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Laughing at the Cold War ...
What's the best part about playing KREMLIN? Hard to
say... There's nothing quite like having the KGB chief purge
half of the Politburo, except maybe killing them by rolling low
on the health die. A trial that sends the Party Chief to Siberia
can give you a warm glow, too. It's all good.
KREMLIN is a tongue-in-cheek look at the old Soviet
Politburo. Each player controls a faction in the Communist party,
and has (secret) influence over 10 of the 26 current Politburo
members and up-and-coming politicians. Your goal is to get your
people into the office of Party Chief and keep them there long
enough to wave three times at the October Parade; failing this,
you must hold the top office when the dust settles at the end.
You will need to figure out which politicians your opponents
control and purge them when you can, play an Intrigue card or
two to protect your own people, let your opponents move your
secret supporters into position, and when all else fails, hope
for a handy epidemic to shake things up. This will require both
skill to get enough votes to win the Party Chief position and
good luck on the purge and illness die rolls. However, your opponents
are all trying to do the same... and there's no guarantee that
the man you are guiding to the top is really under your control.
There is no surefire strategy for victory. You can try to
win quickly by controlling the upper echelon of the Politburo
from the start. You can carefully divide your influence between
the current and future members of the Politburo, and try to grab
the reins of power after the first (or second) round of purges
and illnesses. You can stake your win on the survival of the
young and out-of-power to the end of the game. Or you can pick
your 10 politicians at random and see what happens.
Personal note: After 11 years of running this tournament,
former GM Peter Stein has decided to move on to other, presumably
better, things. As the new GM, I plan to change as little as
possible, since I kinda like the way things are. However, to
give myself a chance to get used to being GM, I will only play
as an eliminator this year (guaranteeing a new Champion for 2006).
The following FAQ and errata will still be in effect:
3/3.2 The Defense Minister may not call a Trial to
resolve a Spy Investigation against himself or investigate himself.
5. The Foreign Minister must (not may) nominate a Politician
from the 2nd Level if there are no other Politboro members on
the 1st level.
D. Random Recipients - Delete the last sentence: "
If a random ... 1 to 6".
D. If Intrigue card 17 results in a tie for most influence
on a politician, is it really fair to give control to the player
declaring first since the player with the card has an advantage
in knowing he should declare first? A. In a case like
this, resolve the matter by high dice roll as cited in the rules
for simultaneous declaration.
Declaring IP: IP declarations will be considered simultaneous
as long as there are no actions (die roll, a player adds influence,
another vote announced, etc.) taken in between. EXAMPLE: Green
starts Turn 4 in control of Industry Minister Nikotin with 4
IP. During a trial of the Defense Minister, Green directs Nikotin
to vote Guilty. Blue then declares 4 IP on Nikotin, but this
does not change control since Green placed the IP first. Blue
then declares 5 IP and changes Nikotin's vote to Not Guilty.
If, before the next politician votes, Green declares 5 IP on
Nikotin, this is considered a simultaneous declaration, and the
tie would be broken per the rules. Note that if a tie is broken
at a particular IP, it is too late for another player to tie
at that IP.
Cure Phase: A sick politician in his strength may be
sent to the Cure, even if he wouldn't age anyway.
Purge Phase: If two or more players attempt to play
1st Purge cards in the same turn, the player with the highest
die roll gets to play his card. Players must signify which 1st
Purge card they want to play, but do not have to show it face-up
until after the die roll.
Health Phase: Any flu cards must be played at the start
of this phase. In other words, the flu must affect all Politburo
members.
Replacement Phase: The Party Chief may perform any
side-toside or up and down movement unless the rules state
otherwise (ie, politicians may not move up or down more than
one level per sponsor).
Parade Phase: Attempting to wave is not optional.
Add Influence Phase: In order to prevent a number of
potential problems, you may not play Intrigue Cards, nor may
you declare already-recorded IP during this phase unless you
are declaring 10+ on a politician.
Intrigue Cards: 23 Power Play- The die is six-sided,
not 20-sided
24 Glasnost Declaration- Control of the Party Chief may not change
between the playing and the resolution of this card, but control
of other politicians may. The Party chief cannot be assassinated
or otherwise removed until after the card is resolved. Control
of a politician who is the target of an assassination attempt
cannot change before he denounces someone as the assassin.
A Foreign Minister in the Sanatorium can be nominated to become
the party chief. However, he will not become Party Chief if two
nominations fail ( it would be the nominating politician ).
HOW TO WIN: Does the game really end with no winner
if after turn 11, the highest active Politboro member is not
controlled by anyone? A. Yes.
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kremlin [Updated April
2006]
17 
18 
21
9 
13 
17 
20 
Strasburg 
Steve
Cuccaro (1st Year]
NA
(NA)