cuba libre playbook

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Castro s InsurgencyCOIN Series olume II

by Jeff Grossman and Valko R uhnke

PL Y BOOKT B L E O C O N T E N T S

Tutorial . . . . . 2 Design Notes . . 28Changes from ndean yss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J4 Se lected Sou rces . . 3 1Role Summaries . . 14 Event Text and Background . . . . 32Guide to COINOperations . 15 Card List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36I-Player Example of Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Spaces List . . . . . 36The Myth of Foco 27 Credits . . 36

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2 Cuba Libre PLAYBOOK

uba Libre TutorialLoosely based on the n ean byss Tutorial by Joel ToppenPlayers new to the COIN Series start hereWelcome to COIN Series Volume - CUBA LIBRE Beca use thisgame series employs some innovative mechanics, we thought itwould be easiyst to learn if we included a tutorial in each to teach newplayers how to play with a minimum of fu ss. In this tutorial we willguide you through setting up and starting to play a game ompletewith commentary by experienced players from eac h faction's pointof view as the action unfolds Occasionally we will ask you to readparts of the rulebook before continuing. As we go, we' ll spend lesstime on rules a nd more n following the game play.The first thing yo u will need to do if you haven't already is unfoldthe game's mapboa rd. Place it on a clean surface, making sure tohave ample space around the perimeter of the board so as to haveroom for game pieces and cards. (Five inches or so should sufficenicely.)Next, punch out all the game's cardboard pieces ("markers" orcounters") and sort them by type. Set aside the 12 "Deception"

counters: they are for an optional rule that we will not use in thistutorial. Place the rest within easy reach because we' re going to setup the game shor tly.Sort the wooden pieces by color and shape. Pl ace them in piles nearthe mapboard. We'll put them on the mapboard shortly.Finally, unwrap the game's playing cards. There are basically twodifferent types of cards in the game: Event Cards (the vast majority) and Propaganda Cards (there are four of these). Put the fourPropaganda Cards in one pile, and all the Event Cards in anotherpile. We will construct the game's deck in just a momen t.STOP Pease pause amoment and readsection 73 of he rule-book, about the game s map, and return here once you reach7.4.

All done? Great Let 's beg in setting up the game. The set is listedon the back of the Rules of Play booklet: Place the "Ai d" counter on the " 15 space of the Edge Track that

runs faround the perimeter of the gameboard. Place Government and Syndicate Resources cylinders (large blue

and green cylinders, respectively) on the " 15 space, a 26JulyResources cylinder (red) on " 1O" , and a Directorio cy linder(ye llow) on 5 .

Plac e the To ta l Suppor t" counter on the " 16 space, theOpposition+Bases" counter on the 7 space, Op en Casinos"

at 3 , and "DR Pop+Bases" at I". Place the "US Alliance" counter in the "Firm" box of the " USAlliance" display on the map. Place 4 round green Cas h markers into the circle spaces of thegreen Cash" box (any other Cash markers are spares not used

in the game, set them aside). Place the remaining four large cylinders (Eligibility cylinders) into

the Eligible box on the Sequence of Play" display. Place "Active Support" counters into the Neutral" boxes with

a dark blue star symbol, "Passive Support" in those with lightblue, Passive Oppostion" with pink, a nd "Active Opposition"with red.

Available Syndicate Forces and Cash holding boxes on the gameboard.Ok, we're off to a great start Now we need to put the forces of thefour factions onto the map.STOP Pleasepause ust a moment and read section 1.4 throughsection 1.4.4of he ulebook. When you're finished we'llcontinuesetting up the game.

Now that you've read about the different forces available to theplayers, we can begin putting those pieces on the map. But first, doan inventory of the wooden pieces you sorted earlier. Your gameshould have all the fo rces pieces shown on the "Available Forces"chart on the back of the Rulebook: Put the 15 dark blue and 15 light blue cubes (Troops and Police,respectively) into the blue "Available Government Force" box on

the gameboard. Put the 2 blue discs (Bases) into the numbered circles in the sameblue box. Put the 15 yellow octagonal cylinders (Guerrillas) into the yellow

"Available Directorio Forces" box and the 4 yellow discs into thenumber Bases c ircles there. Do the same fo r the red pieces into the "Available 26Jul y Forces"

box. Fina lly, do the same for the green pieces into the "Available

Syndicate Forces box, 6 cylinders (more Guerrillas - in thiscase representing Mob gunmen) and 10 embossed green di scs(Casinos).

Now let's deploy forces on to the island of Cuba The setup is listedon the back of the Rulebook and also shown with icons in the mapspaces: Take 6 dark blue cubes and 4 light blue cubes from the blue

Available box and put them in Havana City: As s hown by theblue cube icons in the Havana space, these are the forces thatthe Government starts with in the capital , 6 Troops and 4 Policeunits.

Fo llow down the li st on the back of the rulebook and placeGovernment pieces in the other spaces listed, double-checkingthe icons in the spaces involved to make sure the right forces havebeen positioned.

Now do the same for 26July (red), Directorio (yellow), and Syndicate (green). Note that a ll Gue rrillas start embossed side down("U nderground"), but Cas ino the green discs-start embossedside up (open for business ). Always take available discs from the

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Cuba Libre PLAYBOOK 3lower le ft and work right then up, so that the number showing isthe number of Bases out on the map.

Fina lly let 's mark Contro l: if any Faction has more pieces in a Cityor Province than all othe r Factions combined, it Controls the space .Mark Control with the appropriate counter in the "Uncontrolled" boxfor that space. Right now mark the 3 Cities and Las Villas Pro vincewith Go vt Control, Pinar del Rfo with Syndicate Control, Camag iieyPro vince with Direc torio, and Sierra Maes tra with 26July.

La Habana Province and its holding boxes for Control and Support/Opposition markers.Important: Deck construction instructions are found in therulebook. For the purposes o his tutorial, however, we will becreating a special, stacked deck.

Well one The map is set up. Onelast thin g needs to be clone: weneed to constru ct the deck. Place3 Propagand a Ca rds face downin a row from left to right and setthe 4th aside.Now remove the follow ing Eventcards and se t the m a side : 3Eu fogio Cant illo, 5 RolandoMasferre 1; 8 Genera l Strike,#13 El Che, 20 The Twelve, 24Vilma Esp fn , #27 Echeverria, 29FaureCho 6 , 39 Turismo, 40Ambassador Smith, 1144 Rebel AirForce, and 46 Sinatra.

Next, shuffle the remaining 36 E vent ca rds together. Dea l 12 EventCa rds on t op of each of the 3 fa cedo wn Propagand a cards so thatthree stacks of 13 ca rds are crea ted . Shuffle each stack separatelythe n place e ach stack on to p of o ne another, crea tin g a singledeck.Now place the cards we se t a side ea rlier face down on top of thedeck. Place them in this EXACT order (from bottom to top) : 1144Rebel Air Force, 24 Vilma Espfn, 8 Genera l Strike, 3 EulogioCantillo, 40 Ambassador Smith, 1139 Turismo, 20 The Twelve,29 Faure Chom6n, the remaining Propaganda , 46 Sinatra , 5Rolando Masfe rret; #27 Echeverria, # 13 El Che, (top-most card).

STOP. Pleasepause ust a momentand readsection 75 throughsection 8 o the rulebook, introducing the fo ur Fac tions andsom e of themarkerswe havebeen setting up. We'll start playingwhenyou're done

Tip: For your first competitive game, we recommend you onlyreveal the card being resolved. Being able to see one card intothe future may produce "analysis paralysis" in new players andslow gameplay down.One thing that makes the COIN Series unique is the role that cardspl ay in the game . Ca rds will be played from the deck created at gamestart. Pl ayers do not maintain a "hand" o f cards as in oth er carcldri ven ga mes. Instead , ca rd s are played fro m the top of the deck.Ordinarily two cards are always visible to the players: the card beingresolved , and the nex t card to be resol ved. In other words, playersget to look one card into the future.

El he+'9.J3 *'2i:ii're*s11ire1l 111ililary lea drr.

The fi rst groupof GuC rrillaslo move on each 26Jul) MarchopcratiQn Oips Undl rground.

1st played cardcard to reso lve)

13

Echeverriattempt 11 dictator s life:

Place 2 DR Guerrillas Mywhere.Havana to Neutral. DRto E igible.

Popularrevolut 1011ary dlts1 Iris HJlll al tire top :Remove th 2 DR pieces clOsest tqHavana. DR Rcsourcl s 3.

On deck(next card)

27

Now draw the topmos t ca rd from the deck: 13, El Che . Place itface up to start a "played cards pile nex t to the dec k. Then revealthe top card on the dec k but leave it on top of the deck face up : #27Echeverria.Each Event Ca rd has four sy mbols across the top, one fo r each faction in the game . The o rder of these symbols dictates whi ch fac tionhas initiati ve on that card.In orde r to be eligible to execute an Operation or carry out the ca rd 'sEvent, a Faction must have its E lig ibility cy linder in the Eligiblebox o n the Sequence of Play di splay. Eligible fact ions may eitherplay or pass. At this t ime, all four fact ions are e ligible.To de termine who ge ts to c hoose first, look at the order of the E ligibility symbols. The Faction with the leftmost symbol gets to choosewhat to do first and becomes the Ist E ligible Fac tion. In the case ofEl Che, the 26July playe r is the Ist Eligible Faction.Gl ance over at the Sequence of Play displ ay on the gameboarcl asyou read these nex t few paragraphs ... .The Ist E ligible Facti on 6Jul y in this casemay do one o f fourthin gs: (l ) it may execute the card 's event; OR (2) it may conduct asingle type of Operation without any supplemental Spec ial Activity; OR (3) it may co nduct a single type of Opera tion with a singleSpecial Ac ti vity; OR (4) it may pass .f the 1st E lig ible Faction chooses to Pass, it remains eligible to

play on the nex t card; if it does anything other than pass, it becomesineligible to play on the nex t card. T he coroll ary of this is that afaction usually may only play on every other card.If the Ist E ligible Fac tion chooses to pass, then the fac tion whose

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4 Cuba Libre - PLAYBOOKsymbol is to the immediate right of its symbo l on the ca rd beingresolved becomes the Ist E ligible Faction. In the case of El Che, if26July passes, the Government would become Ist Eligible.Here, however, the 26Ju ly Mo vement dec ides to act. Let's get thegame going and hear from the 26July player, Steve ...Steve (261/tly): An interesting card to start the game a good starting card to immediately show the difficult choices that this gamepresents to the players. I am faced with the difficult choice ofeithertaking a very good event - which will be beneficial to me or the en tiregame - OR conducting operations. I am going to make the painfulchoice of passing up the event in order to conduct operations.I need to "strike whi{e the iron is hot. I have the opportunity to terrorize Santiago &La Habana right now. If I were to take the Event,the Govemmentwou ld then have the chance to Sweep andActivatethose Guerrillas and the Terror opportunity would be lost.

