Twilight Struggle

## Overview

*“Now the trumpet Summons us again - not as a call to bear cavalry, though cavalry we need - not as a call to smash, though smashed up we are - but a call to bear the burden of a long Twilight Struggle, game in and game out.” The Twilight Struggle faction will test your cunning, planning, guile, and timing as you attempt to outmaneuver and outthink your rivals. Use your cards to foil their plans before they even formulate them. Stockpile arms and prepare for the worst, because once the war reaches a Turning Point, you’ll need those weapons to secure victory at any cost. They say that nuclear war is a game that can’t be won - but if you get to 15 VP first, then perhaps the survivors of the fallout will remember your name throughout time.*

The Twilight Struggle faction suppresses rival options and delays the game while it collects resources. After the game passes the midway point, they race to win the game before their war effort collapses. If there is no other path to victory, they can also attempt to win the game by bringing in the threat of mutually assured nuclear annihilation.

Image Album: https://imgur.com/a/xnVFxwp

## Details

#### General

* Name: Twilight Struggle
* Author: ludichrisness
* Complexity: 5/5
* Version: 1.0
* Last updated: March 10, 2023

#### Mechanics

* Dueling
* Stack Shuffling

#### Special Details

Twilight Struggle features an extra base which begins the game out of play, called **Wargames**. Wargames only enters the game as directed by the card Turning Point. Otherwise, it remains set to the side.

Featured in the Board Game Bonanza custom expansion.

## Cards

#### Breakdown

Twilight Struggle has the standard 10 minions and 10 actions. They have the standard total minion power of 30, or an average of 3 per minion. Among their actions, there are:

* 1 play-on-base action: Five Year Plan
* 9 standard actions (5 that affect one or more minions, **in bold**): **Arms Race**, **Blockade (2x)**, Missile Envy, Olympic Games, Peace Treaty, **Proxy War (2x)**, Turning Point
* 3 actions that directly increase a minion's power: Arms Race, Proxy War (2x, possibly)

#### Minions

* **1x Spymaster (5):** Ongoing: At the end of their turn, any other player who did not play a minion and an action during their turn must show you their hand and then discard a random card from it.
* **2x Captured Scientist (4):** Talent: If you have fewer than 7 VP, draw a card, OR if another player has played a card this turn, play an extra card.
* **3x Double Agent (3):** Ongoing: If you have fewer than 7 VP, this minion adds not power to its base. If you have more than 7 VP, the breakpoint here is reduced by 2.
* **4x Defector (2):** Choose a player. They may play an extra minion here. Regardless of their choice, that player may not play their regular minion on their next turn.

#### Actions

* **2x Blockade:** If you have fewer than 7 VP, choose another player's minion; its owner must discard any number of minions with a combined power equal to or greater than that minion's power, or you take control of that minion until it leaves play. If you have more than 7 VP, choose two minions and move each one to the other's base.
* **2x Proxy War:** Choose one player's minion to duel another player's minion at the same base. The winning minion may either gain +2 power until the end of the turn or use a Talent ability. Other players involved in the duel may not play any further actions until the start of your turn. Special: You may play this before a base scores. Choose minions at the scoring base.
* **1x Arms Race:** If you have fewer than 7 VP, place two +1 power counters on your minions and draw a card. If you have more than 7 VP, choose a player and a base; have them play a minion off the top of their deck there. Place this card on top of your deck.
* **1x Olympic Games:** Choose a base where you and another player each have a minion. Both players reveal their hands. If you have fewer than 7 VP, compare the power each player has there, added to the highest power minion in their hand. The player with the highest total gains 1 VP and may play an extra action. If you have more than 7 VP, reduce the breakpoint there until the end of the turn by the power of the highest power minion revealed in each hand.
* **1x Five Year Plan:** Play on a base. Special: After this base scores, if you were the only winner here, either shuffle any number of your minions here into your deck and draw the same number of cards, OR if you have more than 7 VP, play an action.
* **1x Missile Envy:** Choose a player with more VP than you. Look at their hand and play an action from it. Place this card in their hand.
* **1x Peace Treaty:** All players lose 1 VP. No base may score until the start of your turn. Place this card in the box.
* **1x Turning Point:** Draw a card and play an extra action. If you have exactly 7 VP, gain 1 VP and play an extra minion, then place this card in the box and shuffle Wargames into the top 3 cards of the base deck.

#### Bases

* **(19) Nuclear Silo (3 2 1):** After this base scores, count the VP of each player who gained VP when this base scored. Players with fewer than 7 VP draw 3 cards. Players with more than 7 VP gain 1 VP. If there was only one winner and they have exactly 7 VP, they take an extra turn after the current turn ends.

* **(16) South America (2 3 1):** At the end of your turn, discard a card if you did not play a minion here this turn.

* **(30) Wargames (0 0 7):** If you are the only winner here, you win the game.

