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Thanks for great update Cowboy and JJJ !

April 30th to May 5th Preview



As the second set of team games approach, not much has happened in the scope of EU yet, so it's hard to give any detailed preview into these games. CORP vs. Acme still looks like it should be a good game though. Even though Acme is 0-1 they still stack up well against CORP (1-0). It'll take a bit more cohesion in the team work of Acme though. Avengers vs VIW is similar in it's scope. VIW having a previous win vs Acme, while Avengers lost to CORP. Both played rather well, so I think this will be one of the better games. HAWKS vs. Acme is hard to predict as the HAWKS has yet to complete a game. Acme still is hard to overlook here in this matchup. But I am unsure of who to favor. Avengers vs. TSK is a battle of clans looking to rebound. Avengers looks like the clan with the biggest advantage but it's still too early. USSR looks to redeem themselves after the game deletion at the beginning of the season, this time in VIW vs. USSR and HAWKS vs. USSR. They still enter in as underdogs though, so we shall see.



The Szeurope Games of the Week features Avengers (0-1) playing their part in both of them. CORP vs. Avengers should be a good game, but it's hard to tell since CORP seems to be the slowest in the group. Avengers vs. VIW seems to be much the same as VIW also has yet to finish a game. Acme vs. TSK ought to be a good game as both won their first game. TSK remains as the favorite though. Acme vs. CORP is the other best of the rest pick. USSR vs. HAWKS features opponents trying to reverse a poor start, and HAWKS gets another chance as well in HAWKS vs. VIW



TSK vs. Avengers has Killa (1-0) taking on Hasdrubal (0-1) in this game of the week. In HAWKS vs. Acme, AlexB (1-0) enters in as a heavy favorite vs Grievous (0-2), but not as much in VIW vs. USSR as Andre (2-0) takes on Gavilan (0-2).

Edited 5/6/2018 00:07:41

Great stuff Cowboy! Keep up the good work!, Love you <3 (Not as much as I love JJJ though, gosh he is the best, I love him so much, Notice me pls JJJ-sempai <3 <3 <3)

Edited 5/1/2018 08:34:49

REDONIS YOU UNFAITHFUL HARLOT!

OH SHIT! I'M SO SORRY SEMPAI PLS DONT HATE ME AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

But I thought you loved your anime tiddies more than anything else Redonis... how could you betray the anime tiddies?

SHUT THE UP, YOU DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MY LIFE

Great scorekeeping Cowboy, I really feel kinda ashamed for my game vs Dr Killa. USSR is learning a lot from this CL, our first one ever. I'm still confident in the USSR team for the following games.

It's been a good week for games, but overall much hasn't changed from the previous week. Still the road has become clear for who is here to compete, and those trying to salvage what they can.



[V.I.W.] Very Important Weirdos vs. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
lineal2012 vs. zaky https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=15506246

