Logging in for the first time in... at least a couple years to post this. Just when you think you got out, they pull you back in. ;)

First off, I'll admit that I asked for a smaller power because my time was severely limited, and because of that I don't think I made the best of my situation at all times. The African continent was begging for some kind of political leader, and oftentimes I'm the kind of person to step up and fill that void - but I simply couldn't commit to that tempo of communication and so I consciously declined to make the attempt.

Due to this political disunity, and as noted in several other EOGs, African powers began to fall quickly and/or be marginalized. Essentially we were split into two zones - North/West and South/East. China drew a big yellow line across the middle, and his eventual close interconnection with France made turning one of them against the other essential to making any headway there unless all the African powers banded together. It was fairly obvious early on that that was just not going to happen, and so we all attempted to cut deals to save ourselves.

I originally marked Mali for destruction, as gaining his capital and controlling the votes in our area was paramount to remaining vital. Naturally all three of myself, Mali, and France were in talks with each other over who would get the big ugly axe in the beginning (as is only natural). It looks like I was originally slated for early ejection, but France changed his mind due to Mali's somewhat taciturn manner in this game. I forgave France his earlier aggressions, as I was already trying to forge strong ties for the endgame voting rounds. He and I worked together well for awhile. In hindsight I should have grabbed his centers while I had a good strong advantage over him, but I decided to try and play a friendlier game this time around, again with an eye to being a popular choice in the end.

Mid game is where I really got stymied. Without the time to really press the diplomatic front I had nowhere to go after finishing off Mali. I was surrounded by the UK and China, both far more powerful that I was. Both had nukes. Without the support of a helluva lot of diplomacy to shake something loose I didn't have much in the options. I decided to try and bide my time for a couple years to see if something changed elsewhere on the board and making my choice of direction easier, but this only opened myself up to being seen as superfluous. When the nukes fell and Argentina started invading with France's aid, I tried to pull back and consolidate and hopefully at least survive into the voting rounds, but I doubt any amount of diplomacy could have saved me then, as pretty much everyone had more to gain from my destruction than my survival.

So all in all, I'm disappointed with my own performance, but still had a great deal of fun - and hope that I managed to help round out the game for the other players. Until next time!