David R. Moody  - Jan 12, 2006 12:33 pm (#11888 Total: 11893)  
Tea and Cake or Death! 	 

Played Twilight Struggle, the new WeepyPoG game on the Cold War, last
night with Joe Oppenheimer. WAAAAAY COOL! I was the godless commie
Russians. Very interesting game. 

It starts around 1947-49 or so (China is already Communist when the game
starts--the players represent the US and USSR, with China represented by
a special Action Card held by the Russians at start. When they play the
China Card, it passes to the US, who can use it beginning next turn, and
so on. There's even a "Nixon Plays the China Card" card which gives the
US VP if they hold the China Card at the time, or forces the Russians to
give them the China Card, which is how it worked in our game, except I
was forced to play it toward the end of the game, so it was more of a
'Reagan Plays the China Card' card.) and lasts until around 1989-90. 

There are cards for various Cold War events--Berlin Blockade, Korean
War, Thatcher (Iron Lady card, which pisses off the Argentinians),
election of John Paul II (reduces Russian influence in Poland, and
allows play of the Solidarity card, which is even worse for the
Russians), KAL 007, Liberation Theology (damned Jesuits!), Tear Down
This Wall, Evil Empire, Iran-Contra, Camp David Accords, NATO, DeGaulle
(which actually increases Soviet influence in France), Fidel, etc. The
decks are divided into Early War, Mid War, and Late War, which come into
play at various points in the game--thus you can't have Iran-Contra
early in the game, for example. Game is 10 turns, with six or seven card
plays per side each turn. 

You can play the cards as the event, or as Ops points. The map is of the
world, with countries or groups of countries represented as little
boxes. Lots of flags, making the game educational as well as fun. Some
countries are purple--those are battleground countries, like Poland, the
Germanies, Thailand, Cuba, etc.--and are worth more points for control.
All countries have a Stability value, from 1 (unstable--most Third World
countries are 1s and 2s) to 5 (UK, Canada, West Germany, etc.). That
value is the number of influence markers you have to have in that
country to control it, and also is used if you want to try a coup or
realignment. You can use Ops to do that. In a nice touch, if you use a
card with your opponent's event to do Ops, the event is still played
(that forced me to play 'Nixon Plays the China Card' and 'Election of
Pope John Paul II', both of which I played as Ops). Each player is also
forced to play an event (the Headline phase) at the start of their turn,
so there aren't the problems you see in other WeepyPoG games where cards
end up being played as ops rather than events. You can also play cards
to try to win the Space Race (a track on the map tracing out steps like
Earth Orbit, Animal in Space, Space Walk, all the way up to Eagle/Bear
Has Landed--event does not take place, but you can only do it once per
turn). 

Scoring takes place at random times during the game. There are scoring
cards for each region, which must be played on the turn they are drawn.
So you never know for sure when you will get VP. 

There's also a DefCon level, from 5 to 1. It starts the game at 5, and
gets pushed down toward 1 by coup attempts and various cards. If it gets
to 1, nuclear war breaks out and the player who pushed it to DefCon 1
loses (though I think that's the time you play Nuclear War with all the
population cards dealt out--'blackout', we used to call it). Cards, like
'Duck and Cover', can push DefCon back toward 5, and it also moves one
toward 5 at the start of each turn. 

Anyway, I started by blockading West Berlin, forcing Joe to discard a 3
Ops card (simulating the airlift). Then we had at it. Blessed by some
good cards, I took over SE Asia early on, and also got a good foothold
in Africa when the Portugese pulled out (event card). I even got Austria
to go (and stay) Communist, and installed Commie or Socialist regimes in
France (which lasted most of the game, though I never got to use
DeGaulle) and Italy (which did not last). Control fluctuated in southern
Europe and the Middle East. 

I fell behind in the Space Race--even though I got Sputnik up first, and
Laika, my captured scientists couldn't get a probe to the moon, despite
several tries (I kept rolling badly). His Germans were better than my
Germans. My bad dierolling continued in the turn I started both the
Korean War (with the US not firmly in Japan yet) and an Arab-Israeli war
(there can be more than one in a game, until Camp David Accords is
played), and chunked the rolls on both. I did better in the two
Indo-Pakistani wars, winning both, but Joe maintained a hold on Pakistan
and even tried to get into Afghanistan. He also forced me into a
quagmire, which tied me up for a round. 

But the march of Communism continued. In one turn, I got scoring cards
for Africa and SE Asia and cleaned up in VP. Cuba, Mexico, Guatelmala,
and Panama were all Communist, as was Chile (Allende card), and the VP
track was at -16 VP (-20 and the USSR wins). It was looking bleak for
Joe, though most of South America was friendly to the US, thanks to some
Latin-American friendly cards he had played earlier. I also had a solid
position in the oil states of the Mideast, thanks to Islamic
revolutions. 

Then the tide turned. He successfully overthrew the government in
Guatemala and installed friendly regimes in Mexico and Panama. The Camp
David accords and the influence of Thatcher and Reagan (Iron Lady and
Tear Down This Wall) united the Germanies and reduced my influence in
Europe. He also hit me with European Unrest, further weakening the
eastern bloc, and I was forced to use the JP II card, which ruined my
position in Poland. He also made inroads from a now-friendly France into
Algeria and the rest of Africa, shaking my hold there, and thwarted my
attempts at influence in Japan and South Korea. And Reagan went to
China, giving the US the China card (one VP at the end of the game). At
least the Falklands War sent the Argentines into my camp, so I was able
to balance him out in South America. 

When the dust cleared, neither of us had landed on the moon, and we had
successfully balanced out influence all over the world except in Europe,
where the crumbling of the Eastern Bloc gave him the win. Awesome game.
If I had been more successful in the space race, or had won in Korea,
maybe . . . . I just didn't have the cards to push over the top and
secure the success of the workers' revolution. That, and Joe messed with
Finland, forcing me to spend points I wanted to spend on controlling
South Africa and subverting South Korea to regain control of Finland
instead (important, as you get more VP for controlling countries
adjacent to the enemy superpower). We will definitely play this one
again, and I think I might even get a copy. Right up there with
Wilderness War as the best card-based game I've ever played. 

At home, solitairing the campaign game from Savannah. Up to Turn 5, and
just had a big storm. Also some minor skirmishing as the armies gather.
Next target in Mike Lam's PBEM B-17 game is Steyr, in Austria.