Below is the first in a three part series of articles on 1960: The Making of the President strategy from our newest InsideGMT contributor, David Wiley of Cardboard Clash. You can also find this article on David’s blog. Enjoy! -Rachel
Welcome to the first of a planned three-part series of posts on 1960: The Making of the President by GMT Games. I was provided a copy of this game in exchange for some strategy posts, and while it took some time to get the opportunities to try the game out, I am very glad I could experience this one. This game definitely encourages many playthroughs to become familiar with the entire deck of cards and how they can impact/influence the game. But I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you are closer to my own skill level at the game: beginner. So rather than focusing on specific cards and maximizing their usefulness, I am going to cover some overall strategies that have proven helpful to me (or have been hard lessons learned) across the three phases of the game.
Part 1: The Early Turns
Part 2: The Debates
Part 3: Post-Debate through Election Day
Part 1: The Early Turns
Unless you are very familiar with the cards in the deck, those early turns can feel like you’re drowning in water. Six cards come your way, and at least half of them are likely to contain your opponent’s symbol on there. You need to play five of these (in most cases). The one you don’t play is likely going to be the one that benefits you the most. How do you handle this situation? Here are a few pointers on what to emphasize, the things to keep a close eye upon, and some overall tactics that have been successful in their implementation during the games I’ve played.
Tactic #1: Momentum Matters
One of the most important resources in this game comes in the form of those Momentum markers. You get some at the start of the game. Half of them get discarded when the round ends. You stand a chance of getting a few at the end of a round based on the Issues Track. What are they and why do they matter so much?
The Momentum markers are used for one of two purposes: to trigger the event of a card your opponent plays, or to prevent your opponent from triggering the event on a card you play. The first time you look at a hand of cards you will likely groan as you see the events that your opponent would love to trigger. There is a pretty good chance that they will trigger at least one of them during the round when you play cards. One of the keys to success would be to entice them to spend those markers early in a round on something that sounds great, but isn’t nearly as powerful as another card you’ll be playing later. But you don’t want to always have that best event be the very last card you play in a round – they might catch on and save a marker for that final card.
If your opponent is spending markers on triggering events, that means they aren’t spending them to prevent you from doing the same with their cards. Depending on who is producing more Momentum in a turn, this might not be a bad position to be in. The real key comes in knowing when to pay those markers to preempt the card you are playing. This can be a tough thing to do – it costs two markers, which means two cards you aren’t going to be able to trigger the event if your opponent plays them. A card which will swing the board in your opponent’s favor is something you don’t want to see played. Something which lets them gain Momentum, or trigger a permanent event, are also very worthwhile to preempt. This is a tactic that I am still working on trying to get right for timing. Knowing the deck, and what cards can really flip the playing field, will help you to better understand when preempting is important.
If you, as a Nixon player, can preempt Greater Houston Ministry Association, do so at all costs. That one card wrecked me several times when Kennedy played cards that couldn’t be triggered by Nixon because this was in play.
Tactic #2: Balance the gain of CP with the gain of Rest Cubes
It might seem like the best strategy is to play all those cards that give you the most moves during your turn; however, many of those high CP cards are balanced out with low rest (if any at all) when playing the card. But I must emphasize the importance that Rest plays in this game. I had a play of the game where, at the very end, almost every cube in the bag belonged to my opponent. It made it so everything went in his favor, which complexly flipped a few areas of the board and prevented me from securing more on my turn. Most of the game is spent with the bag draw playing a small impact (unless you are vying for Media Support or trying to take an area where your opponent is located or carrying). Yet the opportunities to dump in more cubes are rarer than you’d expect. Don’t sacrifice a great play for the sake of an inferior event that provides rest; however, when faced with a decision between two cards and you are torn on which to play, always go for the one with more rest. It will pay off by the end of the game.
Tactic #3 – Don’t ignore the power of the numbers.
