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Emissary
 
Posts: 1543
Joined: 15 Oct 2002, 9:34 pm

Post 11 Apr 2017, 12:25 pm

First, many thanks to Joseph for herding all of us cats. Our fun at your expense is greatly appreciated. You were thrown a few curve balls but managed to knock them out of the park in my opinion.

The Start

I'm not one to reinvent wheels so I decided to take a page out of the Ruffhaus world variant playbook and side with Russia early on in order to focus on the UK and the possibility of gaining a beach head on the continent. Zac saw things the same way so I just went with it.

On Russia....

I always try to learn what I can from how others play this game. I must say that Zac was a consummate professor. His style of diplomacy is unique and difficult to describe. Somehow he managed to convince me to hold back from clubbing Poland early on. His advice, though hard to hear sometimes, proved correct time and time again. So thank you Zac for the education in patience.

On Poland....

Trevor's approach to the game was on the one hand maddening and yet, effective. It was clear he was going to wear plaid and stay in the background as much as possible. This chameleon strategy drove me to drink but it worked well for him in the end. The end game coalitions don't lie, he was involved in more than a few and damn near pulled off a victory. You can't argue pragmatism.

I foolishly continued to believe that it was only a matter of time until Trevor decided to make a move on Italy but that never panned out for me. I thought for sure he was as concerned as I was that Italy was gaining far too much ground fast. But, as fate would have it, by working with Italy, he prevented my from ever landing on the continent in a meaningful way. And so I spent the entire game bottled up in Scandinavia.

Oh sure I dismantled the USA in Europe, organized the E Powers and crushed the UK single handedly (that's a joke by the way), but I was a frustrated genie in a Scandinavian bottle with lots of wishes but no where to go with them.

At one point I had my opening to damage Trevor significantly but failed to take it. That might have been in year 4 or so. Looking back, I should have taken that shot while I had it but in the end, I remained reluctantly loyal to him.

On UK....

It turns out Jimmy should have been the ally I ran with. But I just couldn't bring myself to trust his judgement. What clinched it for me was his announcement not to use nukes, followed by his proclamation of war on Russia. The former was interesting I admit but naive and the latter was foolhardy.

The fact that Jimmy never gave up and actually thrived until the end of the game with 4 votes is more than commendable for a first time player. The man would simply not roll over and die. And I appreciate the fact that he was true to his word throughout the entire game. The fact that he held back from retaking parts of the UK when he clearly could have done so was admirable. By this point I think he knew that we both owed Tom for his help and so clubbing each other at the end would have been pointless.

On Chile...

Tom struck me as a very shrewd diplomacy player and one not to be trusted. However, he saved my behind on more than one occasion and did quite a bit for what turned out to be only 2 Swedish votes. That had me scratching my head but I appreciated it and returned the favor happily by voting for him. He played an impressive game and like Zac, has a much greater zoom out button than I do. So hats off to him for winning with his team.

On Canada/Israel....

It would be a most unnecessary decision to ban David Ling from Redscape. He is an excellent player. And others can continue to learn from his style as the years roll on. His reasons for doing what he did are understandable if viewed from his perspective. However his reasons were not justified and he knows that. I think it's commendable that he owned up to the truth, admitted his wrongdoing and apologized to the group. Would he have done so had he not been caught? Hard to tell, but at least he was a man about it and offered his apology and rationale. That's rare but speaks to the kind of person he is.

On Morocco...

More than one person who has played with Randy has lodged similar complaints about him, including me. It's hard to tell if his style of play is some kind of badge of honor for him or an embarrassment. But by my estimation he is the epitome of what it means to take a game too seriously which runs the risk of taking the fun out of it. It's a game after all, and that's all it is or ever will be. A game.

The fact that an otherwise rational person, David Ling, with impeccable character, who is more than skilled at the game, would resort to this kind of revenge leads me to look to his reasons for doing so quite carefully.

My take on the matter is for everyone to put away their powdered wigs and gavels and carry on as usual. If David's claims about Ruffhaus being banned are true, give Randy the benefit of the doubt as well and lift said ban to allow him a second chance to prove himself in future games. He is yet another skilled player from whom much can be learned.

On the E Power Bloc...

I am always amazed by those players who are perfectly content to play an E power. There is something quite admirable about that. The deck is stacked against the Es from the go. Sure they have certain advantages but in the end, they are extras in a movie starring nukes. Conversely, for those who refuse to play unless they are assigned a major power, may you always lose.

I know there are a multitude of opinions on the matter and that some believe its important to have experienced players at the helm of some or all of the major powers but I'm not budging on my position which is this....play with the cards you've been dealt. What better way to test your own mettle?

And when an E power can not only survive but thrive or even win, well, that takes the cake. So to all the Es out there in Eland, well done!
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Emissary
 
Posts: 205
Joined: 10 Oct 2006, 9:39 pm

Post 11 Apr 2017, 6:23 pm

dag hammarsjkold wrote:First, many thanks to Joseph for herding all of us cats. Our fun at your expense is greatly appreciated. You were thrown a few curve balls but managed to knock them out of the park in my opinion.

