We have worked with V.P.J. Arponen over the past several years with his fantastic entry into the COIN Series covering the Finnish Civil War called All Bridges Burning: Red Revolt and White Guard in Finland, 1917-18. We posted an interview for that game as well as about a dozen Event Card spoilers from that same title. More recently, his new design called Order & Opportunity: Making of the Post-Cold War World Order was announced by GMT Games and we are again honored to work with him to bring an inside look at the game to the faithful readers of the blog with a series of Event Card Spoilers. Please keep in mind that the artwork and layout of these cards is not yet finalized and is only for playtest purposes at this point. Also, as the game is still in development, card details may still change prior to publication.

If you are interested in Order & Opportunity: Making of the Post-Cold War World Order, you can pre-order a copy for $55.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1027-order-opportunity.aspx

#43 – Road & Belt Initiative /Dependencies Created

Historical Background

Known by a number of names, such as the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), “One Belt, One Road”, or the New Silk Road, the BRI is China’s strategic global infrastructure development program through which the country offers assistance to other nations in developing their infrastructure. The BRI is often interpreted as effectively a tool of Chinese foreign policy whereby countries which are recipients of Chinese infrastructure programs are thereby said to enter into dependent relations with China, a dependence that China is suspected to be willing to use for political and other gains as an economic instrument of power. The Chinese messaging on the BRI couches it in terms of China’s commitment to aiding developing nations (against the developed nations’ imperialism by the West) and an expression of China’s natural and “peaceful rise” to the great power status.

Note that all card and other art you will see in these card spoilers is provisional playtest art only.

Game Effects and Uses

In Order & Opportunity, the BRI card can be played in three ways. Like any other Event Card associated with a Power in the game, this card too can be played for its Economic Suit (the “factory” icon) to add one level of Chinese Economic influence on the map.

Alternatively, the card can be played for either of its event effects. For playing it for the first event effect titled “Growing Clout”, China adds resources equal to the number of its economic influence pieces present on the map. This evokes the returns China is receiving from its global economic investments.

The second event option places the card on the map activating its Reaction ability. As a reaction to other players’ and China’s own cultural or economic actions, China may react by adding one level of its political influence. This event option in particular represents the possible use of the BRI as a tool of economic power to achieve political outcomes.

Thanks to Vez for his work on designing this very interesting looking Card Driven Game but also for his willingness to prepare and allow us to host this series of Event Card Spoilers. This is the third entry in the series and there will be more in the near future.

If you missed the previous entries in the series, you can catch up on the posts to date by following the below links:

#12 War on Terror/Operation Enduring Freedom

#91 Muammar Gaddafi

You can also check out the interview with VPJ Arponen on the design on the blog at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2023/08/21/interview-with-v-p-j-arponen-designer-of-order-opportunity-from-gmt-games/

If you are interested in Order & Opportunity: Making of the Post-Cold War World Order, you can pre-order a copy for $55.00 from the GMT Games website at the following link: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-1027-order-opportunity.aspx

The next card in the series will be #15 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act.

-Grant