Latin Intervention (Variant)

Original rules by Alex Kremer, Variant by A Plague of Frogs

Latin Intervention is a game about Cold War influence in Central America

Setup:

Place the Panama Canal marker in Panama. This cannot be moved.

Victory:

Any player who controls 5 countries at the end of a turn wins the game. Control of a country is determined by the presence of an “Influenced” marker in that country. Players can also lose by pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war. This is tracked by the Threat Level. When the Threat Level reaches the “Warning!” mark, the player that triggered the warning loses the game.

Turn Sequence:

The Soviet player initially goes first. On subsequent turns, the player with the most countries Influenced (containing the “Influenced” marker) makes the first move of the turn. In the case of a tie, the Soviet player makes the first move.

  1. Place markers.
  2. Resolve conflicts
  3. Adjust Threat Level for Military markers
  4. Assess score.

Marker Placement

On each turn, the player may place or move one marker.

If a player chooses to neither move nor place a marker, the threat level is reduced by one.

If a marker is newly placed on the board, the Threat Level is increased by the amount shown on the marker. Exception: Any marker with a single green circle can be placed in a friendly-controlled (Influenced) country without moving the threat level.

A marker cannot be placed on the board if it increases the Threat Level to the highest level (the 9th or red circle). Doing so results in an instantaneous loss for the player who placed the marker.

There are two Military markers in the game having a +5 modifier, the Aircraft Carrier (for the U.S) and the Missile Base (for the Soviet Union). These markers can only be placed in a country that is already Influenced. There is one exception. If the U.S.S.R. has moved their Missile Base into a contested country and the U.S. has no countries under their control, the Aircraft Carrier may be deployed directly to any country on the map, without regard to Influenced markers.

A player may choose to remove a marker from the board. Removing a marker reduces the Threat Level by the amount shown on that marker. Removing a marker from the board counts as a marker placement – no additional play is allowed. Removing a marker from a country that is already controlled (Influenced) does not reduce the Threat Level.

Pieces already on the board may be moved without altering the Threat Level. Movement has the following restrictions:

  1. Aid markers may be moved from any country to any other country, without restriction.
  2. The Aircraft Carrier marker must be placed on a coastline. Movement from one coastline to another is unrestricted, as long as the Panama Canal counter remains on the board. If the Panama Canal marker has been removed, the Aircraft Carrier can only move along the coast on which it is already placed. (It can, of course, be removed from the board and placed again freely on a subsequent turn).
  3. The remaining markers can only be moved into territories that are adjacent to the country from which the marker is being moved.
  4. Additionally, the “Agent” markers (CIA and KGB) can move between already-controlled countries before moving into a contested country. This combination movement counts a single move.

Movement Example

The Soviets are close to victory

In the example, the Revolutionaries piece in Belize (1) can only be moved to Guatemala. It would take two turns before it could be used to challenge for control of a country. The CIA and KGB agents (2), in El Salvador and Costa Rica respectively, can move across friendly countries before moving into a contested one. Thus, the CIA agent could move either to Guatemala (adjacent) or through Honduras to Nicaragua. Likewise the KGB agent could move either to Panama or Honduras. The Aid markers (3) in El Salvador could be relocated to any country on the board.

Resolve Conflict

After all markers are placed, a contest of political wills occurs for every nation which has had a marker placed in it on that turn.

Conflicts are resolved in the same order as the markers themselves were placed.

Each side that has influence in that nation rolls a six sided die. If one side rolls a 6 or higher, that side places an “Influenced” marker. If neither side rolls a 6 or higher, or both sides roll higher than 6, than no changes are made to the board. The die roll is modified by the sum total of the modifier shown in the “star” region of each marker.

If a player has no markers of any kind in a country, that player does not roll for that country on that turn.

When one player places an “Influenced” marker, all markers of the opposing superpower are removed from the nation. Removing markers in this manner does not reduce the Threat Level.

Military Threats

After all conflicts are resolved, each Military Marker (Aircraft Carrier or Missile Base) remaining on the board increases the Threat Level by one. This is also done in turn order, so that if both players have military markers on the board, the Soviets will be the first to move increase the Threat Level followed by the U.S. player. If either player causes the Threat Level to increase to the highest level, that player loses the game.

Assess Score

After all dice are rolled and assuming that the Threat Level has not been maxed out, the country control is tallied to see if there is a winner. If either player controls five countries, that ends the game, with that player being declared the winner.