## Clarifications

* **Arms Race:** Place the card on top of your deck regardless of which ability is used.
* **Arms Race, Blockade, Captured Scientist, Olympic Games**: If you have exactly 7 VP, these VP limited abilities do not do anything.
* **Captured Scientist:** The second option does not require that you have fewer than 7 VP, only that another player has played a card this turn.
* **Defector:** You can choose yourself.
* **Double Agent:** If you have fewer than 7 VP, this minion still has power, but that power does not count towards breaking the base or earning VPs. It does not add to the breakpoint. If Double Agents are your only minions on a base when it scores and you have fewer than 7 VP, your total there is 0, but if 0 is one of the top 3 totals you can still earn VPs.
* **Five Year Plan, Nuclear Silo, Wargames:** The "only winner" means you gained the 1st place reward for VP and that no other player also gained that reward.
* **Peace Treaty:** If Peace Treaty is played while a base is scoring (e.g. with Proxy War) the base immediately stops scoring.
* **Proxy War:** You can choose two other players two duel each other, even if you do not have a minion at the base. The removal of actions occurs whether or not the duel is completed and whether or not the dueling players play dueling actions. If another player plays an action during the duel which grants additional actions, they may play additional cards during the duel; they do not lose the ability to play actions until the duel is complete.
* **Turning Point:** When performing this "stack shuffle," set aside 3 cards from the base deck. Shuffle Wargames into the set-aside pile and return them to the top of the base deck; the remainder of the base deck remains unshuffled. Only place this card in the box and shuffle in Wargames if you have exactly 7 VP when it is played.

## Strategy

### General

The Cold War is balanced on a razor's edge, and the Twilight Struggle faction will tip the scales one way or the other. The faction is built around two mechanics that work in concert with each other to achieve their ultimate goal of *controlling the tempo of the game*. They are slow when you want to be slow, and fast when you want to be fast. The two mechanics revolve around the Early War / Late War dynamic, and the idea of dictating how and when other players can play cards.

This faction breaks the game into two halves - before you reach 7 VP (hereafter called the Early War) and after you have more than 7 VP (the Late War). From 0-6 VP your abilities are defensive in nature; you can add presence without power, draw cards, build up permanent power counters, recur minions from a base, and even farm a bit of VP. After you reach 8 VP, your abilities flip into much more aggressive forms. Your Double Agents activate and weaken their bases; your scientists play the cards they previously gathered; the Olympic Games can easily lead to a base shredding in breakpoint by 10 or more; and Arms Race can give you an endless stream of minions flooding from your deck, at the cost of trimming your hand size and delaying your draw over repeated use.

The other core mechanical principle in Twilight Struggle is dictating plays. This is embodied in the 4x minion Defector, as well as the 2x double feature action Proxy War. Both of these cards give one of your rivals a chance to play a card on your turn and under your terms - Defector invites them to play a minion where you want them to, on your turn, when you can still respond to it. Whether they take you up on it or not, they won't be able to play a minion on their coming turn. The message is, "play now or not at all" - a dynamic only heightened with the Spymaster who punishes people who can't or won't play their cards.

By controlling the tempo of when and where people play early on, you can direct traffic around the board and give yourself time to collect key cards for your endgame - Arms Race, Turning Point, Proxy War, Captured Scientists. The Early War is also the time to seed your Double Agents around the board, who will be ready to flip to offense after you reach 8 VP. Notice that you can pile as many power counters on Double Agents as you want early in the game, but they won't influence their base at all until you hit 8 VP, allowing for some extreme swings in power just from the VP total changing.

It's impossible to talk about Twilight Struggle the faction without talking about Turning Point. This iconic action can only be played effectively when you have exactly 7 VP. Although this is a very narrow window, the faction invites you to hunt for the card and control the pace of the game to give yourself time to play it. If 7 VP is coming too fast, you may need to use Peace Treaty to delay things for a turn while you wait and math out the way to play it. If you are playing for Turning Point (and you don't have to) you will also need to pay very close attention to the VP distribution of bases in play to determine the best way to reach 7 VP on the nose.

The reward for achieving Turning Point is both tremendous, and a double edged sword. The card raises the stakes for the war, shuffling the base Wargames into the top of the base deck. Wargames is a 30 breakpoint "winner take all" base which ignores the score and ends the game immediately. After being added it may come out as the next base, or it may never be played; but the possibility now exists. In addition, you get the effect of a Ghostly Arrival, plus a card draw and a VP for your trouble (putting you at 8 VP to activate your Late War). Deciding whether to try to achieve Wargames in a given game is a difficult choice, because you may need to distort your game to try to accomplish it. You may find yourself in a position where you are already winning, and adding Wargames to the mix could backfire by giving other players a catchup path to victory. Or you could be the one behind yourself, and adding in Wargames could be your Hail Mary throw. It's not automatic, and not an easy decision.

Twilight Struggle adds a lot of tension and intrigue to Smash Up as you need to try to figure out what your opponents are trying to do. Are they planning to break a base this turn? If so, how? How can you most effectively disrupt them, while also preparing for your inevitable troop surge? While you accumulate resources, your cards force other players to play suboptimally, deploying minions and playing actions at the least convenient possible times and ruining possible setup. To succeed with Twilight Struggle you'll need to know your deck and the decks of your rivals - information is everything, and Twilight Struggle gives you the means to collect and abuse it. Good luck!

