Geopolitical Forum Game Poll

[vcczar]

Albanian cards

Communist Albania

Republic of Albania

Albanian Revolution

Albania joins NATO

Albania joins EU

Socialist Majority Government in Albania

Albanian Food Products

Albanian Chromium

[vcczar]

Austria has few cards at the moment. They're extremely peaceful, stable, and no really a major player or pivot in this game. They're included only because they appear on the map and help the EU absorb Eastern Europe by bordering former Eastern Bloc nations.

Republic of Austria	Default
Austria joins EU	1990s
Austrian automobiles
Austrian machines

[vcczar]

Here are the Azerbaijan cards. This does not include Azerbaijan-related cards that I posted with Armenia since many of their events are interrelated. This is a rather complicated region because Azeri's are Turkic and so a natural ally to Turkey. Iran also has a lot of Azeris, and so they're included to make that minority happy by backing Azerbaijan. Armenia considers itself more European than Asian, which sorts of draws in the EU. Russia and China favor the authoritarian government in Azerbaijan and wants to keep them in power for oil diplomacy, and etc. :

Soviet Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan declares Independence

Republic of Azerbaijan

Coup Leads to Authoritarian Rule of Azerbaijan

Baku Pogram sees Ethnic Armenians flee to Armenia

Kirovabad Pogrom Sees Ethnic Cleansing of Armenians in Azerbaijan

Coup Attempt to Overthrow Authoritarian Rule

Azerbaijan Special Relationship w/ Turkey

Azerbaijan joins EU

Azeri Azerbaijan

Armenian Azerbaijan

Azerbajani Oil

Azerbajani Food Products

[vcczar]

Belarus cards:

Soviet Belarus

Belarus Declares Independence

Republic of Belarus

Authoritarian rule in Belarus

Chernobyl Nuclear Fallout in Belarus

Belarusian Strikes

Russia-Belarus Energy Dispute

Belarus Economic Crisis

Belarus Protests

Belarus joins NATO

Belarus joins EU

Azerbaijan joins CIS

Armenia joins CIS

Belarus joins CIS

US Passes Belarus Democracy Act against Belarus Government

Human Rights Issues in Belarus

Belarus

Belarusian Fertilizer

Belarusian Oil

[vcczar]

I am including Belgium with the Bosnia cards because Belgium only has two cards.

Belgium is actually the "capital" of the EU because of Brussels as the defacto capital. The EU player will start with only Belgium as the EU until it is formed. Fortunately, their relations to the rest of Europe are so strong that they won't be at too much of a disadvantage, although it will be harder to assert influence outside of Europe or to take part in military engagements. 

Bosnia is kind of complex. It has three regions and the Bosnian Wars can really determine whether or not Bosnia will have independence, be part of Serbia, be part of Croatia, or be ruled independently by Bosnian Croats. Bosnia gets three resources because I require every geographical spot to have at least one. They are divided between three ethnic groups, so they have three resources. 

Belgium and Bosnia here:

 

Belgian Machines

Belgium joins EU

Communist Yugoslavia

Bosnia Declares Independence

Breakup of Yugoslavia

Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnian War

Bosnia and Herzegovina joins NATO

Bosnia and Herzegovina joins EU

Genocide of Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs

Croat-Bosniak War

Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

Bosnian Spring Unrest

Bosniak Bosnia

Serbian Bosnia

Croatian Bosnia

Bosniak Bosnia Electronics

Sebian Bosnia Car Parts

Croatian Bosnia Aluminum

[vcczar]

Here are the cards for Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic. 

Of these Cyprus is possibly the most interesting because it has the possibility of being split and expanding Turkish influence. Bulgaria is mildly interesting because it can become briefly Communist, years after the fall of the USSR. 

Communist Bulgaria

Bulgarian Revolution

Republic of Bulgaria

Bulgaria joins NATO

Bulgaria joins the EU

High Corruption in Bulgaria

Bulgarian Machines

Bulgarian Metals

Bulgaria

Croatian War of Independence

Republic of Croatia

Croatia

Croatia joins NATO

Croatia joins the EU

Croatian Oil

Croatian Medicine

Greek Cyprus

Turkish Cyprus

Republic of Cyprus

Republic of Northern Cyprus

Cyprus joins the EU

Cyprus Accused of selling passports to Russian oligarchs

Annan Plan to Resolve Greek-Turkish Cypriot Dispute

Communists take power in Cyprus

Financial Crisis sees Communists lose power in Cyprus

Cyprus Financial Boom

Turkish Cyprus Food Products

Greek Cyprus Oil

Greek Cyprus Medicines

Turkish Cypriot Demonstrations

Czech Republic

Czechia

Communist Czechoslovakia

Democratic Czechoslavakia

Velvet Revolution Ends Communist Rule

Czech Republic joins NATO

Czech Republic joins EU

Czech economy boom

Czech Cars

Czech Machinry

[vcczar]

Various nation cards below. One can see that France and Germany are EU powerhouses, especially Germany for all the industries it adds. Of these nations below, the most complicated is the country of Georgia. There's a lot of things going on there. It's interesting because Ossetians are closely-related to Iranians, while Abkhazians are more closely-related to Georgians (although not too close), while Russians are the only slavic group in there. Iran can get involved. Some Turks claim Abkhazians are Turkic, but DNA proves otherwise. 

