Solidarity is now finished. This article is to present the last turn results and to recap the game. As has been stated before, Solidarity is a matrix game about the events in the Soviet Block of 1989. 1989 is the year that the old world order ended. we are fortunate that it has not lead to more violence than it has. In real life, we remember the inspiring events, like the coining down of the Berlin wall, the demolition of the Iron Curtain, the Romanian Revolution, and the spread of civic forums everywhere. It sounds like 1848 all over again. But like 1848, we now are seeing the conservatives fighting to regain power. We do not know what will happen next maybe a new dictatorship? But we are fortunate to have had so much peace and hope. The players of my replay of 1989 were not as peaceful minded as our world leaders. Vince Zahnle played a rabid American hawk. Dale Kemper and Chris Morris were clearly Stalinists. My brother Ian played the central Asian anarchist with a flair. Chris Blair and Dave Reeves seemed to be trying to lead Eastern Europe to Democracy. And then there was my attempt to recreate the Prague Spring (with a happier ending). Now the game can-be viewed in its entirety.... May through June 1989 CZECHOSLOVAKIA "The Czechoslovakian government fell on June 1st after two weeks of rioting. The Soviet Army moved in to restore order, following a week of guessing about how they would react. People on the spot report that it was like the Prague Spring all over.again." POLAND "Solidarity scored impressive victories in today's Parlimentary elections. Initial polling indicates that the recently legalised trade union has won a clear majority." "President Jaruzelski today asked Tadeusz Mazowieckl to become Poland's 1st non-communist prime minister since WWII." USSR "The central Asian Chukchi national group moves to take advantage of President Gorbachev's move toward openness by opening National Culture Schools, which promote Chukchi language and national identity." July through August 1989 USSR "On Saturday July 16th, the Turkish Soviet Socialist Republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union. The Islamic Republic of Turkistan is to take its place. The worries of many Soviet experts about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism appears to have been justified. The regional militia has declared in favor of the republic. some sporadic fighting has been reported around the capital but for the most part the Soviet Army garrison is neutral of not supportive of the revolution." USA "President Bush address to the nation spells out a bold new strategy towards freedom in the Soviet block. Repeatedly he stated it is our "moral imperitive to ensure the democratization of Eastern Europe." When asked why he is taking such a move now, the President answered "We let our chance go by in 1956, and once again in 1968. I'm not going to wimp out on those brave Eastern Europeans now!" (Meanwhile the budget deficit is completely ignored in light of recent events overseas). CZECHOSLOVAKIA "Spectacular feats of courage were today seen in the streets of Prague. After weeks of quite, following the Soviet Union's invasion of the country, non-violent demonstrations were held all across the country. In Prague at least, these demonstrations appeared to be led by reformist members of the communist party Flower bearing protestors asked Soviet troops why they had come: Reports from the central city report that some protestors were fired upon, while in the suburbs Soviet Armored units refused to open fire on unarmed civilians. Military analysts speculate that Soviet morale has sharply dropped following today's protests." HUNGARY "The National Civic Forum has called for a nation wide general strike to protest the presence of Soviet Troops on their soil. (Two weeks later). The Hungarian Government to day announced that a free election will be held by the end of the year in which all political parties are welcome. All issues are now open to debate as a function of the election campaign." POLAND "A coalition of priests, trade unionists, and communist reformists petition President Jaruzelski to hold more free elections as promised, despite the recent crack down in Czechoslovakia. President Jaruzelski agreed to. this despite pressure from hard line party members who openly reject the round table agreements of this spring." September and October 1989 USSR "Ukrainian Nationalists and Communist Reformers link their political goals in Kiev. A huge demonstration was held in Kiev of Nationalists and Reformers.. They called for the Soviet Union be reshaped into Autonomous Federal Republics. This move is felt by the Nationalist and Reformist leaders to have the best chance of reforming the USSR and maintaining the Union." EAST GERMANY "East German troops refuse to come to full alert against the NATO "threat." The East German military appear to be unable to give orders to its troops. Yet