Octopus Overlords

It's not *easy* for the Soviets to dominate Europe in the early war, but the early war events (De Gaulle Leads France, Blockade, (pre-NATO) Brush War, Suez Crisis) make it *easier*. Conversely, it's almost impossible for the U.S. to make inroads into Eastern Europe before the Late War, but then there's a bunch of late war events that help the U.S. there.

hepcat wrote:I believe the US has to fight to stay in the game early on, but I do recall the general consensus being that about halfway through the mid war, things start to swing in their favor.

At least that's what I'm hoping. tgb is eating my damn lunch right now!

Which wouldn't be so bad if it didn't come in this:

And getting a 10 point hammer on two Europe scoring cards isn't very nice.

Europe is rocked by the agitation of successive socialist governments, but bolstered by a firm U.S. policy of containment, remains largely in the U.S. orbit. While socialist parties are able to push UK and Canadian policies towards neutrality, Spain joins France, Germany, Italy, Greece and Turkey in a firm anti-communist alliance.

In Asia, the formation of the unified communist Korea shook east asia to its core. The newly stable Korean state offered significant appeal to Japanese masses still suffering from the after effects of the world war and U.S. conventional and nuclear bombs. To the great shock of Washington, Japan soon falls under communist governance. Fortunately in southern asia the people of Pakistan and India, models of peaceful cooperation and largely free from Soviet agitation, elect pro-western democratic governing parties. Inspired by their example, Thailand and most of southeast Asia follows suit. Then, the new Kennedy administration launches the new Voice of America radio station, focusing heavily on broadcasting into Korea. The Korean people, having now suffered under communism for a couple decades and seeing their lives only worsen, flock to public protest against the government. The South again breaks away and aligns with the west, while the northern government, shocked by events, moves towards a posture of nonalignment.

In the Middle East an Arab coalition strikes and catches Israel by surprise. The great powers remain largely uninvolved, and the Arab forces are victorious. Iran is remains rocked by instability, but the government that emerges from the chaos remains aligned with democracy and freedom.

Africa has remained comparatively free from strife. Algeria and Angola form a nascent pro-western alliance, largely unopposed to date, which thus far has dominated the continent.

Also I successfully got Chrome Remote desktop working, so hopefully that should allow remote play for me.

Have fun ruling the radioactive rubble.

I am proud to say that the mutated survivors will enjoy free trade and unfettered economic freedoms.

As long as they don't try to unionize.

Isgrimnur wrote:As long as they don't try to unionize.

We'll nuke 'em again if we have to.

Incidentally, generally the best way for the Soviets to handle CIA Created is to play it in phase 1 (when the defcon should be at 3), and have the event go first. You do give the U.S. the first coup that turn (though only at strength 1), but there's generally no other easy way to get rid of it (unless you also draw the USSR event that gives +1 to all USSR ops, in which case you can dump it on the space race).

I honestly haven't played enough to even know what the cards are, much less anything approaching a strategy.

Isgrimnur wrote:I honestly haven't played enough to even know what the cards are, much less anything approaching a strategy.

Yeah, one of the biggest advantages to having played the game a bunch before is knowing the event deck well. So I just wanted to mention that for future matches.

Also, I could have held the card forward if I hadn't been forced to discard.

Isgrimnur wrote:Also, I could have held the card forward if I hadn't been forced to discard.

Yes, but you have to deal with it sooner or later. And while you're holding it you're not only risking events that force a discard (like what happened), but also cards that let the opponent play a card from your hand (like Grain Sales, or Missile Envy).

Basically it's a nuclear bomb in your hand, so IMO it's generally best to get rid of it as soon as humanly possible.

Again, I don't know the cards.

I need to spend some time playing the comp. I'll either learn the game, which I'm beginning to see takes card counting and game knowledge to a degree that surpasses just about anything I've ever seen.

I'll either get a handle on it, or decide I never want to play it again.

Isgrimnur wrote:Again, I don't know the cards.

I need to spend some time playing the comp. I'll either learn the game, which I'm beginning to see takes card counting and game knowledge to a degree that surpasses just about anything I've ever seen.

I'll either get a handle on it, or decide I never want to play it again.

Yeah, I know. Just want to pass along a few tips to help you out. Let me know if you're interested in any other tips / guides on managing the event deck.

Also it's daunting starting out, but ultimately it's not as complicated as it seems starting out (though as with a lot of games getting the strategies down takes more time).

