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Jason came by on the 14th of August, and after some discussion, we had decided upon another stab at Pursuit of Glory. I was starting to contemplate the best way to pack up at the end of the day if it went long (and a full game isn’t something we can really fit into one day), but that turned out to be unnecessary. After my victory last time, we decided to switch sides, as the CP tends to give me more trouble.

Jason used the normal Russo-British Assault, and while I managed to Withdraw in Mesopotamia, I lost two cavalry divisions to the Russian offensive. Things went fairly normally after that, with both of us hitting 4 War Status on the first turn. I played Persian Push, and got into northern Persia to take VPs, and also took Van, though I didn’t have anything to keep the area with if he got active there.

As it turned out, that was the beginning of things going wrong. However, turn 2 is when things really happened. We had both lined up on the Suez Canal, and I got Liberate Suez. I had taken the Senussi tribes already with plans of picking off weaker British units (like the Royal Navy Armored Car) before causing trouble in Khartoum, and this allowed me to use one of the OPS on that. However, I noted that Ismalia was looking weak, and activated two spaces to attack that as well. I burned a CC card on that (and later used Sandstorms to cancel a counterattack back into Suez, so I was low on cards) and advanced across the canal. Jihad was already at 6, so I got the first Egyptian Revolt roll I’ve seen in a while (‘1’…).

The rest of the turn naturally concentrated on Egypt, as I worked to capitalize on my luck there. I took Suez and Cairo, and managed to keep supply open even though Jason retook Ismalia. The Senussi occupied Alexandria and Khartoum, and out in Persia I kept my little forces moving, taking Isfahan, Eastern Persia, and Central Persia. While the Bawi occupied Ahwaz. All of this drove VPs up to 20 just in time for the end of the turn.

Neither of us would have been in good shape for a turn 3. We’d been too busy for RP plays, and the Russian front had been slowly shredding on me before attention was forced elsewhere. Jason had spent a round on Churchill Prevails (the threat of invasions is just too important), but didn’t get a single fort. There were a few things Jason could have done about the VP situation (occupying Van, for one), though they had some of their own costs. Jason has a renewed appreciation of the need to get more troops into Egypt (by SRing from India).

After lunch I introduced him to Sekigahara, giving him Tokugawa. As usual, teaching went well; it is a nicely streamlined game, and the reference card has just about everything on it. I had a slow start, not getting any hands that worked with my armies for the first half of the game, and slowly lost blocks. But I managed to keep things together, and started retaking the initiative.

Jason took Gifu early, and it passed back and forth later. Later, he took Ueda and Aizu. A couple weeks in, I finally took Miyazu, and late in I retook Gifu, and moved south to take Anotsu and stand on Kiyosu. As the eastern force made its way west, I had to abandon much of that position, and then counterattacked in Week 7. I managed initiative, and went last, expecting to make a final bid for points. But in Turn A, we had another battle in Gifu, which I managed to win, and forced him to lose Tokugawa, and the game.

Overall, it was a good day. I’m certainly happy to have finally introduced Jason to Seki, though his immediate reaction was more tepid than I’ve been used to. Our next two-player day will be PuG with the same sides, so Jason can fix his mistakes.