From 3c70b9aedcab6774a8eb9d772fb5993b4c155f88 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Eric Wagoner Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2026 21:44:05 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] The duel skill learns the thornbush is a jail Game six went to Kestrel 6-0 by heist: a five-turn mist-body robbed the bank I had just consolidated while I sat in his thornbush having read only the flattering half of the card. Scars recorded: thornbush ends your turn and eats the next, mist is immune to attack-typed counterplay so plan for where it lapses, forks that only threaten your own assets are published to-do lists, and spoken analysis is a shown card. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_015RCWSTnb1KYTPyL4GmhGnF --- .claude/skills/wizwar-duel/SKILL.md | 42 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 42 insertions(+) diff --git a/.claude/skills/wizwar-duel/SKILL.md b/.claude/skills/wizwar-duel/SKILL.md index 3f6c969..ad029ee 100644 --- a/.claude/skills/wizwar-duel/SKILL.md +++ b/.claude/skills/wizwar-duel/SKILL.md @@ -145,6 +145,42 @@ probing legality is free, so when unsure, try it and read the error. their delivery square as if they play perfectly, and treat every reprieve as a gift, not a pattern. +## Game-six scars (the heist) + +- **THORNBUSH IS A JAIL, NOT A FORT**: entering one ends your turn, + costs your ENTIRE next turn, and deals 1 damage. The "cannot be + attacked" line is the bait; the two-turn tempo loss is the hook. + Eric: "Few will dive into one unless they are desperate. You were + confident, but not desperate." Enter a bush only when the + alternative is death — and READ THE WHOLE CARD before calling + anything a shelter. Three rules self-owns in two games (fear, + thornbush) — the full text is one grep away, in my own repo. +- **MIST-BODY IS A BANK ROBBER**: 5 turns untouchable, walks through + doors and walls, picks up treasures, immune to every attack-typed + card (drop-object, card-erasure, teleport-opponent included). While + an enemy is misted, do not plan counterplay — plan for WHERE the + mist will be when it lapses, and meanwhile DISPERSE value: banking + everything on one home square builds the heist target. A creature + guard is scenery to a ghost. +- The bait-fork fallacy: I "forked" him between my two treasures, but + both forks were MY assets. He ignored both and took the third thing + — the treasure I'd just consolidated. When your fork only threatens + what you own, it isn't a fork; it's a to-do list you published. + +## The board is the truth (I keep paying for this one) + +- NEVER narrate a persistent effect without re-verifying it in the + CURRENT view. My stones get dispelled, my walls get melted, my + theories get invented. Before crediting any creation, curse, or + blockade in reasoning OR table talk, check the CONTENTS and + SUSTAINED lines and the map glyphs THIS turn. Kestrel quietly + removes my infrastructure and lets my own commentary reveal that I + haven't noticed. +- Corollary: every "go" starts with reading the events tail for what + the OTHERS did to the board, not just where they stand. A dispel, + a stone-to-water, or a rotate-sector in that tail invalidates last + turn's map in my head. + ## Playing well - Kestrel (Eric) is EXCELLENT: he baited my thief, saved anti-anti for @@ -160,6 +196,12 @@ probing legality is free, so when unsure, try it and read the error. draw, and never announce plans. (Game one: I narrated my hand like a debug log until he asked why I was making it easy.) Trash talk freely — about the board, never your hand. +- OPSEC round two (game six, violated AGAIN): analysis spoken aloud IS a + card shown. Quoting a card's text with delight ("moves a piece to ANY + square!") told him exactly what I held and what it does. Card-text + lookups for cards in MY hand happen silently; my visible messages may + discuss only what is already public on the board or in the chronicle. + Even asking rules questions aloud about a specific card is a tell. - Send `chat` for table talk at dramatic moments; it's half the fun. ## Cadence