India Surrender Examples

In Empire of the Sun, most nations surrender at the end of a turn in which the opposing side has captured several key bases. The major exception to this rule is India. The game assumes that Japan will not be marching on Bombay or even Calcutta but rather through the combination of Japanese pressure in Northern India and political unrest, India will either back out of the war or no longer be a viable base for the British forces.

India is in one of three states during the game (stable, unrest and unstable) and after being unstable for two consecutive turns, India surrenders. This article presents five examples of how the India Status track is used, how India surrenders and how the Gandhi cards (15 and 82) can be played to facilitate the surrender of India.

The India marker will move from Stable to Unrest if all hexes in Northern India end the turn in Japanese hands. Once that train has left the depot, it will continue to destination surrender unless the Allies recapture a hex in Northern India at some point in a future turn. If that happens, the marker goes back to Stable.

In the examples that follow, I pose several key questions for each turn in the example and provide the resulting location of the India marker.

Example 1 (No Gandhi cards, India surrenders)

This is the baseline surrender situation. Japan takes Northern India and holds it for four consecutive turns.

Board Status	Turn 5	Turn 6	Turn 7	Turn 8
India Marker at Start	Stable	Unrest	Unrest(2)	Unstable
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at start of turn?	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Did the Allies recapture a N. India hex during the turn?	No*	No	No	No
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at end of turn?	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
India Marker at End	Unrest	Unrest(2)	Unstable	Surrender

Example 2 (Wasted Gandhi card)

Unless Japan captures all the hexes in Northern India, any Gandhi card will only temporarily move the India marker to Unrest. Because the Allies control a hex in Northern India (it is possible that the Allies never lost control of any part of Northern India), the marker will reset to Stable at the end of the turn.

Board Status	Turn 5
India Marker at Start	Stable
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at start of turn?	No
Was one Gandhi card played during the turn?	Yes, India marker to Unrest
Did the Allies recapture a N. India hex during the turn?	Doesn't matter in this case
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at end of turn?	No
India Marker at End	Stable

Example 3 (Ineffective Gandhi card)

Even if Japan captures all the hexes in Northern India, the play of a Gandhi card must be timed in order to have an impact. In this example, the Japanese player should have stored the Gandhi card as a Future Offensive and played it turn 6.

Board Status	Turn 5
India Marker at Start	Stable
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at start of turn?	No
Was one Gandhi card played during the turn?	Yes, India marker to Unrest
Did the Allies recapture a N. India hex during the turn?	Doesn't matter in this case assuming all hexes were lost by turn end
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at end of turn?	Yes
India Marker at End	stays in Unrest

Example 4 (Surrender in 3 Turns)

The proper play of the Gandhi card can accelerate surrender by one turn over the baseline model...

Board Status	Turn 5	Turn 6	Turn 7
India Marker at Start	Stable	Unrest	Unstable
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at start of turn?	No	Yes	Yes
Was one Gandhi card played during the turn?	No	Yes, India marker to Unstable	No
Did the Allies recapture a N. India hex during the turn?	No	No	No
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at end of turn?	Yes	Yes	Yes
India Marker at End	Unrest	Unstable	Surrender

Example 5 (Surrender in 2 Turns)

While the effective use of two Gandhi cards can result in a fast two turn surrender...

Board Status	Turn 5	Turn 6
India Marker at Start	Stable	Unstable
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at start of turn?	No	Yes
Were both Gandhi cards played during the turn?	Yes, India marker to Unstable	No
Did the Allies recapture a N. India hex during the turn?	No	No
Are all Northern India hexes Japanese controlled at end of turn?	Yes	Yes
India Marker at End	Unstable	Surrender

Obviously, the strategy and tactics around how Japan captures and holds all of Northern India is a separate story. Hopefully this article gives a better understanding of the mechanics of the India track and how India can be knocked out of the war.