' . , ~ - . s ~ Q u i : c E oF LAv ,_ i . . .\.Eligible 1 ecUon 2 Factlon lnollglbleFactions Op only llmOp Factions

IVENTCARD ...Op only& under:A frtt LlmOp 1 Faction... vent . . ed o yEventPass:t 1 R f f o u r w 3 RtimanEtgltlilt Support.,._,--26July (red) will be using the option it has as 1st E ligible to executeOperations (Terror) and a Special Acti vity (Kidnap), so the redE ligibility cy linder on the Sequence of Play is moved into the "Opwith Spec ial Ac tivity" box.When a Faction dec ides to execute Operations, it gets to se lec t onetype of Operation from a menu. Find one of the four copies of theFaction foldout in your game, and look at the side that says just26 July" and then " Insurgent Operations and SpecialActivities

across the top. It has e ight text boxes that serve as this Chinesemenu" of Operations and accompany ing Special Activities, plus abox at lowe r left that summarizes all Factions' victory objec tives.ST Please read rules section 3 1 about Operations in genera l,then skip forward and readsections 3 3 through 3 3.5about thevarious nsurgent Operations.

OK , 26July in our ga me has decided to kick off wi th Operations anda Special Activity, and the Operation selected is Terror, the bottomle ft box on the 26 Ju ly Fac tion shee t.Operations can occur in multiple spaces in a single go, you justhave to pay for each space. In this case, 26Jul y executes Terror inLa Haba na Prov ince and Santiago de Cuba City. As summ arizedin the Te rror box on the Faction shee t, I Resource must be paidper City or Province where Te rror occurs. Slide the 26Jul y's redResource cy linder on the edge track down 2 for the 2 spaces, from10 to 8 .

Then, an Underground 26July Guerrilla must go Active in eac h Terror space: go ahead and flip the red Guerrillas in those two spacesso that the ir embossed end is up.

26July launches revolution with a wave o error in country andcity

Next, the Terror box te lls us to add a Terror marker and shift Suppotoward Active Opposition. So each of the two Terror spaces rece ivea Terror marker that can affect future efforts to shift Opposi tion oSu pport there. Find two black Te rror marke rs and put one in eacLa Habana and Santiago.As you read in the rules earlier, spaces with population show onof five levels of Support for or Opposit ion to the Government, fromAct ive Support to Active Oppos ition - this popular sym pathy is kenot only to Government but also to 26July victory. In our game , thTerror shift La Habana from Passive Support to Neutral and Santiagfrom Neutral to Passive Opposition. Remove the light blue PassivSupport" from La Habana: that space is now Neu tra l. Then find anplace a light red " Pass ive Oppositio n" marker in Santiago's Neut rholding box .Because these shifts in popular sentiment af fec t victory, we neeto keep track of them with the victory markers that you read abo uand have already placed on the edge track. Blue Total Support thmeasure of how we ll the Govern me nt is doin just too k a hit o- I in La Habana, so slide that marker down by l to " 15". Similarls lide the red Oppos ition+Bases marker up by I (fo r the new Pass ive Opposition in Santiago) to 8 .You' ll notice that the edge track has threshold reminders of thlevels of victo ry needed to end the game early. 26Jul y needs to gethe Opposition+Bases marker above 15". These victory levels arshown in that Victory box on the Faction foldou t, so that you cakee p track of what you and everyone e lse is trying to do.OK, let 's here aga in directly from 26Jul y (or M26 for short) ..Steve (26July): So, Terror in Santiago and La -labana for a coof2 Resources. This has hurt th e Government by removing supporfrom La Habana and has helped my cause by adding opposition tSantiago. I will add a Kidnap Special Activity in Habana. I cc111 dthis without having to worryabolll the Government taking an e venwhich could hurt me. I have found that resources often becomscarce or M26, so I need to take the opportunity to steal some.fromthe SyndicateKidnap roll = I. Typical ofmy luck One Resource from Syndicat(now 14 to 26July (now 9). On to Government as 2nd Eligible.If you glanced over at the " Kidnap" box of the Faction sheet to sewhat 26Jul y was just talking about, you' re catching on fast Th

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Cuba Libre PLAYBOOK 5"Terror" box has a reminder in the upper right that this Operation canbe accompanied by a Kidnap when 26Jul y is executing Operations(or "Ops") and Special Activity. The player decided to Kidnap inLa Habana to take Resources from the Syndicate Faction 's Cas inothere.The Kidnapping also closes the Casino. Flip the green di sc in LaHabana embossed side down (closed) and slide the green "OpenCasinos on the edge track down to 2 , and green Resourcesto 14", red to 9 .That wraps up 26July 's move for this card, so look back at the activecard-El Che and the Sequence of Play display on the gameboard.You' ll see that the Gov ernment (blue) is the next up on the ca rd, hasits cy linder in the"Eligible" box , and so may now make a move.Here's what's happening on the edge track:

You can also see from the arrows in the Sequence display that whenthe st Eligible Fac tion executes Ops+ Special Activity, as 26Jul ydid , the 2nd Eligible Faction has a choice between the Event or a"Limited Operation" (or LimOp"). A Limited Operation is a normalOperation but in only o ne space, and without any Special Act ivityOften, having the option to play the Event can be very powerful.Mo st eve nts are Dual Use": they have an unshaded version and ashaded version, often benefitting opposing sides, so that there oftenis something to help you or hurt your enemies.Hint Events in the unshaded portion of he card typically arefavorableto the rebe ls;even ts n the shaded portion aretypicallyfavorable to the Governm ent.

But this particular Event, El Che, is unusual in that, as a bene fit tothe 26July from Ernesto Che" Guevara 's talents as a revolutionary,no other Fac tion really bene fits at all from this Eve nt 's effects.Let's hear what the Governm ent player, Co lleen, makes of thissituation .. ..Colleen Government): 26July left me with the option to take aLimited Op or pass. IfI pass, the next event card looks good or me,

Th eGovernm ent plans to stay in Las Villas

bllf ee l certain that the Directorio will use the eventfor himselfandI will not have the opportunity to take it So, I will take the limitedop now. I could sweep in Havana and expose the Directorio guer-rillas, but instead I will place a base in Las Villas to strengthen mypositionforfuture turns.

STOP Please read rulessection 3.2 and 3.2.1 and have a look tthe Governmentsheet that says COIN Operations near th etop,to get a better understandingofwhat Colleen just did.So the Governm ent executed a LimOp to Train in one space, LasVillas Province. Training is the main way that the Government buildsits forces , and sometimes it can use it to build Support too, by spend-ing Resources on something ca lled Civic Action." In this case, theGovernment used Training to replace two of its Troops units witha new Base . f you'd like to find out more about why GovernmentBases are important, you can read about them in the "Guide to CO INOperations" section start ing on page 15 of this Playbook.Let 's mark that Government is taking a turn : Put the blue Eligibil-ity cy linder on the Sequence of Play into the 2nd Faction LimOpor Event" box.Then let 's ge t Co lleen that Base : Take two dark blue cubes fromLas Villas and return them to "Available Government Forces." Thentake the lef thand blue disc from there and place it in La s Villas Theexposed " I" in the disc space is a reminder that the Governmentnow has one Base on the map.Unlike Insurgent Operations that generally cost only 1 Resource perspace, the Government 's COIN ("Counterinsurgent") Operationscost more. How much more depends on United States backing via theUS Alliance track. The marker there is in the "Firm" box, showing

that eac h Ops space costs 2 Resources. Go a head and slide the blueGovernment Resources cy linder on the edge track from 15 dow nto 13 to pay for that nice new Base.To finish up play of the El Che card, we have a last bit of house-keeping: We need to mark the two Factions who d id something asIneligible to do anything on the next card. Slide the red and blueEligibility cy linders into the " Ine ligible Fac tions box to show thatthey just executed e ither an Op or Event.Splendid. So we just happen to have a designer on hand observ-ing. Let's hear what he has to say about our combatants' openingmoves ...Jeff Both the Government and July 26 Players with good beginningmoves. Steve July 26) is an excellent COIN Series player becausehe thinks not only about the move he will make, but also about whatoptions he leaves his opponent. Co lleen Government) decides tobuild a base in Las Villas before the in surgents can contest thearea. With the Limited Op ava ilable, Colleen could only operate ina single area. She could not pe1fonn Civic Action in Las Villas tobuild Support) because there are no police there, but with the Baseshe will be able to place Police there next time she Trains.

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6 Cuba Libre - PLAYBOOK

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Cuba Libre - PLAYBOOK 7

DR field forces build in the Cuban heartland

Sinatra1tnr:

Sy ndico le Rcsourcl S 6Frm1klt 1 s/Jow:

Place an open Casino In I rtvannregardless of stacking.Place I Cosh with Police then .

Played card

46

Rolando asferrermtnl rommrmdtr

Sci a Province with Troopsand odjncent Province toPassive Opposltio1lramllltnrlts:Sweep may Ao;sault I space as its

Splal Activity (unttl Propoganda).GOVERNMENT MOMENTUM

OndeckYou know the rout ine now with play ing the next card , Sinatra; ondeck is that scoundrel, Rolando Masferrer. Even though the Syndica te is leftmost on Sinatra, it is Ineligi ble, so the nex t Fac tion tothe right - the Di rector io is Ist Eligible (again ).Karl (Directorio): Since the Syndicate played a 2nd Faction Opand is not Eligible, I am not worried about these events firing andccm take a full Op plus Special Activity. I think I want to spend thenext couple of um s Rallying, which should ge t a Base 0 the boardfor me. U11fort11nately I don't have as many Resources as the otherplayers, so I feel the need to take advantage of the opportunity toSubvert when I can.

