Cup Report

[Cagey]

Lead Cpl tresitophd Vs Charge Cpt miquel
The noncom's first turn was charactarised by a somewhat disastrous attempt to take Scandinavia, losing 9 troops to take 1 and failing to conquer Norway. He had more luck in S.A. where he took 3 of the Charge Cpt's territories, though without securing a command. He did manage to take NZ but could only put up a border of 4 - miquel has an excellent opportunity to capalalise on Tresitophd's bad luck in the north and perhaps take Europe, where he's strong, though is he leaves the south to fester he's likely to regret it.

 

[Cagey]

Chief Lt marc369 Vs Charge Cpt PKHustle
PKHustle retook the Stans and made some progress in Northern Asia but his main thrust was towards regaining dominance in S.A., where he managed to push marc into Central America. marc, however responded by pushing back down south and breaking Guyuana and the Andes, also breaking the Stans and taking for himself the Horn and Middle East - along with Eastern Europe this looks like a heavy dominance in the middle of the board. marc has already forced an advantage of 132:105, though it's PKHustle's turn. With only 15 troops to come, however, it seems that the Charge Cpt has the coice of either trying to build his own power base or break up marc's; it's unlikely he could do both.

Lead Cpl tresitophd Vs Charge Cpt miquel
miquel ignored tresitophd's NZ command and instead focused his energies on S.A where he made some progress, though without securing a command. He also dabbled in USA and Scandanavia - laying foundations or missing opportunities? Time will tell.

Lead Cpl LeCBass Vs Staff Lt Lackov
Though LeCBass was active 90 minutes ago he failed to take his turn then and is now within 4 1/2 hours of missing his first turn - gamesmanship from the noncom?

Charge Cpt thone Vs W.O. GloboGym
thone took an easy India but his main efforts were focused on S.A where he took Brazil and Guyana. GloboGym responded by placing all his units on Victoria Land and leading a charge all the way across Antarctica and up through Argentina, breaking Brazil but running out of men before he could take Guyana. With thone to go, an advantage of 151:139 and 20 men to place things already look bleak for the W.O.

 

[Cagey]

Chief Lt marc369 Vs Charge Cpt PKHustle
Coming into round 7 marc369 has achieved a dominance of 107:52 and has 23 troops to place. PKHustle may have had a recent promotion to Major but it looks unlikely that he'll be wearing his crown in the semi-finals

Lead Cpl tresitophd Vs Charge Cpt miquel
Another new Major, miquel, is having better luck in his game, though things are not yet as certain - he's managed to push tresitophd out of the americas, saving a sole unit on guyana, and has an advantage of 72:93, controlling both Maghreb and the USA. It's tresitophd's turn, and he retains control of japan, NZ and Scaninavia - put together worth less than either of miquel's commands - he has 17 troops to put on to try and turn the game around.

Lead Cpl LeCBass Vs Staff Lt Lackov
With round three just starting the noncom has managed to take and hold USA and Central America, Lackov, however, has complete control of S.A. saving a neutral in Ecuador. He has also taken Western Russia, though only held with poor borders. With an income of 22 to come on LeCBass has a lot to do to reduce the 28 Lackov is currently expecting - if he ignores WR to concentrate on SA he may well find himself outflanked.

Charge Cpt thone Vs W.O. GloboGym
With thone about to go first in round three he finds himself with 3 scattered commands, India, Guyana and Western Russia, two of which have a nice neutral border. A dominance of 130:112 and 25 troops to place gives him a pleasant choice - consolidate and extend his commands, or break GloboGym's commands of Japan and East Indies - or perhaps attempt both?

 

[Cagey]

Chief Lt marc369 Vs Charge Cpt PKHustle
As expected marc369 has seen off the challenge from PKHustle, who at no point in the nine rounds of the game ever held onto a command. marc369 marches on and becomes the first semi-finalist.

Lead Cpl tresitophd Vs Charge Cpt miquel
tresiphod may have been promoted to Gunnery Sgt but it doesn't seem likely to help him in this game as he has 17 troops to miquel's 100. It's the 13th round and miquel's turn, with 39 troops to come on it seems unlikely that that the game will go to 14.

Lead Cpl LeCBass Vs Staff Lt Lackov
With round 5 about to begin it's still an even game of 118:110 and the noncom maintaining control of Central America and the USA. Lackov has taken SA commands but has not had much luck in retaining them to get their bonuses. LeCBass has some advantage and the initiative but inspired play by Lackov could still turn the game around.

