by nickismyname
Game 7 - SURPRISE! FoundedSPOILER ALERT: At this stage describing the game without spoilers from 9 Minor Cities and Player Eliminated is becoming too difficult, so spoilers from those two packs are included below!
SPOILER TWO: The World Capitol pack was opened during this session as well. Details will be behind spoiler screens except for the actual mission itself, since the mission is a part of the minor cities pack.
We started off this game with a mistake. According to the way we read the rules, you do initial set-up (missions, coin cards, etc.) and then you draft. This time, however, we were about 2-3 rounds into the draft when I noticed that we had overlooked that aspect of set-up. I only noticed because Imperial Balkania’s draft value depends a lot on the starting available coin cards. We floated the idea of re-drafting after doing the set-up, but most people were eager enough to get started that we decided to just go ahead and do the draft, and let the cards fall as they may (big oops in retrospect). Here is how our blind draft went:
Garrick- 10 troops (1), 1 coin (10), Khan Industries (11), Fourth Turn(20), 4th Placement (21)
Colin- 10 troops (2), 1 coin (9), Enclave (12), Third Placement (19), 3rd turn(22)
Jon- 8 troops (2), Second placement (8), Fifth Turn (13),Saharan (18), 0 coins (23)
Nick- 2 coins (4), First Turn (7), Die Mechaniker (14), Fifth placement (17), 0 coins(24)
Tom- 8 troops (5), First placement (6), Second Turn (15), Imperial Balkania (16), 0 coins (25)
We flipped the Mission - Found the World Capitol. Remember, dear reader, that the World Capitol must be founded in a territory with 4 coins. And remember, dear reader, that Garrick and I enthusiastically had been pushing the Middle East as a potential capitol of the world. And let me tell you, dear reader, my reaction when we flipped the Middle East was a little ridiculous. I may have jumped out of my seat and started strutting around the room, rambling like a loon.
All of a sudden, half of our relevant draft picks went out the window. Tom placed in Madagascar with Imperial Balkania, and he had second turn. Given that he hadn’t won a game yet, he already had two points and he was GOING to win on the second turn of the game unless the person on the first turn of the game could stop him. Jon placed his Saharans in Southern Europe so that he could get in on the Middle East action. I think Colin was resigned to a loss and just hoped for a miracle, so he placed in North America (which is currently one of the better starting regions in the world as there are no bad scars there). Garrick placed in Siberia to be close enough to the Middle East but not close enough to be adjacent.
I enthusiastically slammed my base down in Afghanistan.
1st – Nick-Die Mechaniker – Afghanistan
2nd – Tom - Imperial Balkania - Madagascar
3rd – Colin– Enclave of the Bear– North America
4th – Garrick - Khan Industries – Siberia
5th – Jon - Saharan Republic – Southern Europe
I tossed in both my starting coins for 2 extra troops and placed my regular 3 recruits. 10 troops marched into the Middle East. 9 assaulted the 8 Saharans in Southern Europe. A fast and furious battle was fought, with several missiles thrown into the array, where my troops emerged victorious over the Saharans. And just like that, I had conquered a base, claimed the Middle East card, and founded a World Capitol in the Middle East for two additional red stars.
Garrick - “That is the fastest game of anything I have ever played in my life”
Jon - "The people on boardgamegeek must think we suck so bad at this game. We need to crush Nick."
Game 7 Result: Nick was the victor as Die Mechaniker. I named the Middle Eastern World Capitol “Sitnalta” (Atlantis backwards). The Saharans gained the comeback power Resourceful. Coins were placed in Madagascar, Siberia, and Western United States.
Game 7 Changes: The World Capitol was founded in the Middle East. As a reminder, there is an ammo shortage in the Middle East. WAR ZONE ALPHA ACCOMPLISHED. [o] There is currently no lead faction as the victories are Khan - 2, Enclave - 2, Saharans - 2, Die Mechaniker - 1. Also, a slew of missions were added to the deck that we didn’t look at. [/o]
Lesson 17:Follow the rules of the game. I mean, no matter what someone was going to win this game insanely quickly with the way that the cards were flipped, but the draft would have been very different if we had realized the situation. It was super lucky for me that we flipped as we did since I had the first turn card, but I do generally value first turn over the other players.