STOP Peasereadrulessection 4.4. 1 ofindout whatKarl s rebelmovement was up to there n Oriente.So Direc torio spent 2 Resources Rallying (go ahead and place ye llow Guerrillas as shown). But it then earned the Reso urces backby Subverting Orien te as its Special Activ ity- it met the Sub vertrequirement of DR Contro l there. As a bonus, Directorio dampened

local enthusiasm for 26J uly- led opposition: remove the Passive Oppos ition from Oriente (now Neutral) and slide Opposition+Basesdown 2 on the edge track from 8 to 6 . Fina lly, set the ye llowEl igib il ity cyl inder in the I st Faction Ops+ Spec ial Activity boxof the Sequence of Play.T he Government is up as 2nd E lig ible, but passes. S lide the bluecyl inder down into the Pass area. When the Government passes,it does n't do anyth ing, but it reaps earn ings of 3 Resources ( 13to " 16 on the edge track).Because theGovernmen t passed , 26July becomes 2nd Eligible. It toopasses Insurgents ea rn just I Resource when they pass, so 26JulyResou rces s lide up to .Why on ea rth would both these players dec ide to pass when theycould have taken a move? ..Jeff design er :With Rolando Masferrer 11pco111ing, the Governmentpasses, presumably to execute it, a powerful lingering "GovernmentMomentum" Event; and 111ith the expectation of he Government tak-ing the event, the M26 passes to take advanwge of hefull Operationand Special Activity that it 111011 d then receive. Unfortunately, thefates are against both as the next card revealed is Propaganda ,which 011/d quickly end the Government s Momentum.

STOP. Read rules 5.3 and 5.4 about Eve ts with eects that lastbeyond that card playNow go ahead and shift the cards:

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8 Cuba Libre AYBOOK

RolandoMasferrermtnl o w m 1 1 1 1 d ~ ret a Province w ith Troopsand l adj icent Province to

Passive Opposition.Puramllit rits:

weep may freeA\S.lull 15JX CC05 itsSpecial Activity (un til Prop.1gando).GOV RNM NT MOM NTUM

Playedcard On eckThe Government playe r is now I st Eligible ...Co lleen (Govern ment : The Propaganda card always comes upwithin the.first 13 cards. The odds were not great that it would co eup so soon, but w ch is my luck. The event Rolando Masferrer onlylasts until the Propaganda Round, so there is no sense in taking itnow. After the Propaganda Round, all actions are reset to Eligible,so there is no sense in passing either.I need all the help I can get so I will take the I st Faction Op withSpecial Activity. I need to get moref orces on the board. If I Sweep, itwill have no effect because the guerrillas will go back undergroundin the Propaganda Round. The best choice is Train.I can Transport now as a Special Activity. I will use it to 111ove Troopsinto Pinar de/ Rfo so that I can take Control and Skim some oneyfrom the Syndicute.ST Sn ce the Government s wisely ooking ahead, let s do thesame. Pease read the entirerules section 6 about theupcomingPropaganda Roun d.

Grea t, now that you know what the Government is already planningfo r, here's what it does (please place and move the forces and adjustResource and Eligibil ity cy linders as we go). Government Trains inHavana to add 4 Police, Las Vi llas for 4 Troops, and Santiago for4 police, spending a total of 6 Resources (3 areas at 2 Resourceseac h for the US A ll iance at Firm) down to 10 Government thenTransports 3 troops from Havana to Pinar


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Cuba Libre PL YBOOK 9regular Casino pro fi ts just went to Bati sta Blue Resou rces to 37.Fortunately for the Sy ndicate, it had also piled up some profits inCash, 2 markers that it mu st now deposit , deciding to do so for 6Resources each. (Jeff could have used the markers to place newCasinos instead, as there was stacking room in the spaces with theCash).In sum , Resburces are now : Gove rnment 37, 26July 10 , Direc torio9, and Syndica te 23.The US A ll iance is now checked. As the Government has not keptSupport above 18, the US now becomes " Re luctant." The Government will now have to play 3 Resources for eac h space it operatesin, and loses I0 Aid (( \ id clown to 5 ).Colleen (Govemment): I can now raise the Support in Cities orProvinces where I have both Troops and Police. The cost is 4 Re-sources or each Terror marker and th en 4 for each increase towardsActive Support. It s important to leave Resources for the followingtum. The Govemment cannot do anything without money. I willraise Support in the major cities .Support. The Government buys Civic Action in Havana - 2 leve lsto Active Support nd CamagUey (C ity I level to Active Support. Civic Action cos ts 4 Resources per Terror marker removed orSupport level shifted: a total of 3 Civic Act io ns for 12 Resources,so Government Resources go from 37 to 25. Tota l Support recovers to 14.As 26July has no spaces that he Controls and where Opposition couldincrease, we move on to Expatriate Backing: the DR automatica llygets one free Rally as part of the Round.Karl (Directorio): I was planning to Rally soon to get a Base inOriente, so I will do that now. I d like to have more than one Guer-rilla in there to protect the Base, but I will have to wait. The nextEvent is also seemingly too good to pass up. This may be a littlerisky, btll we will see how it goes.A Directorio Base is added to Oriente and 2 Directorio Gue rri llasare removed. DR Pop+Bases to 4 .Colleen (Govem111e t): Now I have to Redeploy Troops that are notin Cities or that are in spaces without Bases. Everything in Pinarmust go. I will move some Police to Las Villas so I can use C ivicAction there in the f wure.Recle1>loy. Th e 3 Troops in Pinar del Rfo move back to Havana,and 2 Police move to Las Vi llas I from Santiago de Cuba and Ifrom Havana). Additionally, the Governme nt chooses to RedeployI Troop from Havana to C amagUey City.Reset. It is the encl of the Propaganda Round, so slide a ll E ligibilitycy linders back over to the Eligible" box. Remove all Terror markers(and any Sabotage , but we have none). f we had any "Governmen tMomentum" Events in effect, we would disca rd them back to theplayed ca rds pile. Set all Guerrillas to Undergro und (embossed e nddown), open a ll closed Cas inos, and adju st the Ope n Casinos"markeron the edge track from 2 to 3" for the reopened La HabanaCasino. Back to Events

Hint: s you finish a Propaganda Round, set the Propagandacard to one side o the played cards pile to show how manyhavepassed.

Faure ChomonStudtuts takr to tl1efitld:DR or 26July plaand 2 Guerrillas in Las Villa s

Stmll t loyttllltss11ift:Remove a OR piece or rcpfocewith its 6July countcrp.irt.

Played cardDirectorio is 1st Eligible .. ..

20

The TwelveTaft: o surolvors splrl s movtmmt:A Faction fr March sthen free Ralliesnta Mnrdt dt inatlon.

Gr travnlt tst gt>sllpply rfurlle geRemove VJ rounded upor nny Guerrillasfrom the sp.ice with the most Gue rrillas.

Ondeck

Karl (Directorio): I m taking the Event , even though this could setme up to be the victim of Tire Twelve. If it co es down to that, I mwilling to bribe the Syndicate not to let the Government rave theoption to play that Event.Since it will be a long time before the next Propaganda card, I mlooking to consolidate my position between Los Villas and Oriente.That s 5 population, which is over half ofwhat I need or victory. Itseems like it s worth fig hting for.Add 2 ye llow Gue rrillas and a ye llow Base to Las Vi llas for theDirectorio 's execution of the Un shaded Faure Cho 6n Event.

Cuban students become cambray guerrillas26July is 2nd Eligible on the card .. . .S teve (26July): Once again, I will use the opportunity to Terrorizeand Kidnap before it is lost. Terror in l Habana and Santiago deCuba and Kidnap from tire Syndicate in La Habana.

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10 Cuba Libre - PLAYBOOK

26July terror silences localpro governmentadversaries andenablesopposition to flourish.

The Kidnap roll this time is a 5 ,so transfer 5 Resources from greento red. 26Ju ly now has 13 Resources (started with O , spent 2 forTerror, and gained 5 from Kidnapping) and the Syndica te 18.

20

The TwelveT11le ofs ro ivors iusplrts 111011111t11t:

A 1 ac lion ff('( Marches then free Ralliesat a MaKh d('Stination.Gram11a travail pri'sagtssupply rl1allr

rounded up of any Gu errillasfrom the SpitC- with themostGuerrillns

Played card

Ollm 8IurismoUgly Amt rlrm1:

Support level toward Neu traleach Casino sp.Ye.Police proltctlo11 for to11rlsts

J9

Govt on Syndicate each add 3R'50urces per space withopenCasinoand Police.

OndeckOn to The Twelve, with both rebe l gro ups Ine ligible . . ..Jeff (Syndicate): I failed i11 egotia ti11g a j uicy enough deal withthe Directorio, so since the Govem111e11t has of fered to clear 111the insurgents around my casinos, /'II 01 worry about keepingth e Directorio happy. I was hoping I could get th e Directorio orthe Govemment to play the next Event f or e, but Turis1110 justisn 't worth waiting 0 for 3 Resources at th e moment . Instead /'IIexpand my empire by building Casinos in Havana and Pina1; andProfit in both places .Syndicate chooses Construct for their Op (an Operation type that isunique to th is Faction) and Profit for a Speci al Activity, paying l0Resources for 2 new but still closed Casinos. Only Control mattersfor Construct: the Syndica te can ignore the popular Opposit ion.Place a green disc (emboss ing down) each in Pinar and Havana, anda Cash marker be low a green Guerrilla in each. Syndicate Resourcesfroml8to8.Governme nt is 2nd El ig ible . ..Colleen (Government): Looking ahead, the Turismo event is verynice f or me, b11t also helps Syndicate, who appears to be doing wellright now. Th e Ugly A111erica11 side actually hurts 26July as wellas me, so I am not too concem ed about it being played against me.So I will play this turn. Because it costs a little more for me to getrid o fGuerrillas in the 01111ta i11s, I will take th e current E vent and

0Ell bargoedNo lt Strike

Hyman Roth would approve.

kill o wo of he Directorio Guerrillas in Las Villas per the shatext of The Twelve.Jeff' It 's always nice when you can use Events to do your workyou. In this case Colleen is able to threaten the DR without spenResources,Jorcing the Directorio to Rally 11 its next tum .

TurlsmoUgly A111erlca :

Support 1 lev('Itoward Ncutrnleach Ccisino spacePolice 'protecl 0 ., or touris ts:

39

Govt and Synd icate each add +3Resoun:cs per Sp lre with open Casinoand Police

Played cardSpeaking of which .. .

O I I m8rimbassador Smith llavnua atlvornte lguort d ;,, US:

Shift US Alliance 1 box down(le01veAid the same).

Bli11dly bncklug dlSSer of +9 or half Aidround down) to Syndicate Resoun:es.

ndeck

Karl (Directorio): With the loss of hose G11errillas I f eel I shrein force my position with more Guerrillas. The Govem111e111 ising to run out of Resources eventually, so I better make rnre Iin a pos ition to kill Bases if necessary. Long term /'111 just trto grow out the area the DR i11.flue ces. I feel like if I have a lotargets where other players can knock me back that I'll seemless o a th reat and losing a Base here, or Control o fa space thwo '1 actually knock me back too mu ch.T he Directorio Ra ll ies in Matanzas, Las Villas, Camagi iey Proviand Oriente, adding pieces eq ual to B ases plus Population in e

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Cuba Libre PLAYBOOK

Rural rebel forces swell.

