1989-RULES-2020-1

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

1.0 INTRODUCTION

As the year 1989 begins, the Cold War between the United States

and the Soviet Union is drawing to a close. For forty years the

continent of Europe has been divided by an iron curtain separating

East and West. Now the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev

has launched a program of reforms—glasnost (“openness”) and

perestroika (“restructuring”)—in an attempt to revitalize socialism.

He has also announced unilateral arms reductions that are wildly

popular in the West. The long twilight struggle between the two

superpowers is finally coming to an end.

These changes are not popular with everyone, however. For the

Communists of Eastern Europe, the force of Soviet arms has always

protected them from the rebellions of their own people. Now the

Eastern European Communists are on their own.

At the start of 1989, the political situation in Eastern Europe ap

pears normal. As they have for decades, a small power elite (acting

through a massive bureaucracy) retains unquestioned power in each

country. However, beneath the surface, there are signs of decay. The

inefficiencies of the command economy, the end of Soviet subsidies,

and the debt accrued through heavy borrowing from Western banks

have brought the economies of Eastern Europe to various stages

of crisis. In a classic pre-revolutionary situation, the Communists

have begun to doubt their own legitimacy to rule.

In 1989: Dawn of Freedom, the players will recreate the momentous

revolutions of 1989. One player is the Communist. He will need to

use a wise combination of crackdowns, concessions and reforms

to try to hold on to power. The other player is the Democrat. He

will try to use the leadership of the intellectuals and the street

protests of the students to generate a critical mass of opposition to

the regimes in order to launch a revolution. Both players will try to

swing the workers to their side. At the start of the game, the Com

munist holds power in each country. The Democrat will attempt to

topple the Communist from power through resolution of scoring

cards. The longer the Communist retains power in a country, the

more points he scores. The player most successful in advancing

his cause wins the game.

2.0 COMPONENTS

1989 contains the following:

• Two countersheets

• This rules booklet

• 22” x 34” map

• 2 player aid cards

• 110 strategy cards

• 52 Power Struggle cards

• 2 six-sided dice

2.1 THE GAME MAP

2.1.1 The map is divided into six countries that are in play: East

Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bul

garia. Bordering countries such as Yugoslavia are shown but are

not in play. The spaces that belong to a country share the same

background color.

2.1.2 Eastern Europe and the Balkans: East Germany, Poland,

Czechoslovakia, and Hungary are considered to be in Eastern Eu

rope. Romania and Bulgaria are considered to be in the Balkans.

Certain Event cards affect one region or the other.

2.1.3 Socio-Economic Icons: Spaces in a country represent geo

graphic locations, but they also abstractly represent various socio-

economic segments of society. The icon in the upper right corner

of each space lets players know what type of space it is:

• Elite space (limousine) - At the top of Communist

society are a power elite. These are Central Commit

tee party members, ministers in the government and regional

party bosses. These individuals enjoy special privileges under

communism.

• Bureaucrat space (star) - Beneath the power elite are

large numbers of bureaucrats who are in charge of the

day-to-day operations of the socialist state. The elites rely on the

bureaucrats to maintain control over the country.

• Farmer space (sickle) - These spaces represent rural areas.

• Worker space (hammer) - These spaces represent the

largest portion of the population. They are most of the

Battleground spaces. Across the region the Workers are

inclined toward socialism in principle. Still, they are fed

up with the failures of the Communist parties. Beneath the surface

there are signs that the social contract between the workers and

the Party is weakening.

• Intellectual space (typewriter) - These represent dissi

dents who are attempting to create a civil society outside

the reach of the Communist system. They can provide

leadership and a voice to the democratic movements.

• Student space (Victory sign) - The students are the vanguard of

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

protest against the regimes. They are easy to activate by the Dem

ocrat, but they face harsh suppression by the Communist.

• Church space (church) - These spaces represent religious

institutions. The Catholic Church in Poland and Evangel

ical Lutheran Church in East Germany are the most important

institutions in their countries outside the control of the

Communist Party. In contrast, the Orthodox Churches

have made accommodations with the regimes.

• Minority space (Muslim Crescent and the Székely Sun

and Moon) - These spaces represent important minority

groups, such as Turks in Bulgaria and Hungarians in

Romania. In Eastern Europe, and especially

in the Soviet Union, the Communists face a

“nationalities problem” of peoples aspiring to

autonomy or even independence.

2.1.4 Stability number: Each space has a Stability Number in

its upper right hand corner. This number determines how much

Support is necessary to control the space, and also represents the

space’s resistance to Support Checks.

2.1.5 Battleground Spaces: Battleground spaces have a multi-col

ored background. All other spaces are normal spaces. Battleground

spaces are the same as normal spaces,

but they have special rules for country

Scoring (see 9.0).

2.1.6 Lines: Spaces are connected to one another via lines on the

map. A space is considered adjacent to all other spaces to which

it is connected.

2.1.7 Controlling Spaces: Each space on the map is either consid

ered to be controlled by one of the players, or it is uncontrolled. A

space is considered controlled by a player if the player’s Support

Points (SPs) in the space exceeds his opponent’s SPs in that space

by at least the space’s Stability Number.

EXAMPLE: Dresden has a Stability Number of 4. If the Democrat

doesn’t have any SPs in Dresden, the Communist needs at least

4 SPs there to control the space. If the Communist has 2 SPs

there, the Democrat needs at least 6 SPs there to have control.

EXAMPLE: The Democrat controls Budapest and Eotvos Lorand

U. The Communist controls Miskolc. Neither player controls Ta

tabanya or Szeged.

2.1.8 Some spaces contain small numbers with blue or red back

grounds in the lower left or lower-right portions of the space. These

numbers indicate SPs placed in that space at set up.

2.1.9 Scoring Boxes: Each country has a Scoring Box on the map.

The Scoring Box shows the Victory Points (VPs) players score for

Presence, Domination, and Control during scoring. It also shows

who has Power in the country and how many times the Communist

has scored for Power so far in the game (see 8.4.4 – 8.4.7).

Placement Box for marker

Country Name

Country Scoring Values

Space

The two open spots in each

space are for placing Sup

port Point markers

Connecting Line

Stability Number

Socio-Economic Icon

At Start Set Up Information

Back

Front

Back

Support Markers

The front or darker side is

used if the player controls the

space (2.1.4).

Front

Communist

Democrat

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

2.1.10 Victory Point Track: The Victory Point Track shows a

range of scoring possibilities from Communist –20 (Communist

automatic victory) to Democrat +20 (Democrat automatic victory).

At the start of the game, place the VP marker in the center of the

chart, in the box marked “0.” Whenever a player gains or loses

Victory Points, the VP marker is moved to track these changes.

EXAMPLE: The VP marker is on the +10 space (Democrat win

ning) and the Communist gains 2 VP. The VP marker is moved 2

boxes in favor of the Communist to the +8 space on the VP track.

2.2 THE STRATEGY DECK

2.2.1 There are 110 Strategy cards used in the game. Except for

Scoring cards, all strategy cards contain an Operations Point

(“Ops”) value, an Event title and an Event description. Scoring

cards are labeled “COUNTRY NAME—Scoring” and must be

played sometime during the turn they are drawn.

2.2.2 Each non-Scoring card has a symbol to indicate which side

is associated with its Event, as follows:

• Cards with a Red star are associated with the Communist.

