This game is rocketing along now, in terms of number of turns played, rather than LV which is fortunately reduced! :goodjob:
Although the use of Russell Square reminded me of Jack Russell and I was tempted to go off on a really obscure wicketkeeper cascade, or possibly a canine one, further study of the factors in play herea nd our current position on the map means that I can finally employ the Chinaman! This is not a left arm off spin moving from leg to off unfortunately, but may have the same effect on your plans to build a decent position in the game. :D
So with this manoeuvre, best described as a cross between a half-strile and a parallel flip but nothing like either, we can move from Russell Square to Crossharbour & London Arena on the DLR. Make what you will of that then!

Well, with that cricketing reference I feel the game is moving faster than Alex Tudor's shins. That move of yours, though, has me more confused than a Shane Warne flipper. With our LV down lower than India's current run rate and my tokens being fewer in number than recent English Ashes victories, I feel like I am facing the 1980s West Indian bowling attack. (By the way, who remembers the Rory Bremner version of Paul Hardcastle's '19'? 'Destruction, of batsmen in their prime, whose average score was 19. Nineteen, n..n..n..n..nineteen. It's a long, slow, lazy delivery, but it's the best I can do.') But with the captaining insight of Mike Brearley, and some acrobatics worthy of Jonty Rhodes, I see a way out of the close fielding cordon that is the DLR, and smash a beautiful cover drive towards, where else, the Oval.

Cricket? Batsman? Sounds like some sort of game. :lol: As a "deprived American", I have to admit that my knowledge of cricket is slight, at best. It is moments like this that I find myself somewhat in the dark, groping to make an appropriate move.

Realizing thet the Notting Hill Carnival is going to be drawing such crowds as to require altered opening times for the stations in the area this Sunday (and Monday), I choose to play through here now rather than then. I have no desire to see a repeat performance of the LV draining we saw at Leicester Square. Therefore, at the cost of one silver and two blue tokens, I make my way to Notting Hill Gate.

Now that the streets of Notting Hill have finally been cleared of the majority of the carnival litter, let us take the tube and visit a green haven in the middle of London at Green Park. This will boost our LV, but at the cost of reversing the Beck's coefficient, which will now proceed on a sinusoidal wave for the next few turns. Try not to get thrown off!

Edit: I've just noticed that it's Tiefling's birthday today! :D Why not celebrate with a game of MC?

Ah, delightful Green Park, change here for Jubilee and Victoria lines and for Buckingham Palace. A bit of London history for you - apparently Green Park got its name from the time of that well known philanderer Charles II. He was out walking with his court when he saw a particularly attractive flower, which he picked and said he would give to the most beautiful woman in the Park. His wife was understandably miffed when he walked past her and gave it to one of her ladies in waiting. She thenceforward decreed that no flowers be allowed in the park, hence it becoming known as the green park, since all there was in it was grass and trees. This quaint story does not explain the delightful displays of 'a host of golden daffodils' which every Spring greet those of us lucky enough to walk through the park on our way to work, but nonetheless, it's good for fooling the tourists:)

After that digression, I am feeling in a historical mood (note, not an historical mood - we'll have none of that rubbish here) so I suggest we pay a visit to the Museum of London, which is near Barbican station. I think the Beck's coefficient will allow me to make such a manouver, though I confess to being more familiar with his beer, or indeed his music, than his MC prowess.

I had been hoping to get out of Notting Hill before the carnival closed us in, but, never mind. :) Green Park, followed by Barbican, have served us well.

The visit to the Museum has been most delightful. It has inspired me to visit some areas of London that I have not yet seen. With that in mind, I shall stop at a site which was virtually destroyed in 1941, but was rebuilt, and stands again in its architectural splendor, Bow Church.

Note that with the Beck's being sinusoidal, we are now actually further from winning the game than we were on Supernaut's turn. But the next play should bring us back in line.

Oh no! I've just realised that you've been waiting for me to take my turn. I suppose that's the trouble with being subscribed to the thread, as I won't come and check it on spec to see if it's my turn, but just wait until I get two messages for it. Idiot :rolleyes:

Well I'm off on holiday tomorrow, leaving for a week in Paris so I shall be exceptionally mean, swap my cerise tokens for air miles and take you to Étienne Marcel, on Ligne 4 of the Paris Métro - Porte de Clignancourt to Porte d'Orléans. Get out of that one! :D

AHA! This is truly one for the MC historians. The Bow Church to Etienne Marcel move has not been done since the Battle of Talavera in 1808. I am, coincidentally, also going on holiday tomorrow, to the site of this great British military victory. Although it was a terrible MC defeat for the Duke of Wellington (one of his few). He worked out a truly splendid return move, taking advantage of the truly phenomenal LV built up by the international move, but was foiled by the absence of a cross-channel rail link. The construction of this link, completed nearly 200 year later, means it is possible for me to leap back to Waterloo (did you really think it was coincidental that they chose to end the link at the station named after the Iron Duke's most famour military victory?). I am then on the right branch of the Northern line to pick up the red and green tokens we previously left at Leicester Square, and then, if I have correctly calculated the Beck's coefficient, and barring any passenger action on the train in front, this should bring us magnificently to Mornington Crescent, thus enabling me to not only win the game but also to do a small service in further heightening the already gargantuan reputation of one of Britain's finest servants and MC players.

I thank you all, and look forward to another game when we all return from foreign climes (except for Padma, who seems to be stuck in them).

