S03 Gamerman01 (allies +12) v JWW

Speaking of dice war games….  I played Lord of the Rings Risk with my 13 y/o daughter the other night (very sweet Risk game - first themed Risk game I’ve ever played)

Of course in my house, I’m known for winning almost all games every time.  But she had a sound strategy - stubbornly kept putting armies in Osgiliath, right next to Minas Morgul (entrance to Mordor) and she outnumbered my army by a fair amount.  I was beginning to get a little concerned that she could clean out all of Mordor on her first move, and that was my main power center…  Especially if she got above average luck.

What followed was one of the biggest lucky/unlucky streaks I’ve ever seen.  She kept losing 2 armies after 2 armies.  After awhile, she had fewer eagles than I had cave trolls (each worth 5 armies apiece).  Finally, she had to stop.  In other battles, she was barely able to earn her risk card (after being disappointed by the dice, she was a little disoriented and forgot she hadn’t earned a Risk card).

She still had hope (more than I would have had) and found another strategy.
I take my turn, and my luck continues.  I mowed through most of Gondor without losing much.  I offered to quit playing and get a fresh start another time.  She wasn’t quite ready for that yet.

Most kids would have been really upset at this point.  Very frustrated would be an understatement.  With a little luck, she might have even beat the old man in a war strategy game.  I let her know I was very proud of her for keeping her composure.  It was as if she realized it was just a game and that the dice had beaten her.  They ruined our game (neither of us was happy, of course - and set up takes a long time in that game), but she seemed to understand that there was nothing she could do about it, that it was a game of chance and fun along with the strategy, and that maybe some other day she could take the old gamer man down.

Not bringing this up for the purpose of bragging on my girl, but to try to keep things light and fun by talking about a different game.
Everyone likes to play with a good sport.  I will try to be a good sport, graceful in winning or losing, this game.  Maybe I learned something from my girl.  Maybe.

OK, I guess in the same spirit I will say that I am terribly disappointed that I failed to hold Australia with at least 2 units.

Aren’t girls wonderful?  My daughter is Kaelen, and she does play chess.  However, the only thing she’s really enthusiastic about is fantasy (dungeons and dragons, lord of the rings, etc), medieval stuff, and horses.  So she doesn’t play chess much.

I found out we had different perspectives on battle results when you attacked my fighter with an infantry in our first game and didn’t act surprised that you won (without getting hit back).

If I were you, I’d be more disappointed that I didn’t shoot down 1 of 2 bombers on SBR.  And yes I’d be disappointed to not get a plane down in Libya, but that’s it.  You only had one chance in 9 of hitting 2 fighters in Libya in the first round.  I could always retreat.  You talk like you could have downed all 4 air, when in fact that was not possible.  I find it funny you think it’s risky that I leave a fighter to defend against a lone infantry, or to attack infantry and artillery with 2 fighters and 2 bombers.

Looking forward to UK4 tonight…

You chose beautiful names for your daughters - very nice

:-)
I’m enjoying your posts.

The infantry and artillery in Libya were greatly increasing your odds on TrJ.  If you take TrJ, you can go through the Suez.  The infantry and artillery were very, very important strategic targets, and I had a 40% chance of losing nothing, and a 40% chance of losing a single fighter plane.  You came up empty on that round, and I came up just as empty on G5.

I won’t capitulate, I’ll just stop attacking you?  Maybe attacking NWE won’t be a good idea, huh…… (you can count on 1 infantry and 4 fighters most likely, so start praying to whatever dice gods)