Junta
Players	2-7
Age range
Setup time	10-15 minutes
Playing time	between 1.5 - 60 hours
Rules complexity	Hard
Strategy depth	Hard
Random chance	Medium
Skills required	Dice rolling, Counting, Social skills

Junta is a board game developed by West End Games and originally released in 1985. Two to seven players compete as corrupt Banana Republic families trying to get as much money into their Swiss bank account before the foreign aid money runs out. Image File history File links Juntabox. ... Rolling dice A die (Old French de, from Latin datum something given or played [1]) is a small polyhedral object (usually a cube) suitable as a gambling device (especially for craps or sic bo). ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Mathematics Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mathematics Look up Mathematics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mathematics Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles — A collection of articles on various math topics, with interactive Java... Interaction is a kind of action which occurs as two or more objects have an effect upon one another. ... A board game is any game played with a premarked surface, with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. ... West End Games is a company that makes role playing games. ... This article is about the year. ... Banana republic is a pejorative term for a small, often Latin American or Carribean country, politically unstable, dependent on limited agriculture, and ruled by a small, wealthy and corrupt clique. ... Money Money is any marketable good or token trusted by a society to be used as a store of value, a medium of exchange, and a unit of account. ... Swiss banks are world-renowned for their secretive nature and protection of clients. ... Foreign aid, international aid or development assistance are situations in which one country helps another country through some form of donation. ...

The lenght of the game depends on how often coups are declared, but can often exceed six hous.

Players

The players Junta represent corrupt and powerful Banana Republic families. Although players are often executed or assassinated in the course of gameplay, the only real implication of death is the loss of cash one is carrying and the temporary inability to participate. At the first stage of the next turn following a players death they are ressurected as the next of kin. Cabinet positions, although they constitute the only physical token of a players identity, are changed from turn to turn. Positions are as follows:

• President: Selected by a vote at the begining of the game the President assigns cabinet positions to the other players. The President retains his position until the event of assassination, a successful coup, or resignation. The president also draws the foreign aid money at the begining of each turn and dictates the budget (how much money each player will recieve) without revealing the total amount of money he has drawn.
• Minister of Internal Security: The commander of the secret police. This position is prized for the "free" assassination it controls each turn, although the combat strenght of the police during a coup is less than that of the three armies. The Minister also may force a budget to pass if it fails and has the option of assasinating any player returning from "exile".
• Generals of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd armies: Generals control their respective armies in the event of a coup.
• Chief of the Air Force: Controls airstrikes and paratroopers in the event of a coup.
• Admiral of the Navy: Controls naval bombardment and marines in the event of a coup. Generally considered the weakest position, the Admiral is often given to the player the president suspects is most likely to start a coup, or the player the president dislikes the most. The effect may be mutually reinforcing because the Admiral's combat strenght is greatest as a member of the Junta, hence the rulebook's light-hearted reference to the "ceremonial shelling of the Presidential Palace" at the begining of a coup.

If fewer than seven players are playing, players may hold two positions, but no more than one Generalship. President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, universities, and countries. ... A Cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of government, typically representing the executive branch. ... Jack Ruby murdered Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, in a very public manner In its most common use, assassination has come to mean the killing of an important person. ... A coup détat (pronounced ), or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a smaller supposedly weaker body that just replaces the top power figures. ... A resignation occurs when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down. ... A minister or a secretary is a politician who heads a government ministry or department (e. ... A secret police (sometimes political police) force is a police organization that operates in secret to enforce state security. ... Exile is a form of punishment. ... General is a high military rank, used by nearly every country in the world. ... Army (from French armée) can, in some countries, refer to any armed force. ... An air force is a military organization that primarily operates in air-based war. ... A military strike is a limited attack on a specified target. ... An American Paratrooper using a T-10C series parachute Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and formed into an airborne force. ... Admiral is a word from the Arabic term Amir-al-bahr (Lord of the bay). ... A rare occurrence of a 5-country multinational fleet, during Operation Enduring Freedom in the Oman Sea. ... Marine is an umbrella term for things relating to the ocean, as with Marine biology, Marine geology, and as a term for a navy, etc. ...

Game Play

Each turn represents a year, which takes place during seven stages.

Upkeep Phase

Junta cards are drawn, exiles may return, and the President is elected, if necessary.

Cabinet Phase

The assigning of cabinet positions (see above).

Budget Phase

Drawing of foreign aid money (The President draws 8 bills which may represnet demoninations of 1, 2, or 3, in order of decreasing probabilty) and the assigning of a budget. Only the President knows the amount drawn, although he must reveal how much he intents to give to each other player. The budget is voted on. If the budget fails the President keeps all the money, unless the Minister forces the budget to pass.

Assassination Phase

A round of assassinations takes place. First each player chooses their location using the location tiles in a secret yet binding fashion. Locations are as follows:

• Home (leaves a player vulnerable to a "burgulary" assasination card)
• Mistress (leaves a player vulernable to a "character assassination" card)
• Nightclub
• Headquarters (allows the player to start a coup)
• Bank (allows the player to access their bank account)

Then each player declares their assasinations. The Minister gets to use the secret police for one assassination and any player may order one with an assassination card. To declare an assassination, a player must name the player he or she is trying to assassinate and the location at which the assasination will be attempted. Once all assassinations are declared, they are resolved in order. An assasination is sucessful if a player's location is guessed correctly, although some assassination cards require a successful dice roll as well and some cards may be used to thwart an assassination. An assassinated player discards their hand, turns over their cash to the assassinator, and is inactive for the rest of the turn. Assassinations are commutative (if A assassinates B and B assassinates C, A gets both B and C's money). In mathematics, especially abstract algebra, a binary operation * on a set S is commutative if x * y = y * x for all x and y in S. Otherwise * is noncommutative. ...

