06 Oct 2011, 2:50 pm
First, my thanks to Sendric for doing a terrific job as GM.
Overall strategy: I went into this wanting to work with Patrick (Italy). I knew him a bit from a year or two ago. He seemed like a reliable sort and I thought I could lead in the relationship and we would do quite well. As I negotiated before Spring 1901, it became clear to me my initial thoughts were not going to hold up. Patrick wanted to play a more conservative game, which I understand. I had some good talks with Turkey (bobthefunkyfish). In fact, he was quite the fun guy to write with. However, I'm always a bit dubious of AT's. Can they work? Sure, but they are tough and Austria lives on the edge all the time. Still, things seemed to be pointing in that direction. I knew Sharur (from being teammates a few times), but we had never played together. What I knew was he was pretty darn good. So, how was this going to work? Bouncing in Gal until Turkey and Russia got together and walloped me?
There are a few moves in Diplomacy I rarely make. One of them is Vie-Bud. When Sharur suggested it, I wasn't really sure. If he went to Gal, this was going to be a short, not too sweet game for me. Meanwhile, Turkey was making very friendly overtures and Italy was being somewhat neutral--friendly, but very cautious.
Finally, when it became obvious Italy would not go to Tyl (as I wanted initially) or Pie (my second choice), I suggested a bounce in Tri since Russia seemed on board with an RA. We also had Italy on board for a Lepanto, so it seemed like maybe a 3-way alliance. That would be fine with me.
Things went perfectly--for one year.
In the fall, Todd did the sort of thing I love--proposed something aggressive. I could not see it working--he had Turkey moving from Bul-Rum, he said. So, why didn't we take out Bul? The only risk to me was the possibility of not getting Gre. Normally, this would not have appealed to me, but I had a sense I was going to be able to work with Russia, so I went for it. It crippled Turkey. It may have also impacted Italy. Maybe he felt he was no longer needed? Let the reader decide.
In Spring 1902, something happened that changed the entire game. Italy moved in a way that was pretty inexplicable. He blocked my army from moving to Alb and shifted his new fleet from Nap-Apu. To me, that was as near a stab as he could have moved. He knew what I was doing, yet he moved to block it and put his fleet in a position to neither threaten France nor Turkey. Not good. I didn't hear from him except something like "sorry, those were my prelims and I forgot to change them." It felt true, but man o man! It meant I either could not trust him or he was not paying attention to the game. Neither one was "good." In the end, I made the fateful decision to dot him--I knew he was moving to Pie, or at least I believed he was, so I went to Ven. It would either keep him from stabbing me or it would cut into his forces, which seemed not to be fully on board with working with me--so, why not?
Turkey had outguessed us in the spring and so moved into Bul. In the fall, I supported Todd into Bul while he supported me into Smy. So, Turkey was now at 2 and Italy at 3.
Potentially, I was in trouble. Sure, I had 6 units, but I was on two fronts and facing all of Italy's units. Todd could have stabbed right away. However, when he built F Stp, I felt pretty safe.
On the other side of the board, France had gone after England. Honestly, when I saw him convoy to Cly in Fall 1902, I was pretty happy. He was going to be in an intractable war with England, which meant that Germany was going to be trying to go that way too. This gave me a target to point Todd at--he was willing, but wanted me to move against Germany too. This was tough as Gjanse had been very, very helpful and supportive. However, I didn't really think I had too much rope with Todd--he had to go somewhere. If I said "no," that would leave England (not a great direction this early) or . . . me! Sorry Germany!!!
For the next several turns, I think Todd and I guessed what F/G were doing nearly flawlessly. There were times I came out with some pretty stupid ideas and Todd was kind enough to point me in a better direction. When we ended 1903 at a total of 16 sc's, I thought that was pretty spectacular. That just doesn't happen in three years. I had made modest progress against Italy and we had (importantly) kept France out of Piedmont. I think we made one very, very key decision: to put England in Kiel. It meant that England had incentive to stay with us and to keep fighting. Todd did a great job of keeping Dan plugged in.
The Fall of 1904 was the last key move. Patrick had to decide where to send Tyh--Tunis or Naples? This one was my call. Todd said he would surely go to Naples. I put the odds at 80/20. It seemed to me that Patrick, who played quite cleverly, might outguess me. So, why not do the one thing he probably would not expect and go to Tyh? That way, if he blocked either center, I’d make progress. Now, there was one big downside: no builds. Well, I was sitting in Munich, but . . . we risked that by sending it to Ruh. If I had gotten to Ruh and France and Germany moved to Munich from Kie (which they knew they could not hold) with Bur’s support, I would not get Munich. That made me feel very vulnerable. Three things happened: 1) Ruh didn’t vacate (because France didn’t support Ruh-Bel); 2) FG failed to coordinate the move to Munich; 3) Todd offered me Rumania.
Some will look at the end and think I should have soloed. If the game had continued, I feel pretty certain I would have. However, I was the one who proposed the draw. It’s what I wanted. Why?
There were several times Todd could have stabbed me and it would have been nearly fatal for me. He didn’t. What can I say? I am a loser!