Ineligi leFactions

Its Special Activity is to Subvert in Oriente to ge t 2 Resources back.As Oriente is already neutra l, there is no change in Support/Opposition. Directorio resources slide to 7 ( started at 9 , spent 4 to rally info ur spaces, then regained 2 by Subverting in Oriente, which has2 population).Steve (26July): Well. as Collen pointed out, tire Ugly AmericanEvent hurts me as well as him. So I think I ll sel/lefor a limited Opto Rally in Pinar de/ Rfo.26July is up and adds a Gue rrilla in Pinar de l Rfo. Red Resourcesfrom 13 to 12.The ye llow Eligibility cylinder, on " st Faction Op with SpecialActivity , and the red, on "2nd Faction LimOp or Event" slide to"Ineligible.

O El


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12

eQ)Q,0n:ibargoed Aid

10?NoAltStril1n down 1 boxendd"' 'Aldby-10 .

Gangster paradise Pinar defended.

No r Strike

Euloglo Cantilloc '' ' nfstrurr.Selec t a Sp.lCC wi th Troops. A Factionrec Marches all its G u e r i l l ~ out,then nips them Underground .

Dictator b rb 8 ' ''1 o/ftmlw:Select a Province orCitywflhTroops. They free Sweep In place,then fn. C Assault.

Played card

Cuba Libre PLAYBOOK

The Government has a ine toWashington.Gove rnment executi on ofshad ed Ambassador SmithEvent shifts the US Alliancefrom Re luctant" back up toFirm", Aidfrom5to 14, and

Synd icate Reso urces from 4to 11 (adding the lesser of+9 or half of Aid, roundeddown).26July and Direc torio cy l-inders are s lid back to Eli-gible ....

General StrikeWldtsprt11 d dlsn 11 lo :

In l lehCityshift I level towt1rd Nculraland place any I GuerrillaStrike 1111 , sl1op1 optm

Set a City to Active Support andActivate all Guerrillas there.Op< n any 1 closed Casino.

On deck

Steve (26July): This is the opportunity to maximize my forces

M26 joins LasVillas ray.26July adds 4 Guerrillas in the Sierra Maestra ( its Rally plTWICE Bases plus Population if it has Bases present ), I in Oriel in Camag i iey Province, I in Las Villas, l in Matanzas, I in Haband 1 in Pinar de l R fo. That 's Ra lly in 7 spaces at I Resource eso 26July Resources drop from l 2 to S.Doing further damage, Steve Infiltrates Po lice forces in Las ViRemo ve I Po lice there to Government Available and place lGuerrilla there in its place.Karl (Directorio): Limited Op doesn't do much for me here I tthe next Event will be tempting for the Government to move theCity from Active Opposition to Active Support. So I'm bankingelling a fu ll Op+ Special Activity next tum .Hint:Asyou finish a Propaganda Round, set thePropagandcard to one side of the played cards pile to show how manhavepassed.

Direc torio, 2nd E ligible, passes and rece ives+1 Resource. S lideye llow Eligibility cy linde r down into the "Pass sec tion, showthat DR will be Elig ible aga in nex t card. Directorio Resource7. With both Governme nt and Syndicate Ineli gible, play oncard e nds.

~ Oe

General StrikeWlrfttspread dlsr ptlo :

JneachCily,shift t level toward Neutraland plilreany 1 Guerrilla.

Slrlktfall, sl1op1 op :t a City to Active Support andActivate all Guerrillas lfwre.0p


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Cuba Libre - PLAYBOOK 13Government plays the Event: The rebels' scheme for a ge neral strikefails and Santiago de Cuba shifts to Acti ve Support. The Governmentplayer confers with her Syndica te a lly and agrees also to a llow thec losed Casino in Pinar del Rio to ope n. Slide Total Support to " 15"and Open Casinos to "4 .Direc torio- still Eligible a fter pass ing on Eulog io Ca ntillo - is now2nd E lig ible1Since the Ist Elig ible Government executed the Eve nt,DR now has full Operations and a Specia l Activity available ...Karl (D irectorio): fee l like M26 and Syndicate are doing very wellin this game. I'll beat down on M26 a bit this tum so we don 't seea lot of Terror turning spaces into Opposition. I can only removeOpposition (or Support) via special activities or Terr01; which won'thelp me win the game. So I'll Allack in Camagiiey, Oriente Matanzasand Las Villas using Ambush in Mata11zas.

Rival rebe ls clash for controlTh e Ambush in Matanzas removes the red Guer rill a there and addsan Undergro und Directorio Guerrilla and , thereby, DR Control (DRPop+ Bases to "5").Karl now rolls for his attacks. In Las Villas he needs a 4 or less (thenumber of his Guerri llas) , but rolls a 6. Jn Camag iiey, he needs a3 or less, but ro lls another 6. In Oriente he again needs to roll a 4or less, and this time ro lls a 4, killing the M26 G uer rilla there. A llof the Directorio Gue rrillas in the Attack spaces are turned to theirActive sides. Direc torio Resources slide from 7 to 3.J eff: Interesting that Karl chose to try to slow 26July down at thispoint. The danger is that with the majority of his Guerrillas now Active, the Government can step in and mop things up in Las Villas.

24

Vilma EspfnRroo1 t io ary tt rlor tor:

SetSierra Maeslra or an adjacent spaceto Active pp sit ion.

R '11fiancl t r 1 1 y 5 urlum guurllla:Remo e all 26July picc( S froma City other lhan f laY.U\a .

Played card

44

Rebel AirForceCnpl11 ' alrcrtifl shocks troops:

A 26July or DR Gumilla (Active or not)free Ambu.slws CovC mmmt fon=es.Rmovc 5C.'S first.~ b t h p11rtl1aubvt ram1ol

O J X r alrrrfr.Select 26July or DRand transfer 1 diero11 of thl-ir Rcsourc1 S to Syndicatl .

On deck

Steve (26July): The Espfn Event presents an interesting clwiceforme. Oriente would give me 2 more Opposition points than Santiagoand would temporarily prevent DRfrom building another Base there.But if leave Santiago at Active Support, the Govemment is within 3points ofwinning and can get there with Civic Action in Las Villa s ifit can gain Control. 1' glad DR/ailed his A/lack, because successwould have given Govt Control there. At least noiv it must fight forit. So, I'll change Santiago. With the Terror marker there it will beexpensive fo r the Government to bring it back to Active Support.26 July cy linder to Jst Factio n Event." Santiago de Cuba to Acti veOppos ition. Total Support to 13". Oppos ition+Bases to " 10 .Syndica te is now 2nd Eligible for Ops with Spec ia l Ac tiv ity . ..Jeff (Syndicate): The Syndicate has some interesting options here.As S teve mentions the Government was closing in on an auto-win,but he effectively ended that threat. Both Karl and Steve are now thebiggest threats. Steve can add our more Opposition through Terro1;so I want to hurt himand deny him access to my Cash. Alternatively,I could make a deal with the 26July to leave my Casino open inexchange for one ofmy Cash markers.So what is the best play for the Syndicate here? Assuming we can 'tmake a deal with Fidel, can we keep both cash markers out ofdanger? And what abollf "Rebel Air Force"?Over to yo u Le t's thank Kari, Co llee n, and Steve for ex pla in ingtheir strateg ies. We hope this tuto ri al has been a helpful and enjoyab le introd uction lo CUBA LIBRE. Con ti nue on from here if yo ulike, or set up a new game to rewrite this history

0Ell bargoedNo ir Strike

Western Cuba late 1957 ....

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14 Cuba Libre PLAYBOOK

CH NGES FROM NDE N BYSSndean byss players start here

Cuba Libre s features many small chan ges from CO IN SeriesVo lumne I , A dea Abyss, so be sure to consult the Rules of Play.This section summari zes the main changes to ge t you playi ngquickly1

Government

Instead of El Presidente, the Cuban Government issubject to a US Alliance track that de te rmines howmany Resources its Operat ions cost per space, Aidlevels, and whe ther Air Strikes are available (6.3. l ).

Civic Action is more expensive, 4 Resources per Terror marker orshift (6.3.2).Econom ic Centers (1.3.4) replace Lines of Communi cation; theGovernment defends them with Patrol-like Garrison Operations(3.2.2).A less fl ex ible Transport Spec ial Activity (4.2. l ) replaces AirLift, and Government-style Terror called Reprisal (4.2.3) replacesEradicate.The Cuban Government does not benefit from last ing Capabilitiesimprovements but has temporary Momentum Events ava ilab le(5.4).Government Victory during a Propaganda Round requires not onlytotal Support but also all Cities at Active Support (7.2).26JulyII he 26July Movement (also ca lled M26 )has Operations, Special Activities, and Vi ctory objectives akin tothe FARC's in ndean byss.Where it has established Bases, it can Rally fi ghtersfor its cause even more quickly (3.3. 1 .Instead of Extorting Resources from the people, it can InfiltrateCuba's shaky Government forces to take them over from within(4.3 .1 ).Instead of Insurgent Momentum, 26July and the other Insurge ntFactions have lasting Capabilities (5.3), much as the Governmentdoes in ndean byss.Directorio

RControlThe Directorio Revo lucionario (or DR ) operatessimilarly to the AUC in Andean Abyss, but with a different Victory goal: it must bui ld Bases and Co ntrolPopulation (7.2-.3). Track all Faction 's Control throughout play ( 1.7).

The Directorio also differs in aiming for the center of the politica lspec trum, able to Rally not only in Neutral but ei ther Passive Support o r Passive Opposition spaces (3.3.1).Also, populations in Opposi tion and rival Guerrillas w ill not ActivateDR Guerrillas that March into their area (3.3.2).In rural areas ( Prov inces in Cuba rather than Departments), theDirectorio instead of Extorting Resources can Subvert local populations that it Controls to both provide Resources and e liminate eitherSupport for the Government or M26-lean ing Opposition (4.4.1 ).

SyndicateThe Syndicate Fac tion pursues some similar ac tivand victory co nditio ns to those of ndean bCa rtels, but with major differences.T he Sy ndicate's Bases are Ca sinos that ca nno

remo ved by other Factions' actions ( 1.4.4 -.5). However, theybe Closed and must be Ope ned to count for Control, Rally, Incand Victory.Syndicate Rally p laces only sing le Guerrillas (3.3.1 ). The Synddoes not Rally new Casinos but must Const ru ct them - a unSyndica te Operation that rep laces Attack and is never free (33. 1.2) .Other Fac tions ' Control o f Casinos w il l enab le them to Sk imdica te Resource ea rnings (6.2.3).The Syndicate has an additional source of income, however:ficient presence in Cities and at Economic Centers (6.2.2, l. 3The Syn dica te Profit Special Activity places Ca sh markers, mas Process places Cartels Shipments in Andean byss, with thethat the corrupt Government can hold Cas h as can the Insurg(4.5. l -.2 , 6.2.4).Cas inos are much harder to expand than coca production, sCu ltivate activity. Instead , the Syndicate can M uscle co rrupt Gernment fo rces into position to protect Casinos (4.5.3).Non-PlayersRul es Section 8.0 has many important changes and shoulrev iewed fully if Non-player Factions are used. Un like in AndAbyss, all 4 Factions have Non-player fl owc harts, so that a soliplayer cnn act as either Government or Insurgent, 3 players cathe game system handle any 1 of the 4 Factions, and so on.

