A Fading Star Interview: Yann de Villeneuve

 

A Fading Star: Insurgency and Piracy in Somalia is Volume XV of the COIN Series originally designed by Volko Ruhnke. The year is 2007. We reach the climax of several decades of civil war that have ravaged Somalia since the fall of dictator Siad Barre in 1991. An African Union coalition, assisted by the Ethiopian army, enters Mogadishu to support a nascent but corrupt Transitional Federal Government. They face a relentless and violent insurgency waged by Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, an Islamic group seeking both to expel the "invaders" and to transcend the traditional clan-based government structure of Somalia. In the middle of this power vacuum, minor clans and warlords organize themselves to administrate otherwise ungoverned regions, while others engage in large-scale piracy operations, painting their acts as a fight against foreign trawlers pillaging Somali fishing resources.

The rules and images shown here are not final.

You can find it in P500

-Who are you? What are your favorite wargames?

My name is Yann de Villeneuve and I am in my early thirties. I am a former NCO in the French Air Force, where I worked in the geomatic and intelligence analysis field. It was during this period of my life that I got acquainted with the themes of counter-terrorism and piracy. I spent a few exciting years there before moving overseas, back to civilian life.

It was only a few years ago that a good friend introduced me to wargames with Twilight Struggle and then A Fire in the Lake, which I instantly loved. As such, I can hardly define myself as a grognard! But this did not prevent me from falling into the abysses of the hobby.

Initially a roleplayer, I like designs that put player interactions at the forefront, and that manage to immerse you in their theme quickly. This is why Here I Stand is definitely my favorite wargame I’ve played so far!

I also have a thing for innovative systems and modern warfare, partly explaining how I got entangled with the COIN series or appreciated games like Labyrinth.

-Can you talk about the mechanics of urban combat?

Thank you for bringing this up. This was one of the most exciting aspects to design, but initially there were no particular urban combat rules In A Fading Star (AFS)! It was during the early playtests on the COIN Discord, and while broadening the bibliography, that I realised that the Battle of Mogadishu should be purposefully modeled. The struggle there between the Islamist faction Al-Shabaab and the African Union forces supporting the Somali government lasted for four years and was, for quite some time, the main focus of the war effort.

The primary challenge with modeling Mogadishu was to strike a delicate balance, to not lose players' focus on the countryside and to avoid introducing too many exceptions to the usual COIN ruleset. To do so, we divided the capital into five distinctive Districts, all bearing their own specificities. For example, the Airport serves as the African Union hub to bring reinforcements, the Streets are a high-value Line of Communication (LoC) where Al-Shabaab may ambush COIN elements patrolling the city, and whoever controls the Harbour will get their hands on appealing tax revenues. If the COIN factions or Al-Shabaab control most of the Districts they obtain “prestige” bonuses for a few of their Operations and Special Activity – usually ones helping to fulfill their Victory Conditions.

Mechanisms-wise, the urban struggle for control is slower than the action in the countryside. The block-by-block fighting is reflected in every faction being limited to selecting only one District for an Operation per turn (while selecting any number of other spaces as usual). The COIN faction Assault Operation is also less effective in Districts than in other spaces, and the use of indiscriminate shelling or air strikes in Districts is offset by the implied impact on civilian casualties, causing political outrage and giving Al-Shabaab a propaganda opportunity for their Broadcast operation. On the other hand, Al-Shabaab benefits from underground tunnels to quickly move between parts of the city, and may even mount a special ‘Ramadan Offensive’, selecting a specific operational objective to fulfill and hiding it within the upcoming Event cards.  

 

Mogadishu and the Ramadan Offensive cards

The original broader inspiration for District-level modeling of Mogadishu was Sarajevo in Brotherhood and Unity, but I later discovered that Brian Train (Colonial Twilight, A Distant Plain) had made a similar choice for his game Somalia Interventions, 25 years ago!

Mogadishu’s four districts on the Somalia Interventions map

-What are the main differences compared to other titles in the series?

In addition to the urban warfare aspect, I would say that AFS is mainly unique in the balance of power between the COIN Factions and the leading Insurgent Faction, Al-Shabaab. The latter has the means to pose an immediate and tangible military threat, and unlike the Taliban in A Distant Plain they do not need to redeploy to a safe haven after every campaign.

As mentioned earlier, I also have this “thing” for faction interaction and the Somali Civil War was an ideal topic for this. The African Union needs to train Somali federal forces as part of their security sector reform victory condition, but the Transitional Federal Government may use those Troops to their own advantage by diverting foreign funds and equipment to their own patronage networks. The Pirates can negotiate with local Al-Shabaab lieutenants or federal administrators for them to look the other way while hijacked ships are anchored within their jurisdiction. In a model with scarce resources, some players will be tempted to offer their service to others…for the right price.

