INWO is a game of wills and wits. In the end, you have to convince the other players to let you win. Even in a two-player game, if you can control what your opponent thinks, you can defeat him.
To win, you must control the actions of your rivals. To control someone's actions, you need to know what they want. Unfortunately, what your opponents want is to win . . . and to make you lose. This is where the deception comes in . . .
The key is to convince your foes that they're more likely to win if they don't attack you. This is obvious in a multi-player game, but it's true even in a two-player game. Sure, there are times when you want to provoke an attack. But not many! Basically, you want to direct your foes' efforts at each other -- or, if you have only one foe, toward attempts to grow, or ineffective attacks aimed at you, rather than effective attacks that actually hurt you. To repeat, because it's so obvious and so important: You don't want them to attack you. Even if all you do is delay the inevitable, you've bought more time to grow and to mature your own plans.
"That's obvious," you say. But how?" Just like real life . . . any way that works. Offer deals. Offer alliance. Offer bribes. Plead, grovel, bluster and threaten. Or just smile sweetly and let them wonder what they've overlooked. Here are a few specific techniques to get you started . . .
That's not to say, of course, that there's never a time for overt troublemaking. But it shouldn't be the only arrow in your quiver.
Later in the game, when it's getting tense, you can call in this favor when they really don't want to be reminded of it. "Come on! Don't help him attack me! Remember, I helped you get started! Just leave me alone this once, and we'll call it even."
Yes, it's whining. If it makes them do what you want, it's all part of the game. Of course, some people can look you in the eye and say "Tough." The term for these people is "winners."
How can you fill their hearts with fear? The best way is to pay back any injury . . . with compound interest. But act as though your counterattack is not really your choice . . . just the inexorable wheels of justice, grinding over them. After all, you don't want to make them a permanent enemy; you want them to learn their lesson and leave you alone in the future.
Not everyone can carry off this attitude, but when it works, it works.
An extreme measure is to "suicide" on a rival who hurts you badly, throwing everything into an attack or series of attacks to take them down with you. That does you no good in this game, but might build up some fear for the next one. (However, many people -- including, usually, me -- think that suicide attacks are a mark of the munchkin. If your play group won't stand for it, don't do it. If they think all's fair in cards and war, go kamikaze!)
This works especially well for women in an otherwise male playing group. Hey, of course it's an unfair advantage. Take it and run! Subtlety is (usually) the key. For every male opponent who's been successfully distracted by a bold smile and a low neckline, a dozen have given away the game a piece at a time because, quite unconsciously, they were competing to see who could get a smile and a "thank you" from a lady who they would have sworn wasn't flirting at all.
In the end, it all comes down to psychology. The skill with which you play your cards must be matched by the skill with which you play your opponents. When you have mastered the game table, you can move on to . . . ahh, but I can say no more.
Copyright © 1999 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to [email protected].
