Army of Shadows 2015

This game depicts, in a very abstract way, the essence of insurgent warfare. The game is for two players, the State (representing the existing government or leadership of a country or organization) and the Insurgent (representing the opposition to that government or leadership). The State has powerful forces but little information; the Insurgent has complete information but little actual power. Whichever side overcomes its disadvantage wins (the State by gaining information on the Insurgents and killing them; the Insurgents by penetrating to the centre of State power).

The Insurgent wins by capturing the Capital. This is accomplished by having, at the end of any his player-turns, Insurgent pieces occupying either four connected spaces in the Inner Circle (that is, there are at least four Insurgent-occupied spaces in the Inner Circle that also share a border with one or two other Insurgent-occupied spaces in the Inner Circle), or occupying any six of the twelve spaces of the Inner Circle.

The State player wins by killing 12 Insurgent pieces (so making an Insurgent victory impossible).

Originally designed in 2011 for an online game site, from an idea by Michael Freeman.