Gene: When last we left our intrepid cardboard President, Rick had just finished the first half of Activation Phase 1. Note that the Activation Phases are organized so that the first half (the left column) of each Activation Phase features more “game opponents” actions with some player reaction opportunities. The second half of each Activation Phase, which Rick is beginning now, gives the player more action opportunities, with a small reaction segment for the opponents. So Rick should have a good opportunity during the rest of this phase to plug holes created by the opponent’s actions and to grab the initiative and began to work his plan. We’ll start with his Ally Actions, which can be very useful if you’ve kept your Ally Relationships strong.
Ally Actions
Group B chit is picked, so we’ll perform Ally actions for the UK and Japan as well as a Rogue Action for North Korea.
UK Relations are Very Close. That means we get two Joint Actions. I choose 2xAid, both succeed. Results decrease Eurozone and Middle East Crises both -1 to 1.
Gene: Rick recorded this game while we were adding some restrictions to how often you could use certain Actions and Ally Actions. So in the published version of the game, this would be an illegal play, as you are limited to only ONE Aid Joint Action per Ally Activation. But we’re not going to stop Rick, here – he’s on a roll! “Did we give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”
Unilateral UK dr=7, mod to 11 (+2 tensions – there are 2 x +1’s stacked in that picture above – , +2 US wars, +1 Russia Influence, +1 Russia/NATO Conflict >1, +4 max).
Result moves Russia/NATO Relative Strength to Equal. The 2 flipped tensions are replaced by 1 new drawn tensions, placed number-side down (thus unknown).
Japan Relations are Close (so we only get 1 Joint Action). I choose Aid, and roll a success, That moves Asia Pacific Crises -1 to 0.
Unilateral Action: dr=7, mod to 11 (+3 tensions, +1 China/Japan Conflict).
This moves China/Japan Relative Strength to Equal. US Ground Strategic Capability +1 to 3.
The 4 flipped tensions are replaced by 2 new tensions, placed number-side down.
Now we make an action roll for North Korea: dr=6, mod to 7 (+2 tensions, +1 DPRK/ROK Conflict, -2 sanctions).
Place one new Tensions counter on ROK. Asia Pacific Stability -1 to 4. The 2 flipped tensions are replaced by 1 new tensions on North Korea.
The final step of any Ally Activation Segment is Check Unstable States – this time in the Eurozone and Eastern Europe: There is 1 Unstable State in each. Die roll is 2 for the Eurozone, which removes the Unstable State. Die roll for Eastern Europe to 7, so the Unstable State remains there.
Gene: This is a way, during each Ally Action Segment, that the game checks for how Unstable States may stabilize or destabilize further due to the efforts of other countries in their region (represented by overall regional Stability). As you can see from the chart above, this can get pretty nasty in a region with low Stability, but strongly Stable regions tend to mitigate the impact of Unstable States over time.
Cabinet Focus
I make 6 d6 rolls against my 6 Cabinet priorities, with the chance of success decreasing from 5 in 6 for the # 1 priority to only 1 in 6 for the lowest priority. I succeed in the three highest priorities, so RWC +1 to 6, Cabinet Effectiveness to 3 Improving, Domestic Crises -1 to 1.
Gene: Back on the Domestic Front, Rick’s Cabinet is rocking and rolling. Note his priorities in the pic above. Getting 3 of 6 possible benefits from your Cabinet in one segment is very good (he failed all the 4-6 priority die rolls, but those lower priorities aren’t really concerning at this point). He really needed all three of the positive bumps he got to RWC, Domestic Crises, and Cabinet Effectiveness (which is still not nearly where he wants or needs it to be).
Media Relations Worsen, 2 Domestic Actions
Media -1 to 3.
Gene: Rick is a master at many aspects of Mr. President. Sadly, Media Relations is not one of these areas. And I will say that it seems to be a mutually unfriendly relationship, based on my observation of many of Rick’s games. Perhaps the MP game gods have tapes of those Tempe playtest sessions in which Rick “supposedly” said many unkind things about his “friends” in the media? Players should know that if you choose to allow your Media Relations to slip (lowest is “2”), there are quite a few “Media Slant” actions in the game where your Media Relations directly affect your Public Approval (and it can mean an improvement – just not for Rick!).