• Cards with a Blue star are associated with the Democrat.

• Cards with a Silver star are associated with both sides.

2.2.3 Non-Scoring Cards may be played in one of two ways, as Events

or for Operations. Scoring cards are always played as Events.

2.2.4 Cards with an asterisk in the Event title that are played for the

Event are removed from the game. Cards that are not permanently

removed from the game are placed in a face up pile adjacent to

the draw deck. This is called the discard pile. The players may

examine the discard pile.

2.2.5 Cards with the Event title underlined are Lasting Events that

have persistent effects when they are played as Events (see 7.2).

2.2.6 Cards with the Event title in red indicate a card that is a pre

requisite for another event. Exception: Helsinki Final Act is red,

but not a prerequisite for another Event (see 11.3).

2.3 THE POWER STRUGGLE DECK

2.3.1 There are 52 Power Struggle cards used in the game. They

are used when a Power Struggle (8.0) is triggered by the playing

of a Scoring card.

2.3.2 There are three types of Power Struggle cards:

• Suited: The main cards used in the Power Struggle. They are

grouped into the following suits: Rally in the Square, Strike,

March, and Petition.

• Leaders: All leaders correspond to certain type of space (e.g.

Elite, Worker, or Student). Leaders can be used as a suited card

in any suit the player wishes, but only if the player controls a

space of the corresponding type in the country where the Power

Struggle is taking place. If the player does not control such a

space, the card is worthless and can only be discarded.

EXAMPLE: The Communist controls Bydgoszcz (Polish Elite

space) and Lodz (one of many Polish worker spaces). He can

use an Elite Leader card or a Worker Leader card. He cannot

use a Church Leader card because he does not control the Polish

Church space.

• Wild Cards: Special cards that have specific game effects de

scribed on them.

2.3.3 Suited and Leader cards have a rank printed on them. This

value affects the determination of initiative in the Power Struggles.

2.4 MARKERS

2.4.1 Support Markers: The struggle for power across the board

is tracked by Support markers. The number on a Support marker

denotes the number of Support Points it represents.

• Support markers are treated like cash, in the sense that players

may ‘break’ a large denomination into smaller denominations

at any time. Additionally, the number of Support markers in

the game is not an absolute limit. Small poker chips, coins, or

wooden blocks can be utilized to substitute in the event of a

marker shortage.

• If a player controls a space, his Support Markers should be placed

darker side face up to denote this. If not, place the lighter side

face up.

Card Number

Early/Middle/Late

deck indicator

Ops Value (Color of

star indicates Communist

(Red), Democrat (Blue)

or both sides (Silver)

event.

Descriptive Text

Event Title

Event Text

Card Number

Rank (8.3.2)

Suit

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

• If a player has two or more markers in a space, place the larger

denomination on top. Influence markers are open to inspection

at all times.

2.4.2 The game includes various other markers to assist play:

• The Action Round Marker is used to track how many

actions each player has taken in the current turn.

• The Turn Marker is used to track the current turn.

• The VP Marker is used to track the current VP total.

• The Tiananmen Square Markers are used

to track each player’s progress on the

Tiananmen Square Track.

• The Wall Marker is placed near Berlin as

a reminder while the Wall Event is in effect.

• The Solidarnosc Marker is placed near Gdansk as

a reminder that the Solidarity Legalized Event is in

effect.

• The Systematization Marker (Bulldozer) is placed

in a space in Romania to remind the players that the

space has been destroyed by the Communist.

• The USSR Stability Marker (torn CCCP Flag) is

placed on the USSR Stability Track to keep track

of the progress of Baltic Independence movements.

• The Tyrant is Gone Marker (helicopter) is placed

on the space chosen by the Democrat where the

Ceausescus flee during the Romanian Revolution.

2.4.3 Optional Reminder Markers: Also included

are 14 other reminder markers—players may use these

at their option.

3.0 GAME SET UP

3.1 Shuffle the Early Year cards and deal each player 8 cards. The

players are allowed to examine their cards prior to deploying their

initial Support Points.

3.2 The Communist places Support Points in the following loca

tions: 1 in Bydgoszcz, 1 in Warszawa, 1 in Lublin, 2 in Dresden, 2

in Berlin, 2 in Plzen, 2 in Praha, 1 in Brno, 1 in Szombathely, 2 in

Cluj-Napoca, 2 in Bucuresti, 2 in Sofia and 1 in Stara Zagora.

3.3 The Democrat places Support Points in the following locations:

5 in Polish Catholic Church, 1 in Gdansk, 1 in Krakow, 1 in East

German Lutheran Church, 2 in Czech Writers, 1 in Czech Catholic

Church, 1 in Budapest, 1 in Szeged, 1 in Hungarian Catholic Church

and 1 in Szekesfehervar.

3.4 Then each player places an additional 7 Support Points in the

following order:

1. Communist places 2

2. Democrat places 3

3. Communist places 3

4. Democrat places 4

5. Communist places 2

NOTE: These Support Points may be placed in any space or spaces

that do not have any opponent’s SPs at the time of placement.

3.5 Place the Democrat and Communist Tiananmen Square markers

to the left of the Tiananmen Square track. Place the Turn Marker on

the first space of the Turn Record Track. Place the Action Round

marker on the first space of the Action Round track, Communist

side face up. Finally, place the VP marker on the Victory Points

Track on the zero space.

4.0 GAME SEQUENCE

4.1 General Rule

1989 has ten turns. Each turn represents an indeterminate length

of time, from two months in the Early Year to 2-3 weeks in the

Late Year. Each player takes seven Action Rounds per turn, except

the Communist may take eight Action Rounds when the Honecker

Event is in effect. At the start of each Turn, the players are dealt

sufficient cards from the draw deck to increase their hand size to

eight cards. At the beginning of turn 4, the Middle Year deck is

shuffled into the draw deck. At the beginning of turn 8, the Late

Year deck is shuffled into the draw deck.

4.2 The Phasing Player

The Phasing Player is the player whose Action Round is currently

being played.

4.3 Reshuffle

When there are no cards remaining in the Strategy deck’s draw

deck, reshuffle all discards to form a new draw deck. Note that

cards played as Events with an asterisk (*) are removed from the

game when they are played as an Event, and they are not shuffled

into the new draw deck.

4.4 Adding Middle and Late Year Cards

When moving from the Early Year deck to the Middle Year, or from

Middle Year to Late Year, do not add in the discards to the deck—

instead add the Middle Year or Late Year cards (as appropriate) to

the existing deck and reshuffle. The ignored discards remain in the

discard pile for now, but they will be reshuffled into the deck when

the draw deck becomes empty.

4.5 The Turn Sequence

A turn in 1989 has the following sequence:

1. Deal Strategy Cards

2. Play Action Rounds

3. Make Extra Support Check (if applicable)

4. Verify Held Cards

5. Celebrate New Year’s Eve Party (if applicable)

6. Advance Turn Marker

7. Calculate Final Scoring (after turn 10)

4.5.1 Deal Strategy Cards: The players receive enough Strategy

cards to bring their total hand size to eight. The first card is dealt to

the Communist, and then the deal should alternate back and forth

between the players until they have received their full hand size.

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

If, due to progress on the Tiananmen Square track, one of the

players is entitled to discard and draw one card (6.3.5), he may do

so after all cards are dealt.

