World conquest on a Friday afternoon
05.02.2003It went down this afternoon. The quest for world domination. You can't put Bill, Dan, Dave, Eric, and myself in one place and not expect a game of Space Risk.
It started innocently enough. I occupied South America and a few other outposts.
But things slowly spun out of control. Eric Gielow consolidated his position in North America even as Dan began massing red troops in Europe, Bill was about to grab all of Asia, and Dave had firm control of Africa. Everyone had their piece of turf. I was being squeezed out.
I decided to take my chances on the moon. Bought a Space Commander and took my forces up, occupying the entire planetoid.
A customer came in to buy a moped. Dan took a break to show him a Kinetic TFR. Meanwhile, the generals sat and pondered the world's fate.
Eric and Bill made a risky alliance, presenting Dan's European red army w/ a two-front war. Bill was about to consolidate Asia ... but Eric had North and South America. Which enemy was the bigger threat? In the end, he split his forces, heavily reinforcing the Ukraine.
Though I was peacefully exploring the moon, Evil Bill — living up to his reputation — bypassed attacking Dan and laid siege to my brave blue forces on the moon. I was cut off, encircled, fighting for my survival. Dejected, spiteful, I invested in a Nuclear Commander and lobbed nuclear weapons down on Earth. It was just enough to keep the balance of power off-center. Just enough to eventually retake the moon — and second place at game's end.
That left Eric in charge of the game. It was his to win or lose. He was next to last in turn order, and only Dan could break the game wide open. But Eric was crafty. He destroyed Dave, took Europe (another continent!), left the remains of Bill's army untouched — both as a buffer between him and Dan and to make Bill a juicy target. At the end of his turn, he reinforced his West Coast underwater colonies. Preventing Dan from flanking him. Brilliant.
As the game ground to a halt (Space Risk has only five turns), Dan massed his last army to break through Bill's forces on round five. This was it. Could Dan make yet another amazing come-from-behind Risk victory?
No. Here you see the remains of Dan's crushed assault on Bill's red fortress in Siam.
Here you see Eric mocking us in his victory. No other general was available for a photo op.
Posted by Miguel at 11:53 AM
Comments
ha! i love the pic of victorious eric. I can't imagine how a new player managed to take all you guys out! Maybe if I had been there to bolster Dave's African defenses... Aw, who am i kidding. I'll lose over an ineffectual stronghold than execute a risky stratagem any day. 1977 mopeds looks great, by the way. -emily
Posted by: emily at May 3, 2003 11:28 AM
gawd, what a friggin' goon i am.
i'll chalk that win up to some previous strategy gaming and a bit of coaching from both miguel and evil bill.
as well as a little backstabbing. eh, dan?
although i still think that i didn't break our one sided compact. =)
Posted by: eric at May 3, 2003 11:20 PM