14 Mar 2011, 4:15 pm
Sorry for the delay, it's been a hectic couple of months...
My first mistake was in my preferences. In round one I was Turkey, and in Round two I was Russia. I fancied getting out of that SE corner and put F and then E as top picks. Then I remembered that I don't really play England very well...
As ever, my problem as England is that I can't get a handle on Germany and France. I opened conventionally, and hoped to keep both away from me. However, France went into the Channel in S01. In a way, I think that helped me a but, because it made France look aggressive alongside a move to Burgundy. From that point on, it was easy to work with Germany against France.
My second mistake was to fail to get a build order in for W01. In the panic, I didn't really notice Germany had built a fleet. Basically, I had to spend 1902 trying to hold what I had, and there were few opportunities to move into SCs. The only place that was anything like open was the Russian front, so I headed that way and looked to see how I could help Germany against France.
My third mistake was to NBR again in 1903. If the first one hadn't killed my game, the second one certainly did it. However, I did not miss the German fleet building, and knew that we were going to war. From then on the game became a series of rearguard actions. I tried to encourage Russia and others to take on Germany, but I guess that they were happy to see me take a pounding. By the end I was just trying to last as long as possible. I missed a retreat order once, but ultimately, it was sheer weight of numbers that told.
On the one hand, I felt like I'd done pretty well to get to the final, but in reality I blew it big-time. Mainly through not getting build orders in on time, but also by allowing Germany to get into a position whereby I was the only natural target.
Still, one thing I can do is to stick to a losing position until the bitter end. :-)
My first mistake was in my preferences. In round one I was Turkey, and in Round two I was Russia. I fancied getting out of that SE corner and put F and then E as top picks. Then I remembered that I don't really play England very well...
As ever, my problem as England is that I can't get a handle on Germany and France. I opened conventionally, and hoped to keep both away from me. However, France went into the Channel in S01. In a way, I think that helped me a but, because it made France look aggressive alongside a move to Burgundy. From that point on, it was easy to work with Germany against France.
My second mistake was to fail to get a build order in for W01. In the panic, I didn't really notice Germany had built a fleet. Basically, I had to spend 1902 trying to hold what I had, and there were few opportunities to move into SCs. The only place that was anything like open was the Russian front, so I headed that way and looked to see how I could help Germany against France.
My third mistake was to NBR again in 1903. If the first one hadn't killed my game, the second one certainly did it. However, I did not miss the German fleet building, and knew that we were going to war. From then on the game became a series of rearguard actions. I tried to encourage Russia and others to take on Germany, but I guess that they were happy to see me take a pounding. By the end I was just trying to last as long as possible. I missed a retreat order once, but ultimately, it was sheer weight of numbers that told.
On the one hand, I felt like I'd done pretty well to get to the final, but in reality I blew it big-time. Mainly through not getting build orders in on time, but also by allowing Germany to get into a position whereby I was the only natural target.
Still, one thing I can do is to stick to a losing position until the bitter end. :-)
