* Pakistan invades India
* Soviet changes Soviet Military Ops to 2.
* Pakistan wins Indo-Pakistani War.
* Soviets gain 2 VPs.
* Removing 4 U.S. Influence from India.
* Adding 4 Soviet Influence in India.
In many ways presaging the “Reagan revolution” in the United States, Margaret Thatcher led a rejuvenation of the conservative movement in the United Kingdom. An ardent anti-communist, Thatcher received the moniker “Iron Lady” from the Soviet newspaper, “The Red Star.” Thatcher provided the perfect partner for Ronald Reagan, and together, they renewed the “special relationship” that formed the lynchpin of the post-war Atlantic Alliance. Thatcher’s finest moment may have been her vigorous defense of Britain’s colonial outpost in the Falkland Islands. The military junta ruling Argentina launched an invasion of what they referred to as the Malvinas Islands. In a sharp, short military action, the UK expelled the Argentinian forces, and restored some small luster to Britain’s former imperial pretensions. Thatcher reigned through the close of the Cold War, and is Britain’s longest serving prime minister.
Brinksmanship was a term coined by John Foster Dulles to describe a policy of coming close to war, without falling into the abyss. At different times, during different crises, this policy was pursued by both superpowers. However, there was always the danger that brinksmanship could turn the “cold” war, hot. Additionally, brinksmanship encouraged a nuclear posture of “launch on warning.” Game theory demanded that if your opponent were launching a massive nuclear strike, you would have to launch your own weapons before they could be destroyed in their silos. These doctrines shortened reaction times of world leaders from hours to minutes. On November 9th, 1979, the United States made preparations for a retaliatory nuclear strike when a NORAD computer glitch indicated an all-out Soviet strike had been launched. As recently as 1995, Russia mistook a Norwegian scientific missile launch for an attack, and Boris Yeltsin was asked to decide whether or not to counterattack.
First used by President Ronald Reagan before the National Association of Evangelicals, conservatives applied the term “evil empire” to the Soviet Union. This change in terminology encapsulated the conservative movement’s rejection of Nixon’s morally ambiguous policy of detente. The speech sparked controversy within the NATO alliance, as many European leaders found the speech unnecessarily provocative. Domestically, the left argued that the United States had no room to criticize Soviet actions during the Cold War, and pointed to CIA involvement in places like Chile. The speech gave further indication that the last phase of the Cold War would be a confrontational one.
In an effort to secure the release of US hostages in Lebanon, the Reagan administration undertook secret negotiations with Iran involving “arms for hostages.” This was in violation of the stated US policy of never negotiating with terrorists. Compounding this difficulty was the fact that the proceeds from weapons sales to Iran were used to covertly fund the Contra guerillas in Nicaragua. This was in contravention of stated Administration policy, as well as laws adopted by the Democrat-controlled Congress. Colonel Oliver North and Admiral John Poindexter both were criminally indicted for the scandal, though the Congressional report concluded that President Reagan bore ultimate responsibility for the scandal.
Reagan has already declared the Soviets an Evil Empire.
Please play another card.
The Pershing II missile was designed as a direct counter to the Soviet Intermediate Range Missile, the SS-20. The deployment of 108 of these missiles in West Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom proved a major test for NATO’s resolve. Public protests against the deployments were massive. However, despite the strains, the weapons were deployed, providing NATO with a bargaining chip in the proposed Intermediate range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty discussions. These negotiations had been suspended in 1983, and the successful deployment of the Pershing II’s provided impetus for restarting the talks in 1985. Ultimately, the talks would succeed at the Reykjavik summit in Iceland in 1986.
The first known successful penetration of the CIA by the KGB, Aldrich Ames compromised hundreds of CIA operations and provided information that resulted in the execution of 10 US sources. The CIA spent years looking for another explanation for the leaks—in particular the possibility that the KGB had bugged CIA headquarters. Ames’ motivation was not ideological, and he and his wife enjoyed the extravagance that his $2.5 million in bribes provided. Ames first walked into the Soviet embassy in 1985. At that time, he oversaw the analysis of Soviet intelligence operations in Europe.
