INWO Deck: A Peace of the Action


A deck to confuse your enemies, A Peace of the Action appears as a standard Violent Criminal deck, but with Shangri-La at the helm. With a few alignment switchers, you can go for Peace (and a Shangri-La special win) or you can go for Action (and a Criminal Overlords goal card).

Illuminati

Plots

Groups

Resources

Strategy

The choice for lead groups depends on how well people know the deck. Start with the I.R.S. or with Vatican City, depending on how much warning you want to give. The Vatican is the expected play for Shangri-La, and will suprise fewer people initially. But it will be a long-term suprise.

In the beginning, expand slowly and carefully. Wait until you have five or six groups to start being reckless. Power Grab as soon as you can. Play defensively. Don't be afraid to use a Big Score or Martyrs in defense early.

NEVER Kinder and Gentler your own groups if you can avoid it. Go after the Bavarians (using the illuminati token) and take out stuff like the Pentagon and such. If you kinder and gentler your own groups, people are that much more likely to hit them.

The key to winning with this deck is to have either a criminal overlords or enough K&G's/Gay Activists out to make 10-15 points of peaceful power out of opponents stuff. The deck can win both ways about equally well. The Gay Activists can turn any violent group peaceful, and since a lot of the powerful groups are violent, they can give you an easy six points of peaceful power (or at least ten, if you use the Center for Weird Studies to give them another token.)

The Assertiveness training can be used on your own groups (IRS, lawyers, telephone psychics) for good effect. But if you play it on an opposing group to help destroy it, that's good too. It'll make them think you're using Kill For Peace.

The Key Cards

The Criminal Overlords and the Gay Activists/K&G's are key. Having two ways to win and bonuses to defend against attempts to destroy key groups is a great thing. In a game I played where one opponent got out New York (led it, actually), I forced my three opponents to destroy it on turn four (because of a K&G and another person with Vatican City.) I then turned the pentagon and hollywood peaceful. That was thirteen points relatively easily.

Note: Seize the Time in this deck is effectively a reload/power grab. You spend all your tokens getting groups, Seize the Time, make your takeover, put your tokens on, and say done.

Note 2: Remember the clone arrangers special ability. It's useful when people destroy peaceful celebrities (Princess Di or Bjorne) that belong to opponents to keep you from winning, since personalities are the first things to get nuked when there are thirty-five points of peaceful power in play. Hey, you might get enough groups to win that way, after an orgy of destruction to stop you from winning with the peaceful power.

Note 3: The Loan Sharks can get quite useful. By midgame, they have six to seven points of power. This makes them a good group to go blowing things up with if there are things that need blowing up, say, if your trying to keep a Bavaria player honest. Put out a Peace in our time to get rid of his gun control NWO, then smack one of his violent government groups with the Loan Sharks after you make the loan sharks peaceful to give them the bonuses from peace in our time.

What if you don't have the cards?

The card that is most critical to the deck is the Criminal Overlords. It's uncommon. What if you don't have two?

A viable alternative is to do one of two things. If you have Kill for Peace, you could use it, and replace one of the Kinder and Gentler's or the Backlash with another assertiveness training. The other thing you can do is use the Hand of Madness. How, you ask? Simple. Find a peaceful group. Use the Gay Activists to make it violent. Attack it to destroy. You have now destroyed a violent group. After the end of your turn, the destroyed group reverts to peaceful!

The other important card in the deck is the Gay Activists. It's uncommon. In all honesty, the Orbital Mind Control Lasers are just as good for the deck as the Gay Activists. The reason I put the Gay Activists in is because I didn't have a Lasers. If you put the Lasers in, replace the Angel's Feather. I use the Center for Weird Studies primarily to give the Gay Activists more tokens. Be prepared to protect the Lasers if you put them in, with Forgeries and Cover of Darkness, as well as Deasil Engine (to get them in combo with Cover of Darkness if someone else plays them, and to protect them from Deasil Engines from opponents.) If you can keep both the activists and the lasers in the deck, that will let you turn two groups peaceful or violent, depending on your needs, and it will let you change three groups with the Center for Weird Studies.

The Tax Reform is in there because I have both the Lawyers and the IRS. It is not critical. It's just a fun thing to spring on everybody. Hey, in a four player game, getting three free cards every turn and either using or discarding them is just too cool. If you don't have the IRS, replace them with another good criminal group, although the IRS is probably one of the best criminal groups in the game.

Most of the plot cards are just good generic plot cards. If you don't have a commitment, no problem, just put in another +10 card (Big Score, Terrorist Nuke, or Martyrs, probably not another Martial Law). The Gang War is easily replaced with voodoo economics. The Seize the time is nice if you have it, but another power grab would easily replace it. And so on. If you have more Hoaxes or 18-1/2 Minute Gaps, there are plot cards you can easily replace them for.

Weaknesses

Other Shangri-La decks! They take out one of the two ways to win without sharing. With other Shangri-La decks, lead the vatican to get it set aside, and if that works, follow with the IRS or New York. Make sure that your peaceful groups are more secure that the other shangri-la player(s), so that people will pick on them. Definitely make them think you're helping them, and then try to get a goal win if you can.

Other players will want your groups. That's the main reason this deck is better in multiplayer games. If your playing against Bavaria, the Gnomes, and the Network, all the other players are going to make sure that the people who benefit most from groups like New York and the IRS aren't going to get them. If you can make them blow up some of their own cool groups with Kinder and Gentlers, even better.

Role Playing

You are the secret militant arm of the Shangri-La, the ones who believe that the reason peace should prevail world-wide is so you can do lots of those "worldly" things that you're not supposed to care about. Remember, it's the chumps you want peaceful, not yourself.

Scott Furois, fledgeling physicist


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