Charge Cpt thone Vs W.O. GloboGym
In the seventh round thone gently ushered GloboGym off the map and put paid to his cup run, becoming the second player through to the final 4

 

[Cagey]

Lead Cpl tresitophd Vs Charge Cpt miquel
As predicted, Major miquel finnished off tresitophd's forces in the 13th round, turning over the 'first turn advantage' and taking 19 points from the Sergeant.

Lead Cpl LeCBass Vs Staff Lt Lackov
Still no clear leader in this game which has largely been characterised by a tussle between north and south America. Troop counts are 117:113. Round 5 was a good one for Lackov, but as round 6 begins it's still anybody's game.

 

[Cagey]

Lead Cpl LeCBass Vs Staff Lt Lackov
Round 8 and the battle of the Americas rumbles on - each player has dabbled elsewhere on the board, in India, Australia etc., but neither can afford to commit many troops to these peripheral conflicts lest the other gain a decisive advantage in the West. The troop count stands at 103:93, it's Lackov's turn andhe has 23 men to place. The last semi-final place hangs in the balance awaiting the victor of this gruelling conflict.

 

[Cagey]

Lead Cpl LeCBass Vs Staff Lt Lackov
Lackov's round 8 turn devastated LeCBass's South American forces, a blow from which the noncom has never been able to recover, while Captain Lackov has gone from strength to strength. As we wait for Lackov to take his turn in the 12th round he has 59 troops to place, while LeCBass has but 31 troops left in total. It seems that the Semi-Finals are to be an officer-only affair

Semi-Finalists: marc369, miquel, thone

 

[Cagey]

Lead Cpl LeCBass Vs Staff Lt Lackov
Round 14 and Lackov is in complete command but appears to be delaying the inevitable.

 

[Cagey]

Lead Cpl LeCBass Vs Staff Lt Lackov
Round 15 and having brought LeCBass to the brink of destruction Lackov has deliberately missed a turn and appears to be throwing the game. I don't really know what to say about that.

 

[Cagey]

Lead Cpl LeCBass Vs Staff Lt Lackov
OK... Lackov, having deliberately missed a turn and given LeCBass false hope that he was throwing the game has returned to the game and retaken all the territories LeCBass had taken but once again stopped short of finishing LeCBass off, though he surrounds the Sgt's 4 troops with 187 of his own.

 

[Cagey]

Lackov has returned to the game and posted this message: Ok I hope you check in and read, I've been away for a long weekend and I've had just one option to get on here. As such I knew I'd lose turns in games, having got control in this one I knew I could afford to miss a turn or two. Had I been just starting the next round it would have been suicide to miss early turns. Sorry again I hope you understand.

 

[thone]

Hi, had a bad start in game 124788. Game froze, leading to a zero troop container. Can this be fixed before the next player is taking his turn?

 

[Cagey]

Lackov delivered the final blow to LeCBass and took his place amongst the last 4

SEMI-FINALS

The two Semi-Final games are:

Charge Captain miquel Vs Senior Captain Lackov
http://www.majorcommand.com/Games/Game.php?gameid=124787

and

Senior Captain thone Vs Charge Captain marc369
http://www.majorcommand.com/Games/Game.php?gameid=124788​

It appears the cream will rise - no noncoms left in the competition and the semi-finals are a Captains-only affair.
Four players, each having won four games in a row. Four tins of silver polish have been bought - three are destined to be consigned to the back of the cupboard.
For the Semis the rules tighten, from escalate/three/anywhere we go to flatrate/three/path.

miquel V Lackov
In his opening gambit miquel chose to split his forces and try for power in Oceana, Africa and SA. He took NZ with little effort and looks strong there. In Africa too his campaign appears to have momentum, now having 18 territories in Africa (including Middle East) to Lackov's 6. In SA however he had less success, Lackov's Colombians proving resilient to attacks from all sides and leaving him dangerously weakened in the South West. Lackov has an excellent opportunity to seize the initiative and pose miquel questions that he'll be hard put to answer.