Coup Phase

Starting a coup begins a minigame. In order to start a coup their must be a coup justification which is kept track of by an indicator on the board. Coup justifications are as follows:

• The Budget was not passed or was forced through by the Minister.
• Any player was assassinated.
• A player plays card justifying a coup.
• The player wishing to start a coup chose "Headquarters" as his or her location.

If a coup is justified, starting with the Minister and going clockwise, players are given a chance to declare themselves the Junta leader. If no player does this, no coup takes place. If a player does, starting with the Junta leader and going clockwise, players are given a chance to declare themselves pro-Junta or pro-Presidente. The Junta leader must be pro-Junta and the President must be pro-Presidente. Players are then given a chance to cards which pertain to a coup, either by placing armies on the board (such as union rioters, student protesters, or armed rebels) or having another effect on combat (e.g. 1st army cannot move). If rioters have been placed on the board, the Minister is given the option of moving all four of his secret police to any territory with rioters (otherwise they are divided into four police stations). The Coup has seven stages. Pro-Junta players move first followed by pro-Presidente players, both in clockwise order but only members of the Junta may move during the first combat stage. The object of the coup is to control the five buildings with implications for the post-coup resolution. They are: Clockwise can refer to: Clockwise and counterclockwise Clockwise (movie) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

• The Presidential Palace
• The Radio Station
• The Chamber of Deputies
• The Treasury
• The Railway Station

Players may attack the forces of any other player irrespective of if they are pro-Junta or pro-Presidente. Combat is resolved via dice-rolling. Only a six kills. A protestor warrants half a dice, a soldier one, a Presidential Palace guard two (if they are in the Palace). The Chief of the Airforce's three airstrikes roll six dice and the Admirial's once-per-turn naval bombardments roll three. Forces attack one another by moving into the same territory on the board. Each player may move one group of forces from one territory to an adjacent territory. Combat consists of three phases. In the first phase the forces which were there first are given "first fire" and the enemies kills in first fire do not roll dice. The second two combat phases take place simultaneously. After the three phases, if elements of both forces survive, the player who lost the most units must retreat to an adjacent territory. Combat is over when all players with forces on the board agree it is over or after the seventh turn.

Post-Coup Phase

Players controlling any of the strategic buildings vote pro-Junta or pro-Presidente. This vote is not required to comport to the allegiance delcared at the begining of the coup. One buliding is one vote. If three or more builidngs vote pro-Presidente, the coup has failed and the President has the option of executing one player who delcared pro-Junta. An execution follows the same rules as an assassination. If three or more buildings vote pro-Junta, all players who voted pro-Junta (even if they did not control a building) vote on a new president. Unlike other votes, influence cards have no effect. The new President has the option of executing any player.

Players who controls units in a Embassy at the end of a coup may choose to go into exile. In exile, a player may not bank, exchange cards or money with other players, or hold Cabinet Positions. A player may return during any Upkeep Phase, but the Minister of Information has the option of executing any returning exile.

Banking Phase

Players who chose the Bank as their location may deposit or withdrawal money from their Swiss bank account. Assassanation attempts (including the Minister's secret police) may not take place at the Bank two turns in a row. After an assassination attempt has taken place at the Bank, an indicator on the board is changed to indicate that the "Bank is Safe" for a turn. Swiss banks are world-renowned for their secretive nature and protection of clients. ...

Turns continue in these stages until the President cannot draw eight bills from the foreign aid money. This end is somewhat disguised by the blank bills placed at the bottom of the foreign aid deck and by the "used" bills which are placed under the blanks when spent as part of a card action.

Equipment

• The Board: Much like Risk, the board contains armies and locations. It is used only during a coup.
• Foreign Aid Money: Stored in a stack on the board.
• Cabinet Cards: Represent cabinet positions, assigned by the President.
• Junta Cards: Distributed at the begining of the game and drawn at during the Upkeep Phase, Junta cards take many forms:
  • Influence Cards: Cards that represent the support by certain factions (such as "Intellectuals," "Labor Unions," or "Communists"). Influence cards give "votes" which are used during Presidential elections and Budget votes and may give other benefits.
  • Assassination Cards: Cards that give a player the ability to declare an assassination during an assassination phase (or foil one).
  • Coup Cards: Cards that give a player the ability to deploy units or change combat conditions during a coup.
  • Political Donations: Cards that give a player cash (taken from the foreign aid money). These cards are most often played during the Banking Phase (playing them earlier would make one a juicy target for an assassination).
  • Student Petition: Ironically, this card has no effect.

Junta cards and foreign aid money may be traded or gifted between players at any time except during the Assassination Phase or the Post-Coup Phase in which case they are immediately disgarded (to prevent death bed generosity). A typical game of Risk in play. ...

The Social Aspect

The primary intrigue of the game exists not in the mechanics of the rules, however, but in the negotiations between players. Often, players will have "private meetings" (out of earshot of other players) to negotiate secret alliances. Players may barter with any resources they have, including cash on hand (i.e. not yet in their Swiss bank account), cards in hand, and favors. The number of coups that occur in a given game is entirely determined by the bloodthirstiness, greed, and guile of the players.

External link

• BoardGameGeek reviews and pictures of the game