Journal of No. 118

On alternate Earth, north is north.



Smaug went first, choosing Khan Industries, and setting up HQ in East Africa (preventing me from starting in Lemuria). Giantsdance started in Venezuela as the Saharans. I Balkaniaed myself into New Guinea. The Atomic Messiah chose Iceland with Die Mechaniker.

Smaug settled comfortably into Africa, Giantsdance had S. America, I had Australia, and the Atomic Messiah struggled to get all of Europe. It was quiet for a time, and then the punches started getting thrown. I did fairly well, and if not for the rule that people who have won a game start with one fewer victory point, I would have won. Giantsdance was eliminated, which opened an envelope that will have repercussions next time. In the previous campaign, it took quite a while for someone to be eliminated; I think this earlier opening will have some greater effects. Ultimately, Khan Smaug won the day. Smaug founded the major city of Rio Zika in Brazil, like the pinhead he is. The Atomic Messiah made a minor city in China, and I created Irem in the Middle East -- "Of the [Cthulhu] cult, he said that he thought the centre lay amid the pathless deserts of Arabia, where Irem, the City of Pillars, dreams hidden and untouched."

Our house continues to slowly creep toward the state of being someone else's house.

Tomorrow will begin the great adventure of tenting & fumigation. Also known as the adventure of living with two cats in a hotel room.

We've made offers here and there, and have a couple out at the moment, but so far nothing definite. Got outbid again on the hipster palace, which popped briefly back onto the market.

Two weekends back, Jackie&Andy invited us over for some brats & games with some other good folks. Got another chance at Risk Legacy, but since I got to place my HQ last, I was in a tight spot from the start. I convinced people to attack Dr. Pookie, so at least I caused connubial strife. I survived, but was never much of a threat to anyone.

One weekend back, we got visited by Dr. Pookie's friend from high school, and her three kids. We grilled up teriyaki chicken and (mostly) kept the wee ones entertained. Good times.

Last night, we gathered again to decide the fate of the world. Some weird placement, forced somewhat by the proximity of Aaron's home city to Alien Island. If the aliens start at their Island, Aaron can't start in his city, and vice-versa. Aaron won that one, and so the aliens wound up blocking me from my home city, and so on and so forth. If I'd known (or used more forethought) I coulda done a lot wiser things in the draft phase. But I didn't, so I started off in S. Africa with the Saharans (close enough). On my second turn I went for Smaug's jugular, and failed comically. That left me with no wind in my sails, and a vengeful Smaug. I survived, but was never very significant. I thought there was going to be a humongous battle over Alien Island and the World Capital, but as it turned out, Ken as the Aliens also had a pretty lousy start, and he's the only one who can take the World Capital without sacrificing 5 troops. So instead of being a battleground, the WC turned out to be a barrier protecting Aaron, who just sat like a cancer in Australia, slowly spreading and building until he metastasized and dropped 36 troops on the map and smashed his way to victory. Other fun details: Ken got eliminated by Graydon, and Graydon got smacked hard by a viral outbreak.

Only 1 game left in the campaign, and here are the standings:

Ken 4 victories
Aaron 3 (and on a 2 win streak)
Mike 3
Smaug 2
Graydon 2 (last in this list, so he has more to complain about)

We assembled again to decide the fate of the world. I got to pop open the last sealed container, but Lady Luck left me and I wasn't able to close the deal.
( spoilers, seriously )

Two more games of Risk last night. I did pretty lousy. It started off bad with having to park a mile from Kevin's place on what was pretty close to the coldest night in the past 20 years.
( spoilers )

Now that much of the board is set, it's maybe time to think about how things go from here on. Even if some of my fellow warlords may see this...

The major strategic features are...

4 major cities, which can be starting positions for only the player who founded the city:
Ken can start in Northern Europe
Graydon can start in Central America
Aaron can start in Western Australia
I can start in the Northwest Territories
( more spoilery & long & only of interest to the other players probably )

This analysis has been funded in part by the RAND Corporation.

Two more games of Risk Legacy last night. I got jobbed pretty bad. Graydon & Aaron picked up wins.
( very spoilery )

smaugslair got Risk Legacy for his birthday, and we've started up a campaign with aaronjv, graydons, and darkportent. It's a pretty neat idea. There's Risk at the core, but all sorts of interesting new frou-frou added. Each faction has special unique powers, and the players get to modify the rules, the cards, and the board by adding various stickers here and there that permanently change things. For instance, placing a bunker sticker on a territory gives the defender a +1 mod to die rolls. You might think a +1 here or there doesn't make much difference, but strategic use of them was very powerful in our first game (out of a campaign of 15).

Even before the first game there's a little modification to be done, as the factions get a choice of one of two powers (we chose by popular vote), and bonus resource dots go onto some of the territory cards. Just to document the current situation, our planet has

3-resource territories: Western Australia & Greenland
2-resource territories: Argentina, S. Africa, Alberta, Scandinavia, Afghanistan, China, Indonesia, Russia.
( now for the play by play, + or - memory failure )