{"id":861,"date":"2008-02-12T15:16:25","date_gmt":"2008-02-12T19:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/2008\/02\/12\/1960-the-making-of-a-president-turn-three\/"},"modified":"2008-05-17T14:33:05","modified_gmt":"2008-05-17T18:33:05","slug":"1960-the-making-of-a-president-turn-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/2008\/02\/12\/1960-the-making-of-a-president-turn-three\/","title":{"rendered":"1960: The Making of a President TURN THREE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turn One<\/a><\/p>\n

Turn Two<\/a><\/p>\n

TURN 3<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n

Phase 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

-2 blue Kennedy Initiative, Nixon first (11 to 12) <\/p>\n

NIXON 1: Citizens for Nixon-Lodge \/ Event: +1 to all CP for turn (+2 rest cube) no change<\/p>\n

KENNEDY 1: Fatigue Sets In 4CP: move to Midwest, +1 WI, +1 MN, +1 OH (to zero) (do not activate Event) +12 311-226<\/FONT> <\/p>\n

Bruce:<\/strong> Each side has a card which increases its CP per card for the entire turn. (Kennedy has two.) However, they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t useful if your hand is such that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be playing a lot of events. Fortunately, the draw set me up nicely to use the +1 CP per card event, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll use it here.<\/em><\/p>\n

Troy:<\/strong> The CP bonus card is a major hurt. The extra point will mean lots more trouble for me down the road. I decide to make a play for the Midwest, because there are a lot of big states there. I am getting more confident in my Eastern lead.<\/em><\/p>\n

Phase 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

NIXON 2: Puerto Rican Bishops 3(4) CP (+1 rest): move to Midwest, +1 WI (zero), +1 MI (zero), +1 IL (zero) +12 238-299<\/FONT><\/p>\n

KENNEDY 2: Catholic Support \/ Event: +2 NY (zero), +2 PA (1 Ken), +1 MI, +1 OH, +1 NJ +102 401-136<\/FONT> Whoa! Biggest Kennedy lead of game?<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Bruce:<\/strong> The Midwest has three states with 20 or more electoral votes. These, plus New York and Pennsylvania, are the most contested states in the game, because they are adjacent and offer the most cost-effective use of CP. (Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan offer 72 electoral votes with no travel costs, and are one CP away in travel from 77 more.) So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to spend some time laying groundwork here. <\/em><\/p>\n

Troy:<\/strong> The support of America’s Catholics has given me the biggest lead I’ll probably have, but at the time I don’t notice. For future games, it would be a good idea to keep a running tally of Electoral Votes, but we don’t actually do this in real time. So I never know how big the lead is. This is probably a good thing, since the fear of losing is what keeps me on edge all the time. Knowing that I have a 265 point lead would probably convince me that I could play it safe. Bruce’s efforts to wear me down in the Midwest may eventually pay off, since he keeps that +1 to all his cards.<\/em><\/p>\n

Phase 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

NIXON 3: Profiles in Courage 2(3) CP (+2 rest): +1 MI (zero), +2 OH (1 Nix) exempt +25 161-376<\/FONT><\/p>\n

KENNEDY 3: Gathering Momentum SOUTH 4CP: +1 MI, +1 KY, +1 WI, +1 IL +22 398-139<\/FONT> <\/p>\n

Bruce:<\/strong> And again.<\/em><\/p>\n

Troy:<\/strong> I already have a lot of support in the South, so it makes no sense to play the Momentum card event while Bruce keeps chipping away at the Midwest. If I can keep him from using that +1 to much advantage, I should be able to come out of this turn ahead.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Phase 4<\/strong><\/p>\n

NIXON 4: Rising Food Prices 3(4) CP (+1 rest): +1 WI (zero), +1 MI (zero), +1 KY (zero), +1 IL (zero) +22 161-376<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

