France End of Game


Oh the humanity! Last game I played the USA and this game I asked for a smaller player because I did not want to devote as much time to the game. Well the GM heeded my wishes in a way but really not. I thought it was a grand joke and went with it. I have never played France before and I think I am fine not doing it ever again. It is not that the position is not interesting or that it is not powerful it is just a lot of work and I don’t like it when my gaming seems like work. In the end I did have fun but not until things went badly. Once they went badly that is when I really started enjoying the game. Weird I know.

In the beginning I had some thoughts about the power. I wanted to concentrates on one or two regions and that is it. The other regions I wanted to form a strong alliance and support whoever was there. In the South Pacific it was Australia. In South America there was Brazil. Over in Europe Italy and Germany together. In Asia I wanted to work with China and in Africa it was Kenya. As you may notice ALL of my choices were wrong in some way except China (though at times he did work against my interests). My thought was that if I could get one vote from each region and then help an ally I would be in a great position.

Also in the beginning I chose countries that I needed to remove the UK, Mali, and Nigeria. The UK because I just can never work with the player and I knew how dangerous he could be. Mali and Nigeria because that was the place I wanted to grow by going north and combining Spain and North Africa into one great empire. This would have been a great time for colonial France but alas I am no Napoleon.

My biggest gamble was that I could convince Germany and Italy to work together with me I knew that together we could hold off both Russia and the USA and make gains independently of one another. Also Italy’s help in North Africa and Germanys in northern Europe would insure that UK was neutralized and that the Africans would fall easily. The USA unit in Europe I hoped would be removed by Germany and that I could offer him a safe zone of sc and votes by supporting attacks on the UK. I knew that if we did not work together that the USA with a friendly Canada could conceivably dismember us (I was still fresh from playing the USA after all).

Of course then the game began and I was introduced to the people. To make this easier I will divide this up into regions:
Europe: In Europe the UK was the problem I knew he would be and worked continually for his destruction. Italy seemed on board but Germany was always an issue. I knew they were not buying in but I also knew that no matter what I did I could not stand against them all so I really worked hard to foment distrust of the UK as the rallying banner. It helped that the UK made crazy demands like “stay out of Spain” and “can I have Paris.” A big part of this was I was completely honest with my allies peace in Europe was my goal and I would have stood against the USA for them. In the end Italy should have stuck with me, if he had I think Germany either would not have moved and stayed allied with us or we could have removed him and secured our center from Russia. I warned Italy of Germanys intentions and that we was leaking information to other countries. But Italy was blinded to it since he was working against me as well. Also they bought into what the USA was selling and that was no good for poor France. In the end they made their choices and in hindsight Germany did it right. A note about the UK player me and him have tried to work together in two different games and we are just so different. It is not that he is a bad guy it is just a communication issue. We just don’t click and it is to bad. I hope that if we end up in another game that we can figure out a way to communicate and find a way to work as a team. I think it would be a nice change of pace.

East Africa: This area was going to be tricky my hope was to control Oman and Yemen along with Somalia and my starting area. One vote and that is all I wanted the rest of the time I would help China move into Arabia and Kenya to conquer all the SC’s around me in the hope that he would help secure my flank in West Africa. Of course that also included having China leave Africa. I knew that people would remember the last game and not allow China to do what it had done that game. So I tried to broker a deal with all parties that would leave me with my small areas and allow my allies to expand. At first it worked and I even saved Saudi Arabia to gain a vote from him. But Kenya was not really true and he worked with the Saudi to attack me. So it just goes to show you no good deed goes unpunished. In the end I was always a factor in the region so I was not to disappointed since I had little aspirations in the area.
West Africa: This is the place where I was truly a bastard I had no intention of working with either country in the area. After working with Kenya he had mentioned that he was a solid ally of Congo. So I figured why not keep it a three way alliance. So during this time I worked to foment as much discord between Mali and Nigeria I could. It really helped that Nigeria really did not want to work with me or him at all. He was a tad too aggressive. I think that if he had positioned himself to go south and or east and really worked with Mali that we may have ended this game with those two as the African nations in charge. But we will never know. Mali I have to say was a great player to work with and frankly I teetered back and forth on whether I would stab him or not. In the end it was actually Italy’s betrayal that convinced me. I could not gain the enough votes to be considered a contender without taking all of North Africa. Also I could then have that lead to a comeback invasion to retake France and punish Italy. The elimination of Nigeria and Mali went off without a hitch but I never could build up enough momentum to move north. Because I made a fatal error in trusting a small island nation.
North America and the Caribbean: First let me say I had no interest in this area. I had enough on my plate and all I really wanted was to secure the USA, Mexico, and Cuba as if not allies the benevolent neighbors. The USA and I had an interesting relationship. He led to my ouster of Europe by playing the UK, Germany, and myself off of one another. I knew it was happening but I could do nothing to stop it. In the Middle East after both of us got hit hard I thought we had worked things out well and I protected his colonies as best I could. This of course ended when he supported the Treacherous Cuba! Ah Cuba land of um well Castro and old cars I suppose. I had very good relations throughout the game with this country. We did not often work together but at times we did. For most of the mid game I helped Cuba whenever I could in the hopes that he would do the same for me and I would have a good partner outside of Asia and Africa. But in the end Cuba needed to be in first or second in votes as an E power and I guess he decided he needed to take them from me. It makes sense really because I had the votes he needed. It just sucked because I had hoped that loyalty would be more important. Of course this is a game about treachery and you can rarely count on such concepts as loyalty. Am I bitter no but I am disappointed.

South America: I wanted to help Brazil control this area and made a good start of firming up an alliance. Then Brazil changed hands and my whole deck of cards fell apart. The new player used every opportunity to annoy me. I don’t know why but he constantly went after my few sc’s in the area. In the end I joined anyone who promised to remove him and I did.

South East Asia: I wanted my two islands and one voting sc. In exchange I offered Australia all my units in the area to be at his disposal. I meant every word. I believe he would have done much better if he had taken me up on my offer but we will never know.

Well that is it I am sure I forgot stuff but I don’t have as much time to write these as I would wish. Thank you everyone that played and I hope we see one another again. Also no hard feelings at all sometimes you eat the bear some times the bear eats you.