COIN (board game)

COIN (short for COunterINsurgency) is a series of multiplayer asymmetric strategy board wargames simulating historic insurgency and counter-insurgency conflicts and irregular warfares throughout the world. It is published by GMT Games.

The series has been noted for its innovative and dynamic gameplay, compared to more traditional hex-and-counter two-player wargames.^[1]

COIN games simulate past and ongoing historical insurgencies and counter-insurgencies with up to four players controlling a different faction, each with unique play styles and winning conditions. All games in the COIN series share the same underlying system first found in Andean Abyss, the original game of the series, designed by game designer and CIA national security analyst Volko Ruhnke.^[2]

COIN games use variable turn order. For example, in Andean Abyss, players draw from a deck of event cards to decide the order in which factions take turns.^[3] Meanwhile, in Colonial Twilight (a two-player game), one player holds the initiative until that player performs an action that gives the initiative to the other player.^[4] Other components of gameplay consist of area control, winning hearts and minds, and lines of communication.^{[citation needed]}

Non-player rules are included for each faction, enabling a non-player-controlled faction to participate in the game based on a predetermined set of actions. The earlier COIN games used flowcharts to determine non-player procedures, while games in the series since Gandhi have included a small deck of cards with non-player actions.^[5]

• GMT Games - COIN Series page