ROL SUMM RIESGovernmentituation. The Government of Cuba under dictator

gencio Batista has presided over an increasingly weacountry, but the bene fits of that economic boom has

been visited upon a few wealthy Cubans and cronies of the PresidThe cozy relationship between Batista and the American Syndhas netted the Dictator large amounts of cash and helped fundti sta 's secret police. Keepi ng the President in power, the UnStates government is starti ng to ques tion its investment and has press uring Batista to step aside.Goal. Take advantage of its strong initial position and knockthe insurgents before they es tablish themselves. Keep control ocities and look to ga in support in a few selected provinces.Tools. Your troops are the strongest forces in the ga me, butcapabilities wi ll dec line throughout the ga me. Choose yourmentum cards ca refu lly (act ivating a momentum ca rd right bea Propaganda Ca rd is a waste) and maximize their use. You r foare not well suited to Civic Action, so think carefully before sping resources on it. Take any opportunity to keep the US Allihigh.Deals. The Syndica te can provide you wi th one of the most vable tools in your arse nel, Cash. Th is will let you Sweep andAssault in a s ingle space.

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Cuba Libre PLAYBOOK 15Tip. Temporary all iances with the 26July o r Direc torio insurge ntsca n be valuab le later in the ga me even when your chances of victory look blea k.6July

Situation. Moveme nt of 26Jul y guerrillas have landed nearthe eastern tip of Cuba, a nd after several nar row escapeshave established a base in the Sierra Maes tra. Th ey also

draw support from grou ps outside of Hava na and in the city ofSan tiago de Cuba. Initia lly, Castro 's men must consolidate the irforces and train their army while disrupting the Government forces.Ge nerally, the 26July faction will need to ally with the disparateforces of the Directo rio to keep the Government from winning anearly v ictory.Goal. Cultivate as much opposition to the Batista reg ime as possible, while taking every opportunity to make things difficult forrival factions as well.Tools. You have two big advantages. Fi rst, you ca n rally a largernumber of guerrillas than other insurge nt factions . Second, Terrorwill increase opposition to the Government even to the point of active opposition. Especially when combined with special activitiessuch as Infi ltrate and Kidnap, the 26July can move closer to victoryand hurt its opponents at the same time.Deals. Initially, try to work with the Directorio to knock the Govern me nt down below its victory margin. Later, when it is every fac tionfor itself, an alliance with the Syndicate can provide access to valuab le cash in exchange for leaving the mob 's properties a lone.Ti t> An early capability ca n open up many options later in the game,but grabbing multiple capabilities can waste va luable operations.Dlrectorio

Situation. The Direc tor io Revolucionario- a rebe l studentgroup founded by Jose Antonio Echevarria - also is fighting Batista but differs with 26July in tactics and goals. The

Direc torio is ex tremely vu lnerable at the beg inning. While it doesstart with urban guerri llas in Hava na, these are o ften early targe tsfor the Government. Sometimes, early events can lead to the devel-opment of your position , but other times you may have to care fullycarve out a base in ce ntral Cuba.Goal. Control a significa nt portion of Cuba while building a strongarmy.Tools. The Directorio only needs a sma ll shift in Suppor t or Oppositio n to rally guerrillas (rallies in Passive Support to PassiveOpposition), so your guerrillas ca n quickly contest areas that becomevulnerable due to events or enemy ac tivity. f you can ga in controlof an space, you ca n quick ly conso lidate your ga ins with a Subve rtspec ial activity.Deals. You will have to work with the 26July faction early in thega me, but be open fo r cooperation with any fac tion later on. fCastro grows too strong, you may find a deal with the dev il Batistanecessary.Tip. Your weak position ca n be used to yo ur ad vantage, husbanding your resources and a acking when the opportunity arises. Inrural areas you control, your Subvert activity can be ve ry powerful in countering either 26July or Government objec tives with thepopulace.

Syndicate0 Situation. The Amer ican Mob had bee n looking for arefuge from the United States Justice system for decadesand found what they thought was the perfect place in Cuba.The Cuban Pres ident was a frie nd willing to turn a blind eye toorganized crime in exchange for a generous cut. Even thei r fe llowinsurgents were looked upon as money-making oppo11unities, as therevolution gave them the opportuni ty to se ll weapons to the rebelsand keep Batista re liant on the cash from skimmed casino profits.Goal. Expand your cas ino empire whi le accumulating as manyreso urces as possible.Tools. Cash from casino profits are the single most important toolin the Syndicate arsenal. Cash can he lp bu ild new casinos, add toresources if kep t until the Propaganda Pha se, or used to buy an additional Limited Operation. Pass ing cash on to another player canhelp keep relations fr iendly.Dea ls. He lp the Gove rnment ju st enough ea rly o n, but not enoughto give them an ea rl y wi n. Offer the Government cash in exchangefor cleaning out the rebels in the same s pace as your casinos. Lateron, the Direc torio or 26July can help keep your casinos open, sofi nd your allies wherever you can .Tip. Be ac tive dip lo mat ica lly. Point ou t every "good deed that youdo for other players and distribute cash to win favors. Be carefulabo ut tak ing a lead too ea rly as the Syndica te ca n be an easy targetfor kidnapping and assass inatio n.

GUIDE TO COIN OPER TIONSStrategy Notes for th Governmentby Joe l Toppen, adapted from Andean yssHere is an introduction to the forces and key actions ava ilable tothe Government Faction.Troops

Troops are your work horses. They ' re going to do all theheavy lifting for you. Essentially, Troops are your piecesthat ca n be moved into spaces to searc h (Sweep) and de

stroy (Assault) Insurge nt Guerrillas a nd Bases.Troops are brought into the ga me through the Train Operation.Troops ca n move via: Sweep Operation - into an adjace nt C ity or Province to find

(Ac tivate) Insurge nt Guerrillas. Garrison Operation - onto Economi c Cente rs (ECs) to find

(Activate) Insurge nt Guerrillas (and perhaps kill them in one suchspace) and also to reinforce Cities.

1iansport Special Activity - any 3 troops move from a Cityor Base to any space on the board . Do not underestimate theimportance of this Special Ac tivity Th e Cuban army could planoperations reaching a ll areas of the island. (Unfortunate ly, oncethe troo ps became bogged down fighting in remote areas, thatflexib ility would be los t.)

Muscle S1>ecial Activity - any 2 troops move from anywhere toa Province with an open Cas ino or an EC. Sounds easy, but thebig hitch is that the Syndica te, not you, moves your forces usingthis action

Troops kill Insurge nt Guerrillas via the Assault Operation, but onlyAc tive g uerillas.

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16 Cuba Libre PLAYBOOKGuerrillas must be Activated by a Sweep (or some ac tion they themse lves undertook) before Government Troops can e liminate them.Also, through their pres ence, Troops can take Govt Contro l of aspace. But , and this is important, by themselves, Troops cannot alte rSupport/Opposition status in an area. T hey need Po lice support toeffec t that. In the Redeploy Phase, Tro ops at an EC or in a Provincespace ~ i t h o u t a Government Base must deploy out of that area (evenif that space is Gov t Controlled). T hus their stay ing power ou ts idea C ity is lim ited.Also, Troops, by blocking enemy control of a space, can inhibit theabi lity of the Direc torio to make use of the Subvert Spec ial Activityand of26July Agitating to bu ild Oppos ition. Lastly, when pos itionedat an EC, Troops can spot (Activate) marching Guerri llas.olice

Police are very, very important Government pieces. Whilemuch , much less mobi le than Troops, Po lice g ive theGovernment player crucial positional staying power.

Here s wha t Po lice do for you: Po lice cannot move with Troops on a Sweep (unless the S.l.M.

Government Momentum is in play). But they can, i al readypositioned in the space, assist the Troops in the space being swept.Po lice cubes count when factoring the effect of a Sweep.

Po lice inhibit the abi lity of 26Ju ly to use the Kidnap SpecialAc ti vity and o f the Directorio to Assassinate. Like Troops, Policeat ECs or in spaces with Support ca n spot (Acti vate) marchingGuerrillas (very important to protect the Cities), and inhibit theDirectorio from Subvert ing in a space.

Police can be used t o Ga rrison EC s to activate Guerri llas there,a nd even conduct an Assault on a EC as part of the action.

In C ities, Police can pa rtic ipate in Assault. Po lice, like Troo ps, can protec t a Government Base from Attack

(cubes must be removed before a Base is re moved).So fa r they probably don ' t sound terribly useful to the player. Thereis, however, one crucial role Pol ice have that makes them indispensable: Police enable the Government pl aye r to conduct Civic Actionsduring a Propaganda card, and also as part of a Train Operation .Civ ic Action is the means by which the Government player degradesOppos ition and/or adds/ improves Support - necessary to fulfill theGovernment victory condition s. At least 1 Police cube is requiredto conduct Civic Action in a Propaganda Phase or as a pos tscriptto a Train Operation.Police cannot move by Transport or (usually) Sweep. They can onlybe moved to ECs during a Garrison and/or to Cities via Garrison orthe Syndica te s Muscle activity. But getting Police into Pro vinces isnot quite as simple and requ ires some pla nning. So how do you getPo lice to where you need the m without us ing a Patrol Operation?T here are two methods principally:Training - You can get Po lice into a space where they are neededby simp ly un dertaking the Train Operation and Training Police inthat space. For Cities, this is not a problem as you can Train in anyC ity. Training in a Province, however, requires a bit of planning.In order to place cubes by Training in a Pro vi nce, you mu st have aBase there. In orde r to ge t a Base into that Provi nce, you must firsthave three cubes in that Prov ince. OK , so how do you ge t cubes into

a Province so you can place a Base? Typically, you wi ll undea Swee p Operation to move Troops into a Province. You cou lduse the Transport Special Acti vi ty to ship an addit ional 3 Tthere . T hen, in a subsequent turn, you undertake a Train Operin that Province, on ly you don t place cubes; instead, you re2 c ubes and place a Base.Once you have a Base, in a future turn, you can Train andPolice into that Province . If you have Troops and Police andGove rn ment pieces than any other Fac tion in that Provincemay also pay for Civic Action in order to improve Support without a Base).Redeploy - During the Redeploy Phase of a Propaganda carGovernmen t playe r ca n repos ition any and a ll of hi s Police tECs or any space with Govt Control. This is a very powerfu l otunity to move otherwise less- mobi le Pol ice around the boardmust plan very ca refu lly here lest you be forced to waste Resoand Operational tempo late rAnd so, in short, the Government player may reposi tion Policemptively and for free during the Redeploy Phase. The Governplayer may place new Po lice reactively and for a considerablein Resources when undertaking a Train Operation during ancard play. Pol ice enab le the Government to ga in precious sunecessary to fu lfi ll ing its victory cond it ions. Th is then, will free up Troops to deploy elsewhere aga in st Insurgents. Policethe Government staying power.ases

