^®
1999-2000 World PBEM Championship

* * Final * *

End of Game
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Congratulations to Mike "The Nose" Anchors! -- PBEM World Champion

End of Game Comments

Two-timin' Sluggo and Da Boyz 'n da Gang (Pitt Crandlemire)

Let me add my congrulations, as well. Mike played a masterful game and, even though identified as the most likely player to win prior to the game, managed to artfully deflect the loving attention of his fellow gangsters until it was well too late to stop him. Nicely done!

>The Viper: There's no question in my mind that the Bus Station is the best of the
>one-jump cash strategies (though I believe the Ambassadors'
>Club/Brzkowski's comes in a close second).

Interesting. I, of course, would disagree, at least for FtF play. Having said that, I see a very big difference between FtF and PBEM play. In FtF play, even when players think you've been collecting a lot of cash, it's hard for them to know just how much you really have. As a result, if you are able to play low-key enough (especially if someone else at the table is playing a more openly threatening strategy, such as Red Joints), it's easy for them to convince themselves that you're not the biggest threat on the board. As a result, you can sneak up on the win.

In PBEM play, money is open and there's no way you can sneak up on anything. Or, let me qualify that, the only way you can sneak up on anything is to set up a situation where you can make a lot of cash in a short time with little chance for the other players to react effectively. I tried to do that in this game by upgrading Greenwood Park and buying the Pussycat Club. Publics in both paid me a minimum of $900 per turn, more if I got the x2 or x3 in. Part and parcel of this strategy is the requirement that you limit the ability of the player(s) moving after you to move those Public out or you give them a better reason not to (i.e. a bigger threat elsewhere).

This started to work for me just before the game ended. However, by then, Greenwood Park had been dropped to level 1 and, more importantly, Da Nose had gotten his cash cow working before me. Though the Bus Station never actually made him a penny, the threat that it posed forced the rest of us to keep it surrounded with Cops. Thus, when Mike expanded his strategy to include another one-jump joint (Martin & Sons) and a joint which could feed off a one-jump joint likely to get Publics (Westgate Hotel feeding off Greenwood Park), he was sitting pretty.

I guess I still think the cash strategy is the best strategy but it's a lot harder to achieve when money is open. Since the only defense against it (aside from early reduction of joints) is to to hit gang members, there's a fine timing involved in getting your gangsters to "safe", out-of-the-way places or even reducing their chances of being hit by making them non-criminal.

Anyway, upon reflection, it looks as if the Bus Station strategy is the superior cash stategy for PBEM play. The Bus Station, once upgraded, can be a major money maker and it is well-positioned to feed off other one-jump joints. Franklin Hostel and Ambassadors Club feed it on 33% of the time, while Martin & Sons does so 16% of the time. And, in all of those cases, even if the proper feeding roll is not made, it's very easy to move the Public out of those joints and on a path towards the Bus Station that requires coordination from the opponents to turn away. The Bus Station's four entrances on three different streets make it very hard to keep any Public in the area from stopping in. The only cure is to get them out of the area, which is hard on the owners of Franklin Hostel, Ambassadors Club, and Martin & Sons, not to mention Brizellis Riverside. And, moving them well away either requires coordination from a couple of players (using a Public move each) or wiping out a joint in a Gang War to send all Publics home.

As a result, the best defense against the Bus Station strategy seems to be a combination of a) reduce the upgraded Bus Station as often as possible, b) take out the other Green joints belonging to that player as soon as possible to limit upgrade ability, c) hit that player's gang as often as possible, particularly his Vamp, since this reduces his ability to build up his Racketeer at no charge, reduces his income potential, and, most importantly, is the most expenive gangster for him to replace.

Ladykiller and GreenPiece (Mark Love)

Congratulations ta Da Nose on hiz eggsellent pley and gude spellllinn'. And thanks ta Sluggo and Viper for da grate competishun. Very interestin' ta see da internationally-famous strategies in use. Strange dat da Bus Station strategy wood win witout actually gettin' a public inta da Bus Station.

The Viper and Da Yella Dawgz (John Pack)

While much may be made of the Bus Station strategy after Mike's four consecutive wins in this tournament, I have watched Mike play this strategy in numerous games (both those played by myself and by others -- especially my wife, Sharee "Jezebel" Pack). It might not be noted by many, but Mike made a substantial deviation from his normal Bus Station strategy -- namely the purchase of a strength 3 Thug (instead of strength 1).

Instead of hiding his Thug in an out-of-the-way joint per normal operating procedure, this slight change enabled The Nose to agressively use his Gang Pieces -- keeping them where they ultimately were able, not only to stop my threat, but to add another winning dimension to the Bus Station. Initially, the Vamp and Thug headed for Jeager's Clothier (which injured my own Red Monopoly threat indirectly) where they could easily deploy to hit other targets (especially Red joints). Later the Vamp was able to hammer multiple other gangs with his Vamp (starting with Sluggo -- who, moving right after The Nose, was the logical choice to keep public in Nose joints). Eventually, even though the Thug went into hiding, the initial aggression allowed by that piece (via the Vamp) increased the Racketeer strength sufficiently that Mike the Nose was able to expand his normal Bus Station to include the Ambassadors' Club and, after knocking down Martin & Sons to prevent my victory, buying that one-jump joint (which, ultimately, proved the winning move as that joint provided the cash he needed to win).

Had Mike stuck with his normal strategy of buying three Green joints, upgrading them, and waiting in dark corners until the public arrived, he would have lost this game. I don't think that a single upgraded joint can be relied upon to win; it takes too much luck. I think I'll call this the "Muscular Bus Station Strategy." Congratulations on an excellent improvement and victory, Mike!

For my own part, my gang chances unraveled when 30 consecutive shots in Martin & Sons went totally and completely awry (instead of giving the expected 6.5 hits on 4 enemies). Had even half of the expected hits show up, instead of zero, my Racketeer would have had enough strength left to allow me to move multiple pieces. As it was, I had not recovered by the end of the game (though I believe one more turn would have put me back into operation). In fact, the shootouts had drained all of the gangs -- enough that no one was really in a position to stop the Nose when his public started coming in.

In hindsight, the Red Monopoly strategy made me a target from the first move -- when Ladykiller actively sought out his own Red joint (earlier than other opponents I've played against). I would have been better off to have tried for ten joints -- adding in a monopoly threat after I already had 6 or more joints.

As for Sluggo's potent strategy, it seems to work only when players perceive someone else as the main threat. In this game, we dispatched him quickly when his Racketeer showed up in the Pussycat as an easy target for Vamps. However, late in the game when first I and then The Nose were threats, Sluggo piled up an impressive amount of cash very quickly. In fact, had The Nose not won when he did, Sluggo was in a position to threaten quickly.

Ladykiller, while very effective in stopping others, seemed to have no plan to win himself. I've always found that one needs to be able to both advance one's own chances each turn as well as do something to hinder the leader. A focus on other players always result in loss.

Congratulations again, Nose!

The Nose and the Southern Syndicate (Mike Anchors)

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