[Pandemic] - Game 16 - Game Over - Obamacare Saves(?) The World

stever777

Welcome to Pandemic, Z-Man Games' game of global disease containment. In this game, players take the roles of five Center for Disease Control (CDC) operatives, racing against time to cure outbreaks.


You and your companions are highly skilled members of a disease-fighting team waging a battle against four deadly diseases. Your team will travel across the globe, stemming the tide of infection and developing the resources you'll need to discover the cures. You must work together, using your individual strengths to destroy the diseases before they overtake the world. The clock is ticking as outbreaks and epidemics accelerate the spread of the plague. Will you find the cures in time? The fate of humanity is in your hands!

Four diseases have broken out in the world and it is up to a team of specialists in various fields to find cures for these diseases before mankind is wiped out.

Players must work together, playing to their characters' strengths and planning their strategy of eradication before the diseases overwhelm the world with ever-increasing outbreaks. For example, the Operation Specialist can build research stations, which are needed to find cures for the diseases. The Scientist needs only 4 cards of a particular disease to cure it instead of the normal 5.

But the diseases are breaking out fast and time is running out: the team must try to stem the tide of infection in diseased areas while also towards cures.

A truly cooperative game where you all win or you all lose.


This will be a Play-By-Post Virulent Strain Variant Game of Pandemic for 5 players, participants from sign-ups.

[RULES]
[EXPANSION RULES]
[RULES SUMMARY]
[Discussion and Sign-ups]

stever777

A QUICK TUTORIAL ON PANDEMIC

Pandemic is a cooperative game. You and your fellow players are members of a disease control team, working together to research cures and prevent additional outbreaks. Each of you will assume a unique role within the team, with special abilities that will improve your team’s chances if applied wisely. The object is to save humanity by discovering cures to four deadly diseases (Blue, Yellow, Black, and Red) that threaten to overtake the planet. If you and your team aren’t able to keep the diseases contained before finding the necessary cures, the planet will be overrun and the game will end in defeat for everyone.

The Board & Cards

-Virulent Strain Variant & EPIDEMIC! Cards-

Determining The Virulent Strain
The game plays as normal until the first (Virulent Strain) Epidemic card is drawn. When a player draws the first Epidemic card, and after performing the Infect step of this first Epidemic card, count the cubes on the board for each disease; the disease with the most cubes on the board is the Virulent Strain. (If there is a tie, randomly determine the Virulent Strain from among these tied diseases.) Place the Epidemic card next to that disease’s cube pile as a reminder.

Virulent Strain Epidemic Effects
In addition to the normal Epidemic effects, each Virulent Strain Epidemic card has its own unique effect which applies to that disease only. Some cards are marked with an icon indicating that they trigger a Continuing Effect; keep these cards faceup as reminders for the rest of the game.

Complex Molecular Structure
A player would need to turn in 6 city cards of the Virulent Strain color to cure this disease, except for the Scientist, who could turn in 5 cards, or the Field Operative, who could turn in 4 cards and 3 samples.

Government Interference
The effects of the event Mobile Hospital (when applied against Virulent Strain cubes in cities that a player is in or has entered) will negate the effects of Government Interference. The Containment Specialist’s power does not negate the effects of this card, nor do the events Remote Treatment or Rapid Vaccine Deployment, (unless all Virulent Strain cubes in the city in question are removed).

-The Turn Phases-

Each turn, the current player must:

1. Take 4 actions
2. Draw 2 cards to add to his hand
3. Take on the role of the Infector (cards drawn & tokens placed by Host)

After the Infector has gone, the player’s turn is over and the next player begins his turn.

-Actions-

A player gets 4 actions to spend on her turn. A player may select from any of the available Basic and Special actions and spend 1 action to perform it. A given action may be performed more than once during a turn, so long as 1 action is spent for each instance. Each player’s Role will grant them special abilities that are unique to that player. Players may also pass if they have nothing else to do. Unused actions may not be saved from turn to turn.


BASIC ACTIONS

Charter Flight
Play the card corresponding to your pawn’s current location, and move to any city on the board. Discard the card to the Player Discard pile.

Shuttle Flight
If your pawn is in a city with a Research Station, move it to any other city with a Research Station. (See below for details on building Research Stations.)

Direct Flight
Play a card from your hand and move your pawn to the pictured city. Discard the card to the Player Discard pile.

Drive (or Ferry)
Move your pawn to an adjacent city. Cities are adjacent if they are connected by a red line. Red lines that go off the edge of the board “wrap around” to the opposite board edge and continue to the indicated city. (For example, Sydney and Los Angeles are considered to be adjacent)

The Dispatcher may move other player’s pawns on his turn (using any of the available Basic actions) as if they were his own pawn. He may also spend an action to move a pawn to any city that contains another pawn. He may only move other players’ pawns if they permit him to do so.
Note: For the Charter Flight action, the Dispatcher must play the card corresponding to the current location of the pawn he wishes to move.

