Escape the News: Games to Distract You… Red Dust Rebellion
Red Dust Rebellion’s embossed pieces raise the bar for production value.
Photo © 2026 WargamesandWhisky.com
Dust storms aren’t delicious, but Talisker Storm is!
Photo © 2026 WargamesandWhisky.com
Welcome to part 3 of our series which encourages you to escape from the news with a whisky and a wargame. If you missed parts 1 and 2 you can find them here.
Red Dust Rebellion is like a ruby- a rare gem of a game. It is complicated. It is long. You will be referencing the rules throughout play. It is entirely worth it.
(Note: we earn a commission from the affiliate link at no additional cost to you.)
Set on Mars in the year 2250, Red Dust Rebellion adapts GMT’s storied COIN (Counterinsurgency) system to a fictional setting for the first time. It’s a departure from the system’s roots while still offering a familiar context for veterans of past COIN games. For those new to the genre, the COIN system presents conflicts as a dueling axis of Insurgents and Counterinsurgents. The secret sauce is in the deep and asymmetric ways in which all the factions of a COIN game operate - there’s a baseline of rules to give the game a backbone, but the actions a player takes on their turn can have only a limited resemblance to those taken by their fellow player in terms of operational requirements.
The fictional setting frees player expectations from historical outcomes, and allows players to sink into an immersive experience as they choose between four competing power centers vying for control of the unforgiving, dust-choked red planet: the Martian Government (MarsGov), supported by a skeptical EarthGov; the Red Dust movement, a growing insurgency of the discontented labor force critical to continued human habitation; The Church of the Reclaimer, a post-humanist cult that has determined humans must adapt to Mars, not the other way around and are prepared to use violence to achieve that end; and the ominously and vaguely named Corporations, a conglomerate of megacorps and oligarchs that EarthGov turns to when the Martian Government doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Earth’s interests.
In the framework of GMT’s COIN system, MarsGov and the Corporations are the ‘counterinsurgency factions’ and hold a tenuous alliance of aligned interests: neither wants the insurgents to succeed, but neither can the Corporations maximize their profit extraction from Mars if MarsGov uses those resources to actually govern. Unique to Red Dust Rebellion is the EarthGov, a non-player faction that lurks in the background representing Earth’s continued influence over its wayward colony. EathGov offers its aid to either MarsGov or the Corporations depending on how well either is managing the uprising. When EarthGov offers its support, it is reflected in powerfully enhanced actions that make their standard counterinsurgency operations more flexible and deadlier than before.
Opposing the government-corporate axis are the insurgent Children of Mars: the Red Dust Movement and the Church of the Reclaimer. Both seek to overthrow MarsGov control of the planet and wouldn’t shed too many tears for any humiliated corporate oligarchs along the way. Yet, they want radically different things. The Red Dust Movement wants to wrest control for itself, and the Church of the Reclaimer wants to see Mars restored to a natural state, free of humanity’s footprint. The Insurgents may find common cause for a while, but ultimately hold very different visions for the Martian future. The Red Dust Movement is more straightforward in its goals, and that’s reflected in how they play. The Church of the Reclaimer on the other hand… well, they have a completely asymmetric set of rules different from any other player at the table, and that’s saying something for a COIN game.
One last thing: we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the Dust Storms, a unique mechanic that stands out even among the other innovations Jarrod Carmichael brings to the COIN system. Dust Storms roll across the board, dramatically altering game states by blocking routes, degrading the utility of satellites offered by EarthGov, and possibly stranding a player’s forces in the unprotected Martian deserts. Dust Storms are the true chaos element of Red Dust Rebellion, and chaos doesn’t care about your politics.
Red Dust Rebellion is a science-fiction novel rendered as tabletop wargame, and it's worthy of the time and whisky it will consume at your table.
To quench the thirst this long haul flight of a game requires, we recommend a bottle of Talisker’s iconic Storm. As you consider your next move, and swerve to avoid each brewing tempest, you’ll savor the salty sea spray on the nose, and inhale the smoky essence of a whisky bottled by the foggy coast. You’ll weigh the possibilities as the taste evolves from pleasantly soft to peppery spice. Unlike the distillery’s older and more established expressions, Storm has no age statement- it’s a youthful, adventurous spirit full of possibility and adventure, even on the dustiest of journeys.
