by Hill Devil
Greetings from Yantai, China. This is my first real contribution here on BGG, so we'll just see how it goes.Background/Preface:
My wife and I, originally from Oklahoma, are survivors of the battles for world 300 something. It was an undocumented war between 3 major players. The unwillingness to cooperate for more than a few rounds between my friend and I resulted in an ultimate win for the wife, and a world names the world of fairy tales. All that to say, the two of us have prior knowledge of the game and packets. After starting a game group with fellow teachers at our Yantai American School we decided to create a new world and play with a full group. We played our first game several nights ago so I will be recalling this first play from memory.
The Players, their factions, and start locals for game 1:
English: Enclave, -1 to defender, Alaska
Myself: Saharans, any time maneuver, Brazil
The Wife: Mechanics, fortified, Madagascar
Cowboy: Imperials, expansion, Indonesia
Art: Khan, +1 in hq, Central Europe
The game.
Having learned from past experience and wanting to feel out our new opponents, my wife and I made an alliance which freed me up to focus my attention on my northern border. The first few rounds were fairly slow. Cowboy, The Wife, Art, and myself all nabbed turn one bonuses. English decided to take advantage of the bears ability and attempted to break Arts bonus by taking Iceland. He failed. I continued to move north into NA and The Wife moved into Europe. I placed the first ammo depletion in Western US and confined the giants and bears to Canada where they belong. Over the next few turns there were several small skirmishes cards were gained and The wife rolled a lot of ones. Eventually Cowboy and crept over most of Asia so Art, English, and The Wife decided to triple team him. After another round or two I was in a position to strike at Alaska and then make a push for Central Europe. I had 3 cards, but rather than play it safe I decided to go for the win. Plus Great Britian came into the 1 slot and had 3 resources on it. I took Alaska, maneuvered, and pressed into Europe. I made it to Britian before I had to stop, netting me that prime card, and resulting in bunkers being added to Greenland and Iceland by English and Art respectively. The other players decided they did not like that move so English took back Alaska and pressed to Western US. The Wife broke the truce and took Brazil. Art turned in for 10 troops regained all of Europe, but stopped at his borders and shored up his defenses. I was down to 10 troops, 3 in Ontario and 1 in 7 other territories. The wife maneuvered all but two troops out of Brazil, feeling sorry for me and needing them to reinforce the border with Europe. The other players thought I was finished. However, I had 4 cards with 6 resources. I knew I only had one shot last shot to win, because Art was going to move for the win on his next turn. I turned in, placed 3 in SA, and took back my Capitol. The remainder of my troops I placed in Ontario. I took Alaska with no losses, maneuvered back to Ontario and pressed into Europe. It was a tense road, many sixes were rolled on both sides, but I managed to take the Capitol with 4 troops remaining.
The Aftermath:
After the initial battles, the other players all names a minor city: LOLmart in the Western US, New Moscow in Russia, Badlands in Afghanistan, and Female opera singer Bright Smile(The Wife's new Chinese name) in Egypt. I opted to name SA. English's students are reading Brave New World so I went with Soma. I didn't want to name the a major city yet because I wanted to see how the world developed.
Below is a photo of our world. I hope you enjoyed the beginnings of its formation. I will try to update after every session. In the meantime, if you have any strategies or tips on how I should proceed I would like to hear them. I pretty much expect to get destroyed in the next game so I am hoping to get The Mechanics and turtle in Europe near the bunkers and just lash out from time to time to try to break continent bonuses or mess with people until I am eliminated.
