I would like to give a big hearty thank you to Mikko who faithfully GMed us, and to all my fellow players living and dead, who certainly made the game I played very very interesting.
I have never played Austria before, and I found it was no easy position to play, especially with the opening options. Chatting to everyone before the first spring moves showed me that I had a quiet Italian, magnanimous Russian, prudent German and what seemed then as a rather ambivalent Turk on my borders. DMZ's were arranged where possible, and I spoke to Russia (Freeman) about invading Turkey. I was hoping for a large Balkan pie, but alas things were not meant to be like that. I starting conversations with Turkey (Ian) who I took an instant liking to (we're both Australian) and I was fortunate enough to have him forward Russia's communications to him - I was about to be invaded. So in the opening moves we attacked, bouncing in Galicia and fending off his other attacks as Turkey went in for the kill. I suppose at this stage all that happened was that Turkey was growing strong while I scooped up as many Balkans as I could, apart from Greece and Serbia the only SC's I was to seize later were Italian ones. Personally I was surprised that I lasted as long as I did without any chance of expanding.
As the war with Russia went on, I began some rather fruitful discussions with France (Ruairidh) who at first seemed like an information broker - throwing rumours and intelligence in every direction. I think the beginning negotiations went rather well, and we planned on dividing Italy between us. The problem was at the time I didn't have enough units to fully mobilise into the penninsular, but I was still claiming an even split. I think that Ruairidh felt might makes right (which I suppose it does) and instead of going for Italy, tried jumping across Piedmont against me. Ian and I were getting on really well still, so I asked if he wanted to help me out, which he was more than happy to.
With Italy not capitalising on its normal fleet advantage it was France who replaced him. Austria is never easy to mobilise fleets with so Turkey was invaluable. And of course Italy vanished and needed a replacement. Paul, I'm sorry, we didn't really want to annihilate you, but we viewed it as a neccesary casualty with the grand war against France.
Ian took over from there. France was getting very large now that it had swallowed England and Germany had a very steady position also. Ian rallied the remaining powers of Russia and Italy to our banner, and proclaimed that we should work together, no matter what our strengths, to prevent a F/G victory. It was a fine speech and I was touched with altruism, and Paul and Freeman came aboard. It was a glorious dream, but it was not to last.
Freeman really surprised me, we had attacked him from the very beginning of the game and then he was still interested in working with us as an alliance. Indeed later it would have been vital to have a stronger Russia as an ally to stem the tide of Germans in the north. Indeed that was the plan that Ian and I came up with, specifically to give Russia St Pete back so that we could get some fleets were it was needed. It was a loose cannon, England that ruined that one.
I thought that England was in the pay of the F/G, even though they had swallowed his home centers. He looked like he was working for them. Ian and I bombarded him with messages trying to get him on board, promising that our goal was to annihilate the F/G and that he may get a chance at getting his home island back. I don't think we ever got a response - he just sat tight in Scandinavia. Soon after he attacked Russia which was silly in my mind, as he had no home SC's to build new units with. Eventually Ian decided that it would be better to shoot that rabid nation before it really bit us, and fortunately Germany had the same idea.
Back to the med and a rather ugly stalemate was growing. There seemed no way around it. There were some clever tricks (Ruairidh almost kicked me out of Rome on a sneaky trick if I hadn't changed my orders in the last second), but basically we were bouncing around Tyrolia, Piedmont, Tyrhennian Sea, Rome and Tuscany. Paul was a good sport but Ian and I were getting desperate - we hoped that by removing Paul we would be able to play a trick of our own.
The alliance structure was what was keeping anything from progressing, so Ian was negotiating with Ruairidh for a German/Austrian stab. He told me all of this and the plan was to do a fake stab so that the German front would weaken and we could break through. The taking of Italy was to compensate me for the loss of SC's, but alas Ruairidh and Jukka weren't dropping their guard, despite some SC shuffling. I was worried then that Ian would stab me (I had been waiting for it for a long time, I was hoping that I would make a more useful ally than sweetmeat) but I was lucky in that he remained true to his word and we battled on.
And battle on until the stalemate was not going anywhere at all. A four way draw was the best solution, and it was a damn good game of standard. I always enjoy having strong alliances, although in this game Turkey was a stronger power and was dictating policy - really that was my own fault for not getting more SC's in the early game. In hindsight I should have spoken to Germany more, I was getting lazy with my messages once Turkey and I started working together, but I am sure that things would have gone rather differently if an A/G had formed.