4.5.2 Action Rounds: This is the main phase of the turn. Each

player receives seven Action Rounds. Players alternate Action

Rounds, playing one Strategy card per Round. The Communist

always takes his Action Round first, followed by the Democrat.

All actions required by each card must be resolved before the next

player starts his Action Round by playing a card.

• Ordinarily a player will have a card left over after the completion

of all Action Rounds. This card is considered “held,” and may be

played in subsequent rounds. Scoring cards may never be held.

• If for any reason a player has no cards in his hand to play at the

start of an Action Round, he must forfeit that Action Round and

take no action.

4.5.3 Extra Support Check: If, due to progress on the Tiananmen

Square track, one of the players is entitled to take a free Support

Check at the end of a turn (6.3.5), the player may do so at this

time. Note: Events in effect for that Turn (Sinatra Doctrine, FRG

Embassies, Perestroika, etc.) remain in effect for purposes of the

Tiananmen Square free support check.

4.5.4 Verify Held Cards: Scoring cards may never be held from

one turn to the next. If a player is holding a scoring card at this stage

in the turn, that player loses the game. Scoring cards are marked

on the lower left with a red box so that they can be identified by

only revealing the card's lower left edge.

4.5.5 New Year’s Eve Party: If the New Year’s Eve Party Event is

in effect, the game is over and a winner is determined. See 10.3.

4.5.6 Advance Turn Marker: Move the Turn Marker to the next

turn. If it is the end of turn 3, shuffle the Middle Year cards into

the draw deck. If it is the end of Turn 7, shuffle the Late Year cards

into the draw deck.

4.5.7 Final Scoring: If it is the end of Turn 10, and the game’s

winner has not yet been determined, perform Final Scoring as

described in the Scoring rules (10.4).

5.0 CARD PLAY

Note: This section covers the play of non-Scoring cards. The play

of Scoring cards is covered in Section 8.0.

5.1 Events or Operations

Cards may be played in one of two ways: as Events or for Opera

tions points (“Ops”). Ordinarily, players will hold one card in their

hand at the end of the turn. All other cards will be used for Events

or Operations. Players may not forgo their turn by declining to play

a card or by discarding a card from their hand.

5.2 Events Associated With Your Opponent

If a player plays a card for Operations, and the card’s Event is

associated only with his opponent, the Event still occurs (and the

card, if it has an asterisk after the Event title, is removed).

Note: When playing a card for Operations that triggers an oppo

nent’s Event, the opponent implements the Event text as if he had

played the card himself.

• The phasing player always decides whether the Event is to take

place before or after the Operations are conducted.

• If a card play triggers an opponent’s Event, but that Event can

not occur because a prerequisite card has not been played or

a condition in the Event has not been met, the Event does not

occur. In this instance, cards with an asterisk (Event marked *)

are returned to the discard pile, not removed from the game.

• If a card play triggers an opponent’s Event, but the Event results

in no effect, the Event is still considered played, and is still be

removed if it has an asterisk.

EXAMPLE 1: (Normal event) The Communist plays ‘Jan Palach

Week’ for one Operations. He decides to let the Democrat use the

Event first. The Democrat places 6 SPs in the Charles University

space, and then the Communist conducts his Operations using

the Ops value of the card.

EXAMPLE 2: (Prerequisite event not in effect) The Communist

plays the ‘Walesa’ card before the ‘Solidarity Legalized’ Event

has taken place. The Communist would get the benefit of the 3

Operations points, but the Democrat would not get to use the

‘Walesa’ Event. However, despite having an asterisk, the ‘Walesa’

card would not be removed from play. It would be placed in the

discard pile to be reshuffled and possibly played later.

EXAMPLE 3: (Card no longer playable for the event) The

Democrat plays ‘Honecker’ for 3 Operations. However during

a previous Action Round the Communist played ‘Modrow,’ which

prohibits play of ‘Honecker’ as an Event. The Democrat still con

ducts 3 Operations, but the Communist would not get the benefit

of the Event, and the card would be placed in the discard pile.

EXAMPLE 4: (Event has no benefit) The Democrat plays ‘Nor

malization;’ however, the Democrat does not have any influence

in either of the spaces affected. Nevertheless, the Event is con

sidered played, and the card would be removed from the game

after the Democrat’s Action Round.

EXAMPLE 5: (Event has no effect) The Democrat plays ‘Elena’

for 1 Operations; however, during a previous Action Round the

‘The Tyrant is Gone’ Event took effect which makes the Elena

event have no effect. Still the event is considered played, and

the card would be removed from the game after the Democrat’s

Action Round. (See 7.6 for further explanation of ‘The Tyrant

is Gone’ event)

5.3 Discarded Cards

When an Event forces a player to discard a card, the Event on the

discarded card is not implemented, unless the Event specifically

states otherwise. This rule also applies to Scoring cards.

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

EXAMPLE 1: The Democrat holds ‘Brought in for Questioning’

and the ‘Poland Scoring’ card. The Democrat plays ‘Brought

in for Questioning’ for 3 Ops, then allows the Communist Event

to take place. The Scoring card is discarded, and because it is

not a Communist Event, per the terms of the ‘Brought in for

Questioning’ Event card, the Power Struggle does not take place.

EXAMPLE 2: The Communist holds ‘Kiss of Death’ and the ‘Po

land Scoring’ card. The Communist plays ‘Kiss of Death’ for 3

Ops, then allows the Democrat Event to take place. The Scoring

card is discarded and because the Scoring card is a neutral Event

(silver starred Event), per the terms of the ‘Kiss of Death’ Event

card, the Power Struggle does take place.

5.4 Contradictions

Card text that contradicts the written rules supersedes the written

rules.

6.0 OPERATIONS

When a non-Scoring card is played as an Operations card, the

player must choose to use all of the Operations points on one of

the following Options: Support Point Placement, Support Checks,

or a Tiananmen Square Attempt.

6.1 SUPPORT POINT PLACEMENT

6.1.1 The rules in this section only apply to Support Points (SPs)

that are placed with Operations points.

6.1.2 SPs are placed one at a time. However, all SP markers must

be placed with, or adjacent to, friendly SP markers that were in

place before the first SP was placed.

6.1.3 It costs one Operations point to place an SP in a space that is

friendly-controlled or uncontrolled. It costs two Operations points

to place an SP in an opponent-controlled space. If a space’s control

status changes while placing SPs, additional points placed during

that Action Round are placed at the lower cost.

EXAMPLE: The Democrat has 3 SPs in Budapest, and the Com

munist has none. Therefore, the Democrat controls Budapest. The

Communist uses a 4 Ops card to place Support Points. When

placing markers in Budapest, the first marker costs 2 Ops. How

ever, after placement of the first Communist Support marker, the

Democrat no longer exceeds Communist influence in Budapest

by the Stability number of 3; thus, a second or third Communist

SP would only cost 1 Ops point per SP.

6.1.4 SPs may be placed in multiple countries and multiple spaces

up to the number of Operations Points on the card played.

EXAMPLE: The Democrat has existing markers in the Czech

Catholic Church space and in Gdansk. The Democrat uses a 4

Ops card to place more Support. The Democrat may place SPs in

any or all of Bratislava, Ostrava, and Presov. However, he cannot

place SPs in Kosice after placing in Presov, because there were

no Democratic SPs in Presov when he began placing influence.