Interesting board with a few good locations to start, with more indirect counters than direct ones. Franche Comte is the first ftb that pops out to you as it is fairly secluded from the rest of the board, while it can be countered by 89-Yonne, it's still the most enticing choice on the board. Limousin is a good ftb that controls the region and can be comboed with some of the larger bonuses in the area, such as Poitou Charentes or Aquitaine. Bretagne works very well as a late income bonus or even a two turn bonus with help from 44-Loire-Atlantique. Haute Normandie is a decent ftb, but the likelihood of getting it without being countered is slim. It does pair well with Basse Normandie though, and shouldn't be overlooked.
Lineal takes an interesting strategy and focuses his first three picks around Limousin. Assuming he doesn't lose 36-Indre which he put at #3 it should work out well. He then tried to get a lock in both other ftbs, by picking 88-Vosges, 76-Seine Maritime, and 14-Calvados as his 4,5,6 respectively. He then goes after the combo in Poitou Charantes, which pairs well with 36-Indre. The rest work out well as coverage picks, and if he's lucky he may be able to sneak the Franche Comte ftb, although it's very unlikely.
zaky goes for a very similar strategy picking the same 1 to 3 in a different order via swapping 23-Creuse for 43-Haute-Loire. This is probably not the best idea though, as if he gets first pick, lineal gets the ftb. He proceeds to pick Poitou Charentes as 4, taking a huge risk, relying on him to get his 2 and 3, while also being very susceptible to a late pick in Aquataine. His 5 and 6 remain the same as lineal. His 7 in 89-Yonne, while having great range is definitely a bit early, but it's not a terrible pick, unlike his 8 in 08-Ardennes, which unless he gets super lucky, will be a dead pick. He does 9-11 around the Franche Comte ftb, and sets his 12 to counter the Haute Normandie (probably his best counter pick).
lineal got second pick, guaranteeing he got the ftb. Considering the rest of the board is a hot mess, and the chances of him getting income is about as high as any of us getting laid. lineal has a great first turn, as he takes the ftb and combines his forces while depleting zaky's. zaky did about as good as he could do, set up the double border, and try to get the upper hand in one of the two regions he is double teamed. Turn 2 is where lineal pretty much gets the win, while zaky is forced to go for the break of Limousin , lineal knows he has exceeded base income so can instead exchange the lost income from the bonus from gained income from the gained territories, while also eliminating zaky somewhere.
zaky actually has a good turn with all things considered, he gained the +1 bonus, while also taking enough territory to reduce lineal's income. Unfortunately this came at the cost of losing Haute Normandie. Lineal has a fairly good turn, but overdeployed in Haute Normandie, making the game closer than it should be, that being said, the advantage is still in his favor, as he will have plenty of income options after this turn, while still maintaining a double border on Limousin.
The next couple turns are almost stalemates, as lineal fails to break zaky's bonus, can't really complain about it on lineal's side though. zaky on the other hand made a minor but costly mistake. In these turns he moved 89-Yonne to 21-Cote-d'Or, and 08-Ardennes to 51-Marne, which only pressures lineal around Franche Comte. If he would've moved to 77-Seine-et-Marne and 55-Meuse, he could've pressured both areas, making lineal think twice.
In the next move lineal picks a door and chooses the right one this time, finally breaking zaky. zaky meanwhile goes after a bonus he's never gonna complete...until he does next turn. lineal takes it too cautiously, when even a tap of 1 would've kept zaky from completing the bonus. zaky could now win this with good predicts, but naturally that doesn't happen and he plays it too safe. It's fairly obvious what lineal has planned here and any decent player could punish him in some form or another, instead lineal gets the +2 and a triple border on zaky's main income. It's pretty much gg here. Next two turns are lineal finishing zaky off. The game ends at USSR's closest chance at victory.

The Seven Kingdoms vs. The Avengers
John John Johnson vs. Hasdrubal https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=15506245

Looking at this board gives me a headache. Clusters of territories make it nearly impossible to have a good set of picks. One decent area is around Alsace, which while it may not be perfect, getting these three territories will guarantee a +1 ftb, or possible more. Limousin is kinda normal here and can be picked fairly high. There's no real good combo with it though, albeit you can go for some late game income with it and Poitou Charentes. Bourgogne is also an ftb and has decent position, but one of the bonuses it shares has a wasteland in it. Luckily it does have great postion as well, so it is a viable pick. Picardie and Haut Normandie are clustered, but easy and cheap ftbs, so they shouldn't be overlooked. Basse Normandie is a fairly nice pickand can be comboed with 53-Mayenne to get early income. Pays de la Loire can be clustered if ballsy enough, but you better know what you're doing. Languedoc Roussillon paird with 09-Ariege isn't terrible, though it isn't very good. and you can do a similar pairing with Aquitaine and 17-Charente-Maritime. Oh, did I mention Centre is an ftb. You'd have to be insane to take it though.
JJJ goes with some good positional early income by going for the Bourgogne ftb first. his 4 and attempt to include at least one +1 bonus with that. Then choosing 61-Orne, and 08-Ardennes as 7 and 8. If I was him though I would've swapped the order I did those ftbs in since 80-Somme can smash into Huate Normandie, while Le Harve can only go after a double border. that being said, it's very nitpicky and isn't likely to matter. He choses his 8 as Limousin and then his 9, 10 as the Alsace ftb. His 11 and 12 follow as general coverage picks, though his 11 in 17-Charente-Maritime can be used to take Poitou Charentes if he also gets 23-Creuse.
Hasdrubal does something I guess picking up his only choice as an ftb to be Haute Normandie...if he lucks into it. His 1 and 2 center around him getting Franche Comte or Lorraine, which totally depends on him getting first pick. His third pick is a random pick in Basse Normandie, which is ideally only takeable if no counters exists. He apparently also wants a double pick on Poitou Charentes, but fails to see how good 03-Allier is actually good. He also hopes to get Nord Pas de Calais as a combo with 80-Somme, but it's not that good of a combo. The rest of his picks are a scattered mess I can't explain.
For Hasdrubal to have been outpicked so badly it's surprising how even the board starts out, in which if he plays it right can deny JJJ income until maybe he can snatch Poitou Charentes in the latter part of the game. Unfortunately for him, he plays that first turn horribly, moving to pointless places in Basse Normandie and Ile de France, while not applying any pressure to JJJ. Now he is guaranteed some amount of income on turn 2, which JJ does, taking +3 worth of income while only giving up single borders (Hasdrubal could've gotten double borders on both bonuses as well as income via the +1 with JJJ's moves.)
After this JJJ routes Hasdrubal as he continues to make confusing moves, while giving up crucial areas.