Encourage Bipartisanship: AP -1 to 11 (action costs an AP). Dr=1, Bipartisanship 1 box right (the rightmost “1”).
Stimulate Economy: AP -2 to 9. Dr=5, mod to 3 (spent AP), US Econ to 6.
Gene: Rick chooses his two Domestic Actions, then spends as many AP (these represent Presidential time, attention, effort, resources, and influence) as he can to help improve Bipartisanship in Congress and to Stimulate the US Economy. Both succeed, so they are AP well spent. In the game, strong Bipartisanship leads to being able to introduce and pass more (and sometimes better!) bills in Congress. A robust US economy has many positive game effects. Rick is “preparing the battlefield” to do well in both of these areas later in the turn.
Legislative Segment
Determine Support to Pending Bills: There’s only one “bill” Pending now – the Supreme Court Justice is awaiting confirmation. I’ve got +3 Support, but the “bill” is already in the “-2” (the easiest to pass) box, so it doesn’t move.
Attempt to Pass/Sign/Veto: I roll a “5,” modified by “-2” because the bill is in the “-2” box. So the bill passes (a d6 roll of 1-3 passes a bill), and my Supreme Court Justice is confirmed.
Effects of Passed Bills: Remember, I choose to nominate a Moderate Justice, rather than a Party Idealogue. So I’m going to pay for that now with a hit to my Party Relations (-1 to 4).
On the plus side, I get a +1 Public Approval bump to 58% and more importantly, Bipartisanship moves 1 box right (critically, to the left “2” box).
I place Card 81 in the Reshuffle Pile (so I might get an opportunity to nominate another SCOTUS Justice on a future turn).
Congressional Maneuvering: dr=5, mod to 4 (-1 Friends outnumber Opponents).
Media Campaign Against You: AP -1 to 8, Public Approval -1 to 56%.
Introduce Bills: My Party LDI and Homeland Security, both go into the “-1” box (because I control both houses of Congress).
Media: The net Media is -1, to Public Approval -1 to 54%.
Scandal: dr=2, mod to 0 (-1 RWC=6, -1 Friends outnumber Opponents), Scandal Cleared, remove marker.
Bipartisanship: 2 Moderates, no Radicals, so Bipartisanship 1 box right (the rightmost box).
Momentum: (I get 1 Free Action of any type for passing the Supreme Court Justice): I choose Presidential Trip to Africa: Dr=4. Africa Alignment to 5 Pro-US. Dr=2. Public Approval +1 to 56%. Gain 1 UN Goodwill.
Thoughts: An excellent legislative segment. Passed the Justice, cleared the Scandal, but best of all, Bipartisanship of 2 so I can start cranking through 2 bills per segment. Normally I would have picked something other than Homeland Security for my second bill, but it’s a Public Priority and I’m running low on AP. Passing Public Priorities is a great way to generate new AP.
Draw Chit (Draw 1 Crisis Card+)
20/Cruise liner seized by Somali pirates
Africa Crises +1 to 3. Level 2 Terror to Level 3. Dr=5, pass Eurozone Align check. Dr=6, mod to 5. US SOF retake ship with no losses. Africa Crises -1 to 2. Africa Alignment to 6. Public Approval +2 to 60%.
Gene: This was a really good “Enemy Reaction” card for Rick to get. Although it added some Terror in Africa, it gave him a chance to hit back and gave him essentially a small net positive (alignment and Public Approval bumps). It could have gone a LOT worse. Now Rick is set up for Intel and his last four Diplomatic/Military Actions of this Activation Phase (the close of his administration’s first calendar quarter).
National Intelligence
I have two Focused National Intel counters – in Africa and the Middle East. I roll d10 for each of them.
Africa. Dr=4, mod to 2 (US Cyber, Recon>China, Russia). Move one Level 3 Terror Group to Target Fixed and one Level 1 Terror Group to Gathering. Share Intel with UN: dr=8, mod to 7 (-2 Intel, +1 Stability<5), no effect. I then move the Focused National Intel counter to Central/South Asia (to support the War there in future segments).
Middle East. Dr = 6, mod to 4. Move one Level 3 Terror to Locating and one Level 2 Terror to Gathering. Share Intel with UN: dr=7, no mod (-2 Intel, +1 Stability<5, +1 Iran Influence), no effect.
