If the newly out of office President has already been elected to
two terms, the sum of Popularity cubes on his card is added to
the owner’s Victory Points (VP) total and his card removed
from play. All cubes on his card are returned to the supply.
Similarly, if a sitting President is not re-elected, his Popularity
cubes are scored, the card removed from play and all his cubes
returned to the supply. This occurs even if he has been elected
to the Office of Vice President. (The Vice President Office is
simply vacant until the next Election.)
This rule is fairly vague, Rick, and in this circumstance, Clinton was not Party Leader after the term of John Marshall was ended prematurely, so he couldn’t run for reelection. That last sentence could mean anything in regards to that situation, reading it objectively.
“Not being reelected” implies running for election.
I agree. The logic of the original AH RoR (and its player guide) nails it with recommending the max amount of players. Yes it’s more cutthroat (and less feel-good “Euroey” in today’s times) but otherwise cliques become fairly firm. Heck, I wish the games could accommodate 7.
Now I’m curious, from an outsiders perspective, it seemed that the trio had absolute control over resolution. As often as not they were also the last to vote and so could precisely spend IP as needed.
Was there a mechanism I missed that would have allowed @Brooski or @Cuthbert to block said permanence of power?
Edit: or put another way. Was the fact that the seemingly impossible to overcome power block due to a fluke of chance? There seemed to be some method of balance built into how resolution would split influence and popularity between party leaders. However it seemed that the trio was often in control of both party leaders, leading to a heads I win, tails you lose, situation.
We ran into that issue fairly early on as well. However, the lowest VP player getting his choice of the 7 action cards led to two players who were earlier not competitive controlling another game on that same linked forum.
Are you doing the card distribution correctly? We did it incorrectly for our first game (we just sent two random cards out to each player) instead of what the rules stated (a pool of 7 cards with the players choosing between them in the order of lowest VPs first)
I do agree that an even number is best. Also, certain coalitions of players are certainly encouraged due to the voting order being to the left of the President, as you have noted. It is almost always in your best interest to ally with those who vote last during your Presidential term, as that means you can always spend just the necessary amount of IP.
Action cards are very important as well. In an earlier cancelled game, one non competitive player was able to use a “dominate the President” card to go from no prominence to solving an issue that gave him the three popularity needed to rob someone of party leader, which shifted the power dynamic a lot.
Ultimately, it comes down to card distribution and what your players pick that affects whether a coalition can control the game for a long time or not.
Same here. I read the rule on succession and that one as well (casually, mind you), when Marshall got the Gat, and was like, “ok, makes sense” and moved on.
Ulysses S Grant plays Theory of Nullification Applied as an event. I believe that moves Tension to +2, it moves popular support 3 toward the Conservatives since he is a liberal, and it gives 3 IP to Thaddeus Stevens. At this point it would be Stevens who picks his running mate first I believe.
Regarding Clinton: I thought he was the VP when the President died in office and therefore he was never elected President since he did not subsequently run for President due to not having the most popularity. I don’t know if my recollection is correct and I have no interest in going back through hundreds of posts to determine what happened. If @CF_Kane feels he should be retired then go ahead and retire him.
We’ve definitely been doing the draft right. I have some comments and thoughts about the game and where players could have made a difference, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to share them until the game is over, as I have access to all of the non-public information.
Clinton was President for one issue after Marshall died in office. Because he never received an election pawn (per page 13), I didn’t think he was subject to the did not win re-election rule. I will say with a high degree of confidence that the presence of DeWitt Clinton in @Ironsight’s faction was unlikely to have swayed the game to a substantial degree. I made a ruling in a situation I saw as ambiguous at best, and am not inclined to attempt to unwind it seven presidential terms later. Especially given that Clinton was a non-entity for most of the terms.
DeWitt Clinton is stunned by the harsh criticism and tries to drown himself in the Erie Canal. He fails and now has renewed hope of actually being elected President some day.