Thanks for a great game guys, and I hope I will be able to play with you again. Ruiaridh and Jukka you were great as enemies and friends both and Ian you were the most trustworthy ally I have ever had in a game of diplomacy. Despite the stalemate at the end I would give the game 4 and a half stars!
First of all, thanks to Mikko for his effort as a GM and thanks to all the players for dedicated (enough) gameplay. Just one replacement was needed in this game.
It was my first game as Germany and as such I now hope I could have put more effort in it. At the time this game started I had a lot of spare time in my hands and I was joining new dip games in almost weekly basis. After a while I noticed I wasn't able to dedicate as much time to dip as before, and this reflected in many of my games as what other players would consider rather "interesting" tactical decisions and general uncommunicativeness. Committing to too many games was a mistake I am not going to do again.
In 633 "Darcy" it was my initial goal to ally with either France (Ruairidh) or England (Will) against the other. With Austria (Justin) I soon made a non-aggression pact. Russia (Freeman) suggested I'd let him to Sweden, but I think that was the only correspondence I got from him during the first year (I probably didn't bother to respond).
In the end of the first year I was surprised to find myself in what seemed like a solid G/F/E alliance. England and France had told me to go ahead and take Belgium while I had bounced Russia in Sweden. England was putting much hope in a northern campaign while France seemed to be heading to the Med. Interestingly, France had an army in Tyrolia, from where he was trying to get Austria and Italy into each others throats. In the south Turkey (Ian) had started a war against Russia with Austria's assistance.
Long-termly I had my doubts about the G/F/E. England was telling me he'd be happy fighting the Ruskies to the very end - I didn't know whether this meant he'd want to push armies through the north till he'd be in Sevastopol or if he wanted to take St.Petersburg and then stab me with France or stab France with me. I did know he wasn't showing any interest in a campaign against France in the near or distant future.
The only route of expansion offered to me by the G/F/E was the south-eastern one. While France and England both seemed sincere, I knew Austria was the only one I could be sure of in the short term (mainly because he had his own problems). Even if all went well for the G/F/E and England would advance in the north, France would advance in the Med and I would advance in the middle, there could be a time when strong Germany would be bordering equally strong England, France and Turkey. It was pretty long-term planning at an early stage, but I didn't like what the future might look like.
So I suggested France we'd take England out and he agreed. In the end of 1902 England was in trouble.
I am not sure whether it was in the winter of 1901 or 1902 when Austria NBR'ed. Nevertheless, Turkey could have made an easy and profitable stab in the Balkans, but he decided to stick to his war against Russia. This turned out to be a good choice from him given Austria's loyalty throughout the rest of the game.
While F/G cooperation against England was proving succesful in the Atlantic, I had a couple of spare armies to be used against either Russia or Austria. The two were at war while they both had other concerns as well - the Turks in Sevastopol and the Italians/French in the Mediterranean. Both Russia and Austria were offering support against the other. I thought that attacking Austria might speed up France's advance in the Med a bit too much whereas I was going to antagonize Russia in Scandinavia after England's defeat anyway. Besides, I was thinking, Austria's and Turkey's peace in the Balkans wouldn't last.
By the time I got Warsow England was all but defeated and the Turks were at the gates of Moscow. Austria had pushed the French back from Tyrolia and had stationed his own army there - much to my sorrow since it was a DMZ between me and him. I was talking a lot with Turkey and France whereas Austria had gone pretty quiet. It was obvious that the A/T alliance was quite strong - however, Turkey was doing a good job talking to me about a possible invasion to Austria once Russia was out. Of course, I was promising an attack against France at the earliest opportunity.
Probably my worst mistake in this game was the supporting of Turkey into Moscow - for which he paid me back by taking Warsow the next season. Soon the Austrians were all over my borders and I did my probably second worst mistake in this game by NMR'ing. Austria even managed to get his hands on Munich for a season, but with France's help he was banished.
At one point Italy had been replaced. The old player hadn't known whether he could trust France or Austria whereas the new player (Paul) decided to join the East. It took a while before he was wiped off by Turkey and Austria.
