I want to play this so much. I’m 15-20 years from retirement but I’m so tempted to buy it
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I think you’ll fit one or two games in before retirement then. Just about.
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A the start of my term I tasked the intelligence agencies to “sort out that there middle east”. It looks like it just payed dividends. I’m going to assume a combination of phishing emails and air-tags with double sided tape have allowed them to identify and profile one group, and find the bedroom, calendar, and medical history of another.
I decided that the UN might like to hear about all this, and they very much agreed that all this terrorism just wasn’t on. They popped over and negotiated a ceasefire to the civil war in Syria which seems useful.
Sensing an opportunity to get credit for this I swoop in to try to turn the ceasefire into something more lasting. Permanent peace! Wow. I’m just the best. You’re welcome Syria.
The special forces raid on the terrorists that had been driving the Syria situation was a bit less successful though. Half of the cell was taken out, but at a cost in US lives. Also now they know that we’d found them.
The obvious approach is to double down and hit another group with an airstrike. Boom. Surgical. Cell leader down and the few survivors that made it out are scattered and demoralised.
While I’m on a high I think a quick summit with China is in order. China bargaining hard on a joint op in central and South Asia - they gain influence and some momentum, but the rogue state Afghanistan is hampered and the terrorist group in Pakistan is gone for the moment.
A joint delegation to Somalia was also agreed, and news following their arrival was of another ceasefire agreement.
Finally we successfully negotiated improvements to our joint trade agreement. More plastic tat for the US to buy, more money for Chinese factory owners to withhold from their workers. Improved economies all around. The public like seeing action - I’m now up to 60% approval rating. At some point I’ll need to take China down a peg or two so they don’t expand so much that they eclipse us.
With a sigh of relief I call time on the first quarter of the turn sequence. Just another 3/4 to go before the end of year 1 of 4!
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If you keep this up, you’ll have my vote in 2024.
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This seems like the sort of thing I’d want if I liked solo games. @Mintochris thanks for the document.
I’m quite interested in all the assumptions on the world presented in this. At least it’s not a Phil Eklund game…
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The main thing I’ve spotted so far is an assumption that Iran is a bit of a caricature and everything related to it paints it in a very specific light. It seems that relations can go both ways with most places, but not Iran or DPRK. Not seen much so far though, and I’m certainly no expert in real life Iran.
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One thing that is a bit of a concern when I see with these current-affairs-themed games is this idea that Russia + China can reach parity with the US. People don’t really comprehend just how fucking OP the US is in real life.
But it’s not really a big one. The goal of the design is to be fun, not to simulate.
Okay. NOW this is unrealistic 
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I’ve seen reports that this is riddled with errors and has been errata-d extensively - any thoughts on that?
What errors there are are fairly minor. Things like the odd page number wrong, or one action on a summary sheet referenced by the correct title but wrong number. A few places miss text for every eventuality, though it’s usually present in the other boxes of the table so pretty obvious.
It’s not 100% clear from the rules when re-rolls are allowed but the errata is pretty clear on that with just one sentence. Another example is things like “once per turn” is missing in a couple of spots, but there are “used named action” tokens to block them that make the errata pretty easy to remember.
I’d say if you were waiting for the 2nd ed it should be for changes to the way the books work to bring certain mechanics forward more (and if you’re mad it will increase difficulty options even further).
Considering the rules before starting is like 5 pages and it repeats itself a lot I think it’s doing pretty well. I found sleeping gods harder to get going and had a similar level of unclear bits.
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Back to it again!
Crisis time.
Good times? I really am blessed. A white house dinner and concert for UN leaders. Particularly tasty Columbia River poached salmon apparently. Beyonce headlining the music (the book specifies this). UN goodwill and humanitarian aid funded for Africa.
Social security hits the headlines back home, and the opposition introduce a bill to push their money-saving agenda - maybe we’ll let it through if they do something for us.
Conflict of interest scandles envelop the white house for a news cycle or two. Mildly stressful, but nothing serious yet. It does mean any other little things might boil over into a full blown domestic crisis. Death by a thousand cuts.
Two thirds of my time this week dedicated to calming down that news cycle and projecting stability. Phew. Dispatched my secretary of state to India to try and build pro-US sentiment in the region, but I should have known Kim wasn’t up to the task after last time she put her foot in it.
Terror groups in the middle east consolidate, and new ones pop up in Asia/Pacific and in eastern Europe. I suspect russian involvement.
Having said that, Afghan terrorists just tied up some russian resources for a bit - maybe they’re regretting their war now?
News comes in of a global slump in economies, something about a dot-com bubble - these newfangled techs putting us all at risk as usual. The eurozone is hit particularly hard. Probably because they have so many top level domains. Apparently despite the slump exports of a TV program called “eurotrash” are up tenfold and along with football royalties there are signs of hope.
NATO go terrorist hunting in eastern Europe and pin down a general location. Their best efforts fail to increase stability in the region, however.
After our joint ops NATO go and decide to conduct counter-terror ops of their own and dismantle the finances of the group we spent ages trying to locate - thanks for wasting my time!
South Korea also agree to do some terrorist hunting and have a nice massage after to relieve some tension. They get pretty shirty about their northern neighbours and invite more American military presence near the border. DPRK isn’t best pleased.
Next comes Iran. Once again sponsoring terrorists and providing them with new safehouses and secure comms equipment.
The unstable state in Central America settles down nicely, but Venezuela is still bubbling along in the south. I’ll have to watch those drug cartels in Central America (the terrorist 2 token) - I wouldn’t want them destabilising things again.
