I am in a sturdy position that could become vulnerable - just not quite in a position to run away with the game yet. I took The Reach the last round. And now I am gearing up for a nice long march into more Tyrell lands whilst earning that sweet sweet 5 power tokens per turn, waiting for that Supply card to come up.

Worth mentioning that I have whispered to Lannister that if he burns my raid, I will not be kind to him in the next Clash in which I will keep the Throne.

Could I have done better? How do you propose I close out the game here?

I think I need another barrel but I also have a chance to put a nice dent in Tyrell. That being said, Martell will probably bite me in the ass if I go balls deep.

For my marches I was gonna go
-1 to Kingswood, +0 to The Reach (Knight), +1 to somewhere in Tyrell lands. But I could put the Crackclaw footman into the Mountains of the Moon for an easy barrel.

I played my orders mostly based on the notion that Tyrell wasn't going to attack The Reach due to his disadvantage in cards.

Last edited by permanentquandary on 2018-Sep-08 06:53, edited 9x in total

your orders look pretty good.  Though putting a march in KL would give you 1 less token but much more attacking power.

I'm somewhat confused as to how GJ lost all his high cards, leaving ironman's open to lannister this turn despite having 3 stars and the blade.  his support in seagard will do nothing to help him take RR

also confused why tyrell put a raid in HG as opposed to support or even defense, or at least support in dornish marches

Stark should have anticipated a raid in MC, so a raid in Narrow sea would have been a good idea.

my question to you would be-- what is your plan?  just heading into tyrell lands is not a coherent strategy.   Are you allied with martell?

This board looks pretty chaotic.  GJ could conceivably be causing problems for stark for a turn or 2, despite potentially losing pyke to lanni by next turn.

Also, I'm not sure you're supposed to put other player's names in threads

Lanni seems to be the only one operating on a coherent strategy. Well, and Stark I guess, not that their typical strategy amounts to much more than “get off my lawn!”

You’re in a great position, with solid track positions, chunks of enemy territories with big cards to defend them, and all your neighbors preoccupied with other matters.  Literally all options are open to you from here:

1) You can continue to pressure Tyrell, which is both the most obvious and my least favored option. It doesn’t require any backstabbing, and he is already weakened so he’s not going to make a meaningful pushback any time soon. Until he and Martell kiss and make up, you can pretty much hold the Reach indefinitely. But how much more territory can you realistically take from him? And hold against Martell? Maybe Dornish Marches, but Tyrell is my least favorite target for full conquest because any gains can be sniped at from two sides (and the sea, if you can take a 2nd castle from him).

Tyrell is the best option for winning  another easy battle  or two without risking much. But I don’t think those battles further your long term goals very much.

2) You can turn on Martell,  I prefer to avoid fighting Doran because he can be such an enormous pain in the balls, but there are some factors in its favor here. While you have an alliance with him, the ship in the port of Storms End is unequivocally unfriendly to you. It is absolutely useless for anything other than backstabbing you. He doesn’t seem to understand the CP rules given his placing an order there that will yield nothing, but still it makes it dangerous for you to extend your lines too far with him positioned so well to threaten shipbreaker and Dragonstone without warning. Keeping that port empty is generally a non negotiable condition of a Bara/Martell alliance.

Point further, he still has Doran, but your track positions are such that he doesn’t have an obviously crippling use for him. You hold the throne, but if he takes that Stannis just gets angrier. You are ahead on fiefdoms, but since you don’t have the blade the change there is not too drastic. He could take your star out of spite, which is actually probably his best move, but since you only have the one and it won’t move him up any, he may not feel like that gives him much bang for his buck.

Point further, Tyrell is desperate for an ally and in no position to dictate terms.

Finally, conquering Dorne is likely to result in an actual win (assuming Lanni doesn’t get there first). Whereas taking Highgarden won’t guarantee much. It would also have the effect of eliminating the player who would be in the best position to jump you from behind and drag you down once you start making real progress in any other direction.

Next post will continue options.

Last edited by Ser Hodor on 2018-Sep-09 22:54, edited 1x in total

3) You can sit tight in the center of the board and mass your forces to move against Stark. As I said before, this is dangerous with Martell ships in position to pounce on your flank, but Tyrell is still in position to give him enough trouble that he probably won’t be able to strike hard enough to cripple you before you can fight back.

The merit to this is that while it will take Stark the next couple turns to mop up Greyjoy’s units, he will be CP and mustering units rather freely and will have grown too strong to attack within another couple turns. When Stark is left alone, they tend to win. And Greyjoys forces are going to be entirely occupied surviving against Lanni.

If you aren’t going to attack Stark, you better have a plan for how you’re going to get to 7 before the last round, because by then he will be bringing some very strong armies to bear on his 5th and 6th castles (one of which will be your CCP).

4) Attack Lannister. On balance I think this is best. He is both very weak on tracks but poised to become very strong by way of Greyjoy’s mismanagement allowing him to take alll the western seas. You can strike at Harrenhall even if he does raid Blackwater, and from there he will have a devil of a time dislodging you.

Greyjoy’s vulnerability is such that his immediate collapse threatens to make both Lannister and in turn Stark unassailably strong. If you can intervene and stop him from being wiped out quickly, he can still cause some problems for Stark, while you can engage Lanni on favorable terms away from the sea strength that is his best asset at the moment.

That’s what I would probably do. Tell Greyjoy to try to survive, move the kingswood knight to CCP, and prepare to take Harrenhall. Let the South take care of itself, try to hold your middle holdings as long as you can, but with an eye for turning North to take the Narrow Sea if the opportunity presents itself. It’s not really in your interests to let Greyjoy or Tyrell die off completely, so try to keep them alive without making enemies of too many people.

That, or make peace with Tyrell and try to crush Martell fast enough that you can end it all before Lanni/Stark have carved up GJ lands and both locked down 6 castles and full supply.

Next turn - screw fighting land ( u will not hold it for long and u get no real benefits of it in long term- go for +1 asault brom ur bay and get Stark by suprise. There are plenty of easy targets (armies to kill/ castles to conquer) meanwhile siding with either of ur southern friends so u will have turn or two to hold ur coastal lands, while fighitng North.

YES.
  3 ships marching +1 towards the narrow sea.Don't ask me why.If you do I can only say that you are not a good enough player.

Stark is lower on IT track and Robb and Edderd aren't in his hand.With Lannister and Greyjoy fighting,you MUST go north giving him a surprise or waiting for his victory.Martell ship in in Storms End,but as long as Tyrell continues attacking him(after Doran I think they won't stop fighting),it's not really a problem here.