Board struggles a bit with atrophy strategies working best rather than race which is what I guess was intended. Beware before you attack here, few boards have bigger defensive advantage.

I'll admit- there are turns on this map that I avoid... simply because there are so many decisions to make, especially during the beginning and end of the game, though there are only 5 attacks per turn. One can either risk units in the "bonus making" chain-building area of the board, or bank them in the clowns, ultimately the way to win. Once all players "dig in", it becomes riskier to affect player bonuses, and with the high defense, the decisions become more difficult. However, the growth of bonuses, I think, are in good proportion to the high defense of the board.

Credit must be given to El Conquistador for the first live map of this type, but chain game (and the idea for the circus series in general) was the prototype of the disjoint areas style. It took many versions and much testing before it was in working order, but I think the final result is very fun. My favorite part of the game happens during the first 3 and last 3 rounds of the game. In the beginning, unlimited fortifies and return to attack allows a player to bomb up, setting up their camp, to get the bonus faucet flowing. The endgame is absolute mayhem. With players that know what they're doing, games are highly enjoyable, though there is an unsavory amount of work each turn, bombing up to break bonuses, then redistributing units to hold ones own bonus supplying areas. In the end, I still like figuring out the best way to distribute units to protect my bonuses, I've just been spoiled with the streak of quick, to-the-point, strategy maps.

The hit-and-run style in the chain area was inspired by "chimps in space", a wonderful map by Riskyback, a board that hopefully makes it from WF to WG.

There's lots to like about the map. Highly underrated (and underplayed).