### Partner Suggestions

Twilight Struggle generally does quite well on its own, and naturally warps the game in its presence a bit. No matter what partner you play, there is going to be a lot of tension as it is a TS game. In general, partners can either support the early game or late game strategy really well, with the standout partners providing tools for both. Twilight Struggle offers several possible lines of play with their cards, giving unique synergy opportunities to many of their possible partners.

#### Published

* **Anansi Tales:** Anansi Tales offers several extremely useful things for TS. They can spy on and take advantage of other players' hands, maximizing the benefit of cards like Defector and Missile Envy. If a player can't play cards of a certain type for a turn, then they can't play the cards of that type which you give them with Anansi, allowing for a safe staging ground to play Collecting Stories on a future turn. Anansi also provides instant access to Twilight Struggle's 9 standard actions, including the all-important Turning Point if you decide to try to achieve it. There is a lot to keep track of, but this is an extremely fun combination which will keep players guessing.
* **Cowboys:** Proxy War is primarily intended as an option to suppress a rival's plays or to give you a last second chance at a Phase 3 action, but it's also a duel, and duels matter to Cowboys. Although it doesn't end in destruction, it doesn't have to; Pecos Bill is very impactful in Phase 3 by reducing the possibility space even further of what rivals can do in your Proxy War, even if the war is between two different rivals. The extra cards granted by Captured Scientists also really help you to make the most out of your terminal power Cowboy actions, something TS lacks. Two extra Phase 3 duels are perfect for your Deputies, and mass movement with Stagecoach can be very powerful off of Five Year Plan.
* **Explorers:** The Explorers bring the best possible chance for Twilight Struggle to ensure a Wargames victory by manipulating the base deck after Wargames enters play. However, there are other great features here as well with the movement tools they offer, including several phenomenal options for mass movement in Phase 3 with Proxy War or after a base scores with Five Year Plan. If you can achieve a huge Idaho Smith play onto Wargames bringing all of your minions with you, you could end the game in an instant. Don't sleep on the possibility of moving your Double Agents around as well, giving them as long as possible to grow with power counters from both factions.
* **Masters of Evil:** In a non-Wargames context, one of the biggest risks TS faces is running out of steam in the Late War. The card Arms Race is really powerful to stripmine your deck of minions after you reach 8 VP, but the downside is stagnating your draw and reducing your future options. Masters of Evil can help solve this problem on several fronts - unlike traditional MOE combos, you may want to save your VP farming cards for late in the game, to help push further if TS starts to run dry. MOE minions also become more powerful the longer the war goes on, helping to fill the gap as you may start running out of your best minions. Managing your Early War is the toughest thing this combination faces, but if they hit their ceiling, they can go from 8 to 15 VP almost instantly.
* **Mermaids:** Mermaids have one really significant flaw, which is needing rivals to play minions which they can exploit. Twilight Struggle solves this problem in the most on-the-nose possible way, by literally telling people when and where to play if they want to play at all. Defectors are this pairing's minion of choice as they can often force a minion onto the field before a rival is really ready to commit, but as they may not want to lose momentum entirely. Later in the game, note that Arms Race can target any player, not just yourself, allowing you to force minions out when and where you need them to exploit. TS has elements of waste to it which the Mermaids thrive on, and with cards like Proxy War and Five Year Plan combined with the incredible Mermaid action kit, the only limit is your imagination.
* **The Lion King:** Lion King solves a lot of Twilight Struggle problems which aren't apparent on the surface, and brings to light new ways to use your cards. As a second half faction themselves, Lion King is well equipped to time Mufasa's death to the Turning Point of the war, shifting modes on both fronts; but their large numbers of power counters are ideal to set up Double Agents if Mufasa dies earlier. Lion Cubs provide instant access to your Captured Scientists, a crucial minion to get the card draw of TS going. Rafiki endlessly recurring Defectors is going to be a nightmare for your rivals, especially since Lion King can afford to do something most combos can't, which is chain Defectors together targeting yourself each time like Sneaky Squires. You will sacrifice your next turn's minion, but laying down 3-4 Defectors in a turn and capping it off with another strong minion (probably a 6) can explode a lot of power out of nowhere, and the Lion King recursion can do that all game long.

## Author Notes

Twilight Struggle ties with Smash Up for being my favourite games of all time, and I was very excited to be able to bring part of the tense TS experience into this lighthearted and goofy game. Twilight Struggle is a game defined by its limitations - an advantage in one area often means a disadvantage elsewhere. It's about making do the best you can with the hand that you're dealt, constantly putting out fires with limited resources, and making brutal decisions about what you can afford to do right now vs what you're going to let fall to your rival. The Twilight Struggle faction brings many of these aspects into Smash Up by making every move matter and giving you the tools to dictate the pace of the game.

I hope you like the faction! And drop me a line if you'd ever like a game of Twilight Struggle :-)