This was a recent game on Mabiweb, game ID 39414.

Player order:

Norbert (15 games experience)
Chad Ellis (200 games experience)
Jeremy (ITYOTD virgin)
Lynette (ITYOTD virgin)

I was looking forward to having my way with the two newbies, so to speak, until Lynette invited Chad to join the menage a trois.

Events were: 1) peace, 2) peace, 3) Contagion, 4) Tribute, 5) Contagion, 6) Fireworks, 7) Mongul, 8) Drought, 9) Fireworks, 10) Mongul, 11) Drought, 12)Tribute

Choosing first, I took healer and monk. I thought that combination would be high enough so I could have the option of taking the first turn double privilege, but Chad had other ideas.

Chad chose warrior and monk, giving him one more privilge than me. No worries, I said to myself, I had enough experience in countering a first turn double privilege, and I had always wondered if a good player got the first turn double privilege what woudl the game be like? I was about to find out.

Jeremy chose healer and tax collector.

Lynette chose court lady and healer.

In round 1, the double privilege and build action were unfortunately together. Chad took the double privilege. I think the only way to counter the first turn double privilege is to build as often as possible, so after some worry, I decided to pay $3 Yuan to build a new palace. Was this the right move? I welcome any comments on this one.
Jeremy took the money action to gain $5 Yuan, while Lynette took rice.

In the person phase, Chad took a 6 monk. I followed suit to try to keep the pressure on him. Jeremy took double healer, Lynette took builder.

Scores: Chad 4, Lynette 3, Norbert 3, Jeremy 2

In round 2, Chad took builder, I took rice (that seemed to be the next best option), Jeremy took double privilege oaying $6, Lynette took money. In the person phase, Chad took tax collector, I took the younger healer (value 4) to tie Chad for the lead in prestige points. Jeremy took tax collector, Lynette took elder healer.

Scores: Chad 9, Lynette 6, Norbert 6, Jeremy 6

Round 3: Contagion. I selected builder, building another palace. Chad took money, Jeremy took money and Lynette took builder.

In the persn phase, I had an interesting dilemma: I could have taken the last double healer in front of Chad, and he would have lost at least 2 people to the contagion, assuming he took a normal healer. But I didn't need a double healer, and I thought a tax collector was better for my game. Comments? Taking away the last double healer would have hurt Chad, I think, but it didn't fit into my plan. Chad (gratefully, I'm sure) took the double healer, Jeremy took younger Monk to get back in the prestige race, Lynette took tax collector.

In the contagion phase, Chad and I threw away our 6 Monk.

Scores: Chad 14, everyone else 10.

Round 4: Tribute. I took tax collector, Chad took builder, Jeremy took another double privilege (!) and Lynette paid $3 Yuan to take tax collector. In the person phase, I took an inexperienced fireworks maker (one symbol) to try and keep the prestige lead. Chad took an experienced famer (2 symbol rice), Jeremy took an inexperienced fireworks maker, while Lynette took an experienced fireworks maker. We all could pay the $4 Yuan tribute.

Scores: Chad 20, Jeremy 16, Lynette 16, Norbert 16

Round 5, Contagion: I took fireworks, Jeremy took money, Chad took rice, Lynette took fireworks (she getting 3 fireworks symbol to my 2).
In the person phase, I took builder, Jeremy took builder, Chad took an experienced warrior, Lynette took experienced farmer (releasing a court lady).In the event phase, Chad and I released our healer.

Scores: Chad 26, Jeremy 22, Norbert 18, Lynette 17

Round 6, Fireworks: I took builder, taking 2 palace floors and expanding outward. Chad took 3 rice, Jeremy bought a single privilege for $3 Yuan, while Lynette got $3 Yuan for skipping this phase.
I noticed Chad was able to plan well in advance by taking the actions that were not in high demand, like the rice.

I took an experienced farmer (2 rice symbols), Chad took a fireworks maker (one symbol), Jeremy and Lynette both took inexperienced warrior (one symbol). Lynette got 6 VPs for the fireworks, I got 3 VPs; I was hoping to be the only one to worry about fireworks, but alas Lynette had other plans.

Scores: Chad 32, Jeremy 29, Lynette 26, Norbert 26

Round 7, Mongul: I took 3 rice, Chad took builder, Jeremy bought a single privilege for $2 Yuan, Lynette took another 3 fireworks. I wasn't sure what she was celebrating, but her fireworks were all over the place in this game.

In the person phase, luckily the last experienced warrior (double symbol) was still there, so I took it, Chad took an inexpereinced scholar, Jeremy took inexperienced farmer, and Lynette took inexpereineced warrior (one symbol).

Chad and Lynette got 3 VPs for the mongul attacks, while Jeremy had to release a person (his warrior).

