Strat-X #3

[KennyC]

Blue gave me an easy card in California, so I took it. That was really all there was too it. Still in survival mode so I am doing a little as possible to just collect the card.

[mrhuhn]

the only reason i broke yellow in mexico is because i didnt see that red had already done so i moved all my troops in because i figure if something goes wrong in French Canada then i will have another place to regroup

as for my last move seeing yellow has 5 cards and possibly a mixed set i decided to fort French Canada fearing retaliation from my incedent in mexico. i deployed 1 in mexico and took an easy card.

[Bob Janova]

I'm just holding my position for now; with a decent bonus I am in a relatively strong position and it isn't worth me trying to break Blue as he's fortified his borders strongly. I am hoping the other players will weaken each other a bit .

I have taken my card in Manitoba as that keeps my defence at the same strength and sets me up for a possible assault on Canada if the others leave it weak.

Eastern USA is looking like it might be under attack from Yellow, but my 11 armies there should be strong enough to keep in the game until and unless I choose to make a move there (particularly if I get a good card set).

[cjoe]

KennyC, if I may, you are no doubt in survival mode, but this game is not lost. First, I think you need to get your armies the hell out of Eastern US, you can do that by deploying on New York, taking Michigan and forting Michigan from New England. In subsequent turns, you'll be moving those armies into Central US. This will serve 2 purposes, open up the avenues for Teal and Blue to have a go at each without crushing your precious armies in the process, and 2) Central US possesses a large amount of 1 army countries. This means that you don't have to deploy where you attack each round, you only need enough to capture a 1 army territory each round, in the meantime, you can start stockpiling troops in Western US.

[KennyC]

Good points cjoe (however I read the post after my move). Like he said I am still in survival mode, but thankfully I do still have a shot at this game. I have always thought that as long as no one has a clear advantage anyone can comeback to win. This turn I just went for the easy card in Utah even though this is not part of western US, it was only held by 1 troop.

I see what you are saying about moving my troops out of the way there. I did not even consider just strolling through central US, because of too many bad experiences trying to win from this area. It is too spread out and the bonus does not compensate well enough for holding it.

[Emperor Skippy]

This has been an interesting post. Judging so far from what territories people have, I would speculate that green has the most disadvantages and teal, blue and yellow have good advantages. I will be watching this game as it shows the various ways people play.

Kudos for doing this.

[Bob Janova]

Since Blue missed his turn, it was vital to break his bonus, otherwise he'd be deploying 12 armies, possibly plus cards, next turn, and that added to the 11s he had around his borders could have wiped me out in the Arctic, effectively ending my interest in the game. So I took the hit of removing his 11 from Quebec, which weakens him and reduces his deploy to 6.

I had thoughts about moving for Canada this turn, but lost my attack from BC so it wouldn't have been sensible to carry on.

I've used my forts to keep some aggressive outposts available, in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Georgia, so I have a good choice of places to go next turn depending on what other players do. Yellow is the largest threat other than Blue, so I've moved into Georgia to lock up some of his armies by threatening Florida. The other two are for a potential assault on Canada.

[KennyC]

Nice move Bob...

Last time I talked about moving my troops from the east through central America. Green has run out of options so this is really where he is putting any new troops, I will not be uncontested as originally thought. So I made the move to gain more area in the West. I only advanced 1 in New Mexico, this is really more of a trap than anything (although I doubt blue will even bother). I did combine my troops in the east in case I do decide that I want to do something with them. Also I am keeping an eye one yellow, who is gaining a lot of strength.

[Bob Janova]

My turn again!

As expected, Blue has retaken French Canada, and with enough armies to leave me dangerously exposed if I tried to take and hold Canada (which requires four holding points). Instead, I have put a large army on Ontario which is hopefully going to be large enough to dissuade Blue from attacking me, perhaps allowing me to assault him next turn.

Again I was fairly unlucky in western Canada and I have left Vancouver for another turn. Kenny is unlikely to attack Alberta in my estimation as he will be weakening himself there for no reason, but I have left BC well forted to keep him off my bonus.

Yellow is my main threat at this point, unless Blue is lucky with his cards. I have Blue fairly well contained in the north east and am considering my chances of eliminating him at some point, which will give me everything north of the border and a big strategic advantage – but I am not strong enough to do it at the minute.

[Night Strike]

I was contemplating positioning myself to eliminate red, but then I realized that he had random territories across the map, so I've put that plan on hold. I deployed all in Florida to dissuade teal from attacking me. I'm hoping blue will provide a large enough distraction in the north. I need to find a way to chip away at teal's reinforcements, but he's so dang fortified that I'm having trouble formulating a plan. We'll see what happens.

[KennyC]

Still in rebuilding mode, I placed my troops in New Mexico, but I did not attack from there. I used my guys in the east to gain the easy card in Michigan. Unfortunately I think the 5 cards I hold may make me a target this turn. We'll see if anyone thinks it is worth the risk...

[Emperor Skippy]

Here's a question to everyone in this game so far. If I give thoughts to each player, is that going to be okay? I don't want to just give, say, Kenny ideas and leave everyone out. But I also don't want to give anyone here and ideas if you do not wish it.

[Bob Janova]

I wouldn't be bothered; it's an open game so anyone's strategy advice will be useful to people reading. I believe Kenny says in the opening post that people are allowed to watch and post thoughts.

