Production update

Things are moving on a-pace down here in the bunker. Design is virtually complete and we've just started meeting with buyers and distributors and had confirmation that Borders, Cambridge are going to stock the game. Exciting stuff. Meeting Hamleys next month. And a couple more distributors are very interested... early signs are promising.

Sadly in all this activity, there are some game reports that never got written up and have been lost in the sands of time. Sorry about that. But just goes to show how the War on Terror will ultimately be eroded and forgotten through lack of thorough reporting.

Game Report: Andy S, Andy T, Tom & Jim

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A four player game. The original 'WoT boys' and fresh blood from Jim who's heard much but has yet to sample the terror.

Kick off around 7 and looky here, we have new money! The "world bank of capitalism" has been given a face lift to include heads of noted satirists. Current list (in chronological order) - Juvenal, Jonathan Swift, William Hogarth, Mark Twain, Peter Cook and last, but not least, Bill Hicks. Just our little homage to what is a forgotten (but possibly reviving) artform.

From the beginning we have Andy T in Europe and N.America, Tom in S.America, Nowhere and Africa, Jim in Asia and Australasia and Andy S, being last to lay sees a sneaky way to annex Jim and muscles in on Asia too, developing strategically in his first turn so that Jim has to cross the sea to Indonesia in order to find new ground.

Andy S thinks he'll get away with picking on the new kid and then attacks Jim straight away in the first round. Pretty foolish considering Jim's just turned evil, picked up a load of terrorist cards and Andy S sneakily saw he was hiding a nuke too. Still, fools rush in... And after a bit of a tussle, Andy S banishes Jim from the far east and forces him to re-locate to N.America, much to Andy T's displeasure. Disgruntlement and indignation set the tone for the game.

Andy T agrees to give back land in Brazil and Venezuela if Tom does the same in the eastern and mid States.Seems like Jim isn't one to forgive and forget. In his following turn in retalliation for Andy S's two terrorist attacks, he nukes Mongolia, uses WMDs in India and uses terrorists in Malaysia to clear up. Andy S is left with two villages - knocked back to the proverbial stone age.

Tom keeps quiet during all this, building steadily and generally keeping his nose clean. The only flare-up point being the border between North and South America which Andy T transgresses at one stage. A bit of fighting either side sees a truce and Andy T agrees to give back land in Brazil and Venezuela if Tom does the same in the eastern and mid States. It's an admirably diplomatic deal, not often seen in the War on Terror.

Meanwhile, Jim's moved back into his "homeland" of Asia and Andy S has clawed back a few villages, but is wounded and finds it almost impossible to recover. After a brief spell of being evil and tempted by getting the Insurgency Emergency card, Andy S turns terrorist at this point, realising his chances as an Empire are next to nil.

Andy T starts getting greedy and despite covering nearly two continents sees himself getting hemmed in by Jim and Tom. In a panic, he carelessly drops a nuke in the wastelands of Alaska, sadly wiping out Jim's presence in N.America - and suddenly Andy T looks pretty strong with both Europe and N.America being city-rich. Jim - as we know, not one to shy away from retaliation - buys 300m worth of terrorists and slaps them all over Andy T's empire. Over the next few turns, they're responsible for robbing Andy of 600m worth of oil revenue. Jim also lands Andy T with a Political Kidnap which Andy cocks up, thus costing him a prized 'Bill Hicks' (new slang for the 500m note). In the course of a couple of alarmingly vicious turns, Andy T is a now looking at a poor and frightened empire. Time to regroup.

Andy S as the Terrorist Player tries to alert the world to the slumbering threat of Tom's quietly swelling empire, but being a terrorist, no one trusts him. He tries to keep the board in check with a couple of strikes, but is generally hindered through lack of funds.

Jim might be stronger if his earlier bruiser attitude hadn't meant he's been spending more on fighting than building. In fact, the terrorists make severe - if temporary - dents in his Asian empire. Nothing personal of course.

Meanwhile Tom, despite getting nuked out of S.America by a treacherous Andy T strike, has recovered well and a quick assault on Madagascar claims Africa as his own. A free development and another couple of cities and bam! Just over three hours into the game and Tom's won! His first for a while and wasn't he smug about it?

Game Report: Andy S, Andy T, Tom, Michele, Hamish & Aruna

Another 6 player game and an early start, in the hope that we can all go out in the evening. Tom in N.America, Andy S in S.America and Nowhere, Mich in Africa and Asia, sharing Asia with Hamish. Andy T in iceland and split in Australia, playing with sheep. Aruna split between Africa and bits of Asia.

Andy T was scuppered from the start, really, through a mixture of hubris and bad luck. Hamish became evil so many times in a row we lost count, but most people had a turn at the balaclava.

Andy S goes for an early push into Africa, forcing Mich's empire to retreat to Europe. Meanwhile, Andy T wipes Tom out of N.America. Tom caves in terribly easy and turns terrorist just after nuking Andy T for a bit of fun. Nuked and weakened, Andy T then joins Tom the following round, but not before having a go at Mich. She crumbles and decides to jack it all in and join Tom's terrorist army too. Well, well, well ...

