruction for Aid directs the Revolutionaries to Go Underground in 2 spaces, selected appropriately enough, using the Go Underground column. That column directs the Revolutionaries to select 2-Pop spaces without Unrest (and an Active Guerilla, of course), and there happen to be 2 of those: Bombay Presidency and United Provinces. The Active Guerilla in each space is flipped Underground. Since we always only execute one of the lettered Special Activity instructions, the Revolutionaries are ready for some Unrest.

Unsurprisingly, the Revolutionaries are going to target the same spaces they just prepared for Unrest by flipping Guerrillas Underground. The Place Unrest column prioritizes spaces without Unrest, with 2-Pop, and the most Guerrillas. There are 3 such spaces (United Provinces, Bihar, and Bombay Presidency); assigning probabilities and rolling a die, the Revolutionaries first select Bombay Presidency. After placing an Unrest marker and flipping the Guerrilla there to Active, the Revolutionaries check if they continue the Unrest Operation by rolling against card YY’s Activation Number of 3. With a roll of 1, the Revolutionaries stop their Operation after only one space – this actually makes sense in our game, as the Revolutionaries in a multiplayer game would start with few resources and hoard them until the opportune moment. This is not the opportune moment since the Revolutionaries are far from their Victory Condition and the Raj are flushed with cash. After completing their Unrest Operation, they also decrease Restraint by 1, giving the Raj a freer hand.

With that, the card is over, and we continue next week with Sarojini Naidu Inspires the Masses.

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