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Michael Kaye, Peter Staab, Joe Delaney,
Scott Beall, Doug Porterfield and Philip Yaure play politics
... commie style - which isn't all that different from congress
actually. |
Laughing at the Cold War ...
Victory to He who Bides his Time ...
This year we barely avoided the ignominy of a winnerless game,
and moreover had two players advance with two wins each during
the 1 preliminary games. Ray Stakenas did it the easy way with
wins in his first two heats. Lee Rodrigues won his second and
fourth heat, and needed that second win to make the Final. He
got that win with a certain amount of panache. A healthy Strychnin
was advanced to Party Chief in the 5th turn due to an empty Politburo,
and Lee's 10 Influence gave him two waves and a cure before leaving
office in Turn 8. Again, a healthy Ludmilla was advanced that
round due to an empty Politburo, and gave Lee the win (she was
his 9 Influence PC).
In
the Final, Turn 1 saw seven Candidates and Politburo members
purged by a very effective Palavrian as KGB head. However, he
was not controlled by Nick Smith, who ended in control of Nestor
by the end of that turn, so his success led to his reduction
to the second level. The second turn was relatively uneventful,
as Nick's choice for the KGB head position (Boremtodev) was only
able to do one purge, and the health dice were kind. Nick made
a personal goal by getting a second wave out of Nestor while
having to roll dice for both waves, a first for him. The lack
of purges continued in the third round, with a first attempt
against the foreign minister failing. Sadly, the 91-year-old,
ailing Nestor was convicted and sent to Siberia, and a healthy
Boremtodev ascended to Party Chief. He turned out to owe more
favors to John Pack than he did to Nick, giving John the chance
to reshuffle the Politburo more to his liking. Nestor was brought
back from Siberia before John took his first (and only) wave
of the game.
Turn 4 started ugly, with a first purge card played allowing
the KGB head (Eatstumuch) to be purged by the Ideology chief
(Nikotin). Thanks to the play of a blackmail card, Nikotin declined,
passing the Purge Phase to the Party Chief. John happily used
Boremtodev to purge
both. Unfortunately, the Party Chief was vulnerable, and he was
tried and sent on a return all-expenses-paid trip to Siberia
. An assassination attempt was made before the election against
a candidate controlled by Ray, who named the Defence minister
(Zenjarplan) as the perpetrator. The Candidate died, and Zenjarplan
was found not guilty, but was also not elected. By the time the
dust settled, Talksalott was Chief and Lee gained control.
In the next turn, the Defense Minister was 1st-purged, allowing
for a trial against Putschnik (in the Economy slot). This trial
failed due to an innocent vote from the Party Chief. Putschnik's
luck continued as he healed in the health phase, while Nestor
finally passed to his reward.
There was no wave this turn as the Party Chief spent that phase
in the Cure. He retired due to age in the Cure Phase of Turn
6, leaving the field open. Karrienko, as Foreign Minister, entered
the cure to improve the chances that he would be elected later.
As is traditional, Vasolin was purged on first entering the Candidates,
but the next purge failed. In the end, Manjak was elected and
Lee got his second wave.
Nick secured control of Karrienko by making him 10+ during
the add influence phase. Bungaloff began the Purge Phase of Turn
7 in an ordinary way starting with the Candidates, but then switched
off and successfully purged Manjak on his fourth roll. At this
point, Nick played a card to bust his own Foreign Minister to
the people. The result of all this maneuvering was the election
of Goferbrok as Party Chief and a wave for Ray.
The first purge of Turn 8 was, of course, Nick's 10+. Not
much else happened that turn, and Ray had Goferbrok in the cure
so there was no wave. The next and last turn saw the game end
through insufficient politicians to fill the Politburo. The funeral
commission involved some complicated card play, but in the end
the Party Chief was Ludmilla, who was held equally by Phil and
John Keating, as each had seven influence; John won the tiebreaker,
the game and his first Kremlin title.
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Ray Stakenas, Llew Bardecki in his
gulag headgear, Sarah Sparks and Chris Yaure |
GM Steve Cuccaro (standing to the
right of the kiosk) and his commie wannabe finalists. |
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