Thanks for the game doublebullout. My first MP game .. it does take a while, but glad we sped up a bit at the enddoublebullout (USSR) defeats skoptic (US) by VP after Turn 4.
The end of Turn 4 was interesting, set up by a fortunate draw of cards for the USSR. When the turn opened, the score was 4 VP in favor of the Soviets. skoptic headlined "Red Scare/Purge" while I headlined "Brezhnev Doctrine", effectively negating each other's card. With DEFCON at 3, I decided to play "Olympic Games", and the US participated, increasing the score to 6 VP. I also drew Africa (+5 VP) and South America scoring (+6). With DEFCON still at 3 and the score at 17 VP for me, skoptic had 2 cards left to play. Crucially, the US had 0 military ops points at this point. skoptic had earlier played "John Paul II" and spaced "Warsaw Pact", and then played "Quagmire" for ops to take over Poland. This shut me out of Europe, but awarded no military ops points. I played "Nazi Scientist" to advance 1 spot in space for 1 VP, and then crossed my fingers. skoptic's final card was "Suez Crisis", which he had been hoping to dump with "Quagmire" and retain superiority in Europe heading into Turn 5. But the military ops penalty for the US pushed the USSR to 21 VP, ending the game.
On to round 2!
Well played, I was fairly out of my depth at points (still getting use to the cards - don't think I've seen them all yet), so it was good to play a real person and appreciate some of the consequences of decisions. I think this game will take quite a while before I can lose with any elegance!