Because Gdansk already had SPs present, the Democrat could

use any remaining Operation points to strengthen Gdansk or its

adjacent spaces.

6.2 SUPPORT CHECKS

6.2.1 Support Checks are used to reduce opponent Support in a

country, and possibly to add friendly support if the Support Check

is successful enough.

6.2.2 Each Strategy Card played for Support Checks gives two

Support Checks to the Phasing Player, regardless of the card’s

Operations value.

6.2.3 To attempt a Support Check in a space, the space must have

opponent SPs. The player must resolve the first Support Check

before declaring the next target. Spaces may be targeted for Support

Checks more than once per Action Round, but they must have op

ponent SPs in them at the start of each attempt. The Phasing Player

does not need to have SPs in the space, or even adjacent.

6.2.4 To resolve a Support Check, multiply the Stability Number of

the target space by two (x2). Then roll a die, and add the Ops value

of the card played to the die roll. Further modify the die roll:

• +1 for each adjacent friendly controlled space

• –1 for each adjacent opponent controlled space

SPs in the target space itself do not modify the die roll in any way.

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

6.2.5 If the modified die roll is greater than the doubled Stability

Number, the Support Check succeeds, and the phasing player re

moves opposing SPs equal to the difference from the target space.

If there are insufficient opposing SPs to remove, he adds friendly

SPs to make up the difference.

6.2.6 If the modified die roll is less than or equal to the doubled

Stability Number, there is no effect.

EXAMPLE: The Communist plays a 3 Ops card for Support Checks.

In southern Poland, the Polish Catholic Church (5 SPs), Krakow

(3 SPs), Jagiellonian University (1 SP), and Polish Writers (2 SPs)

are all controlled by the Democrat. Lodz (3 SPs) is controlled by

the Communist. The Communists get two Support Checks:

1. The Communist chooses Jagiellonian University as the target of

its first support check. The space’s low Stability Number makes it

an inviting target, despite the surrounding Democratic spaces. The

Communist rolls a 5, and adds the Operations value of 3 (totaling

8). He then subtracts two (–2) from this total, due to the two adjacent

Democrat-Controlled spaces (Krakow and Polish Writers), giving

a final modified die roll of 6. This result is greater than Jagiellonian

University’s doubled Stability Number (1x2 = 2) by a total of 4.

This is the number of SPs that will be removed from/added to Ja

giellonian University. First, the Communist removes the Democrat

SP, then he places 3 Communist SPs.

2. With Jagiellonian University under Communist control, the Com

munist now targets Krakow. Krakow has a higher Stability Number,

but the Communist hopes that the adjacent modifiers provided by

Lodz and the newly captured Student space will be enough to make a

dent. Against this, the Polish Catholic Church still provides support

to Krakow. Unfortunately for the Communist, he rolls a 1. Once

again he adds the Operations value of 3, and this time the result is

4. He then adds 2 (Lodz, Jagiellonian University) and subtracts 1

(Polish Catholic Church), for adjacency modifiers, giving a final

modified die roll of 5. This result is less than the doubled stability

of Krakow (3x2 = 6), so there is no effect.

6.2.6 If the modified die roll is equal to or less than the doubled

Stability Number, the Support Check fails and there is no effect.

6.3 Tiananmen Square Attempt

6.3.1 The Tiananmen Square track contains a marker

for each player. Operations points may be spent to at

tempt to advance a player's marker to the next box on

the track. To do so, roll a die and add the Operations

value of the card to the total. Modify this total:

• +1 if the card played is the player’s own Event.

• +1 if this is the second or subsequent attempt to advance to the

box.

• +1 if the ‘Li Peng’ Event is in play and the attempting player is

the Communist.

6.3.2 If the total matches or exceeds the number required to advance

to next box (printed in the box in the color of the appropriate player),

the player moves his marker forward to the new box.

DESIGN NOTE: The required total is different for each side. It is

easier for the Democrat to advance at the beginning of the track

and easier for the Communist later on the track.

6.3.3 A player may only make one Tiananmen Square Attempt

per turn.

6.3.4 One Event (‘Tank Column/Tank Man*’) allows a player to

advance his marker forward on the Tiananmen Square track. This

card may be played for the Event in addition to any Tiananmen

Square Attempt on a given turn.

6.3.5 Advancing along the Tiananmen Square Track and reaching a

box before the opposing player results in either an immediate award

or a lasting award. Lasting awards are in effect until the opposing

player reaches the box, at which point they no longer apply. The

boxes and their effects follow:

• Reformer Memorialized/Reformer Discredited: the first player

to reach this box gets a +1 to his Tiananmen Square track rolls

until the opponent reaches this box.

• Students Rally/Students Dispersed: the first player to reach this

box gets to play 1-Ops cards as if they were 2-Ops cards until

his opponent reaches this box. This bonus applies only to cards

with an actual printed Operations value of 1.

• Foreign News/People’s Daily: the first player to reach this box

immediately draws 3 cards. He places 1 of them in his hand and

places the other 2 in the discard pile. He may place Scoring cards

in the discard pile.

• Hunger Strike/Students Arrested: the first player to reach this

box immediately removes 2 opponent SPs from anywhere on the

map.

• Goddess of Democracy/Structure Removed: the first player

to reach this box can discard a non-Scoring card and draw a

replacement at the start of every turn until his opponent reaches

this box.

• Local PLA support/Rural Divisions Summoned: the first

player to reach this box gets a free 2-Ops Support Check at the

end of the turn until his opponent reaches this box.

• Square Barricaded/Protestors Massacred: the first player to

reach this box can play a card for Operations without triggering

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

the opponent’s Event once per turn. This is in addition to any

Tiananmen Square track attempt or use of the ‘Common Euro

pean Home’ Event. This ability can be used once per turn until

the player’s opponent reaches this box.

• Political Pluralism/Most Favored Nation trade status award

ed: the first player to reach this box can play a card for both its

Operations value and Event once per turn until the opponent

reaches this box. The player can choose the order in which to

use the card, Operations first or Event first.

6.3.6 Regardless of the text on the card, the Event of a card played

as a Tiananmen Square Attempt is not implemented. The card is

placed in the discard pile.

DESIGN NOTE: The Tiananmen Square track is a player’s ‘safety

valve.’ If a player holds a card whose Event is a good one for his

opponent, and he doesn’t want the Event to occur, he can use it for

a Tiananmen Square Attempt.

6.3.7 If a player reaches the final box of the Tiananmen Square

Track, he may no longer make Tiananmen Square Attempts.

“The Wall will be standing in 50 and even in 100 years, if the

reasons for it are not removed.” —East German leader Erich

Honecker January 19, 1989

7.0 EVENTS

7.1 General Rule

If a card has a playable Event associated with either the Phasing

Player or both players, it may be played as an Event instead of

Operations. If so, the card’s Event takes effect as directed by the

card’s text.

7.2 Lasting Events

Some Event cards remain in effect until canceled by a later Event.

Some Events last for the duration of the game. When such cards

are played as Events, place them to the side of the map, or place

their markers on the Map, as a reminder of their ongoing effects.

Lasting events have their Event title underlined.

7.3 Events that Modify OPs Values

7.3.1 Some Event cards modify the Operations value of cards that

follow. These modifiers should be applied in aggregate.