KENNEDY 4: Political Capital 2CP: +1 WI, +1 MI (+2 rest) +12 388-149 <\/p>\n

Bruce:<\/strong> If there aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t any cubes in a state, the final tiebreaker is undecided voters. However, those undecided voters will swing to whichever candidate has an endorsement in the region. Because each extra support cube in a state above and beyond the one it took to win the state is essentially wasted, the most efficient way to win a region is by having no cubes in any state and having that region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s endorsement. Sure, it costs CP to win endorsements just like it takes CP to place cubes, but the endorsements are much more cost-effective. The downside to that is that they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do any good unless a state has no cubes at all. In order to do that, you have to keep your opponent from building up any cubes, which eventually is very frustrating as he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to gain any traction.<\/em><\/p>\n

Troy:<\/strong> That’s Bruce’s Efficiency Theory of 1960 and “frustrating” is right. Back and forth, back and forth. As I look back on the game, I begin to wonder if, in fact, it doesn’t make more sense to carry big states whenever you can, forcing your opponent to either do a support check or look to greener pastures. Because the back and forth of +1\/-1 favors a lot of randomness in card draws. It does amplify the issue track, though, since those endorsements become crucial.<\/em><\/p>\n

Phase 5<\/strong><\/p>\n

NIXON 5: Nixon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Knee 4(5) CP: +2 Def, +1 Econ, +1 Civ no change<\/p>\n

KENNEDY 5: Henry Cabot Lodge 4CP: -2 Def (3 pts \u00c3\u00a0 0), +1 Econ (\u00c3\u00a0 zero) no change<\/p>\n

Nixon: Event — +2 Def (2Nix), +2 MA (zero) -1 momentum no change <\/p>\n

Bruce:<\/strong> I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure why Troy played Henry Cabot Lodge on the Defense track, since the event itself will wipe out that placement. So I activate it, and Nixon is once again the Defense issue leader. As he should be!<\/p>\n

However, if you count the electoral votes this turn, even with three straight phases of campaigning actions, Troy still gained 89 electoral votes this turn, and is further ahead now than he was at the beginning of the game. As Nixon, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ok, as long as you are getting endorsements, because changing the tiebreakers is huge, as I mentioned above.<\/em><\/p>\n

Troy:<\/strong> Stupid play on my part to end the match. I waste my CP taking him out of defense and economy, but then he activates the event (HCL, who I had discarded the turn before) which gives him back the defense issue points and weakens me in Mass.<\/p>\n

I come out of the turn looking OK, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like how the deck is shaping up. He has more rest points in the bag than me, I have to add a GOP card to my strategy deck (Adlai Stevenson being a tool) and Bruce has more endorsements and media stuff going on. My lead in the East is shallow \u00e2\u20ac\u201c both NY and Mass could go either way. Because of this “one is enough” strategy, it doesn’t take a lot to move a state from a plus to a minus.<\/p>\n

Which makes sense for 1960. Or 2000. Or some states in 2004. I wonder if there isn’t a way to reflect state dominance in an election game that would still make things interesting. Either you end up having people target the big states (like we’re doing) or just the few states that actually make a difference. I guess that the big problem with election games is that they still don’t capture a sense of an “electorate”. Of course, this game – like all boards games – abstracts all kinds of stuff. Twilight Struggle didn’t have a lot to say about Freedom either.<\/em><\/p>\n

MOMENTUM: Nixon 0, Kennedy 1 no decay<\/p>\n

Issues: +1 momentum Civil Rights, nothing Economy, +1 momentum, +1 endorse (WEST) no change Nixon for Defense<\/p>\n

Issue decay: Civil Right to zero, Defense to 1 Nixon <\/p>\n

Campaign Strategy (Nixon): Heartland of America \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 3CP Def
\nCampaign Strategy (Kennedy): Stevenson Loyalists – 2CP Def<\/p>\n

Rest: +2 Kennedy, +6 Nixon<\/p>\n

Total 13 Kennedy, 18 Nixon <\/p>\n

End of Turn 3: 388-149 +89<\/FONT><\/strong><\/p>\n

On to Turn Four<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turn One Turn Two TURN 3 Phase 1 -2 blue Kennedy Initiative, Nixon first (11 to 12) NIXON 1: Citizens for Nixon-Lodge \/ Event: +1 to all CP for turn (+2 rest cube) no change KENNEDY 1: Fatigue Sets In 4CP: move to Midwest, +1 WI, +1 MN, +1 OH (to zero) (do not activate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[114,115,7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5GFeQ-dT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flashofsteel.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}