Bases are crucial to Government success in thatprovide the onl y mea ns by which the Governplayer can maintain a constant Troop presence icountryside. The r.overnment has on ly two Bases

estab lish. Don t waste them Where do you need Bases? You need them in Provinces . Yonot need them in Ci ties. Why? Cities are de facto Bases. Baseab le the player to Train Troops and/or Police in that space. Syou can already do that in a City, you do not need to give upcubes and use one of your two Base pieces there The only gBase will do the Government in a C ity is deny to one of theFactions the ability to place a second Base in that City. Butthe Government on ly has two Bases with which to work, this sto be a wasted use of a Base.Why clo you need Ba ses? You need Bases in order to Train Pand Troops in a Province. In order to decrease Opposition ancrease Support for the Government, the Government playerundertake C ivic Actions either in conjunction wi th a Train Operor during a Propaganda card . In order to undertake a Civic Acone or more Po lice must be in that space. In order to get Po licea Province where there are present ly no Police, they must usbe Trained there. To be Trained there, you need a Base.Bases also allow Troops to remain in a Province during the Rploy Phase of a Propaga nda card. And so if the Government pis still figh ting to wrest control of a Province from an Insufac tion when a Propaganda card is resolved, the prese nce of ain that Province a llows the Government player to keep his Trin the field .So there you have it Bases are one more important cog iGovernment s mac hine ry.

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Cuba Libre - PLAYBOOK 17

1 PLAYER EXAMPLE OF PLAYBy Orjan ArianderOnce you have gone over the tutori al starting on page 2, try out thisstep-by-step run through of part of a sol itaire game: it will he lp yo ulearn how the Non-playe r Factions work for 2- or 3-player ga mes aswell. Follow along, referring to the illustrations, or set up the gameboard and cdnduct the moves described. You can sh out eac h cardas it is named, or preset the deck with the card order provided below. A num bered paragraph begins each new card played. Italicizedshaded text add s comment.

Preparing th eck for This Examplefyou want to set up the game to follow alongwith this exampleprepare the deck as follows:

Stack the following cards face down, in order from top to bot-tom. Escapade Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo Anastasia Ambassador Smith Sierra Maestra Manifesto Larrazabal Propaganda Pact of Caracas Sanchez Mosquera MAP Operation Fisherman Batista Flees Santo Trafficante, Jr Coup El Che Vilma Espin PropagandaDivide the remaining Event cards into 3 roughly equalpiles andshuffle a Propaganda card into 2 of he piles.Stack the 3 pilesface down under the above cards with the Propaganda cardsin the bottom 2 piles.

In CUB LIBRE the so lo p layer can play ei ther the Batista reg imetrying to stay in power or the 26July revolutionaries atte mpting totopple it whi le keeping the Mafia and rival Directorio at bay. Ineither case, the No n-player rules (section 8) run the other 3 factions.This player decides to play 26July using no o ptional rules and setsup the board a nd deck.1 The player l ips the first ca rd to be played and reveals the next:they are Escapade followed by Eloy Gutie ez Menoyo. The Directorio is Ist Eligible for Escapade. Rule 8. 1 states that a 1st EligibleNon-player Fac tion will play the Event unless it has no effect or thespecial Event Instructions (8.4.1) say otherwise. f he event is DualUse (5.2), the Directo rio will use the unshaded tex t (8.4.2), againunless the spec ial Event Instructions say otherwise. (The Government and Syndicate Non-p layer Factions would both use the shadedtext instead.) The Directorio has no spec ial Event Instructions, so itwill play the unshaded vers ion of the Event.Escapade places a DR Guerrilla and Base in either Ca magUey Province or Oriente. Spaces for Events are selec ted to ensure that as manyBases then other pieces as possible are placed (8.4.4, 3rd bullet), butthere is room for a Base in either Province, so the choice is made

random ly (8.2). Since there are only 2 spaces to choose between,the player makes an equ al-chance die roll: 1-3 CamagUey Province,4-6 Oriente. (The player could have used the Random Spaces tab leinstead ; that would have taken slightly longer.) The roll is a 5, sothe Non -playe r Direc torio places a G uerrilla and a Base in Oriente.This g ives it Control of Or iente, so its Victory Marker (DR Population + Bases) is moved to 4 (3 Population, I Base).T he Government Non-player Faction is 2nd E ligible. Because the IstEligible Factio n (DR) executed the Event, the Government as 2ndEligible may only execute Ops and, if possible, a Special Activity.The player consults the Non-Player Government aid (8.8). The firstques tion on the flowchart is whether any City or Government Baselacks Govt Control or Troops or Police. There are no GovernmentBases on the map and a ll Cities are under Govt Control and have bothTroops and Po lice , so the answer is No . The next ques tion asks if26July Guerrillas at the ECs are either Underground or exceed thecubes there (allowin g the m to Sabotage and/o r Kidnap), but thereare no 26July Guerrillas at any ECs so again the answer is No . Thethird question asks if an Assault would acid Govt Con trol or removea Base or 3+ Guerrillas. The Government can only Assault ActiveGuerrillas and Bases with no Underground Guerrillas to protect,them so the answer is yet aga in No . Following the No arrowfrom the last question shows that the Government will Sweep.Non-player Government Ops are limited to a maximum of 9 Resou rces (8.8.2, 8.8.4, 8.8.5), and the cost of an Op depends on thelevel of the US Alliance (6.3. 1 . At the start of the ga me the US Alliance is sti ll Firm so each space costs 2 Resources ; the Governmentcan therefore Sweep up to 4 spaces for a total cost of 8 Reso urcesbefore reaching the 9-Resource limit.Per the Sweep prior ities box o n the Non-Player Government aid(8.8.4), the Non-playe r Go vernmen t Sweeps to Activate Underground 26Jul y or DR Guerrillas, first at Support , then in HavanaC ity then elsewhere. Within those priorities it wi ll first Sweepwhere it already has cubes . There are two space s at Support withUnderground 26July or DR Guerri llas: Havana Ci ty and La HabanaProvince. Of these, Havana City already has cubes so it becomesthe first space selected. T he player notes the selec tion with a whitepawn at H avana (3.3. l )t would take I Troop to Activate the sing le G uer rilla in La Habana

Province , and 3 Troops to establish Govt Control there, so in orde rfor La Habana Province to be el ig ible for a Sweep the Governmentmust be ab le to move in at least 1 Troop cube there. There are 6Troop cubes in adjacent Havana City, all of which co uld leavewithout losing Govt Control there (2nd priority bullet in the Sweep

Governmen t sweeps within the contested cities and into La Habanaand Camagiiey Provin ces supported by an air strike in La Habana. 2013GMT Games, LLC


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18 uba Libre - PLAYBOOKbox), so the Government se lec ts La Habana Province as the secondSweep space (plac ing a pawn there to help reme mber) and moves3 Troop cubes there from Hava na C ity.The nex t Sweep priority after Support spaces is Hava na C ity regardless of its Support or Opposition level, but it has already beenselec ted. The last Sweep priority is elsewhere , first wh ere cubes.T here (s one more space with both an Underground 26July Guerrillaand cubes: Santiago de C uba, which is duly se lec ted and marked asthe third Sweep space.There is sti ll one Sweep space to se lect, the fourth. T here are Underground 26July and DR Guerrill as adjace nt to spaces with Troops inCa magiie y Province and Sierra Maestra. (The 2 Troo ps in Santiagode Cuba are available to Sweep into Sierra Maes tra beca use the 2Police also prese nt there are suffi cient to both Sweep the single26July Guerrilla and maintain Govt Control if the Troops leave.)An equal-chance die roll se lec ts Camag iiey Province as the fourthSweep space. Th is is a Fo res t Prov ince, so it will take 2 Troop cubesto Activate the single Guerrilla there (3.2.3). T hose Troops coulde ither both come from Las Villas, or one each from Las Vi llas andCa magiiey City. Another equ al-chance roll se lec ts Las Vi I as as thefirst and thus sole origin space and moves two of the cubes there toCa mag iiey Prov ince.With all Sweep spaces se lected and all necessa ry Troop move me ntsexecuted, the Sweep Activates a ll Guerrillas in the four spaces andGovt Contro l markers are placed in La Habana and CamagUey Provinces (re mov ing the DR Control marker in Ca magUey Province).Government Resources drop from 15 to 7, and the DR Population+ Bases marker moves from 4 to 3.Afte r the Sweep Operation is finished , the flowc hart's then arrowtakes us to the Air Strike box for the Non-playe r Government 'sSpecial Acti vity. Th e first pr iority is to remove a 26July Base, and,fai ling that, a DR Base, but both rebel Bases on the map are protec tedby G uerrillas. T he nex t priority is to remove a 26Jul y G uerrilla ina space with cubes, and there is one in La Habana Prov ince; it ispromptly struck and removed from the map and placed in the 26Jul yAva ilable box. The player also removes the pawns that marked theSweep spaces.The Government hasquicklygot ten about hebusinessof huntingdown hidden guerrilla cells.

2) Now Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo is played, and the nex t ca rd isrevealed to be Anast sia. T he Syndicate is Ist Elig ible, and thereis a halo around the Syndica te symbol on the card, indica ting thatthere is a special Event Instruction (8.4 .1 ). The in struction says that

m l 0 WDM il l 36 The gray halo tells theplayer tocheck the spec ial instru tions8.4. 1 on this Non-player s aidsheet before heNon-playe rFac-tion execu tes the Even t.

loy GutierrezMenoyo1 sJlr g DR ll't1dtr.