EXAMPLE: The Communist player begins a turn by playing

‘Prudence’ as an Event. Ordinarily, all Democrat cards would

subtract one from their Operations value, to a minimum of one.

However, the Democrat follows by playing ‘Austria-Hungary

Border Re-opened,’ which gives the Democrat a bonus of one

if all Operations points are spent in East Germany in a given

Action Round. In addition, the Democrat has reached the second

space of the Tiananmen Square track. This enables him to play

1-Ops cards as if they were 2-Ops cards (6.3.5):

1. On his next Action Round, the Democrat plays ‘Michnik’

(Operations value 1) for Operations to place Support Markers.

If the Democrat only places Support in East Germany, the ad

justed Operations value of the card is 1 (card’s printed value) +1

(Tiananmen Square) +1 (AH Border Re-opened) –1 (Prudence)

= 2 Operations points. The Democrat places 2 SPs in Leipzig

and his turn ends.

2. On a later Action Round that Turn, the Democrat plays

‘Roundtable Talks’ (3 Ops) for Operations to make Support

Checks outside of East Germany. In this case, the only modifier in

effect is Prudence, which subtracts 1 from the card’s Operations

value to give a final total of 2. The Democrat makes two Support

Checks, each with a modifier from the Operations value of the

‘Roundtable Talks’ card of just +2.

7.3.2 Regardless of modifiers, a non-Scoring card always has a

minimum Operations value of 1.

7.3.3 Events modifying the Operations value of a card only apply

to one player, and do so for all purposes.

EXAMPLE: The Communist player has played ‘Perestroika’ as

an Event, and therefore receives a +1 Operations value modifier

for all his cards. The Communist has also played ‘Prudence,’ so

the Democrat has a –1 modifier for his cards. The Communist

plays the Democrat Event ‘Consumerism’ (3 Ops) and elects to

take his turn before the Democrat Event triggers. With the Per

estroika bonus, the Communist is able to place four Operations

Points worth of SPs. Now the ‘Consumerism’ Event takes place.

The Democrat gets to remove a Communist SP and then take a

Support Check using the Ops value of the Consumerism card.

Because of the Prudence Event, 1 is subtracted from the card’s

printed Ops value and the Support Check only gets a bonus of 2

from the Consumerism card.

7.4 Events That Play Like Ops Cards

If an Event specifies that a player may conduct Operations, place

Support, or make Support Checks as if he played a card of a cer

tain operations value, those additional Operations are treated as if

a card had been played for its Operations Point Value. Therefore,

those Operations are subject to all of the restrictions of Rule 6.1

and other Events limiting their value or use.

7.5 Unplayable Events

If an Event becomes unplayable due to its cancellation or restriction

by another Event card, the unplayable Event card may still be used

for its Operations value.

7.6 Special Rules Regarding Romanian Events

7.6.1 The Democrat has two Events in Romania that require spe

cial explanation: ‘The Crowd Turns Against Ceausescu’ and ‘The

Tyrant is Gone’. These Events represent the start of the Romanian

Revolution and the attempt of Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu to flee

from the roof of the Central Committee building by helicopter.

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

7.6.2 When ‘The Crowd Turns Against Ceausescu’ is played as an

Event, it will sit in front of the Democrat until the Romania Scoring

card is played. It will take effect after the Power Struggle cards are

dealt but before the Power Struggle is resolved.

7.6.3 If ‘The Tyrant is Gone’ is played as an Event before ‘The

Crowd Turns Against Ceausescu’ has taken effect, it also sits in

front of the Democrat until the Romania Scoring card is played.

After the Power Struggle is resolved, ‘The Tyrant is Gone’ takes

place immediately, before the next Action Round. If ‘The Tyrant

is Gone’ is played for the Event after ‘The Crowd Turns Against

Ceausescu’ has already occurred, i.e. the Romania Scoring card

has been played and ‘The Crowd Turns Against Ceausescu’ card’s

effects applied, then ‘The Tyrant is Gone’ takes effect immediately,

like any other Event. If The Crowd Turns Against Ceausescu has

not been played, The Tyrant is Gone goes in the discard pile.

7.6.4 While ‘The Tyrant is Gone’ is sitting in front of the Democrat,

the five Events associated with the Ceausescus (‘Cult of Person

ality,’ ‘Systematization,’ ‘Ceausescu,’ ‘Elena’ and ‘Massacre in

Timisoara’) may still take place.

EXAMPLE: ‘The Crowd Turns Against Ceausescu’ and ‘The

Tyrant is Gone’ are in front of the Democrat. The Romania

Scoring card has not been played. The Communist plays ‘Sys

tematization’ for the Event and eliminates the Romanian Writers

space from the map.

7.6.5 When The Tyrant is Gone is resolved, the Democrat chooses a

space in Romania without Democratic SPs to which the Ceausescus

flee. Place the Tyrant is Gone Marker on the space the Democrat

chooses. If the Democrat subsequently takes control of the space,

the Ceausescus have been captured, and the Democrat removes

the marker and scores an immediate +2 VPs. If the game goes

to Final Scoring and the Ceausescus have not been captured, the

Communist gets a bonus of –2 VP. If there are no spaces to which

the Ceausescus may flee, the Democrat scores +2 VPs immediately.

“History punishes those who come too late.” —Soviet leader

Mikhail Gorbachev to Erich Honecker, Berlin October 7, 1989

8.0 POWER STRUGGLES

Whenever a country’s Scoring card is played, a Power Struggle in

that country is immediately conducted.

Important: Scoring cards must be played on the turn in which they

are dealt. If a player is left with a Scoring card in his hand at the

end of the final Action Round of a turn, he loses the game.

A Power Struggle is resolved by following this sequence:

1. Deal Cards: The players are dealt cards from the Power Struggle

deck based upon the number of spaces they control in the country.

2. Raise the Stakes: Players may choose to increase the rewards

and penalties of the Power Struggle by discarding 3 of their

Power Struggle cards.

3. Play Cards: Players play Power Struggle cards one at a time,

until the winner of the Power Struggle is determined.

4. Aftermath: Penalties and rewards based on the result of the

Power Struggle are resolved.

5. Scoring: Finally, the country is scored according to the rules in

section 9.3, with the VP marker moving accordingly.

Note: all steps of a Power Struggle must be completed before

checking the VP marker for auto-victory.

8.1 DEAL CARDS

8.1.1 Shuffle all of the cards in the Power Struggle deck. Players

draw cards from the Power Struggle deck based on how many

spaces they control in the country, as follows:

• 6 cards for the first space they control.

• 2 cards for each additional space they control.

If a player does not control any spaces in the country, he does not

receive any cards in this step.

8.1.2 Various Events (e.g. ‘Roundtable Talks,’ ‘Peasant Parties

Revolt’ and ‘National Salvation Front’) affect the number of cards

a player receives in a Power Struggle. If any of them apply, adjust

the cards held by each player accordingly at this time, before the

players have examined their cards.

EXAMPLE: The Democrat has played the Poland Scoring card.

The Democrat controls the Catholic Church, Polish Writers,

Wroclaw and Krakow spaces. The Communist controls Bydgo

szcz and Warzsawa. ‘Roundtable Talks’ Event is in front of the

Democrat. The Democrat is dealt 12 cards, and the Communist

is dealt 8. Then the Democrat takes 2 cards from the Communist

before the players see their hands.

