* 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 using handicaps, the USA player is usually given extra influence at the start, which is usually used to shore up Iran. 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 the USSR is unlikely to have any in, and preventing Socialist Governments from being played, which is more of an annoyance than a damaging card).
* GameBreaker: There are some cards in this game that get accused of this. Here are the worst offenders:
** [[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 (now it's "look at the US hand at any time for the rest of the turn and also force him to discard one card"); he was the only card that got this treatment.
** 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 becomes 1) 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. 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 rein 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 negating some of that Soviet advantage.
** Kremlin Flu. It's a very basic card: The US player plays it as its Operation Value and forces the USSR player to either play a scoring card next turn, or pass. 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.
* 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).
** 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.
* UnconventionalLearningExperience : You will learn a LOT about the Cold War in this game. It certainly helps that the scenario guide has a section that explains the real-life historical context of ''every card''.
----