My first COIN (Counter Insurgency) game is Cuba Libre - and it came to the table for the first time yesterday. What a great system. It is complex with many elements, but the material (board, player aids, sequence of play aid) makes it easy to follow the flow of the game and not forget in the middle whose action it is, who is next and what they are allowed to do. Thematically, the game is also very well connected with the mechanics - the Syndicate builds casinos and grabs money where they can, but are relatively locally active, the Directorio forms many smaller cells across the island and tries to disrupt both sides and position itself in many parts of the country, Batista squanders his money (which he gets from the USA and the Syndicate) on massive police and military actions against the rebels and Castro's side tries to convince the regions of the revolution and to motivate as many regions and cities to oppose. My game was Castro against the rest (controlled by bots) and unfortunately was not successful - the Syndicate had corrupted the country too much. The bots showed quite well the character of the other factions. Ok, the whole thing took 5 hours, but it was also the first game. Next time it will run more smoothly. And there will definitely be a next time, the game is simply fantastic. And I am already looking forward to the upcoming expansion and the two upcoming COIN games about the Gallic Wars and the American Revolution. Cuba Libre only has about 56 cards, so I am already thinking about translating them - then I would also have a chance to play it with Juliana. More complex than our usual gaming fare, but worth it.