Or, I believe games are about alliances and friendships. I genuinely like Todd and I know what a good player he is. I think observers should view the ending as appropriate payback.
Looking at the final map, I can virtually guarantee I would have won this game. And, you know what? I am perfectly satisfied. To get to 29 sc’s in 6 years is incredible. Even though we had occasional strains, this was about as easy an alliance as you could ever hope to have.
Individual comments:
England: I didn’t interact with Dan much, but I will give him full marks for not panicking and for hanging in there to the end.
France: I really thought Javelin erred by using, as he admitted, IG as a buffer, instead of trying to forge a grand alliance to stop us. Would that have been difficult? Sure. He would have had to give up Liverpool for starters. However, had he done that, I think they could have stopped us cold. In fact, looking at the strategic situation in Spring 1903, I think I told Todd I would convoy that army right out of Cly and back to France if I was Javelin. With him focused on taking out England, it became pretty easy to isolate Italy and Germany and eliminate them. With all of that said, it’s not all his fault. England, Germany, and/or Italy all could have made the plea and showed plans for an alliance to stop us. I don’t know if those things were discussed, but I do know they never happened.
Germany: Grant played a solid early game. He rightly understood the symbiotic relationship between Germany and Austria (each should want the other to do well, especially early). If I were to critique him, I would say that when the AR started running away with it and I turned on Italy, he should have been organizing EFG because Germany was a very obvious target. As soon as Todd built the second fleet, I think red lights and sirens should have been blaring all over Germany.
Italy: For me, Patrick made one big mistake: Spring 1902. I tend to believe him, but back then, as much as I wanted to, I could not make myself ignore the obvious possibility that either Turkey or France had coerced him into making a move on me.
Russia: what can I say? I think Todd played an excellent game. There were a few times when he made me nervous. At the end of the game, this caused me to quasi-force an ending other than what we had said we wanted. It was going to be England at 4 and Italy at 1. However, when Todd asked me to leave Adr and Pic in place, after previously wanting to demilitarize the Munich area, I just got nervous. I couldn’t help but think that if he wanted to rush to a win I would not be able to stop him because of the moves he was asking for. Nevertheless, I wanted Todd to top the board. So, I proposed eliminating England. He balked at that, so I offered to eliminate Patrick and leave 4th to Dan. Done. I’m not saying Javelin was lucky, but he was a little.
Turkey: I really, really liked the bobthefunkyfish story and I liked his aggressiveness. Unfortunately, Todd had his hooks into me.
Again, thanks to Sendric. To all the players, it was fun. I very much appreciated the lack of nmr's and the overall "professionalism" of you all. Well done!
Overall strategy: I went into this wanting to work with Patrick (Italy). I knew him a bit from a year or two ago. He seemed like a reliable sort and I thought I could lead in the relationship and we would do quite well. As I negotiated before Spring 1901, it became clear to me my initial thoughts were not going to hold up. Patrick wanted to play a more conservative game, which I understand. I had some good talks with Turkey (bobthefunkyfish). In fact, he was quite the fun guy to write with. However, I'm always a bit dubious of AT's. Can they work? Sure, but they are tough and Austria lives on the edge all the time. Still, things seemed to be pointing in that direction. I knew Sharur (from being teammates a few times), but we had never played together. What I knew was he was pretty darn good. So, how was this going to work? Bouncing in Gal until Turkey and Russia got together and walloped me?
There are a few moves in Diplomacy I rarely make. One of them is Vie-Bud. When Sharur suggested it, I wasn't really sure. If he went to Gal, this was going to be a short, not too sweet game for me. Meanwhile, Turkey was making very friendly overtures and Italy was being somewhat neutral--friendly, but very cautious.
Finally, when it became obvious Italy would not go to Tyl (as I wanted initially) or Pie (my second choice), I suggested a bounce in Tri since Russia seemed on board with an RA. We also had Italy on board for a Lepanto, so it seemed like maybe a 3-way alliance. That would be fine with me.
Things went perfectly--for one year.
In the fall, Todd did the sort of thing I love--proposed something aggressive. I could not see it working--he had Turkey moving from Bul-Rum, he said. So, why didn't we take out Bul? The only risk to me was the possibility of not getting Gre. Normally, this would not have appealed to me, but I had a sense I was going to be able to work with Russia, so I went for it. It crippled Turkey. It may have also impacted Italy. Maybe he felt he was no longer needed? Let the reader decide.In Spring 1902, something happened that changed the entire game. Italy moved in a way that was pretty inexplicable. He blocked my army from moving to Alb and shifted his new fleet from Nap-Apu. To me, that was as near a stab as he could have moved. He knew what I was doing, yet he moved to block it and put his fleet in a position to neither threaten France nor Turkey. Not good. I didn't hear from him except something like "sorry, those were my prelims and I forgot to change them." It felt true, but man o man! It meant I either could not trust him or he was not paying attention to the game. Neither one was "good." In the end, I made the fateful decision to dot him--I knew he was moving to Pie, or at least I believed he was, so I went to Ven. It would either keep him from stabbing me or it would cut into his forces, which seemed not to be fully on board with working with me--so, why not?
