GM : Andy Scott
Starting date : 23rd August 2007
End date : 6th March 2008
Result : French Solo win by player Vote

AUSTRIA	Paul Whiteside	Eliminated
ENGLAND	Derek Pardes	Eliminated
FRANCE	Lars Topholm	Won
GERMANY	Michael Valentine	Survived
ITALY	Daryl Stubbs	Eliminated
RUSSIA	Stephen Custance-baker	Survived
TURKEY	Andy Longford	Survived

GM : Andy Scott
I must say from my perspective Hero was a great game to GM, there were a couple of NMR's true but they had little impact on the game and generally speaking I had very little to do bar run the turn's which is what I like :-)))

As for the game well it was obvious to me the from the get go that not only was Lars the most experienced diplomat in the West, but he was also on fine form. He manipulated those around him expertly and simply the board did not realise the danger swiftly enough. When they did it was pretty much too late! All in all an excellent performance from Lars and to the victor go the laurels and the plaudits, but your still not finding out what I'm wearing if anything under my kilt you bloody Pervert! :-)))

Still thank you all for a good game and I look forward to either GM'ing you or playing against you some time in the future. Regards, Andy

AUSTRIA : Paul Whiteside
This game was an exercise in the futility of diplomacy. I had virtually no successes and what positives I accomplished were fleeting in nature.

To open Italy was keen on an alliance against Turkey. He also wanted to take GRE the first year. I wasn't totally sold on that being in my best interest but concluded that F/I relations were good so I'd better give Italy what he wanted to keep him from turning on Austria. I also figured that if I could secure a GAL DMZ with Russia then there would be no immediate danger and could tolerate GRE going to Italy. However I would not commit to I/A against Turkey as I didn't think it wise for Austria to pick any enemies for no reason.

The plan fell apart instantly as Russia agreed to a DMZ then stabbed by moving to GAL. Thus I was put in a position where I felt I had to take SER and GRE just to be sure of one build. Luck was on my side as I got two builds out of it.

The next stage saw failure to work with Turkey diplomatically. An unfortunate misorder on my part hurt(old age creeping in early) and Turkey never fully trusted me because of that. From then I got nothing but mixed signals as we had an agreement to coordinate moves to help Turkey take RUM then a day before adjudacation Turkey changed his mind, which left me scrambling and looking out for my own interests alone.

Meanwhile Italy was not being helpful, though he kept cheerleading for the I/A against Turkey. He would not move to engage Turkey, instead slowly stacking his units against me. A more serious move was his going VEN-TYR. Up to that point Germany was poised to threaten WAR. I had tried to coordinate with Germany seeing that Russia had stabbed me and was still in GAL. Italy moving to TYR forced Germany to bail, giving Russia a free hand to do whatever he liked. Italy may have been claiming to be my ally but his actions were of no help to me at all.

Luck allowed me to get up to six centres but surrounded by three neighbours I couldn't trust it was only a matter of time before I guessed wrong and everything fell apart. Sure enough it was the one proclaiming his trust the most - Italy - who made the stab that brought me down. A1903 he successfully ordered VEN-TRI and by taking TRI totally exposed all my centres at once. It was a near miss. I was so close to covering TRI and building a fleet in TRI. That would have created a completely different picture. Alas I figured Russia was my #1 enemy so covered against him, even though the odds were greater that TRI would fall. Too trusting. That's my usual problem.

After that I had no options. If a strong Austria which could defend itself couldn't come to any arrangements with I/R/T(and i tried hard with each one) then a vulnerable Austria could do nothing as the vultures circled. I went down to one centre pretty fast and directed my actions against Russia, the one who had stabbed me from the start. I even told Turkey that I would not cover against him in the hope that after he'd taken a couple of centres from me that we might work together again. Unfortunately one army attracts few friends and less sympathy.

I did manage to get that army to MOS and had the satisfaction of knowing that I could hinder Russia's progress the rest of the game. I told I/T that my goal was simply to sabotage Russia but even that wasn't enough for either to work with me. Thus I tuned the game out diplomatically and watched with morbid fascination as France rolled towards his solo while the other four fought amongst themselves. I wasn't about to help them out by rallying for a united front.

Russia was seeing what I was seeing and A1906 put out the call to A/G/I/T for a 5 way alliance to stop France. I gave my vocal support as I felt the solo was inevitable otherwise but I as troubled by certain matters. Russia called for a temporary alliance until France was stopped then after that it'd be every man for himself. A convenient position to take considering Russia had 8 centres compared to 4 or 5 for the other three and one for myself. There was nothing in Russia's alliance call to indicate he'd make an effort to equalize our strengths a bit. In fact, his message was the exact opposite. I'd taken WAR and could not be dislodged, thus Russia called for me to give it back to him - giving him 9. At the same time he'd taken BUD from Italy and wasn't going to give it back. It was clear to me Russia was simply trying to set the stage for his own solo.

Yet I remained silent after the A1906 moves and assumed the 5 way to stop France was still holding. A couple of days before the end of the turn I wrote to them all asking why there'd been no correspondence. I found out there had been correspondence but Russia had decided I was out of the alliance for not giving him WAR and the other three sheepishly went along with that. For me, I waged diplomatic war against Russia from that moment on. I went straight to France and found out I had an ally I could work with(only took 12 turns to find one!) and I bombarded G/I/T with diplomacy to break up their allaince and stop the Russian solo. I believe I was key to Germany switching sides, thus I got my revenge for Russia breaking the GAL DMZ.

