Session Report – 21 April 2010

6 players this week and a game of Kremlin, which has been played every year since 2004 but this was the first time we have had the full complement of players, all the other games being with 4 or 5. I have no memory of the names of all the politicians who played a part in the story of this game, but it roughly goes as follows.

In this one it was Mike who took the early lead, getting control of the ailing chief Nestor on the first turn and succeeding in getting a wave. This was not to last too long however when the old chief expectedly died and the new chief was under the thumb of Andrew. At around this time there was a lot of illness in the politburo and by the time the next turn came around I was in control through my puppet Natasha Nogoodnik and was able to hold on for 2 rounds, waving each time before the plots (mainly led by Colin, who seemed to have most influence in the politburo at this time) brought her down.

What followed was an era of power for Colin, who would have control of the party chief and the top 3 positions in the politburo and he was able to get a wave for the next 2 rounds, before a combination of ill health and cards played by the rest of us brought his power to an end. He did not have the influence to force one of his other puppets into the top job and old Petr Niewitko (who had waited a long time for his chance and was apparently controlled by Dave F) ascended as a sort of compromise candidate.

On round 7 Niewitko was too sick to take to the podium for the parade, but he made it on round 8, by which time I had remembered what I was intending to do (and should have done) the round before, which was to declare my own 4 influence on him, which was enough to control him. He waved on round 8 bring the game to an end. Possibly I was fortunate to forget on the penultimate round because if I had remembered and then failed to wave, there may have been more urgency to get rid of a chief I controlled than one that Dave F did.

The scores

Kremlin 160 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave D	3
2	Colin	2
3=	Andrew S	1
3=	Mike	1
5=	Steve H	0
5=	Dave F	0

The record of games played

Game: Kremlin
Plays: 8
Play Time (Hours): 17.5
Player Hours: 84.17 (Rank 12)
First Played: Apr-04
Last Played: Apr-10
	Plays	Wins	Ties
Pete B	1	0	1
Gordon	1	0	1
Mike	6	0	0
Dave C	2	0	0
Dave D	8	4	1
Matt	4	0	0
Steve G	1	0	0
Chris	1	0	0
Jonathan	1	0	0
Mark	1	1	0
Julian	2	0	0
Duncan	1	0	0
Steve H	3	1	1
Simon	1	0	0
Andy	1	0	0
Dave F	2	0	0
Colin	1	0	0
Andrew S	1	0	0