Welcome to Turn 19 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 4: Deny Impaller West Russia, load on Hawaii and Turkmenistan, attempt to crack East & South Africas and Indonesia, decent push towards India.

Deploy 9 to Turkmenistan, 18 to Hawaii. Use Order Priority Card. Attack Vorkuta with 4 from Ufa, transfer 6 from Finland to Norway, transfer 7 from California to Hawaii, transfer 2 from Japan to Hawaii, transfer 1 from Chad to Congo, transfer 1 from Chad to Nigeria, transfer only 1 from Norway to Finland, transfer 1 from Yukon to Alaska, transfer 1 from British Columbia to Alaska, attack Kenya with 50% from Congo, attack Angola with 100% from Congo, attack Tadschikistan with 10 from Turkmenistan, attack Murmansk with 5 from Norway, attack Solomon Islands with 24 from Hawaii.

Here's what we did:

Here's the outcome:

• The World plays an order priority card

• The World: Deploy 9 to Turkmenistan

• The Impaller: Deploy 4 to Murmansk

• The Impaller: Deploy 4 to Western Kazakhstan

• The World: Deploy 18 to Hawaii

• The Impaller: Deploy 6 to Afghanistan

• The Impaller: Deploy 3 to Somalia

• The Impaller: Deploy 12 to Solomon Islands

• The World: 4 armies captured Vorkuta from Ufa. 1 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 14 armies captured Ufa from Moscow. 0 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 2 armies transferred to Somalia from Sudan

• The World: 6 armies transferred to Norway from Finland

• The World: 7 armies transferred to Hawaii from California

• The Impaller: 2 armies transferred to Solomon Islands from Papua New Guinea

• The World: 2 armies transferred to Hawaii from Japan

• The World: 1 army transferred to Congo from Chad

• The World: 1 army transferred to Nigeria from Chad

• The World: 1 army transferred to Finland from Norway

• The World: 1 army transferred to Alaska from Yukon

• The World: 1 army transferred to Alaska from British Columbia

• The World: 11 armies captured Kenya from Congo. 0 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The World: 12 armies captured Angola from Congo. 0 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The World: 10 armies captured Tadschikistan from Turkmenistan. 0 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The World: 5 armies failed to take Murmansk from Norway. 4 attacking armies killed, 4 defending armies killed.

• The World: 24 armies failed to take Solomon Islands from Hawaii. 14 attacking armies killed, 14 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 6 armies captured Turkmenistan from Afghanistan. 1 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 5 armies captured Eastern Kazakhstan from Western Kazakhstan. 0 attacking armies killed, 1 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 0 armies transferred to Norway from Murmansk

• The Impaller: 3 armies captured Congo from Somalia. 2 attacking armies killed, 2 defending armies killed.

• The Impaller: 5 armies failed to take Hawaii from Solomon Islands. 5 attacking armies killed, 3 defending armies killed.

• The World received a blockade card. 4/5 order delay, 3/4 reinforcement, 1/6 order priority.

Here are our options:

1. A little bit of everything: Build defenses and execute multiple late attacks, deny Impaller West Russia, attempt to crack Indonesia & India, attempt to take South Africa.

   Deploy 2 to Norway, 4 to Finland, 2 to Chad, 3 to Angola, 4 to Kenya, 4 to Hawaii, 8 to Tadschikistan. Attack Arkhangelsk with 2 from Vorkuta, attack/transfer 1 from Nigeria to Chad, transfer 1 from Alaska to Yukon, transfer 1 from Alaska to British Columbia, transfer only 1 from Norway to Finland, transfer only 1 from Finland to Norway, attack Sudan with 2 from Chad, attack Congo with 3 from Angola, attack Namibia with 3 from Angola, attack Botswana with 8 from Angola, attack South Africa with 3 from Kenya, attack Madagascar with 3 from Kenya, attack Somalia with 8 from Kenya, attack Murmansk with 9 from Norway, attack Moscow with 4 from Finland, attack Solomon Islands with 20 from Hawaii, attack Pakistan with 5 from Tadschikistan.

