It turns out this game was quite enjoyable to play. I entered hoping to win but knowing the odds of that were slim. From the start both England and France reached out to me to provide a context which I appreciated. They both seemed to possess a religious devotion to Heath that I found in the end to be odd. For me, outside of the position that Heath had won on the board, I could care less about any plans or promises he may have made with anyone on the board. I found it odd that England wrote diatribe after diatribe on the overarching plan that may have existed between England, Italy and Austria. I was always under the correct assumption that Italy and England had nothing in common and wouldn't have anything in common for multiple seasons given the distance between them.

I started off hoping to maintain a peace with Austria. I typically try to make nice with my immediate neighbors but after Austria continued to insist on me taking on France while he risked nothing in the process I decided I would go for the stab and try for Trieste if only to send the message that I don't suffer fools gladly. I underscored this point in my thread entitled, "Theatre of the Absurd: A Triste Over Trieste."

With that I realized I was on my own with little to no friends on the board. I also knew that Munich was a curse at this stage in the game and that there was no way I could have held on to it for long. I was right about that. It turns out Heath's position on the board was tenuous at best. I only really had two options, stab Austria or take on a very strong France who had done nothing to provoke me up to that point.

I decided I would do anything and everything in my power to rid the board of Austria and no matter what thwart England's plan for a split victory with France (I assumed early on this was the plan and was right).

I have to say that in over 25 years of playing diplomacy I have never seen such a strong alliance between France and England than in this game. Hats off to both Rob and Reuben for maintaining such a steady balance of powers. It was truly remarkable that it lasted as long as it did.

I tried everything under the sun to break up that bromance and nothing seemed to work. It was only in the last couple of seasons that I put up some decent arguments for Reuben to consider. I don't know if I convinced him to go for the solo or not but I certainly tried.

Once I tried for the Austrian stab I figured I might be playing for survival and under the watchful eye of France and so play the vassal I did until the final season.

Reuben had asked me to assist him into Smyrna. I had a hunch he was making his move for the solo at that point. He also asked that I move the fleet in the Adriatic to the Ionian. Fat chance of that happening. I banked on his lust for the solo keeping him on Trieste instead of trying to bounce me in Venice and risk losing Trieste. It payed off. I survived and did so on my own without cow towing to France in the end. It's always fun when a stab turns out to be a reverse stab, especially in the last move of the game.

I take great delight in the fact that I outlasted 3 other countries including Austria and that I played some small role in thwarting England from gaining any points in this test match.

For a brief moment I thought there was a chance to seek out survival from Turkey. I thought maybe he would work with me to fend off the inevitable. There was talk of going down together but fighting the whole while. After a brief reflection on his track record of inactivity and passivity throughout the game and his often used line about "this weekend was busy and I didn't have time to get to orders," I realized that was going nowhere fast. The man seemed content on going nowhere and doing essentially nothing in order not to risk irritating anyone.

I think the most infuriating aspect of the game was watching Russia hand over St. Pete to England. To Rob's credit, he succeeded in getting more than a few countries to drink the UK Koolaide. By my estimation Germany, Russia, Turkey and of course Austria were all under his spell at one point or another. Most of his work was accomplished through diplomacy. It was rare when he had to match wits with anyone on the board through fighting. That's rare and again, a sign of a good diplomat.

The same may be said of Reuben. Reuben is as sly a fox as you will find in diplomacy and plays with the patience of Job. He deserved the win and like Rob accomplished most of his territorial gains via diplomacy.

Hats off to the man on a well played solo victory and to Rob on a very close 2nd place.

If I have one regret it was not reaching out to Germany sooner. Not that I could have altered his fate but he was the one player who was willing to work with me and not try and sell me the Brooklyn Bridge. For that I was always respectful of his play.

Thanks to all for the chance to play and thanks to our GM for his committment to the tournament!

See you next time!

DAG HAMMARSJKOLD

Thanks for the insights Dag.

I’m going to post my own EOG notes soon, but figured I’d add some comments here in response to your remarks.

“They both seemed to possess a religious devotion to Heath that I found in the end to be odd.”

I had no such devotion. France was going to attack Italy once Germany went down, regardless of who was holding the reins. The friendliness I showed you when you stepped up was half due to a respect for any replacement player (and the resulting need to give you context on what you couldn’t see from just inspecting the map). The other half was to help lull you into a false sense of security so I could move on you while you were looking the other way. This was only somewhat successful, but I guess it all worked out.

“I don't know if I convinced him to go for the solo or not but I certainly tried.”

My decision to go for solo was based purely on the board position. I’ll write more on this later, but I always play to solo if I think it’s viable.

“I think the most infuriating aspect of the game was watching Russia hand over St. Pete to England.”

I’ll let Russia confirm or deny, but I’m pretty confident that I brokered this deal. From what I was hearing, Rob didn’t have too many successful conversations with Tim over the course of this game. But if Rob didn’t get centers from Russia, they were going to come from me (as per our deal for equal growth), so I needed to ensure that his northern expansion was open.

Dag, my question to you is why you would support me to the solo? A DIAS survival might have been earned if you had worked against me earlier (or even later, had you not given me the support to Smyrna). I’m interested in your motivations there.

I didn't move against you earlier because I didn't feel like I had the juice to do so. My units were a bit spread out and with no friends in the game I figured I'd better make friends with one of the up and coming powers to be. My hope all along was for either you or Rob to jump first and break up the alliance. I kept waiting for that to happen. But as I stated earlier your alliance was rock solid. Had one of you chose to stab the other sooner I would have sided with the highest bidder and tried to stay alive for as long as possible. It just never happened. Maddening.

I almost moved against you later (when I still had 2 units within proximity of one another) and thought I had Turkey convinced to assist me in doing so but the communication with him seemed to break down.

I've only played the vassal twice and I absolutely hate it but I didn't feel like I had many options left.

In the end I did move against you but by then it was too far too late.

Right. Okay, good to know.

I guess the only question is why you would support me to Smyrna in the end, at the same time as stabbing me in Venice? :)

Anyway, I appreciated it!
R.

I knew I was going for Venice because I suspected you were going for the solo and I wanted to stay alive at the very least. But because I couldn't be 100% certain you were going for the solo I thought I'd better appear to help you so that I could explain away the move to Venice somehow. Had it turned out that you were not going for the solo, for example, I would have clung to the fact that I helped you into Smyrna and therefore was truly committed to your cause. The hope was you would forgive the move to Venice and spare me as a thank you for moving you further down the road toward a solo.

In short, I was grasping for straws in order to survive.