The rest of the game was pretty much just "war in the trenches". I was holding together with France's help (his "help" sometimes feeling like "with my help you'll hold together even if I grab just one more of your centres").
Austria and I were pretty much our allies' satellites, both of us being completely at their mercy had they decided to stab us. At one point a funny little play was performed: first France and Turkey had negotiated about stabbing their allies simultaneously; then France stabbed me in Belgium to show Turkey his good intentions and after awhile Turkey stabbed Austria in Serbia. The only difference was that Turkey moved out of Serbia before the winter so Austria could keep it, whereas France actually took some of my centers. Of course, France never took the risk of letting A/T push through my lines despite his "stab".
Had France stabbed me (properly) the A/T would have taken Berlin and Munich and Turkey would have had almost a decent opportunity to stab Austria and go for a solo. Had Turkey stabbed Austria without France attacking me, things would have gotten interesting - I would have hesitated to use the opportunity fully with all the French units in my back. Finally, the four-way was the best I could manage this time so I have nothing to complain.
Firstly thanks to Mikko for GMing and thanks to everyone for the game. Great to see a game with so few replacements needed.
First time I've played Turkey and I decided I play this game a bit differently to the usual way I play. I thought I would make an early ally, whomever that may be, and stick with them to the bitter end. Obviously that ally became Justin with Austria. Having decided on Austria as my ally, it became a choice of heading west or north. I chose Russia as the prospects for expansion were greater in the north. My expansion north was helped by the bad feelings between Freeman (Russia) and Justin (Austria) who had had an early disagreement. Ruairidh (France) was also encouraging me to join in an all-in attack on Austria whilst I also knew he was at the same time working with Justin to attack Italy so I had an early look at Ruairidhs tactics. I elictited Jukkas (Germany) help to take Moscow.
At this point the German and French invasion of England had gone off very well. Anyone looking at the board at that point would assume the game to be heading towards a three way play off between France, Germany and Turkey. Normally at this point I would have stabbed Austria and allied myself with either of the other stronger powers but I was determined to stick to my original gameplan so I had to look at alternatives.
My solution was to band together all the weaker powers under one banner to take on the FG alliance. As a start I reneged on my deal with Germany and took Warsaw, and proceeeded to present my case to Austria, Italy, Russia and England. Justin, I don't think could believe his luck since he was in quite a precarious position. Our new Italy, Paul had apparently had some soured negotiations with Ruairidh and happily threw his lot in with us. Freeman, surprisingly after the way I routed him in Russia, was happy to join the party. Unfortunately, it was about this time that Will (England) dissappeared for a while and it was the inability to get him on board that in the end created the stalemate that resulted.
Justin and I were able to put up a strong line against Jukka and with Paul maneauver ouselves to halt Ruairidh in the Med. However, without England on board, Freeman and I were not able to protect St Petersburg in order to get Freeman a build. We needed northern fleets to break the stalemate and with no Russian fleets and the English fleets against us, we could not stop the German and French expansion in Scandinavia.
So the stalemate line was drawn and it became a matter of breaking up Jukka and Ruairidh. At one point we were able to break into Munich but it was not holdable so long as Germany and France remained together. I settled on Ruairidh to negotiate with as he had more opportunity to stab into German territory. Various games were played, and during the flurries Austria nd I gobbled up Italy and Russia. However both Ruairidh and I were aware that if we upset the balance too much by allowing either the German or Austrian line to fall we would hand the game to the other. So in the end nothing happenned. My plan was then to move lines (somehow???) enough so I could gobble up Austria and get a solo.
At the close of the game, however, I was not able to devote the time to the negotiations that were required and so was planning to do nothing but defend the line in a stubborn attempt to encourage all involved to raise their draw flags. And what do you know - it worked!
If I were to play the same gameplan again next time I would have to take more care in choosing my major ally. While I was able to trust Justin and he didn't once look like turning on me, the fact I was allied with Austria severely limited my growth options and meant my units were seperated and far from home. However, it was a very enjoyable game with some great diplomacy. A shame I couldn't get the 5-nation plan completely up and running but the diplomatic tussle with Ruairidh towards the end was very enjoyable.
Finally, much applause for Freeman for sticking in there till the end. First one centre power to hang around for more than a year that I've seen in a while.
Thanks again to all and I hope we meet again in another game soon