Knights of the Cardboard Castle

We first played Han’s copy of Twilight Struggle over a year ago. Both of us was quite impressed with it at the time and my wife was eager to play more but I thought we probably shouldn’t keep someone else’s copy of the game for too long, especially as it took us the better part of a week to get through a game. We found it so tense and complicated that we only managed to play a little of it every evening. The design also irked me with its heavy use of hard counters, forcing you to remember whether or not certain cards have already come out before you can safely do some actions etc.

Still, I always had this game at the back of my mind. I’ve become more accustomed to the idea that learning how to play a game includes learning the full list of cards, their effects and when they come out. I’ve also since realized that the game has much more replayability than I originally envisioned as the random distribution of cards creates tremendous variability so that no two game go the same way twice. But most of all, I’ve come to appreciate even more how monumentally difficult it must have been to design and properly balance this game. So when the Deluxe edition finally became available in Malaysia, I went ahead and bought it after conferring with my wife.

I have to say that we’re very happy with this purchase. The cardboard map included in the version Han lent to us wouldn’t stay flat on the table, so the counters kept sliding off, making it necessary to weigh it down with something. Not only does the mounted map in this new edition solve the problem, it also has a linen finish which helps create some friction with the counters, ensuring that they stay put. Even the counters and the box are of distinctly higher quality. I remember being disheartened at how cheaply produced the game looked compared to its reputation on BGG. This Deluxe edition certainly puts paid to these concerns.

So far, I’ve only been able to play it twice, once with Shan and another time with Choo. Both times, I played the US and won, though under very different circumstances. My game with Shan lasted the full ten turns and was very close. As expected the USSR gained a significant lead in VPs in the Early War. Both of us tried so hard to gain control over Europe that it wasn’t unusual for the key battleground countries there to have more than 10 influence counters from each of us. I realized from this game that I shouldn’t try too hard to manipulate the cards remaining in the deck. Many times, I opted to play my cards for Operation Points instead of Events so that the rest of the deck would have more of my cards, but this came back to bite me as it may take a long time for the recycled cards to come back. I just didn’t properly appreciate how many cards the Mid War added.

By contrast, my game with Choo took barely two hours, ending rather abruptly just as we entered the Mid War with me getting 20 VPs. Part of the reason is that Choo was very inexperienced with the game and made some obvious mistakes. He probably shouldn’t have dumped his first three cards in the very first turn on the Space Race. (He headlined with an event that automatically advanced his position on the Space Race Track, played a card for Operation Points for the Space Race normally as his first action. This allowed him to play two cards there per turn, so he did so with his second action.) All this prevented him from bolstering his position in Europe, allowing me to place Influence cheaply on my own rounds. He also tried for a realignment in Eastern Germany even though the odds were against him and this ended up giving me control there.

At the same time, I think I was lucky and had things going for me from the first turn. I headlined with Marshall Plan on the first turn, spreading out tons of influence all over Europe and had the Europe scoring card in hand  as well. I also drew the Middle East scoring card very early and played it while the USSR still had virtually no presence there. (Choo should really have couped Iran.) Plus Choo drew both the Asia and Southeast Asia scoring cards in the same turn when his only presence there was in North and South Korea. It was easy to guess that he had drawn these cards from his actions and it was much easier for me to extend influence into the area via Iran and Australia than it was for him.

Despite these sessions, I’m very much aware that I’ve barely explored a fraction of the gameplay space. I still barely use realignments at all for example, and have played with very few of the Late War cards. It would also be cool to try some of the tricks I’ve read about on BGG, such as the USSR player controlling the Defcon Track to prevent the US from doing any coups and causing the US-player to lose points every turn due to insufficient military operations. Clearly, this is a game with a lot of legs, though you really need an opponent who interested enough in the era to be competent. It’s easily the best two-player game I own currently and I find myself intrigued by similar games, such as the soon to be released Labyrinth.