Pass
A player may also elect to pass (and do nothing) for an action.


SPECIAL ACTIONS

Discover A Cure
Once your team has discovered all four cures, you win!
If your pawn is in a city with a Research Station, discard 5 cards of the same color to cure the corresponding disease. Place the spent cards into the Player Discard Pile.

The Scientist only needs 4 cards of a color to discover the cure of the corresponding disease when performing the Discover Cure action.

Build A Research Station
Building Research Stations helps your team move from place to place.
Research Stations are also required for discovering cures. Play the card corresponding to the city your pawn currently occupies, then place a Research Station in that city. Discard the card to the Player Discard Pile. If there aren’t any Research Stations left in the supply, select one of the Research Stations already in play and transfer it to the city your pawn occupies.

The Operations Expert does not have to play the card matching the city his pawn occupies when performing the Build A Research Station action. He simply spends an action to add a Research Station to his current city.

Treat Disease
Over the course of the game, your team can treat diseases to buy the time needed to discover cures. Remove a disease cube from the city your pawn occupies. (Each removed cube costs one action.) Place the removed cube back into the stock by the side of the board. If players have discovered a cure, instead of one cube, remove all cubes of a cured disease in your current city for one action.

Eradicating a Disease
If a cure for a given disease has been discovered and all of the disease cubes of that color have been removed from the board, flip the Cure marker for the disease to the “Sunset” side. From now on, cards of this color have no effect when drawn on the Infector’s turn. Cubes of the eradicated color will not be used again for the rest of the game.

The Medic may remove all the cubes of a single color (instead of 1) when performing the Treat Disease action. Also, if the Medic at any time finds herself in a city that contains cubes of a disease that has been cured, she may immediately remove all of those cubes. This unique ability is in effect during all players’ turns and does not cost any actions to perform.

Share Knowledge
Sometimes it’s hard for one player to get the cards necessary to discover a cure. The Share Knowledge action (while difficult to perform) can be useful in these cases. Transfer a card from one player to another. Every card transferred costs 1 action. Both your pawn and your fellow player’s pawn must be in the same city, and you may only transfer the card of the city that you are in together. (For example, if you are together in Moscow, only the Moscow card may be transferred from one player to the other.) If either player holds more than 7 cards as the result of a transfer, the excess cards must be immediately discarded to the Player Discard Pile.

The Researcher may give a fellow player any card from his hand when involved in a Share Knowledge action. He is not restricted to giving the card of the current jointly-occupied city, like other players are. This freedom only applies when the Researcher is giving a card—he always receives a card with the same restriction as other players. The Researcher can utilize this ability when involved in Share Knowledge actions on any player’s turn.

-Special Event Cards-

The Player Cards deck contains some Special Event cards. These cards may be played at any time (even on a fellow player’s turn) and do not require an action to play. When you play a Special Event card, immediately follow the instructions on the card, then discard the card into the Player Discard Pile.

-Hand Limit-

Players have a hand limit of 7 cards. If the number of cards in hand ever exceeds 7 as a result of drawing cards (or performing the Share Knowledge action), the player must immediately discard cards in excess to the Player Discard Pile. Players may choose which cards to discard. Players may play Special Event cards (including any they have just drawn) instead of discarding them, to help reduce their hand to 7.

-Sharing Information About Cards-

Players may openly discuss strategies during the game, but like the real world, the players do not immediately know everything that the other players do. To simulate this, if you are playing the Normal or Heroic Games, players may not show the contents of their hands to their fellow players during the game. Players may however, freely tell each other what cards they have. The Introductory Game has no such restriction and players may decide to play their hands openly. Because Pandemic is a test of cooperation and mettle (and not of memory), players may freely examine the contents of the Player Discard Pile and the Infection Discard Pile at any time.

-Infector Phase & Outbreaks-

Draw cards from the Infection Draw Pile equal to the current Infection Rate and add one cube to the pictured cities, using a cube of the same color as each card. Resolve the cards in the order you draw them. If, however, the pictured city is of a color that has been eradicated, do not add a cube. If a city already has 3 cubes in it of the color being added, instead of adding a cube to the city, an outbreak occurs in that color. When this happens, instead of adding a 4th cube, add a cube of the outbreaking color to each adjacent city. Each time a city outbreaks, move the Outbreaks Marker up one space on the Outbreak Indicator. If the number of outbreaks ever reaches 8 (and the Outbreaks Marker reaches the skull symbol), the game immediately ends in defeat for all players. Also, if there are not enough cubes to add to the board when infecting, the game immediately ends in defeat for all players.