Another unique aspect is how Operations and Special Activities dynamically evolve depending on the situation on the ground. I already mentioned the Mogadishu control bonus, but the AMISOM (African Union Mission to Somalia) faction also has variant Special Activities depending on which countries are currently participating within the coalition, with neighbouring regional powers Ethiopia and Kenya both bringing additional firepower but tarnishing the reputation of the Mission as they are perceived to be encroaching on sovereign Somali territory.

It is also the first “post-colonial” African COIN entry. While Colonial Twilight and The British Way respectively tell us of the European empires’ brutal departure from Algeria and Kenya, A Fading Star focuses on an environment where agency is ultimately back in local hands, and the peace-building effort is conducted by other regional powers under the aegis of the African Union – although this does not prevent neighboring nations, especially Kenya and Ethiopia, from pursuing their own national interest in Somalia.

Lastly, and as the game subtitle implies, a part of the game narrative focuses on the Somali Pirates. Here we go far beyond the usual level of modelling reserved for the COIN “green faction”, and this is one of my favourite design decisions. The Pirates are able to explore a unique Piracy sub-system, while also having plenty of opportunities and incentives to engage with the other factions on land, especially as conditions at sea become more difficult due to an international counter-piracy response as the game progresses.

Piracy cards

There are many other unique mechanisms, like the Clan Struggle or the Al-Shabaab out-of-turn ambushes, but it would take too much time to detail them all here. Look out for future InsideGMT articles describing some of these in more detail!

-Can you tell us about the factions?

On paper, the faction configuration is somewhat similar to A Distant Plain (ADP). You have an international coalition (AMISOM) fighting on behalf of a weak transitional government (TFG), an Islamist insurgency (Al-Shabaab), and a non-centralized nexus of pirates and warlords (the Pirates). In practice, however, the Somali Civil War took a course of events that differed widely from what happened in Afghanistan, and each faction reflects these differences.

The AMISOM faction includes the African Union mission of the same name, whose primary contingents during this timeframe came from Uganda and Burundi, but also represents the unilateral interventions from neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. The latter two bring further military capabilities, but also collide with the peace-building effort due to intervening largely out of national interest, in response to the Al-Shabaab threat level. This faction also faces less ‘home front’ pressure than the Coalition in ADP, and does not have to worry so much about Casualties or committed troop numbers – instead, they are faced with the daunting task of building up the Somali National Army to a point where their involvement is no longer necessary.

The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is maybe the faction that diverges least from the previous COIN entries, with Patronage and Control being back on the agenda. However, they start in a very unique position, under siege in Mogadishu and with everything remaining to be done in the rest of the country. They can use foreign aid to leverage deals with regional clans and muster friendly militias (a new kind of unit in the COIN series that replaces the usual police cube), or divert weaponry and troops from the AMISOM security reforms.

Al-Shabaab seeks to replace the governing TFG as the rulers of Somalia, and will use any means, including terror and assassination campaigns, to do so. They’re the most centralized and focused faction in the game, which allows them to mount a terrific Ramadan Offensive, or broadcast propaganda to rally recruits as a Special Activity. At the start of new campaigns, they place Shockpoint markers on LoCs that block COIN earnings and may be used as an out-of-turn ambush when an enemy unit crosses or uses as LoC. They are probably the most militarily powerful ‘insurgent’ faction in the series so far (not counting the largely conventional NVA), but face more difficulty in increasing Opposition, for which they require Control to establish their legitimacy.

Finally, the Pirates faction encompasses not only the infamous modern-day freebooter gangs, but also minor clans that did not play by either the federal or Islamist rules. In addition to hijackings at sea, this faction may also levy taxes from roadblocks and major harbors. They’re the remnants of the “warlord” era of the civil war, but also the reflection of a Somali civil society that the international community has left behind.

-The COIN series has many titles. Why should we buy yours?

I have personally enjoyed all series entries in one way or another, but since Fire in the Lake I have hoped to see another title that places player interaction “over the table” at the forefront of the game. For me, player interaction is the primary driver of learning about history in this kind of conflict simulation. I cannot pretend to have achieved it at a similar scale, but this was definitely the experience I sought to bring when designing A Fading Star, and I hope that players will feel the same way.

The game is also the very first to model the Somali Civil War after Operation Gothic Serpent – infamous for the 1993 Black Hawk Down incident. I do not want to downplay the efforts that past designers have put into these models, but the fate of Somalia (and maybe of the Horn of Africa) wasn’t settled until more than a decade later, without the involvement of US or European “boots on the ground”. I hope that AFS will help the wargaming public to move on from this dominant image of Somalia in the early 1990s, and draw their attention to a less well-known, but probably more important, episode of modern counter-insurgency and peacebuilding. The piracy system will also help players understand why pirates thrived during this era. Piracy was both a maritime and land phenomenon, and the all-security approach that the world adopted in response to it may not have been the best answer for a long-term solution.