Pax Pamir, Languish PBEM

[Berkut]

ire: drawn

[Berkut]

The arrival of a nice man from Italy has everyone talking...

(Free) tax Kabul. Take 1 rupee from my sworn enemy for all time ORANGE
1. Buy Paulo Avitabile for zero, taking two rupees from Market
2. Play Paulo, place purpe cube in Punjab

[Berkut]

I did my save as a logfile. The only difference is that it means when the next player opens it, they need to step through it.

I think it is nice to actually see what is happening. But it is kind of a pain if you do a bunch of stuff and forget to start the logfile, so maybe not worth it?

[Berkut]

Paulo has an Informant, which I forogt to place, so I may a new logfile with that, so both 13 and 14 are mine...

[Tamas]

Mir Murad Beg gathers his followers and fortifies the Transcaspian

I buy and play Mir Murad Beg.

Regime changes to Military Struggle

Save posted.

If you all prefer we can switch to logs.

[Berkut]

Lets try it for a round or two. I really like being able to watch what happens...It also makes it easier to tell who is up, since you can see who is actually moving...

If it is to much of a PITA, we can just switch back.

[Habbaku]

The arrival of a nice man from Italy has everyone talking...

(Free) tax Kabul. Take 1 rupee from my sworn enemy for all time ORANGE
1. Buy Paulo Avitabile for zero, taking two rupees from Market
2. Play Paulo, place purpe cube in Punjab

There are two restrictions on the Tax action. First, cards may only use the Tax action in their location. Second, a player may only Tax in a location if he has at least one tribe and more units (tribes + loyal armies) than any other player in that location. Ties should be broken following the tie-breaker (A3)

You may not tax in Kabul--you have no tribes there and Celedhring is pretty decisively ahead of everyone in tribes there...

[Habbaku]

I transferred the rupee back from Purple to Orange.

The East India Company invests heavily in local farms, buying up as much of the excess flour stock as possible for future campaigns...or present ones.  With Russian Cossacks spreading far and wide, it becomes difficult to tell them from local bandits.  A strong column from John Company departs for the capital and wipes out Dost Mohammad's personal guard and mops up some of the locals while they're at it.

Action 1: Buy Wheat Fields from the market, taking 1 rupee.
Action 2: Play Wheat Fields to my right.  Place 1 British road Herat-Kabul.  1 British road Herat-Transcaspian.
Free Action (Campaign, Tajik Warband): 2 British armies from Herat move to Kabul, then attack Russia.  1 Russian and British army exchange.  The remaining British army kills 1 Orange tribe.

Over to Sol.  I recommend taking advantage of the British being the only major military power on the board during Military Struggle...

[Solmyr]

The British establish a garrison in Bolan Pass, preparing for a major campaign. Soon after, the Army of the Indus invades the Sikh Empire and conquers Peshawar, overthrowing its governor Paolo Avitabile. The British now also control the eastern end of the Khyber Pass and seem poised to invade Afghanistan proper.

1. Play Bolan Pass, gain1 British army in Kandahar and 2 British roads around it (to Punjab and Kabul).
2. Play Army of the Indus, paying 1 rupee to Berkut. Place 2 British armies in Punjab.
3. (free from Army of the Indus) Campaign in Punjab, killing 1 purple tribe. This triggers Overthrow, forcing Paolo Avitabile to be discarded.

I now have 3 points of Loyalty, so gain the British Favor Card.

Log posted. Over to Cel.

[celedhring]

I have never used a log file before. I'll try to figure it out when I'm back at my computer tomorrow...

[Berkut]

cel, a log file in Vassal is, at the heart of it, identical to a save file. The only difference is that it also records the moves. So when you load it, it loads at its start point, you click the little arrow to step through, and then it gets to its end point, which is identical to the state it would be in if you didn't use the logfile feature at all.

So just think of it is as a save file with attached history.

The thing that messes people up sometimes:

1. They forget that this is a logfile rather than a save, and start making their changes before they step through the file - which means they are not playing at the correct state.
2. When exchanging in this manner, you want to start your new logfile *before* your moves, rather than saving *after* your moves. This is actually very annoying when playing complex games where you are making, say, 50 discrete moves. If you make 25 of them, then realize "Fuck, I didn't start the logfile!" you have to start all over. For this game, with there only being half a dozen moves in a particular play (and nothing random), that really isn't any big deal.

The vassal logging system is pretty great, but Cyberboard does it better - it just records all your moves as a matter of course, then lets you write them out as a distinct element from the game save itself whenever you want.

In any case, for what we are doing, the logfiles are actually very easy to use, I think. The question is whether they are worth the trouble.

[celedhring]

Thanks for the primer! It will help.

My only experience using Vassal was playing a bunch of Twilight Struggle and Memoir games quite a few years ago, and we never used the log file system.

[celedhring]

Rule Britannia! Impressed by the might of the British armies besieging the fortress of Kabul, the local tribes have met with William Hay MacNaghten and negotiated their defection to the Crown.

1) Buy William Hay from the market (pay 2 rupees because of military regime)
2) Play William Hay and put one spy on him. I'm now a loyal Brit! 
Free) Use the campaign icon on Hay to move the British army from Kandahar to Kabul, Attack with that army and discard it and the Afghan army.

Over to Berkut

EDIT: I discarded my Russian favor card, but forgot to discard my starting Russian loyalty card. Will do on my next turn to avoid confusion.

[Solmyr]

Remember to refresh the market at the end of your turn, guys.

[Berkut]

Well, I cannot resist a free card with 3 rupees on it...

1. Buy Jan Fiashan Kan for zero, take the three rupees on it.
2. Buy Lapis Lazuli mine for 2 (MS)