GM : Andy Scott
Starting date : 11th May 2008
End date : 20th January 2009
Result : Four way draw between England/France/Italy and Russia

AUSTRIA	Stephen Custance-baker	Eliminated
ENGLAND	Stefan Nilsson	Drew
FRANCE	Andrew Cochrane	Drew
GERMANY	Martin Styler	Eliminated
ITALY	James Gowar	Drew
RUSSIA	Ally Bain	Drew
TURKEY	Chris Rupp	Eliminated

GM : Andy Scott
Arctic was a fun game for pretty much everyone I think. The early years were full of bluff and counter with complete reverses in some area's which had looked solid, such is the joy of a gunboat game where you can't discuss things with your opponents! :-)) However soon Ally's experince started to show in the lead Russia slowly built up, whilst he had been in dire straits early on he turned it around with good skill. He had a couple of chances to win the game but they relied on coin toss decisions on both the part of the attacker and the defender and everytim they went against Ally, hard luck mate! In the end I think the four way draw though was a fair result, the only disapointment for me was that only two players bothered to send me an EGS! Talking of which my apologies for taking so long to get them up on the site, I know it won't be a surprise for those of you who have played under me before :-))) See you all again soon, Andy

ITALY : James Gowar
First of all Big thanks to Andy, He did an excellent job in the adjudication. Congratulations to the other players who were all included in the draw. Spring 1901 I started the game by opening against Austria and trying to shuffle my armies along into Tyrolia, however It failed in that Austria bounced me there, Russia moved toward Austria as well. It was a sound start, I was definitely getting my build in Tunis of course. Autumn 1901 I forced an Army into Venice and built an Army in Rome, at the time I felt this may be a mistake, it seemed like I had too many Armies clogged up in Italy. There were interesting developments elsewhere in Europe. Spring 1902 This was another good season for me, I managed to successfully shuffle all three of my armies forward into Bohemia, this meant that I had a potential 2 piece attack on either Trieste or Vienna. Austria is surrounded by Russia, myself and also Turkey and looks very vulnerable. Autumn 1902 Austria is Broken, he has inevitably been destroyed by the combined forces of the surrounding nations, I have conquered Vienna and Russia has broken into Budapest. Autumn 1903 France has moved into the Mediterranean this season, It means I can not defend Tunis now. I am doing fairly well in Austria. I have started to pressure Turkey and I will now have to recede from the Eastern Med, this could cause me to be attacked by the Navies of both France and Turkey. Autumn 1904 I am now in a powerful position concerning Austria, I am weak however in the Mediterranean as French and Turkish fleets move closer and closer toward me. It looks as though I may collapse from pressure from Russia in my Austrian centres, then from Turkey and France in my home centres. Autumn 1905 Russia has taken back Budapest, things are looking bad. Two French units are in Italy, and It looks as though I am going to fall apart. I have 6 supply centres but my position is extremely weak. France looks to be the most powerful player in the game. Autumn 1906 I have been dramatically pulled back, Greece is no longer defendable and Russia and France are closing in. Turkey has completely flipped around in order to attack me. Autumn 1907 There are now only 4 green dots left on the board and I am preparing for elimination, I can not believe just how much Turkey has moved against me. Russia has emerged well from the whole thing, he has 7 centres and 7 armies. Autumn 1908 I have only 3 remaining areas of control, and they are the ones I started with. England is strong up north and Russia is the major force in central Europe. Turkey has convoyed an Army across which to me seems far too aggressive. Autumn 1909 Earlier in the year Russia has decided to go for Turkey who appears to have over exposed himself, Russia is able to chose from either Smyrna or Ankara as guaranteed gains. Autumn 1910 Amazingly I am now under little pressure, Russia cannot enter Venice as France is supporting me. Everyone has seen Russia as the Big threat, The North seems OK, England will stabilise himself, Russia can do very little in the north without fleets, that has always been his potential weakness in this game, his lack of fleets. Spring 1911 - Onwards The Game appears to be gradually approaching a resolution, The north is stable and the south will soon be the same. It is a great result for me seeing as I have only 3 pieces, but must be included in the 4 way draw which I propose at every opportunity. An interesting game, I'm sure you will all agree. I look forward to reading some of the other nations End game statements. Thanks for Playing Cheers, James Gowar

RUSSIA : Ally Bain
So near but too far...who wrote that phase? :-/ For obvious reasons it would have been great if I could have got the remaining SCs but when one looks at the game, I'm lucky I didn't get eliminated! I feel that if it wasn't for the French NMR, the Entente Cordiale would have still been together & as my units were quite low I don't think I could block their progression. As for the English NMR, I think that is where I saw a possible solo however I think the country that did stop the solo was Italy. I was turning down all EGP & hoping I would get a fleet in ADS. By picking up Ven, I would have been able to cause the F/I alliance a problem & when two countries are allied in Gunboat, a single player against them does have the odds in their favour. Sadly the same move to Alb, Italy docked in Apu & that was it even though I did try to see if Victor Emmanuel III wouldn't bounce me but when he did therefore game over. Well done to Marquess of Salisbury, Émile François Loubet & Victor Emmanuel III & a big thanks to Andy. You might have heard I'm taking a wee break from Diplomacy (not those I'm involved with though) however the stats for this game has been added to the ones I create: www.alb-gsb.com/diplomacy/stats/stats.htm Au revoir, Ally