8.1.3 There are three types of cards

in the Power Struggle deck: suited

cards, leader cards and wild cards.

There are four suits in the deck: Pe

tition, March, Strike and Rally in

the Square. There are leader cards

that correspond to the various

types of spaces on the map (elites,

intellectuals, workers, etc.). There

are also wild cards allowing a

player to draw additional cards,

force the opponent to discard

cards, block a suit from being played or

remove an opponent SP from the map.

8.2 RAISE THE STAKES

8.2.1 Each player, beginning with the player who played the Scor

ing card, decides whether he would like to Raise the Stakes in the

Power Struggle.

8.2.2 In order to Raise the Stakes, a player must discard 3 Power

Struggle cards from his hand. If he does so, there is a +1 modifier

to the Victory Point and Support Loss die rolls for the winner of the

Power Struggle, no matter who wins. This modifier is cumulative;

if both players Raise the Stakes, the die rolls receive a +2 modifier.

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

EXAMPLE: The Democrat has 14 cards in his hand, and the

Communist has only 6. The Democrat decides to raise the Stakes

and discards 3 Power Struggle cards. The Communist does not

raise the stakes.

8.3 PLAY CARDS

8.3.1 The player who played the Scoring card begins the Power

Struggle with the initiative. Initiative may change back and forth

several times before the Power Struggle is resolved. The player

who currently has the initiative is considered the attacker and his

opponent is considered the defender.

EXAMPLE: The Democrat has played the Poland Scoring card

so the Democrat begins the Power Struggle with the initiative

and will choose the first card to play.

NOTE: If the attacker received no cards because he did not control

any spaces, the defender immediately wins the Power Struggle.

Proceed to Aftermath of the battle (8.4).

8.3.2 Power Struggle Rounds: The card play phase of a Power

Struggle is divided into Power Struggle Rounds. Players conduct

Power Struggle Rounds one at a time until the winner of the Power

Struggle is determined. In each Round, follow the following pro

cedure:

STEP 1. The attacker plays a Power Struggle card:

• Any suited card (Rally in the Square, Strike, March, or Petition)

may be played.

• A leader card may be played, but only if the attacker controls a

space of the leader’s type in the country. If a leader card is played,

the attacker must select a suit. Proceed as if a suited card were

played in that selected suit.

• Any wild card can be played (EXCEPTION: Tactic Fails). If a

wild card is played, follow its instructions, skip Steps 2 and 3

and begin a new Power Struggle Round with the defender as the

new attacker. No response card from the defender is necessary.

NOTE: If the attacker has no playable cards, the Power Struggle

is over, and the defender is the winner. Proceed immediately to the

Aftermath of the Power Struggle (8.4).

EXAMPLE: The Democrat doesn’t have any wild cards. His

longest suit is March where he has four cards, so he decides to

lead a March. He chooses his strongest March card, which is

a March-6 .

STEP 2. The defender can match the attacker’s card:

• Any card of the same suit as the one played may be used.

• A leader card may be used to match, but only if the defender

controls a space of the leader’s type in the country.

• Tactic Fails can be played at this time. If so, neither player may

play a card in that suit (or designate that suit as the suit played

when using a leader card) for the rest of the Power Struggle. The

defender may not counterattack in the round in which he plays

this card: skip Step 3 and begin a new Power Struggle Round

with the attacker maintaining the initiative.

NOTE: If the defender cannot or chooses not to match the attacker’s

card, the Power Struggle is over and the attacker is the winner. The

attacker is considered to have won the Power Struggle using the

suit that he used to attack in Step 1. Proceed immediately to the

Aftermath of the Power Struggle. (8.4)

EXAMPLE: The Communist has a March card and an Elite

Leader card that he could play. He could not play his Intellec

tual Leader card because he does not control the Polish Writers

space. He chooses to save the Elite Leader and plays his March

card to match the Democrat’s card.

STEP 3. The defender rolls a die to gain initiative:

• To gain the initiative, the defender must roll equal to or higher

than the rank of the Power Struggle card that the attacker used

to attack.

• Rally in the Square cards all have a rank of 1. If a card with

this value is used to attack, the counterattack is automatic: no

roll is needed.

• If the defender gains the initiative, he takes the role of the attacker

in the next Power Struggle Round. If not, the attacker maintains

initiative and is once again the attacker.

EXAMPLE: The Democrat led with a March 6, so the Commu

nist must roll a 6 to seize the initiative. He rolls a 2 and so the

Democrat retains initiative and can lead another card.

8.3.3 A player cannot concede a Power Struggle if he has the ini

tiative. If he has a playable card, he must play that card.

8.3.4 A player must roll to counterattack if he is permitted to do so.

EXAMPLE: The Democrat has retained the initiative. He plays

another March. As the attacker, he must play a card because he

has a playable card in his hand. The Communist elects to concede

the Power Struggle. Because he does not have initiative, he is not

required to play his Elite Leader card, even though he could play

the card to match the Democrat’s March. The Communist has

seen the writing on the wall and would rather lose to a March

than play his only Leader card and then be vulnerable to a Rally

in the Square. The Democrat wins the Power Struggle in Poland!

8.4 AFTERMATH

8.4.1 After the winner of the Power Struggle is decided, there are

two die rolls. The first determines how much Support the loser

must remove from the country, and the second determines how

many Victory Points the winner receives (and, if the winner is the

Democrat, whether or not the Communist is toppled from power).

• There is a –2 modifier to both rolls if a Petition was used to win

the Power Struggle.

• There is a +2 modifier to both rolls if a Rally in the Square was

used to win the Power Struggle.

• If either player Raised the Stakes in the Power Struggle, add

a +1 modifier to both rolls for each player who did so. Even if

the player who Raised the Stakes loses, the +1 modifier still ap

plies.

• If the ‘Yakovlev Counsels Gorbachev’ Event is in effect and the

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

Democrat won the Power Struggle, he receives an additional +1

modifier to both rolls.

8.4.2 Support Loss Die Roll: The loser rolls a die, modifies it using

the modifiers described above, and checks the Support Loss column

on the Power Struggle Results Table on the map to determine how

many SPs he must remove from the country as a result of losing

the Power Struggle. The loser chooses which SPs to remove. If

the loser is required to lose more SPs than he has in the country,

the surplus is ignored.

EXAMPLE: The Communist has lost the Power Struggle. He rolls

a die for Support Loss, and the result is 1. Because the Democrat

Raised the Stakes, there is a +1 modifier so the modified result

is 2. Checking the Power Struggle Results Table, the Communist

must remove 1 Support. Because Warszawa is a Battleground

space, he removes 1 SP from Bydgoszcz.

8.4.3 Victory Point Die Roll: The winner rolls a die, modifies

it using the modifiers described above, and checks the Victory

Points column on the Power Struggle Results Table on the map to

determine how many VPs he receives as an award.

EXAMPLE: The Democrat has won the Power Struggle. He rolls

a die for Victory Points, and the result is 3. Because he Raised the

Stakes, there is a +1 modifier so the modified result is 4. Checking

the Power Struggle Results Table, the Democrat earns 2 VPs.

