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| Board image courtesy of GO-Figure | |
Stick moves 22/16 7/4. The 7/4 was the easy part, where to play the six is obvious once you narrow down the choices. I can play 13/7 which brings down another builder and goes for an all out attack basically by disconnecting the backmen, I could play 22/16 which gets my furthest man back moving and tries to rebridge the gap between my 4 back checkers and the rest of my army, or I could play 20/14 which doesn't do much of anything except get another builder sort of moving. I went with 22/16, moving the back checker and allowing me to grab another point in the outfield with the spare on my defensive 5 pt. if I throw a 4, if not, maybe I'll be able to remake the midpoint. I hope you fan and I can carry out the attack, but the main objective now shouldn't focus on that one goal, since it isn't the most likely outcome, it should focus on bringing my men around and winning the game the simple way, by getting all my guys off first!
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| Board image courtesy of GO-Figure | |
Readers move bar/24 bar/22.
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| Board image courtesy of GO-Figure | |
Why do I have to make decisions this late at night. First identify all candidate plays:
9/7/5/3*/1*
5/3*/1*(2)
13/9 20/16
13/9 9/7(2)
The first play I toss out the window without much though is 5/3*/1*(2). The pure blitz play which keeps 3 inner board points but since I don't have many men in the zone this play is most likely going to fail, and miserably when it does. The other plays are so much more appealing. Do I want to continue the attack at all right now? If I do, the double loose hit of 9/7/5/3*/1* would be the way to go. That leaves me with no direct covers and really an undiversified outfield to do any more damage. If I'm hit back it is pretty serious as I already have a ton of guys to swing around the board. Play #2 out.
At least I've narrowed it down. At this point I play 13/9, that's two of my twos. This makes the problem seem more manageable to me. After that do I want the solid 5 prime with a blot in your outfield that's likely to be hit and not great connectivity or do I want a broken six prime with no real hope of filling in the gap of the prime but some connectivity? First of all, the blot is no real liability. Sure you might hit it but who cares really. I won't have any immediate bad numbers since anything realllllly bad I still have one spare on my 8 pt. I also may get fly shots if you decide to hit depending on what you roll. You really don't want a 3rd man trapped behind a solid 5 prime if I indeed make it. I don't need connectivity, when you look at how powerful the solid 5 prime is there's really no second choice. Instead of leaving you two numbers to escapse those back men with, 6s & 4s (or the magical 64), I now make you throw a two and two sixes to even get over the prime, and that isn't getting you to safety, that's just getting you out! I'll also be whacking you off the edge of the prime if possible trying to deepen my prime. Clear cut play, but you should always play the small doubles slowly to make sure you don't miss something, as I've done many a time.
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| Board image courtesy of GO-Figure | |
Readers move 10/9*/6. Way too loose is the simple 13/9. You can't leave 4s, numbers which I can't come in with, and 5s to hit off the front of my prime and 4 blots around with the power of my board. After that it's between making the bar pt. and hitting and playing safe, biding your time hoping for something better. Making the bar asks to die a slow death, I thought everyone would vote for the hit & pickup. NEXT!
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| Board image courtesy of GO-Figure | |
Stick moves bar/20 8/3*(3). What can I say... I'm good?
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| Board image courtesy of GO-Figure | |
No Move
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Stick moves 20/13. No way I'm giving up my best asset in the 5 prime for hopes of closing you out.