Focused Intelligence is the main way a player will line up terror units for attack. The “Gather Intel” Action is not nearly as efficient, and a player will usually have better things to do with his Military Actions. I gathered some good intel, and moved the one intel to support the Taliban War. Unfortunately the UN was not able to negotiate any ceasefires.
Gene: I would note that Rick is playing a scenario-based variant of the Hard Level, where it is easier to get and keep TWO Focused National Intel counters. When you only have one counter – as will often be the case – you’re probably going to have to use the “Gather Intel” action significantly more often – or perhaps direct the use of some your Joint Allied Actions to Intel operations – in order to keep Terror Groups in check.
4 Diplomatic or Military Actions
Move Forces: Move the two USMC counters from Asia Pacific and the Mediterranean, both to Indian Ocean.
SOF Raid: dr=2, no mod (-1 SpecOps and Intel in region, +1 Level 3 Terror). Level 3 Terror in Africa reduced to Level 1 Gathering. Public Approval +1 to 62%. Free Intel fails.
Gather Intel: dr=5, 9, mod to 3, 7. One failure. One Level 2 Terror in Middle East to Locating box.
Air Strikes: dr=5, 4, mod to 3, 2 (-1 Intel, -1 Focused Intel). Both airstrikes are outstanding successes! Level 3 Terror Group reduced to Level 1 and scatters to Gathering box, Level 2 Terror Group eliminated.
Thoughts: Unless something unexpected happens, I should have max odds on both upcoming wars.
Gene: There is a reason that Rick cheerfully dubbed himself (and it’s hard not to agree!) “The Warmonger President.” He is an avid and unabashed wargamer, he gravitates toward the military/war aspects of this game, and he commits to win when he fights. More to the point, Rick’s play style is “Optimizer” – so he’s constantly looking for ways to optimize his opportunities in the areas he cares about (it’s also one reason he’s a great tester, because he often “breaks” things due to his extreme optimization strategies.)
Here he is eschewing all pretense of Diplomacy (Rick would probably say “what’s THAT?”) to focus on “preparing the battlefield” for success in two wars, while also taking time out to use his military assets to fix, Raid, and Strike enemy Terror Groups. He’s successful in this instance, but even for an optimizer, there are no guarantees in Mr. President. So those who would follow in “President Warmonger’s” footsteps should know that in this game as in real life operations: “The enemy still gets a vote. There is no sure thing.” There are a LOT of downsides to War in this game. That said, Rick’s use of Military Actions throughout this turn to move units into position to support both wars, his locating and use of Focused National Intelligence, and his sequence of four military Actions in this segment is an excellent example of how to prosecute dual wars while also taking the fight to the burgeoning threat of smaller terror groups in low-stability regions. As “Warmonger Presidents” go, Rick is a solid one!
Next Time: The first half of Activation Phase 2!
Previous Article: “Cat-Herder-in-Chief”: Playing the Mr. President 2017 Hard Scenario (Part 1)
Author: Rick Engelbart
I’m curious about your note at the end of this section about the pros and cons of being a warmonger. Given that terror groups on their own will march towards becoming rogue states and having too many rogue states is a game over condition, what alternative strategies are present to keep them in check outside of actively hunting them down like Rick is doing? For the rogue states themselves, are there ways to deal with them aside from confronting them militarily and are there alternative strategies for dealing with the starting war with the Taliban?
I also haven’t gotten a great sense of the cost of either warfare or anti-terrorism operations from the content published for Mr. President, as it seems like the President gets a lot of military resources to spend and most of that can’t be converted into universal resources. Could you elaborate a bit more on the direct and indirect costs of Rick’s choices?
Finally, I’m kind of curious what a media friendly US president looks like and what you gain from going down that route. Media relations appears to decrease at a fixed pace based on the turn procedure. Is there any reason to try to keep it from hitting its lowest value? Is it actually practical to push media relations when the nature of the game wants to push it down?
First off, please don’t take the “warmonger” part too seriously – I was just giving my friend Rick some grief! 🙂
To your question, “To War or not to War” depends somewhat on the difficulty level you play. At Easier difficulty, you start with no wars and have much more opportunity to keep it that way through diplomacy, aid, working with regional allies, even working with Russia and China to achieve stability in areas of common interest.
