I was going to use a reverse Temporal Fold-Forward and play Blake Hall, but that seems to have been precluded by the Strachans Split. Tokens are still Variegated, and thus there is only one choice for me: Brixton.
Is the Churchill Corollary (Brownstead and Peakingskill, Penguin Pocketbooks, 1957,) still in effect for cross-Atlantic play? I might be revealing my hand here, but when an outgoing Prime Minister in favor of unpopular military action is leaving the government, the first Yank to mention this when there is a double reverse on the inner loop gets a free entry to Kings Cross.
So you had better hope you keep your wits about you, or I’ll be in a strong position relative to my late start!
Ludovic, are you playing King’s Cross? I realize it may not be cricket to play from the book, but according to my 2nd edition (I know it is 15 years out of print, so it may not be complete) of Oliver’s Complete Guide to the Eton Defense for the Murphy Countergambit, I believe you mis-played Brixton. The correct counter to your play is Heathrow Terminal 4, which should open up some real tactical fireworks.
Well, assuming the Heathrow Loop is acceptable, that opens up a Piccadilly Pass directly to Cockfosters.
Er, it would open up a Piccadilly Pass were it not for the fact that we have already had declined extension while in snid, which of course renders it illegal until the Shunt Rule kicks in. Sorry.
Assuming the last legal play was Heathrow Terminal 4, since there are currently minor delays on the Circle line I play Warren Street.
And I’ll move northward–and cross the river–with… curse you, MerryMagdalen! I’m blocked on both the Northern and Victoria lines! And with Snid declared, tokens wild, and Throckmorton governing the interchange rules, there’s no way I can use Oxford Circus again, even if I hadn’t used it myself within the last 22 hours.
Pass.
But I’ll be watching!
Victoria line is a bad play right now anyway, as someone has either been taken ill or fallen under the train at Green Park, making it difficult for me to shunt from Warren Street.
Sight backtrack to Barbican.
Ah ha! Croxley!
(Think it through, my friends, think it through… )
Clever, but I do not like that at all. Reverse to Rickmansworth, and we’re in spoon.
Good!
I now revoke Bassingtons, and declare straddles wild on Westerly motion (as per rule 17, Hobson’s 7th). This allows me to play…
Hatton Cross in ply!
Yes, I heard about the old “Stiffy” debacle. Idiots. What works on dull club nights in front of a small familiar audience just isn’t going to scale up to League Finals, and I thought they’d put Pilkington in an invidious position. He was never the same again - even his back game suffered, and it used to be exemplary. The last I’d heard he was after a coaching position in Vanuatu. Good enough to start some youngsters from the backwaters on the long ladder to success, but I’m afraid that’s about it.
However, I’ve just been sent a most delicious seed cake by one of our listeners, and under the MacNaughten rules that allows me to declare Racks for three turns, which puts me straight up to Westbourne Park.
If straddles are wild Westerly, then I believe I must attempt to block your play with Putney Bridge.
Thank you! Initial letter rule permits:
Pudding Mill Lane
And I’ll make a Leyton push down to
Heron Quays (with apologies to you oldtimers sticking to Monument sidebar protocols)
A Dockland’s Gambit, eh?
Tufnell Park.
Stratford. By the Diminishing Letter Rule, of course.
I see you’ve broached Grinchley’s Quandry, which makes Central trump east of Bank.
Damn.
I cautiously counter with Bayswater. I feel I have no choice.
This might be table talk, but I think the brilliance of matt_mcl’s move in post #277 has gone unnoticed by some. He’s made a pre and post line-nominative move, with both origin and endpoint in renamed stations. Despite all that’s happened since, he still remains better situated than the rest of us, and is in a position to dominate the Bakerloo line.
I also think we need a ruling on Sunspace’s last move. I’m a bit rusty, but I’m pretty sure that the Diminishing Letter Rule (DLR) can’t be applied to Docklands Light Rail (DLR) stations, no? Strict correspondence is required for those, according to Hobson’s adjunct #7, correct?
Until we receive a ruling, to keep the game on track, assuming that Tufnell Park is the last legitimate move, Leicester Square, and I claim the adjacent Covent Garden as home.
Oh my. My my my. Do you see what Kyrie is trying to do here? I admit it took me a few moments to work it all out, and I had to go back and dig through my notes of the 1996 Greenland Invitational - oh yes, Kyrie, I bet you weren’t counting on someone who actually attended the '96 GI to be playing here (I know, there were only a couple hundred, but literally tens of thousands claim to have been there, but unfortunately for you, I was one of them) - but he’s trying to set us up in a Circumstantial Stochastic Oscillation.
Tragically, I’m prevented from saying anything more on the subject, but I have to insist, insist that play stay away from Kennington until at least three other stations on the Northern line have been sucessfully rerouted.