Session report for Attack!

We played our first game of Attack! yesterday, with four players. They were, in turn order:

Neil – Red, capital in Germany
Me – Blue, capital in Alberta
Mike – Gray, capital in Saudi Arabia
Shane – Red, capital in Amazonia

Most people had their units fully grouped, while I had one soldier in South Africa, where he hung out for most of the game without doing much. I imagined I’d develop in two areas…and, in a sense, I eventually did. Mike’s capital was in Saudia Arabia, but most of his troops were in Eastern Europe, near Neil’s armies.

Neil took control of the seas right away, then slowly started to move through Europe, wrapping up nearby nations. Mike misjudged the potential strength of neutral territory defenders and lost armies twice in one turn as he tried to expand in Africa.

Thinking that he would blitz my capital, but forgetting that I went first, Shane put five tanks in the Old South, forcing me to attack there on my first turn. Following that bloody battle that left me in charge of the Old South, we agreed to leave the Midwest and West as a buffer and concentrate on consolidating our gains.

While Mike expanded into Africa, Neil’s armies pushed him out of Europe, eventually leaving it entirely red. Meanwhile, Shane moved through South America. Realizing that even if someone else succeeded on my failed Diplomatic Blitz I’d be able to take the space, I tried that approach in North America (though I succeeded on the roll). After some discussion, we decided that the phrasing “get to” meant that other players were not required to roll when the acting player failed to Diplomatic Blitz, and from then on most of us wouldn’t touch the dice under that circumstance (for fear of immediately losing a resource and possibly depleting a set).

Neil’s relatively free run through Europe quickly gave him two Economy sets, though I had enough high-value cards that I was doing about as well as he was. Envisioning an eventual need to challenge him for sea dominance, I bought up four additional submarines, as he had built his navy up with battleships (and a carrier, about which I could do little). Shane had bought up his navy as well; indeed, it was this act that prompted Neil to build his in the first place.

I was worried that Mike was going to be pushed out while Neil had the advantage, but he managed to retreat into Africa and hold some ground, even though Neil eventually rolled into Saudia Arabia, taking Mike’s capital, and Shane’s forces, having crossed the sea with Neil’s permission, were cutting a swathe through the middle of Africa.

Realizing it was quite late, we decided to limit the game to two more turns. People tried to claim territory, and I lost two of the African territories I’d gained to Mike, as I simply couldn’t afford to reinforce there. On the last turn, Neil finally took Italy (where he’d failed twice against the Neutrals, inexplicably) and a few other nations. On the previous turn, I’d broken my agreement with Shane and swept the North American buffer. This turn, I asked if Neil would give me free movement on the seas – naturally, he wasn’t keen on that. This gave us our first naval battle My fleet slightly outnumbered Neil’s, though his contained three battleships. Knowing I had quite a few submarines, Neil held his battleships in reserve for the first round. Knowing he knew this, I didn’t field most of my submarines. Some luck in the first round let me cut through Neil’s support ships, and in round two, his battleships were committed, only to be cut down by my North American submarine fleet. With luck and good placement, the battle turned in my favor, leaving Neil with only battleships and me with control of the seas (note that he wouldn’t have fought for so long were it not the last turn).

With my sea control, I attacked Mexico, Panama, Columbia, Amazonia, Brazil and Great Britain, taking all of them. I only barely took Columbia, which could have been a problem, as sea access from Columbia – presuming he would take control of the seas, which I imagined he might – would let Shane strike at my undefended North American interior. Mike didn’t have much he could do at this point, controlling three territories and with his capital in enemy hands, Shane’s turn was a little limited, too, inasmuch as I’d stripped him of five territories and his capital. Regardless, he built two tanks in South America and attempted a massive land in Africa. The battle to retake territory in South America did not work, but he succeeded in attacking in Africa, and then following up with a Blitz move.

It was not instantly clear who won, so we did a tally:

Mike – 3 territories
Neil – 13 territories
Me – 14 territories
Shane – 14 territories

So we split it.

Overall, I enjoyed it, and it was a straightforward play, especially for a first time. It ran kind of long, but I think a fair amount of that went into slow play by a few people, which is fine. We also reinforced that, while he can dominate a game of Carcassonne, Mike is not so good with the odds calculations, and Neil may possibly be too polite to actually dominate the world.