So yesterday I played through my first COIN game from a physical sense. I have played Cuba Libre on Vassal but not had a chance to play a copy on the table. I know most people recommend Cuba Libre as a start. Having played it before, I decided that Colonial Twilight would be a good start. Mainly due to the fact that it is only 2 factions to track manually without Vassal to lean on.
System Overview
So for anyone who might not be aware COIN is an acronym for COunter-INsurgency, and follows a series of games by GMT Games and created by Volko Rhunke which focus on irregular conflicts: insurgencies, insurrections, and the other atypical conflicts. Most war games focus on two armies facing off in a battlefield. The COIN system, which started with Andean Abyss focused on Columbia of the 90’s and early 2000’s. And focuses on the government’s attempts to fight several factions for control. It is definitely on my list to get to eventually.
Colonial Twilight is actually the seventh volume of the popular series. I believe volume ten is the newest that has been released with All Bridges Burning. GMT has volumes planned up to fourteen I believe. That is without counting the four pack British Way in the works. This game however, focuses on the French Algerian War between 1954 and 1962 as the Algerians fought for independence. This game was designed by Brian Train. He worked on Volume Three’s A Distant Plain focusing on Afghanistan of the 2003-2012. Brian has a future installment, China’s War 1937-1941, in the works as well.
Game Overview
So what makes Colonial Twilight so interesting? Those that have played before are probably yelling at their screen right now. The vast majority of COIN games have four main factions, with a couple three player games out there. Colonial Twilight’s uniqueness is that there are only two factions: The French Government and the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN). This two player COIN really felt like a less intimidating place to go over the mechanics without feeling overwhelmed. As one might imagine the two factions felt as one might imagine: the French Government starts with more resources, ability to rally local government and police to assist with the insurgents and can quickly move forces around the map.
The French player relies on essentially 4 main units: French troops and police and Algerian troops and police. The main difficulty is at first most of the actual French units start the game out of play. This limits the ability for the French player to do much in the early game. During the propaganda round however there is an ability for the French player to move troops and French police to available, but this comes at a cost of the French people’s commitment to the war.
As one might imagine, having your government poor more resources to an oversea fight can really drain the opinion fast. The interesting thing here is that you need more pieces to hold back the FLN from moving across the country. That said, your path to victory includes a total commitment from your own people to win. So moving those resources out can cost you and must be done carefully.
In contrast the FLN player has many guerillas to use at the start of the game. This side’s many limiting factor is resources. It also doesn’t have the ability to move forces quite as quickly around the map as the government does, but rallying and getting new pieces on the map are cheaper. The goal of the FLN is to build bases and push as many populated areas to opposition as possible.
After Action Report
The game played out very interesting. Due to my great shuffling skills I pulled the first propaganda on the second card of the game. The second propaganda felt like it was FOREVER! It must have been the last card of the next series of cards in the campaign. Given that there are 12 cards in each campaign; I’m guessing that I might have went close to 20 cards before the second propaganda came up. Needless to say, Both the FLN and the French played the last 4-5 cards passing as they expended their resources!
By the time that second propaganda came up the French had secured a victory with 36 combined support and commitment. This represents both the French government and local Algerian’s commitment to stay as a department of France and reject the FLN’s independence agenda.
FLN Perspective
Specifically through the course of the game the FLN stayed mostly on the eastern side of the country. All while their attempt at spreading was contained by the French side. The early propaganda round gave France a huge lead on resources early on. This allowed the French to get pieces to the map quickly. Then between sweep and garrison actions largely activate and remove guerrillas rather quickly. The long length of time between propaganda was a serious issue. Combined with the relatively meager starting resources it really hit hard in the mid to late rounds for the FLN. While they were able to extort the local population to gain resources, this kept their pieces visible to the government whom was able to come in and attack and remove those forces quickly.
French Perspective
France faired much better. The early boost of resources for France was vital in in training and deploying troops. It allowed liberal use the Pacify action to rally the local population. This was key in the 3 cities as they have some of the largest population. It also allowed France to move out from Oran and Algiers just enough to control and build much needed support.
The hardest part for France was learning to balance the use of troops and police. Both can identify sleeper cells, but move very differently. For the most effective use of forces, having police and troops together is key. This allows for the use of attack to remove guerrillas without placing terror.
Final Thoughts
I had a blast playing this one. It is worth mentioning that I played two handed. This is an approach as that is very common for me when learning a new game. I think this is especially helpful in COIN games given the different actions and victory conditions. It is worth noting that the the game has rules for and FLN “bot” or non-player faction for those that prefer. Perhaps I’ll eventually work up to that but for now I’d like to try my hand at this a couple more times. There were many features of the game I was not able to see by ending so quickly:
- Pivotal Events: The Game offers each side a hand of cards that can be played as pivotal events. I did use these twice: Coup d’état for the French and Suez Crisis for the FLN, but probably not to the extent that I should have, some greatly change the game
- Resettlement: The Government can eventually unlock the ability to resettle the population in a sector effectively reducing the overall population score which could negatively effect the FLN’s ability in sectors to gain opposition momentum
- Morocco and Tunisia Independence: Historically Morocco and Tunisia became independent and then became sanctuary states for the FLN with the government focusing on large efforts to block the countries from FLN border crossing and aid. This is simulated in the game via a pivotal event that can come and both areas become treated as FLN controlled sectors always in opposition.
I think I’ll let this one settle for a bit as I have a stack of games to get to, but I do plan on getting to it again very soon. Now that I’ve “cut my teeth” so to speak and have one game of experience I’m hoping to try some new strategies next time and see if I can get a little more deep into the game. Eventually I’d love to play this competitively and see how it plays against another opponent. Until then it was an enjoyable first foray into the COIN system and definitely has me excited to get some more experience with the system and explore the other games in the series. I just might have several of the forthcoming and re-print offerings on my P500 pre-order as I wrap up this post. Until next time happy gaming everyone!
