History YMMV / TwilightStruggle

** The scoring rules for the regional scoring cards tend to also cause confusion, with two of the most common mistakes centering on the following aspects: 1. )The total score change on most cards is based on the balance of both players' points tallied, and 2.) the bonuses for Presence, Domination, and Control ''do not'' stack.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: The vast majority of games will see the Soviet player coup Iran on his first action round of the first turn - with a strong card or a decent roll of the die it at least eliminates easy US access to South Asia, as well as take care of military operations requirements early for the Soviets. Similarly, in games where handicaps are used, most times the US is given an extra influence at the start, and most of those times the US player uses that influence in Iran to shore it up. This was part of the reason the Turn Zero expansion was designed to open up alternate starting positions for players.
* FanNickname: Twilight Strategy coined "Thatcher the Betrayer" for the card "The Iron Lady", because it helps the USSR (allowing them to put 1 influence into Argentina) far more than it helps the US (removing all USSR influence from the UK, which is a country that has minimal value to the USSR, as well as preventing Socialist Governments from being played, which is more of an annoyance than a damaging card).

** Red Scare/Purge, Early War, playable by either side. The effect is to subtract 1 from all your opponent's cards ops value (for example, 2's become 1's) for the rest of the turn. This is very, very strong, especially against the US during the Early War. If the same player draws this card twice in the Early War it can decide the game, although not always. Even more powerful is when Red Scare/Purge combines with Bear Trap or Quagmire, which require the player to discard a card with operations 2 or greater to roll a die and break the trap. Since it lowers operations, the only card that may be played is a 3 or 4. This can potentially, allow one whole turn of uninterrupted play.
** NORAD, Early War US event, expansion card in the deluxe edition. It is usually in the Soviet interest to maintain DEFCON at 2 as much as possible - since they go first in on-board action it gives the Soviets free reign to coup a battleground (prior to every turn DEFCON improves by one, thus when the Soviets coup it goes down to two and prevents the US from couping it back[[note]]Unless "Nuclear Subs" is in play[[/note]]) and also lock down the Middle East, which the US often has a difficult time with, especially in the early game. NORAD gives the US one free influence anywhere there is already US influence when DEFCON falls to 2 during the action phase, thus serving to negate the Soviet advantage to some extent.
** Kremlin Flu. It's a very basic card: The US player plays it as its Operation Values and forces the USSR player's next turn to either play a scoring card, or pass his turn. Not only is it a DEFCON suicide card when played as the USSR, but it can also can deny the USSR its most powerful advantage: The Turn 1 coup.

** The scoring rules for the regional scoring cards tend to also cause confusion, with two of the most common mistakes centering on the following rules: 1. )The total score change on most cards is based on the balance of both players' points tallied, and 2.) the bonuses for Presence, Domination, and Control ''do not'' stack.

** The scoring rules for the regional scoring cards tend to also cause confusion, with two of the mos common mistakes centering on the following rules: 1. )The total score change on most cards is based on the balance of both players' points tallied, and 2.) the bonuses for Presence, Domination, and Control *do not* stack.

* ThatOneRule: Amongst players learning the game, the rules of realignment tend to be the most misunderstood, partially because it's not used a lot (especially in the Early War).

* FollowTheLeader: ''Twilight Struggle'' is by no means the first card-driven board game created (the concept had been around for at least a decade prior to its introduction) or even the first one published by GMT Games, but the success and popularity of this game means similar games almost inevitably get compared to it. This is especially true if the game in question shares the same publisher, one of its creators, or a not-strictly-military theme.

** Red Scare/Purge, Early War, playable by either side. The effect is to subtract 1 from all your opponent's cards ops value (for example, 2's become 1's) for the rest of the turn. This is very, very strong, especially against the US during the Early War. If the same player draws this card twice in the Early War it can decide the game, although not always. Even more powerful is when Red Scare/Purge combines with Bear Trap or Quagmire, which require the player to discard a card with operations 3 or greater to roll a die and break the trap. Since it lowers operations, the only card that may be played is a 4. This can potentially, allow one whole turn of uninterrupted play.