another sign of the collapse of Soviet authority in Eastern Europe." CZECHOSLOVAKIA "A national government of Czech communist reformers has formed in Prague with the consent of Colonel Dmitry and his mutinous Red Army forces." "The newly formed Czech Government Invites NATO forces to enter their country to aid it in defending from being reinvaded by Hardline Stalinist forces." POLAND "The Solidarity lead government has introduced a market economy into Poland. There are great economic privations as inflation sweeps the country. The transfer to capitalism does not look like it will be an easy one." "The government declares that Poland will remain in the Warsaw Pact despite the upheaval in Pact unity over the last six months. The Poles appear to be placating their Soviet neighbors to forestall any crackdown on their reform movement." November and December 1989 USSR "Gorbachev is assassinated! Confused and conflicting reports from Moscow report that President Gorbachev was assassinated by army officers while on his way to the Kremlin. Marshal Korlenov has declared martial law and sealed off the city. Troops outside Moscow, loyal to the President claim the Gorbachev is alive and with them. They state they will crush the traitors. The country appears to be in a state of civil war." "The Baltic States declared their independence from the Soviet Union following the out break of civil war in Moscow. Red army garrisons in the three republics have either sworn loyalty to the declaration or left the country voluntarily to go fight for Moscow. The Turkic Central Asian Republic becomes the first country to recognise the Baltic Republic." THE TUTKIC CENTRAL ASIAN REPUBLIC "Turkish troops of the newly formed central asian republic invade the Sinkiang province of the People's Republic of China, to liberate the ethnic Turks living there. Reports of fighting continue to come in." HUNGARY "The Hungarian Government has responded to the threat of invasion from Romania by moving troops to the border. There isalso an increase in anti-Romanian propaganda in the media. These appeals to Magyar nationalism and example of oppression of Magyars in Transylvania appear to be unifying the nation for action." CZECHOSLOVAKIA "Peaceful demonstrations continued throughout the country this week despite the sporadic use machine guns and tear gas on the crowds in Prague. (Two weeks later) Reports of Soviet Troops refusing to fire on Czech protestors is confirmed. Throughout the country the Red Army soldiers, many of them non-Russian, are refusing to accept orders to put down communist reformers." "Colonel Dmitry and a coalition of Colonels of the Soviet Army mutiny against orders from Moscow to crush Czech freedom demonstrations. Colonel Dmitry has ordered his men to secure strategic positions in Bohemia to prevent other Soviet troops from attacking the protestors. In an interview with western Journalists, the Colonel, a Ukranian, justified his actions by saying "our Job is to defend the Soviet Union from itself. If that means defending Czechoslovakians from a wrongful and foolish policy of invasion, then so be it." ROMANIA "The government of Romania today declared its overwhelming support of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, to put down "Counter-Revolutionaries." Their statement went on to voice their support of an invasion of Hungary, to stop subversion there." THE WEST "In light of the uncertainty of future events in Eastern Europe the NATO alliance and Individual countries have begun up dating contengency plans for wax. Britain and France in particular, are updating their plans for independent use of Nuclear weapons." THE WARSAW PACT "The leadership of the Pact overestimate they military potential of Western responce to the events in Eastern Europe. Military analysts report that NATO seems to be preparing for a first strike in Germany." January through February 1990 USSR The Parliament of the Russian FSSR votes to dissolve its bonds to the Soviet Union. Ethnic Russian troops mutiny and take control of ships, submarines, military bases, missile bases, and space stations. The USSR has descended into complete anarchy. CHINA The People's Republic of China begins sending economic and military aid to the communist nations of the third world. Cuba, Korea, Vietnam, arid others, become clients of the new big man of the communist world. USA The federal government voices support of China's new aid policy. It is pointed out that China's aid will help stabilize the status quo in volatile underdeveloped countries. POLAND Western European firms invest heavily in Polish industry. The net effect of this flow of foreign capital is to ease the pain of Poland's shift to a market economy. THE FLOW OF EVENTS We spend much of our lives observing world events. If one Is fortunate, involvement in these events is kept to a minimum. Otherwise the old Chinese curse about living in "interesting" times takes on a new