I am stunned. Simply stunned. I went back and re-calculated the Beck's three times for the last two moves. The shift is exponential! It was a mere 0.2475 after my turn, but the Duke jumped it to 0.5136, and Supernaut, obviously, got it to 1.0000!

Well done, I say. Well done!

I certainly look forward to the next game. Although, I do wish we could find some other players to join in. The last game came down to the Duke and myself, and while a three-player game is much more enjoyable than a two-player, more would be more enjoyable still. I did PM Tiefling a week or so ago, as he is still visiting the forums, but he has not replied as yet. Perhaps Crazy Eddie may be able to join a a new game.

Yes, I haven't been outside the USA since 1996, when I returned from a two-year stay in "bella" Napoli, in southern Italy. Unfortunately, given my current situation, it will probably be years before I visit Europe again, if ever. :(

Wow, so fast... :goodjob: Duke, seems that you did a sad move :) (for French people of course ;))

I know you're on holiday in Paris right now, but just so you know we didn't forget you. :D

Happy Birthday! :bday: :beer: [party] :beer: :bday:

Thank you. :D

Would anyone fancy a game of Etienne Marcel then?
Here (http://www.psryourhomeinparis.com/Metro.pdf) is a .pdf file with a map of the Paris metro. :)

If not, then I am happy to play another game in London but maybe we should consider a more radical ruleset for our next foray?

Hehe, I wonder how is called the French Mornington crescent equal station ;)

Well the only version I've ever played was with Etienne Marcel and I think that this is an appropriate substitute for the glorious MC, if a little central. It has no other lines than number 4, Paris' least popular line and most similar to the Northern Line, and its more central position means that players must be aware of the threat from all quarters. :goodjob:

We don't have to play this newish system, but bear in mind that since the Seine is not tidal in the centre of Paris, you will not get the fluctuations sometimes experienced from Bank eastwards. This could settle the game down, but the ever-present threat of protest marches and strikes will no doubt add a little spice to proceedings. Genghis will probably win, but it's the taking part that counts, what! :D

I would be up for Etienne Marcel as you have provided the pdf file. :D I am willing to abide by the other players' desires.

I was hoping that someone else would come and lend their support to the game before I ploughed on regardless but this isn't looking too likely. :(
It's just not cricket with only two players, at least in this PBEM setting (sort of) so please shout out if you have the yearning to play a little MC (EM in this case of course). Surely Genghis can squeeze in a move a week or so (seems to be the slow rate we have been reduced to recently) or maybe someone else. Anyone else please! Please!
I may just get things underway on Monday if there have been no further responses but it needn't be me to play the first move and if anyone else would like to state their interest then how better than to start things going? The Becque's coefficient is nigh identical and although you will notice that far more stations are named after battles, we can still have a peaceful game if that is preferred.

Are there really that few MC fans visiting this board? :(

Heck, I'm an American, only visited England once, and I'm holding my own. I've never visited Paris, yet I'm willing to give this EM variant a try.

Supernaut hasn't been heard from since he posted the winning move in the last game.

Tiefling's last post was in August (although I can tell he visited the forums last on Sept 4).

Crazy Eddie was last seen in June.

GenghisK we know is at least browsing this thread. :D

I know stormerne is around; I don't know why he isn't playing. :(

I really enjoy playing against the Duke, but as he says, two-player really isn't cricket. It is much more fun when there are additional players available to muck up your strategy, and to make you pay especial attention to the ramifications of each move. Is one play a week really too much to ask?

Anyway, Duke, I agree that if we get no response by Monday, we may as well start the game.

well sorry Duke, I've been buried under work recently and as you could see, I just pop in the forum once in a while. And the situation isn't improving, so i really can't stand attending everyday the game... Sorry.

You don't have to play every day though. You are welcome to just play a turn each time you visit this thread, throw a spanner into the works of whatever we were planning, and then go away again. :)

Well off we go again!
I have decided to get things started in an attacking way, but leaving things very open too:

Charles de Gaulle-Etoile

I am now back in country after my sojourn in Iberia, and look what I find! A foreign verison of the world's greatest game. I may have to be a spectator on this one for a bit till I get the hang of it (and deal with all the work awaiting my return to the office :( ) - hope you don't mind if I jump in halfway.

An intriguing opening, Duke. Very aggressive, yet this early in the game, it leaves one with so many possibilities for reply. In my case, rather than the more commonly used Gare d'Austerlitz with its robust defensive characteristics, I shall attempt a subtler game, and celebrate Supernaut's return to the thread, with

Place des Fêtes.

And Supernaut, rest assured, whenever you feel ready to jump into the game, you are more than welcome! :D

Btw, I guess you don't play RER :)
Mmm, place des fetes, quite a walk. I'll probably go down a bit, towards the place d'Italie then... ahem.

No we aren't using the RER but feel free to take the tram if you'd like. :)
Place d'Italie alors?
On a slightly mucky tour of Paris, I shall go to Strasbourg St-Denis and then on to Pigalle. Hopefully at the intersection of lines 2 and 12 someone might take it upon themselves to climb up la Butte de Montmartre and use the strategic position to work out how to counter the effects of the three pink tokens I have collected (in lycra, leather and rubber, as might be expected after that little trip :blush:).

