Twilight Struggle AAR

[CarnageINC]

Lady Luck is still with me for the most part! Both rolls go my way in the best way possible.

[CarnageINC]

I've stabilized the situation for the US in Africa this round. From -5 to breaking even is a win for me considering how far behind I was last round. My card draw has really helped me out this game, my headline was a key card that really jump started the US in this region.

[CarnageINC]

The Soviet AI plays 'OAS Founded' which has a nice perk for me at this stage of the game. This gives me free access into any country in the Western Hemisphere I want. Planning ahead, I place my influence in Brazil. In part because its isolated so if the Soviet coup's in next round it won't endanger any of my influence in the region. Hopefully I'll be able to play a big Ops point card next turn in the region to solidify my hold there.

Zaire falls back under Soviet influence, the US attempts to nullify Ivan's gains but it fails to do so.

[CarnageINC]

During the last turn of the round, the Soviets trigger a card event that doesn't seem very dangerous at the moment but it is. West Germany has left NATO and is now fertile ground for Soviet coup's or realignments if they can risk the long odds. If possible, the US will have to add additional influence to France and W. Germany to prevent any such moves. So long as DEFCON 4 or lower is in effect I won't worry to much about them.

[CarnageINC]

The US holds steady this Round, only losing a single point to the Soviets. I think the US is well prepared now for any scoring cards that come along in the following rounds. SE Asia is my only weak area, hopefully I'll be able to change that before the scoring card is played.

[demyansk]

I got a refund on the game

[warspite1]

Hi CarnageINC

Although for me personally this game does not appeal (just not interested in warfare post 1945 and the cold war) I appreciate the effort taken here by you to produce a quality AAR. Keep going!

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Hi CarnageINC

Although for me personally this game does not appeal (just not interested in warfare post 1945 and the cold war) I appreciate the effort taken here by you to produce a quality AAR. Keep going!

I bought it. And currently losing game after game.

[Orm]

This AAR has me hooked. Thank you for posting it. [:)]

[CarnageINC]

ORIGINAL: demjansk
I got a refund on the game

Sorry to hear it, this game is not for everyone that's for sure. It takes more than 2-3 hours to really understand what the game is about. It took me about 8-9 hours of losing and forfeiting games to win one as the US. But once that happened, it all clicked for me.

Its hard to figure out at first. The first key to unlock, IMO, is to understand most of the cards in the deck. Once you sorta know what is out there you can start planning accordingly. The second key to unlock is what countries in each region are the most valuable and then working to setup a supporting network of influence around them.

ORIGINAL: warspite1
Hi CarnageINC

Although for me personally this game does not appeal (just not interested in warfare post 1945 and the cold war) I appreciate the effort taken here by you to produce a quality AAR. Keep going!

Thanks Warspite, I appreciate the comment.

ORIGINAL: Aurelian
I bought it. And currently losing game after game.

Sorry to hear that Aurelian. Sometimes its tough to hang in there after losing so much. Hopefully if you hang in there and can get it to click, then you'll see how complex and wonderful this game is.

ORIGINAL: Orm
This AAR has me hooked. Thank you for posting it. [:)]

Thank you Orm. Its a niche game that's for sure. I hope it looks interesting enough for you to buy. As you see, its not a game of direct confrontation at all times. Its a lot about planning and scheming for future moves and counter moves. Since the AI is no push over, its highly enjoyable playing against it. I look forward to have the time someday soon to go up against a human player.

For anyone interested in what the cards are and the basic strategy is, this link is a wonderful tool to help grasp the game. I give a great big 'THANK YOU' to theory, the person who put it all together.

https://twilightstrategy.com/

[Aurelian]

Oh it's a good game. Not giving up on it.

[Queeg]

I've yet to win a game. But losing has been great fun.

And this is an outstanding AAR.

[ezzler]

i've won 4 now. and lost a fifth for some strange defcon that I have no idea what happened.

Can be very hard if you never get any scoring cards.

I would say that the A.I is weak on Europe. Allows too much infiltration. twice AI been caught on an instant win from a Europe scoring played the following turn.

[CarnageINC]

Good to hear both Queeg and ezz are enjoying the game and the challenge! So now that I had a small break, I'll get back to the AAR! [:)]

This round I'm deciding to play more cautious with my use of this Headline. This will cancel out the Soviet Headline. Which I'm fortunate in that I did manage to cancel out a huge card.

[CarnageINC]

This is the worst case 'start' in South America this round for the US. I was worried about Brazil being a target for a round 1 coup, and it turns out that is what occurred. Overcoming a 3 point Communist government without supporting countries will be difficult but not impossible.

[CarnageINC]

Sticking with the cautious approach still, I decided to strengthen my US outpost in Central America and attempt to draw away Soviet attention from the America's. I was hoping that the Soviets would respond by couping Burma, allowing the US a chance to make more headway in the America's.

[CarnageINC]

Soviets play a 'dandelion card' this turn, spreading their vile seeds right at the US's doorstep! Those commie bastards! GRRAAAAAAAAA!!!!

I decide to respond back with shoring up Panama to almost impenetrable level of influence. I'm quite sure the Soviets have the Scoring card for either or both America's in hand. At this point I'm sure this round will be mostly about damage control and ensuring the Soviets don't rape me with VP's at the end.

[CarnageINC]

I failed to notice that at this point in the game, my photoshop goes off the rails. Most of my pictures for the next few rounds have the weird double exposure at the top. It annoys me so much that I'm going to have to take a little extra time and effort to crop out 50+ photos. Soooo...that AAR will once more be a bit behind on progress [:@]

Not only has my photoshop gone and derailed itself, so has my thinking! I sat for about 10 mins mulling over my move this turn. I really was in the think tank. I knew I had a small number of Ops points to do a lot with this round. I contemplated using several different cards as events, coming up with a few options. I also thought through what I could do with 'The China Card'. I came up with a lot of good choices with that card too. Most involved securing my position around Panama and in South America. Another option was to secure Colombia and Italy.

This was the hardest turn of the game for me. I think I blew out a gasket thinking so hard because I went with the worst...THE WORST! possible choice on how to use my 4 Ops point card. The odds for realigning Mexico where very long, I had a 73% failure rate...and I decided to gamble! LOL WTF CarnageINC!!! [:-]

4 rolls, 4 blows on the dice, 4 heart dropping failures, 4 curses to the die gods and many many tears. I knew better.

[TulliusDetritus]

Nice AAR, Carnage [:)] I'm enjoying it like I enjoyed your WitE AAR. I think I am going to buy me this game

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: CarnageINC

I failed to notice that at this point in the game my photoshop goes off the rails.

I used Paint.net for my AARs. It's a freeware, and pure simplicity, all you really need to write an AAR. In case you are interested: http://www.getpaint.net/index.html [:)]

Cheers