meaning. As world observers we are presented with an ongoing stream of crisis and disaster. For a geopolitical MG like Solidarity to work it must look and feel something like the flow of event, we experience in our lives. Is this happening? A cursory reading of old Newsweeks and Time magazines gives an over view of how fast events change. In 1989, the action started early in the winter. Solidarity began round table talks with the communist government for "limited" reforms. Hungary was next to act. In late winter they began to rehabilitate the heroes of the 1956 uprising. Then they dismantled the Iron Curtaini Then the students began protesting in China. The crackdown that followed showed that reform might not all be pretty. That is where the game began. The news magazines show that in two months between four or five notable events happen. Assuming a game in which five or six players send in two arguments apiece (twelve arguments) of which about half do not end up happening, then the game roughly mirrors the same rate of flow. The spirit of events in 1989 came more out of Eastern Europe and from Gorbachev. China under martial law looked stupid - like a repeat of what had failed In Poland nine years before. But was it stupid? All the post-war history of Eastern Europe pointed towards another crackdown. Sure, we say they don't work, but they did keep central Europe In communism for forty years. China may well remain communist longer than Russia. It is hard to say. One trend though does stand out. Change seems to happen when the leaders open the door for it. President Gorbachev opened the door for reform. That let President Jaruselski cut a deal with Solidarity. President Bush took a restrained approach to events In Eastern Europe. This allowed the Soviets to not feel too pressured (and consequently less reactionary). China's leadership took the opposite approach. Soon local leadership under the guise of Civic Forums rose up to carry the actual work of reform forward. The end result is that the Jinn is out of the bottle, and he ain't going back. Solidarity, the game, placed the players in the roles of world leaders. As such, President Bush (aka Vince Zahnle) and President Gorbachev (aka Dale Kemper) set the world up for confrontation. To be honest the nearly started world war three! Dale attempted to crush the reform movement in Czechoslovakia by force. It didn't work. If anything it only hastened the internal collapse of the Soviet Union (could that be why the real Gorbachev let the Poles et al go their own way?) Whatever the answer is, reform and reaction decided to rumble, so tensions were very high. The players tended to be political movements in this run of the game. In past runs, the game played out much more like a large scale role play game. Dale and Vince played the forces of reaction. Chris Blair, Dave Reeves and myself were tile forces of reform. Arid my brother Ian was clearly the force of anarchy. This seemed to work out well. In fact It was almost like role playing countries rather than people. Bob Cordery noted that most of the players of this game were from the USA, and that this tended to affect our orders. This appears to be true. Dale arid Vince seemed to he coming right out of the early fifties. The rest of us also carried in our own preconceptions. This is probably unavoidable without. extensive pre-game briefings. Even so, the events of the game were not beyond what could have happened (even if the cowboy bravado would not have been there). It is sobering to remember that the Red Army is patrolling Soviet cities now, and is still present it in large numbers in Eastern Europe. Who knows what will happen next? WHAT WORKED WELL IN THE GAME Solidarity was run over the space on a year. It succeeded in reaching a satisfying conclusion without dying prematurely. This is always a notable feat in a PBM. What helped keep Solidarity alive thoughout its run was that it was not necesary for everyone to send in orders every turn. This worked because the players were playing political movements rather than specific individuals. In standard PBMs only the commander of a unit could order it to move. This was not the case in Solidarity. A player could send in arguments for anyone. In fact if I had not included copies of the arguments sent in to me, the reader would have no way of knowing which political faction caused Gorbachev to be assassinated or for Russia to pull out of the Soviet Union (it was the anarchists). Players sent in turns using a wide variety of argument formats. This didn't seem to matter though, since the basic format of Action, Result, Reasons, was always obvious. The flexibility that the players showed in writing their arguments demonstrated how playing an MG opens a gamer's mind up to the world of possibilities that most games never allow you to do. This could be a daunting prospect (what will I do now !?!) but everyone seemed to handle it fine. At one