Kurdistan49 (#6) faced zarathoustra (#8) again a day after their epic Battle Islands match. (
https://www.warlight.net/Forum/254929-interesting-battle-islands-matchup)
Since yesterday's match, both players have been active and winning. Z won 3 of 4 games and K won 7 of 12. Today's match was East Asia and Oceania.
https://www.warlight.net/MultiPlayer?GameID=13272349Z goes 123 in the East islands! He gets all 3 picks as K goes for a more conservative North Australia 4 bonus combo and a third in Mongolia. 3 in the East Islands is risky as they're vulnerable to mid-game assault but also tough to stop if the first encounter is late in the game.
K's picks are strong against the islands as North Aus is nearby for a mid-game assault and he has isolation and decent expansion in Mongolia.
However, K makes an unfortunate mistake turn 1. Clearing the 3-neutrals on this map demands more planning than usual. Often it's necessary to tap with 1 and then clear with 3 on the next turn. K takes a territory with 5 on the first turn but also clears the only other adjacent neutral. 2 leftover armies are stranded with nothing to do on turn 2, and K can't finish his first bonus until turn 3.
Normally this is a fatal error against another good player, but K still has an outside chance given his relatively strong picks. K goes into the middle islands and reaches a split point on one of Z's 4-bonuses. However, he doesn't have quite enough income to break in and Z holds on a critical turn. Z overruns the split next turn. At this point Z is up on income, armies and has an unstoppable stack threatening North Aus: game over.
Z wins today's match.
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Edited 4/11/2017 06:24:22
