OLM 2013-10-12

Losing the race & the timing battle!

Behind in the race often translates into a timing advantage, but not here. That rule applies more often in a mutual holding game, where both sides still have an anchor. In this position, we are the only player holding an anchor. As we have two, the timing is such that we will likely be forced off one of our anchors before XG exposes a blot.

If we were ahead in the race, and had only one anchor to clear, we might try shuffling checkers in the inner board in an effort to delay as long as possible while waiting for a lucky throw. Busting your board makes sense in those circumstances. Here the opposite is true. Since it looks like we will be forced to leave blots in the near future, making and keeping a strong board is what is called for.

Underlined I is the Nactation for plays that move one checker down to a destination in the outer board, jump over the bar to a destination in the inner board with a second, and then move the final two checkers inside, completely within the inner board.

It is easier to remember than it sounds at first blush. Notice where the 2 goes in each of the following ratios:

Far:Down:Jump:Inside = 0:2:1:1 = D Down Far:Down:Jump:Inside = 0:1:2:1 = J Jump Far:Down:Jump:Inside = 0:1:1:2 = I Inside

Of course, any play that uses all parts of a roll to make a single new point can also be nactated in the Point family.

P (Point ) = I (Inside) = 8/4

Mike

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