It has been exactly one year since the combined forces of the KGB and the Americans fought to stop the building of three nuclear weapons by the Russian Seperatists and failed. Despite the heavy blow to their operations, the Seperatists managed to complete the assembly of the three devices. And then managed to slip away into the dead of night with them....

Now, the power of nuclear destruction lies in the hands of madmen, bent on selling their "service" to the highest bidder. Several terrorist nations have already made plain their wish to take the Seperatists up on their offer and unless the KGB and the Americans can stop them, the world will once again tremble with fear at the threat of nuclear holocaust.

WELCOME TO CB:V The Doomsday Clock!!!!

Veterans have a good idea about how the game is played, so this section is mostly for the new guys. Read this very carefully, your family is depending on you to fully understand what will be required of you once the game starts and not understanding this will cause problems for your family. I cannot stress this enough to the new players.

      The timeline and scenario for this game is written completely by me. No one, not even the Core Team gets ANY knowledge ahead of time about any missions, timelines, scenarios, etc. except where I give them to you in your family forums. It is all completely hidden to everyone playing except myself, and I do not play so I cannot affect the outcome of the game. Well, I have my fun, but anything I do will not affect the outcome of the game by using any knowledge of the game itself before or after it begins. That is the beauty of the way we play this. It works like this...

• At 9AM, each faction leader is handed a sealed envelope that gives a rough description of the current state of the game and progresses that side's storyline. Inside the envelope are clues as to what the other side(s) may be up to and a list of missions that can be run before the next set of missions is handed out. All missions throughout the day have a time limit set on them. Some are quick (hour or less), some longer (1 to 2 hours) and some last the whole day. Some missions that are completed may even be reset after lunch or dinner, requiring them to be redone at a later time.
• The family heads are completely in control of what they do, or do not do. Not doing something can at times be more beneficial than if you actually attempted it. Families are rewarded in the form of points for the successful completion of missions. They are even rewarded for successfully stopping another side from accomplishing something.
• Each side has it's own timeline. Timelines are NOT CONCURRENT and do NOT replicate missions. So do NOT assume that just because your family is doing something, that another side is also. Families are required to have people in the field, watching the other sides and trying to figure out what they are up to. Some clues may be given out from time to time, but the families are the ones who mostly figure out what is going on with everyone else.
• Families will have to be able to respond and react to a very fliud game enviornment. You may very well have to change what you are currently doing if you realize that something big is about to negatively affect your family...and it could happen at any time.
• We break for lunch and dinner. Each of these will last for 1 1/2 hours. Teams will move back up top to stage and you can mingle or do whatever you like at that time. Then it's back to the game. After dinner, we turn on the lights. Each major compound has lights in it and we bring in large lights for the Switzerland area. Everything else is in the dark and NO, no form of night vision is allowed, so don't bring it.
• Missions run the gamut from defend, escort, gather intel, assasination, etc. The normal playdate games that we play are all used throughout the game, but we do not break to start a particular type of game.
• The game will end at roughly 9:30PM on the 19th. At that time, families will turn in their "stash" and final points will be tallied up in order to determine a winner. A winner will be announced on the web site by the following Monday (sorry, it will be late and I will be tired and it takes a lot of cypherin' to finalize a winner). The stashes are locked up in their own containers and no one will touch them after they are turned in. In 2005, 2006, 2007and 2008 it came down to the wire and the final night missions to decide the winner, so don't get relaxed after dark. I will say this though, every year so far has been lost during the afternoon hours. Teams tried hard to make up for lost points in the dark but have YET to overcome the deficit from a bad afternoon.
• Night missions vary greatly from those during the day. Missions will slow down, but will be worth considerably more than those run during the day, so if your family is running behind at the dinner bell, you will be able to possibly make it up that night.
• NIGHT MISSIONS DO NOT REQUIRE PEOPLE TO GO WAY OUT INTO THE DARK unless you feel comfortable doing so. There is enough light on the field so that you will not get lost, but the outer areas of the field are woods dark with the only light coming from the moon.
• Night missions usually involve the setting off of large quantities of Saturn 5 moon rockets at some point and I would not expect that to change for this year :) So be ready for it should certain missions succeed.
• Camping is allowed at the field both Friday Night (18th) and Saturday Night (19th) if you feel like it would make getting to and from the event easier on you. Ask any veteran of the night game, you WILL be tired when this is over and I do not suggest that you travel long distances to get home. Play it safe and either camp out or get a motel room nearby.
• For lunch, we do the usual hamburgers and hotdogs and drinks and for dinner we have it catered and it is usually BAR B Q (beef) with baked beans and that sort of stuff. If you want to eat more than that or something else, you will need to bring it.
• Families will be living inside your main areas during the day. There are NO BREAKS in the game except lunch and dinner. If you need a break, by all means take one, but the game will continue around you. Bring some extra water and stuff to drink. Twelve hours is a long time to play and getting dehydrated or passing out and missing the end of it will suck.