COIN (board game)
COIN is a series of multiplayer asymmetric strategy board wargames simulating historic insurgency and counter-insurgency conflicts and irregular warfare throughout the world. It is published by GMT Games. It consists of the main series of games, numbered as volumes, and the spinoff Irregular Conflicts series games, which are not numbered and which apply the game mechanics and counterinsurgency framing of the main series to events that would not be traditionally described as insurgencies.
The series has been noted for its innovative and dynamic gameplay, compared to more traditional hex-and-counter two-player wargames.
Game
COIN games simulate past and ongoing historical insurgencies and counter-insurgencies with up to four players controlling a different faction, each with unique play styles and winning conditions. All games in the COIN series share the same underlying system first found in Andean Abyss, the original game of the series, designed by game designer and CIA national security analyst Volko Ruhnke.COIN games use variable turn order. For example, in Andean Abyss, players draw from a deck of event cards to decide the order in which factions take turns. Meanwhile, in Colonial Twilight, one player holds the initiative until that player performs an action that gives the initiative to the other player. In addition to event cards, the games use mechanics like area control and opportunity cost to represent factors such as winning hearts and minds, lines of communication, and government legitimacy.
Non-player rules are included for each faction, enabling a non-player-controlled faction to participate in the game based on a predetermined set of actions. The earlier COIN games used flowcharts to determine non-player procedures, while games in the series since Gandhi have included a small deck of cards with non-player actions.
| Volume | Title | Published | Conflict |
| I | Andean Abyss | 2012 | Colombian conflict |
| II | Cuba Libre | 2013 | Cuban Revolution |
| III | A Distant Plain | 2013 | War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) |
| IV | Fire in the Lake | 2014 | Vietnam War |
| V | Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection | 2016 | American Revolutionary War |
| VI | Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Ceasar | 2016 | Gallic Wars |
| VII | Colonial Twilight: The French-Algerian War, 1954-62 | 2017 | Algerian War |
| VIII | Pendragon: The Fall of Roman Britain | 2017 | End of Roman rule in Britain |
| IX | Gandhi: The Decolonization of British India, 1917-1947 | 2018 | Indian independence movement |
| X | All Bridges Burning: Red Revolt and White Guard in Finland, 1917–1918 | 2020 | Finnish Civil War |
| N/A | The British Way: Counterinsurgency at the End of Empire | 2023 | British decolonization |
| XI | People Power: Insurgency in the Philippines, 1981-1986 | 2023 | People Power Revolution |
| XII | Red Dust Rebellion | 2024 | Fictional conflict following colonization of Mars |
| XIII | China's War 1937-41 | forthcoming | Second Sino-Japanese War |
| XIV | The Pure Land: Ōnin War in Muromachi Japan, 1465-1477 | forthcoming | Warring States Period |
| XV | A Fading Star: Insurgency and Piracy in Somalia | forthcoming | Somali civil war c. 2007 |
| Published | Title | Subject matter |
| 2024 | Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India, 1290-1398 | Founding of the Vijayanagara Empire |
| 2024 | A Gest Of Robin Hood | Robin Hood legend |
| 2024 | Cross Bronx Expressway | Mid-20th-century New York urban development |
| forthcoming | Echo from the Dark | Fictional conflict following the invention of faster-than-light travel |