Turkey had outguessed us in the spring and so moved into Bul. In the fall, I supported Todd into Bul while he supported me into Smy. So, Turkey was now at 2 and Italy at 3.
Potentially, I was in trouble. Sure, I had 6 units, but I was on two fronts and facing all of Italy's units. Todd could have stabbed right away. However, when he built F Stp, I felt pretty safe.
On the other side of the board, France had gone after England. Honestly, when I saw him convoy to Cly in Fall 1902, I was pretty happy. He was going to be in an intractable war with England, which meant that Germany was going to be trying to go that way too. This gave me a target to point Todd at--he was willing, but wanted me to move against Germany too. This was tough as Gjanse had been very, very helpful and supportive. However, I didn't really think I had too much rope with Todd--he had to go somewhere. If I said "no," that would leave England (not a great direction this early) or . . . me! Sorry Germany!!!
For the next several turns, I think Todd and I guessed what F/G were doing nearly flawlessly. There were times I came out with some pretty stupid ideas and Todd was kind enough to point me in a better direction. When we ended 1903 at a total of 16 sc's, I thought that was pretty spectacular. That just doesn't happen in three years. I had made modest progress against Italy and we had (importantly) kept France out of Piedmont. I think we made one very, very key decision: to put England in Kiel. It meant that England had incentive to stay with us and to keep fighting. Todd did a great job of keeping Dan plugged in.
The Fall of 1904 was the last key move. Patrick had to decide where to send Tyh--Tunis or Naples? This one was my call. Todd said he would surely go to Naples. I put the odds at 80/20. It seemed to me that Patrick, who played quite cleverly, might outguess me. So, why not do the one thing he probably would not expect and go to Tyh? That way, if he blocked either center, I’d make progress. Now, there was one big downside: no builds. Well, I was sitting in Munich, but . . . we risked that by sending it to Ruh. If I had gotten to Ruh and France and Germany moved to Munich from Kie (which they knew they could not hold) with Bur’s support, I would not get Munich. That made me feel very vulnerable. Three things happened: 1) Ruh didn’t vacate (because France didn’t support Ruh-Bel); 2) FG failed to coordinate the move to Munich; 3) Todd offered me Rumania.
Some will look at the end and think I should have soloed. If the game had continued, I feel pretty certain I would have. However, I was the one who proposed the draw. It’s what I wanted. Why?
There were several times Todd could have stabbed me and it would have been nearly fatal for me. He didn’t. What can I say? I am a loser!
Or, I believe games are about alliances and friendships. I genuinely like Todd and I know what a good player he is. I think observers should view the ending as appropriate payback.
Looking at the final map, I can virtually guarantee I would have won this game. And, you know what? I am perfectly satisfied. To get to 29 sc’s in 6 years is incredible. Even though we had occasional strains, this was about as easy an alliance as you could ever hope to have.
Individual comments:
England: I didn’t interact with Dan much, but I will give him full marks for not panicking and for hanging in there to the end.
France: I really thought Javelin erred by using, as he admitted, IG as a buffer, instead of trying to forge a grand alliance to stop us. Would that have been difficult? Sure. He would have had to give up Liverpool for starters. However, had he done that, I think they could have stopped us cold. In fact, looking at the strategic situation in Spring 1903, I think I told Todd I would convoy that army right out of Cly and back to France if I was Javelin. With him focused on taking out England, it became pretty easy to isolate Italy and Germany and eliminate them. With all of that said, it’s not all his fault. England, Germany, and/or Italy all could have made the plea and showed plans for an alliance to stop us. I don’t know if those things were discussed, but I do know they never happened.
Germany: Grant played a solid early game. He rightly understood the symbiotic relationship between Germany and Austria (each should want the other to do well, especially early). If I were to critique him, I would say that when the AR started running away with it and I turned on Italy, he should have been organizing EFG because Germany was a very obvious target. As soon as Todd built the second fleet, I think red lights and sirens should have been blaring all over Germany.
Italy: For me, Patrick made one big mistake: Spring 1902. I tend to believe him, but back then, as much as I wanted to, I could not make myself ignore the obvious possibility that either Turkey or France had coerced him into making a move on me.
Russia: what can I say? I think Todd played an excellent game. There were a few times when he made me nervous. At the end of the game, this caused me to quasi-force an ending other than what we had said we wanted. It was going to be England at 4 and Italy at 1. However, when Todd asked me to leave Adr and Pic in place, after previously wanting to demilitarize the Munich area, I just got nervous. I couldn’t help but think that if he wanted to rush to a win I would not be able to stop him because of the moves he was asking for. Nevertheless, I wanted Todd to top the board. So, I proposed eliminating England. He balked at that, so I offered to eliminate Patrick and leave 4th to Dan. Done. I’m not saying Javelin was lucky, but he was a little.
Turkey: I really, really liked the bobthefunkyfish story and I liked his aggressiveness. Unfortunately, Todd had his hooks into me.
Again, thanks to Sendric. To all the players, it was fun. I very much appreciated the lack of nmr's and the overall "professionalism" of you all. Well done!
