Best time to target for the kill

Hi guys,

Interested to get people's opinion/advice on when the best time is to start to surround your target for the kill.

My issue is I now set up well in the early game, seem to be in a strong position but then either someone will turn in that I am closing in on meaning they re no longer a target or someone else turns in before me and starts the chain reaction and wins the game

Lets say its between 8-12 cards, are you already looking for targets that have depleted troop numbers and do you not find that it takes a couple rounds to get close and be in a good position only for when its time the target turns in and they are no longer a suitable target and your troops are out of place?

Interested to get peoples thoughts...

Imagine you are every player on the board and imagine whom they will be targeting.

What is stopping them, what place do they need, what place needs to be protected?

Now.. welcome to the game and think much bigger picture than what you can do, what can THEY do?

Good luck and lining things up starts on Turn 1 and modifies as you go.

That's good advice, appreciate it!

As for the placement:
Personally, I put a lot of troops on territories:
- that have great connections, which means if some player wants to kill another player, he needs to kill me first.
- close to a, in my opinion, weak player, so that I can attack him later on. That might backfire though, if he feels threatened.

As for the card value and turn ins:
That's tricky. I've won 8 or 9p games, starting the raid when values were at 12, but in more 'sophisticated' games, it will be more like around 30/35, or even higher.
The way I try to play it: if I own a black card, and I can turn in at 4 cards(not using my black card): most probably I will, even if card value is very low. Why? because I'm sure I will have another set with 3 cards. If the game goes slow, I don't turn in at 4, and wait to go to 5 cards, hoping I will not need my black card to turn in at 5 cards. If you have a set, with 3 or 4 cards, there is never a 'need' to get a card. You can wait, until it's needed to turn in , or easy to take a card.
If I don't have a black card, most of the time I wait, until the card value is high enough for me to turn in. (in 8-9p games around 20 or higher). If you're vulnerable in the game, you don't have a choice: you'll have to turn in.

If there is no region easy to take: don't. Spread out in the beginning, so that you keep the territories that are important to you. Don't attack 3's, or even 2's in the beginning (doesn't count if you want to take a region). Not taking a card in round 1, and even round 2, is totally OK. Players will wait to turn in, not willing to go first. That gives you time to also get your 4th and 5th card.

When it comes to money time, it's like GoW already said: look at what others can do. When will they (possibly) turn in, who will they attack? Who do I need to block? Who do I need to protect?

Keep in mind, all of this is how I play it. I'm pretty sure there are some much better strategies too.

Good luck!

The insight around timing of card turn ins is great. If it is a slow game and you are more than strong enough to not being a target would you sometimes even go 3-4 rounds not taking a card and just fortifying if you already have a set and just want to turn in when it gets to 15-20?

World classic 4-5 players games is what I generally play and I have recently learnt that being much more patient, just attacking 1s, building 3 big stacks in NA border, Europe/Asia corridor and somewhere in North Asia usually puts me in a good position. Your right though the downside to this which happened to me today is I looked to threatening to my target with one big stack and he just wiped me out in that region which ultimately allowed another player to kill me and him anyway

I think there is also logic in just sitting back and waiting for someone else to make the mistake and then counter it

Interested to get people's opinion/advice on when the best time is to start to surround your target for the kill.
Answer is : Middle of night