First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now. Also, I know that traditionally the 12 Days of Christmas happen after Christmas Day (starting on December 25th and ending on January 5th also known as Twelfth Night) but I want to do this in a lead up to the holiday.

On the 7th day of Christmas War Gaming, my true love gave to me…

7 Red Dust Rebels Campaigning

You know this as I have mentioned it before but I love the COIN Series. I love the system, the mechanics, its focus on history, and sometimes very tough and difficult to simulate history at that. And I love that the series is now being taken in a new direction with its first volume that is not based in history but has a Sci-Fi setting on the red planet of Mars. Red Dust Rebellion, designed by newcomer J. Carmichael, tells the story of a future in which Mars has been colonized and forms its own government called the Martian Provisional Government. The game delves into the conflict of a fictitious Martian revolt of the 2250’s and the rise of Martian nationalism. Up to 4 players will take part in this game and control of the four factions. The game is based in the same principles of the COIN Series but really pushes the envelope with some very interesting and radically new elements such as Earth to Mars Transit of goods and troops, damage to infrastructure, displaced population and major dust storms. The game is really good and is unique.

The Red Dust faction are native-born Martian workers who form the backbone of the Red Dust (RD) Movement. The so-called “Dusters” demand a government for Martians, by Martians, without Earth interference, and they are willing to take it by force. Nominally a worker’s movement, the Dusters are an organized and determined force within the labyrinths of Mars and must rally the unions, guilds, and various popular assemblies to their cause to force the Earthers out and secure a free Mars for Martians. This effort involves the action of Campaigning to rally support in the form of Opposition to Earth interference and the Martian government. The Red Dust faction wins the game by a calculation of the Total Opposition plus their Bases found on the board and this requires them to build up their forces in the urban centers such as Shephard, Tereshkova, Europa and Tenzing. Once built up, they can take the Campaign action which will bolster Opposition and can cause rioting or other ongoing effects.

In order to Campaign, the Red Dust faction has to have an Red Dust Rebel located in any Populated spaces and will then pay 1 Resource for each space in which they wish to take the action. Assembling, motivating and inciting a crowd takes time and effort and the rebels need very little motivation to start their work of putting down the heavy handed Martian Government. In these selected spaces, the Red Dust player must activate an RD Rebel to then shift the space one level towards Active Opposition. If their work has been fruitful and the space is now at Active Opposition, they will get a bonus of being able to draw a Campaign card. The after effects are that if the space is now at Passive Support, a Damage marker will be placed and this will lead to the EarthGov Confidence marker being moved. This Campaign action will also effect the Corporation pieces as if there is a CORP Base present, Profits will be reduced by 2.

I just love this game. It feels very different but in a good way and I am looking forward to playing it again in the near future.

If you are interested, we posted a RAW video after our first play of the game and you can watch that at the following link: