a common scenario - but what is optimal strategy

[hideaway]

you are first to act in a brand new four or five person SSFU game. You deploy your armies optimally around the biggest cluster of territories and have a familiar 7 on 3 to open the game. Suddenly, you see four white dice highlighted and you are down 4 men without anything to show for it. Now it's 3 on 3. Do you keep rolling? How important is the card? What about if you have a 3 on 2 or a 2 on 1 left for the card?

It seems like every time I have to open a game I see nothing but white dice on the first turn and it seemingly screws me for the game. Should I maybe just deploy first turn and not attack?

[grunion]

I believe that if you lose two armies on your first roll it is best to fortify and wait a round. That is not to say I always do what is best. If a dominant position is possible on the first round I might be inclined to try another roll. But I will often regret that I did.

The overriding principle here is, playing conservatively, to finish each turn no weaker than you started it. In the first round, though the extra territory and card is nice, the retention of what was likely your most significant territory, preferably with an extra army or two atop, is nicer.

[Jeff Hardy]

you are first to act in a brand new four or five person SSFU game. You deploy your armies optimally around the biggest cluster of territories and have a familiar 7 on 3 to open the game. Suddenly, you see four white dice highlighted and you are down 4 men without anything to show for it. Now it's 3 on 3. Do you keep rolling? How important is the card? What about if you have a 3 on 2 or a 2 on 1 left for the card?

It seems like every time I have to open a game I see nothing but white dice on the first turn and it seemingly screws me for the game. Should I maybe just deploy first turn and not attack?

I don't quite get what you mean.

[spline]

In my experience this comes down to higher level strategy to win the war rather than focusing on the battle.

Here are a number of parameters to consider:

• Sometimes you have to stop attacking because you want to keep your armies on the map, so that you don't appear weak.
  
  Sometime you want to eliminate a player's existence in certain part of the map, so they are gone for good. You no longer have to worry about counter attack. It makes sense to do everything you can to get to this objective if it is critical. So you keep attaching
  
  Sometimes, you just want to reduce the other guys armies. That's when you need to stop sooner than later.

Anything else, anyone?