Wahat? A new game forum and no thread with Mornington Crescent in it? So let’s start one.
I’ll make it easy for the newbies (who include myself) with a very orthodox opening gambit:
Bank
Are diagonals in play? Being a leap year, this becomes significant, thanks to Thwaite’s Paradox. Either way, I’ll opt for safety with Leytonstone.
Have we decided to keep it at the Novice level for a bit? Just to hook the punters? Works for me.
I’ll keep it linear with a simple counter-clockwise masse and play
King’s Cross
You haven’t mentioned a rules system, so I assume you’re using Wellesby’s Standard Forced.
I’m all for newbies keeping up, but we don’t want them just to learn the safer moves.
Finsbury Park
OK, we’ll keep this reasonably simple: I’m sure the novices can see the logic behind a transitional interchange via Hatton Cross.
GorillaMan’s move is at a level of subtlety a bit out of my range, while silenus’s is perhaps too obvious. Yes we’re using Wellesby’s Standard Forced, but with the 1967 addendum to deal with the World Cup fiasco of that year.
I’ll aim to a middle ground in difficulty:
Shepherd’s Bush
(and to clarify, I mean the station on the Hammersmith and City line).
Not having my copy of the rule book here at school, I’m having to operate from memory. But IIRC, since I am a Colonial, that gives me an early opening to play Kilburn. Or was that disallowed in international play after the Australian Open of '94?
:rolleyes: Well, of course you did. We’re not all amateurs here.
Interesting move, silenus, but this basic play is bringing me down some.
Let’s separate the wheat from the chaff here. Wimbeldon Park beyond Chalk Farm.
And yes, I know what you’re thinking, and no, I don’t acknowledge the Bavarian Addendum.
Careful doing that, there’s a danger of a Dollis Hill loop coming out of this situation. But if we’re acception Kilburn(?!), then I’m pulling us around to Temple.
Are the standard trans-Atlantic variants allowed? If so I’ll live dangerously and go with Aldwych.
Very dangerously: I’m not sure that former stations are allowed in the rules. But I’ve actually caught trains to Aldwych in the distant past, so I think I might concede the point.
An appropriate response might be:
Canada Water
Well, taking into account last night’s lunar eclipse:
Dollis Hill
(I assume it unneccesary to mention the effect this will have on those thinking about using the Cockfosters Inversion (Snitterington et. al. 1946), even at this beginners level of play.)
Canada Water?
I’ve got to wonder about that. Was it finished? I picked up the rules in '90, and it was only a proposed stop, then.
Well, clearly, the logical answer is Thamesmead. That should stop any fancy transfers at all.
Are we allowing horizontal decamping?
If so, Alperton.
If we’re using the 2007 ruleset, without horizontal decamping, I think I can move from Thamesmead to Terminal 4… causing the previous player to miss a turn in transit.
Or spend forever in passport control and customs – so:
Custom House
Then I will offer the Rutherford Gambit, Revised, and play Marble Arch.
BTW, I’ve always felt that Horizontal Decamping was a bit of a cheat. Flashy, but lacking in substance.
Hmm…Let’s see, Wellesby’s Standard Forced, no horizontal decamping, and Rutherford Gambit from Custom House to Marble Arch. That sounds really familiar–isn’t that the same play Deep Tube played against William Wigglesworth in the 2004 Man v. Machine Mornington Crescent exhibition? IIRC, and it’s been awhile since I’ve read the annotations and analysis, Custom House to Marble Arch opens up the White City - Appleton - Harrow-on-the-Hill line of play, with a serious positional advantage to Deep Tube. I’m not going to tread new ground here and try to outplay a grandmaster, so I’ll just play Wigglesworth’s tested response: Marylebone.
Someone played a Holshauser and no one called Remmy. Therefore, I’m entitled to a Fair Pitch in Round Style which I will eschew in favor of a Woolsey-Brighton, as is my right. There can be no further progress without a proper Bleamsteshyre from the third player in sesqueue.
Since when? My recollection is that it’s the 4th player, not the 3rd. Has there been a new Addendum published that I missed?