Folio Series 1: Shining Path

The Sendero Luminoso insurgency against the government of Peru, 1980-1995 (though it is still sputtering away today). Guerrilla fronts and cadres engage in a vicious insurgency against the government's corrupt and untrained security forces. Chrome includes narcoterrorism, the MRTA (a rival guerrilla movement), and United States support. One 17x22" area-movement map of Peru, 140 double-sided, die-cut counters, abstract troop and time scale. Originally from the Microgame Design Group, now with updated rules, counters and map.

Game Design: Brian Train

Contents:
1 8-Page Rules Book
140 half-inch full-color, die-cut counters
1 17x22 Map/Playing Surface
Charts and Tables sheet

COMPREHENSIVE EXAMPLE OF PLAY: A BUSY SUMMER IN LIMA

(This is intended to show players how different actions affect game variables and choices. Players may wish to set up the situation and play along with this example. No Advanced Rules are in play.) At the beginning of the turn in Lima, an Urban area, the following units are present:
Sendero: one Front and three Cadres, in the UG box. He has 8 AP.
Government: one static Police unit in the PTL circle, one Recruit class mobile Army unit in the GAR box. Police have 8 Morale and 5 AP; Army 8 Morale and 6 AP; Politicians 9 Morale and 3 AP. The Economy Level is 60 and the Tax Rate is 17%.

Build/Train Phase:
Government does not do anything in Lima; he suspects something's up but this turn he wants to spend APs elsewhere in preparation for a large operation in the Huallaga Valley. Sendero spends 2 AP to build a new Cadre in Lima.

Deployment Phase: Government pays 1 AP (from Army's pool) to deploy the mobile Army unit from the GAR box to the PTL circle. Sendero moves everything (1 Front and 4 Cadres) to the OPS box.

Operations Phase:
Sendero decides to go first, and he decides to use 2 Cadres to conduct Intimidation against the Police (because there is a Police unit in the area). He pays 4 AP and rolls on the Mission Success Table: he scores a 6, which is a "4@" result. Yikes! Police Morale is reduced to 4 (and the Police AP marker is also moved down to match it, losing 1 AP in the process), the single static Police unit is eliminated, as are both Cadres (due to the @ result, even though there was only 1 Police unit to eliminate).

The Government player must resolve the Police Crisis immediately. He rolls 1d6 on the Crisis Reaction Table, and gets a 3, which is a "2" result: so the Police lose another 2 AP, leaving them with only 2. The Crisis counter is moved up 1 space on the Record Track, and happens to reach one of the COUP? markers on it: the government player flips it over and oh no! It's a coup!

The Government player must resolve this immediately – he rolls 2d6 for the new Politician Morale, and gets a 7 (no loss to Politician AP since he was holding only 3); he rolls 2d6 for the PSP loss, and gets off lightly – only 4; but both Army and Police Morale are reduced by 1, to 7 and 3 respectively (no AP are lost since current holdings are 5 and 2 respectively). Finally, the Government player resets the Crisis marker to zero, turns the three COUP? Markers over, mixes them up and rolls 1d6 three times to place them in boxes 3, 4 and 6 on the Record Track. Now that that’s all over, Sendero gains 3 PSP for the static Police unit being eliminated, and loses 2 for the two Cadres being lost even as Government gains 2 PSP. The Government player raises Police Morale back up to 5 for the two dead Cadres.

The Government player's mobile Army unit is unable to React to the Intimidation Mission because both Cadres were eliminated. Next, the Sendero player conducts a Robbery (possible because Lima is an Urban area). He designates one Cadre, pays 1 AP, and rolls 1d6 on the Mission Success Table with a -1 DRM for the mobile Army unit in the PTL box. He scores a 5, reduced to 4 which is a "3" result – he adds 3 AP. The Cadre moves to the OC box.

The Government player does not React to this because he suspects the Sendero player is about to launch a Riot.

And he's right: the Sendero player declares a Riot by the Front, with the last Cadre assisting. He pays 4 AP and rolls on the Mission Success Table, the -1 DRM for the mobile Army unit in the PTL circle is nullified by the +1 DRM for the assisting Cadre. He rolls a 1, which is a "1+" result; aieeee! The Cadre is eliminated and the Front is reduced to a Cadre, which loses the Sendero player 3 PSP. The Sendero player decides to make the Government player lose 2 PSP (the numerical result of 1 from the table is doubled to 2) which balances the 2 PSP the Government player gains from the eliminated/reduced Sendero units (the Government player also raises the Morale of both Army and Police by 1, to 8 and 6)and rolls 1d6 for the economic damage: 4 points are deducted from the Economy Level, reducing it to 56.

The Government player now Reacts to the Riot with his mobile Army unit: it Reacts out of the PTL circle for no cost in AP, the Sendero Cadre (reduced from the Front) is automatically Contacted, and rolls 1d6 with no DRM to try and evade to the UG box. He rolls a 5 and escapes. The Government player loses 1 PSP for using a Recruit class unit and the unit is placed in the OC box.

All units in Lima have now conducted operations, Sendero is out of AP now anyway so let's go right to the Turn Interphase.

Control Segment: In Lima only one Cadre and one mobile Army unit are left: equal Control Points means the area is Contested and no one controls it.

Economics Segment: Sendero has no AP left so nothing to Depreciate; the Government player has a total of (5+2+3=) 10 AP. He rolls a 1 and chooses to lose 1 AP, from the Politicians. Sendero gains 1 AP for the Contested status of Lima, along with anything else he may collect from the rest of the country. The Government player multiplies the current Economy Level of 56 by the Tax Rate of 17% to get 9 AP (rounded down from 9.52): he divides this evenly among Army, Police and Politicians to give them final AP pools of 8, 5 and 6 respectively. Besides the damage from the Riot earlier, the current Tax Rate of 17% causes 1d6 of damage to the Economy Level: the Government player rolls a 4, so the Level is now 52. He drops the Tax Rate to 14%.

Redeployment/Desertion Check Segment: All Sendero units units return to the UG box and all Government mobile units return to the GAR box of their respective areas. The Government player decides to reinforce Lima with 1 static and 1 mobile Police unit, pulled in from other areas on the map. There are no static Army units to check for desertion, there is no net change to Politician Morale due to area control, and he does not raise the Morale of any organization by reducing the Economy Level. The Game Turn marker is advanced one box.

That was a busy turn, with a net loss of -3 PSP to both sides. The Sendero player lost a significant number of units but provoked a coup d'etat and did some damage to the economy; the Riot was a disaster but could have had a significant impact on the game.

Vassal Module