Climb? Sounds like one could break a sweat! :lol: No, I shall use the Funiculaire, as I have enjoyed these conveyences since I first rode one on the Italian island of Capri. :)

From this vantage point, I think I see a way of mitigating the worst of the "pink" effects. I shall take line 2 back west and south to line 1, and then east back into the city. I am sorely tempted to stop at George V, but being an American I press on to Franklin-D. Roosevelt.

I'm afraid that this thread will become lost in the reshuffle that TF has done of these forums so will waste no more time hoping for someone else to come along and play Montparnasse-Bienvenue.

I hesitated a bit, but why not Nation

Please forgive my long absence from this thread. I have been ill, and the level of concentration needed to play this game well, especially in this "foreign", unfamiliar (to me) city was more than my head could take.

Be that as it may, I will undertake to boost our LV with a swing to the other side of the city, to Porte de Clichy.

*listens to the sound of crickets chirping*


:sad:


:cry:

Can i play too?
Im quite good but I havent played in ages.
Im going to download the map so get ready for a whipping by the undefeated Scarborough champion....
Its nice to find people who appreciate the finer stratagies of the game.

(i should have known, thaumaturge)

Oooh, yes! We welcome anyone willing to play! :D

I fear the Duke and I would get too used to each other's strategies if it were only the two of us, time and again.

For my opening gambit then.....

I see an opening for ettiene redouble triangulation to none other than..... :groucho:

Pasteur

Ahhh, i feel the rustiness fall away like a candyfloss suit in the rain :)
Unfortunately i have had not the time to properly study your forms gentlemen, so i hope i am not being too rash with such an open flank:undecide:

It is tempting to start a battles cascade but I fear that this might be all too easy on the Paris metro.
Instead I shall bifurcate and lead you all away to Denfert Rochereau in the hope of avoiding one of Paris' many protest marches, while splitting off toward l'Assemblée Nationale, the usual desired destination of most such marches. This may stagnate this particular thread of the bifurcation but remember that the French setting allows you to accumulate LV on the other thread and then transfer it by splitting it in half. :)

For those interested, the last (and only) march that I went on was diverted across the Seine toward the Louvre by the gendarmes before we could even get to the Orsay, let alone l'Assemblée. I wasn't too disappointed, but protesting is almost a Parisian sport and I had a great day out singing insulting songs about government ministers. :D

Well, well, a bifurcation. And a very interesting one at that.

I believe I shall split these threads to either side of the river, in hopes of increased LV when they are finally rejoined. Therefore, from Denfert Rochereau, we shall run north, then east, to Laumière.

As for the other thread, let us remain on Line 13, but drop down to Plaisance.

Be aware that this combination places the entirety of Line 4 in squonk, but that should prove no great hardship in this case, unless one really wants to attempt the Château Rouge Double Reverse. :D

Well, this could be the last gasp of a dying thread. :(

If no-one replies to this within a week or so then I'm going to ask AoA to unsticky the thread. :(

It has been a long long time since we visited the Métro, and I am beginning to suspect that some of the players have found their way into the famous Parisian catacombs and may never be seen here again. :eek:
From Laumière and Plaisance I shall introduce the mainline gambit, hoping to transfer this London technique to unfamiliar surroundings but profit with the greater speed and timekeeping of the Sociétè Narionale des Chemins de Fer. In which case, the first line moves express to Gare de Lyon, and we take the A-train on the second to Gare de l'Est. The twin pulls exerted on the LV may effect the next turn, tending as they do to drag play toward the east of Paris, but clever use of the periphérique could see us rocket back to Michel Ange Molitor in no time. :)

Perhaps it was my sadness at hearing that the duke o' york may not be with us anymore (LINK (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=596856#post596856)), for a while at least, but I obviously did not employ clever use of the periphérique. Instead, I ended up at Père Lachaise, and Daumesnil.

I believe that the combined LV could cause quite serious problems, but Padmas move allows me to end the bifurcation with the play Republique and Republique. A quick calculation indicates that the LV may now be so high that we might end up, via the Chunnel, back on the London underground (where the velocity will quickly be reduced ) but I think the French air traffic controlers strike offers a way to avoid this.

(BTW, hello again Padma, Duke, and all other MC fans.:goodjob:)

Whew! I have rarely played with LV this high. I was able to avoid a return to London, but only barely. I actually was even considering a move to Etienne Marcel but quickly realized this would result in a severe "crash and burn" at this point. I therefore settled for some tricky line-switching, and with the expenditure of two green tokens, managed to land safely at Pasteur.

Please note that while I have drained some of the LV, my calculations show the Beck's Coefficient to be extremely high. I would be surprised to see this little "French Expedition" go on much longer. :)

You're quite right Padma, my use of high LV - rather unsporting of me to jump into the game with such a move, I admit - has forced you onto the defensive and allowed me to quickly take advantage.
The remaining LV, with some tricksy "spin" added will, I believe allow me to now play Ettienne Marcel :)

Excellent move, Crazy Eddie! :goodjob:

I certainly won't hold your entry play against you. I imagine the Duke was working toward a similar conclusion anyway. His use of the mainline gambit in his last post implies as much. ;) I was simply caught off guard and without adequate defense.

In any case, I cannot consider it a "Lurker's Victory", as you did not merely watch and wait, to jump in with the winning play, but instead started with a sound move, based on the tactical situation as it stood. Plus, we have played together before, and I don't believe you would stoop to such lows. :D

Anyway, now that you have won, how about a change of venue? Back to London for another round? Perhaps some of our lurkers will feel more comfortable joining in on familiar ground.

