Welcome to Turn 16 of The Impaller versus The World, a game that everyone gets to participate in! For more information about the game, view this blog post.

Here's how the game started, for reference:

The winning item from last time was number 2. Lightly defend Moscow, send support into Africa, take West US.

Deploy 3 to Alberta, 17 to Southwest, 1 to Arkhangelsk, 1 to Moscow. Attack/transfer Moscow with 12 from Georgia, attack/transfer Nigeria with 23 from Brazil, attack Pacific Northwest with 4 from British Columbia, attack Great Plains with 4 from Alberta, attack Rocky Mountains with 4 from Southwest, attack Great Basin with 4 from Southwest, attack California with 4 from Southwest, attack Texas with 7 from Southwest, attack Turkmenistan with 3 from Eastern Kazakhstan.

Here's what we did:

Here's the outcome:

• The World: Deploy 3 to Alberta

• The World: Deploy 17 to Southwest

• The Impaller: Deploy 10 to Ufa

• The World: Deploy 1 to Arkhangelsk

• The World: Deploy 1 to Moscow

• The Impaller: Deploy 2 to Turkmenistan

• The Impaller: 19 armies captured Arkhangelsk from Ufa. 2 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World: 12 armies transferred to Moscow from Georgia

• The World: 23 armies transferred to Nigeria from Brazil

• The Impaller: 5 armies transferred to Chad from Congo

• The World: 4 armies captured Pacific Northwest from British Columbia. 2 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World: 4 armies captured Great Plains from Alberta. 2 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World: 4 armies captured Rocky Mountains from Southwest. 1 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World: 4 armies captured Great Basin from Southwest. 2 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World: 4 armies captured California from Southwest. 1 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World: 7 armies captured Texas from Southwest. 3 attacking armies killed, 4 defending armies killed.

• The World: 3 armies failed to take Turkmenistan from Eastern Kazakhstan. 2 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World received a reinforcement card and still has an order delay card. 16/19 blockade, 4/6 order priority, 1/5 order delay.

Here are our options:

1. Spread out income, defend Murmansk/Scan, take Hawaii, delay orders and setup troops in W US (for Hawaii support or to take Central America), advance in Africa, take Kyrgyzstan, 2 attacks at Imp's spots in the North.

   Deploy 6 to California, 5 to Eastern Kazakhstan, 4 to Georgia, 12 to Moscow. Transfer only 20 from Moscow to Murmansk, transfer 3 from Texas to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Great Basin, transfer 1 from Great Plains to British Columbia, transfer 1 from Pacific Northwest to California, transfer 1 from Great Basin to California, attack Hawaii with 8 from California, attack Chad with 23 from Nigeria, attack Kyrgyzstan with 4 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Turkmenistan with 2 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Western Kazakhstan with 2 from Georgia, attack Ufa with 2 from Georgia, attack Arkhangelsk with 5 from Moscow.

2. Defend Murmansk/Scan, take Hawaii, delay orders and setup troops in W US, advance in Africa, take Tadschikistan.

   Deploy 6 to Eastern Kazakhstan, 3 to Hawaii, 18 to Moscow. Transfer only 26 from Moscow to Murmansk, attack Tadschikistan with 7 from Eastern Kazakhstan, transfer 3 from Texas to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Great Basin, transfer 1 from Great Plains to British Columbia, transfer 1 from Pacific Northwest to California, transfer 1 from Great Basin to California, attack Hawaii with 5 from California, attack Chad with 23 from Nigeria, attack Arkhangelsk with 5 from Moscow.

3. Load and hammer Arkhangelsk, take Hawaii, delay orders and setup troops in W US, advance in Africa, take Kyrgyzstan. *USE +5 CARD*

   Use Reinforcement Card. Deploy 2 to California, 3 to Eastern Kazakhstan, 27 to Moscow. Attack Arkhangelsk with 30 from Moscow, attack Kyrgyzstan with 4 from Eastern Kazakhstan, transfer 3 from Texas to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Great Basin, transfer 1 from Great Plains to British Columbia, transfer 1 from Pacific Northwest to California, transfer 1 from Great Basin to California, attack Hawaii with 4 from California, attack Chad with 23 from Nigeria, attack Ufa with 5 from Moscow.

4. Attempt to take Caucasus, take Hawaii, delay orders and setup troops in W US, advance in Africa.

   Deploy 15 to Eastern Kazakhstan, 5 to Georgia, 2 to Hawaii, 2 to Murmansk, 3 to Moscow. Attack/transfer 1 from Murmansk to Moscow, attack/transfer 1 from Moscow to Murmansk, transfer 3 from Texas to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Great Basin, transfer 1 from Great Plains to British Columbia, transfer 1 from Pacific Northwest to California, transfer 1 from Great Basin to California, attack Hawaii with 4 from California, attack Kyrgyzstan with 4 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Tadschikistan with 7 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Ufa with 5 from Moscow, attack Western Kazakhstan with 5 from Georgia, attack Turkmenistan with 5 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Chad with 23 from Nigeria.