Scores: Chad 42, Jeremy 37. Norbert 33, Lynette 32

Round 8, Drought: Chad paraded to go up 4 spaces, I took 3 rice, Jeremy built to take 2 floors, while Lynette took 3 rice.

Person phase: Now Chad took his builder, I took a court lady, Jeremy took a tax collector, and Lynette took an experienced scholar.

Scores: Chad 49, Jeremy 45, Norbert 39, Lynette 35

I don't know if the game was effectively over here. Comments? Should I have taken a scholar to try and catch up that way?

Round 9, Fireworks. Having paraded earlier, Chad was assured of going first for the last turns. He built 2 palace floors, Jeremy took $8 Yuan, I tool 3 rice, and Lynette researched for 4 VPs.

In the person phase, Chad and Jeremy took a court lady, I took an experienced scholar (releasing a healer), while Lynette took a court lady (releasing a warrior).
Lynette got 6 VPs for fireworks, and I got 3 VPs.

Scores: Chad 58, Jeremy 54, Lynette 49, Norbert 48.

Round 10, Mongul: Chad took 3 rice, I took 2 palace floors, Jeremy got $8 Yuan, and Lynette scored 4 VPs for researching. In the person phase, Chad used his wild card to take a double symbol monk, I did likewise, Jeremy took an inexperienced farmer, and Lynette took the last double symbol monk.

Scores: After the mongul attacks, Chad: 70. Jeremy 63, Lynette 58, Norbert 57

Round 11, Drought: Chad took 3 rice, Jeremy also took 3 rice paying $3 Yuan, I took 2 palace floors and added it to my existing one with the double monk, Lynette took $5 Yuan.

In the person phase, Chad took a court lady with his last wild card, Jermey took an experieced scholar, while I took an inexperienced scholar to tie Jeremy in prestige for the last turn. Lynette took an inexperienced scholar.

I had to release one person due to the drought.

Scores: Chad 80, Jeremy 72, Norbert 64, Lynette 61.

Round 12, Tribute. Chad took money getting $5 Yuan, I researched for 6 VPs, Jeremy researched for 4 VPs, and Lynette researched for 6 VPs.
After paying the $4 Yuan tribute, scores were: Chad 90, Jeremy 85, Norbert 78, Lynette 69.

Finally, we counted persons and monks to get:

Final score: Chad 118, Norbert 104, Jeremy 96, Lynette 80.

I would be ineterested in any comments on strategy that would have allowed me to stay close to Chad. Should I have taken a different choice of persons on the first turn, perhaps a warrior and monk?

I think you got in a bit of a mess from the off. I would have taken Monk, Warrior as a starting pair. You now have 3 possible opening roles. Warrior, build or double privilege. Even if Chad had jumped over you by taking monk + firework man (this is what I would have done if I were in Chad’s position) then gone on to take double privilege and block the build you would still have had the opportunity to go two spaces forward by selecting the warrior then you could have bagged the double privilege the next turn and probably built the turn after.

My guess is if you had gone for Monk, Warrior as your opening workers then Chad would have tried to run the game from the back (He loves the euphoria of winning from the back of the turn order) by taking builder + tax collector. I would have fancied that the new players would have not pushed you for turn order and left without a fight for the front of the order you would have gone on to win the game while Chad tripped all over the new players for choice of actions.

Given the opening role selections should you have paid $3 to build in the first turn? Tough one that. I just don’t like paying for roles so I probably would not but I think the logical decision probably would be to pay the $3.

Chad is my hero at this game by the way :-)

Thanks Gordon, I never thought to try the monk/warrior combination for this set up. I thought I needed a healer because of the quick contagions early. I guess the monk/warrior move is pretty standard for all setups.

Yup, Chad played a good game.

It's a 1-in-7 bad break for you on the first round, and it's really screwy to have to pay $3 to build without the added benefit of a builder.

I think the two other opponents were really kind to Chad, for example by getting the useless elder healders and letting Chad take second place (in PP) comfortably. (Second place in a 4P game is usually not bad, unless you get really unlucky like first round.) Normally, the choice shouldn't be on you to deplete the last elder Healer or not, but rather, Chad should have to go last for taking the elder Healer when the others are using two younger ones. Screwing Chad by depleting the elder healer is probably not a good move, since it gives you low PP and it's just one more casualty each contagion for Chad (when he takes the younger, but he also gets 3 more PP for that).

Why did you chose to take Fireworks when going first on round 5, when it's not a Festival round and you were vulnerable to being overtaken? I usually take Fireworks on a non-festival round only because better actions were already taken.

Thanks for the advice, Alan.

The Festvial was in round 6, so I took the fireworks on round 5, thinking that everyone would try to compete for it in round 6. I think what you were recommending is what I actually did. I didn't have a warrior yet, so parading didn't seem like a good option yet then.