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The British Way: Counterinsurgency at the End of Empire is the first of several COIN multipacks, containing four separate wargames exploring a series of thematically related insurgencies. Between 1945 and 1960, the British fought four major “emergencies”, as they referred to their counterinsurgency campaigns, each trying to manage their retreat from empire. The four games in this pack focus on exploring British counterinsurgent responses to a variety of different opponents, including communist insurgents in Malaya, militant nationalists in Kenya, and smaller and more clandestine terrorist organizations in Palestine and Cyprus. The games adjust the core COIN mechanics to provide a compelling new way of handling two-player conflicts, while also streamlining several mechanics to quicken gameplay. The British Way offers an approachable introduction to the COIN series for new players, while presenting experienced players with four mechanically distinct games to explore and compare.
—description from the publisher
- Potentially interesting event-driven decisions
- Multiple scenarios for replayability
- Direct two-player interaction
- Event cards can restrict options
- No map described in discussion; unclear balance
- Uncertainty about replayability
- Ethnos
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — Variant scoring if you're ahead at the end of rounds.
- End-of-round lead-based scoring variant — Variant scoring if you're ahead at the end of rounds.
- event cards — Cards that can force actions and limit options.
- Events — Cards that can force actions and limit options.
- Limited operation vs full operation — Choice each turn between performing one action or a full operation.
- Multiple scenarios — Three scenarios on the map to vary gameplay.
- Positive player interaction — Competitive play with direct disruption to the opponent.
- Scenario / Mission / Campaign Game — Three scenarios on the map to vary gameplay.
- Two-player interaction — Competitive play with direct disruption to the opponent.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I do not like when event cards force me to have no options
- this is not Ethnos
- it's a completely different scaled down game set collection
- Ethnos to me was an intense area control game
- this is literally just set collection and managing boards
- it's a clever economic game because you've got factions coming out on the board