8.4.4 The Democrat takes Power: If the Democrat is the winner

of the Power Struggle and his modified Victory Points Die Roll

was 4 or more, the Communist loses Power in the country. Place

a Democrat SP Marker next to the Scoring Box in the country and

remove the Scoring card permanently from the Strategy deck. If

the Communist wins the Power Struggle, or if the Democrat wins

the Power Struggle but rolls a 3 or less after all modifiers, then the

Communist retains Power.

EXAMPLE: The Democrat’s modified result of 4 means the

Communist is toppled from Power. Poland has become a de

mocracy! The Democrat raises his glass and says, ”Sto Lat!”

and “Na zdrowie!”

8.4.5 Communist voluntarily surrenders Power: If the Commu

nist is not removed from Power, he may give up Power voluntarily

at this time. He does not score for Power. Place a Democratic SP

Marker next to the Scoring Box in the country and remove the

Scoring card permanently from the Strategy deck.

“People, your government has returned to you!” —Czechoslo

vak President Vaclav Havel, January 1, 1990

8.4.6 Scoring for Power: If the Communist retains Power,

the Power Struggle card remains in the game and is placed in

the discard pile. The Communist scores a number of Victo

ry Points equal to the country's Power Value multiplied by the num

ber of times the Scoring card has been played.

• A country’s Power Value can be found on its scoring box on the

map.

• The first time the Communist scores for Power in a country, place

a Communist 1 value SP Marker next to the country’s scoring

box. The next time the Scoring Card is played, if the Communist

retains Power again, replace the 1 Communist SP with a 2 value

Communist SP, and so on until the Democrat gains Power. This

is a reminder for how many bonus VPs the Communist will earn

for retaining Power in the next Power Struggle.

EXAMPLE: Poland’s Power Value is 3. The first time the Commu

nist scores for Power in Poland he earns –3 VPs, the second time

he would earn –6 VPs, and a third time would be worth –9 VPs.

8.4.7 Democrat in Power: The Democrat never scores for Power.

If the Democrat takes Power, the Scoring card is removed from

the game.

8.5 Scoring

The final action of each Power Struggle is to score VPs based on

how much support each player has in the country after the Power

Struggle. See 9.0 for details on how to do this.

9.0 COUNTRY SCORING

9.1 General Rule

Country Scoring is the process of measuring how well a player is

doing in a country and awarding victory points accordingly. Country

Scoring takes place in a country at the following times:

1. During the last step of a Power Struggle in a country

2. During Final Scoring (10.4)

9.2 Country Scoring Terms

The following terms are used during country Scoring:

Presence: A player has Presence in a country if he controls at least

one space in that country.

Domination: A player achieves Domination of a country if he

controls more spaces in that country than his opponent and he

controls more Battleground spaces in that country than his oppo

nent. A player must control at least one non-Battleground and one

Battleground space in a country in order to achieve Domination

of that country.

Control: A player has Control of a country if he controls more

spaces in that country than his opponent and he controls all of the

Battleground spaces in that country.

9.3 Country Scoring Procedure

9.3.1 If a player has achieved Presence, Domination, or Control,

he scores VPs equal to the number shown in the country’s Scoring

Box for the highest of the three levels he has achieved.

EXAMPLE: The Communist has Domination in Romania. He

receives 4 VPs for Domination. He does not receive an additional

2 VPs for Presence even though he technically has Presence in

the country.

9.3.2 Each player scores 1 additional VP for each Battleground

space that he controls in the country.

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

9.3.3 Each player totals up his VPs, and the net difference between

the two scores is marked on the Victory Point Track.

EXAMPLE: The Communist plays the Poland Scoring Card.

When it is time to score Poland at the end of the Power Struggle,

the Communist controls Warszawa. The Democrat controls the

Polish Catholic Church, Polish Writers, Wroclaw and Krakow

spaces. Of these spaces, only Warzawa, Wroclaw and Krakow

are Battleground spaces. Therefore, the Democratic player would

get points for Dominating Poland (6 VPs) + 2 VPs for control of

two Battleground spaces (Wroclaw and Krakow). Because the

Democrat only has 1 SP in Gdansk, he does not control it. The

Communist would receive 3 VPs for Presence in Poland +1 VP

for control of a Battleground space (Warszawa). Because the

Democrat controls more Battleground spaces, more spaces over

all, and controls at least one non-Battleground space, he scores

for Domination. Having calculated relative Victory Points (8

VPs for the Democrat, 4 VPs for the Communist), the difference

between the two totals is 4. The VP marker is moved four spaces

on the VP point track toward Democratic victory.

10.0 VICTORY CONDITIONS

There are four ways a player can win at 1989:

10.1 Automatic Victory:

The instant one player reaches a score of 20 VP, the game is over

and that player is the winner.

• Do not check for Automatic Victory in a Power Struggle until

the entire process is complete and all VP adjustments have been

made (including country Scoring).

• Automatic Victory does not apply in Final Scoring.

10.2 Illegal Held Card

If a player has a Scoring card in his hand in the Verify Held Cards

step of a Turn (4.5.4), that player loses and his opponent is de

clared the winner. If both players hold Scoring Cards, the game is

considered a draw.

“I’ve been looking for freedom.” —David Hasselhoff, Berlin,

December 31, 1989

10.3 New Year’s Eve Party

If the New Year’s Eve Party Event was played during a turn and

the Communist chose to activate the Event, the game ends at the

end of that turn without going to Final Scoring.

• Before the game ends, the Democrat has the option to conduct

a Power Struggle in any one country where the Communist still

holds Power. If he does so, a Power Struggle is resolved just as

if the country’s scoring card had been played, including country

Scoring.

• The Democrat begins the Power Struggle with the initiative.

• Note: If the Democrat chooses Romania for the final Power

Struggle, The Crowd Turns Against Ceausescu does take place if

the card has been played for the Event but the effect has not yet

taken place. The Tyrant is Gone cannot take place because the

game ends immediately after the Power Struggle is resolved.

• After the final Power Struggle (if any), the player in the lead is

declared the winner, as if at the end of Final Scoring (10.4.3).

10.4 Final Scoring

10.4.1 If neither side has achieved victory of any kind by the end

of turn 10, then every country is scored according to the rules for

country Scoring (9.0). No Power Struggles are conducted, and the

Communist does not score for Power. However, the Communist

does get a Final Scoring bonus for the number of countries where

he retains Power:

Countries

VP Bonus

–4

–8

–12

–16

–20

–24

10.4.2 Reaching 20 VPs or –20 VPs does not result in Automatic

Victory during Final Scoring.

10.4.3 Once all countries have been scored and the Communist has

been given his bonus points, victory goes to the player who as accrued

the most VPs. If the VP marker is on a positive number, the Democrat

wins; if the VP marker is on a negative number, the Communist wins.

If the VP marker is on zero, the game ends in a draw.

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

11.0 CARD CLARIFICATIONS

11.1 Austria-Hungary Border

Reopened: If the Democrat is

performing Support Checks in

East Germany while this card is

in effect, the Operations value

bonus can only be used if both

support checks take place in

East Germany. If the first sup

port check is being made in East

Germany, the Democrat must

state whether he intends to use

the bonus (thereby committing

to the second Support Check

in East Germany) or not. If the

Democrat does not explicitly

state he is using the bonus before

rolling the die, he may not use it.

