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 I started a game with a group of guys online, with random territories and fortifications. We have all currently had 1 turn, in which I added some troops in Europe and took an easy territory for a card. I regret that decision now, becaues it didn't help my strategy at all. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should go about taking my next turn, and what my long term strategy should be? I'm yellow. thanks

 Thanks! It's been a couple days so another turn has gone through and this is what the board looks like now:

It seems Red spread himself far too thin and is now almost out of the game. Black took advantage of Red's bad South America position and is making a move now. Blue used his 6 in the Middle East to invade Africa. Green realized he didn't want to fight so he used all his reinforcements and conquered Australia. Brown has been biding his time much like me, waiting for the board to develop a little more before using his troops on a vulnerable continent. My choices now seem to be: Europe or Australia.

I have a strong foothold in Europe as I haven't made anyone upset and no one seems to want to attack my 7 or 5. Green would be willing to retreat his men from Great Britain because if he hopes to expand past Australia, he needs to fight for Africa again. Black has nowhere to go and I doubt Brown would have any interest in a treaty, so that means I will have to fight for them.

Right now, there is a straight path to Australia. With the amount of people I own, and some luck, I could take it. that would mean abandoning my 5 in Ukraine until next turn, but there remains no one else in Asia or Australia with any big numbers and if my risk pays off, I'd be able to hold Australia for a very long time. Perhaps I'll talk to Green. Any ideas? Thank you

The game is shaping up now. It is more obvious what the players’ intentions are. Blue for Africa, Black for South America and Green for Australia, Red almost out as you said yourself. The only two remaining to decide is you and Brown. Unlike you, Brown really does have two proper choices; Europe or North America. They are both strong continents and he is split between them and with easy access to both. You on the other hand can have Europe and maybe Australia. The problem is that you can always go for Australia, but that’s as far as you would ever go in this game, as Australia could easily become a dead end. It would cost too much and you have to deal with Green’s revenge attack. It could be a costly war and at the end you would only have a small continent. By then other would have much stronger foothold in the game.

On the other hand, Brown has to choose between two continents. He cannot go for both. Whatever the choice, he would need all of his armies to kick start his campaign. From his point of view, if you stay in Europe, he would have a lot more armies to remove than if he goes to North America. North America is also a good choice for him because he also has armies in Kamchatca and Japan already allowing him a bit more buffer. So you need to give him all the incentives to leave and make it difficult to stay in Europe.

You can use two simultaneous methods. Talk to Brown and state that you intend to remain in Europe and that you will be happy to give him an opportunity to move his armies out so that you don’t have to kill them. This saves you your armies and it is also beneficial to him as he would need them to eliminate Red in Greenland. At the same time, concentrate your armies in Europe to show that you mean to stay. The more armies you have in Europe the less likely others would think of getting it and to be honest at this point you are only waiting for Brown.

You also need to keep an eye on Black as he may also fancy getting Europe. Reduce his armies in Europe to lessen his hopes and force him to concentrate in South America. Let Green finish the rest for you.

Going for Europe is still a brighter choice than Australia. In the process of talking to Brown you may even end up making a treaty over Greenland-Iceland border which will be absolutely great for both of you. You can then concentrate on less number of fronts (actually only two for both of you) which means you can easily last until the two of you are left in the game.

A lot depends on the character of Brown, how experienced he is and how likely he is to make treaties. More experienced players are more like to see the opportunity. On the other hand, newbies may just like to have a random fight because that’s more fun.

All in all, if I were you, I would strengthen my position and wait a bit longer to allow others to move out of the way and so I would know who the real opponent is.