Subtitled "The Game of Power, Intrigue, Money and Revolution," this game was designed by Vincent Tsao and is published by Creative Wargames Workshop, Inc. (330 E. 6th St., #1E, New York, NY 10003). This company WWW) is best known for their fantasy miniatures rules, The Emerald Tablet. It is a cut-throat game, in the grand tradition of Diplomacy, for four to seven players, with special two and three player variants.

The game is set in a hypothetical third world nation, the capital city of which is represented on the 18"x24", unmounted mapsheet (printed in brown and blue on cream). Each player represents one of the wealthy ruling families of this country and collectively they form the ruling "junta" and the Chamber of Deputies (legislature). Each player also has one of seven positions in the government: The President, who controls four Palace Guard units, appoints players to the other positions, collects taxes (draws Money Cards) and draws up the budget; The Minister of the Interior, who controls four police units plus the secret police; three Generals, each of whom controls a brigade of six army units; The Admiral, who controls the Navy Gunboat Unit; and The Air Force Commander, who controls the Air Force Unit. If there is no seventh player there is no Air Force. If there is no sixth player there is no Navy. If there are only four players, each player, besides the President, gets two positions: General plus something else.

Each player is dealt four Political Cards (six in a four-player game) face down. These cards represent political influence, secret political donations, special events, votes to be used in the legislature, assassins to use on other players and opportunities to bribe other players' units to switch sides. Then an election is held to choose who will be the President, using Influence Cards, Vote Cards and possibly Event Cards that affect votes. Voting continues until one player receives a majority of the votes cast in that round of voting. Vote and Event Cards can only be used once and then are discarded. Influence Cards can be used over and over. And then the President distributes the remaining government positions as he pleases, except that each player must have some position. (Naturally promises of position, especially Minister, are a major means of gaining votes for President.) He may also change these appointments at the beginning of any turn.

Each turn every player is dealt a new Political Card, but if this gives him more than five (seven in the four-player game) he must discard the excess. Then the President draws a number of Money Cards equal to the number of players plus one. Money Cards come in two denominations, one billion "P" or two billion "I". (The "P" can stand for pesos, pounds, piasters or whatever you like.) The President keeps secret the total drawn. He then announces the budget-that is, who will get to share the Money Cards and how much they will get. The players now vote to approve or reject this budget, in the same way that the election for President is done, except that there is only one round of voting. If the budget does not receive a majority of votes cast, it is defeated. If the budget is approved the President must give the amounts promised to each player, and keeps the remainder. Since the object of the game is to end the game as the player with the most money in his Swiss bank account, you can see that the Presidency does have its advantages.

All players must now secretly select their personal location in the capital. The choices are: home, headquarters, bank, nightclub or mistress's. This is done by means of counters combining a family symbol with the name of a location placed face down on the map. All assassination attempts are then announced and the counters of threatened players are turned face up. The Minister may always make one assassination attempt per turn, as he controls the Secret Police. Other players need Assassin Cards. An assassination attempt consists of selecting a victim and guessing his location. If the guess is correct the assassination is successful unless the victim has a card that guards against it. An assassinated player loses all his Political Cards, any Money Cards not yet deposited in his Swiss bank account and one turn (while his family recuperates). On the turn he is out the President controls his governmental position(s).

To deposit their Money Cards and Secret Political Donation Cards in their Swiss Account players must choose the bank as their location. Since this is a logical and necessary place for players to go the Minister is not allowed to send the Secret Police assassins to the Bank two turns in a row. If the budget is rejected, the bank is closed and the President keeps all the Money Cards he drew this turn. The Minister may attempt to circumvent the closing of the bank by seizing the Chamber of Deputies. He does this by placing all his police units in the Chamber of Deputies area on the map. If the President is still in office at the end of the turn, all surviving players must be given the amount promised in the budget and the bank will open, allowing deposits by people who chose the bank location. This will end the turn unless a coup d'etat is attempted.

A coup begins when any player plays a Strike or Riot Event Card, moves his brigade or uses the Air Force or Gunboat Unit. A coup lasts for seven movement and combat phases during each of which each player may make one move of any or all land units from any one area on the map to any one adjacent area. All moves are written down and then made simultaneously. When hostile units enter the same area combat may occur if any player desires to initiate it. Combat consists of three volleys per phase. During a volley a player rolls one die for each armed unit (Army, Police, Palace Guards, Militia and Bank Guards) or pair of unarmed units (Dock Strikers, Slum Rioters and Student Rioters) in the area. A roll of six constitutes a hit and removes one hostile unit (owner's choice) from play. If one side inflicts at least twice as many losses as it suffers, the loser must retreat out of the disputed area to an adjacent area containing no hostile units, or surrender. If', after the seventh phase, the rebels control (are the only ones to have units in) any three of the following five areas: Presidential Palace, Central Bank, Railroad Station, Chamber of Deputies and Radio Station -- the coup is successful and the President overthrown. The rebel players, each having one vote, now select a new President. If they cannot agree then the new President will be elected by the Chamber of Deputies in the usual way. The new President may then send any one player to the firing squad-same effect as assassination - except those hiding in embassies, and reassigns positions. If the coup fails the President may select one rebel player to send to the firing squad,

The game ends on any turn that there are not enough Money Cards left to play a turn, or whenever, due to trigger-happy assassins and/or firing squads all players are dead during the same turn.

This is a very clever game, and I'm anxiously awaiting the chance to get some friends together and give it a try. Tactically it resembles the Gamma Two Games (including Napoleon, now published by AH) while strategically it is a cross between Diplomacy and Lie, Cheat and Steal. If it gets enough exposure it may well become a classic. It sells for $9.95, plus 75 cents postage and handling from the publisher. It comes in a plastic, zip-lock bag, and the components and graphics are of professional quality.

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