Danish Medicines

Soviet Estonia

Republic of Estonia

Estonia

Singing Revolution in the Baltics

Estonia joins NATO

Estonia joins EU

Estonian Machines

Estonian Electronics

Finland

Republic of Finland

Finland Joins EU

Finland Joins NATO

Finnish Oil

Finnish Cars

French Republic

France

France joins EU

Treaty of Lisbon

Paris Terroris Attacks by ISIS

French Aircrafts

French Cars

French Medicines

French Food Products

Luxury Goods

French Opposition to War in Iraq

Soviet Georgia

Republic of Georgia

Georgia

Abkhazia

South Ossetia

Georgian Independence

Republic of South Ossetia

Republic of Abkhazia

Rose Revolution in Georgia

Georgia joins NATO

Georgia joins the EU

Russo-Georgian War

Ethnic Cleansing of Georgians in South Ossetia

Georgia joins CIS

Georgian Civil War and Military Coup

War in Abkhazia

Ethnic Cleansing of Georgians in South Ossetia

Adjara Crisis in Georgia

Georgian Oil

Georgian Metals

South Ossetian War

South Ossetian Food Products

Abkhazian Food Products

Communist East Germany

Republic of West Germany

East Germany

West Germany

Republic of Germany

German Reunification

Germany joins EU

Unified Germany in NATO

Berlin Wall Comes Down

Germany affected by Migrant Crisis

East German Machines

East German Metals

West German Cars

West German Medicines

West German Aircrafts

West German Electronics

[Hestia]

23 hours ago, vcczar said:

@Hestia If you have more time, it would be great if you can figure out how many foreign bases the 8 primary nations have had from 1990s-present and where they are located.

For instance, I know the US has one in Germany (EU) and Japan, and likely some in the Middle East, Cuba, of course, but Cuba isn't on our map. 

I'm sure Russia and China may have foreign bases, but I'm not sure if the other primary nations do. 

I'll work on that - though the US determining where they were from 1990 to now may be difficult since there's so many. The other countries may be a little easier since there's less of them. 

[Hestia]

21 hours ago, Hestia said:

I'll work on that - though the US determining where they were from 1990 to now may be difficult since there's so many. The other countries may be a little easier since there's less of them. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_overseas_military_bases

The US has a lot more bases than I think what's on this list, but I think it does a good job at getting the major ones, so here's what I came up with:

That's the map of current US bases. I couldn't find specific info about which ones were operable in 1990 ish easily, but I think process of deduction can work for some - eastern European countries wouldn't have them yet, Iraq would not, nor Syria, but a lot of Gulf Countries would've had them pre-dating the Gulf War. Beyond that, I think it's fairly up to date with the major ones. There's a big base in the Netherlands as well as Germany. 

Below is the map of UK bases (much smaller)

 

Most of theirs have been in operation for quite some time, but the German and Bahraini ones are the biggest ones you may want to include.

Russian military base map below

Russia's Syrian base was built in 1971, I did check that date as I was curious. Armenian, Belarusian and other former-Soviet country bases are also older.

Japan has a base in Djibouti. It was built in 2011.

India bases below

Much of India's bases appear to be rather new. Bhutan's facility has been there longer, I know that for sure. Most of these are probably too small to be considered a real base compared to the US/Russia/UK.

China's bases are all very new as well, mostly in the 2000s. Djibouti's was made in 2017. 

For the EU, French bases are probably the main concern as Germany's bases came into effect closer to modern day (in Poland, Lithuania and elsewhere).

The French Djibouti base is pre-1990. 

Turkey also has a number of bases, but these are all very recent as Erdogan has begun to become more adventurous outside of his borders. They are also on the wiki page, but to me, none seem older than 2000. Iran is the same. 

@vcczar

[vcczar]

@Hestia Thanks!!! Yeah, I'm just trying to get an idea of how many bases each of the major nations have had from 1990ish-present. Since military bases will have some importance in this game. 

In other news, for @ everyone that's interested in this. I've just finished Russia's cards. Russia primarily had two fronts for most of their actions--Ukraine and Caucuses, with the latter taking up the most events actually. 

Russia is basically divided into these parts -- European Russia, Siberian Russia, and several Muslim-majority Caucuses states. These Muslim-majority states can break from Russia, basically pushing Russia out of the Caucuses. Sadly, the only way to do it is if anti-Russian major powers backed Islamic fundamentalists, including ISIS. 

I may end up having alternate events, especially when I add future events, which will create more chaos.

Russia has a lot of oil and natural gas and metals for export, but it can also lose a lot of oil, if it loses the caucuses. 