:hmm: I can't find a good site about this game. Apparently, from the sites I've been to, you win by playing Mornington Crescent? So I can go first, say Mornington Crescent, and win? If so, this is an absurd little game. I doubt these are the rules, however, and I probably found a bad site. I'm guessing the real rules are that you have to follow a linear path, or something like that.

Can somone explain them to me?

CG

Greetings Sir, and welcome to the wonderful and subtle game that is Mornington Crescent. The rules are of course too simple to be worth repeating here, but to aid you in your understanding of the game here are some useful links:

York Mornington Encyclopedia (http://madeira.physiol.ucl.ac.uk/people/jim/mc_em.html)

Mornington Crescent variations (http://www.isihac.co.uk/games/mcvariations.html)

BTW, due to the "offside rule", playing Mornington Crescent immediately is not allowed. I'm sure you would agree that the game would be somewhat pointless if this were not so. :)

Next game starting soon, all players welcome!

Originally posted by Crazy Eddie

BTW, due to the "offside rule", playing Mornington Crescent immediately is not allowed. I'm sure you would agree that the game would be somewhat pointless if this were not so. :)

So when is calling Mornington Crescent allowed? Sorry, those links are quite large. :)

CG

Ahh, cgannon64. A pleasure to see you here in this thread. :D

And yes, those links are quite large. Not a surprise, when one considers that the official rule book for MC runs to 125,000 pages. That's before adding in the officially recognized variants and updates, which add about 45,000 more, in the most recent edition. Obviously, it is virtually never printed out in full; one merely checks one of the online sources for the rule in question.

My personal favorite site is The Encyclopaedia Morningtonia, at the York site Crazy Eddie linked to, above. It has provided some valuable insights into the game, for me.

I don't want to scare anyone off with the size of the rulebook however. I think most players would agree with me that this a game that one can learn in minutes, but take a lifetime to master. Perhaps the best way to learn is to follow along a few of the previously played games, and then jump in and attempt to play along. I followed several games, both here, and in a now-defunct thread at Poly, as well as at the York site, before I joined a game. I found the on-going "Long Game" at York to be a veritable treasure-trove for knowledge gained.

BTW, MC is a quintessential British game. I am one of the few American players I have run into on these boards. If you feel up to the challenge, I'd be glad to have you aboard! :D

Sound advice Padma. :goodjob:
Heres a link to the York MC server:
York Mornington Crescent (http://madeira.physiol.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/crescent/mornington.pl)

and the Pants MC server:
Pants Mornigton Crescent (http://pantsmc.cream.org/)

to help give MC newbies a good idea of the game.

The new game then - London, original standard rules OK Padma?

Sounds fine to me, Eddie! :D

Assuming, of course, that by "original, standard rules" you are referring the Chalk Farm '84 Ruleset, as amended by the Finsbury Option of '88. I am still undecided about the use of the Holland Park 2000 Ruleset, as the purported Errata sheet for the first edition is already running to several hundred pages.

:ack: Holland Park rules? I'm a traditionalist Padma, I'd be drummed out of CAMREC for that. ;) We'll keep things simple, hopefully this might encourage newcomers. :)

I'll start the play, obviously, with Aldgate East

And of course... happy birthday Padma. :D

:bday: :bday:

Well, the Holland Park 2000 rules were supposed to be a compromise between CAMREC and IMCS, concerning the changes found in the Finsbury Amendment, and adding additional updates to keep up with the ever-changing Underground, but in the end, no one was really satisfied. Fortunately, the disputes have not resulted in actual violence (yet).

So, back to the basics it is. With an opening of Aldgate East, I think I must respond with Bank.

And thank you for the birthday wishes. :D

My local branch of CAMREC is very conservative Padma, indeed some of the more recalcitrant members were still insisting on the Crescent '31 ruleset as late as 1974 :eek:

My move, Shadwell

Get any nice presents?

My word, they must be conservative! Crescent '31 was certainly quite out-of-date by that time. Playable, certainly, but woefully inadequate to handle the Tube as it had evolved, since.

I seem to recall hearing something about a 2002 ruleset being proposed, but haven't seen anything concrete. I wonder if it was swept under the rug after the disputes concerning the Holland Park ruleset. It will take a number of years, I believe, before a new ruleset is made that will be agreeable to the majority of both groups.

BTW, are we playing with tokens this game? It may make a difference as we get further along.

Tokens or not, the best move I can see is to head south of the river to Elephant &Castle.

And yes, I received PTW as an early present a couple weeks ago, and my son gave me DVDs of Star Wars Episodes I and II. I think my daughter's present was to take the kids over to her boyfriend's for 5 days, leaving my wife and myself alone. :D

Yes, very conservative. Just between ourselves this is more to do with forcing the newer players to play with an unfamiliar ruleset in order to stay at the top of the leader board, but as one of the leading members is a distant relative of Mrs Trellis this faction is unassailable at the moment.

Yes, tokens and podumes are OK for this game. And don't forget, under the original standard rules, Rule 12 no longer applies, although 12a is still in force (‘Rule 12 no longer applies’).

