Game Title : Shining Path
Publisher : One Small Step
Game Designer : Brian Train
Game Theme : Conflict between Sendero guerilla and Peruvian government in 1980s.
Game Components
1 game map, 1 counter sheet, rulebook, charts and tables.
You also need dice and an opaque cup.
“Peru” is not a popular topic in Japan.
The reason why I picked this game was that this game is designed by Brian Train. I like his design almost always.
This game looks very similar to “Algeria” from the same designer. The map is composed of areas. And each area has 4 boxes, UG, Gar, Ops, and OC and 1 Ptl circle.
The victory is determined by PSL, political support level as Algeria. And each player can attack or defend the PSL by conducting missions.
But, the game is more aggressive than Algeria. In Algeria, each party’s most common mission is propaganda and pacification. In each case, it is used to increase its own PSL. And once his PSL reaches to 99, the highest number, then he can deduct the opponent PSL. But, in this game, you can directly deduct the opponent PSL without precondition.
Also in this game, the guerilla can use riot mission which has double effect on the opponent PSL. But, this mission can be conducted by front and in urban area only. Even with this limitation, this mission is very dangerous for the government.
The game starts with only few guerilla units on the map. But, also the building rate of government units is really limited one unit per turn only.
So, the guerilla side slowly increases their power and starts the propaganda in countryside. Then, they will advance into the urban area and prepare for coming riots. At this point, the government starts to react and sometimes eliminate guerilla units. This will make their moral higher and sooner or later it will cause crisis. Once, the first crisis occurs, the limit on the building rate for the government will be lifted. Then, both sides can directly attack the opponents by increased units.
So, the game is really storytelling, and has several stages.
The game looks shorter than Algeria due to its aggressive property. So, if you have interest on this type of game, I recommend this game first.
The game rule is really short and not complicated at all. But, it has several chromes on this topic. One that I like is cocaine business. This business is triggered by random event. And once activated, both players can get action points from this business. But, for the government, if he gets AP he is inflicted one corruption point each time. The main source of AP for the government is taxation. Each turn he multiplies economic level by taxation percentage to get AP. But, corruption point is deducted from taxation rate. So, cocaine is good in short term, but it really undermine his long term income.
Also, American intervention has very similar effect. It is a bonus for the government player, but it also gives him a corruption point each time. This shows how the oversea aids work in Latin-American countries.