The Start

I'm not one to reinvent wheels so I decided to take a page out of the Ruffhaus world variant playbook and side with Russia early on in order to focus on the UK and the possibility of gaining a beach head on the continent. Zac saw things the same way so I just went with it.

On Russia....

I always try to learn what I can from how others play this game. I must say that Zac was a consummate professor. His style of diplomacy is unique and difficult to describe. Somehow he managed to convince me to hold back from clubbing Poland early on. His advice, though hard to hear sometimes, proved correct time and time again. So thank you Zac for the education in patience.

On Poland....

Trevor's approach to the game was on the one hand maddening and yet, effective. It was clear he was going to wear plaid and stay in the background as much as possible. This chameleon strategy drove me to drink but it worked well for him in the end. The end game coalitions don't lie, he was involved in more than a few and damn near pulled off a victory. You can't argue pragmatism.

I foolishly continued to believe that it was only a matter of time until Trevor decided to make a move on Italy but that never panned out for me. I thought for sure he was as concerned as I was that Italy was gaining far too much ground fast. But, as fate would have it, by working with Italy, he prevented my from ever landing on the continent in a meaningful way. And so I spent the entire game bottled up in Scandinavia.

Oh sure I dismantled the USA in Europe, organized the E Powers and crushed the UK single handedly (that's a joke by the way), but I was a frustrated genie in a Scandinavian bottle with lots of wishes but no where to go with them.

At one point I had my opening to damage Trevor significantly but failed to take it. That might have been in year 4 or so. Looking back, I should have taken that shot while I had it but in the end, I remained reluctantly loyal to him.

On UK....

It turns out Jimmy should have been the ally I ran with. But I just couldn't bring myself to trust his judgement. What clinched it for me was his announcement not to use nukes, followed by his proclamation of war on Russia. The former was interesting I admit but naive and the latter was foolhardy.

The fact that Jimmy never gave up and actually thrived until the end of the game with 4 votes is more than commendable for a first time player. The man would simply not roll over and die. And I appreciate the fact that he was true to his word throughout the entire game. The fact that he held back from retaking parts of the UK when he clearly could have done so was admirable. By this point I think he knew that we both owed Tom for his help and so clubbing each other at the end would have been pointless.

On Chile...

Tom struck me as a very shrewd diplomacy player and one not to be trusted. However, he saved my behind on more than one occasion and did quite a bit for what turned out to be only 2 Swedish votes. That had me scratching my head but I appreciated it and returned the favor happily by voting for him. He played an impressive game and like Zac, has a much greater zoom out button than I do. So hats off to him for winning with his team.

On Canada/Israel....

It would be a most unnecessary decision to ban David Ling from Redscape. He is an excellent player. And others can continue to learn from his style as the years roll on. His reasons for doing what he did are understandable if viewed from his perspective. However his reasons were not justified and he knows that. I think it's commendable that he owned up to the truth, admitted his wrongdoing and apologized to the group. Would he have done so had he not been caught? Hard to tell, but at least he was a man about it and offered his apology and rationale. That's rare but speaks to the kind of person he is.

On Morocco...

More than one person who has played with Randy has lodged similar complaints about him, including me. It's hard to tell if his style of play is some kind of badge of honor for him or an embarrassment. But by my estimation he is the epitome of what it means to take a game too seriously which runs the risk of taking the fun out of it. It's a game after all, and that's all it is or ever will be. A game.

The fact that an otherwise rational person, David Ling, with impeccable character, who is more than skilled at the game, would resort to this kind of revenge leads me to look to his reasons for doing so quite carefully.

My take on the matter is for everyone to put away their powdered wigs and gavels and carry on as usual. If David's claims about Ruffhaus being banned are true, give Randy the benefit of the doubt as well and lift said ban to allow him a second chance to prove himself in future games. He is yet another skilled player from whom much can be learned.

On the E Power Bloc...

I am always amazed by those players who are perfectly content to play an E power. There is something quite admirable about that. The deck is stacked against the Es from the go. Sure they have certain advantages but in the end, they are extras in a movie starring nukes. Conversely, for those who refuse to play unless they are assigned a major power, may you always lose.

I know there are a multitude of opinions on the matter and that some believe its important to have experienced players at the helm of some or all of the major powers but I'm not budging on my position which is this....play with the cards you've been dealt. What better way to test your own mettle?

And when an E power can not only survive but thrive or even win, well, that takes the cake. So to all the Es out there in Eland, well done!


You were in a tough position at the end of the game with no good options (besides attacking me, you could've tried to go after Canada, who had a lot of nukes)

As far as Poland not stabbing me - I had spent most of the game building trust between us, while you had at one point demanded one of his centers in HAM.

I do think the best option for all of us was to unite and take on Canada & get the UK eliminated. I didn't really try to sell it though, our relations were rocky all game and I figured you were pretty set on your attack - since Poland had mentioned he brought up those alternatives to you and you weren't interested. It was definitely a mistake by me not to try though. Also a huge mistake - me listening to Poland's request not to nuke you :)

Best,
Steven (Italy)