Over to the UN… Next time! More than 1 full column of the turn sequence done in this sitting. Getting faster.
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I’m not going to lie: I had previously given this game exactly 0 thought.
I can’t tell how much of this narrative the game is generating versus how much you’re embellishing, but my interest has definitely been piqued.
Though, maybe I’ll wait and see if they take this same system and put it to use in either a (much more) historical context, or maybe ahistoric/scifi/fantasy setting
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The vast majority of what I’m writing is either directly stated in the books/in the cards, or inferred from some of the extra info explaining the origin of certain tokens during setup. Maybe 5% added by me?
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How randomized is the initial setup? Does it always start the same, or do the regions have variable crisis levels, troop presence, intel tracks, etc.?
The basic sandbox setup is fixed for the board. A random set of crisis decks are constructed from ratios of certain cards and two cards are used during setup to tweak the board state and add some recurring/cascading events to get you started. There’s also more specific scenarios setups to represent the different presidential terms this century. There’s a seconds sandbox setup available on the GMT website.
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I think I’m enjoying these updates more than I would enjoy the actual game. Almost seems like the solo version of a mega game.
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They will resume soon once I deal with the current hectic schedule. A day or two more 
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Ooh, nicely put. I think that conveys my impression for certain.
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The UN are acting, and have sent more humanitarian aid to Africa. The crisis level drops. Perhaps some ebola containment?
They then boost Reginal stability in central/South Asia with an infrastructure programme. Assisting in the repairs of a key bridge damaged in the recent Pakistan civil conflict perhaps?
The UN send a team to work with regional educators in the middle east and promote civil engagement whilst warning of extremism. This undermines some of the terrorist activity and weakens a key group.
UN action in Somalia fails to move the civil war past the ceasefire stage.
Now it’s time for the US to direct some UN action. Let’s use our clout to get things done.
I figured Somalia was the place to make a difference, it took some badgering, but the ceasefire seems to have developed into something more stable… For now!
Then comes some domestic time in my agenda. First burying some evidence on a cabinet colleague, then unearthing some on Augusta Dukes, the opposition radical that’s been causing me problems. Suffice to say there was a quiet reshuffle and she’s nowhere to be seen now.
Finally I might get more done. The cabinet fall in line when they see my dirty tricks working - soon enough they’ll be meeting my accelerated timetable.
Typical.
The terrorists are emboldened, and now more of a threat than ever before. At least the Phillipine gov ask for counter terror help. The special ops unit that is rapidly deployed takes out a lower level cell immediately - soon enough we’ll hunt those bombers down.
No sooner had the smoke cleared, before a collapsed bank starts a spiral that my advisers are saying could define the next two decades if I’m not careful. I don’t have much chance to do anything about it except sound bites to the media that blunt the approval rating loss. I’d best get working on the economy!
Russia completely obliterate any semblance of the old guard in Afghanistan. Their war is over, and what once was a government is now a terrorist group in a Russian puppet-state. Their influence in the area is not going to be helpful.
As one war ends, another begins. The ceasefire following russian disinformation in eastern Europe breaks and civil war erupts. Russian content farms pump out a fire hose of fake news confirming both sides’ views of why the others are deluded traitors.
Well that’s enough for this evening!
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Oh my God, you fed Augusta Dukes to a Goomba!? You monster!!
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Crisis relief in the Asia/Pacific region reduced the chance of further escalation in the short term.
A few key palms greased in the eurozone throws up some barriers where once Russia had more access than we’d like. The eurozone is out from under Russian influence for now.
Attempts to gather intel on terrorist cells in Africa and Pacific/Asia failed miserably. I think someone is feeding us false info.
Following up on the possible bad informant leads to some solid intel on the location of the major leaders of the terrorist cell that bombed manilla. Next time a window opens we will strike them.
Cleanup at the end of this activation phase;
The gargantuan economic output of the US allows alliance building through discretion in the funneling of our imports and exports. The gulf states now consider us a close ally, and India isn’t so grumpy any more.
Phew. The first half finished. Of turn 1.
Now comes China acting. If this is anything like when Russia had it’s turn we’ll be in for some nasty surprises.
So far China has decided it’s best mates with the US… Suspicious…
Intel suggest China has been investing in strategic recon and naval forces training. Ominous.
Chinese forces positioned ‘defensively’ in the Japanese region redeploy following some increased encrypted chatter through the Chinese intelligence networks. It seems an ally has leaked some intel on Japanese military defences.
China’s economy stabilises after the dot com bubble burst. I’m guessing the tail end of the tamagotchi phase was more profitable than expected.
One action spent dealing with smog in Chinese cities - that’s good.
Cyber attacks targeting India compromise industrial production and cause layoffs. Regional stability is down, and dangerously low.
Having just decided we’re best buds, they seem to be having doubts and start bad mouthing us. Then they step up their belt-and-road programme in the middle east and eastern Europe. This causes an unholy amount of global tensions in China, Russia, and many US allies.
China siezes upon the vacuum left by Russia, but fails to gain an influence foothold in the eurozone.
Next on the list of people China pisses off is India, as they bulk up their forces in the mountains to the north and redraw the border once again. India are getting ridiculously tense these days.
Chinese influence in south America grows with concerted efforts to boost trade camouflaging the propping up of incumbent regimes.
China vetoes the UN sanctions on North Korea. Then they open up new oil trade routes in Africa and spread their tendrils further. We need to deal with all this Chinese influence-building before they start plopping down military bases all over the place. Thankfully it doesn’t diminish US influence in Africa just yet.
Wow. China were productive.
That might be my fill for tonight.
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