probably not. while trying to be a reformer, he did allow a lot of liberalization to form among the people, but when push came to shove he tried to keep power like all other general secretaries.
gorby’s unsuccessful struggle with yeltsin was the final push that imploded the party’s rule, although neither was a particularly admirable leader of democracy.
most likely trmp death for $2000.
Gorby was like Captain Phillips, gently gliding the USSR into a soft crash landing that could have been a lot worse.
Anyone who is into board games, my favorite 2 player game is Twilight Struggle. USA v USSR Cold War! It has cool game mechanics that incorporate historical events. When you get to the end of the game there are a lot of 1980’s Reagan & Gorby stuff. It was ranked #1 on boardgamegeek for 6 years.
Cool, I collect board games and have been wanting a two player game for a while. A lot of these are 4-8 players and it’s impossible for me to get that many people sometimes.
Not that there’s much board game playing since covid. But a group of people I used to hang with pre-covid would go to these board game enthusiast raffles and buy huge amounts of tickets and just clean house. That’s where most of my stuff comes from. A lot of it is crap though - I will check this one out.
As an aside that no one cares about, I recently had a custom table made for me that opens up on the top to a large storage area. It was intended for poker/board game playing. The date I got it? March 2020. Lol. Now I’m probably going to have to get rid of it, so if anyone wants a cool custom board game table in OC (could use some varnish but nothing that couldn’t be done in a weekend) hit me up.
Twilight Stuggle is definitely a time suck if you play it over the table. Takes me and my buddy a few hours that way. If you buy the online version, you can probably complete in ~2 hours.
Twilight is exclusively and only a 2 player game.
Another cool game that you can play 1-5 players(although 1 player is kinda lame, imo) is Terraforming Mars:
If you’re looking for a 2 player that can be completed more in the 30-45 minute range, and isn’t as complex but have re-playability, I can personally recommend these two:
I tried to play this game once. But I got depressed thinking of all the real people in places like Korea, SE Asia and Central America who were killed and tortured over these games between the US and USSR.
My wife and I bought our home about five years ago. If we sold now we would probably make a killing but 1) our house is pretty great and 2) we’d have to move in somewhere else still. Maybe if I’m able to get EU citizenship and we can leave this sinking ship in a few years we’ll still be able to cash in on the craze.
One of the few I don’t mind celebrating!
I hear you. That’s always lingering in my mind when I play any board game that is based on IRL war and conflict. The very first “complex” game I played with my cousin when I was 12 was called “Stalingrad”, and it is a cardboard bloodbath.
If you’re looking for two player games specifically, Keith Law (formerly of ESPN and now with The Athletic) has a whole bunch ranked on his personal blog. He also has a top 100 overall in a separate post from December 2020. Wish I could get my wife into board games; going to start my daughter young so that the wife has no choice but to join in.
Azul is a great quick 2-player game, and the board/pieces are beautiful
Yeah, I’ll second that. I love Azul
And it’s easy to travel with. We leave the box at home, throw the bag with the pieces and a couple of player boards in a back pack, and take it to the park or beach.
My wife got me Azul for Christmas like 2-3 years ago and it’s still in the plastic.
Concentrating all the Rush content into one thread.
Gerrymandered Colors of Benetton?