Junta is a popular boardgame revolving around political life in a banana republic. West End Games Inc. released a new edition of the game in the Spring of 1985. The following rules addenda are not official, but they sound delightfully devious. Everyone knows that being a member of the ruling junta is not enough. Dictator for life is the ultimate reward! So, for all you power trippers - here are some dictator rules. As anyone who reads the daily papers knows, life in a banana republic can often be perverse and painful. There seems to be almost no end to the variety of central authorities which can arise after a change of governments. Junta reflects a rather idealized view of what happens after a Coup; these rules for playing Coup Du Jour attempt to add a little of that perverse depth. Hopefully, they will improve your taste for life in our fictional republic. After the Coup To begin with, change the sections for what to do after a Coup slightly, substituting the sections: 39A Choosing Sides At the end of the sixth Coup phase, all players must declare themselves "ProPresident ... .. Pro-junta," or Dictator. Starting with the First Rebel and going clockwise, each player must declare which side he will support. *You may declare yourself "ProPresident" even if you are a rebel, or "Projunta" even if you are loyal. *The President is automatically "ProPresident," and can never declare himself "Pro-junta." 0 Any player who controls three or more of the five power centers (including the President) may declare himself "Dictator." The normal rules are immediately suspended, and the Dictatorship rules apply. 40A Control The side which controls at least three of the five power centers (Central Bank, Chamber of Deputies , Presidential Palace, Radio Station, and Railroad Station) wins the Coup. A player controls a power center if the power center is occupied by at least one of his units, and by no other player's units. If more than one player has units in a center, and they have all declared "Projunta," they control the power center for the junta. Otherwise, (even if there is only one "Pro-President" unit) that center is in dispute. The President controls all unoccupied power centers as well as any power centers that are in dispute. 41A Aftermath After a victory, there are key decisions that must be made. After a Presidential victory, the President may send any one rebel player not in exile to the Firing Squad. After a junta victory, the rebel players must immediately form a junta to govern the Republic. The junta may then send any one player not in exile to the Firing Squad. A player sent to the Firing Squad is dead. The player must discard any Political cards in his hand, and give any money in his hand (or pocket) to the President or Presiding Officer of the junta (whichever gave the order). Or, the government may choose not to send anyone to the Firing Squad. How Things Work Once a Coup has ended, there are three possible outcomes: the President can win and re-establish his government; or the rebels can win and establish ajunta to govern; or one player can make a grab for power and become a Dictator. The Dictator is a powerful and mysterious figure not to be trifled with. once you have experienced life in the Republic under a Dictator, you may never let another player control even one power center alone. 100 Dictatorship (use only if there is a Dictator) The Dictator is more powerful than a President. As long as the Dictator continues to rule, the following special rules replace the usual sections about Voting and Assassinations. The Dictator can only be removed by Assassination, or if a Coup against him results in a junta victory, or if some other player becomes Dictator. The Dictator is also the President and benefits from all the special rules for the President. However, the Dictator may resign (follow section 26 Presidential Resignation); his successor will be a normal President without any Dictatorial powers. 101 Life in a Dictatorship (replaces 11 Roll Call Votes) In the Chamber of Deputies, votes are held by a simple go-round. The Dictator votes first; then, each of the other players has a chance to vote, going around the table in a clockwise direction. When it is your turn to vote, you may abstain, vote Yes, or vote Nay. Once the round is concluded, the vote is over. Unless all players except the Dictator voted Nay, the motion is passed "by Acclamation." if all the other players voted Nay, the motion fails (and the bank is closed or whatever). The Minister may seize the Chamber and force the vote either way (follow the usual rules). 102 State Security Squad (SSS) The Dictator controls the dread State Security Squad (a.k.a. SSS). Like the Minister's Secret Police, this means he may conduct one assassination attempt per turn "for free." The SSS is under the same restriction concerning the Bank that applies to the Secret Police (see 20 Assassinations). They may only try for an assassination at the Bank on alternate turns. However, the SSS and the Secret Police do not affect each other; between them, they may cover the Bank on every turn. Make another "Shoot at Bank/ Bank is safe" marker for the SSS. The SSS assassination attempt only succeeds on a roll of 1, 2, 3, or 4. Other Forms of Punishment Obviously, with those extraordinary powers, the Dictator can be quite a threat to your game plan. Unless you are the Dictator in question. Dictators arise only rarely. A large portion of all Coups will result in a rebel victory. For the rebels, winning is only the beginning. Now they must attempt to consolidate their combat victory into firm, political control of the organs of government. The first step is forming a junta: 200 The junta The junta acts like the President and Chamber of Deputies rolled into one. But only members of the junta get to vote on decisions. As long as the junta continues to rule the Republic, the following special rules replace the usual sections about Voting. Only rebel players who declared themselves "Pro-junta" are members of the Junta. Loyal players cannot become members of the junta, even if they declare "Pro-junta." The best they can hope for is to be friends. Any player wishing to become a member of the junta must be sure to become a rebel. (See 30 Rebels and Loyalists.) 