I think at this point it might be prudent to play Surrey Quays

For someone married with children I expect that last gift was most appreciated. ;)

I found that reference to a new ruleset, and I was right: it hasn't been well-received at all. It is/was the Arball 2001 ruleset, and while it adds more complexity, some of the changes are, shall we say, a bit "difficult" for traditionalists to accept. Especially as many of the more popular and well-entrenched moves are impossible under this ruleset. Some of the "new generation" of players seem to be quite taken with it, and I believe IMCS is toying with it, alowing occasional matches to be played by these rules, but they seem rather tepid in their acceptance. CAMREC has yet to be heard from on the issue, but one can be sure that, as traditionalists, anything they say will be less than complimentary.

Let me see, from Surrey Quays I should go to ... Oho! You almost caught me out, Eddie! All this talk about tradition, and original rules, lulled me into a bit of complacency I guess. If I hadn't been reading an old article about Ruttsborough describing a game where he used the same maneuver, I would have missed it! But I think that, by expending a blue token, and crossing the river twice to land at Cutty Sark, I can foil your nefarious plan!

(And yes, the present from my daughter was definitely the best she could have given us. ;) )

Foiled! :mischief:
Still, I can recover by starting a Thameslink cascade. (picking up two puce tokens) Blackfriars

I have read through much of this thread and looked at links on the internet and I think I am confident enough to begin...

But go easy on me- despite being a massive fan of the London Underground (at least 4 days lost in there!) I am a greenhorn American and feel a bit out of my league.

For this reason, I am going to adopt the "recommended" novice strategy but adapt it to my geographic preference for the Black Heath region.

In otherwords (and I know Stormerne will have seen this coming), when you insert me in to queue, I'll be starting with North Greenwich (for the Dome)

Gentlemen, gentlemen... Is this the way to help newcomers play the game? Have you lost the edge? Have you really been reduced to such frivolities? I've seen more action in the pigeons annoying the tourists around the Tower or London than you essay here.

Come... let us educate our virgin a fair fight with zest and energy. Throw off your pedestrian ways and show your mettle. Leave your limp cascades and get yourself huffing. Must I really put aside my mantle of old age to make you fight? <sigh> All right then: Baker Street - a five line interchange to draw the tokens across town.

The problem with jumping into a game this complex is the very real danger of just completely bungling it right off the bat- as in my first game of Axis and Allies where I predicated my whole strategy on the false premise that you could use a stationary transport as a land bridge.

Keep in mind as I timidly offer up my next move that I am working with a PPDF tube map, only three color tokens available in my house at the moment (I have to pretend I have the full set), and currently without a calculator.

So it is that I "try" something, half afraid that I am going to be laughed out of this thread as an ignoramus, half emboldened that if nothing else, protecting myself by conjecturing a "Czukay manipulation", I am about to cause some havoc by taking us to Dollis Hill.

Encouragement, advise, ridicule welcome...

Sultan, first, let me welcome you to this thread. :D

Second, let me say you are a complete b******! ;) Of all the possible moves you could have made, here, you had to start a D-H loop! I don't have the LV for an Ongar Denial, and I am not positioned for a stronger attack, so I am forced into ... Dollis Hill. :(

And yes, Stormerne, it is difficult to keep an edge when it is just the same two players, over and over again. First it was the Duke and myself, and now Crazy Eddie came back just when the Duke left. We were admittedly playing rather "light", in hopes of enticing a newbie or two to join. We didn't want to frighten anyone off. Perhaps, if you and Sultan stick around, we can get this game really moving! :D

Welcome Sultan, :) and welcomeback Stormerne. :goodjob:
Mornignton Crescent is much more challenging with more players it's true. But on the other hand, at the moment I'm still stuck at Dollis Hill

I am getting antsy to call another move. I will admit that I was acting "experimentally" and without a strategic objective when I played that last turn. My hope in the past few days was that Stormerne would come up with something (or weigh in with leading commentary), but I have done hours of research and here is the situation as I see it:

Without a leather podume, I have about 3 options to keep things moving. I can break down and do the math for the gravitational slingshot (my last option), I can play defensively and farkle and wait for one of you to move on, I could delve deeper into Ruttsborough's strategy and try the Baron's Court Maneuver, which I think would be an ugly way to get to know you guys.

I'm sure I haven't a clue what to play next, so I will go on waiting...

Be careful gentlemen. Our newbie is not all he seems. He has already proven that he has done the bookwork to survive here, even if he appears hesitant.

I find myself in a tricky position with only one play so far in this game, not having built up sufficient line velocity or podumes to counter such an early Dollis Hill loop. But, as has been demonstrated by greater players than me, Dollis Hill is neither an inevitability nor something necessarily to be feared.

In this case I will use a reasonably well documented but oft overlooked manoevre - the Pevsner Shunt. Sure I will lose one of my starting tokens but that's fine with the rest of you at a disadvantage, stuck in the loop waiting to break out.

The Pevsner Shunt will take me to Neasden. The Dollis Hill gravitational force was sucking me in that direction anyway. Therefore by applying what little starting LV I had across the rails and not along them, I can get sufficiently perturbation from that force to just miss Dollis Hill on the next move and slingshot right past it with high LV. But I'll be long enough at Neasden to visit the magnificent Hindu temple (http://www.swaminarayan.org/globalnetwork/europe/london.htm) there.

A note to Sultan. The other players did not have this resource at their disposal as they could not have performed a stationary shunt from their quadrant. Whether you stumbled on the Dollis Hill Loop by accident or whether it was a calculated tactic, it is no less than their just deserts for such wishy-washy play beforehand and a timely wake-up call.

