If you are clearly in the lead, you are going to be attacked. So either don't take an obvious lead (a bonus is the most obvious thing you can do), or if you do take a bonus make sure you are defending it strongly enough to keep it.

On a big map (North America is quite big) you can do a surprising ...

I thought it was going to be changed in the latest release, but apparently not. It actually helped me in one of my games as I accidentally missed a turn, but I don't think it should be an advantage to miss a turn.

It definitely is an advantage in certain circumstances to get 0 armies then 6 ...

Yes, well played to everyone, especially you .

I enjoyed being part of a game with these high ranked players . I hope people observing the game have learnt some strategic ideas!

Unfortunately, Night has done very well last turn and the dice turned against my attempt to break most of his bonuses again, so I think he will kill me off quite quickly now.

Well, Yellow has forced the issue be removing Green, so now it's 1v1. If I didn't stretch myself this turn to weaken Yellow, I'd lose for sure, so I have broken all his bonuses in the hope that that will keep his 5 card set from doing too much damage.

Bonuses are the key at this point, so I sacrificed a few men to break Western USA, and reclaim French Canada, which will hopefully cost Yellow several armies to reclaim/rebreak. I'm still weaker than him though, so I'm relying on Green to help me and not Yellow . This game has the potential to ...

I'm just fighting a defensive battle against Yellow (Night Strike) at the minute. I'm hoping Green can help me because Yellow is significantly stronger than me.

I tend to post immediately after making my turn; it's a strategy explanation game so it's a bit unsportsmanlike not to explain your strategy imo . There hasn't been a lot of strategy beyond the immediately obvious for a few rounds though – apart from Night Strike's attack on me which I am still ...

Well, I had little choice but to fight back against Yellow. After two turns I have got back to the position I was on about Turn 5, lol ... but Yellow is in a much stronger position; if I were a betting man it'd be him I'd be backing at this point.

I hate Europe ... I have played 4 or 5 games on there and only won once, and that was due to terrible play by my opponents.

Age of Merchants is very confusing but I suspect actually quite good once you work it out.

This turn, put your full deployment on North Africa, and take South America and Central America. Fortify everybody you can to Southern Europe (keeping Europe safe). The worst he can do with 6 armies is really to break Africa. Then next turn you can use S. Europe or Ukraine as a staging post for ...

Looks to me like you're pretty buggered ... Blue has two continents so maintaining a war of attrition is in his interest, and you're the closest target.

He's getting an extra few armies a turn on you so my advice would be to attempt to blitz Europe. You need to sacrifice something to the dice ...

With a mixed set, I could take Kenny out, and then hopefully break Yellow and Green. So I did that, but unfortunately Kenny's cards were rubbish and my luck gave out, so Green still has a very dangerous bonus. My forts are to reinforce my position in the north, but I am rather more exposed than I ...

Night Strike (Yellow) had taken a very valuable bonus, which I had to break. I had enough left over to break into the Tropics bonus too, leaving him just Mexico which hopefully Red will break.

Again I don't have enough to hold Canada, so I've taken it but left Blue the easy hit on Ottowa which he ...

The best way to defend a continent is to put ALL the arimes you wish to dedicate to the defense of that continent on the border, ON THE BORDERS - coz that is where you will get attacked.
This is the way that gives you the best chance of keeping the bonus when under attack. However, if you are ...

If you are the strongest, attack the second strongest a little each turn. The attacker destroys more in 3v2 fights than he loses so you will extend your lead.

If you are in second but fairly well ahead of third, attack the strongest a little each turn.

If you are weak, sit it out and hope some ...

Three? I had 5 or 6 (I forget which) reds in a row in one game ...

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.

In escalating when there's a chance of getting a new set of cards and a big cash, or even in flat rate if it didn't leave me exposed elsewhere, I'd try attacking 3v2 to eliminate someone.

In no cards, you should only attack when it is strategically advantageous to take the territory. But the basic tenet of 'you should stop when you wouldn't start with your current deployment' still holds.

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 ...

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 ...

I tried Strategy B as I mentioned earlier in the thread, and lost. The trouble with it is that sooner or later someone is going to have to attack you (or get squeezed between another opponent and you), so you are guaranteed to take large losses. Also, the next player behind them is likely to ...

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 ...

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.