I really love this game, but I only play it about once every year because it is such a mind burn for me to get through it.

I appreciate it. I'm kind of testy at the moment in a general sense at the moment about a number of things, so I apologize if I'm coming off a bit touchy.

hentzau wrote:I really love this game, but I only play it about once every year because it is such a mind burn for me to get through it.

wanna play an online game of this? if you have the iOS or Steam version, let me know if you're interested and I'll set up a game for us after you send me your user name from playdek (the maker of the digital version).

I'm glad tgb started this up. I have a weird phobia about playing online...I always feel that I'll let people down by not being available at scheduled times or something, and then I get all paranoid about it. But the asynchronous play in this one has alleviated that anxiety for me and allowed me to just enjoy playing.

Isgrimnur wrote:I appreciate it. I'm kind of testy at the moment in a general sense at the moment about a number of things, so I apologize if I'm coming off a bit touchy.

No worries. Nuclear war can ruin anyone's day.

hepcat wrote:

hentzau wrote:I really love this game, but I only play it about once every year because it is such a mind burn for me to get through it.

wanna play an online game of this? if you have the iOS or Steam version, let me know if you're interested and I'll set up a game for us after you send me your user name from playdek (the maker of the digital version).

I'm glad tgb started this up. I have a weird phobia about playing online...I always feel that I'll let people down by not being available at scheduled times or something, and then I get all paranoid about it. But the asynchronous play in this one has alleviated that anxiety for me and allowed me to just enjoy playing.

Incidentally Chrome Remote Desktop does work wonders. The interface isn't as smooth as being at the computer, of course, but given that most turns are just a few clicks it works perfectly fine.

hepcat wrote:

hentzau wrote:I really love this game, but I only play it about once every year because it is such a mind burn for me to get through it.

wanna play an online game of this? if you have the iOS or Steam version, let me know if you're interested and I'll set up a game for us after you send me your user name from playdek (the maker of the digital version).

I'm glad tgb started this up. I have a weird phobia about playing online...I always feel that I'll let people down by not being available at scheduled times or something, and then I get all paranoid about it. But the asynchronous play in this one has alleviated that anxiety for me and allowed me to just enjoy playing.

I should get stuart playing. He loves Twilight Struggle. I may need to gift him a copy of the game to get him playing.

So that's a "No, I don't like you that much, so I'm going to ask another friend instead" then?

hepcat wrote:So it's a "No, I don't like you that much, so I'm going to ask another friend instead" then?

That is kind of how it sounded. Maybe I'll grab it for my iPad. Oh, and I left off the part about having him play you guys, not me playing him. You know I loves ya, ya big lug.

That reminds me - I need to ask Stuart if he'll play krokinole with me sometime.

If Tommy and I played with voice chat it would just turn into a constant attempt to outdo each other's Harvey Korman impressions...

What's great about playing hepcat is that he's got the cards so ingrained to his memory that he barely needs to read them

tgb wrote:What's great about playing hepcat is that he's got the cards so ingrained to his memory that he barely needs to read them

hepcat wrote:
I'm glad tgb started this up.

...and now I'm not.

hepcat wrote:

tgb wrote:What's great about playing hepcat is that he's got the cards so ingrained to his memory that he barely needs to read them

hepcat wrote:
I'm glad tgb started this up.

...and now I'm not.

That will teach you to attempt a coup after I've played the Boris & Natasha card (or whatever it's called) as my headliner.

Ooohhh, is hepcat going to be pissed off.

tgb wrote:
That will teach you to attempt a coup after I've played the Boris & Natasha card (or whatever it's called) as my headliner.

You forget, I have a card in play that gives me a free placement anywhere I have a presence every time the defcon hits two. That allows me to break control on countries without having to spend extra influence where you do. Worth the vp when I'm facing a potential scoring card blowout in some regions if you're holding. Doubly so if the coup works.

Twilight Struggle is all about managing bad choices.

hepcat wrote:

How the hell did you get your hands on my Bar Mitzvah video?

I regret to report that the peaceful scientists of the United States, while focusing their effort on humanity's voyage to the stars, were overrun by the godless communists of Zarathud.

Speaking of bad choices, AWS has been forced to retreat to the moonbase of Capitalist-1 by Zarathud's Russian hordes.