2. Smash Indonesia, send 10 at India, deny Impaller West Russia, hold elsewhere.

   Deploy 3 to Chad, 2 to Norway, 14 to Hawaii, 8 to Tadschikistan. Attack Arkhangelsk with 2 from Vorkuta, attack/transfer 1 from Nigeria to Chad, transfer 1 from Finland to Norway, transfer 1 from Alaska to Yukon, transfer 1 from Alaska to British Columbia, attack Congo with 3 from Angola, attack Sudan with 3 from Chad, attack Solomon Islands with 30 from Hawaii, attack Murmansk with 10 from Norway, attack Pakistan with 10 from Tadschikistan.

3. Advance in East Russia, hold in Africa, deny Impaller West Russia, attempt to crack Indonesia and India.

   Deploy 4 to Japan, 2 to Alaska, 9 to Hawaii, 2 to Norway, 3 to Chad, 7 to Tadschikistan. Attack Arkhangelsk with 2 from Vorkuta, attack/transfer 1 from Nigeria to Chad, transfer 1 from Finland to Norway, attack Anadyr with 4 from Alaska, attack Khabarovsk with 4 from Japan, attack Congo with 3 from Angola, attack Sudan with 3 from Chad, attack Solomon Islands with 25 from Hawaii, attack Murmansk with 10 from Norway, attack Pakistan with 5 from Tadschikistan.

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 Sunday, October 23rd and check back Monday, October 24th for the next turn!

Well I must say I am extremely happy with how that turn went down. We kept Scan, denied W Russia, cracked both Africas, kept a presence in Caucasus, bordered India, and crippled Indo. I'm pretty confident we are now 1 or 2 turns away from Imp surrendering in this one. I would assume that there should be plenty of feedback for this turn and how we should go about sealing the deal so I've left the options relatively simple in this one while I wait to hear some more of your ideas. To be completely honest, I spent the majority of my time on Option #1 (ironically not how I generally do the turn sequences on here) and for where we're at in this game, I strongly think it's the right course of action moving forward. Imp has very few options left available to him at this point in time. He should only make 17 per turn (Ausy, India, Indo) and there's just no possible way for him to defend everything. I think his best course of action this turn is to try and take W Russia & Caucasus while potentially cracking Scan and taking us off of his border in India. If he loads all 17 up in Pakistan and attacks us in Tadschikistan, our 10 is screwed (not to mention he can always follow up with a 4 attack from Turkmenistan while still taking the rest of Caucasus with his troops in Eastern Kazakhstan) which is why I believe we need to put at least 8 there to prevent that from happening. If he took us out of that spot, he would be able to protect India and take Caucasus without anything we could do about it. Regardless, if we force the issue on every available front to us, we should be sitting in even more supreme position by the end of the turn as it's incredibly likely that Imp's only viable options will be to load his 17 somewhere (Indo, Pakistan, maybe Somalia?) and it's highly unlikely that he'll be able to spare anything for minor defences. With that in mind, I think we stand a pretty high chance of getting South Africa this turn, as well as getting into excellent positioning for the rest of Africa, will very likely crack Indo and/or India, and should hold off any tricks in W Russia, while maintaining our hold in Caucasus if we go with Option #1.

With that in mind, it was fairly difficult for me to continue with different options when I feel so strongly about Option #1 but I'm always open to any feedback, suggestions, or new vote options from the general public moving forward.

Imp is down to 17 this turn. To crack the 12 in Angola he would need at least 18, so we can stay put there (17 vs 12 = 0%).

We need 2 additional armies in Somalia to rule out that one as well (19 vs 13 = 0%).

To keep our presence in Tadshikistan we need 7 more there (21 vs 17 = 4 remaining; 4 vs 4 = 0%).

That's 2 + 7 = 9 deployed so far, 18 remaining.

We need 15 more in Hawaii to crack Indo with 31 (31 vs 18 = 98%).