Repl3t ea non-OR non.Casino piecewi thin 1 space o Las Villas

with 2 DR Guerrillas.o rr ractious:

Replace nOirectorlo GuerrJllawitha non Oin.>ctorio Gucrrillt1

Non-player Syndicate will play this Event if it has any SynGue rrilla avai lable, which it does, so it plays the Event. Rollthe Random Spaces table (8.2) : the green die rolls a 3 , the ya 4 : Matanzas. There is no DR Guerrilla in Matanzas, so thefollows the arrows to C amag iiey Province where the DR Guis replaced with a Syndicate Guerr illa.Note that, in this case, the Non-player Syndicate would havexactly the same without the Event Instruction: the Ist bullet oensures that Non-player Factions will on ly select themselves oNon-playe r Fac tions to bene fit from Events that place pieces26Jul y played by the player, the on ly non-Di rectorio Non-Guerrillas the Syndica te could place are its own. (Thi s parEvent Instruction is needed fo r Government solitaire games.Only the 26Jul y remains E ligible; it ca n do Ops with a SAc tivity. Th e playe r chooses to Ra lly in Sier ra Maes tra (plaGuerrillas), Las Villas, Santiago de Cuba, and Matanzas (I Guin each). This costs 4 Resources, one per space, so 26July Resdrop from 10 to 6. The only 26Jul y Special Activity possibla Rally Op is Infi ltrate, so the player Infiltrates one of thecubes in Santiago de Cuba and replaces it w ith a 26July GueFinally space Control is adjusted: the Govt Control markersVi llas and Santiago de Cuba are removed, and a 26Ju ly Cmarker is placed in Ma tanzas.

TheSyndica teexploits theDRs interna l divisions inCamagueyince, while M26 infil trates theSan tiago police fo rce.3) Th e next played card is Anastasia and after that comes Asador Smith.The DR is Ist E ligible, but the Event Instruc tionsit ignore this event. Looking at the No n-player Director io flowthe firs t question is if DR can do Terror in an Active (SuppOpposition) space or Assassinate a Govern ment Base. Nei tthese are possible: there are no Government Bases on the mathe on ly DR Guerrillas in an Acti ve Support or Opposition(Havana C ity) were Activated by the Government 's Sweepfirst card, so they ca n't do Terror.Loo king at the next question: DR has 6+ Guerrillas availablewill Rally per the following priorities:

First, flipping Ac tive DR Guerrillas Underground in swith cubes and a DR Base . T hat is nowhere: the only ActiGuerrillas are in Havana Ci ty which has no DR Base.

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Cuba Libre PLAYBOOK 19 Next, placing Bases wherev er there are 3+ DR Guerrill as and

room. T hat too is nowhere. Finally placi ng DR Guerrillas first at DR Bases (adds 3 Guerrillas

at the Base in Oriente), then with DR Guerri llas (Hava na Citybut it is a t Act ive Support so no DR Rally is possible there), andi na lly I rando m space. T his time there are many possible spaces,

so the playe r ro lls on the Random Space table (8.2): a 2 and a5 gives Las Villas, so I DR Guerri lla is placed there. Fina lly

DR Resources go 5 to 3.T he DR Spec ial Activity that goes with Ra lly is to S ubvert. S ince26July is not at Victory l st bullet in the Subvert box), meaning thatthe 26Ju ly Vi cto ry marker is not at 16 or higher (the 26July Victory co ndition, 7.1 , DR, would Subvert a Province at Support if itContro lled any (2 nd bu llet). Failing that, it would Subvert a NeutralProvince if possible (3rd bullet). B ut the o nly P rovince it Co ntrolsis Oriente, which is at Passive Oppos ition. DR therefore Subve rtsOr iente, ga ining 2 Reso urces (DR Res ources go up to 5 again) andremovi ng the O pposi tion marker in Oriente. Or iente has 2 Population, so the 26Ju ly Victory marker is moved down from 7 to 5.The Government is 2nd Eligible, and it too has an Eve nt Instructionte ll ing it to ignore the nastasia Event. I f it had been a p layer Faction it would have been res tricted to playing the Event or a LimOp,but Non-playe r Factions get to do normal Operations and (usua lly)a Special Ac tivity instead of LimOps (See 8. 1, 5th bu llet.) T histime there is a C ity that lacks Govt Co ntrol (Santiago de Cuba), sothe Government will Train for up to 9 Resources (but it only has 7le ft, limit ing it to Tra in ing in at most 3 spaces): First, whi le it has 4+ cubes ava ilab le , at Cities or Govt Bases with

no Govt Control, then at those with no Police, then those with noTroops. Santiago de Cuba has no Gov tCo ntrol, so the Governmen tTrains there to place 4 cubes (2 Police and 2 Troops, as per 8 .1 .2Ist bu llet). The other two Cities still have a ll of Govt Control,Po lice, and Troops, though, and there are no Government Baseson the map; so the Government wi ll not Tra in to place cu bes inany further spaces ev en though i t st ill has 4+ cubes available. Then to build a Base in a Prov ince with 2+ cubes, no GovernmentBase, and room for one. Government has 3 Troop c ubes in LaHabana Province a nd 2 in CamagUey Provi nce. An eq ual-chancedie roll se lects Camag i iey Province, so the 2 Troops there arereplaced with a Gov t Base. The Govt Co ntrol marker is removed,since the Base does not outnumber the Syndicate Guerri lla presentin the space.

Since a Base was built, no C ivic Action wou ld be a llowed evenif the Go vernment had had sufficient Reso urces for it.

These Ops cos t a total o f 4 Resources (2 per space), reducing Gov-ernmen t Resources from 7 to 3.The Government nvests n an expanded militarypresence in thecountryside.

The " then arrow from the Train box leads to the Transpo rt SpecialAc tivity. Havana and Sa ntiago each have 3 Troops beyond the number of pieces needed to maintain Gov t Control (to use the formulationon the l owchart, they are above Control"). An equal-chance ro llse lec ts Santiago. The first 'To prior ity is a Prov ince with Police butno Troops (there is none), the n a space with more Active Guerrillasthan Troops (also none), and finally any space where the TransportedTroops would remove another Fac tion 's Control. Pinar de l Rfo,Matanzas, and Oriente all mee t the last condition: a random ro llse lects P inar de l Rfo. Three Troop cubes move the entire length of

the island from Santiago to Pinar, replacing the Syndicate Controlthere with Govt Control.

The Government transpor ts newly trained troops from one end othe island to the other4) mbassador Smith is played; the Sierra Maestra Manifesto isnext. The Syndicate is 1st E ligible and plays the Event. US All iance is already Firm and can't go any higher, but Aid and SyndicateResources both increase from 15 to 24.TheSyndicate hashelped itsel but also itsNon player friend theGovernment.

26Ju ly is now 2nd Eligible. T he player chooses to Rally again, thistime placing Bases in Sie rra Maestra and Santiago (removing 2Guerri llas from each space) and placing a second Guerrilla in LasVillas. The player then Infi ltrates the last Troop cube from Las Villas, placing a third Guerrilla there and taking Control of the space.The ne w Bases increase the Oppos ition +Bases count from 5 to 7.The Operations cost 3 Resources, reducing the 26July Reso urcesfrom 6 to 3.5) The nex t ca rd up is the Sierra Maestra Manifesto (reveal ingI rr z hal. DR plays the Event (but remains Eligible accordingto the Eve nt tex t). In the ca rd's Fac tion order, each Faction places 2non-Casino pieces in a space where they already have pieces:26Ju ly is i rst out. The player only has one Base available, andplaces it along with a Guerri lla in Las Vi llas. (This is a bit riskysince the DR Guerri lla there might attempt to Assassinate the Baseif the DR turns to Terror, but until then it gives the 26July a verystrong forward base.) Since a Base was placed, Opposition + Basesincreases to 8.Next in card Faction order is the Directorio. T he 3rd bullet of 8.4.4 inthe No n-player rules says that No n-playe r Factions select spaces fo rEvent execution fi rst to p lace as many Bases as possible. S ince DRhas three Bases available, it must try to place two of them if poss ible.Two of the three spaces with DR pieces already have a non-CasinoBase in them (Oriente and Las Vi llas), prevent ing stacking of 2 DRBases there. So the two DR Bases are placed in the other space,Havana City and the DR Pop+ Bases score increases to 5.The Syndicate comes third. All of its Bases are Cas inos, so it canonly place Guerrillas. Rolling on the Random Space table se lectsCamagUey City, whe re there are no Syndicate pieces yet, so theplayer follows the arrows on the chart around to Havana City andplaces two Syndica te Guerrillas there. There are now 7 GovernmentCubes (3 Troops, 4 Police), 4 DR pieces (2 Bases, 2 Guerrillas) and3 Syndicate pieces ( 1 Casino, 2 Guerrillas) in Havana City, so Gov tCo ntrol of the City is removed.T he Government is last. t has a Base ava ilable and will attempt toplace it as per 8.4.4, but it is also gu ided b y the first bullet of 8.1.2,which says that Non-player Government on ly places I Base per

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20 Cuba Libre PLAYBOOKProvince and none in Cities. (After all , Cities are in effect indestructible Government Bases already ) The player therefore looks forProvinces with cubes but no Government Base and finds two: Pinardel Rfo and La Habana. An equal-chance roll se lects La Habana, sothe new Government Base is placed there. The second Governmentpiece placed there is a Police cube per the second bullet of 8.1.2.The f}vent is over and the Government now does Ops. This time ne ither Havana nor the Base in CamagUey Province has Govt Control ,so it will Train again. Its 3 remaining Resources are only sufficientfor one space. Since the two candidate spaces have equal priority(both lack Govt Control), an eq ual-chance roll is used and selectsCamagUey Province. T\vo Police and 2 Troop cubes are placed there,and Government Resources drop from 3 to I.The Special Activity is Transport again. Havana City has 3 Troopcubes but is Uncontrolled , and Santiago has I Troop cube buthas exactly the number of cubes needed for Control: none of theTroops in those spaces are above Co ntrol. CamagUey City alsohas I Troop cube, and the 2 Police cubes also present in the Citycan maintain Govt Control by themselves, so this Troop is aboveControl. Looking at the To priorities, there are no Provinces withPolice and no Troops, nor any where Active Guerrillas exceed theTroops present; but 26July Control of Matanzas cou ld be brokenby a single Troop cube. The Troop in CamagUey City is thereforeTranspo11ed to Matanzas, and the 26July Control marker in Matanzasis removed.6) Larraz b l is played, and the nex t card will be the first Pro-paganda 26Jul y has no Bases available so can 't benefit from theEvent, but the shaded text wou ld both remove a 26Jul y Base andhurt its Resources. The player decides to play Ops only, forcing the2nd E ligible Syndicate to do Ops as well. 26July Rallies in Santiagode Cuba to place 4 Guerr illas, and in Matanzas to place l Guerrilla.Santiago and Matanzas both fa ll under 26July Control, and 26JulyResources drop to I.T he Syndicate is 2nd E ligible, and finally gets to do its first Operations t has both Guerrillas ava ilab le and Casinos without Guerril las g uarding them, so it Ra llies a Guerrilla in eac h of Pinar del Rfoand La Habana Province for a total cost of 2 Resources (Sy ndica teResou rces go from 24 to 22). There are no Act ive Sy ndicate Guerrillas that need to be flipped Underground. Fo llowing the flowchart ,Syndicate then does a Profit Spec ial Activity. A ll 3 Casino spaceshave open Casinos, Syndicate Guerrillas and enemies, and noneof them have Cash yet, so they all have equal priority. Th e playerdecides to save time by using an equal-chance roll to determine thespace that wi ll NOT get a Cash marker: the roll points to Pinar delRfo, so one Cash marker is placed with Syndicate Guerrillas in eachof La Habana and Havana City.7) Propaganda (next is Pact of Caracas). The first PropagandaPhase proceeds as follows:Victory. No Fac tion has met its Victory Co nditions. Even if the26July had , the ga me would continue , since the player in a I-playergame can only win at the end of the final Propaganda Phase (8.9).Resources. Government Resources go to 37, 26July to 5, DR to 8,and the Syndicate to 24. Almost all the Mob's income was SkimmedPer 8. 1.2 1st bullet, the Syndicate then uses its Cash markers to placenew (open) Cas inos in Pinar de Rfo and Havana City.Support. First the US Alliance is adjusted . Total Support is 16,which is " 18 or less'', so the US A lliance goes down from " Firm"to " Reluctant" and Aid drops from 24 to 14.