point, Tom Barnes actually tried to introduce the Persian Gulf War into the game (in 1989 rather than 90-91). The argument didn't pass but if it had the game could have shifted into the middle east. This might have been interesting. It would have been the players actively controlling what they want to have happen next in the game. The matrix would not have been geared for that conflict but I feel certain that the players could have managed. This point is striking. Most games tell the player what will happen. Calum Delany described them as being Prescriptive. If an MG intended to look at reform in the Soviet Block can be so easily turned into a middle east conflict game then it must be much more descriptive. It is true that the players are' just making up what happens next but since it must be a logical statement with reasons backing it up it may well be a descriptive game. WHAT DIDN'T WORK SO WELL IN THE GAME Slow turn around time for turns made the game drag somewhat for me. Solidarity obviously works as a PBM but it is much more fun when played face to face. This may be the draw back of any PBM run in EGG, since turns only happen when the magazine comes out. Another gripe I have with MGs come from its very open endedness. Solidarity could easily continue as a game. The decline of the Soviet Union is far from complete. There is definitely a trend going in the game toward a breaking apart of the Union and the beginning of a civil war but none of this seems at all decisive. I hate leaving a movie when it is only half through. Some times the use of counter arguments (Yes Ands mainly) did not seem to work to well. In a face to face game, counter arguments provide a dynainic interplay between the players. In a PBM, on the other hand, they often come across as rather self serving, and stretched. This is a weakness that has been there all along, but it is now much more evident. The original idea about counter arguments was that they were a way of reaching a synthesis of results. It has not worked out that way. In fact Yes and counter arguments seem to work to prevent any real coming together of ideas. It may be that they are an idea that is better suited for advanced MG rules, that are only used in face to face games. LESSONS FOR THE GAME MAKER The problem with counter arguments was probably the biggest lesson of the game. Yes and, Yes but, and No actually are better kept as advanced rules for face to face games. PBM and beginner's games have enough interplay when everyone makes simple straight forward arguments. Solidarity allowed the players to make two arguments a turn. This was part of what lead to the problem with the counter arguments (since one has the tendency to counter argue against one's self). Two arguments a turn were necessary though for the flow (if events to fit a two month turn. If players were only allowed to make one argument a turn the time scale would have to be altered. Possibly a one month turn would work better. This might work better, since one month a turn has a more satisfying feel than two months did. The Solidarity matrix was more general than its predisessors but it was still pretty rigid. The players compensated for this by some very creative generalizations. one player (Pan the anarchist) seemed to leave the matrix completely behind and make free form arguments. Both adaptations to the matrix were okay by me, but it would be helpful if the matrix were briefer and more generalizable. Fifty or fewer elements seems to work best. The elements must be more general if the matrix is to give a complete picture which in turn encourages players to continue to do what they have already stated to do -- be creative. A more general matrix means that the matrix elements put together without elaboration will not make a whole lot of sense. This means the the argument format need to be altered slightly. The Action, Result, Reasons part remains the same, but the player must add in a written or spoken elaboration of what each element specifically means. This is really already happening so it is not too big of a change. It is interesting how the game maker can learn how to change his game based on what the players do. It would be so easy to say "you're not playing it right!" By doing that though, one can miss that the players' way of playing may be "better." I thank you all for teaching me a little more about MGs. AFTERWARD I have five booklet copies of the Solidarity rules and matrix that I don't need anymore. If you are interested in having a copy send me a self addressed stamped 8x5 envelop and I'll send one to you. I'm not asking for any money for these. Mainly I just want to get them off my bookshelf. So write in, the first five people get them! Back to Experimental Games Group # 12 Table of Contents Back to Experimental Games Group List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by Chris Engle This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com