So suddenly we have 3 terrorists and 3 empires. Andy S makes good use of the breathing space and has S.America, Nowhere and most of Africa colonised.

While the terrorists plot, Andy A realises he's a cat's fart away from winning - all he needs to do is knock out one empire and he'll have the requisite number of empire points. Foolishly, he's far too cocky, lays down his free city, another free village courtesy of an explorer's card - thus grabbing Africa and a cool 9 points. He needs 10 to win with 3 empires still in the game. So he drops a nuke on Aruna, which would nicely finish her off. By this point, his gameplan is clear and panic sets in. Hamish sells Aruna his nuclear bunker for pittance just to keep her in the game. Andy S is down, but not defeated. He uses his second nuke and fires it straight off. Lethal, and brutal. Victory is in sight.

But then the terrorists suddenly put an offer on the table. Andy T "donated" the terrorists a nuclear bunker before he turned and now they're in the bizarre position of having to pass this onto Aruna just to keep the game going. It's a tense moment, but they have no choice. It's this or defeat. The deal is done. Andy S is left hanging one point from victory, knowing he's going to get shat on from all sides in the next round.

Sure enough, he's almost bankrupted when a plane hijack goes wrong and he has to pay 400m in reparations. Countless other terrorist attacks reduce his once impressive empire to just a couple of villages before anyone can run for cover.

Rather than limp on Andy S turns terrorist, the former glories of his Empire bringing a proud tear to his eye.

Mich and Andy T have to leave to go to a gig, so it's up to Tom and Andy S as the terrorist player to try and rid the earth of ambitious imperialists like Hamish, who's silently been spreading over the globe. He professes world peace with Aruna, but you know he can smell victory. The terrorists try to contain him to Europe and Asia with a "terrorist fence" - an effective tactic, but one which wears heavy on the terrorist coffers.

After 4 and a half hours, we have to call it a truce. Hunger strikes. The terrorists and two remaining empires are left, battling hard but looks like the empires had the upper hand in the end. Probably Hamish was on course for a win this time. Of course, the game really should have been Andy S's a good two hours earlier.

New Prototypes.

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A beautiful union of paper and plastic has resulted in War on Terror, the boardgame v.3.0.5.1 (all trendy things these days have overly-complex version numbers).

We're getting nearer to the finish line every day here at the TerrorBull Games bunker. The new boards look well swanky and they fold too. But best of all is the proper Axis of Evil spinner. Had we known it would be so much fun to flick a spinner that's labelled 'Axis of Evil', we would've constructed the game solely around this activity.

We've actually made up a few of these sets which are currently being lent out to blind testing groups (not groups comprised of blind people, but people who have no knowledge of the game). Others we're keeping in pristine condition for buyers and distributors. When we have any news on that front, you'll be the first to know.

Game Report: Andy S, Jenn, Tom & Fiona

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A late start and we're all WOT veterans. It looks like it's going to be a hard fight. Andy S lays first and tries to nab S.America and Africa for his own, which Fiona spoils by settling Argentina, sparking a long and bitter struggle.

Tom grabs Europe and some of Asia, but has to share some of it with Fiona, who seems to be everywhere. While Jenn's empire spans the globe in both N.America and Australasia.

Fiona responds by attacking Tom in the Balkans (which was as nasty as it sounds).Jenn becomes evil no fewer than three times in a row, thus amassing a huge army of Terrorist cards and dirty tricks. Before too long, she turns terrorist, believing to have enough havock-wreaking cards to secure a terrorist victory.

Meanwhile Andy S tries to flush Fiona out of S.America. Fiona responds, quite surprisingly, by attacking Tom in the Balkans (which was as nasty as it sounds).

After some lucky oil, Andy S is pretty rich and fancies his chances. However, before his victory march can take place, it's Fiona's turn. Using the 'espionage' card, she steals a 'psycops' card from Jenn - which she then uses to steal Jenn's formidable terrorist army. No one could see the next step coming... After covering the world in the freshly stolen terrorists, Fiona plays the 'insurgency emergency' card, doubles all terrorist units, gifts all her cards to Jenn and joins the dark side with an evil smirk. Tom and Andy S are left shitting themselves.

The end is surely nigh and in the next terrorist turn, Andy S takes the brunt of the terrorist violence. He vigilantly fights off a plane hijack and a deadly city strike also fails. But plain terrorist attacks leave all of Andy S's cities in ruin. Tom doesn't escape unharmed either. His budding Asian empire is left in tatters.

But the terrorists have expended virtually all their cards and cash in one turn, so there may be hope. Then again, with the black menace covering the board, no one's getting any oil revenue. It's a bitter stalemate, forcing the remaining empires to club together. Tom has a couple of nukes and manages to mop up a fair portion of the terrorists. Andy S says he's with Tom all the way, but secretly has his eye on a miracle victory.

After another demoralising terrorist turn we have to call a halt. Obviously it's going to be a long fight and it's a school night. The board is left with a healthy sprinkling of insurgents and two wounded Empires. Could've been anyone's.