A note to the others. You may remember the famous Dr. Kiessling making a contribution here after our encounter some months ago. You will no doubt be distressed to learn that the good Doctor is now convalescing from a tendon injury sustained in our return match. His physician has forbidden him to straddle until the end of January. Far be it for me to exhibit any schadenfreude, I extend my sincere good wishes for his speedy recovery. Honest.

I welcome your return to this thread, stormerne. A bit of shaking up is just what we needed. (Especially to get us out of that !*@&$ Dollis Hill loop!)

And I agree about Sultan. He appears to have followed the same route as I, and studied up on the game and the theories within, before stepping into a game. I am sure he will prove to be a credible opponent.

As to your use of the Pevsner Shunt, I was working toward that end myself, but found I needed at least one more round through the Loop to build up sufficient LV to perform it safely. Thus, I can now perform a full strile, and with the expenditure of a puce token to reverse the spin, I can safely land at Moor Park. This should give me a dominant position in the First Quadrant, and very good possibilities as far south as the River.

Originally posted by stormerne

A note to Sultan. The other players did not have this resource at their disposal as they could not have performed a stationary shunt from their quadrant. Whether you stumbled on the Dollis Hill Loop by accident or whether it was a calculated tactic, it is no less than their just deserts for such wishy-washy play beforehand and a timely wake-up call.


As a matter of fact the only calculation involved was the idea that it would bring everyone together and stall everyone until I had time to get a better handle on things!

Thanks for the link to the temple, very interesting, and another reason why I am risking my intellectual reputation testing the waters of this curious game.

When I emerge, chastened, from the loop I'll be double-reversed down the line, just past Stormerne at Wembley Park.

No fancy moves at the moment I think, I suspect stormerne is planning some nasty surprises. Finchley Road, declaring Baker Street as my home station.

You're over modest Eddie. That declaration would have earned a round of applause by the audience of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue..

The slingshot worked. No one is blocking me. My LV has soared. I can double strile across the city, pick a white token windfall en route (What will I use it for? Is it just a smokescreen?), convert half the LV to spin, and hover like a top within the sound of Bow Bells in Cockney land at Pudding Mill Lane.

You know what happens to a spinning top if you try to knock it off balance don't you? It becomes a lethal object and woe betide anyone in its path. Go on - make my day...

Well things certainly seem to have taken an interesting turn since I was last in these parts. Sultan's announcing his arrival with the dreaded DH loop proves that we can no longer afford to rest upon our laurels and must come up with something particularly sneaky to justify our reputations. With that in mind then I shall go all out and trifurcate. This will certainly give you all a headache and hopefully confuse you for just long enough until I can get back to CFC to capitalise and triumph in this game. The snake charmers of India would have plenty of difficulty dealing with three such sinuous threads but how will my esteemed challengers cope?
Pudding Mill Lane to Leicester Square may be well-documented and perhaps even regarded as somewhat staid in these days of flash-in-the-pan trickery and games with colossal LV, but there is a lot to be said for the techniques passed down by the old MC masters and with a modern adaptation (swinging below the river via Elephant and Castle to deliver Salaam's slap), then I'm sure you will agree that there is life in the old dog yet.
My second thread, from Pudding Mill to Ladbroke Grove, spreads the play even further and voids all orange tokens collected upstream of Bank. While this does not have the desired effect of robbing stormerne of his new hoard of white tokens, nevertheless without their orange counterparts then their effectiveness is practically halved and it will mean that you others can avoid the Forddingham reverse for at least the next three turns. But when it comes then don't say I didn't warn you!
Recognising the strength of Eddie's play to home at Baker Street, I too shall take this opportunity to test the prevailing currents and seek out a home of my own. With the LV badly scarred after your sojourn at Dollis Hill, the uncertainty of the Beck's co-efficient and what I can only refer to as "a funny feeling", then it would be downright foolhardy not to take full advantage of the situation and declare my home station as Mile End.

I'm afraid that I can give no indications of when I may be able to revisit this thread but am delighted that the grand spirit of MC is being kept alive at CFC. I hope that the good Doctor recovers from what sounds to be quite a nasty injury and that Santa Claus brings you all a grand pile of buff tokens and optimum LV for the year to come.

Have you read my PM Duke?

TRIFURCATING?!!!
Isn't it enough that with your return we've got the most players at once rolling in this thread?

Very well...

Thead One: Down at the end of the very long elevator ride, you will find my home station of Goodge Street.

Thread Two: I'll sacrifice the tokens to reverse to Edgware Road confident that I'm buggered on this thread.

Thread Three: More comfortable with this side of the city, I'll strile to West Ham

Duke! Good to see you again, if only for a moment. Be sure you're welcome back here whenever you can make it! :D


As for what you just did to our nice little game: :eek:

Trifurcation! Now I *know* Eddie and I were getting a bit lazy. Well, let me see what Sultan did to it. Hmmm, Leicester Square to Goodge Street. That means that I can ... no, I can't. My, I am in trouble on this thread. The only move I can see is Bayswater. I pick up a green token, but I am sure I am being set up, here.

Thread Two: Ahh, now this one is obvious. I can spin right out to Upney.

Thread Three: Since Sultan is comfortable over here, lets run back to the other side of town to Chiswick Park.