thone Vs marc369
thone's first turn appears to be one of rather poor dice, marc369's Saudis delivering 4 ice to deny him the middle east command though he was dealt all the other territories in it. Though he placed 5 units in SA his efforts only managed to eliminate a single unit of marc's and lost 7 himself. He had slightly more success in Siberia, but, frankly, nothing to write home about, and though he conquered Finland - which would have made Scandinavia the only command he managed to secure - he was hit by the 0 troop bug. Although, perhaps, a less than successful turn he doesn't appear to have exposed himself anywhere. As with the other game the second player may have a chance to shape the game to his design.

thone: As far as I'm aware the only answer to the 0 troop bug is for you to deploy a troop on Finland at the beginning of your next turn. Although - when the game is loading Finland shows up in marc's colour rather than yours, even though the record says you took it, so actually I think it may be down to marc to deploy a troop there. The fact that you took Sakha after Finland would seem to support the idea. If marc does not there's a good chance he won't be able to attack at all.
I've no power over these games, perhaps masterjskye does.

 

[thone]

As far as I'm aware the only answer to the 0 troop bug is for you to deploy a troop on Finland at the beginning of your next turn. Although - when the game is loading Finland shows up in marc's colour rather than yours, even though the record says you took it, so actually I think it may be down to marc to deploy a troop there. The fact that you took Sakha after Finland would seem to support the idea. If marc does not there's a good chance he won't be able to attack at all.
I've no power over these games, perhaps masterjskye does.

I sent a request seeing this single error fixed. (Just for this game - they are fixing it for all games)
Marc will wait out some hours before taking his turn. I'm really thankful for that!
As i would say, an honorable opponent.

Otherwise game continues.
And i'll lose the advantage of going first.
Together with the ICE rolls...
Lets hope the Dice Gods favor me for the rest of the game.

 

[Cagey]

miquel V Lackov
Round 3, Lackov to play. Nearly all the action so far has been for the control of Guyana and Central America, with the territories changing hands several times. miquel appears to have the edge at the moment, a troop advantage of 128:101, while Lackov has 14 troops to place. miquel's African dominance also looks set to increase with a 'free' army of troop-moved 2s about to flex it's muscles.

thone Vs marc369
Round 3, thone to play. The 0 troop bug sorted out leaves thone with a nice little enclave in Europe with neutral borders. marc, however, has made good progress in Africa, controlling Maghreb and the Horn and, with the favour of the Dice Gods, cleared thone out of the Middle East too. with 15 troops to place thone has 3 commands too break - or will he try to build his own power base elsewhere? marc must feel happy with his advantage of 139:112 and appears to have taken the initiative.

 

[Cagey]

miquel V Lackov
Round 6, miquel to play. miquel seems to be gaining the edge in this gruelling war of attrition. The only commands either player has had any success in keeping are indochina for Lackov and NZ for miquel, and currently the biggest army on the board is a 5. Although Lackov currently has the Stans nd Guyana, neither has any real borders and miquel has 19 units to place, a troop advantage of 91:77 and has already forced Lackov out of Africa.

thone Vs marc369
marc369 wins in Round 10. despite putting up a tenacious defence thone never really got back in the game after his poor start. Seizing the opportunity marc battled for control of SA and Africa leaving thone with more and more to do each turn with fewer men to place with which to do it. Marc finally overwhelmed him in the 10th round and booked his place in the Final.

 

[thone]

Congrats to Marc
Well earned!

 

[Cagey]

miquel V Lackov
Round 6, Lackov to play. miquel managed to break both the Stans and Guyana and has extended his lead to 95:65

 

[Cagey]

Charge Captain miquel Vs Senior Captain Lackov
Round 7, Lackov to play. miquel appears to be distracting Lackov with dabbles in Oceana and SA, while expanding from his central core in Africa, pushing Lackov back on all fronts. miquel has an advantage of 95:52 and Lackov has 10 units to stop him getting 32 next turn. The end seems inevitable unless miquel makes a big mistake of Lackov manages to pull a rabbit out of a hat against the run of play.

...meanwhile reports have marc369 sipping pina-coladas and enjoying walks in the rain while he waits to see who will join him in the Final battle for the cup.

 

[Cagey]

Charge Captain miquel Vs Senior Captain Lackov
Round 8, Lackov to play. miquel's relentless rise shows no sign of abating, Lackov is clinging to the edges of the board but miquel is giving no quarter. With the advantage standing at 93:33, Lackov has 9 troops to add to his tally but miquel will be placing 38 plus a set next turn. "Taxi for Cpt Lackov..."