2013Jeff Grossman, Volko Ruhnke
- Videos
- 60
- Creators
- 30
1 - 4 players180 minHeavy weight

2013Volko Ruhnke, Brian Train
Mostly playthroughs and how-to-play. A Distant Plain is covered on BoardGameVideo.com by 4 reviews, 8 how-to-play guides, 14 recorded sessions, 3 unboxings, and 4 other videos.
From BoardGameGeek
This volume in Volko Ruhnke's COIN Series takes 1 to 4 players into the Afghan conflict of today's headlines, this time in a unique collaboration between two top designers of boardgames on modern irregular warfare. A Distant Plain teams Volko Ruhnke, the award-winning designer of Labyrinth: The War on Terror, with Brian Train, a designer with 20 years' experience creating influential simulations such as Algeria, Somalia Interventions, Shining Path: The Struggle for Peru, and many others. A Distant Plain features the same accessible game system as GMT's recent Andean Abyss and upcoming Cuba Libre but with new factions, capabilities, events, and objectives. For the first time in the Series, two counterinsurgent (COIN) factions must reconcile competing visions for Afghanistan in order to coordinate a campaign against a dangerous twin insurgency. A Distant Plain adapts familiar Andean Abyss mechanics to the conditions of Afghanistan without adding rules complexity. A snap for Series: COIN (GMT) players to learn, A Distant Plain will transport them to a different place and time. New features include: Coalition-Government joint operations. Volatile Pakistani posture toward the conflict. Evolution of both COIN and insurgent tactics and technology. Government graft and desertion. Coalition casualties. Returning Afghan refugees. Pashtun ethnic terrain. Multiple scenarios. A deck of 72 fresh events. ... and more. As with each COIN Series volume, players of A Distant Plain will face difficult strategic decisions with each card. The innovative game system smoothly integrates political, cultural, and economic affairs with military and other violent and non-violent operations and capabilities. Flow charts are at hand to run the three Afghan factions, so that any number of players-from solitaire to 4-can experience the internecine brawl that is today's Afghanistan.
Learn to play
Watch it played
A Distant Plain has 33 videos from 18 creators: 4 reviews, 8 how-to-play guides, 14 playthroughs, 3 unboxings and 4 other videos. They date from 2013 to August 2026.
To learn the rules, start with "A Distant Plain - Deboxed" by Jason Young, which runs 6 min.
For an opinion before you buy, start with "A Distant Plain Review" by MarcoOmnigamer. 4 creators have reviewed it. To see it played, watch "A Distant Plain - Exploration 001" by Jason Young, one of 14 playthroughs.
If you like it, try Cuba Libre, Andean Abyss, Nevsky: Teutons and Rus in Collision 1240-1242 and Almoravid: Reconquista and Riposte in Spain 1085-1086, also by Volko Ruhnke.
8 of 18
2013Jeff Grossman, Volko Ruhnke
1 - 4 players180 minHeavy weight
2019Volko Ruhnke
1 - 2 players60 - 360 minVery heavy weight
2022Volko Ruhnke
1 - 2 players60 - 360 minVery heavy weight
From BoardGameGeek:
This volume in Volko Ruhnke's COIN Series takes 1 to 4 players into the Afghan conflict of today's headlines, this time in a unique collaboration between two top designers of boardgames on modern irregular warfare. A Distant Plain teams Volko Ruhnke, the award-winning designer of Labyrinth: The War on Terror, with Brian Train, a designer with 20 years' experience creating influential simulations such as Algeria, Somalia Interventions, Shining Path: The Struggle for Peru, and many others. A Distant Plain features the same accessible game system as GMT's recent Andean Abyss and upcoming Cuba Libre but with new factions, capabilities, events, and objectives. For the first time in the Series, two counterinsurgent (COIN) factions must reconcile competing visions for Afghanistan in order to coordinate a campaign against a dangerous twin insurgency. A Distant Plain adapts familiar Andean Abyss mechanics to the conditions of Afghanistan without adding rules complexity. A snap for Series: COIN (GMT) players to learn, A Distant Plain will transport them to a different place and time. New features include: Coalition-Government joint operations. Volatile Pakistani posture toward the conflict. Evolution of both COIN and insurgent tactics and technology. Government graft and desertion. Coalition casualties. Returning Afghan refugees. Pashtun ethnic terrain. Multiple scenarios. A deck of 72 fresh events. ... and more. As with each COIN Series volume, players of A Distant Plain will face difficult strategic decisions with each card. The innovative game system smoothly integrates political, cultural, and economic affairs with military and other violent and non-violent operations and capabilities. Flow charts are at hand to run the three Afghan factions, so that any number of players-from solitaire to 4-can experience the internecine brawl that is today's Afghanistan.
Designers
Volko Ruhnke, Brian Train
Artists
Xavier Carrascosa, Rodger B. MacGowan, Chechu Nieto
Publisher
GMT Games
Categories
Mechanics