No finished games this week, instead here's the first time I beat AG : https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=11751362

Continued in the next post

Continued from the previous post



CORP vs HAWKS
Dutch Desire vs. AlexB https://www.warzone.com/multiplayer?GameID=15478690

Not a bad board overall, with several ftb opportunities. Obviously Cape of Good Hope has to be picked high as it's the best and easiest on the board with no counters. The Nigerian Lowlands can be fitted as a ftb, with the help of the West Sudanian Savanna, which can also be jerryrigged as a ftb, though not a great one. The East Sudanian Savanna is anoth good ftb, with only one valid counter, making it a great pick. The Lower Nile Valley is a good bonus especially when paired with Malta. Ideally it would be a turn 2 bonus, but it could be made into an ftb if needed. The area around the Rift Valley Lakes is clustered, making it a more viable mid to late pick option, but it shouldn't be ignored. Cameroon Line Island Chain is also a good pick here, as well as the Western Sahel which works better as a late pick.
Dutch Desire picks Cape of Good Hope high as expected preferring Oranje Valley as it has a better first turn option than Natal. He placed his 3 and 4 on the Lower Nile Valley/Malta combo. He placed his 5 and 6 in the West Sudanian Savanna, and 7, 8 in the East Sudanian Savanna. His 9 took on the Nigerian Lowlands, while he centered his 10-13 around the Rift Valley Lakes. Finally picking Bioko as his 14th.
AlexB has a fairly decent picking strategy, but I can tell he was more worried about giving up areas rather than getting alot of income via ftbs. He used the reverse order of DD's 1 and two, while following with the other Red Bonuses (Nigerian Lowlands and Lower Nile Valley). He puts his 5 and 7 around the Eastern Highlands, while putting the 6 and 9 on the Eastern Sudanian Savanna. His 8 is an attempt to take advantage of the High Plateau.being empty, following with The West Sudanian Highlands, Mafinga Hills, and Bioko. He does not pick a 14 though.
AlexB had a fairly good starting position as he the Rift Valley Lakes to himself, but him losing the Lower Nile Valley definitely hurt. He has a fairly bad first turn though allowing himself to be eliminated from the Nigerian Lowlands and not having enough delays to take the Western Nile Basin after DD, while also not moving in Xhosa, further giving the advantage to DD. He was able to complete an ftb, andget to double digits, but the turn was easily in DD's favor. DD further expanded his lead by completing the Nigerian Lowlands as well as The Lower Nile Valley. On turn 3 Alex overexpanded, while DD put all his armies into fighting against Alex. By now both the income, stack, and positional advantage had led to DD winning decisively.

[V.I.W.] Very Important Weirdos vs. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Andre Laufmöller vs. Coronel Gavilan https://www.warzone.com/MultiPlayer?GameID=15546784

