Thanks for the updates everyone. Did @buzznaut vs. @Infested_terran get underway?
Yes game is underway
Sorry it didn’t work out for you, Thraeg. @Greatatlantic if you would like you could take his spot over in the tournament? You’d have a loss (or two depending on if @Brian_Reynolds doesn’t have time to play you this round) but you would get games in if the experience of competing is more important to you than testing exactly where you place in the field of participants.
DoggieMon(Romero) (USSR) defeated Borges (USA) in turn 6. Good game,
DoggieMon!
Do you want to work out a time to pound out a couple turns at once, Buzznaut? We’re at the halfway timer and only a couple rounds in.
@Syzygy would you be available this evening for some rounds of live play? I’m willing to do it despite really hating you right now over that Blockade BS. And the lucky Korean War, and my unlucky India Pakistan one. Or headlining the Middle East scoring. Basically the last two rounds have been of the ‘well this stinks’ variety ;)
drawing a bunch of 1 ops cards for round 3 kinda stunk there.
Sure. I am US EST . Evenings after 9 are usually the only time I have for gaming. How about you?
Same timezone. After 9 if fine (though not tonight!).
If you take your turn I can delay taking mine until Wednesday so your timer isn’t run down.
Hey @CraigM, unfortunately my Tuesday and Thursday evenings are booked up with World of Warcraft raids. So either a) carving out a bit of time that works for both of us during the day today or tomorrow, or b) playing the game out Wednesday evening would be my only options.
My perception of the game and who has had the most luck is a bit different. :)
First turn hand was a disaster for me. I received only 13 ops (counting the Decolonization event as 4 but I could only play into SE Asia) being under Purge, and that doesn’t count the 4 counter plays w/ E European Unrest and CIA that you had from my initial hand. About my only point of luck was rolling a 6 on the Iran coup, but the dice were hot for you as well which you used to erase my gains, most notably counter-couping Iran on your T2AR1 with another 6, knocking my solid 4 influence all the way to US 1, and giving you access to an empty Pakistan. That was huge and you only would have been able to do that on a 6.
Also having Decolonization, and Destalinization in Turn 1 was nice, but since I had CIA in hand I couldn’t play them outside Asia. That together with having Fidel in hand (and not wanting to use it for a lousy one Op) meant that I really needed to get rid of CIA. I knew I was showing you Destalinization but thought that even if you played Five Year Plan on me to force a discard it would be highly unlikely that you’d hit that card. But you pulled it right out of my hand on T2 Headline despite a 1 in 7 chance. This would be a very different game if that hadn’t happened. :)
As a new player I’m sure it feels like BS to be wiped out of West Germany with one card play. But you were playing so well I was surprised it went through myself. If there’s one card you need to be aware of in the Early War when playing the US it’s Blockade. You holding onto Truman guaranteed I wasn’t going to challenge you in W Germany, so that’s the silver lining.
I had a 50% chance so I’m obviously happy it went that way, but I wasn’t defying 1/6 or 1/7 odds so I don’t think it’s “lucky”. My Arab-Israli war failed. You had only a 33% chance on India-Pakistan so I’d argue the failure was “not lucky” rather than “unlucky”.
We both played 15 Ops worth of cards in Round 3 including event op values and headlines.
Yeah, during the day won’t work because it’s tied to my home computer. But tomorrow evening would be fine.
As far as all the other comments, understand all that was said with a smirk. Like Blockade, I knew about it, but your timing was pure evil, as I only had 1 ops cards to counter (and you played Europe scoring right after)
And the India Pakistan I knew was a 33% chance. So I knew it was a risk, but one I needed to take (I felt) due to your position in Asia. I was miffed that it failed, but thems the breaks. I just am in a tough spot, as you were able to play scoring cards in situations where I had little chance to counter, like Central America.
Which is precisely why I kept him ;) I knew Blockade had to come up some time, but there wasn’t much I could do with that. So take my comments for what they are, the type of friendly banter my friends and I have when playing games. Realistically I have nothing to complain. Came out of the early war ahead in points. That you were able to make some great plays to flip things is a testament to you r play. It certainly feels you have the advantage, or at least the initiative at this point. I’m scrambling to try and find ways to counter what I know you’re trying. But not being able to get the first coup, and therefore challenge in Asia or ME as effectively, feels like a big constraint right now. We both still have a chance, though I’d say with your power in Asia and Africa being major points of concern, I feel I’m going to have a hard time flipping this one on you. Your scoring of Europe and Central America really took a lot of my momentum!
But my ABM Treaty play felt real good, I’ll tell you that :D
I thought it probably was but wanted to make the point that if there’s a question of who lady luck has blessed so far, it’s not me. ;) If you were playing like a new player it wouldn’t be an issue, but you’ve been making strong plays – which has forced me to take risks like headlining 5VP scoring cards when many mid-war spoiler cards are still in play. I can tell you will be quite formidable once you have dozens of games under your belt.
Yep, yet another six, so your COUP rolls have been 6, 5, 6, 6, 6 – another reason I’m surprised to hear you suggest I’m the lucky one!
Sure, why not? I can take another crack at winning. Can you invite me to a game, @Brian_Reynolds ? greatatlantic, here and on playdek.
Great, Brian’s PlayDek ID is “Cattlesquat”. You might want to invite him as he might not be able to check the thread for a day or two. Game invite settings are below (note +1 US handicap)
Berbatov (US) wins over dstone112 on final scoring. A back and forth early game with some very strong Soviet pressure (and established SA control) leads to a midgame where the US fights back and slowly scraps back to equal or better across most of the map. Good game dstone!
I’ll be on tonight checking TS frequently. If you come on I’ll leave it open and we can hammer out a couple turns.
@Greatatlantic and @Brian_Reynolds did you replacement game get underway yet? Do you will be able to finish in by Feb 22?
Just took my turn. Will be on most of tonight.
Hi Syzygy - sorry I didn’t see this until today, I thought I was free and clear until next round. Do you want us to start a new round 2 game? Feb 22 sounds tight. Brian
Yes, @Brian_Reynolds. Greatatlantic originally opted into the tournament, but since I was managing the list on two computers I accidentally dropped him from the signups, and only realized after I had seeded it on Challonge. With Thraeg dropping out it’s a good chance to get him back in the mix.
But that’s only if you agree to it and think you have enough time to get the game done by Feb. 22. If not, I’ll ask Greatatlantic to accept Thraeg’s forfeit to you for future round seeding.
I’m happy to play the game and can bring at least my usual level of alacrity to it, I just can’t promise to be double speed at this point particularly since I’m going to be on the road. I feel confident I can live up to the usual 7 day time control, but not to e.g. a 3-day. Your call on how to proceed!
Brian