After this weekend's back to back Red Scares, Russia played to dominate Asia and expanded its tendrils into the Mediterranean. The Americans pushed back with an Algerian revolution and called a Summit to discuss how the Russian aggression could be contained. The result was the Cuban Missile Crisis as the battle shifted to Panama and the American continent. An unfortunate Quagmire further limited American opportunities to rebuild for a while, but they were able to restore Israel. After regaining control over Venezuela, the Russians scored big in South America to gain favor with OPEC. With a reshuffle on the way, the Americans moved to shore up Europe and limit the Russian Domination of the Middle East and Asia. After briefly challenging North Korean hegemony, the moonbase could see that the dominoes in Asia had fallen. Russia could not reliably launch a rocket into space, but they controlled the Planet Earth.

I had decent cards most of the time, and was able to limit the damage on the bad cards I drew to the end of my turns and after scoring. Drawing Red Scare the turn after headlining it really put AWS into a bad position on the board. For the uninitiated, that's TWO turns of -1 to all his ops.

Yeah, those Red Scares were rough. Especially because both times I happened to have mostly Soviet cards in my hand, so I couldn't lean on events to mitigate the harm. For a while there, things were looking so bad that I was expecting to lose via Europe.

But at least I didn't accidentally drive the world to global thermonuclear war!

NickAragua (USSR) and I (US) started our game last night. We paused about halfway through, and we'll pick it up later.

I took an early lead on points, but then I got locked out of Asia, spending a whole turn at DefCon 2 with no adjacency to use other than what's around Japan. That's an ugly situation.

My only bright spot since then has been drawing an entirely ugly red hand except for "Ask Not What You Can Do...", which allowed me to dump the whole thing.

Right now we're at Mid-War and the USSR has too many points. We'll see later this week...

I really love using this engine for TS! Very smooth and easy.

I am pleased to report that early this morning the decadent Western capitalist hepcat was soundly and permanently defeated by the superior muscle and intelligence of Comrade tgb and the desire of progressive people throughout the world to throw off their chains of oppression and be free.



Actually it was a good game, with me taking an early lead but hepcat managing to whittle it down. I got lucky on Turns 8 and 9. Hepcat had been pretty regularly trying to progress along the Space Race track, so when I picked up "One Small Step" it was only a matter of time before I could play it and leapfrog over him, picking up a free 3VP. By turn 9 I was up 14 points, and got lucky again when I was dealt "Wargames". All I needed to do was stay ahead of him by more than 6 points and wait for Defcon 2. We were at 3 at the start of the turn, and when hepcat didn't attempt a coup, I did, for the sole purpose of getting the counter down so I could play it.

So if I have it correct the next round will be:

tgb
Zarathud
El Guapo

Once e have a winner in Holman vs. NickArauga we'll start Round 2.

Good game!

I had the One Small Step card earlier in the game, but I was already ahead by one. I waited with that card in hand for two turns, hoping you'd jump over me. But eventually I realized it was a fool's errand on my part.

I had fun. Now I need to play against the AI a bit more so I can get used to the game again.

hepcat wrote:Good game!

I had the One Small Step card earlier in the game, but I was already ahead by one. I waited with that card in hand for two turns, hoping you'd jump over me. But eventually I realized it was a fool's errand on my part.

I had fun. Now I need to play against the AI a bit more so I can get used to the game again.

It was a lot of fun. You had me sweating a couple of times, and if not for the (very) lucky one-two punch of One Small Step/Wargames it could still have gone either way.

Holman wrote:NickAragua (USSR) and I (US) started our game last night. We paused about halfway through, and we'll pick it up later.

I took an early lead on points, but then I got locked out of Asia, spending a whole turn at DefCon 2 with no adjacency to use other than what's around Japan. That's an ugly situation.

My only bright spot since then has been drawing an entirely ugly red hand except for "Ask Not What You Can Do...", which allowed me to dump the whole thing.

Right now we're at Mid-War and the USSR has too many points. We'll see later this week...

I really love using this engine for TS! Very smooth and easy.

Currently, Italy has about 10 influence from each side. This is a result of about five or six rounds of cards being played into it. I figure, if someone takes the IP penalty to put influence into a controlled country, they probably have a scoring card in the region.

I ran out of cards without disastrous side effects, though, so the US broke even on that scoring card.

I also kept trying to avoid playing the Marshall Plan so NATO didn't come out, but then out came the Warsaw Pact.