Really interesting board, with ftbs making the majority of this. The straightforward ftbs on this board are Maghreb, the Western Saharan Mountains, the Eastern Guinean Forest, Eastern Highlands, as well as Madagascar. Both the Rift Valley Lakes and East African Rift could also be ftbs under the right circumstance. Interestingly enough this board has no island picks. The High Plateau rounds up our overview as the only safe pick on the board, though it is hardly anything great.
Andre goes with the standard picks of Maghreb as his 1 and 2, while choosing Madagascar as his 3 and 4, then the Eastern Highlands as his 5 and 6, then finishes the cluster around the Rift Valley Lakes as his 7 and 8, and High Plateau at 9. He then chooses the Eastern Guinean Forest as his 10 through 12, which is risky as he could end up with just one of those picks. But it is safe nonetheless. he rounds it out with coverage picks as his 13 and 14 in the Arid Grasslands of the Sahara. Gavalin decides to go with a slight variation in his picking style choosing the same 1 and 2, but then turning around and choosing Madagascar with Tsaratanana Massif as 3 and Hauts Plateau at 7. This would only work out well if he gets second pick. His 4-6 is the Eastern Guinean Forest. He chooses the area around the Rift Valley Lakes odd, forgoing the Eastern Highlands ftb to 10 and 11 and instead chossing to go with Albertine Rift Mountains and Lake Victoria East at 8th. A better way to have done this is possibly to choose Lake Victoria East then the ftb followed by the Albertine Rift Mountains ( the least usable territory in this combo). He picks his 12 on the Western Sahel, 13 on the Horn of Africa, then rather riskfully .
Gavalin gets the early income advantage, and is in a good early game position, but would need to act fast. He has a decent first turn, but could've worked it into his favor more. He takes Fes which is really good, but makes two crucial mistakes. First not blockading Jubaland after taking Kenyan Highland, which cost him 1 income, and secondly, not hitting either Lake Victoria West or Lake Tanganika with his last move (he's got plenty of delays in the Eastern Guinean Forest to guarantee he gets last move.) If he does this he would be leading 9-7 but is now down 9-8. The next turn it starts turning into a rout as Gavilan fails to break the Rift Valley Lakes, still misses the need to blockade (or gift) Jubaland and takes High Atlas, costing him a further 2 armies. (not to mention the 2 he should've gained by completing Maghreb. I can only assume he misclicked) Andre then takes the High Plateau and routes Gavilan the rest of the way.

Continued in the next post

Edited 5/8/2018 08:59:25

Continued from the previous post



HAWKS vs. The Avengers
TurboTT117 and AlexB vs. Mega Knight and Parish75 https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=15376020