At Normal and Harder Difficulties, you begin the game with one or two wars already underway, respectively. In those cases, you either have to fight or you need to seek peace quickly. (You can always offer peace, although there are downsides if you are not “winning” the war when you do so.) If you must fight, Rick has some good strategies to follow – go hard, use maximum force, and try to win quickly.
This may sound all too easy, but the game certainly presents negatives to going to War. One is the opportunity cost that wars present. There are so many other positive things you COULD be doing instead of using many actions to position and support forces at war. And sometimes those are really important and the opportunity cost really hurts you. The game also includes US Military Footprint markers that you place in a region when certain types of US units and longer-term wars (sometimes even airstrikes) are involved. You never know what kind of problems these markers leave behind until you flip them over to reveal their consequences at the end of each turn. They tend to cause residual terror, instability, regional crises, etc. So when you have a lot of US forces in a region – or an ongoing war – you can end up with several of the Military Footprint markers there that can really hurt you at year end.
Now sometimes you don’t have a lot of choice about going to War with a Rogue State counter. The game does not provide a lot of other options to curtailing them other than to fight them (I think that’s a fair mirror of real life in the period covered by the game). You can use Cyber, you can join with China or Russia to control them, you can work with regional allies in hopes of keeping them small or eventually eliminating them altogether, but cyber is risky and the other strategies take a long time – time that you may not have as they spread chaos in their region. So sometimes, war seems to be the best answer. I’m not minimizing that in my comments about Rick’s strategy; I’m just pointing out that going to war is not a free ride. There are always game (and real life) consequences beyond the war itself.
On Media Relations, this is something you really need to pay attention to in the game. For one, Media Relations play a 20% part in your end-turn evaluation (where you can auto win or auto lose a game) and they are also an important part of election success. To ignore the effects of media is perilous in any game of MP. In terms of near-term impacts, the Media Slant effects that are spread throughout the game are accelerators to Public Approval. Public Approval tends to be fickly in the game. When it’s high, you don’t need the media near as much. But when it’s low, if they are against you, you’re going to have a real tough time digging out of that hole. It requires actions and some effort, but it’s really not too hard to offset that general degrading trend you mention to keep media fairly neutral, and it’s often a really good idea to work a bit harder to get them to be more supportive of your administration.
I hope this is helpful. Thanks for your questions!
Gene
Greetings all. Gene is right, don’t take the Warmonger seriously. Just a nickname resulting from my style of play. I have been known to use diplomacy … once in a while!
To answer your questions, the best long term answer to dealing with Terror is to improve the Stability ratings of the various regions. Its a real grind to accomplish, but as the Stability increases, Terror spawns at a lower rate, and if you can manage to get a high Stability, the local governments will start killing the terrorists for you. Now that Gene only allows one Aid per Ally, I tend to use one Joint Action for Aid and the second for Stabilize. Its only a 40% chance of success on the latter, but make enough attempts and the law of averages will make itself felt. Once you get Stability up and the Terror flow slows down, you can start using actions for other stuff, such as … what was that word … oh yes, diplomacy.
Rogue States are a whole different animal from “regular” Terror. They cause all kinds of problems and are a massive headache. Personally I consider then to be the #1 problem in the game; if you have a Rogue, assemble a lot of firepower ASAP and attack.
You are correct in that the player does not have a lot of “universal” resources; most are either domestic or military/diplomatic.
Its always good to be Media-friendly. As those who have seen me play can attest, I enjoy some “role playing” when I play Mr President, so for 2017 I abuse the media more than I normally would, since the historical President did not have good relations with the Media. I forget the details of this particular game but odds are I will probably “break character” and push Media Relations in Year 2 in preparation for the mid terms. The Media is critical for elections so you can’t afford to blow them off entirely, but on the flip side, the Media can only carry your water so far. I played 2013 at the recent Tempe con, where you start with the Media worshipping the ground you walk on, but Congress not being very friendly. I made the mistake of assuming that I would have a little time to deal with things, did not make RWC a high Cabinet priority, got a Presidential Scandal right out of the gate, and rolled nothing but 6s for Scandal Resolutions (even burning AP for re-rolls) and was Impeached and removed from office early in the second year.
Oh, and my Cabinet was AWFUL for that one. I did indeed get some unusually good draws for the game in this AAR.
Rick Engelbart
Thank you both for the insightful replies! I can’t wait to get my hand on this game.
Looking forward to part 3!