11.2 General Strike: The Com

munist player begins discarding

a card and rolling during the

Action Round following the

event taking place. He discards

only 1 card per Action Round.

This event may stay in effect for

more than 1 turn.

11.3 Helsinki Final Act: This

card has an Event title in red

although it is not a pre-requisite

for another Democratic Event.

The red title allows the Democrat

to take the card from the Com

munist and play it for the Event

using the Goodbye Lenin! Event.

12.0 U.S.S.R. STABILITY

TRACK

“Should Gorbachev be toppled, then our larger vision of

democracy in Eastern Europe shall vanish.”—British Prime

Minister Margaret Thatcher to American President George

Bush, November 18, 1989

12.1 The U.S.S.R. is stable at the start of the game, but through

the play of Events the peoples of the Baltic Republics (Lithuania,

Latvia and Estonia) will begin the process of declaring their inde

pendence from the U.S.S.R.

12.2 When the Sajudis Event takes place, move the USSR stability

marker to that space.

12.3 When The Baltic Way Event takes place, advance the USSR

stability marker to that space.

12.4 When the Breakaway Baltic Republics Event takes place,

advance the USSR stability marker to that space. Note: once

Breakaway Baltic Republics has taken place, Gorbachev Charms

the West can no longer be played as an Event.

12.5 When Kremlin Coup! takes place, advance the USSR stability

marker to that space.

12.6 The VPs associated with these Events are stated beside the

space on the Track and on the cards.

13.0 Play Balance Mechanism

[Optional Rule]

Prior to drawing cards, the players take several Democrat and

Communist Support Point markers with a value of 1 each into their

hands and place their hands under the table out of sight of the other

player. Each player decides how many additional Support Points

he will offer the opponent to play his chosen side. Each player then

places the number of Support Points in his right hand and raises

his right hand to the table. The number and side of each player’s

bid is revealed simultaneously.

If both players offered Support Points to the opponent for the same

side, the more generous bid wins. The other player takes these

support points and places them on the Map after the players have

completed the placement of additional Support Points in Rule 3.4.

The placement of these additional Support Points must comply

with Rule 3.5. If the bids are identical, each player rolls a die. The

player with the higher die roll choses which bid is the winner. If

the players offer SPs for opposite sides, they each take the side the

opponent offered and the additional SPs are ignored.

EXAMPLE: Bruce opens his right hand to reveal 2 Democrat SPs.

Jason opens his hand to reveal only 1 Democrat SP. Bruce has

won the bid and hands the 2 Democrat SPs to Jason. Bruce will

be the Communist. Jason will place these 2 additional Democrat

SPs after the players have completed placing their additional 7

SPs under rule 3.4.

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

I N D E X

Action Rounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.2

Aftermath of Power Struggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4

Austria-Hungary Border Reopened . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1

Automatic Victory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1

Battleground Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.5

Bureacrat Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3

Church Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3

Control (country) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2

Controlling Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.7

Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1

Country Scoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.0

Deal Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.1, 8.1

Discarded Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3

Domination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2

Eastern Europe and the Balkans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2

Elite Space (limousine) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3

Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1-5.3, 7.0

Extra Support Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.2

Farmer Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3

Final Scoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.7, 10.4

General Strike Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2

Helsinki Final Act Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.3

Intellectual Space (typewriter) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3

Lasting Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2

Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2

Minority Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3

New Year’s Eve Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.5, 10.3

Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.0

Phasing Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2

Presence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2

Power Struggle Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3

Power Struggles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.0

Power Struggle Rounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.2

Raise the Stakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2

Reshuffle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3

Romanian Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6

Scoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.5

Scoring Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.9

Socio-Economic Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3

Stability number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.4

Student Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3

Strategy Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2

Support Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5.3, 6.2

Support Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.1

Support Points (SPs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1

Tiananmen Square . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3

Unplayable Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5

U.S.S.R. Stability Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.0

Victory Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.0

Victory Point Die Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.3

Victory Point Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.10

Wild Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.2

Worker Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3

1989 Dawn of Freedom — RULES OF PLAY

GMT Games, LLC

P.O. Box 1308, Hanford, CA 93232-1308

www.GMTGames.com

CREDITS

Game Design: Jason Matthews and Ted Torgerson

Game Development: Bruce Wigdor

Clio's Corner Articles: Malte M. Heinrich

Art Director, Cover Art and Package Design: Rodger B. Mac

Gowan

Map and Card Art: Donal Hegarty

Counter Art: Leland Myrick and Mark Simonitch

Rules Layout: Mark Simonitch

Lead Playtesting: Charles Robinson, Riku Riekkinen, Daniel

Dunbring, Patrick Martin, Brendan Majev

Playtesters: "The Wargameroom Regulars" Dave Blizzard,

Steven Bauer, Sean Djafovic, Roger Leroux, Judit Szepessey,

Jeff Aaronson, Rui Serrabulho, Matt Davis, Michael See

Special Thanks to Patrick Martin for stat compilation and anal

ysis of playtest results.

Rules Editing: Hans Korting and Jonathan Squibb

Production Coordination: Tony Curtis

Producers: Tony Curtis, Rodger MacGowan, Andy Lewis, Gene

Billingsley and Mark Simonitch

Appendix A: Distribution of Power

Struggle Deck

6 Rally in the Squares (all initiative value 1)

12 Marches (2 with initiative value 6, 2 with 5, 4 with 4, and

4 with 3)

12 Strikes (2 with initiative value 6, 2 with 5, 4 with 4, and 4

with 3)

6 Petitions (3 with initiative value 6, and 3 with 5)

12 Leaders (4 Intellectual, 4 Elite, 2 Worker, 1 Church, and 1

Student, all initiative value 3)

4 Wild Cards (all surrender initiative)

Turn Sequence

1. Deal Strategy Cards

2. Play Action Rounds

3. Make Extra Support Check (if applicable)

4. Verify Held Cards

5. Celebrate New Year’s Eve Party (if applicable)

6. Advance Turn Marker

7. Calculate Final Scoring (after turn 10)

9.2 Country Scoring Terms

Presence: A player has Presence in a country if it controls at

least one space in that country.

Domination: A player achieves Domination of a country if

he controls more spaces in that country than his opponent and

he controls more Battleground spaces in that country than his

opponent. A player must control at least one non-Battleground

and one Battleground space in a country in order to achieve

Domination of that country.

Control: A player has Control of a country if he controls more

spaces in that country than his opponent and he controls all of

the Battleground spaces in that country.

6.2 SUPPORT CHECKS

PURPOSE: To reduce opponent Support in a country, and

possibly to add friendly support if the Support check is suc

cessful enough.

PROCEDURE: Each Strategy Card played for Support Checks

gives two Support Checks to the Phasing Player, regardless of

the card’s Operations value. The player must resolve the first

Support Check before declaring the next target.

REQUIREMENT: To attempt a Support Check in a space,

the space must have opponent SPs.

RESOLUTION: Multiply the Stability Number of the target

space by two (x2). Then roll a die, and add the Ops value of

the card played to the die roll plus any DRMs as listed below.

If the modified die roll is greater than the doubled Stability

Number, the Support Check succeeds, and the phasing player

removes opposing SPs equal to the difference from the target

space. If there are insufficient opposing SPs to remove, add

friendly SPs to make up the difference.

DIE ROLL MODIFIERS:

• +1 for each adjacent friendly controlled space

• –1 for each adjacent opponent controlled space