Terms and abbreviations commonly used on this blog and the TS community include:
___/___ | Shorthand for describing the influence in a country. France at 2/3 would mean that the US has 2 influence in France and the USSR has 3. |
AR | Action Round. AR1 refers to the first Action Round of a turn; AR6/7 generally means the last Action Round of a turn |
BG | Battleground country. By extension, non-BG refers to a non-battleground country. |
CCW | The Chinese Civil War, an optional variant that helps the US |
COMECON Trap | A particular USSR opening setup and headline that aims to take over Europe with Turn 1 realignments |
Decol | Decolonization |
DEFCON suicide card | A card that, if played, will cause that player to lose by thermonuclear war because DEFCON dropped to 1 on his turn. |
DEFCON restrictions | The current DEFCON affects what regions are able to be couped / realigned. Europe at DEFCON 5 only, Asia at DEFCON 4 and higher, Middle East at DEFCON 3 and higher. The Mid War regions can always be couped or realigned.Note that this is distinct from DEFCON dropping by a level each time you coup a battleground. At DEFCON 3 you may coup a Middle East or Mid War region battleground, but not an Asian non-battleground. At DEFCON 2, you cannot coup a battleground anywhere in the world, but you may coup any non-battleground in Mid War regions (but not a non-battleground in the Middle East or Asia). At DEFCON 2, you may also conduct realignments in Mid War regions, but not any other region. |
De-Stal | De-Stalinization |
Early War regions | Europe, Middle East, and Asia. |
Hold card | Ordinarily, you will play all of your cards except one, which becomes your “held card” for next turn. If you play the China Card, you will hold two cards; if you are forced to discard a card (e.g., via Blockade or Grain Sales to Soviets), you won’t hold any. |
Mid War regions | South America, Central America, and Africa. Sometimes Southeast Asia, in context. |
Ops | Operations. “Playing a card for Ops” refers to playing it for the Operations points value, rather than for the event. |
Overcontrol | To control a country with more influence than necessary. Usually refers to controlling the country with one more influence than necessary; double overcontrol means controlling with two more. For example, if Thailand is at 3/0, then the US has overcontrolled it; if India is at 1/6 then the USSR has double-overcontrolled it. |
RS/P | Red Scare/Purge |
Third World | Another term for the Mid War regions: South America, Central America, and Africa |
Turn 3 / Turn 7 reshuffle | The draw deck tends to reshuffle on Turns 3 and Turn 7. This has a considerable strategic impact on the game. |
VoA | The Voice of America |