There are only three scoring cards in the Early War and all appeared this turn, which means it’s likely none will turn up until Turn 3 and the deck is re-shuffled. So Turn 2 will be a mess. Turn 1 was a special kind of mess, since we both tried to get points very early.

I didn’t have the best hand. Holding two scoring cards meant that I could choose to dictate the pace early, especially in Asia, but that was two cards that I didn’t get to play to help me. Instead of improving my position in the Middle East and Europe, I had to waste two cards tallying up points, including getting slaughtered in Europe.

But it wasn’t the worst hand, either. I used the China card to set myself up for the Asian scoring round and forced the Yanks to burn a high point card on a coup in Pakistan. I made sure to play the scoring card before the Japanese defense treaty came into play.

The MilOps points at the end could come back to haunt me. I could have launched a coup, and those are limited by DefCon status (every step at 4 and above takes a region out of play) but I could have made a run at the MidEast. But having to spend one more play on scoring cards than my opponent meant that my moves were pretty limited.

One option would have been to just burn off the cards early when the point difference would have been fairly small, especially in Europe. At the start, things are really tight and I wouldn’t have run the risk of Truman and Marshall screwing me over.

The Blockade card led me down the garden path. There’s always a chance that he doesn’t have a 3 point card, meaning that West Germany is back in play. The more likely scenario is that he just tosses out one of my events (which he did) but in any case that was 3 points of Influence he didn’t get to spend.

And I can’t lose sight of the fact that Europe is where it’s all at. If you can control all the European battleground states, the game is over. And there are some nasty cards that will certainly weaken my hold on Poland or the rest of the Eastern bloc. Asia is a sweet plum, but losing Pakistan means I need to take a long walk to India or Thailand, the only big states still in play.

Options?

(Check out what happened in Turn Two.)

If you missed the basic description of the game, here it is.

As usual, Bruce plays the good guys, the Americans. That leaves the Soviets for me. Socialized medicine for all!

Here is the starting position.

Each turn opens with a headline phase in which each player must play an event from their hand.

TURN 1

Headline Phase

USSR Warsaw Pact formed (USSR adds 5 influence in E. Europe, no more than 2 per country) +1 East Germany, +1 Austria, +2 Romania, +1 Yugoslavia.

USA: Captured Nazi Scientist (U.S. advances on space track, gets 2 VP)

Bruce: 2 VP right away (and I limit the USSR to 1 VP for that Space Race box when he gets there) and a chance to go two boxes ahead if I make a successful Space roll this turn. A perfect headline.

Action Phase 1

USSR: Blockade as event (Faced with a choice of losing a 3+ point card or all influence in W. Germany, US discards Socialist Governments card)

Bruce: I would never play Blockade this early, because all that does is give the US player the opportunity to discard a Soviet event. I oblige by discarding my worst Soviet event, which is Socialist Governments. This releases me from the need to keep an extra high-value card in my hand to protect against what would be a catastrophic loss of influence in West Germany. The USSR should always play Blockade on the last phase of the turn, which often forces the US player to discard a card he had been saving to use in the Space Race.

USA: NATO (4) as Influence: +1 Iran (control), +2 Jordan, +1 WGer.

Bruce: Since Troy played Warsaw Pact, I can play NATO as an event right away (because the formation of the Warsaw Pact is a prerequisite for the NATO event). But I’m going to use it for Influence because I’m holding the Mideast scoring card, and need to get myself established there right away. I take control of Iran and Jordan, which fulfills the requirements for region domination (more countries controlled than opponent, more Battlegrounds controlled by opponent, at least one non-Battleground controlled). If Troy doesn’t answer in the Mideast immediately, my next play will be Mideast scoring.