The Chernobyl accident was the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power. Radioactive debris spread in a massive cloud that stretched throughout Western Europe, and ultimately reached the eastern seaboard of the United States. 200,000 had to be relocated from badly contaminated regions of Soviet controlled Ukraine and Belarus. It is estimated that as many as 4,000 people may die from the deadly exposure they received that day. Chernobyl displayed the kind of staggering incompetence that came to reflect Soviet bureaucratic decision-making towards the close of the Cold War.
HedgethornAssociate Professor of Historical Hobby HorsesIn the Lions' DenRegistered Userregular
edited October 2014
Good game, Cap. I got very lucky with that last hand: apart from my hold card (Colonial Rear Guards), every card was playable and they were basically all 3 and 4 ops. Not to mention scoring 8 VP between Indo-Pak War, OPEC, and Arms Race. Had the cards been dealt differently on that last turn, I think the end score would have been very different.
Thanks @stever777 for hosting. I really enjoyed it.
*** FINAL SCORING ***
USSR receives 3 VPs for Europe.
USSR receives 7 VPs for Asia.
US receives 2 VPs for Middle East.
US receives 2 VPs for Central America.
No one receives VPs for Africa
US receives 8 VPs for South America.
* Soviet player has The China Card for 1 VP.
Just realized that Tear Down This Wall never made it out of the deck. I actually didn't know that all the Late War cards wouldn't get played.
Of course, I can count the number of times that my games of Twilight Struggle have made it to the late war on one hand, and I think I've only done final scoring once.
HedgethornAssociate Professor of Historical Hobby HorsesIn the Lions' DenRegistered Userregular
I spent most of that last turn suspecting you were holding Tear Down This Wall for AR7. It was only after you showed your hand that I decided to spend the ops to re-dominate Europe.
I was worried when I saw our first turn hand was HALF 1 op cards. It was literally the worst starting hand I've ever seen in this game. Then the die rolls were atrociously against us for a couple turns.
But it all turned around when David Duchovny became Russian. There's no standing up against that.
Posts
US to help E Europe out of that crumbling Soviet thing, then, another regional war gets resolved.
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
Twitch Stream
Geth, roll 1d6-1 for Algeria.
* Pakistan invades India
* Soviet changes Soviet Military Ops to 2.
* Pakistan wins Indo-Pakistani War.
* Soviets gain 2 VPs.
* Removing 4 U.S. Influence from India.
* Adding 4 Soviet Influence in India.
American AR1
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
Twitch Stream
Geth roll 1d6 for coup
Twitch Stream
In many ways presaging the “Reagan revolution” in the United States, Margaret Thatcher led a rejuvenation of the conservative movement in the United Kingdom. An ardent anti-communist, Thatcher received the moniker “Iron Lady” from the Soviet newspaper, “The Red Star.” Thatcher provided the perfect partner for Ronald Reagan, and together, they renewed the “special relationship” that formed the lynchpin of the post-war Atlantic Alliance. Thatcher’s finest moment may have been her vigorous defense of Britain’s colonial outpost in the Falkland Islands. The military junta ruling Argentina launched an invasion of what they referred to as the Malvinas Islands. In a sharp, short military action, the UK expelled the Argentinian forces, and restored some small luster to Britain’s former imperial pretensions. Thatcher reigned through the close of the Cold War, and is Britain’s longest serving prime minister.
Brinksmanship was a term coined by John Foster Dulles to describe a policy of coming close to war, without falling into the abyss. At different times, during different crises, this policy was pursued by both superpowers. However, there was always the danger that brinksmanship could turn the “cold” war, hot. Additionally, brinksmanship encouraged a nuclear posture of “launch on warning.” Game theory demanded that if your opponent were launching a massive nuclear strike, you would have to launch your own weapons before they could be destroyed in their silos. These doctrines shortened reaction times of world leaders from hours to minutes. On November 9th, 1979, the United States made preparations for a retaliatory nuclear strike when a NORAD computer glitch indicated an all-out Soviet strike had been launched. As recently as 1995, Russia mistook a Norwegian scientific missile launch for an attack, and Boris Yeltsin was asked to decide whether or not to counterattack.