Click here to vote

You should interpret the stars as follows:

• 0 Stars means "I don't care" or "I'm indifferent to this item."

• 1 Star means "I'm positive we should not do this."

• 2 Stars means "I don't think we should do this."

• 3 Stars means "Maybe we should do this."

• 4 Stars means "I think we should do this."

• 5 Stars means "I'm positive this is what we should do."

Use this thread to discuss strategy. Feel free to suggest new options and if there's enough demand, I'll add them for voting. Have votes in before the end of the day Saturday (September 3rd) and check back Sunday (September 4th) for the next turn!

Obviously we have a lot of different options and I've plotted down the obvious ones that come to mind. I would very much appreciate other suggestions and/or improvements to my cursory thoughts. And let's try to discuss options early with this one =S

OUCH, Not changing those orders in time messed us up for the advance to India.

Either way, I don't think it will make or break the game. I feel like Imp has something up his sleeve in Africa and won't let us waltz in. The good thing is that he can't break any of our bonuses this turn and the closest thing to be broken is a 3 bonus. I haven't read any of the options but I think going to hawaii strong is VERY key. That's going to be our bread and butter back door (giggity). If Imp wants to hold Africa, he's going to have to put a lot in there to do anything. Also, later on we could get the option to get the West Africa bonus.

We also need to consider holding W russia from being taken and can afford to have imp show up in Murmansk.

So, big attack to hawaii, advance in africa, lightly hold w russia, maybe move forward in caucasus

Also, we need to keep in mind that this next weekend is a holiday weekend and many people will not be by their computers. Would it be okay to extend it into the week or next weekend?

Hmm... I don't see something relative to my orders, maybe i'll have to draft some up later for another option. Or if you can think of good orders from that strategy Eitz, that'd be good too.

1 sends 8 to Hawaii, I originally had that at 10 but I opted for going with 2 attacks against Imp up North and still send 20 to Murmansk for defence.

We could potentially alter option #2 which is virtually a spin off of #1 without the 2 attacks and more troops alotted to the Murmansk defence.

Before I vote, can someone please tell me is it possible for him to have a blockade card? If he does, than surely congo will get blockaded and he'll defend in Africa. Also i'm surprised there is no option for folding scandinavia and hitting Hawaii strong. I don't see how he can take W Russia in the foreseeable future, but even if he manages to break scandinavia, it'll take him a lot of time to get to Greenland, while Indonesia will be under attack. Not to mention we're 3 turns away from a blockade, which may be very useful if things get out of hand in scandinavia. So, if no one thinks it's totally crazy, i'd like to post an alternative option with sitting still in W Russia, taking Alaska lightly, hitting Hawaii strong (12-15 at least), advancing in Africa and deployinh the rest to Caucasus. Of course after I get a response ;)

That's relatively what Eitz and I were talking about. We want to hit Hawaii strong, but the question is how strong...and at what cost to our other areas

Yeah, but I was proposing letting go of scandinavia whatsoever, which means deploying no troops to western russia (maybe 1 or 2 in case Impaller doesn't hit scandinavia hard). Since we have no room for expansion now, it's time to hit his bonuses, hence my question about the blockade card (wasn't active before turn 13). My guess is he'll go for scandinavia and defend Africa heavily (if he doesn't have blockade and does not commit to africa this turn, he'll lose probably 7 income in 2 turns). Of course if we do not deploy anything to western Russia there is a tiny possibility he takes it next turn, but I really can't see him betting a lot of troops on the offchance we do sth like that. If everyone else is in agreement he will not hit moscow hard, than it seems perfectly reasonable to me that we should forfeit scandinavia in order to get hawaii, congo and get to india. I still don't want to post the specific move order (because if he has blockade than we should not commit that many troops to africa, because he'll be able to defend it), but my proposition is sth like that (not necessarily in that order):
use reinf. card, deploy 4 to canada and take alaska, deploy 10 to africa and advance there, deploy 10 to california, and get hawaii, 1 to west russia (vorkuta is the name of the territory, right?), 9 to eastern Kazachstan and attack the neutral territory with 4 there, also consolidate in west US of course.

He doesn't have a blockade. It takes 19 pieces (turns) to get one and we're on turn 16. He's used his up early in the game, can't remember the turn, maybe 3 or 4.

So to answer your question, he does not have a blockade

First off, I apologize for the big letters in the post above, I was trying to do numbered points and I guess I should've previewed it first.