Action Phase 2

USSR: Formosan Resolution (2) as Influence (Resolution enacted, Taiwan would be a battleground country if the US controls it come Asian scoring time) +2 Afghanistan (control)

Bruce: Troy makes the comment over our voice chat that “Iran is poised like a dagger at Afghanistan.” I’m not sure why he’s worried about Afghanistan right now, unless he is holding the Asia scoring card. Since Afghanistan is adjacent to the USSR, it yields an extra VP when its region is scored. I thought my play in Jordan was a dead giveaway, but maybe not – perhaps Troy thinks I have the Asia card myself. But anyway, Afghanistan has a stability of 2, so if he really wants to, he could stage a coup there the turn after I move in, with a decent chance of success. It’s unlikely that I’m going to be throwing a lot of influence into peripheral countries right now, with essential Battlegrounds like South Korea and Japan unsecured.

One thing you need to do in Twilight Struggle is constantly monitor your position in each region. Does either side have Dominance? If a scoring card were played right now, what would the VP differential be? In the Mideast right now, I control Iran (Battleground) and Jordan (non-Battleground). Troy controls nothing, although he has influence in Iraq and Syria. This is USA Dominance of the Mideast. Using those two influence points in Iraq instead of Afghanistan would take me from having Dominance to having simply Presence, and Troy to Presence from having nothing. (I would control more countries, but we would each have one Battleground.) Or he could attempt a coup in Iran, which only has a stability of 2. It cost me three influence to establish my Dominance in the Mideast and have a potential 6 VP gain – it would take two of Troy’s to negate it completely for this turn. This decides my next move for me.

USA: Mideast scoring (US Domination +1 battleground (Iran) = +6, USSR no presence = zero)

Bruce: 6 US VP is huge yield at any point in the game. This card plays itself.

Action Phase 3

USSR: China card (+2 Pakistan, +3 SKorea) – The China card remains on the table at all times, and changes hands once played. It is a 4 influence card, 5 if all in Asia.

Bruce: Whoa! Troy obviously holds the Asia scoring card. That’s why he was so worried about Afghanistan. Taking Afghanistan gives him control of at least one non-Battleground nation in Asia, which is required for regional Dominance. So we trade 6 VP in the Mideast for 5 VP in Asia. That’s a net of one to me, plus now I hold the China Card. This early in the game, I will take that trade.

USA: De-Stalinization (3) as Ops. Coup in Pakistan: 3 + die roll 5 = 8. Stability 4. US takes control. US +3 Milops. USSR uses event to relocate influence from Finland to S. Korea, taking control of that country.

Bruce: This is a pretty risky move by me, but I’m completely outgunned in Asia right now since I can’t match a 5-ops play. A more conventional one would be to put three influence in Japan for control, but there is still the possibility of the US/Japan Mutual Defense Pact event doing that for me. A coup in Pakistan not only gives me Milops points I need, but also (if successful) is a two-country Battleground swing (Troy loses, I gain) whereas Japan would just be an extra one for me. That’s a 1 VP difference, and very important at this stage. Pakistan’s stability is 2, which is doubled to 4 in a coup. I am playing a card for 3 ops points. To eliminate Troy’s 2 influence and replace it with 2 of my own is a 4-point swing, which means I need to roll and 5 or 6. I do. That gives me 3 valuable Milops points as well. At the beginning of the game, these are valuable because the Defon is low.

Action Phase 4

USSR: Asia scoring

USSR Domination + 2 Battlegrounds (both Koreas) = 9

USA Presence + 1 Battleground (Pakistan) = 4

Net USSR +5

Bruce: There’s the Asia scoring card. Once he took Afghanistan, there was no reason to wait around. My next move, had he not played the scoring card, would have been a coup attempt in Afghanistan.

USA: Marshall Plan as Event (+1 France (control), +1 Italy, +1 Spain/Portugal, +1 Greece, +1 Turkey, +1 Finland, +1 Sweden)

Bruce: The Marshall Plan is a 4 ops card (best there is) but is also a great event, because it allows me to place 7 ops worth of influence. The only downside is that it is restricted to Western Europe, but at this early stage of the game (essentially the late 1940s) it’s all I can do to keep communism from breaking out all over. Putting points in Turkey and Spain/Portugal gives me access to the heart of Eastern Europe, as well as another entry into Africa (which will be helpful if France succumbs to the Reds).

