Bravo and Charlie

[Gnarfflinger]

Well, I expect to be eliminated with this fall turn. It turns out that yes, the Heartlands was indeed responsible for California stabbing me.

I've learned two things about BC in this scenario:

1, to fight the Heartlands, you need a willing and competent Quebec.

2, California can't be trusted. For BC to launch any aggression elsewhere, they need an ally or they are forced to overcommit, so California will walk in and assimilate them rapidly.

 

[slappy]

I think you need to worry about opposing alliances more than anything else...kinda like any one of EF&G needing to avoid the other two ganging up. With BC, it's HL plus any of QU, NY or CA that will be deadly. Get one of the other three on your side and you have a chance. I made the decision to stab QU, thinking that I could convince NY that I was a better ally than HL, but the rise of such strong powers in the south (Mexico and FL) simply made it impossible to convince NY that it was the right time to turn on HL.

As of now, I'm trying to play the junior partner to both NY and Mexico. Let's see if that works.

 

[slappy]

Okay, note the time and date. BC's goose is cooked as of this moment. I am now being dictated terms...not quite explicitly for my survival but the writing is on the wall. New York won't cut me any slack on my efforts to hold off Heartland and Mexico has informed me that his little Texan janissary is planning to move up to my border "as a survival move". The worst part is that this will likely be a long, long decline to elimination.

 

[Gnarfflinger]

For me the conclusion was reached real quick. I still would have moved on Manitoba, but if Quebec didn't play ball, I'd screw them over while coming back to cover my ass. Manitiba would more be a move to get a second force to fight California with. California CANNOT be trusted, and they must be conquered. I'm not sure what to do from there, but the Heartlands would ultimately be a target.

 

[slappy]

I've just struck a deal (I think) with Heartland and NY. I was planning to resist them and hope for Mexico to join me in an eastward push, but an email from Mexico late yesterday more or less announced his intention to occupy the entire west coast right up to my doorstep. I've since ordered an About Face Slappy.

 

[slappy]

About Face Slappy continues with dueling janissaries. My little pal California is about to knock Mexico's henchman Texas out of the game. Meanwhile, I'm essentially henchman to much bigger Heartland and New York

LINK

 

[slappy]

Just to finish off this story, I managed to hang on and actually start to prosper in a northern alliance so that I finished in the DIAS with the third-largest SC share (technically fourth-largest, but only because it was Autumn when we stopped and the three SCs I'd just won had not yet officially changed hands). If we'd waited until Winter for the DIAS, Peru would have been eliminated, but as it was we finished in an 8-way draw out of an original 10 powers! Heh. I didn't do a count before voting or else I might just have shot down the draw on principle.