West Russia is somewhat trickier: with only 3 spare armies left to deploy we cannot be sure he won't complete it. If he deploys everything to Ufa, he could try Vorkuta with 30. But I think it's highly unlikely he would move the only large stack of armies he has left into such a remote position. Also, he would have to make sure those 9 in Norway or that single 1 in Finland wouldn't spoil the fun for him, so he would have to deploy minimum 5 + 1 to Murmansk and Moscow, assuming we don't deploy to Scan at all. That would leave 24 for a potential Vorkuta attack, which means we would have to deploy another 13 there to counter that (24 vs 16 = 1%). Plus he would have to fear we could slip under his nose from Vorkuta to Arkhangelsk.

If we were to protect Scandinavia which I don't really think we should, we would need 3 in Norway and 10 in Finland = 13 to bring those both to 12 (17 vs 12 = 0%).

A combination of those 2 - protect Scan and deny WR - would mean: deploy 10 to Finland, 8 to Norway; worst case: Imp deploys everything to Murmansk and takes Vorkuta with 5 and moves the remaing 8 over to Moscow. In such a case we are 3 armies short and cannot safely take Murmansk. (17 vs 18 = 8 remaining; 11 vs 8 = 1%; should be: 20 vs 18 = 6 remaining; 11 vs 6 = 100%).

This all means: either crack Indonesia, or deny West Russia, or protect Scandinavia. We cannot safely do all 3 together at the same time.

At this point my head just exploded due to the multitude of possibilities :-)
Screw playing it safe, just kill the m*f*!

He has to deploy SOMETHING to South Africa somewhere to make sure we don't get it this turn. He also knows he cannot protect Indonesia, so chances are he plays a blockade there if he can spare the armies, hoping we put the majority of our deployment to Hawaii, while at the same time making an attempt for Caucasus and WR. Oh, and there is India to protect, too!
I say just charge on all fronts and see what we hit ... let's say he goes for WR and we lose Scan and don't get SA. So what? he loses Indo and India then. Then it's 24 to 14 next turn. Or he takes Caucasus, but then he still loses Indo and doesn't get WR, but we don't lose Scan. Then it's 27 to 18 .. big deal.

It is our 58 + 27 = 85 armies vs. his 23 + 17 = 40 armies, we obviously have been in the lead income-wise for a long time.

Actually, there are great chances he's gonna surrender now. Since he has no blockade, after indonesia falls, australia will fall too. Since we're safe in africa, cracking indonesia is the priority. Also, I believe there are slim chances of him getting west russia (we can easily use those spare 8 armies in scandinavia as a last attack). Diabolicus's analysis was perfect, I'd just deploy those 3 armies in scandinavia, and hit with 11 last order. The in-between moves are pretty much obvious, slow moves in Africa, crack Indonesia early, etc..

I think now it's easy to assume he can surrender with no regrets (we don't even have to crack india, if we get into indonesia and deny caucasus and west russia, he'll definitely surrender).

Nobody has any additions they wanna throw up here?

I believe Diabolicus summed it up nicely. Assuming his analysis is correct (and it is, I checked;)) we should head for a forced win here. Maybe post #4 from his post (it is said pretty much exactly where and how many troops we should put).

Yeah but he has several different options for each of the scenarios Impaller could potentially do. If he wants to draw something up a little more official, I'd be happy to add it to the list.

Personally, I still think #1 is our best course of action, as it goes for the big hit as well as forcing Imp to have to make a ton of different decisions next turn. It may not guarantee a victory this turn (altho I think it still might) but it should completely seal the deal within the next 1-3 turns for sure.

Maybe, but the downside is he gets blockade next turn, so he may save australia in the meantime...

I miss the boston vs duke old school debates...lol

Imp's a couple turns behind on card pieces so he won't get another blockade card for at least another few turns.

Aah, right, he was at least 2 turns behind, not 1:)
Anyway, good for us;)

Number 2 has won! The next thread will be posted shortly...

Wow, I forgot the closing date was so close and I was waiting for Diabolicus to put his orders as an alternative, so I didn't even vote this time!

Still, looks like a straightforward win;)