A Distant Plain is a volume in Volko Ruhnke’s acclaimed COIN Series, designed for 1–4 players and focused on the contemporary conflict in Afghanistan. The game is a unique collaboration between two leading designers of modern irregular warfare simulations: Volko Ruhnke, creator of Labyrinth: The War on Terror, and Brian Train, known for influential designs such as Algeria, Somalia Interventions, and Shining Path.

Built on the same accessible COIN system introduced in Andean Abyss and Cuba Libre, A Distant Plain introduces new factions, objectives, events, and capabilities tailored specifically to the Afghan theater. For the first time in the COIN Series, two counterinsurgent factions—the Coalition and the Afghan Government—must balance cooperation with competing visions for the country while facing a dangerous dual insurgency.

The game adapts familiar mechanics to Afghanistan’s unique political, cultural, and geographic realities without increasing rules complexity. New features include:

• Joint Coalition–Government operations
• A volatile Pakistani stance toward the conflict
• Evolving insurgent and counterinsurgent tactics and technologies
• Government corruption, graft, and desertion
• Coalition casualties
• Returning Afghan refugees
• Pashtun ethnic terrain
• Multiple scenarios
• A deck of 72 all-new event cards

As with all COIN Series titles, players face difficult strategic decisions with every card played. Political, military, economic, and social factors are seamlessly integrated into a single system. Flowcharts allow any faction to be run automatically, making the game fully playable from solitaire to four players, capturing the complexity and chaos of modern Afghanistan.