Welcome to Turn 17 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 5. Fold Scandinavia, take Alaska, take Hawaii with major forces, advance in Africa, border India and W China, consolidate in West US.

Use Reinforcement Card. Deploy 4 to British Columbia, 10 to Nigeria, 10 to California, 1 to Vorkuta, 7 to Eastern Kazakhstan. 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 Kazakhstan to Tadschikistan.

Here's how we started the turn:

Here's the outcome:

• The World plays a reinforcement card for 5 armies

• The World: Deploy 4 to British Columbia

• The World: Deploy 10 to Nigeria

• The Impaller: Deploy 6 to Turkmenistan

• The Impaller: Deploy 3 to Western Kazakhstan

• The World: Deploy 10 to California

• The World: Deploy 1 to Vorkuta

• The Impaller: Deploy 5 to Ufa

• The World: Deploy 7 to Eastern Kazakhstan

• The Impaller: 6 armies transferred to Congo from Chad

• The World: 12 armies captured Hawaii from California. 2 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World: 3 armies transferred to Southwest from Texas

• The Impaller: 1 army transferred to Chad from Sudan

• The World: 1 army transferred to Southwest from Rocky Mountains

• The World: 1 army transferred to Great Basin from Rocky Mountains

• The Impaller: 4 armies captured Solomon Islands from Papua New Guinea. 2 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World: 1 army transferred to Great Basin from Great Plains

• The World: 1 army transferred to California from Pacific Northwest

• The Impaller: 3 armies captured Georgia from Western Kazakhstan. 0 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 6 armies failed to take Eastern Kazakhstan from Turkmenistan. 6 attacking armies killed, 4 defending armies killed.

• The World: 33 armies captured Chad from Nigeria. 1 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World: 4 armies captured Alaska from British Columbia. 1 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 2 armies captured Vorkuta from Ufa. 1 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 2 armies captured Murmansk from Arkhangelsk. 1 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The World: 2 armies failed to take Ufa from Moscow. 2 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The World: 4 armies failed to take Tadschikistan from Eastern Kazakhstan. 3 attacking armies killed, 3 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 2 armies failed to take Moscow from Ufa. 2 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 3 armies failed to take Moscow from Arkhangelsk. 3 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The World still has an order delay card. 17/19 blockade, 5/6 order priority, 2/5 order delay, 1/4 reinforcement.

Here are our options:

1. Rush Murmansk, crack East Africa and attempt to crack Indonesia, attack Turkmenistan with 2. *Use Delay Card*

   Deploy 25 to Norway, 1 to Hawaii, 1 to Eastern Kazakhstan. Attack Murmansk with 25 from Norway, attack only Murmansk with 8 from Moscow, transfer only 1 from California to Hawaii, use Order Delay Card, transfer 4 from Southwest to California, transfer 3 from Great Basin to California, transfer 1 from Alaska to British Columbia, transfer 1 from Alaska to Yukon, attack Turkmenistan with 2 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Congo with 5 from Chad, attack Sudan with 26 from Chad, attack Solomon Islands with 10 from Hawaii.

2. Abandon Scandinavia, crack East Africa & Indonesia, attack Turkmenistan with 2. *Use Delay Card*

   Deploy 16 to Hawaii, 1 to Eastern Kazakhstan, 2 to Norway, 2 to Finland, 6 to Moscow. Transfer only 1 from California to Hawaii, use Order Delay Card, transfer 4 from Southwest to California, transfer 3 from Great Basin to California, transfer 1 from Alaska to British Columbia, transfer 1 from Alaska to Yukon, attack Turkmenistan with 2 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Ufa with 3 from Moscow, attack Georgia with 5 from Moscow, attack Congo with 5 from Chad, attack Sudan with 26 from Chad, attack Solomon Islands with 25 from Hawaii.

3. Abandon Scandinavia, crack East Africa, attempt to crack Indonesia, attempt to take Caucasus. *Use Delay Card*

   Deploy 1 to Hawaii, 24 to Eastern Kazakhstan, 1 to Norway, 1 to Finland. Transfer only 1 from California to Hawaii, use Order Delay Card, transfer 4 from Southwest to California, transfer 3 from Great Basin to California, transfer 1 from Alaska to British Columbia, transfer 1 from Alaska to Yukon, attack Kyrgyzstan with 4 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Ufa with 5 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Western Kazakhstan with 3 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Turkmenistan with 3 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Tadschikistan with 10 from Eastern Kazakhstan, attack Georgia with 8 from Moscow, attack Congo with 5 from Chad, attack Sudan with 26 from Chad, attack Solomon Islands with 10 from Hawaii.

