Following the request, I’m going to try to note which turn and which round we’re in.
Does someone fancy keeping and posting a list of what cards have been discarded, and which have been removed (specific card text if used as an event - for example Marshall Plan is discarded, but Warsaw Pact is removed as the event occurred when I played it) please?
I think it would be very handy
That’s been so far the moves I could see on a review of the post
Wow! Good work.
USSR headline: Red Scare
US headline: Europe Scoring -6 VPs
Turn 2 Action Round 1
USSR AR1: NATO coup in Iran: roll 3: Iran 0/0, NATO is in effect
Map to follow.
Our hand just got worse!
We’re going to struggle with Ops. Defectors gets 1 into Pakistan.
UN plus Suez gets 2 IP to control Pakistan.
Am I right to think UN is useless to be played as Ops now?
Asia scoring and try and get out of this turn alive?
No, RS/P has a minimum of 1. So any cards always keeps a value of at least 1 op. And yeah, playing Asia now makes sense, before he blows you away with China.
You could try to play for Pakistan to get an extra point, but if he use China/decol, you’re in a whole lot of trouble.
Downside of dumping Asia scoring now, he’ll guess your hand is terrible.
Optimistic case: use UN+Suez to get Pakistan and shut his way to India. Hope he goes for Iran and score it next turn.
Pessimistic/realistic (depends how cynical you already are) case: score Asia now and be happy with the one point Afghanistan gives you.
I am open for other suggestions of course (please do, I’m no superstar in this game either!), but the total ops-value of the cards he just played in the headline and AR1 is higher than the ops you’ll have this entire round. So it feels like discussing who gets which bread crumb…
I (no expert) would score Asia now and concentrate somewhere else!
There are two ways I can see.
There’s the defensive one: play the Asia card now and play defensively.
Or hope for a quick domination: get Pakistan with UN + Destal, Ben plays without taking an Asian BG, and you play Asia at AR2. How likely that is? IDK. And playing this way means you will be slow at reacting at his attacks since you play a turn doing nothing.
I like your second plan. The only way he can deny you a domination then is if he takes South Korea, which is 3 ops. And for the chance to get 6 points instead of 1, I would take the risk. Then you basically play this turn break even on Victory Points, which would be a miracle. And otherwise you could still score Asia for 1 point next turn.
Yep. My reasoning is that in order to do a Soviet equaliser is to spread the China card on both SK and Japan. Too weak on either would make US counter with control on the other.
However, UN + Destal is a bit of a dodgy move for AR1
My overnight thought is that with one bad hand and one garbage hand, hopefully turn 3 will be better.
I think we need to risk it. Even if he takes South Korea, we’d still get the same Asia scoring in AR2 as we would now (I think - I still get confused a bit with score cards!)
Final thought, if he drops Blockade, with Red Scare in place we have no defence against it? No need to worry if not!
I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right: blockade now will really hurt, and there’s a decent chance he has it. This whole turn is going to be unpleasant. Hang in there - Mid War is good for the US.
Oh damn, Blockade is indeed gonna hurt now. That makes me think that you should hold off playing Suez now, because you probably need the 2 ops to play into West-Germany later on to prevent your opponent of winning by default on the next Europe scoring
Yep
All we can do do is make sure we have access to West Germany by AR 6 on case we need it. Ideally that would be France (does De Gaulle remove all US influence?), but we may just have to drop an IP into Benelux to be certain.
UN for event, then De Stalinization for OPs. 2 IP into Pakistan looks like the play.
Any other comments/ ideas/ blessings before I send it over?
I dont mind what you play. It’s you making risks that makes the game great.
De Gaulle reduces US by 2 and adds USSR by 1.
Holding Suez makes sense for a potential Blockade.
Blockade needs a 3 op card to discard. Under Red Scare it’s only worth 2.
As long as we have IP in France we’ll be ok to replay in during AR 6 if we have to.
Turn 2 AR 1
Play UN Intervention for Event
Cancels De Stalinization (which is discarded, not removed).
Place 2 IP into Pakistan
Turn 2 Action Round 2
Benkyo
OK, I can’t update the board now, but I will play Olympic Games for influence - Iran to 0/2
Asia Scoring? We have domination.
Something for everyone to think about, out next two cards (round 3&4) are going to have to be Defectors and Independent Reds. Due to Red Scare, they are 1 op each. At DEFCON 2 only coups in Africa or the Americas, and non battleground states only. So, no targets at the moment!
It’ll be small plays, what are everyone’s thoughts? Bear in mind Middle East, Europe and Asia could all score in turn 3
Go for it! Attacking with basically no ops is what makes this game fun. With a bit of luck, he’ll only figure that out after you scored Asia 
Don’t hesitate
Interestingly, if things stay as they are there’s no good coup target for USSR at the start of next turn. Which is unusual.