201 Majority Rule (replaces 11 Roll Call Votes) In the junta, votes are held by a simple goround. The Presiding Officer (or First Rebel if none has been selected yet) votes first; then, each of the other members has a chance to vote, going around the table in a clockwise direction. When it is your turn to vote, you may abstain, vote Yes, or vote Nay. Once the round is concluded, the vote is over. If there are more votes for the motion than against it, then it passes. if there are more votes against than for, it fails. if there is a tie, the Presiding Officer breaks it as he wishes. Only members of the junta may vote; other players have no say. Each member has one vote. 202 Membership A member may propose that another member be removed from the junta at any time except during Assassinations, a Coup, or voting on another proposal. if the proposal passes, that player is no longer a member of the junta, and has no further power in the junta. 203 Presiding Officer If the junta plans to continue ruling the Nation, a Presiding Officer must be elected before the next turn can begin. (if not, the First Rebel may serve until one is elected, or the junta dissolves itself.) The Presiding Officer will perform some of the duties of the President so that play can continue more or less normally. The election of the Presiding Officer is conducted like an election for President, but using rule 201 for the voting. If there is a tie, the First Rebel (or previous Presiding Officer) breaks it. once a Presiding Officer has been elected, return the First Rebel card to the box. Any member may propose that the Presiding Officer be stripped of his rank at any time, except during Assassinations, during a Coup, or while some other proposal is being voted on. If the Presiding Officer is stripped, a new Presiding Officer must be elected at once, before any other actions. In the voting to select a new Presiding Officer, the old Presiding Officer still has tie-breaking powers. If no majority develops for any one candidate, a proposal to remove a member is allowed, before continuing with the effort to elect a new Presiding Officer. The Presijing Officer hands out Positions and proposes the Budget as if he were President. Except where there are special rules here, treat him like the President. The Urge to Abolition Quite often, you may find, that your Junta is not really working out very well as a means of governing the Republic. For one reason or another, the members of the Junta may feel a need to return to a more traditional civilian form of government. This urge to Democratic processes is covered by the following rules: 204 Democracy The junta may decide to dissolve itself at any time. Any member may propose that the junta dissolve and create one or another type of government to replace it. If the motion is passed, it takes effect immediately. There are three basic types of government which the junta can choose to form: create a Constitutional Democracy; hold Free Elections; or simply appoint another President-for-Life. Basic rules follow: 205 Free Elections If Free Elections are held, the junta is dissolved, and the normal rules of play are back in force. Start by electing a new President, as outlined in section 9 Electing a President. The new President does not get to shuffle the cabinet until the beginning of the next turn. 206 Appointing a President The Junta may choose to dissolve itself, and name someone President in its stead. The Junta is dissolved, and the normal rules of play are back in force. The new President (named by the junta) does not get to shuffle the cabinet until the beginning of the next turn. 207 Constitutional Democracy If the junta chooses to form a Constitutional Democracy, it must also approve a Constitution to operate under before dissolving itself. The Constitution should contain at least these things: length of the President's term, maximum number of terms a President may serve, and any Special Rules. Possible Special Rules are electing a Vice President along with the President, who will automatically become President if the President dies or resigns; limiting decision making in the Chamber of Deputies to requiring a twothirds majority to pass the budget; or moderately changing other rules. Once the junta has dissolved itself for a Constitutional Democracy, the Constitution is in force and will remain in force until a rebel victory during a Coup (unless the Constitution also included a provision for suspending itself, perhaps by a declaration of Martial Law Emergency Powers). Otherwise play under a Constitution procedes normally, except that Elections must be held at the end of every turn when the current President's term is over. Start the Constitution by electing the first President to serve under it. if there is a limitation on the number of terms, a player may not be elected President more than the limited number of terms. Presidencies before the Constitution do not count. Pluralism These rules for assorted flavors of government in Junta do not generally alter the flow of the game very much; mostly they change slightly who gets to vote, and how significant that vote is. But as you will discover, even a small change like this can make a big change in each player's relative importance. Players without large stakes in the existing order (that is, it you do not have big influence cards) are likely to favor one or another alternative form of government, in which their votes are likely to count far more than under a Roll Call in the Chamber. And of course, it is in the interest of every player's Swiss account to become a Dictator. Once you are Dictator, you can rake in the money like it was going out of style... I would like to thank many people too numerous to mention, but especially Eric Goldberg, Stephen Tibor, Greg Costikyan, Jeremy Paulson and Gary Cbri:Wnsen for their parts in testing these rules. As usual, I welcome questions phrased in a Yes/No manner and including a stamped, selfaddressed envelope. Write to Ben Grossman, c/o West End Games, 251 West 301h Street, New York, NY 10001. Junta @1984 is a product of West End Games Inc. Pictures and illustrations are used with their permission. Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #8 To Game News List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy. 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