Rather straightforward board here. Obviously Iceland and Ireland make a good set of early bonuses. Norway is a good bonus here as well, especially if you can get it paired with Iceland or even Britian (which pairs well with Ireland given the right scenario.) Though it's not completely safe it is one of the safest on the boards. Benelux is a pretty good pick. It's quick income and with the wastelanded France and poorly played Switzerland warlord it's definitely the best standalone +2 on the board. Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, and the Western Balkans are all good considerations in picking around the center right, but likelihood of getting much income without a brawl is unlikely. That being said, Hungary is actually an ftb here if you are ballsy enough to take it (it all has to be the same player). West Central Russia can make a fairly good ftb as well, and is pretty excluded with exception to Chuvashia. Finland makes a pretty good pick here as well as it deals or comboes with Norway while still giving a good presence in Russia.
Decent late picks also include Bulgaria and Portugal for mid-game income, as well as Belarus which has fairly decent position on either Slovakia and Hungary as well as West Central Russia and Western Russia. The Czech Republic is also half way decent as a late pick, as a counter around Austria and Slovakia, or even income given the right picks.
HAWKS go with separate picks, which is not always the best way to pick as it ups the chance you get locked out of an area. TurboTT117, aimed to take the Norway triple via 1/2/4 picks though. His 3 is oddly enough on Western Balkans, which I can only assume is mainly for coverage. He chooses his 5 and 6 as the Bulgaria combo with Walachia. With his 7, 8 and 9 he focuses taking Czech if at all possible. His 10 in Eastern Balkans actually works rather decently here as he can use it to either counter Bulgaria or take more income after completing Bulgaria. 11 he chooses as Benelux which is rather low for my tastes, considering the safety it offers. His 12 and 13 take on the South West Russia ftb, while his 14 and 15 centers around Britian. He rounds out his picks with Portugal at 16.
AlexB shows his inexperience here as he only picks 11 here, making it fairly likely he gets a Fizzer pick (random pick). The picks he makes are alright though seeing him go for the West Central Russia ftb followed by Slovakia, Ireland, Benelux, and Hungary. The rest of his picks take on Turbo's early picks, with him choosing Norway and Finland next, then Bulgaria and Eastern Balkans. Slovenia, was his final pick at #11.
Avengers decided to mirror. Looking first glance at their picks I can see why they lost. They treated it too closely to 3v3 Europe. They start with their 1 and 2 being Iceland then Ireland, following shortly with the West Central Russia ftb, as their 3 and 4. Slovakia is a solid pick at #5, but their 6 and 7 picks is where they start to go wrong. The +1s may be enticing as quick income, but if you can't win with it early they essentially become wasted picks as the other team gets territories with better income values. They follow it with Benelux, which could've been picked with a higher pick imo. They put their 9 and 10 around Hungary and Western Balkans. Southwestern Russia gets their pickl at 11, 12 in Britian, 13 in Austria, as well as 14 and 15 around Norway. For their final pick they go for income via Bulgaria.
If I had to pick who's starts I preferred after picks it's definitely Avengers, they have access to quick income while countering several key areas for HAWKS. HAWKS on the other hand should likely struggle getting any income outside of Benelux and Bulgaria.
The first two turns definitely go in the favor of HAWKS though. If Mega Knight at least checks Norway on the first turn, it's likely Avengers win. HAWKS plays it perfectly, keeping both Hungary safe as well as taking Norway. Parish definitely should've transferred his 3 armies from Yaroslavl to Ivanovo. and he ends up having to pay for that move (or lack therof) on the next turn. Mega Knight does break Norway, but loses Iceland in the process. The rest of the turn is fairly meh, with the only noteworthy thing is Parish misplaying in Russia again. Parish does get a double border against Benelux, but moves rather poorly by deploying +5 to start taking Austria. Turn 4 it remains fairly even, but as AlexB goes after Eastern Balkans it become clear that they could be quickly dug into a hole. Turn 5 is rather uneventful as Alex gets the +5 and Turbo takes position on Ireland. This game is starting to move strongly into HAWKS' favor. Turn 6 is a missed opportunity for Parish as he could've eaily taken Benelux, as well as apply the pressure in Russia. Instead Alex walks away the big winner eliminating Mega Knight in Hungary, allowing him to take it next turn. Turn 7 is uneventful as Parish aims to take on Alex in Hungary, but turn 8 is very interesting, Alex holds off Parish while applying pressure in Benelux, Mega Knight takes advantage and takes both Iceland and Norway. Parish should've probably sent his stack in the double border of Hungary (Nitra). Turn 9 has a few misplays by Avengers, rather than take Schleswig-Holstein he should've focused on eliminating trubo in Finland and also moved to Norrbotten, to ensure he didn't run. Parish, besides doing ineffiecient attacks, also should have moved to the double border if he wasn't gonna add more income there. Meanwhile HAWKS turn is uneventful outside of Turbo getting Bulgaria. Turn 10 saw another chance for Mega Knight to eliminate Turbo, where he failed. At this point Hawks was starting to gain back a positional advantage. Parish did eliminate Alex in Benelux though. Turbo would soon also grab Western Balkans though and take a double border to break Norway. By turn 13 HAWKS has a huge enough advantage to secure victory.

The Seven Kingdom vs. CORP
Redonis【𝓒𝓡𝓔𝓦】and John John Johnson vs. The Shots and Garlikid D. Ven https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=15376018

Review will be up in about 24 hours

Acme Co. vs. The Seven Kingdoms
Grievous_II, ACL Tears, and JT vs. Dr. Killa, Jayden, {N.W.} Bomber https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=15376027

Review will be up in about 24 hours

HAWKS vs. [V.I.W.] Very Important Weirdos
Cicero XXII, TurboTT117, and J.P. vs. [V.I.W] ilpeggiore, Le Count H, and Andre Laufmöller https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=15376026

Review will be up in about 24 hours

CORP vs. HAWKS
psykkoman, The Shots, and Baer vs. Cicero XXII, TurboTT117, and J.P. https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=15376028

Review will be up in about 24 hours

Continued in the next post

Edited 5/8/2018 08:59:08

Continued from the previous post

Overall review will be up in about 24 hours

Edited 5/8/2018 08:58:12

Great read Cowboy! Very greatful youre our scorekeeper, keep up the great work :)

Wow!
Are you really going to do this for every single game?

Potentially. I don't know if I'll go this deep into it every week, i just got a little carried away :P

Cowboy, Nice update and analysis of the games :)

You're tempting me to join 101st now ;)

Thanks a lot Cowboy, it was very enjoyable to read!

We will help Avengers . It s shamefull for them to be so low

I will finish off the rest of the reviews tomorrow. I did add one szeurope review albeit