** Red Scare/Purge, Early War, playable by either side. The effect is to subtract 1 from all your opponent's cards ops value (for example, 2's become 1's) for the rest of the turn. This is very, very strong, especially against the US during the Early War. If the same player draws this card twice in the Early War it can decide the game, although not always.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: The vast majority of games will see the Soviet player coup Iran on his first action round of the first turn - with a strong card or a decent roll of the die it at least eliminates easy US access to South Asia, as well as take care of military operations requirements early for the Soviets. Similarly, in games where handicaps are used, most times the US is given an extra influence at the start, and most of those times the US player uses that influence in Iran to shore it up.

** [[TheMole Aldrich Ames]], Late War Soviet event. This card lets the Soviet player look at the US hand and then ''dictate the order the US has to play his cards in''. What makes this even more powerful is that there are some cards that, if the US plays them, will trigger global nuclear war. Normally the US can either hold them over to next turn, or play them at a time when they will ''not'' end the world. But, if the US is holding one of them and gets hit by Ames, they lose the game, no questions asked. Ames is so deadly, the designers nerfed him in the Deluxe edition; he was the only card that got this treatment.

* StopHelpingMe: "The Iron Lady" is a US 3-op card that gets rid of all Soviet influence in the UK and prevents "Socialist Governments"(remove 3 US influence in Western Europe, max 2 per country) from taking place. In practice, though, this card tends to help the Soviet player more often than not, since the card also grants 1 Soviet influence in battleground Argentina (thanks to the FalklandIslands) AND 3 ops (if played from the Soviet hand); the US benefits are of only marginal-at-best utility in many games because there is rarely much Soviet influence in the UK anyway (the UK starts US-controlled and is not a battleground country) and "Socialist Governments", while annoying in the Early War, is usually less of a problem for the US to deal with later in the game as its 3-ops value matches the influence damage it does, making it generally a wash.

* ThatOneRule: Amongst players learning the game, the rules of realignment tend to be the most misunderstood, partially because it's not used a lot, especially in the Early War.

** NORAD, Early War US event, expansion card in the deluxe edition. It is usually in the Soviet interest to maintain DEFCON at 2 as much as possible - since they go first in on-board action it gives the Soviets free reign to coup a battleground (prior to every turn DEFCON improves by one, thus when the Soviets coup it goes down to two and prevents the US from couping it back[[hottip:*:Unless "Nuclear Subs" is in play]]) and also lock down the Middle East, which the US often has a difficult time with, especially in the early game. NORAD gives the US one free influence anywhere there is already US influence when DEFCON falls to 2 during the action phase, thus serving to negate the Soviet advantage to some extent.

** NORAD, Early War US event, expansion card in the deluxe edition. It is usually in the Soviet interest to maintain DEFCON at 2 as much as possible - since they go first in on-board action it gives the Soviets free reign to coup a battleground (prior to every turn DEFCON improves by one, thus when the Soviets coup it goes down to two and prevents the US from couping it back[[hottip:*:Unless "Nuclear Subs" is in play]]) and also lock down the Middle East, which the US often has a difficult time with, especially in the early game. NORAD gives the US one free influence anywhere there is already US influence when DEFCON falls to 2 during the action phase, thus serving to negate the Soviet advantage to some extent.
* PlayerPreferredPattern: The vast majority of games will see the Soviet player coup Iran on his first action round of the first turn - with a strong card or a decent roll of the die it at least eliminates easy US access to South Asia, as well as take care of military operations requirements early for the Soviets. Similarly, in games where handicaps are used, most times the US is given an extra influence at the start, and most of those times the US player uses that influence in Iran to shore it up.

* PlayerPreferredPattern: The vast majority of games will see the Soviet player coup Iran on his first action round of the first turn - with a strong card or a decent roll of the die it at least eliminates easy US access to South Asia, as well as take care of military operations requirements early for the Soviets.

** NORAD, Early War US event, expansion card in the deluxe edition. It is usually in the Soviet interest to maintain DEFCON at 2 as much as possible - since they go first in on-board action it gives the Soviets free reign to coup a battleground (prior to every turn DEFCON improves by one, thus when the Soviets coup it goes down to two and prevents the US from couping it back[[hottip:*:Unless "Nuclear Subs" is in play]]) and also lock down the Middle East, which the US often has a difficult time with, especially in the early game. NORAD gives the US one free influence anywhere there is already US influence when DEFCON falls to 2 during the action phase, thus serving to negate the Soviet advantage to some extent.