Aw, not a trifurcation after exiting the Dollis Hill loop :aargh: I've rarely seen the Beck's coefficient so low in a game.
1st thread: I'm in knip here, so Goodge St is somewhat forced.
2nd thread: Stepney Green , an unassuming little move...
3rd thread: :hmm: I think I know what Sultan may be planning here, it may be possible to foil his dastardly plan by using one orange and one magenta token and moving to Grange Hill

Confound you Duke!:mad: I had no idea you were going to emerge in this game. I'd built up a helical stress coefficient of more than 267 Brians and that trifurcation was the perfect rebuff. Bugger! In fact I was so surprised that I transferred all my spin into a rather stupid manoevre...:blush: I boarded an Anglia overland train by mistake at Liverpool Street station, fell asleep and went non-stop to Harwich International. I woke up in Hoek van Holland (http://www.hoekvanholland.nl/). It's taken me a little while to get back. Gah!... :aargh:

OK, to the task in hand... Things are not lost and I can get control back in two of the three threads:
Thread one: Two Goodge Streets so soon - normally an endgame play. If any of you would care to join me for Southern Indian cuisine, we can pause to dine at the Ragam Restaurant (http://www.witnesstheworld.btinternet.co.uk/eat/ragam.htm), before pushing on to Notting Hill Gate. Don't worry if you couldn't join me because...
Thread two: Resisting the temptation to back Eddie into the Shoreditch sidings, Goodge Street is a corker!

But what to do about Thread three? Hmmm... it would be unlike me to play defensively so I think a little smokescreen is in order... All this talk of home stations wastes needless time. Mornington Crescent!

Happy Holidays to you all! Hope you are enjoying yourselves. I would be, if I didn't feel like I'd stepped into a Soviet Chess Training Camp and cheerfully plopped down a board asking for a game! You are all incredibly dastardly in this particular MC game... I don't even trust those of you who "seem" to be playing catch-up...

Thread one: Not sure I have enough spin to pull my original idea off, and amused by Stormerne's Hoek van Holland tale into a fond reverie of my 2000 New Year's Eve in Amsterdam (Philadelphia is as exotic as it gets for me this year), I'll skitter on to Holland Park in thread one.

Thread two: there's a whole lotta Stormerne on this line. Thankfully what seemed like a nightmare thread has offered me the chance for respite. I will fall into line and switch feet planted at Goodge Street.

Thread three: Again nothing too bold, I'm going to snatch up the floating tokens north of MC and check on some endgame rules at Chalk Farm.

Happy New Year's Everyone. Merry Christmas. And any other Holiday you feel like celebrating!

Egad! I hope you all haven't been waiting on me! :eek: I got busy over the holidays and quite misplaced this thread in my mental notebook.

Be that as it may, I think by applying a Reverse Levitow maneuver, as introduced in the 1969 World Championships, I can combine the first two threads (Holland Park and Goodge Street) at Bank, netting me two tokens.

Chalk Farm is a knottier problem. It seems the best I can come up with here, is Goodge Street.

:ack:

I think everyone has forgotten this thread, my excuse is PBEMs getting in the way. :mischief:
Never mind, we'll carry on regardless. :)

Your cunning manouver for threads 1 & 2, Padma, opens up the game somewhat, so I can be a bit more daring here: Notting Hill Gate

Thread 3 is a little trickier, but I think I can be confident with Balham , the Gateway to the South.

I haven't forgotten the thread, I've just been stumped trying to figure out how to manage first the trifurcation and Stormerne's threatening endgame antics and now the bifurcation. I'd love to be able to unite the threads but according to my freeware MC-assistant program, haven't got the spin or lv.

So, I'll head over to White City in the first thread to act on the advice of recently fallen hero Pete Townsend to "remember the White City fighting"... and rail ticket in hand, my thread two move pays tribute to not-yet-fallen hero Morrissey's "Vauxhall and I"...

Well, after spending several days computing LV, Spin, and Beck's, I have thrown my hands up in frustration, and decided to play a move from instinct. (Once I shovel out from under all these scraps of paper with computational scribblings, that is. ;) )

The first thread will swing a little to the northwest, to Park Royal. This is actually a much more complex move than it appears on paper, as it involves transferring from the Central to the Piccadilly, and no nearby stations for the switch.

The second thread will come back north of the river, with a full strile to Queens Park. This concentrates the game into my strongest quadrant, and allows for an intersting combination of possible Park and/or Royal Cascades.

Playing moves from instinct is much more fun Padma, I prefer to play like that. Of course you tend to loose more... :mischief:

A very good idea to ignore the Central line at the moment, it's been somewhat disrupted by the Chancery Lane derailment on saturday. Staying well clear of the centre, Rayners Lane

For the other thread, I'll spurn your tempting cascade and offer one of my own, Bethnal Green - with the above derailment limiting your choice of moves westward. :mwaha:

Under the state of emergency declared by Blair, my original plan of moving one of the threads out to Heathrow has to be cancelled. However the unprecedented historical events interfering with our game do afford me the opportunity of reuniting the two seperate threads at Arsenal, where I lose my puce tokens but gain the defense I need to see me through.

Excellent, Sultan! :D

Since the Central Line and the Waterloo & City are both still down, my reply is much more difficult than otherwise. My normal reply to such a move would be Chancery Lane, as used by Abernathy Jones in the 1923 World Championships, but that is clearly out of the question right now.

So I am forced to expend a blue token, and play Seven Sisters.

