Fortress America!

[BanzaiCat]

I think the rules state that the more experienced player should take the USA each time.

And the rules stipulate, too, that the invaders CAN attack each other, and often might consider it to snatch away cities for the final victory count.

Lots of backstabbing in this game.

[mirth]

Lots of backstabbing in this game.

The board got flipped in more than a few games.

[BanzaiCat]

Francis-style?

[mirth]

We generally tried to not destroy the table.

[BanzaiCat]

Francis is all an act, though. Note the table is a cheap POS folding table.

[mirth]

Francis is all an act, though. Note the table is a cheap POS folding table.

My mom would have been pissed if we wrecked her card table.

[BanzaiCat]

TURN 1 (continued) - SOUTHERN INVADER/CENTRAL AMERICAN FEDERATION

Next, we move down to the Southern Invader. They have Combined Arms attacks coming up on Phoenix, San Antonio, and Houston.



Action 1: Reinforcements for the Central American Federation (CAF) was already completed to kick off their invasion.

Next comes Action 2: Declare Battles. The Southern invader makes some obvious moves, ignoring most of southern Texas in favor of taking out San Antonio and Houston, but are looking to occupy most everything west from S.A through Phoenix.



Next comes Action 3: First Movement. Not much happens here except with two CAF units - a Mobile and a Helicopter. Both move into southern New Mexico with no resistance.



Action 4: Fire Lasers is ignored since it's a USA player event. So let's get to Action 5: Combat, starting with the Battle for Phoenix. The CAF is attacking with Combined Arms (which means, they have at least 1 Foot, 1 Mechanized, and 1 Air unit in the attack).



First, I roll for the US defenders, both of which use a 6-sided die. I decide that the topmost/leftmost d6 will be the Foot's defensive roll, and the rightmost/bottommost roll will be the Mobile unit's defense.



It's an important distinction to make, as the Foot unit rolls a 3 (a miss) and the Mobile unit rolls a 5 (a hit). As a Mechanized unit, the Mobile defender may choose either a Foot or Mech unit. The obvious choice here is a CAF Mech unit, specifically, the Hovertank.



Now come the enemy attacks. For more clarity, I'll separate out similar die rolls. We start with the more powerful Helicopter unit, which gets a d8. As they still have a Combined Arms bonus, they need a '5' or higher to hit.



And they succeed, choosing the US Mobile unit to destroy.

Next comes the CAF Mobile unit, which needs a '5' or higher on a d6:



Fortunately for the remaining US defender, it's a miss.

But, there's still two CAF Foot units coming in for the kill...both roll d6s, and both need a '5' or higher as well:



Well...isn't that special. They both missed. Phoenix remains 'Murican!



Now, for the assault on San Antonio.



First, I roll for both US Foot defenders. On defense they need a '5' or less, both on a d6, so I'll roll for 'em both:



Ouch! That's two hits for the US player. They have to eliminate enemy Foot units first, and since there's two of them in the CAF attack, both go buh-bye.



Now, the CAF in this attack have lost their Combined Arms bonus, so they have to roll a '6' or higher now to destroy the US units.

We start with the CAF Bomber, which uses a d10:



Yikes. That's a hit alright. One US Foot unit is eliminated.

Next, I roll for the Hovertank, which needs that '6' or higher on a d8:



The US player barely gets by. Had that been a Combined Arms attack...

Lastly, the CAF Mobile unit rolls a d6, needing a '6' to hit. Seems unlikely...



...and it is unlikely. The US player manages to hold on to San Antonio as well, albeit barely.



Finally, we look at the Battle of Houston. This one might be a bit tougher as the US player has a Hovertank unit here.



We start, as always, with the defenders. First, the Hovertank, which needs a '5' or higher:



And that's exactly what he gets. The US player could choose to eliminate one of the two attacking Hovertanks, but as there's two, this would not eliminate their Combined Arms bonus. If instead, the CAF Foot unit is eliminated, their Combined Arms bonus goes away, but that's a much lower priority target for a Hovertank hit. Do we take the chance with the Hovertank and take out an enemy Hovertank, and then hope the Mobile unit also gets a hit?

Why not? We've already pretty well stymied the Southern invader...this would be great if it works. The US player eliminates a CAF Hovertank...



...and then rolls a d6 for their Mobile unit defending:



The gamble pays off and the US Mobile unit scores a hit, too, choosing to eliminate the second CAF Hovertank. This guts their attack ability by taking out two powerful units permanently, but also removing their Combined Arms bonus. However, they still have a Bomber and Helicopter, which are good attackers.

We start with the Bomber, which needs a '6' or higher on a d10:



Holy crap! What a break for the Houston defenders! The Bomber is nearly a 50/50 chance at scoring a hit, and fails.

Next comes the CAF Helicopter, rolling a d8:



Another 2 and the US will definitely be holding on to Houston for Turn 1. But, there's still a CAF Foot unit to roll a d6 for:



And he misses, but just barely. Houston remains unscathed!



Next comes Action 6: Second Movement. The CAF can only move their Foot units into the US in a couple of places, as each and every city battle failed.

Note: I totally forgot to roll for the Mobile unit that moved during First Movement. I'll try to avoid that in the future!



The next two Actions are Supply Check (Action 7) and Capture Territories (Action 8 ). The CAF has little to worry in the way of supply, so there's no issues there for them. (To stay in supply, invading units have to trace a path through occupied zones back to their invading spaces.)



The CAF has failed miserably in their Turn 1, not capturing any cities at all, but they have a nice big wedge in the middle of the southern United States (or southwestern, I guess, if you want to get technical). That's a decent springboard into the Midwest...I guess we'll see what the CAF can do with it.

Next time we'll look at the Euro-Socialist Pact and see how well their beach stormin' goes.