Fred: I think the beauty of this format is that while it's nice to have an idea of what you'd like to see happen moving forward over the next few turns, we're going to have to discuss and assess every new turn as it comes and determine the best plan of attack as we see the options unfold. In the last 3 turns, I've seen my future plan of attack change 3 times to accommodate for what idea was picked and how Imp responded. I think we just need to be versatile, play with the lead we know we currently have and roll with the punches as they come.

Assuming Imp went along with that -- it sounds great. I would probably put a couple less into canada next turn and more into SA the turn after. Ideally, we max returns in both places. Because of where the 4 is in canada we'll have to put 5-6 there to get that 4 next turn. The turn after we'll have the option of taking Canada immediately or trying to take out what's left of Imp's stack. I expect both our worth about the same amount (+5).

Ordinarily I'd want to take the bonus and use the extra income to hit the satck the following turn, but Imp will have his card that turn, so it might be better to delay and take Canada the following turn (as you outlined), we'll have to see how it goes.

Assume Imp moves out of the way. He goes to Brazil or CA. If it's Brazil, we just attack again as we'd love to end up in Brazil when we finally take out his stack. If it's CA, we have the option of working for the SA bonus and just blocking the stack in CA. For that reason I doubt he goes to CA.

E - generally true, but the game has boiled down to just a few viable options at the moment so projections out a few turns are likely to be more accurate.

I think ultimately right now we want to do the following to ensure victory:

-Slowly expand into Canada, gaining a solid +5 at some point in the future.
-Win the numbers battle in South America. If Imp slips up and sends armies elsewhere to spread into South Africa, Indo, or Ausy, we may even be able to take this set behind him.
-Clean out Central America. This isn't a priority but if we can sneak in a couple 2 on 1 attacks and clear Imp out of Central, we have the option of protecting W US if we go for that after Canada as well as leaving the option open for hitting the 11 blockade and gaining that +3 set.
-Get into Africa. As soon as we sort out the South America situation, we can afford to start sending some troops into Africa to put the squeeze on Imp there and force him to make some decisions.
-Potentially work on getting W US (after Canada and provided things are looking good down South).
-Think about taking Caucasus and/or bordering India. This is really only an option for me if we're doing well on all other fronts. I'd rather not tip our hand to our presence in that part of the world but if we're winning our other battles, we can always have this as an option to increase the pressure on Imp's decision making as well as gain another +5 out of the deal if the stars really line up.

Diabolicus: It looks like you want to do something very similar to Option #4 with the notable difference being you not wanting to go into Africa. If you feel strongly that that difference is enough to make a separate vote option, I could set that up for you but take a look at #4 first and let me know what you want to do.

I like the first 4 -- after that it's probably too far out, meaning the game will be decided before we could take W US/Causacus/India.

I wanted to bust that 11 in CA and retake the +3 too. But we didn't have the income at the time. It's a smart next bonus if we are able to beat Imp in SA. losing 7 or 8 to get +3 is a smart call. and it's a back door into Indo. COurse that's also too many moves ahead at this point.

Eitz: Before reading your post I just voted for #4. The reason why I did not consider going into Africa was that I feel the 12 deployed to Brazil are an easy target for potentially 32 armies shifting from Venezuela there 1st move next turn. In that case we lose all 13 there, while he loses only ~9, and then our move from Columbia with 28vs23 will be a desaster (we lose ~16, Imp loses ~17), so the total outcome would be: we lose 29 vs Imp loses 26.
In other words: deploying 12 to Brazil directly can cost us ~4 armies more, compared to deploying 12 to Columbia and then shifting over. If you consider that a tolerable prize for the potential gain of getting a foothold in EA, then ok.

not EA, I mean West Africa, of course.

I basically didn't like the fact that this thread had fallen off the top lists so I've decided to troll it up ;P

I just find it kind of amusing how last turn I posted 8 options and ended up adding 5 or 6 more ideas to the voting system with almost 70 different posts and this turn I've put up 4 options and people seem relatively content to throw their lot in with one or the other and wait to see what happens.

Our move last turn locked us in to a conservative play this turn. There's not much point in discussing it.

Number 1 has won! The next thread will be posted soon.