[jako]

i just took a look at this game, adn it almost resembles one of my recent NA games that i was eliminated from.

it was a 4 way, and i was in the same situation as green. short story, it has come down to just 1 player in the north adn one in the south.

i predict that this game will also most likely have the same sort of conclusion unless some drastic dice phenomenon happens that changes the course that the game is heading in.

[Emperor Skippy]

In that case, here are my thoughts.

Teal: It looks like your a step away from Canada. I did think that using your forces in Kentucky to help in that would do you well. It does mean you will lose the Eastern US, but with the bonuses you will get with Canada, I think that outweighs the loss. From there, I would sweep through Red, then concentrate on Yellow.

Blue: Not sure if you have a set or not, but if you do, I would use those to strengthen your borders against Teal and start going into the Eastern US. Keeping that force in Texas is hurting Red a lot so, keep that there and if you start holding Eastern US, your going to have a good shot. Yellow is going to be a threat soon so be ready on that.

Red: I'm torn between you using those forces in Michigan to help you on the west or keeping them there to slow down others. You are definitely going to have to get Texas and establish that. From there, you look to have the best opportunity to take our Green.

Green: I would bring your armies from Virginia to Oklahoma. I like how your holding the center and getting around you.

Yellow: If you can get the rest of Mexico and Arizona, you'd have a stable border there. Then go for the Eastern US. Red would be a long fight and the Eastern US is almost really up for grabs.

[Night Strike]

I decided to trade my colorful set and eliminate teal's threat to me in the Eastern USA. I'm set up to take it, but it will probably be a turn or two. I also went ahead and claimed the Mexico border, but left the two end fairly unprotected so I can stock up on Sierra Madre. Red is holding 5 cards and I wanted to prevent all but the luckiest dice (by him seemingly suiciding on me) to break down into my tropics bonus. I'm counting on him breaking my bonus but then focusing on teal up north, who is becoming very strong.

[Bob Janova]

Being wiped in Eastern USA made my strategy very clear this turn, as I'm down to one power base.

I have removed Blue's bonus now he has cashed his cards, although I was rather unlucky in my dice rolls attempting to weaken Nunavut, and will now be lucky to hold Canada this turn. I expect to be broken in the south east by red or blue – particularly with red to cash cards. My forts are an attempt to at least leave me a chance of keeping Canada – unless someone gets very lucky they shouldn't get all the way through to the Arctic.

[KennyC]

At the start of this turn I had two major threats, teal and yellow. I had a green set to use giving me 9 troops total (with my regular bonus). It is my feeling that I cannot sit back at this point so I had to pick one of them to go after. I chose yellow, for two reasons, first he was set up slightly better to take me out on this up coming turn. The second and probably riskiest but most important is that blue can still become a thorn in the side of Teal, removing Teals focus away from me.

With the attacking advantage 14 vs. 12 I went right after the big guns on Sierra Madre. I have always been an advocate for going right after the big numbers as you always have an attacking advantage on a per roll basis (assuming you have enough troops for 3 dice). This attack left me at bit too spread out, so I pulled back my guys from New Mexico to fortify Arizona. The other interesting thing that is happening here is that I have made it very difficult for Yellow wage a significant attack on me with out giving teal an easy kill for the cards and eventually the win.

[Night Strike]

My best shot at winning this game relied on my breaking teal now. He was going to receive 15 armies on his next turn and I couldn't allow that. Green missing his turn was a great turn of fortune for me. I needed my lone territory in Central USA to be my base for the assault. I would have had to start in the Eastern USA which would have been much harder to accomplish. I turned in my mixed set (very nice to have with 3 cards) to invade. I broke his bonuses and left myself a small force to potentially own the Arctic. In the south, I didn't attack Sierra Madre b/c I didn't want to leave my tropics open to an invasion by red's 8 armies.

[Bob Janova]

Night Strike's assault completely blindsided me, I didn't consider him a direct threat at all.

The cards are not playing nice to me so I had no decent set with my four cards, so my task was simply to retake the Arctic and basically abandon Canada. I've withdrawn to my position of a few turns ago and am now back to hoping the other players weaken each other a bit.

[Night Strike]

Night Strike's assault completely blindsided me, I didn't consider him a direct threat at all.

[Bob Janova]

Unfortunately I had the worst possible card set, so I'm still in rather a conservative mode. While I have retaken Canada (a couple of 1s) there is basically zero chance of holding it – since I had to attack somewhere to get a card, I might as well take two 1s in the hope that no-one remembers to attack me back.

My main hope is that Blue and Yellow start fighting each other and leave me an easier job of defending my eastern flank.

[Bob Janova]

Everyone seems to have been basically maintaining the status quo this turn, collecting easy cards. I have followed that trend too ... basically waiting for a good card set to enable me to take and hold Canada.

[Night Strike]

Everyone seems to have been basically maintaining the status quo this turn, collecting easy cards. I have followed that trend too ... basically waiting for a good card set to enable me to take and hold Canada.

I got rid of red's 11 armies in Arizona. I don't think that's keeping the status quo.

[KennyC]

I skipped the last couple turns in the forum, because I figured people were tired or reading "I'm just doing enough to gain a card". Unfortunately that is exactly what I have done for the past 4 turns if not more. The other unfortunate event was Yellow taking out my guys on Arizona, this is a huge set back for me. I am in very rough shape now, I think the strong guys have started the slow squeeze that will eventually lead to my demise.