Twilight Struggle PBF, public thread

Boardgames Play by Post
#101

Posting before reading upthread, but thanks for so many comments.

My thoughts so far

  1. Scoring cards. Panic
  2. My only positive with this hand is that if I have awful cards, then hopefully so does he. Interesting he held the China Card, normally I play that every turn.
  3. Glad I have Korean war and not him. Same for Suez. UN Intervention helps, but I’m short on ops as it is
  4. I’m worried about Decolonization
  5. Following from 4, I’ve played games when I think Asia looks good for control. If he has DeCol and headlines it, followed by China Card I could be down control in Asia and Europe and looking at turn 3 defeat if either are reshuffled.
  6. My play thoughts are…
    a. Headline Asia scoring
    b. Headline Defectors to hopefully block DeCol, then round 1 Asia scoring. Probably round 2 Europe scoring as that is going down anyway.

I think this turn is about survival. Take what we have in Asia and try to strengthen. Try to get a little foothold in Europe and ME. Don’t let Benkyo swoop into Africa.

@lalunaverde @chrislear @qwertysoldier (I know you’ve posted already)

What are your thoughts?

2 Likes
#102

Well the one thing you have over him is that you know Asia and Europe are going to get scored this turn. So going all in on Asia with the China card only makes sense for him if he knows you have it, which he doesn’t. If he does what you’re saying, he’s taking the risk Asia won’t be scored this turn and next turn you’ll have the China card to fight back, when it certainly would be scored (this is thinking from his perspective, as he doesn’t know where the scoring card is).
That’s why I think he probably won’t play the China Card AR1 and give you the coup on Egypt in return. Same goes for Europe, he doesn’t know you have the scoring card, so going all in on Asia AR1 is very risky.

And as said before, I think you’re going to need those 2 ops from defectors this turn. It also means there would be 3 turn without you using ops or events this turn (2 scoring and possibly a try to overtake those pesky cosmonauts).
If he does headline decol, cause it’s strong, you could still drop the scoring AR1 for a whopping 1 point. And then see how the rest of the turn goes.

So I’m still in Team Europe-scoring as headline, if a poll comes out.

Final thing: could you put the Turn and the Action Round above the played cards from now on? I ask this as someone who f*cked up many a turn by miscounting the action rounds… thanks :slight_smile:

1 Like
#103

I think it’s sense to hold the China Card rather than play it most of the time. There are times when it’s important to play it, so keep it for those. It can defend against Defcon suicide, for instance, by allowing you to hold a dangerous card.

#104

Headlines Europe doesnt make much sense as he has domination of Europe. Controlling France isnt gonna change that. Wrestling Italy is futile with that hand.

Playing Europe early is wasting time. Play it when youre done with Asia.

Defectors means you negate his headlines. Although, by headlining Europe, you can use Defectors for ops.

If youre worried about decol and Korean War, then rush for a cheap domination and score it

#105

Try to get the score for domination in Asia as a specific goal for the turn. So I vote headline Europe (else it’s a useless turn later), and spend ops on Pakistan, then (if he takes S Korea) India, then score Asia. It’s hard to stop, and domination is valuable. If he uses decolonisation in Asia, he doesn’t get much and at least he isn’t in Africa (which is harder to deal with). Adapt all parts of this plan when things happen. If you end up with a 0 score, that’s decent.

#106

Was the Indo-Pakistani War played?

#107

yes it was

#108

That’s my thinking indeed. Scoring Europe isn’t a good headline by any means, but it could get worse if he takes France with de Gaulle. And the extra empty AR later on is going to be a problem if you focus on Asia, which is your best bet this turn as Chrislear said.

1 Like
#109

Note that if you headline Europe Scoring, he’ll probably guess you have Asia scoring - and anyway there’s nothing else left to fight for - so will put up a fight. If he headlines the Cambridge Five, you’re very unlikely to get domination.

#110

Interesting discussion. So are we thinking headline Europe? I don’t see how we can get anything much better than we have right now. I think you’ve all given good reasons to play it and not to play it - especially him guessing I’ve got Asia as well.

If we go for Asia this turn I’m going to need a lot of help. I’ve lost to LLV and Benkyo by messing up in Asia.

#111

Yes, that or he thinks we don’t have a chance to fight for Europe with two France-cards still in deck and no hope that those sweet Marshall-dollars will get to our European allies any time soon, and we’re scared he’ll take France too (and he wouldn’t be wrong tbf). I just think you need the ops for defectors.
As a headline, it could run into Decol or Red Scare, which would be great, but if it runs into something like cambridge 5, he won’t mind and you’ll have lost 2 ops and need to play two scoring cards this turn.
But I fully agree it isn’t a game-winning headline for the US…

#112

I’m more worried about game losing than thinking about winning right now.

I’m of the opinion that I have to play it at some point and the circumstances are unlikely to improve. My concern is him moving to lockdown Asia

#113

In regards to Asia, SK and Japan are the top priority. Korean War would scupper your SK control, if you do move in early.

Going for Pakistan early would be vulnerable to Indopakistani war and would lock you out of India.

As Sovoets, Iran would be my choice of AR1 coup, or use China to put influences on SK and Japan, the latter if Soviets do have the US-JAPAN card, which will be spaced. Or both. I dont need domination. I only need to equalise, as a minimum. Since my Europe scoring will put me to a good position.

#114

Indo Pakistan war has gone, and I hold Korean War so we can mitigate those partially.

I’ve got UN Intervention, which could be played alongside Korean War in ar 6 if we have cards to spare.

I’m really confused!

If the feeling is that we can control Asia despite possible DeCol and China then Europe has to be the Headline.

#115

I see. South Asia battle grounds will be safe then. Just watch out for a China card on SK and Japan.

#116

The US/Japan card was spaced in the first turn iirc.

And you could play UN, but I would do it with suez rather than Korea. Usually, I rather want Korea out of the deck if I can decide how it’s used. Also playing UN means not holding Destal, so that’s a dilemma you have to think about.

#117

Time for a decision

  • Headline Europe scoring
  • Defectors (blocks Soviet headline, but lose the ops)
  • Go and rock in a corner

0 voters

I’m voting Europe scoring and try to cobble control in Asia ASAP

2 Likes
#118

I’m voting Europe scoring too. Although go and rock in a corner sounds very tempting atm

2 Likes
#119

I’m convinced by @qwertysoldier’s argument in favour of Europe scoring, even if it risks giving away that you have the Asia scoring card.

1 Like
#120

Right. Sending it over