Your move to the Holding Station of Seven Sisters gives me an exellent opening Padma :goodjob:
I can play King's Cross/St Pancras, and perform a sideways "knerdle" to both of you. :D

Kiss goodbye to some of your tokens guys!

The knerdle really threw me off, and it's taken weeks to figure out a response.

I slink to Earl's Court, virtually tokenless.

:(

I may have lost most of my tokens, but I shall never slink! I shall never give in to tyranny! I shall never give in to oppression!

Oh. Erm, excuse me. <ahem>

Given the state of the Central Line (still closed), I have decided to try something a little risky. (Actually, I am only trying it because it will cost me none of my few remaining tokens. ;) ) I have always been fascinated by the Underground, and since London's Transport Museum is putting on a bit of a show this weekend, I will run over to Covent Garden and have a brisk walk over to the Museum to take it in.

Well I don't know where everyone went or why they staunchly refuse to make moves, maybe it's the war... but I do know that during WW2 the underground was used as a massive shelter during aerial bombardment... something I'd like to learn more about at that Transport museum (I don't make pleasant looking links like Stormerne et al, but it's

http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/about/index.html
)
...so I'll be attacking from the other side at Charing Cross.

Now unless I'm just such a horrible player that nobody wants to tell me they've stopped putting up with my illegal striles, I hope you guys will ring up this thread once in awhile.

Hi Antonius!

I was just stopping by to dust this place. Nobody seems to visit very often anymore. :( I would like to let Crazy Eddie get in a turn, here, because I see he's on the forums fairly often, but he appears to have misplaced his "Guide to the London Underground". I will PM him to make sure he knows we haven't all hunkered down for the duration of the events in Iraq.

In the meantime, just to stir up some dust, increase the LV, and to be a general nuisance, I will play ...

Rayners Lane!

See if you can figure out how to get out of that! ;)

I admit that I'd thought this game had died, if Padma hadn't PMed me I might not have noticed anyone was still posting. :o

But anyways, although Padma's move to Rayners Lane makes this a difficult move for me, I'll play White City, where I can stand outside the BBC TV centre and shout: What the hell has happened to journalism these days eh? The news crews in Iraq nearly outnumber the troops and all we get is half-arsed reports and the same video footage repeated over and over again, accompanied by inane comments from the studio anchors. Gordon Bennett, if you've got nothing to say then don't say anything.

Well, I feel better for saying that. :)

Wow, saw the awesome film Bend it Like Beckham this weekend and besides thrilling me with the sight of young English women changing in the locker room for their football matches, it got me nostalgic for my first long tube rides that I took from Heathrow to North Greenwhich with masses of luggage, back and forth twice in a ten hour period; on the final trip back to the airport I was drunk and had to get off the tube at the movie's setting in Hounslow West to use the loo then wait in the cold night for the next train. In addition to pulling you guys further west and slowing down the already slow LV, I feel pretty confident that I've finally got a roadmap to the endgame...

Pulling us west and slowing the LV, eh? Roadmap to the endgame, eh?

Aldgate East!

That just sent the Beck's coefficient plummeting, and more than doubled the LV! Let's see what you can do with that! :D

:hmm:
My own calculations seem to show that - with much of the Hammersmith & City service now restored, supposedly - the Back's coefficient is higher than everyone seems to think.
Unfortunately my copy of the Encyclopaedia Morningtonia was seized and burnt by a rampaging mob of Holland Park 2000 supporters, so I'm not in a position to take advantage of everyone's mistake here.

I'll play what *seems* to be the right move for me at this point, Moorgate, and hope that there isn't some obscure rule that will make my reasoned, carefully thought out response look like the wild guess that it actually is. :)

No obscure rules here, I've lost my copy of EM in a recent paper shuffle.

But I do know a cascade when I see one, and a game with a need to get the LV higher than the Becks, so I'll reroute us to Notting Hill Gate and make like a Star Trek slingshot around the sun...

/me leafs furiously through the Encyclopaedia Morningtonia. "Eep! I missed a sign change in my calculations! The Beck's is almost through the roof!" :eek:

I went through a ream of paper and half-a-dozen pencils after I wore out my calculator, but I couldn't make it to a good stop at MC. The best I could come up with was Highgate, and I fear I won't see another turn!

Under the circumstances that's a good move Padma, it at least stop's me from heading for MC this turn. :ack:
But even with all of the pencils, paper, calculators and yarrow stalks at my disposal I don't think there is a move that can stop Sultan reaping the honours. :undecide:

The best delaying tactic I can come up with is a dubious half-strile to Kensal Green. Over to you, Mr Bhargash...

You remember the tokens I got for having to turn around at Heathrow? Of course you don't, because I've just chashed them in to slow the LV long enough to park it, pending challenge, in the endgame at Mornington Crescent. Whew! Good on you Padma for pointing out that error; I wasn't about to question the math but I had been worried by what I had perceived as a negative balance until I realized about the physical loop at Heathrow.

Congratulations, Sultan! Well-played! :goodjob:

My math was almost perfect. The problem arose when we merged the threads from the trifurcation, and I forgot to flip the sign of the resultant after each step-down, which threw off all my subsequent calculations. If I had done it correctly, it would be me standing in the Winner's Circle. Ah, well, c'est la vie.

Congratulations again.

Good play Sultan. :goodjob:

Thanks guys, there were times I thought it would never end. :D