Chain Reactions
If any of these new cubes would cause the total number of cubes of that color in an adjacent city to exceed 3, additional outbreaks may occur, causing a chain reaction. Note that each city may only outbreak once in each chain reaction.

DEFEAT OR VICTORY!

The game ends immediately in defeat for all players if any of the following conditions occur:
-A player needs to add disease cubes to the board and there aren’t any left of that color in the supply.
-The eighth outbreak occurs (the Outbreaks Marker reaches the skull symbol on the Outbreak Indicator).
-There are not enough cards in the Player Draw Pile when a player must draw cards.

Players collectively win the game immediately when the cures for all four diseases (Blue, Yellow, Black, and Red) have been discovered. Players do not need to administer cures to every infected city in order to win the game—victory is instant when any player discovers the fourth and final cure.

stever777

Looking for 2 more players.
Please check out -Virulent Strain Variant & EPIDEMIC! Cards- in the 2nd post for the replacement cards.

We will let the group decide on how many Epidemic cards will be in this game.
4 (Introductory), 5 (Normal), 6 (Heroic) or 7 (Legendary)
Please indicate choice in bold limegreen!

@Preda
@Grunt's Ghosts
@Goose!

Grunt's Ghosts

I need me some free healthcare. I got Azure's Balls after the last one.

stever777

GG, you're already in the game, you silly goose, (not Goose!, but goose).


and really, who's that hottie on your av?

Grunt's Ghosts

Charlize Theron from A Million Ways to Die in the West. The quote was the only one I felt I could use without spoiling some of the better parts of that fantastic movie.

Phyphor

Reserve up since you seem to need some more

Hedgethorn

I'll play if you need another.

Preda

We got 5 players. So talk difficulty. I'll stay normal (5 epidemic). The game is already hard enough this way...

Grunt's Ghosts

Yeah, we barely got to play before the diseases ate us alive last game.

Hedgethorn

For five players, plus virulent strain, I'd vote for five epidemics at most. Those virulent strain epidemics can be awfully harsh.

Assuran

I have never played, but am interested in learning. Reserve up.

stever777

5 Epidemics it is.

@Preda
@Grunt's Ghosts
@Goose!
@Phyphor
@Hedgethorn‌

You may now choose your roles in that player order.
As pointed out in Game 15, "random" is a valid role choice.

I know, there are 2 Operations Experts shown.
Only one is available.
Also, the Bio-Terrorist is not available.

Preda

It's always better to balance the group, putting in:
- 2 curers (scientist, field operative, epidemiologist) ideally in position 1 and 3 (extra turn);
- 2 treaters (medic, containment specialist, troubleshooter or generalist) ideally in position 2 and 5;
- 1 facilitator (dispatcher, archivist, operation expert) ideally in position 4.

That said let's be epidemiologist.

Grunt's Ghosts

Well, I'm in position 2 so I guess I should be Medic again unless Troubleshooter would be better in this spot.

@Goose! for next pick.

stever777

Needs quotes.
@Goose!

Goose!

I have never played pandemic before so what do I do?

Scientist I guess? Those are good right?

@Phyphor‌

Phyphor

I will dispatch you all!!!! Mwahahahaha

Oh wait, not twilight struggle thread

@hedgethorn

Hedgethorn

Troubleshooter

@stever777 to begin.

stever777

@Preda - Epidemiologist Turn

You all start in Atlanta, at the Research Station, (red cross icon).

3 cities received 3 disease cubes.
3 cities received 2 disease cubes.
3 cities received 1 disease cubes.
These cities are not in danger of receiving more cubes until an Epidemic card is turned over from the Player Deck.
Then, those card are shuffled and placed on top of the Infection Deck and that's when the trouble starts, as outbreaks begin to occur.
Obviously, the 3 cube cities are the most dangerous, as they could outbreak the fastest.

Please ignore the purple cubes, as we are not playing with them this game.

You can click on the board to see it enlarged to read the cities and texts.

Preda has 4 actions to play.


Starting hands -
Roles, current hand sizes & cards -
Preda - Epidemiologist (2) - Bangkok; "Resilient Population" Special (Remove card from Infection Discards permanently.)
Grunt's Ghosts - Medic (2) - Riyadh; Shanghai
Goose! - Scientist (2) - Atlanta; San Francisco
Phyphor - Dispatcher (2) - London; Khartoum
Hedgethorn‌ - Troubleshooter (2) - Madrid; Osaka

Once you decide on your final actions, post them in the color of your pawn on your turn.

