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Post 24 Feb 2014, 11:55 am

Hmm, well, I might have thought someone more involved might explain the debacle. Let me try.

From my perspective, loathing Russia, the game started well. I took Swe and Rum, which is always the goal. England did not take Nwy and this seemed ideal to me. However, there was an oddity or two. Why did Italy build F Ven? There is no reason, almost ever, for this build. Why did Turkey build an army? Well, probably because I was sitting in Bla . . .

Back to Italy. For the love of Pete, you've got Marseilles, so why would you build F Ven? Official reason: to protect against Austria without being offensive.

(In my opinion, Central Powers that are overly defensive in the beginning of the game are smoked. Trying to sit in the middle of the board cannot work. Ever.)

In Fall 1902, the EG turned on me. I should have been more cautious. I really wanted to keep an alliance with one of them and didn't think they'd turn for "just" Sweden. Silly me.

In the meantime, Italy went west. However, he basically sat in Marseilles. Not good. Austria and I only managed to take Bulgaria from Turkey in 1902. Also not good.

But, the real disaster was, I'm sorry to say, France. He didn't play well and his guesses were worse than his play. It was probably as quick a dissection of France as is possible--unless a "bot" is playing.

So, Germany was free to turn his armies loose on me and I had no response. Oh sure, I slowed them down a bit--making them toss me out of Berlin and keeping them guessing in the north. But, in the end, numbers win.

I pretty much saw all hope vanish when Italy build A Rome in Winter 1903. In a "normal" game, he would have been pounced upon and decimated. But, EG were clearly looking for a non-threatening wingman. With all respect, Dec36 fit that to a 't.'

It was about this time that England sent me an ultimatum. I think Germany followed suit, or at least agreed with him. Austria told me he had received the ultimatum and rejected it out of hand.

I did too.

Then I thought about it for a day or so. Realistically, it was obvious England was not going to go for the win, Germany was not going to stab, and the only question was whether me or Austria was going to survive.

I accepted the offer and performed one of the most shameless and feeble "stabs" in the history of Diplomacy. I owed Defiant better than that, BUT . . . this is a tournament and I decided to play the scoring system.

So, there is criticism of the EGI play. They should have kept going, some say. England should have gone for the win, some say.

Well, every game has its own dynamic, driven by the players' personalities. I felt I did what I needed to do given the dynamic of this game. I won't apologize for that, but I will apologize for an epically horrible stab. It was Benedict Arnold-worthy. So, Defiant, there is my mea culpa.

Did the players game the system? I don't think so. I think they were happy with the result.

So was I--given what I was facing.
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Post 07 Mar 2014, 2:40 pm

I am slow in responding.

Frankly this game was really straight forward. I wanted to create an 3 country alliance that would allow us to roll the board. So long as a R/T didn't form, we would be in good shape. England and Italy were onboard, and we out guess France to finish him early. The game was just a matter of time at that stage.

I suppose I couls have gone for the solo, or England could have stabbed for the win, but I am not sure that would have worked out well. We were both rather careful most of the time and generally had most things covered. A stab would have been really difficult.
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Post 07 Mar 2014, 3:14 pm

AceOfSpades wrote:I am slow in responding.

Frankly this game was really straight forward. I wanted to create an 3 country alliance that would allow us to roll the board. So long as a R/T didn't form, we would be in good shape. England and Italy were onboard, and we out guess France to finish him early. The game was just a matter of time at that stage.

I suppose I couls have gone for the solo, or England could have stabbed for the win, but I am not sure that would have worked out well. We were both rather careful most of the time and generally had most things covered. A stab would have been really difficult.


I seem to recall a genuine opportunity. Furthermore, there is no doubt in my mind that Italy could have been crushed anytime.