Anyways Ruth, what are your thoughts to what I said and/or your response to what Szeweningen is suggesting? What do you think of specific deployments/strategies? I really feel like this needs to be a turn we hammer out collectively as a team and make it count cuz I think it's gonna be a crucial one so even cursory thoughts would be good and maybe we can pass some ideas around.

You're right, we need backup from other players, because from this turn on it is unlikely we'll get significantly more bonuses. At this point it is clear we have to break some of Impaller's bonuses to convert the advantage to the victory. Since he has some counterchances we have to pick the direction of the attack correctly. I'd love to hear from other players about the details or variation of my proposition. There are tons of variations in how to prevent caucasus from being taken (because it also is a potential threat if we neglect it) and how to defend west russia. Generally my proposition is a solidified bet that Impaller won't attack Moscow (because it seems very unlikely to me that he chooses such a risky tactic), but it'd be nice if someone who actually played against Impaller on a regular basis can tell us if it's possible.

The problem with Imp is that he's able (and likely) to pull off any of our "worst case scenario" moves. He sees almost every option that we see and is smart enough to know what we don't think he'll do and then do just that. That is ultimately why I'm so torn with the different options we have available to us cuz no matter what we do, Imp is likely to either counter it or pick something up elsewhere, it's pretty rare that he'll go a turn without gaining some kind of positive edge.

I agree with your sentiments regarding Africa. I think one of his most likely moves is to load up there, let us hit him, attack late in behind us, potentially take W Africa and border us in S America. That being said, if we load up a bunch of troops in Africa to prepare for that and then he just concedes it and deploys elsewhere to cause damage we could be in pretty rough shape. He only has a 3 and a 4 in Africa right now and it may not be worth it to him to invest a lot in defending those when he can push to crack our other sets instead and make an even trade while spreading elsewhere.

I think we for sure need to take Hawaii but again I'm really torn on how heavy we need to take it. If he has the same idea of taking Hawaii this turn then we probably wanna go bigger than smaller but if he isn't planning on taking it then any armies we send there (let's say above 5) would just be a waste that we could use elsewhere.

I really don't like the fact that he touches everything we have in W Russia and I think he is clever enough to at least try throwing a couple armies around there to try and take that set from under us while protecting us from doing the same in Caucasus.

Let's remember we do have a +5 Card if we feel the need to gain an extra couple troops for any plans this turn. I've left it out of the majority of my options as they're not really big deployment specific and I thought we could save it for a turn or 2 (we should still be ahead of Imp in card pieces by 2 or 3 if I remember correctly?) other than option #3 where the entire premise of the turn is to load max armies and hammer Arkhangelsk.

The main question is what is the counterchoice for every of our moves. For my option it is going heavy to Moscow and taking west russia, but since he's commited in africa, I was positive he wouldn't try that (because in that scenario he fold the whole africa). If you want to save the card we could forget deploying 1t to west russia and taking alaska, but still it's a risky bet. Still, I'd like to post my official option 5:

1. Fold scandinavia, take alaska, take hawaii with major forces, advance in africa, border india and china, consolidate in west US, use reinf. card:

Use reinforcement card +5, Deploy 4 to British Columbia, 10 to Nigeria, 10 to California, 1 to Vorkuta, 7 to Eastern Kazachstan

Attack 12 from California to Hawaii, transfer 3 from Texas to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Southwest, transfer 1 from Rocky Mountains to Great Basin, transfer 1 from Great Plains to Great Basin, transfer 1 from Pacific Northwest to California, attack 33 from Nigeria to Chad, attack 4 from British Columbia to Alaska, attack 2 from Moscow to Ufa, attack 7 from Eastern Kazachstan to Tadschikistan.

Oh, and one more thing, Impaller is running out of ways to attack us, Antarctica is blockaded, in africa we are the dominant side, going through scandinavia is slow, so there is a possibility he tries to go through Hawaii, he could do major damage from there, so going for Hawaii should be the top priority for both offensive and defensive reasons.

Sounds good Szeweningen, I'll add your orders to the vote as option #5.

Guys, please join the discussion, because the status now is that my option has only 1 vote (mine) and has currently the best rating. It is supposed to be The World vs Impaller...

Last day for voting! Get them in!

Hey guys, I meant to post this earlier but in lieu of what Ruthless was saying about the long weekend and the complexity of this next turn (not to mention the total of 2 votes we have at the moment...), we've opted to let it run another week and will be tallying votes as of Saturday nite (Sept. 10th) and will have the new turn posted by Sunday (11th) or Monday (12th).

Would definitely like to see some more discussion/voting on here. It seems like once we started getting into the gritty turns, no one wants to speak up but these are the most important turns in a game that could use as much deliberation as possible.

Just bumping the topic, so that those more lazy players can see that this turn is still not over;)

It's like you can almost hear the crickets...

Has everyone else just given up on this game then?