Barbelith Underground > Games & Gameplay

Nope, Kay did.
In the first Barbelith Big Board Defcon Game, which I organized rather sloppily* so apologies to those who didn't get to play, me and Kay formed an alliance clad in stylish Yellow with Kay playing Europe and me playing Africa.
Here's a play-by-play account as best as I recall:

Defcon 5: We deploy our forces. Europe, by virtue of its small size compared to other continents, is incredibly easy to defend, while Africa's large land mass means anti-missile defences have to be spread out. Also, whereas Kay's fleet can only be deployed in the Atlantic, I have to cover the Indian Ocean as well, so my forces are split into two with two Battleship/Carrier groups and a submarine group on each side of the continent.
Defcon 4: North America and South America ally into a giant blue stain over the west of the map, so I ally with Kay's Europe for protection. Russia and Asia remain independent. My Indian Ocean battle group detects a large Asian fleet moving in north west of Madagascar...
Defcon 3: The killing begins. As Russia sends scout planes into Kay's turf the Asian fleet opens fire on my battle group. Fortunately an airbase close by is able to back them up with bombers, so I'm able to overcome their superior numbers and I control the Indian ocean, giving my nuclear subs in the area a clear shot at Asia's unprotected radar installations and airbases.
Over in the Atlantic my battle group is being creamed by the American alliance's ships, and after a long and bloody battle only a single battleship is left but Yellow forces control the North Atlantic and we have plenty of subs and carriers in range of the Eastern seaboard.
Defcon Two: The killing continues apace, but I'm beginning to notice a lot of American scout planes coming out of the Southern Atlantic, scouting my west coast. My air defenses take them down but they indicate a big ol' fleet down there, probably with subs, and I've got no way of taking them out.
Defcon One: MRBMs from my Indian Ocean submarine group strike Radar and airbases in the middle east. Once I'm confident that the area is clear of enemy anti-missile installations I depopulate the Middle East and India. Twenty million dead at least and for the moment I'm top of the scoreboard. Russia continues sending scout planes into Kay's rock-solid defenses over Eastern Europe, and eventually a few nukes and bombers that get chewed up by anti-aircraft fire.
The southern Atlantic lights up with MRBM launches. Those South American subs I was worrying about had made their move. Bombers from West African airbases cleared them up but not before most of West and South Africa had taken hits. Ten million casualties at least.
In retalliation my subs and Kay's carriers off the Eastern U.S launch simultaeneous strikes against America while their silos are busy launching at Russia. New York, Washington, Boston, Miami all take hits, along with a few of their airbases, radar sites and a silo. The combined American forces continue to rain destruction down on Africa and my air defenses can't keep up. Russia makes a inneffectual strike against Eastern Europe. Kay's reprisal is swift and merciless: Leningrad and Moscow are radioactive tombs in the first wave.
By now my bombers and AA-guns have depleted the South American fleet so they're forced to use ICBMs, giving away the positions of their silos. I can't retaliate without switching my Silos from anti-missile to ICBM mode, but I manage to take down a lot of Mexico and Brazil with bombers and subs.
Around that time the U.S makes its big play, emptying its silos at Europe. Kay and I strike back as hard as we can but by the time our counter-attack is in action a hundred American ICBMs are in the air. London, Manchester and Paris all take hits but it's not enough to dent Kay's impressive score of 140. As the victory timer counts down I make a massive strike against South America, though my missiles are poorly placed and almost all are chewed up by silos.
By the end of the game Kay wins with 140, the U.S comes in second with 80, South America scores 60, Africa a megre 40, and Russia and Asia both score in the minuses after exclusively beating the crap out of each other for most of the game.
Conclusion: Be Europe. Always be Europe. Also, Nuclear war is a bad idea.
Hope to see you all soon for a Barbelith-only game.

* There doesn't seem to be a way to password-protect games, so anybody and everybody can jump on board. Hopefully this will be fixed in an update.