Game Report: Andy T, Andy S, Jenn & French Thomas

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First game in a while. Actually, there was a five player game sometime in November that's been buried in the sands of time because an hour in it broke down in drunken confusion and upset over a misreading of the "terrorist movement" rule. Such is the power of the War on Terror.

Everyone starts out with a good spread across the globe. Andy S tries to claim the entire southern hemisphere in his first turn, which was probably a tad too ambitious since Andy T already has a score to settle from previous games.

Three hours after starting, the world is a flat-level anarchic wasteland.This score is levelled about half-way through the game when an Andy T-delivered nuke drops on the Andy S homeland of Africa, followed up by a devastating terrorist attack on the cities of Nowhere. Prior to this, no one had barely fired a shot. Still, it's a nasty old game sometimes. Andy S fights back for a bit, but to no avail. He soon decides to quit the empire race and turn terrorist, after a well-timed Global Jihad card.

French Tom and Jenn both keep their heads down during all this. Jenn's hoping her budding Pan-American empire will go unnoticed (which it does for the next couple of turns) while French Tom does one of the best impressions of a pacifist so far seen in this game, but the amount of terrorists now covering Asia and Europe makes him nervous and he tries to keep Andy T in check with the Kyoto protocol. Andy T worms his way out of it however, but promising to pay Tom not to play the card - and then refuses to pay up. Shame!

It looks like Andy T's might and money are unstoppable when just a turn later he picks up the card inspector, fishes through the cards and retrieves a nuke, which he drops on French Tom. Followed by another one. And that's how Tom turns to the dark side. In a frankly psychotic twist of fate, Andy T then declares himself terrorist, leaving Jenn alone to face a radioactive, terrorist playground.

Jenn does her best to defend America, but the sudden influx of cards and cash to Andy S's terrorist army are devastating. Despite sneakily robbing the bank for 100m, Jenn crumbles under the terrorist ire.

Three hours after starting, the world is a flat-level anarchic wasteland. Hurrah!

Game Report: Andy T, Helen, Hamish, Nadja, Nadja's Sister & Friend.

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So it's not often you get the chance of playing the War on Terror with two German 17 year olds... But here we go! After some rule explaining we kick off with our first six player game for a while...

As ever, it starts off peaceful (well, there is a 'no attacking in the first turn' rule), but with six players the world soon starts to feel cramped. So cities are built and Nadja starts to look strong, with several cities and a good chunk of the Americas. Secret messages are flying around and then the war starts for real. Nukes are dropped, terrorists funded and Nadja takes the full front of the attack... and takes quite a beating. Hamish gets caught between the 17 year olds and they soon crush his empire, Hamish is the first to turn terrorist.

The Empires back off a little, taking advantage of the new space on the board. Helen takes the bull by the horns, wipes all the terrorists from the board and suggests world peace. No one else is ready to finish just yet and peace isn't declared. So Helen chucks in her cards and joins Hamish as the terrorist player, quite a move... From world peace to terrorism in one turn.

Four terrorists against two empires, it's not looking pretty.Before long the remaining empires are wishing they took Helen up on the offer of world peace, Nadja's Empire is the next to crumble and then the 'sisters friend' caves in to the terrorist propaganda... Four terrorists against two empires, it's not looking pretty.

The two remaining empires still have trouble working together against the 'common enemy' (mainly because Andy T fancies his chances at a victory)... But his plans are foiled as the game is called off due to people needed to sleep and keep hold of their sanity. The game is halted and everyone goes home giggling about suicide bombers and weapons of mass destruction...

Game Report: Andy T, Andy S, Tom L & Ilaria

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Four players, a late start for a weekday and we're off! Andy S lays his three villages first and tries to cut off the south, Ilaria takes Italy, Africa and the States, Tom Asia and that leaves Andy T split over several continents, playing what Andy S labelled an aggressive move by taking Argentina.

Aggressive from the start, Ilaria strikes out at Tom at the first opportunity, Andy T turns evil early, hangs back for a short while but sees an opportunity and also takes pop at Tom. Secret Messages are already in full flow, even though most of them just mention birthday presents. Tom pulls off a beautiful 'Weapon's Inspector' and manages to steal a nuke from Andy S, but uses it on Andy T who has a bunker.

She learns a new phrase 'Let's tear them a new arsehole'Tom is starting to feel put upon when Ila drops two nukes on him in a single turn, nasty. Again Andy T spots an opportunity and cleans up Tom's remaining outposts with a few terrorists. Andy S takes the balaclava of evil and we have ourselves a terrorist player.

Some kind of evil pact between the two Andy's means Ila starts to feel the wrath of Andy T, whilst Andy S concentrates on the terrorists throughout Asia. Ilaria's paranoia is running high, excitement as she pulls the 'Double Agent' card and steals of all Andy T's secret messages, she learns a new phrase 'Let's tear them a new arsehole'...

All hell breaks loose (and the pack between the Andy's disappears quite quickly) and at the end of it Ila joins Tom as the terrorist player... Andy S is about to turn himself, Global Terrorism' card in hand but Andy T beats him to it, jacking it in as he doesn't want to fight terrorism alone. A straight rumble between the terrorist and Andy S last a couple of rounds before the double-crossing-bastard manages to pull off another victory for his Empire!

Game Report: Andy T, Andy S & Hamish

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Hamish is back for more War on Terroring and we've got ourselves a nice little three player game. Hamish starts in Nowhere and South America, Andy S spreads himself throughout Asia and Andy T tries to grab Europe, a chunk of Asia and North America with his first three villages. Andy S doesn't seem that keen on his new neighbour and nukes Mongolia at his first opportunity, strengthening his hold on Asia.

Andy T retaliates with terrorism but unfortunately attacks Hamish, who is already 'evil', at the same time, creating a new enemy. Hamish then wades in and starts throwing terrorists around in North America, before long Andy T's empire is looking a little sad. Andy T does manage to clip Hamish's wings a little with a nuke in the Congo. Hamish kidnaps one of Andy T's politicians, luckily Andy T is successful when he sends the troops in, otherwise he could have been out of the game early.

it's looking like the terrorists are going to winAs it is, another turn or so and he quits to become a terrorist player. A few turns later and Hamish bails out and joins him, it's the terrorists up against Andy S and it's looking like the terrorists are going to win. They managed to clear Andy S out of Africa and Australia, keeping him contained in Asia. Or so we think, Andy S has the luck of the Irish and with a very fortunate set of cards manages to secure the whole of Africa in a single turn, earning him yet another victory as an empire. Just over 2 and half hours, one very happy empire, two distraught terrorists.

Game Report: Andy T, Andy S & Tom M-J

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A late night game, with a strict time limit of 3 hours as Andy S had to catch a plane. It gets moving quickly with Andy S in the Americas, Tom in East Asia and Andy T in between the two. Feeling pressured from both sides Andy T decides to move into the rest of Asia, which is helped with the aid of a nuke, Tom escapes out the back and decides to re-locate to Nowhere and Australia, which leads to Indonesia becoming a choice terrorist destination.

fear, paranoia and suicide bombers...While all this is going on Andy S is building his empire in the Americas, a developed and rich nation. Andy T decides that it's time to open up another front in Iceland, he motivates his people... Andy S kicks back with a strong hand of cards and two empires clash. The rest of the game is foggy haze of back-stabbing, fear, paranoia and suicide bombers. The three hour bell rings and we call it a night, it could have been anyone's... Or no-one's...