Game Report: Andy T, Andy S, Tom L, Chris & Ilaria

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Wayhey! A five player game. It all starts off rather pleasant and peaceful. Space soon becomes an issue however and Andy T funds the first terrorists in India to try and move into Ilaria's Asia. Andy S holds a strategic Central America stopping Tom controlling the South Americas. Chris takes Africa (which is barren for oil) and then takes Australia where he has more luck.

It soon becomes obvious that Tom and Chris are working together, you could say joined at the hip. Tom strikes out heavy against Andy S trying to break the Central America strong hold. Through some devious play the terrorists manage to wipe Tom's empire from the map.The middle east is a violent front line between the other three empires. Andy T tries his best to liberate Africa but is soon repelled and loses part of Europe in the retaliation. The fact Tom and Chris are such 'buddies' causes the Andies and Ilaria to make a pact, which Ilaria promptly forgets as she drops a nuke on both of the Andies, crippling their empires.

A turn or so later and Andy S turns terrorist. When it gets round to Andy T's turn he plays a Terrorist Upsurge, followed by a Global Jihad and then joins the terrorists forces. Ilaria is going for all out global liberation whilst the 'buddies' talk of world peace, focussing their attentions on the terrorists (of which there are many).

Through some devious play the terrorists manage to wipe Tom's empire from the map, forcing him to join the 'dark side' against his will. The 'buddies' are split. As this is six hours into the game things start to descend further into chaos. Tom talks of home and bed but Ilaria is close to winning, a blatant bank robbery on her part helps 'the cause'. It's all on the roll of a dice, if Ilaria gets four developments she can win. Drumroll... It's a three! Tough luck. The game falls apart and we call it a draw, although Ilaria seems to be calling it a victory. I guess it's all subjective.

Game Report: Andy T, Andy S & Tom M-J

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Once again we have to rely on ever-faithful Tom M-J for a test, so another three player game. We kick of an afternoon of global liberation and everyone's in high spirits.

A fairly standard start to the game as Tom grabs Asia and sneaks down to Nowhere, Andy S in the middle spreads through Europe and Africa and Andy T is over in the Americas. A few peaceful turns quickly pass and Andy S is looking lucky with some serious oil revenue coming in. He takes a risk and spends a lot on policy cards, strengthening his position.

... an afternoon of global liberation and everyone's in high spirits ...Once space runs out things start to hot up and Andy moves terrorists into Afganistan. Andy T makes an enemy when he decides to try and knock the wind out of Andy S's sails by nuking Africa followed by an invasion. Andy S fights back by crippling Andy T with the Kyoto Protocol followed by a plane hijack, almost bankrupting his Empire. Andy S takes Africa back and sends the troops over and invades the Americas.

Tom tries his best to develop in peace and is looking close to victory when Andy S sneaks in and takes the game. Two and a half hours, our quickest yet. It's only when we've packed up that Andy S points out his honest mistake of building a city on a nuked Country, an ILLEGAL MOVE, damn! We could have all carried on...

Game Report: Andy T, Andy S & Tom M-J

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After yet another War on Terror brainstorm and some cunning changes to rules / dynamics of the game we set off for a our first game of War on Terror - The Boardgame version 2.1002, or something...

So it kicks off, looks like Andy S is going for the states, Tom's in Africa and Andy T's setting up in Asia. After a few rounds of peaceful development Andy T is looking lucky with some great oil reserves in Asia and he's already secured the borders of both Asia and Europe, forcing Tom to cross the seas and take Australia and start the move into Nowhere.

Tom unleashes terrorist hell just to try and get him to shut upAnother couple of turns in and the game is within Andy T's grasp. Andy S passes him a note... "How much will you pay me not to nuke you", to which Andy T replies "Fuck all". The 'I've got a nuclear bunker' bluff doesn't work and Andy S nukes him TWICE. Nasty. Understandably Andy T isn't looking so hot and most of Asia and Europe is a nuclear waste land. Things kick off and terrorists start to pop up all over the planet...

Andy S is looking tasty with both of the Americas and a toe-hold in Europe. Tom concentrates on Andy T which hinders the re-build of his Empire, Tom even drops another nuke on him to add insult to injury. Andy still manages to fund a coup in South Africa though, which is a good consolation prize... But both Tom and Andy S are looking like they could take the game within a few rounds.

Andy S tries his best to put Tom off by playing the Nag Factor very loudly on the keyboard during his turn. This seems to backfire as Tom unleashes terrorist hell just to try and get him to shut up. Even though the terrorists make inroads into North America he can't keep up the pace and Andy S turns up the goods and takes the game with both the Americas and a handful of cities.

Three hours and fifteen minutes in total and we all agree, the best game so far... We're loving the new rules.

Game Report: Andy T, Andy S, Helen and Alex

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Nice little mid-week four player game and it's peaceful for a good four rounds or so. Then space starts getting tight and Alex tries to takes the whole of the Americas by nuking Andy S in Peru. Andy T follows this up a turn or so later with nukes in Africa and Europe and Andy S is forced to try and rebuild his crippled Empire from his base in Argentina, a little peeved at being nuked three times in quick succession.

Helen doesn't make one aggressive move even though Andy T keeps having a little dig at her Empire. Things start to hot up and Andy T is looking quite tasty with six or so cities. Andy S points this fact out and some ganging up and one turn later sees him knocked back down to size.

Helen's looking promising, although a little cramped in Europe and North Asia. Then, two and quarter hours into the game Alex sells three cities to Helen and we have a winner... The boys are a little startled by this move and it's not even clear if it's 'legal'. Either way the game wraps up.

Game Report: Andy T, Tom M-J, Chris and Dave (Tom Friends)

A late start for a midweek game but we crack on regardless.

All looks fairly even and peaceful for the first few rounds. Then the odd terrorist starts cropping up and Chris seems to drop a nuke without thinking of quite how dangerous those things are.

Andy T starts to look quite tasty with four or so cities and a nice spread over Asia. For some reason no secret messages are written and the fight kicks off for real. A few decisive battles later and Andy T turns Terrorist causing chaos and an almost mutiny on quite how 'unfair' the game is.

The pace hots up again as Chris becomes Evil. The terrorists are looking good and fatigue starts to set in amongst the bullied Empires. Mark gets upset when a 300 million pay off to the terrorists to leave him alone is ignored and they launch a full assault on his Empire. Again threats of mutiny... Despite this Mark is looking good with eight cities at one point. But before long he's Empire is brought to it's knees.

The Terrorists bankrupt Chris into joining there cause and then the game descends into a 3.30am chaos... In the end we call it draw.