Pax Pamir, Languish PBEM

[Solmyr]

Well, I'm sure you'll be able to fix that. And if not, we'll then blame Tamas for failing to prevent Berkut's victory.

[Habbaku]

The war in Persia continues, with Russian soldiers writing back tales of victory again over the wild, Persian tribes that refuse to accept their Imperial masters.  The defeats by the Persian tribes and the slow investment of more troops into the region have led one local, Transcaspian potentate/slaver to throw his lot in with the Tsar.

Free Action (thanks to Military Struggle): Campaign with Bala Hissar.  Kill 1 Purple tribe in Persia.
1st Action: Buy Allah Quli Bahadur for 0.
2nd Action: Play Bahadur.  Place 1 White spy on Bahadur, 1 White tribe in Transcaspian, and 1 Russian army in Transcaspian.

Over to Celedhring.

Note that, at the moment, Berkut wins if he buys the Topple card (which is part of the reason why I deliberately did not buy those shiny red cards that showed up), but only if the government stays at Military Struggle.

[Tamas]

Shouldn't just Celed get one of the army cards to place Afghan troops and prevent Russian supremacy?

[celedhring]

I have to re-read the whole victory conditions part before making my move 

[Habbaku]

Shouldn't just Celed get one of the army cards to place Afghan troops and prevent Russian supremacy?

There are four Russian armies on the board at the moment, so to cancel the military supremacy there would need to be 4 combined Afghan/British armies on the board as well.

The real trick is just shifting the government to Intelligence War, which the Russians are definitely not winning at the moment.

[celedhring]

Okay, I guess the play is...

1) Purchase the Persian Army card for owt
2) Play the Persian army, paying one rupee to Solmyr, and placing two Afghan cubes on Persia (there's no interaction with the Russian army in there, right?). Regime changes to Intelligence war.

3) I could then take a free intelligence action, but I'll pass.

That legit?

[Solmyr]

2) Play the Persian army, paying one rupee to Solmyr, and placing two Afghan cubes on Persia (there's no interaction with the Russian army in there, right?). Regime changes to Intelligence war.

No fighting unless someone undertakes a military campaign action there.

[Solmyr]

Does anyone have supremacy right now? Britain has 3 spies on the board and Russia has 2, but Britain does not have cubes/cylinders of every other mode yet.

[Habbaku]

I'll give a rundown just so everyone can get an idea:

Supremacy for the various regime types:

Military Struggle: Russian Supremacy.  4 Russian armies vs. 2 Afghan/0 British.  1 Russian road, spy, and tribe are on the board.
Intelligence War: None.  3 British spies.  2 Afghan spies.  3 Russian spies.  Neither one beats the others combined.
Political Fragmentation: Russian Supremacy.  3 Russian tribes vs. 1 British/0 Afghan.  1 Russian road, spy, and army are on the board.
Economic Boom: Russian Supremacy.  2 Russian roads vs. 0 British/0 Afghan.  1 Russian army, spy, and tribe are on the board.

[celedhring]

Peace! The Emirate of Afghanistan has mediated between the two ravenous European powers that trample upon its territory. Russia and England have signed a treaty, but it is peace in name only, as open war has just been replaced by insidious mistrust. Spies and conspirators move behind the scenes, secretly advancing their powers' agendas, until time comes when one of them bids again for dominance in Afghanistan.

Feeling the need to assert its own presence on the country that it claims as its own, the Afghan Emir has pleaded for help and obtained the services of two units from the army of the Persian Shah.

1) I buy the Army of Persia card for 0 rupees.
2) I play it, paying 1 rupee to Solmyr, and placing two Afghan cubes there. Regime is now Intelligence War
3) I take one free Travel action and move one of my cubes from Charles Stoddart to the Persian Army

Over to Tamas.

[Solmyr]

As far as I can tell, game is over unless Tamas purchases but does not play Jan-Fishan Khan? Since any change to military struggle would give Berkut the win?

[Tamas]

File is up. I did what I had to do, which cost me a discard.

Now get your act together because I am still holding a military struggle card in my hand and I am not too hot on the idea of discarding it.

[Berkut]

I would have to buy the card, play it, then buy the topple card. That is three actions.

[Tamas]

My move stands.

[Habbaku]

As far as I can tell, game is over unless Tamas purchases but does not play Jan-Fishan Khan? Since any change to military struggle would give Berkut the win?

It's always a perfectly-valid strategy to buy the Topple card during a "neutral" government type to prevent just such a thing.

As Berkut points out, though, it currently costs him 3 actions to win unless it's already the correct government prior to his turn.