Workers of the world unite!

The dialectic propounded by Lenin and Marx and perfected by the great Stalin has proven its inevitable truth. Tonight the workers of the world threw off the shackles of their capitalist oppressors and formed a worldwide union of soviets. The proletariat now live in a workers paradise while their capitalist oppressors have been reeducated and perform useful service to the state.

Jose joined me for a couple of games of Twilight Struggle Friday evening.

Game 1 began with the overrunning of Israel by the combined Arab armies followed shortly by the conquest of South Korea by Kim Il-sung’s red army. This allowed the Soviets to quickly dominate the Middle East and Asia. Their hold over these regions became unbreakable after the Vietnamese revolt Islamic Revolutions. The withdrawal of the colonial powers allowed the hammer and sickle to spread quickly throughout Africa. Meanwhile Castro and Che’ spread revolution throughout Latin America. All of this proved too much for the Americans and they finally succumbed in turn 6.

Game 2 began with American hesitation in Western Europe. Although the Marshall Plan was instituted almost immediately, the Americans delayed the formation of NATO leaving the door open for Soviet interference throughout Western Europe. The Soviets skillfully exploited the American oversight and Italy went solidly red while France and West Germany teetered on the brink. Arab armies overran Israel again while South Korea fell to the North. Despite all these disasters, the Americans managed to claw their way back into the game. The war in Afghanistan distracted the Soviets while Radio America rolled back communist control over fragile governments in Southeast Asia. The expulsion of the Soviets from Egypt got the Americans back into the Middle East. Things looked better for the Americans in Africa and Latin America. American influence spread quickly from South Africa and Libya. America maintained good relations with her neighbors to the south gaining substantial influence which kept Castro at bay. The Soviets had a slight victory point lead going into turn 7. At this point we had to call it an evening with the game being too close to call.

Twilight Struggle is an outstanding game which needs to hit the table a lot more often than it does. Jose is a gentleman and a skillful competitor. I look forward to our next game.