Preda - coral
Grunt's Ghosts - darkorange
Goose! - grey
Dispatcher - mediumorchid
Hedgethorn‌ - red

Preda

Unless someone got a better Idea, I pick red to cure starting from Osaka (GG will need Shangai to treat Kolkata) and go treat LA, GG treat kolkata, goose go to essen, Phyphor dispatch himself there then go treat San Petersbutg and Hedgethorn troublefly to madrid then go treat Milan. Obviously an early epidemic will change everything...

Hedgethorn

The only bit of Preda's plan I don't understand is how he's treating both Osaka and LA. Unless LA is his plan for his second turn?

Also, I'm not normally a fan of the scientist burning cards on travel, but given that Goose has the Atlanta card, he may want to use that to charter himself to either St. Petersburg or Milan. (Assuming we don't draw an epidemic in the first four cards.)

One more thing: the virulent strain epidemics will all target whichever disease has the most cubes on the board when the first epidemic card is drawn. Given the current distribution, there's an excellent chance that blue will be our virulent disease. Just something to keep in mind.

Phyphor

No, no, he takes the osaka card, then treats LA

Hedgethorn

Ah, got it. I thought he was taking the Osaka card and using it to treat Osaka. My mistake.

Preda

Yes, I go to cure red, while Goose will go for blue. Better to have it cured if it's the virulent one. I wouldn't use Atlanta for a charter flight unless an epidemic pop out before goose turn.

Preda

No new imput so,
Take Osaka Card from Hedgethorn;
Drive to Chicago;
Drive to LA;
Treat a cube there.

stever777

@Grunt's Ghosts - Medic Turn

Roles, current hand sizes & cards -
Preda - Epidemiologist (5) - Bangkok; Osaka; Tokyo; "Resilient Population" Special (Remove card from Infection Discards permanently.);
"Commercial Travel Ban" Special (Infection Rate Becomes 1 Until The Start Of Current Player's Next Turn.)
Grunt's Ghosts - Medic (2) - Riyadh; Shanghai
Goose! - Scientist (2) - Atlanta; San Francisco
Phyphor - Dispatcher (2) - London; Khartoum
Hedgethorn‌ - Troubleshooter (1) - Madrid

Grunt's Ghosts

I could go to Shanghai and work over to Kalkala or whatever that black 3 is to hopefully stopping black from exploding. My options are limited, atm.

Phyphor

That would probably be the best play. Wipe out black there and then I can warp you over to blue for next turn (when goose goes there)

Preda

Agreed.

Grunt's Ghosts

Fly to Shanghai, Move to Hong Kong, Move to Kalkala, Cure Kalkala

Grunt's Ghosts

System Error... Look Away.

stever777

@Goose! - Scientist Turn

Roles, current hand sizes & cards -
Preda - Epidemiologist (5) - Bangkok; Osaka; Tokyo; "Resilient Population" Special (Remove card from Infection Discards permanently.);
"Commercial Travel Ban" Special (Infection Rate Becomes 1 Until The Start Of Current Player's Next Turn.)
Grunt's Ghosts - Medic (3) - Sao Paulo; Cairo; Riyadh
Goose! - Scientist (2) - Atlanta; San Francisco
Phyphor - Dispatcher (2) - London; Khartoum
Hedgethorn‌ - Troubleshooter (1) - Madrid

Goose!

What do I do?

Hedgethorn

My suggestion: Drive/Ferry to London, treating either Atlanta or New York along the way. This will let Phyphor move to you and give you the London card on his turn. If you draw a blue card, you'll be able to cure blue on your next turn, which should be our first priority. If you don't draw blue, we'll still be 3/4ths of the way to curing blue, and perhaps Phyphor can move you to Madrid so that I can give you that card on my turn.

Goose!

That sounds good. Sorry I've never played Pandemic before and I have been doing so many other games that I didn't really get the chance to look into it yet.

Grunt's Ghosts

I saw the Sao Paulo card and for some reason thought it said "Sad Panda".

If I was you, Goose!, I'd heal NYC since it's connected to another blue cubed city.

Goose!

Oh wait nvm I'll let someone else cure ATlanta, I'll walk to NY, cure there, then go to Madrid?

Hedgethorn

You only have four actions per turn. If you treat atlanta, move to dc, move to new york, and treat new york, that will be your four actions.

But you should try to move all the way to London, so that Phyphor can give you the London card. (With the exception of the special powers of the researcher and the epidemiologist, you can only exchange cards with another player when you're both in the city named on the card.)

Goose!

Alright so I'm going to leave Atlanta for someone else, move the 2 spots to NY, treat the cube, then move to London, not Madrid?

Grunt's Ghosts

Yeah, that way Phyphor can give you London on his turn.