Both Superpowers begin the match by reinforcing their positions in Europe. URSS established COMECON and US the Marshall Plan. URSS controls East Germany (3/0) and Poland (3/0) whereas US had firmly control of West Germany (0/5) and Italy (0/4).
Then both Powers shifted their attention to Middle East and Asia. URSS takes Vietnam (2/0) and Iraq (3/0) but at the expenses of allowing US to form NATO. US controlled South Korea (0/3), Iran (0/2), Jordania (0/2) and risking decided to invest into France (0/3) and, in this way, it dominated Europe.
As it could be expected URSS immediately reacts by playing De-Gaulle reverting France to (1/1) and equalising in Europe. US counterattacks in Asia and promotes a coup in Thailandby using a 4-Ops card. With a dr of 5, Thailand felt in the influence of US (0/4).
Kremlin is not happy with American domination in Asia and invest the China Card to Countercoup in Thailand. With the Vietnam revolt played as the headline, China card had a value of 6. An incredible dr of 6 changed influence by 8 points and put Thailand in Russian hands (4/0). With Defcon at 3, US cannot react to this coup and decided to retake France (1/4) and it is again dominating Europe.
URSS seemed to have no cards to contest US domination in Europe and launch their first satellite into orbit and winning 2 VP. Unsurprisingly, US played Europe scoring. With US domination against USRR presence, this gave a net +5 VP to US, shifting the score to +3VP (US lead).
As his final card USRR played Blocked in the hope to catch US without 3-ops cards and removing US influence in West Germany. But US revealed an ugly surprise as it used USRR event to discard Warsaw Pact. A nice help from the USRR player. To finish his turn, US expends 3 ops to make realignments in Middle East. In spite of a net drm +1 the three consecutive dr only succeeded to remove one influence point into Irak.
End of Turn 1: +3VP (US). Both Powers had enough Military Operations and defcon was at 3. US dominates Middle East and Europe whereas USRR dominates into Asia.
Analysis: Weak first turn for Russians. Too confident that he could stop US by playing De Gaulle, USSR did not menace American domination in Italy and, after being forced to play NATO, he is in real bad position in Europe. The lucky card hand of American player allowed him to manage efforts in Middle East and Asia.
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