I’m not talking about the obvious numbers here, such as New York and California, because their importance is immediately obvious. It can be easy to get caught in a power struggle over those high-valued states because it feels like you need those to win. In some games you may very well need to spend several cards trying to wrest New York from your opponent’s grip. But don’t underestimate how critical the rest of the states may be. Especially in the Midwest and the West. Some of those states feel unimportant, especially when dropping to 4 points for whoever wins the state. However, there is power in numbers and controlling a good majority of the map is oftentimes more impactful than focusing your effort heavily in 1-2 big states.
Tactic #4 – Think ahead to the debate phase, but don’t assume your highest card is the one to throw
My first debate round was a complete disaster on both sides. I tossed three cards in for a single issue. My opponent tossed four on the same issue, and his other one showed my symbol instead of his. He won the first issue, leaving me to sweep the rest by default. There was no excitement, no tension. Only frustration and the feeling of being too dumb to play the game.
There are three factors to consider in the card you are saving for the debate round:
- Make sure the card has your candidate’s icon on there. If you keep a card that doesn’t have your icon, that means it has to be played on your opponent’s side of the issue which could potentially help them to win. Ideally, a card with both is what you want to save to allow for maximized flexibility. Triggering your weakest issue first by playing on their side can allow you to reap greater benefits when the later issues resolve.
- Look closely at the issue icon shown on the card. It will have one of the three issue icons: Defense, Social, or Economic. Don’t be like me and save too many of the same issue. At most you will get to play two cards on a single issue, so anything over that is a wasted card! Plan on saving 2-2-1 as a spread so you can maximize your placement.
- CP matters on these, as that is how you determine the winner. This will get covered more in the next post, but you don’t want to toss the lowest numbers over here. Depending on the card(s)/situation, you may not want to toss the highest, either. A nice moderation of 3CP cards is likely the best plan without any in-game context.
Tactic#5 – Don’t neglect the Issue track and, by extension, the Media Support
It can be so easy to focus on the cubes on the map and try to maximize your influence out there. A hand full of events and high CP cards can give you dreams of swinging states under your control or bolstering your cube count in a key state. But the Issue track is so critical that you should plan on dedicating at least one CP move toward the Issue track. But why is it so important?
Remember that discussion of Momentum toward the beginning of the article? Yep, this track is the #1 way to gain said Momentum as each of the three placements can reward the winner with a Momentum token. Sweep the issues and you can get three more at the end of the turn. Even winning one is important as it will keep your flow of markers going. Nothing is more favorable to your opponent than having no momentum, because it will allow them to freely play cards for CP without any care for the event text.
The other important thing would be Media Support. The player with more overall Media support gets to flip the placement of two adjacent issues on the track at the end of the round. This is key, as it allows you to boost your own standing while dropping your opponent. Winning that 1st place issue is so powerful in the long-run (see more on this in the 3rd installment when it goes up on the Post-Debate strategy).
Tactic#6 – Don’t forget about your candidate card!
The final piece of advice is a simple, yet forgettable one. You have a candidate card which is worth 5CP. That is higher than any card in the deck. But, even better, this “replaces” playing one of the cards in your hand. Got a really nasty event that you know your opponent will trigger when played? Use the candidate card instead so you can discard this one at the end of the round. There are few ways to flip it back over, so don’t be too hasty in using the candidate card…but don’t forget this is a very viable option when you need the CP or to avoid playing a specific card.
*****
There you have it, six tips on playing the early rounds of 1960: The Making of the President. The game is one of being able to adapt to the hand you’re given, to make use of the events, and to balance that with spending enough CP to make a difference throughout the game.
Are there other strategies you’ve found useful in the early game? Are there questions you’d like answered regarding this part of the game? Leave a comment below or on the original article on my blog and I’d be happy to discuss with you.
Hopefully you found this review to be a useful look at some strategies to employ for the game. If you’re interested in providing support for Cardboard Clash so I can continue to improve what we offer, check out my page over on Patreon.
Articles in this Series: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Author: David Wiley
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