Non-player Government then buys Civic Action per 8.8.6.afford to buy 7 C ivic Actions without dropping below 9 Resobut the o ther requirements - Control, Police, and Troops - aonl y in La Habana Province (at Passive Support) and CamProvince (Pass ive Oppos ition). T he Government buys 4Ac tions for 16 Resources and shifts both of these spaces to ASupport. Total Sup port increases to 19, Government Resourcto 2 1, and 26Jul y's Opposition+ Bases drops to 6.26Ju ly can Agitate in Matanzas, Las Villas , and Santiago, buting all of them to Active Opposition would spend a ll its ResoIn addition, the player plans to do some Terror and KidnappSantiago (now that the Guerrillas there comfortably outnumbPolice), which will also cause shifts. 26Jul y spends 3 Resourshift Matanzas and Las Villas to Active Opposition, leaving Sade Cuba Neutral. 26July Resources go from 6 to 3, and Oppo+ Bases to 12.Shifting Las Villas to Active Oppos ition would normally be a basince it would cause the DR Guen illa there to Terrorize and Asinate the 26July Base, but the player sees Pact of Caracas aheplans to use it to prevent such DR action against 26July's inteThe on ly candidate space for the Directorio's Expat Backing (8.6.2) is Oriente, as a ll other spaces are either at Active SuppAct ive Opposition or Con trolled by some other Faction. ThRally places a Base in Oriente, removing 2 of the 4 DR Guethere and moving the DR Population + Bases Victory marker5 to 6.Redep loy. Per 6.4 and 8.8.7, Non-playerGovernment must RedTroops from all Provinces that lack a Government Base. Thsuch Province is Pinar de Rfo, with 3 Troop cubes. In order toGovt Control after the Reset, it needs to move in 3 Po liceto replace the Troops. Per 8.8.7, it will take each Police frospace with the most Police at the time, without losing any Conremoving the last Police from any space. Havana City has 4 PSantiago has 3, and the two Camagileys have 2 each ; so twothree Police going to Pinar de Rfo are taken from Havana Cithe third from Santiago. When the Police redeployments are allthere are 3 Police in Pinar de Rfo, 2 each in Havana City, Sanand the CamagUeys, and I in La Habana Province.The next step would be to Redeploy I Police to each City orBase that doesn' t have any, but there is no such space.Fina lly Troops a ll around the map are Redeployed as evepossible among Government-Controlled Govt Bases and CThere are 3 Troops in Pinar de Rfo and I in Matanzas thato relocate; and they need to be distributed as evenly as poamong La Habana Province (now with 3 Troops), Camag iieyince (2 Troops), and Camagiley City ( none). Moving the TroMatanzas to Camagiley Province and the 3 Troops in Pinarto Camagiley City leaves all three Govt-Controlled spacesTroops each.(Remember that 6.4 a llows Redeployment of cubes FROM bTO spaces that lack Govt Control )Reset. All Factions are marked Eligible, all Active Guerrillfli pped Underground, and any closed Casinos would open.The Government and 26July have both made progress inshort Campaign DR Bases in Havana havegreat potentialareunder regime threat The Syndicate is agging but has fuan new Cas inos.

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ubaLibre PLAYBOOK 21

EVENTCARD .Op 0111) hunderAdd 1 tff LlmOp

ROPAGANDACARDGovernmentforces redep loy,seeking to maintain controlo he whole island.8) Now the Pact ofCaracas is up This Event prevents 26Jul y andthe Dircctorio from doing any Opera tions or Special Activities thatremove the other Faction's pieces or reduces Oppos ition, but theycan still harm one another via Events. It is poss ible to cancel thePact however, and Non-player Directorio wi ll do so if player 26Julyis too successful (8.6.5). The next card is also revealed: SanchezMosquera.26Jul y plays the Event, and the co rresponding c hit is placed in theInsurge nt Capabi lity box on the map. Per the Event, 26Jul y willstay Eligible.The Directorio is 2nd Eligible, and since the Event was played, itwill do Ops. It has U nde rground Guerri llas in two spaces at Ac tivesomething (e ither Support or Opposition): two in Havana Ci ty (atAct ive Support), and one in Las Villas (at Active Opposition). Dueto the Pact ofCaracas it ca n't execute Terror in Las Vi llas, sincethat would affect the Oppos ition marker there, but it can do so inHava na. By the owchart, the DR will therefore do a Terror Op withAssassinate as the Special Activity.Looking at the Terror priorities, the first targe t space for the Ter roris Havana City, since it is at Act ive Support (first bullet in the Terrorbox) ; the second bullet cannot apply because the Pact ofCaracasInsurgent Capability bans DR Terror where there is Opposition.Th eplayer then loo ks for Assassination targe ts as per the third bullet:first a Govt Base (there s none with any DR Guerri lla); then anyplayer s Base (not possible due to the Pact - otherwise the 26JulyBase in Las Vi llas would be a prime target ) ; fin ally any other target. There are open Casinos in Hava na C ity but there are too manyPo lice in the C ity.

The DR therefore does Terror in Havana City only and no SpecialActivity: one DR Gue rrilla is Activated, a Terror marker placed andthe Support marker Ripped to its Passive side (reduc ing Total Supportfrom 19 to 13). Th e Terror cos ts the DR 1 Resource, leaving 7.

DR urban terror9) anchez Mosquera is played,and the nex t Event will be MAPT he Government plays the Event;being a Momentum Event , it hasno immed ia te effect, but it willmod ify th e Government ' s Opsdec isions per 8.8. J and also makeit ignore any further Events untilthe nex t P ro pagand a (8. 1, 3 rdbullet). The ca rd is placed off thenortheast corner of the gameboardas a re minde r.

Sanchez MosqueraPopular C'olo11tl ' ' ltJ:Remove all Troop front

a Mount\)ln pace {to available).Effnllt f army rommo mlrr.Until f I XP n > p l g a n d a

; " : ; - . : . . . -.< k

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22 Cuba Libre - PLAYBOOKT he 26Jul y can follow up with Ops and Special Ac tivity. Beingvery low on Resources, the player decides to do a Terror plusKidnap combination ju st in Santiago, where the Po lice have bee ninfiltrated sufficiently to no longer stand in the way. The Terror Opflips a 26Jul y Guerr illa, places a Terror marker, and shifts the C ityto Passive Opposition (Opposition + Bases increases to 13). Thiscosts I Resource (down to I ). A generous Kid nap die roll of 5then tr ansfers 5 Resources from the Government (down to 16) tothe 26July (up to 6).10) The Syndicate is Ist E ligible to playMAP but the Event Instruc-tions tell it to do Ops & Special Activity instead. There are alreadySyndicate Guerrillas in a ll Casino spaces, so it won' t Ra lly. But it canMarch to empty ECs : the Guerrilla in Camag i iey Prov ince Ma rchesto the Factory tC, and a Guerrilla fro m e ither La Habana Provinceor Pinar del R fo will March to the Cigar EC (an eq ual-chance rollse lec ts Pin ar as the origin space for this move). Marching to ECscosts 0 , so Syndicate Resources remain at 24 . A ll the Cash markersare available, so the Special Activi ty is Profit. As there is no Guerrillaleft in Pinar de l Rfo, that space is not a candidate, so the Profit activityplaces one Cash marker in each of H avana and La Habana.The Direc torio is 2nd Eligible. Per the 2nd bullet of 8. 1, it a lwayschooses Ops & Special Ac tiv ity over the Event when it is 2ndEligible and 26 July is a playe r. There are 6 or more DR Guerrillasava ilable, so it will Ra lly. T he first bullet in the Ra lly box doesn'tapply (only one of the two DR Guerrillas in Havana City is Active), and it can 't place a Base, so it places Guerrillas at its Bases.An equal-chance die roll se lects Oriente first, so 4 Guerrill as areplaced there; then the remaining 6 are placed in H avana City. TheRa lly costs 2 Resources (down to 5), but DR then Subverts Orienterestor ing its Resources to 7 .

The Mob makes a grab fo r the tobacco indus try and stacks its gam-bling profits, while the DR bu ilds for decis ive control o Havana.The burgeoning urban guerrilla force gives DR Control of the capitaland increases DR Population + Bases to 12 - that's a DR Victory ifit ca n kee p this Co ntrol until the nex t Propaga nda, meaning defeatfor the M26 player as DR stea ls the Revolution

Eve nt to break into the Governmen t-supportive western ProvAlthough no M26 pieces are ava ilable, a player Faction exeOps or Events may remove his own pieces from the map to av(1.4. l , 2nd bullet; note that Non-player Fac tions do not doThe player removes the Base and one Guerrilla from Las Vthe 26July Available box, and then plays the Event to place tPinar de Rfo instead (removing the Gov t Control).T he Governme nt is up. Havana and Santiago both lack Govtrol, so the Government w ill Train. A random ro ll selects Saas the first Train space, and 4 cubes (2 Troops, 2 Police) arethere : enough to regain Co ntrol. Only I cube remains ava ilano further Tra ining is possible.Training in I space costs 3 Resou rces, leaving 13, so Go

cuba libre playbook

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