Hardco did give me a very hard time, although a defcon suicide did the trick at the end 
@Snotty128 shall have the honor to beat @Hardco 
Round 1 of the challenge is over, with the defeat of the capitalist pigs! They didn’t make it easy for me though, with double Red Scare/Purge in the early war, and a 4 round Bear Trap in the mid war. Fortunately once that was dealt with, some good realignment came through in South America and Africa, trading 3 influence for 8-9 influence on two occasions. On turn 7 I had control of South America and Africa, @JMH.75 had domination in Central America and The Middle East, and the Soviets were at +11. Unfortunately, JMH.75 found himself in a position where he had to play Lone Gunman on AR7, and ended the game with Defcon suicide. Great game though!
Challenge going out to @Snotty128 with bidding.
And I’ll try to put something together for a tournament this weekend… should I assume everyone on this list wants to compete?
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Yes, please! It seems TS, RftG, Brass, Steam, and more are calling for tournaments. I’d be happy to organize one, is there a goto wiki on how to do that or should we start one?
Ive managed to stuff up the bidding somehow. I thought I had to tap on the faction I wanted to play. I dont know why anyone would bid so hard for the privilage of playing the US (no offense).
We can play out this game, if you like, with no handicap on either side, or we can start again with you at +4 as the US as I had originally intended. I made the mistake, so whichever option you prefer is fine by me.
Feel free to forfeit and create the game as you wanted it! I feel like there had to be a way to make the bidding in this game a little clearer…
i will pass on a TS tourney. totally overcommitted.
@Snotty128 has been defeated after giving me 4 bonus influence as the US for the privilege of him being able to play the Soviets. This allowed me to start with 4 influence in both Italy and Iran, but it was short-lived as he won the coup war in Iran, denying me access to western Asia. Soon after he made a bold move using Destalinization to empty Poland, and leave East Germany without overprotection to beat me to Thailand and move into Algeria and Chile. I took this as a challenge to get European control, dumping 3 influence in East Germany at the end of Turn 1, and drawing into Truman Doctrine to headline Turn 2. Unfortunately when Snotty128 had Warsaw Pact in Turn 3, I had to give up control and settle for domination in Europe. At the end of the Early War, I dominated Europe, Snotty128 dominated the Middle East, and we were split in Asia with him controlling all of western and SE Asia, and me controlling all of NE Asia.
The Mid War was fairly quiet in terms of scoring, with me gaining a slight lead in points (thanks to a fortunate Ask Not What Your Country Can Do letting me ditch SE Asia scoring as well as a handful of Soviet cards). By Turn 5 I had gained domination in Asia with an ABM Treaty headline into Pakistan followed by double China card to secure it and Afghanistan. But it all came down to Turn 6, where Snotty128 failed two 50/50 Brush Wars in Pakistan, and was forced to give me 8 points with Asia Scoring. There could still have been a lot more game left, but a Turn 7 headline of Europe Scoring got me the last 8 I needed to reach 20. Good game Snotty128!
Challenge going out to @SleepingGiant.
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GG Hardco! Excellent write up too.
You thoroughly stole my momentum in AR 2 when you took east Germany from me with Truman. Well played!
And good luck to @SleepingGiant, I think you might need it
Great write up, @Hardco. And I’d throw @SleepingGiant some luck too, but I need it all for my games against @Hardco…
Well, I agree I will probably need significant luck to beat the mighty @Hardco and so far in turn 1 he has rolled a 6 on his coup attempt and I’ve rolled a total of 6 on my 3 coup attempts, so hoping my luck turns for the better… anyway, I still enjoy learning this game from someone so good at it…
Whoa, let’s hold on a second here! I may have rolled a 6, but I couped Syria, and no one ever wants to coup Syria! And one of your coups was a 1 ops card on a 2 stability country, so you weren’t really planning on winning anyway… 
I conceded to @Hardco in turn 3, I could already tell there was no chance of my winning unless he had a stroke or something and I wouldn’t wish that. @geigerm seems to be next on the chopping block…
So @SleepingGiant was defeated by concession on turn 3. SleepingGiant generously gave me 3 influence to be the Americans. I used the extra influence to reinforce Italy and Iran, and set up with a 3/2/2 influence in W Germany/France/Italy with a Marshall Plan headline. Unfortunately SleepingGiant headlined Suez Crisis, damaging France, removing 1 from Israel, and following it up with a coup to remove all influence in Iran to knock me out of the region. After repairing the damage in France, I couped Syria successfully to get back in, then waited for him to reduce DEFCON before moving into Thailand.
Unfortunately for SleepingGiant, in Turn 2 he overcommitted into Europe, trying to eliminate my Domination (while under Red Scare/Purge). Thanks to Marshall Plan, I kept Domination with minimal ops, and held Thailand and picked up Japan to score both Europe and Asia. SleepingGiant scored ME, but I was still at +8 or so.
Mid-way through turn 3, not much had changed with the Soviet holding the ME, and the US with Europe and Asia. The remaining regions were empty, with Destalinization having been used for ops, and Decolonization being in my hand. Seeing no way out, SleepingGiant conceded…
Challenge going out to @geigerm.
Waiting list
- ohBollox
- js619
- jason1002
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And gg to @hardco, I appreciate your skill and willingness to teach even when the lessons are hard. I wish you had been US President during the Cold War… (edit-- maybe just in charge of the CIA or something, I’m not trying to be political at all
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@hardco Well, that was a brain cramp to end all brain cramps. I swear I wasn’t trying to end the game early–would have just conceded if that was the case. That’s what I get for playing TS on just a few hours of sleep.
I thought for sure it was just a dramatic concession! Things weren’t looking good, but there was still plenty of time to turn it around…
In summary, on Turn 3 @geigerm couped Panama at DEFCON 2, shortly after I took all the battlegrounds in Europe except for France, with both De Gaulle and Suez Crisis still in the deck… As the USSR, I had domination in Asia, ME was even, and the mid-war battlegrounds were pretty empty save a couple influence from Decolonization. I was at +7 at the time of geigerm’s suicide…
Invite going out to @OhBollox!
Waiting list
2) js619
3) jason1002
woohoo!
looks like a chicken farm! 
Hardco over @OhBollox +22
OhBollox gave me 5 influence to be the US! It was so much influence, I learned a new rule (you can only place bonus influence in a country until you have two more than what is required to control it)!
Early war went well for the US, with an early Red Scare/Purge, and winning domination in Europe and the ME, and a head start on the Space race. At the end of the Early war I was around +11. After Asia scored in Turn 4, I had extended the lead to +16, but OhBollox brought it back to +9 with some wars and military points. Fortunately, thanks to Puppet Governments, I gained control in South America, and scored it and Europe on turn 6 to get to +22. Good game!
Invite going out to js619.
Waiting list:
Jason1002
I think our current game is almost done - do you want to finish that first, or have concurrent? I can manage two at the same time, but I defer to you as the trophy holder.