Action Phase 5

USSR: US/Japan Mutual Defense Pact (4) as Influence (+1 Finland, +2 Italy) (First Italian influence point costs 2 because USA had control here.) The US gets control of Japan.

Bruce: There is the US/Japan event giving me control of Japan automatically. It also makes Japan safe from coups and realignments.

USA: Truman Doctrine (1) as event – remove all USSR influence from Italy

Bruce: I felt comfortable adding influence to Italy and France with the Marshall Plan because I had an out on the form of Truman Doctrine, which allows the US to remove all USSR influence from one uncontrolled European country. It’s a 1 ops card, so it’s not very useful otherwise. DeGaulle and Socialist Governments are two cards that threaten the weak-sister postwar democracies, and I know he doesn’t have Socialist Governments because I discarded it this turn in response to Blockade. Suez Crisis can hurt France, also, but it doesn’t give the USSR any influence there – it just reduces US influence. I think I’ve weathered the storm well on Turn 1.

Action Phase 6

USSR: Europe scoring

USSR Presence + 2 Battlegrounds (E. Germany and Poland) = 5

USA Domination + 3 Battlegrounds (W. Germany, France and Italy) = 10

Net USA +5

Bruce: Ouch. Troy sure didn’t want to play that, but he had to, because scoring cards must be played in the turn they are drawn. This also makes the Truman Doctrine the perfect play for last turn. Lots of things are falling into place.

USA: Fidel to Space Race. Die roll 6 = fail (By playing a Soviet event card into the Space Race, Bruce can get rid of the Fidel event without it firing and giving me Cuba. He needs a roll of 1-3 to advance on the track.)

Bruce: Luck finally deserts me (I needed a 1-3) but I’m not complaining too hard. This has been a good turn.

Milops: USA 3 – 4 = -1 USSR 0 – 4 = -4

Bruce: My coup attempt in Afghanistan gave me three macho points, which is what Milops essentially are. The more peaceful things are (Defcon is 4), more the superpowers need to throw their weight around to avoid looking weak. I lose 1 VP for only having 3 Milops with a Defcon of 4, but Troy loses all 4 by not having any Milops at all. That’s a net 3 VPs to me. Total VP swing this turn: +11 USA.

END OF TURN 1

For a summary of my thoughts on this turn, check here. If you want to see if Turn Two went any better, click here.

Twilight Struggle is relatively new to me, and probably very new to many readers, so I’ll add explanation wherever I can.

First, the basics. The game has ten turns, each turn marked by “phases” – i.e., each player takes turn playing cards. Every card has a point value (from 1 to 4) and an event description. Events can be American, Soviet or Neutral. When you play a card, you have a choice of whether to play it as the point value (which you spend on influence in nations bordering lands you already have influence in) or as an event. If you play an enemy event as influence points (or a coup), the event will fire in any case. So you need to be careful when you spend those hostile points. Plus, the best events for your side often have higher influence value. But you can’t have your cake and liberate it, too. You need to choose.

Scoring is mostly derived from regional control. Some nations are special “battleground” states, worth more in the tally of who is “winning” the Cold War. You can gain points in the space race, through events and by meeting minimum required military operations (events and coups.) Scoring can happen at any time in a turn, most importantly when someone plays a regional scoring card. If you have a scoring card in your hand, you MUST play it some time in that turn. So you need to play the card when it most helps you, if you can. Sometimes the fates conspire against you.

There is an element of luck here, of course. All games with cards and dice have luck. But sound planning is really necessary. You can’t simply respond to your opponent’s aggression in one region, but you also can’t just let walk over Southeast Asia unmolested.

We’ll explain more as we go.

Now on to turn one.

Here is a list of all the AAR’s I’ve done so far, listed by game. Click on the title of the game and it will take you to the category page designated for that title. The reports are, blog style, in reverse chronological order, so start at the bottom and read up, I guess. I may reorder them if it proves to be a pain in the ass.

Twilight Struggle – Bruce Geryk and I refight the Cold War over the internet. Will the People’s Revolution prevail? Or will the soft light of freedom glow forever in the hearts of mankind?