Review: Andean Abyss from GMT Games - The Players' Aid

Website: www.theplayersaid.com
Patreon: www.patreon.com/theplayersaid

[@WatchItPlayed]

Enjoying going through your reviews and thoughts on COIN games. Andean is my second COIN game (coming from Cuba Libre). About a quarter through - SO MUCH SPACE compared to CL. Turns have things happening all over. Continuing to play remotely, which has been really cool (with each player duplicating player moves in their own homes as turns are submitted to the players through iphone video). Absolutely loving this journey through this series of games.

[@ThePlayersAid]

We've played them all, but haven't made videos about them all yet (so if you have any questions about others when they come up do not hesitate to ask!) After Andean Abyss, Cuba Libre, and A Distant Plain, the series really starts to branch out and grow in very different ways. Seeing that evolution on the same skeleton of rules is fascinating.

[@thelastmotel]

This review reminds me of a situation that occurred 3 years ago... My friend's wife had never read the Lord of The Rings, and never seen the films either. She had, however, read loads of fantasy novels. Loads. My friend buys her a set of LOTR books for her birthday. A big fancy hardcover set. After reading them, she says, "Lord of the Rings is okay, but it's got way too many overused fantasy tropes in it. There's nothiong new in here.".

[@Mutucas]

I’ve just got to know the channel, amazing videos! Thank you for spreading the love for wargames around the globe!

[@evildrganymede]

I'm a Brit too and funnily enough I've always had a strange interest in the Colombia FARC conflict. Not really sure why, but when I heard this was coming out first time around I snapped it up and that got me into COIN games in general! I found this and Cuba Libre to be very similar mechanically, but CL is smaller and has economic zones rather than the LoC, but I love both of those games. Totally agree with the "purity" of the COIN system here, it's just straight up counter-insurgency with no extra bits that were added in the later games. (and thanks for the warning about the setup page misprint!).

[@ToolsWithAdrius]

I love the interplay between the Government and AUC faction. The Government needs the AUC to do the dirty work against the FARC, but the AUC can't run too wild.

[@posokay5905]

That's the way it was in real life, except for the auc ran very wild xd

[@greywulf31]

Awesome video look forward to all your reviews. Thanks!

[@Lusi0L]

Thanks for your review. I loove Andean Abyss. I prefer it using the quick play scenario (the one with 2 propaganda cards). In order to be sure that it will be balanced you just have to build the deck so that each faction will have the opportunity to start first the same number of turns as the others as an houserule, there are topics on bgg that explain how to do that. It's super fast and "elegant" while still providing interesting choices. The diplomatic aspect is also very interesting

[@MrPush3000]

A Distant Plain is my favorite COIN and Andean Abyss is a close 2nd.

[@volkoruhnke26]

Alexander and Grant, thanks again for this excellent survey of Andean Abyss. Thanks especially for drawing my attention to the type on the Second Edition setup card. GMT has posted a corrected pdf of the sheet on the Andean Abyss 2nd Ed page here: www.gmtgames.com/p-536-andean-abyss-2nd-printing.aspx

[@matthewcragg3607]

The Netflix series "Narcos" relates to this topic. The third season especially ties in with "Andean Abyss". Seasons I and II are about the Medellin Cartel and Pablo Escobar and events that somewhat predated the "Andean Abyss" time frame. But Season III is about the Cali Cartel and the same time frame in which this game is set. All four factions in "Andean Abyss" are portrayed to varying degrees in the series. There are also a few books about this period in Colombia including "At the Devil's Table" by William C. Rempel.

[@themangofeet]

I don't know how else to get in touch with you Grant, but there is a pending message for you in our Andean Abyss game on rally the troops! Your new bases might be in a spot of trouble...

[@Abraxis2012]

Do yourselves a favour and watch Narcos on netflix.

[@NefariousKoel]

Was gonna suggest this myself. Excellent series.

[@ThePlayersAid]

Update, have since watched the first two seasons. Hot damn. Excellent show.

[@chadvader974]

@@ThePlayersAid now play the game again! :P Fights ensure over who plays the cartel

[@varovaro1967]

Why does this has a 3.75/5 complexity in BGG? you recommend it as the first one.

[@ThePlayersAid]

Because for a lot of BGG users that game probably is complex, for some people COIN is their first "wargame" and it's a huge step up from Cyclades and Axis & Allies. If you've played any other COIN then this will be easy to learn how it plays.

[@redoutlander]

@@ThePlayersAid True! I'd almost argue that Axis & Allies is too much of a game for many Board gamers!

[@lastburning]

For some reason this game is listed as twice as long as Fire in the Lake on BGG. Is this true? Doesn't seem to make sense to me.

[@ThePlayersAid]

No, it's def. shorter than FitL. It's probably listed as twice as long because it was the first in the series, and they didn't have a good handle on how long the actual play time was.

[@miljenkomurkovic5071]

I thought there are no bots for Andean Abyss... So you can play this solo?

[@ThePlayersAid]

There was an update kit put out last year that adds bots. Here is a link: www.gmtgames.com/p-700-andean-abyss-2nd-ed-update-kit.aspx I haven’t played solo so can’t really comment on it.

[@volkoruhnke26]

@@ThePlayersAid FYI, the original edition has bots for the three Insurgents but not the Government. The Second Edition set and the Update Kit have upgraded bots for all four Factions.

[@disclaimer9]

21:21 GORILLA

[@TheCrusaderRabbits]

How does this play solo?

[@russellstokes6584]

Great - really fun and challenging 😉

[@chadvader974]

Seems there is always one faction that isnt to interesting. The AUC here, for example..