American AR3
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
3 in Botswanna
Twitch Stream
Realign Angola
Geth roll 1d6+2 for US
Geth roll 1d6+2 for USSR
Twitch Stream
Geth roll 1d6+2 for US
Geth roll 1d6+2 for USSR
Twitch Stream
2 in Angola
Twitch Stream
First used by President Ronald Reagan before the National Association of Evangelicals, conservatives applied the term “evil empire” to the Soviet Union. This change in terminology encapsulated the conservative movement’s rejection of Nixon’s morally ambiguous policy of detente. The speech sparked controversy within the NATO alliance, as many European leaders found the speech unnecessarily provocative. Domestically, the left argued that the United States had no room to criticize Soviet actions during the Cold War, and pointed to CIA involvement in places like Chile. The speech gave further indication that the last phase of the Cold War would be a confrontational one.
In an effort to secure the release of US hostages in Lebanon, the Reagan administration undertook secret negotiations with Iran involving “arms for hostages.” This was in violation of the stated US policy of never negotiating with terrorists. Compounding this difficulty was the fact that the proceeds from weapons sales to Iran were used to covertly fund the Contra guerillas in Nicaragua. This was in contravention of stated Administration policy, as well as laws adopted by the Democrat-controlled Congress. Colonel Oliver North and Admiral John Poindexter both were criminally indicted for the scandal, though the Congressional report concluded that President Reagan bore ultimate responsibility for the scandal.
Reagan has already declared the Soviets an Evil Empire.
Please play another card.
American AR5
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
Geth roll 1d6
Twitch Stream
Event First.
Twitch Stream
Remaining US cards - (China cannot be chosen to discard.)
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
Twitch Stream
Twitch Stream
The Pershing II missile was designed as a direct counter to the Soviet Intermediate Range Missile, the SS-20. The deployment of 108 of these missiles in West Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom proved a major test for NATO’s resolve. Public protests against the deployments were massive. However, despite the strains, the weapons were deployed, providing NATO with a bargaining chip in the proposed Intermediate range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty discussions. These negotiations had been suspended in 1983, and the successful deployment of the Pershing II’s provided impetus for restarting the talks in 1985. Ultimately, the talks would succeed at the Reykjavik summit in Iceland in 1986.
The first known successful penetration of the CIA by the KGB, Aldrich Ames compromised hundreds of CIA operations and provided information that resulted in the execution of 10 US sources. The CIA spent years looking for another explanation for the leaks—in particular the possibility that the KGB had bugged CIA headquarters. Ames’ motivation was not ideological, and he and his wife enjoyed the extravagance that his $2.5 million in bribes provided. Ames first walked into the Soviet embassy in 1985. At that time, he oversaw the analysis of Soviet intelligence operations in Europe.
The Chernobyl accident was the worst disaster in the history of nuclear power. Radioactive debris spread in a massive cloud that stretched throughout Western Europe, and ultimately reached the eastern seaboard of the United States. 200,000 had to be relocated from badly contaminated regions of Soviet controlled Ukraine and Belarus. It is estimated that as many as 4,000 people may die from the deadly exposure they received that day. Chernobyl displayed the kind of staggering incompetence that came to reflect Soviet bureaucratic decision-making towards the close of the Cold War.
American AR7
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
1 in Zaire, 1 in Romania.
Pretty sure that's the game for USSR.
Twitch Stream
Thanks @stever777 for hosting. I really enjoyed it.
And, of course, thanks @stever777 for running the game!
Twitch Stream
*** FINAL SCORING ***
USSR receives 3 VPs for Europe.
USSR receives 7 VPs for Asia.
US receives 2 VPs for Middle East.
US receives 2 VPs for Central America.
No one receives VPs for Africa
US receives 8 VPs for South America.
* Soviet player has The China Card for 1 VP.
*** Soviet Victory: 10 VPs ***
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
Congrats, Commies!
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
Of course, I can count the number of times that my games of Twilight Struggle have made it to the late war on one hand, and I think I've only done final scoring once.
Twitch Stream
I think he was embarrassed.
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
But it all turned around when David Duchovny became Russian. There's no standing up against that.