I was a replacement player for the briefest of time, so I'll keep this brief as well.
Coming into the game, it was obvious that England was going to solo if we didn't all gang together to stop him. So I turned my back on Turkey and very clearly went to work against England, moving into position to try and keep Munich and Marseilles out of his hands.
Turkey, though, didn't appear to see the danger. He let England into Ionian, then retreated to Naples, then set about dismantling Russia. Finally, and most inexplicably, he stabbed me for Trieste and Vienna, when I was the only one in any position to even slow England down.
As Mikko said, I wasn't going to stop England simply so Turkey could solo over my corpse -- something I would have thought was obvious.
It was fun to see a lot of familiar names in this game. Phil and Peter, hiya! And Tom, had I known you were Germany, I would have done more to assist you into Munich instead of trying to take it myself.
Thanks, Mikko, for a well-run game, even if I was only part of it for the last few game years.
First of all thanks to Mikko for GMing through thick and thin. Second of all, great thanks to Kevin Hoyt, Phil Haselgrove and Derek Black for playing through. I'd also like to thank Steve Ray, Thomas Libby, and Peter Richardson for picking up the positions from the NMRs. Playing a game even if your position isn't great or taking up a position when somebody else has had the lack of fortitude to carry through is an indication of character (and for the others, in my opinion, NMRing and disappearing from a game shows a lack of character). Now on to the game:
Beginning:
This was my first gunboat game and my first few moves showed it. I
opened to take Norway but totally discounted France opening into the
Channel. And then Russia decided that I shouldn't take Norway.
Fortunately Germany put some pressure on France and Turkey put some
pressure on Russia, both of these gave me breathing room to recover.
In fact I was able to sneak into StP when Russia's back was turned.
My attitude during this phase was to keep Germany and France going at
it, and ignore me while I took Scandinavia. During this period I
snuck into Por for one year and was able to grow at the expense of
both Germany and France (primarily Germany). It was fortunate for me
that Austria was doing well during this period because that kept
Italy at bay, and Russia seemed to be interested in the south as
well. In '06 I was able to gain entry to the Med which I think is key
if England's going to achieve a solo. I "accidentally" succeeded in
taking Moscow which, unfortunately, caused Russia to look
northward.
Middle:
In 1907 Italy was gone, Germany was down to two, and Russia was down
to two. I had gotten in to the Med and decided that France had to be
reduced while Austria was held at bay in the Med. Unfortunately I
didn't watch the north close enough and had to commit forces to
recovering StP from Russia in 1909. Austria was dealing with Turkey
in the East so we settled in to a status quo in the west.
Unfortunately Austria NMRed sometime around this point. The new
Austria (Steve Ray) gave me fits because he didn't rollover like the
old Austria seemed to be doing ;-)
End:
Once I had consolidated the Western Med, retaken StP, taken the
Northern Coast of Europe, and had a couple of armies in France I
started looking seriously at the possibility of the solo. I knew that
Munich and Marseille would be the last two I'd need, while making
sure not to lose Tunisia. I wasn't very well positioned to take
Munich or Marseille but I took the rest of the French possessions
while maneuvering for better position. I thought it was going to be
much more drawn out until Turkey started eating the rest of Austria
causing Austria to turn on him. I will say that the final turn was
anticlimactic as I thought it was going to take me another couple of
years to finish. I really didn't expect Austria to turn on Turkey
even after being "gutted" by him.
Final Thoughts:
1) I had gotten "fleet heavy" and always felt like I needed one more
army on the mainland. This was due to my early strategy of taking the
northern coast of Europe and the Med.
2) I was really mad at myself for losing StP. I think that delayed my
solo by at least a year maybe two because it allowed Austria to get
into position to defend Munich and Marseille.
3) I made it a point to keep a very weak Russia, Germany, and France
around as a buffer. I was intending for Austria to be another weak
buffer but Steve took over before I could accomplish this. I think
this strategy worked pretty well as it prevented a coordinated
defense against me, and kept a barrier between me and Turkey.
4) I must admit that I didn't understand (and still don't) what
Turkey was attempting to accomplish in taking the Austrian centers.
Austria (and Turkey) were doing a great job of keeping me at bay in
the Med, and Austria was keeping me from Mun (and temporarily Mar). I
expected Turkey to move through Warsaw to put pressure on Berlin and
pick up the defense of Munich before taking the rest of Austria. I'd
be very interested in Derek and Steve's opinion on this.
5) The solo vote -- My suspicion was that Turkey called for the solo
vote and voted against it to make sure it was defeated. I saw this as
a very clever way of telling all the players who to attack (or defend
against) -- me. The vote is secret but I'd love to know if my
suspicion is correct. (GM note: Rob was wrong; the vote was called by
Germany)
I thought playing Turkey would be advantageous in a gunboat (no press) game, since being the eastern witch meant no enemies at my rear. However, Austria kept me contained for the early years, and progress against Russia was terribly slow. It wasn't until around 1908 when I moved to 8 or 9 centres that I considered myself having broken out in the east. But, by then England was up to 13 or so, and while I still harbored a thought of Turkish victory, reality suggested that my dreams would never be realized.
Coming into 1912 I figured I only had one chance to prevent the English solo. England was at 15 SCs and had to reoccupy Bel, Mar & Mun. I hoped that I would be able to blitz through Austria & Italy in the Spring and then take up residence adjacent to Munich in the fall, leaving Austria with 2 or 3 SCs. I was counting on Piedmont supporting Marseilles, and England to use the second fleet to defend against a possible attack on Tys so that at the end of 1912, England would be at 17, holding Munich, but I would have had armies ready to take it back come 1913. Obviously as Mikko stated in his last report, Austria wasn't happy with that course of action and didn't support as I had hoped.
It was a pleasure to play with all of you, and I look forward to crossing swords in future games.