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 Friday September 23rd and check back Saturday September 24th for the next turn!

So, lots to cover here: First and foremost, my apologies for the late posting but as you can see, a lot of thought has gone into what I feel our best course of action is for this upcoming turn and I wanted to really look at our options before posting my thoughts. Work has also been pretty crazy for me while I prepare for my upcoming holidays but with that in mind, I should be able to dedicate a fair chunk of time this upcoming week to discussing strategy options and update any potential voting additions. We also forgot to take a screenshot of our orders before we submitted but I think at this point in time we all had a pretty good idea of what we were doing and the lack of screenshot is only a minor inconvenience.

I`m sure there are more options out there that I didn't really pursue but as you can see, we have a lot of different things to look at this turn and I went with I felt were the 3 most logical options from my viewpoint. Especially at this point in the game, I'm very open to hearing any of your thoughts/suggestions on order improvements or additions.

It's worthy to note that we saw Imp take Solomon Islands last turn so it's safe to assume he currently has that set but only just recently acquired.

I've also adjusted the deadline to account for the late post and my holiday schedule, as well as give us a little more than the standard week to really hammer out a good turn.

Personally, I really like our position right now and sincerely believe we can take this down in the next 3-5 turns if we play really smart.

I really like how the turn went, actually every one of our goals.
Here's how I see it:
I don't think we need to crack east africa this turn, personally I'd do 6 things:
a)take congo with a late order (maybe attack sudan with 6-7 at most), if it fails, next turn he loses 7 income for sure
b)open a front in japan (it became more probable he has china, attack with 4)
c)defend norway lightly (7-8) and get back our troops from moscow to finland (1st order, than play order delay)
d)deploy 10 to hawaii (in case he tries to take it) and use the last order to attempt to break indonesia
e)deploy the rest to eastern kazachstan, than take Ufa late and then tadschikistan (still not sure about the quantities)
f)use our forces in US to lose a few tempos (alaska 2 orders, transfer 2 nad 3 to california instead of 3 and 4 and then lose another 2 orders)

The order should be:
c),f),b),a),e),d)

So, what do you think?

Here's my personal list of priorities:
- get into Congo -> threaten East/South Africa, 5 territories total; this is where I believe he will defend the most, because if he fails there we got him by the balls
- get into Tadshikistan -> threaten India and China; he already knows that we tried for Tadshikistan and failed last turn, so if he tries to block us from getting there he will do so in numbers
- deny him Western Russia; might be done by slipping from Moscow to Ufa with an early move
- defend Scandinavia -> instead of slipping to Ufa we might as well take care of Ufa from Caucasus and try to retake Murmansk. Given that he is distracted in Africa as well as Indonesia and Caucasus, this might succeed.
- keep Hawaii -> keep the pressure on Indonesia; he won't put too much effort in here methinks, he can still blockade us there eventually later.
- take West Africa this turn; takes 11 reinforcements only, plus whatever we deem necessary for being sure of Congo.
- deny him Caucasus; not very likely he really can/will try to take it, he must expect us to reinforce Eastern Khazakstan

other options:
- take Caucasus for ourselves; not very likely to succeed, we have too little intel
- set up remaining armies in West US to remove blockade in Central America
- break East Africa now; yes we can MAYBE break it now, or CERTAINLY break it next turn from Congo ... patience, my dear :-) If we really get Congo & Tadshikistan this turn and keep Hawaii, we could border up to 5 of his bonuses next turn.
- Advance in East Russia; if we can spare the extra army

By my count worst case scenario would be he has South/East Africa, India, Indonesia, Australia, West China, right? +5 base armies would be a total of 30. How likely is that, really? I haven't kept track of his deployments over the last turns, but I doubt he is anywhere near that number?

Szeweningen & Diabolicus: I like both of your ideas and the differences you've outlined. If you want to put something together to add to the vote, let me know. If you're looking for more feedback on specifics, I can take a look a little deeper over the next couple of days. It's kind of too bad that this thread has gone so quiet over the last few turns.

was he 1 or 2 turns behind on the reinf card ?

I would play defensively and deploy most in Scandinavia, so something similar to nr 1 seems fine, just would not try to crack indonesia yet, wait for the extra troops coming from W-US. Might even retreat those troops from hawaii one turn.

