In a lot of ways, the Congress Faction represents the heart of the game. Gandhi himself was a major player in the movement and many of the founding principles of the game developed out of building a system around nonviolent resistance. Playing Congress will feel unlike any other COIN faction you’ve played before, for their aim is to persuade, not destroy, their opponents.

Congress is the only Faction in Gandhi that has a single victory condition to focus on: Total Opposition. But don’t let that seemingly simple goal fool you. To achieve that they must lock down spaces with Protests, convince the local populace to stand up against injustice, use Gandhi wisely by sending him where he’s most needed, and keep those pesky violent Revolutionaries at bay. And those are just a few of their troubles.

For this edition of The Gandhi Chronicles, we will take a close look at the Congress Operations Civil Disobedience (to place Protests) and Non-Cooperation (to shift Opposition), as well as their Special Activities Satyagraha (to move Gandhi). These Ops + SAs can do more than that, but this is what we will focus on in this article.

Protests are the lifeblood of the Congress Faction; for one thing they allow Non-Cooperation to build Opposition, which is their sole victory condition. But Protests can do a lot more. Congress may select spaces with Protests to perform their Operations, in addition to selecting spaces up to Restraint and/or with Gandhi. Protests lock Raj cubes in place, preventing them from moving out of a Protest space. If placed on a Railway, they convert to a Strike during Campaign Rounds and deny Raj valuable Resources. As you can see, they are Congress’s most important tool.

Let’s create a few game situations. It’s early in this game and not many Protests are out. Restraint is hovering at 2, and Congress wants to get more Protests on the map to allow them more spaces to Operate in future turns.

Since Restraint is 2, Congress may select two spaces to perform Civil Disobedience, which places much needed Protests. Since their initial aim is to spread across India they select Punjab in the northwest and Bombay Presidency in the south. This will allow them to Operate in more areas and provides access to valuable Railways nearby, possibly denying the Raj Faction the Resources it needs. In Punjab, the three Raj cubes are now stuck there until the Protest is removed.

Adding a Protest to the Muslim space of Punjab may add to the Muslim League’s victory level if the space moves toward Opposition, but being early in the game Congress is more interested in locking down Raj cubes and taking away Raj control of Punjab—the Protest marker there Activates all Activists, even the Muslim League one. Raj Control is very dangerous in the early game because they start the Main scenario with many spaces already at Support. Congress and the Muslim League would do well to work together early on to prevent a premature Raj victory.

Congress now decides to use Satyagraha as their Special Activity, for they need Gandhi to help a developing situation in the south. During earlier play, the Revolutionaries had been quietly spreading throughout India, a sure sign that an explosion of Unrest is iminent. If timed correctly, the Revolutionaires can blast a series of Unrest Operations and send India into Crisis by dropping both Restraint and, if they use their Assassinate Special Activity, Unity as well. Doing that will free up more spaces for them to wreak havoc and increase their chance for victory. To put a brake on that and open another space for future Congress Operations (remember, Congress can Operate in spaces with Gandhi) they use Satyagrahato send Gandhi to Madras Presidency in the deep south and remove the Unrest marker there.

Several turns later, Congress is first up again. With a tasty event for the Raj, and the Raj second up this turn, they choose to perform an Op Only thereby denying the Raj the ability to choose the event. With several spaces in Protest, it’s a perfect time for some Non-Cooperation to build Opposition and increase their victory level.

Congress selects United Provinces, Punjab, Bombay Presidency and Bihar. These spaces qualify for Non-Cooperation because they are all free of Raj Control, have a Congress Activist, and have a Protest marker. Each space shifts 1 level towards Active Opposition. In this example, all the spaces except Bombay Presidency have increased Congress’s victory. In Bombay Presidency, they took Passive Support away from the Raj. And Opposition in Punjab, a Muslim space, also adds to the Muslim League victory level. This will have to happen from time to time depending on the board state and table cooperation between the Nonviolent Faction players.

The above play is just a taste of what Congress can do with their Nonviolent Operations and Special Activities. The combinations are beautiful to see unfold and once you have your copy of Gandhi setup on your table you’ll be free to explore this fascinating game space.

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Next Article in this Series: The Gandhi Chronicles #6: Playing the Muslim League in Gandhi — Operations and Special Activities