The game will tend to follow Gorbachev to Yelstin to Putin, but if the Soviet coup in 1991-ish is successful, and Communist hardliners take over, then you get Gorbachev replaced by a hardliner who maintains the Soviet Union through 2010. This extended USSR may attempt to take back any breakway republics. In the 2010s, this headliner dies, and Gorbachev returns to power over the USSR. This later Gorbachev transitions the nation toward Democratic Socialism, where he's able to get his 2nd try at Perestroika to work a lot better with social media and stuff. This Russia will resemble the Scandinavian nations a little more. There's an unnamed successor to Gorbachev who leads this new Russia. This new Russia can join NATO and the EU. This ends up being an awful situation for both China and the USA as the EU will be hyperpowered and basically will render the US as a minor partner in world affairs. China will be a easy target. If the US pulls out of NATO in this situation to avoid being a junior partner, then you got a potential big war (trade or military). You'll probably get the US, China, Iran, and Japan all allied. EU will have absorbed Turkey at this point. 

Basically, you want to keep a balance and try to win within that balance. So it's kind of odd that the US both wants to weaken Russia but doesn't want to overly Europeanize them. However, the US has ways to open Russia and keep them out of the EU, but it will piss off the EU. 

Russia is a difficult power to play as because you inherit them as they're crumbling, while all other powers in the game are getting stronger. Best case for Russia is to succeed in keeping Eastern Europe from joining NATO and the EU, get former states attached to the CIS. Get the EU to dismantle. Get NATO to dismantle. Help other nations cleverly get the US out of the Eastern Hemisphere. If this is done, its then Russia can try to focus on China, India, India, Turkey, and Japan. Turkey and Iran can be taken out by helping to establish Kurdistan. Russia has to pit Japan off with China once the US is thrown out of Japan. This potentially means a final show down with India. In this case, Russia has to block oil from getting into India. I don't have any post-peak oil events because at some point oil is going to lose its value as things run on alternative sources. 

 

[vcczar]

I think this game will be played more like the game diplomacy than AMPU. Players will have discussions with each other for agreements and things like that. But they’ll be bound to rules of events and bound by rules of their nation’s ideology and leader. 

[vcczar]

This game is going to have like 1,000 cards initially, but I'll hopefully be able to reduce these. Right now a lot of these are just to remind me of what's going on in each country on the map. 

The difficult thing is to make this game so it doesn't always turn into WWIII or into a landgrabbing game. I think most players will want to do that because that's what grand strategy games are usually like. So I'll have deterrents in place. Basically, something similar to a DEFCOM. 

I figure out a way to apply population so that export demand plays a role, I think. I'll elaborate when I flesh that out. 

It's kind of interesting how little the UK plays a role in global affairs. BREXIT is an annoyance for the EU, but it doesn't cripple them, especially since UK has a special relationship with the US card, which sorts of make it more of a US ally than an EU ally.

One disavdantage for the EU is that other nations can poach EU's resources through trade, while all other nations have control of who they will trade with. I'll explain this more in depth at some point. 

One "battleground" spot is definitely going to be Sudan. Strange that such a resource-rich country can be so poor. 

[vcczar]

Rather controversially, Algeria and Morocco, former French colonies can join the EU, but only if the EU leader is French, Turkey is in the EU, and it's in the 2030s. 

 

[vcczar]

So far Iraq is clearly the most complicated spot on the globe. There's quite a few ways things can change in the region. There's also a lot of resources. Total mess, just as we probably all imagine. 

It's quite sad that the most stablity Iraq has had recently is under Saddam Hussein, as evil as he is. 

[Largo833]

12 hours ago, vcczar said:

I think this game will be played more like the game diplomacy than AMPU. Players will have discussions with each other for agreements and things like that. But they’ll be bound to rules of events and bound by rules of their nation’s ideology and leader. 

Ooh, I've mentioned that that's my all time favorite board game, so now I'm doubly interested!

[vcczar]

Just finished Israel, which is almost as messy as Iraq. 

For the most part, it involves a lot of wars that the US, Iran, and Turkey can proxy. The thing is that the US risks ruining relations in the Arab world by proxying any of these, which is an incentive to stay out and just give vocal support. Iran really hasn't too much to lose by proxying, so long as it want to antagonize the West. Turkey risks losing any chance at closer ties to the EU or US by proxying, but it totally depends on what direction Turkey would like to go here. Turkey's best option is probably not to ge involved. Same case with Iran, actually, but sometimes Iran just wants to be relevant. 

There are chances for two-state solutions. I've added hypothetical events for 2030s for a Golan Heights solution and two-state solutions. 

I'm now thinking that, depending on how fast this game can be played, and how much I can reduce the actual cards, I could feasibly have this game go back further in time. By reducing cards, I mean just condensing them.  

 

[vcczar]

One thing that will be helpful--and I'm not going to have time nor do I have the talent to do this--is create a map that can be color-coded. Otherwise, each player is going to have to keep up with a map in their head via data. 

[vcczar]

I only have 12 countries to work on and then I'll have almost all of the cards. There's an off-chance we can start this in a week or two.