Ok, then I'd like to post a 4th option:

1. Take congo, attempt to break east frica, defend scandinavia lightly (Use Order Delay Card):

Deploy 10 to Hawaii, 10 to Eastern Kazakhstan, 7 to Norway. Transfer 8 from Moscow to Finland, transfer 1 from California to Hawaii, use Order Delay Card, transfer 4 from Southwest to California, transfer 3 from Great Basin to California, transfer 1 from Alaska to British Columbia, transfer 1 from Alaska to Yukon, attack Japan with 4 from Hawaii, attack Congo with 24 from Chad, attack Turkmenistan with 3 from Eastern Kazachastan, attack Sudan with 7 from Chad, attack Ufa with 8 from Eastern Kazachstan, attack Solomon Islands with 15 from Hawaii.

I believe he's overextended now, so he'll lose a lot of income next turn or even this.

Diabolicus, post your option too.

I think he is 2 turns behind on reinforcement card pieces, so getting into East Africa and Indonesia might be easier this turn than next?

5 - Goal: border India, China, South Africa next turn; keep presence in Western Russia and Caucasus; light attempt at Indonesia and East Africa

Deploy 10 to Eastern Khazakstan, 10 to Moscow, 1 to Norway, 1 to Finland, 1 to Alaska, 4 to Hawaii
Attack Tadschikistan with 10 from Eastern Khazakstan; attack Anadyr with 3 from Alaska, move 3 from Great Basin to California, move 4 from South West to California, move 1 from California to Hawaii, attack Sudan with 6 from Chad, attack Congo with 25 from Chad, attack Solomon Islands with 9 from Hawaii, attack Ufa with 18 from Moscow.

Maybe it's true for Indonesia, but if we take Congo there is virtually no possibility he'll defend he's Africa bonuses.

K guys, I've added both of your ideas to the vote, take a look and make sure everything is as you described.

Guys, now please vote. Again we're in a situation, that my idea is winning with only 1 vote (my own of course ;)).

Is there really no one reading this topic?

I generally like to hear the arguments from all sides and make my votes a day or 2 before the turn goes but I think a lot of people are just afraid of where we're sitting in this game and don't want to shoulder a piece of the blame if it doesn't work out. The problem with that is our strength comes from the fact that we have multiple viewpoints in this game and can play off of eachother's ideas. I'm more frustrated than anyone with the lack of input from the masses...

I like to think that we're doing great in this game. Just a few talkative choice players aren't as active on the site as before. I think Szeweningen has the right idea and i placed my vote for his. We just need to continue to grind. Not give him any of our bonuses and don't let him take the ones we are occupied in.

This turn will probably be decisive. If Impaller does not play it right, he'll surrender in a turn or 2. It is obvious we have a huge advantage not only in income, but most of all in access to his bonuses. To support what I posted before, I made a quick calculation, and it is not only almost impossible for Impaller to take Hawaii (even if he neglects all other fronts), but I believe it's highly unlikely we're gonna get a negative net income on any of our fronts (mild risk in west Russia).
What happened to active players from early turns? I remember there were like 10 options to choose from, and then nobody had a problem with voting...

Szeweningen: I hear what you're saying about having more available options but you need to understand how much time it takes me (at this stage in the game) to come up with the 3-4 options I've been posting on here with how complex the turns have become. Ideally I'd like to offer my 3-4 personal best options and have the rest of the masses come up with some of the other ideas that I may have overlooked. If I sat down and wrote out every single possibility that existed each turn, it would take me days instead of hours (it takes me about 2-3 hours per turn as it is) to get the post up on here and with this format, I think it's far more viable to request help from the rest of you and pick the best turn that we can come up with as a consensus.

That being said, I agree with Ruth's position in the fact that we are sitting in pretty good shape in this game and if we can play smart over the next few turns, we should be able to bring this home in pretty short order.

No, no, you misunderstood. I just pointed out, that when players had to choose from many options, though it seems more troublesome and time-expensive, they were here. Now they just have to look at the picture, read 5 options and vote and still they're not here, which is weird in my opinion. Maybe most of the users that were active before forgot about the game? People, please vote.

Ahh gotcha. But yeah, as I said earlier, I'm pretty sure no one is more disappointed than me that the threads have gone so quiet =(

Holiday season must be over by now :-) I think you can expect more activity now ..