I should have survived in the game. France was offering a three way draw for A/F/G. I believe he would have kept his word. Unluckily he did not support STP A1908. One of those OOPS! moves. I make lots of them.

As for the players, Michael in Germany seemed distracted early on and missed our chances to work together. Still he kept the peace on my northern border and was the one neighbour I could trust.

Lars in France handled the game quite well. I should have gone along with his suggestion to squeeze Italy in 1902 but I didn't think it wise for Austria to commit to making any enemies and face a two or three front war.

Stephen in Russia handled himself expertly. I was impressed how he talked himself out of a very bad situation the end of 1901 and then how he conned the others to work with Russia without any conditions had solo written all over it. Too bad he had to stab me S1901 and never gave R/A any chance the entire game. I tried diplomatically but he just wouldn't work with me. Had he given me the slightest hint we could have put Turkey out early and both prospered. His decision to bounce me out of the 5 way was his biggest mistake. That alliance only needed a couple of more turns against France and Stephen would have been in a very good position.

Daryl in Italy was truly frustrating. We had a bit of an alliance, yet all along I kept hearing about his concern for getting a fifth build. Yet when he cut a deal with Russia later he gave away that build very easily. I warned him that war between I/A would doom both. It did.

I'm really not sure what Andy in Turkey was all about. There was a sincere attempt to work together but miscommunications - we were both to blame at different times - killed that. I'm the one who went down to one centre while Turkey came out of it quite well. Yet he would never work with me and kept helping Russia even when I was offering to work with Turkey. That basically summed up my whole experience this game. Austria cannot survive without neighbours who can be true to their word.

Derek in England I had brief correspondence with. Unfortunately the game developed in ways that we never could work together. We were both truly isolated and fell early because of it.

I'd like to thank Andy for GMing the game. It was a frustrating one for me. Weird that I/R/T never coordinated any effort to gang up on me. Luck handed them each a part of Austria. In a mean neighbourhood Austria must guess right every time. We all know how likely that is.

FRANCE : Lars Topholm
Sorry for writing such a long and boring EGS - the quick wrap-up is: I soloed thanks to a good deal of luck at the right time, and thanks to control of the minor powers in the game towards the end, rather than due to a lack of effort by the two other large powers, Russia and Turkey, who played well but never got the influence over Austria, Germany and Italy. As seen from here. And Andy was a great GM as usual. Okay, that’s it, you need not read further, but if you do, here you are:

Andy: What’s under the skirt?

First and foremost, thanks to Andy for GM’ing this game - Andy, you know I regard you extremely high as a GM and Hero was certainly no exception, always delivering quick adjudications and always in charge, in that excellent way which means focus remains on the game, not on the GM. If you were a woman I would very clearly hit on you (especially if you were wearing the skirt you are wearing on your GM picture - presumably you are not wearing underwear, correct? Joke aside, a great job, thanks.

Hero was looking good right from the beginning, thanks to the line-up Including Stephen (Russia), Andy (Turkey) and not least Paul (Austria), who I had been playing immediately before Hero started, and who at that stage proved an excellent ally - but also an excellent opponent for whoever he opposed (so good thing to get France when Paul was Austria).

Furthermore, Derek (England), Daryl (Italy) and Mike (Germany), who I knew little about, started with great communication, suggesting a good game - which it was, not just because of the outcome but because there was a good dialogue and ever-changing sympathies until the end.

The early years: Picking someone to pick on

My S1901 strategy was to position myself so that I would have a say over Belgium, strike a DMZ deal with Italy regarding Pie, get information-allies in Russia, Turkey and Austria and otherwise stay out of everybody’s hair.

It went pretty well as I quickly established good dialogues with everyone involved - however, the S1901 adjudication was still a surprise with Germany going all-in against Russia which I am sorry to say might have been fun, but looked like a pretty stupid strategy from Mike’s side.

The opening made me go for three builds and an early alliance with Derek, who was a great communicator, and who was set to gain two builds for Norway and Holland thanks to the German opening (and you just don’t want to fight an England who starts with two builds). I also tried to help out Mike, desperately trying to make his life easier, and also had good talks with Italy, who said little but confirmed what was necessary: We established a good DMZ agreement and gave each other the continuous assurances that the deal was still good which allowed me to focus on the North and I assume let Italy focus elsewhere.

S1902 came and Germany came to his senses - which gave me the opportunity to switch horses, support Germany into Holland and thus avoid an England building fleets and fleets and more fleets, while hopefully gaining Germany’s complete trust. It worked out brilliantly, and the rest of the board was a mess, with Austria and Russia apparently trying to change places, Turkey cornered, and Italy behaving - I will not claim I saw a solo coming but by A1902, I wasn’t squeezed from any side, I trusted Italy, and England was completely cornered (making me try to chat up Derek again for another alliance, with the clear purpose of luring him into exposing himself so I, rather than Germany or Russia, would get those delicious pink dots).

Oh, it went well! England ventured East (he had little choice) allowing me to take Liverpool in 1903; Germany also went East (presumably he simply trusted me as I had let him back into the game after a disastrous S1901) allowing me to move to Ruh and Bur, while A/R/T continued to swap dots in the Balkans, which apparently made Paul lower his parades, leading to an Italian backdoor attack on Austria.

1904-07: Picking on Germany while making him pick on Russia

In S1904 I stabbed Germany, helping England into Holland - hopefully, I could continue to play the two out against each other by constantly giving the weaker side an offer he would be unable to refuse. It worked well. Unfortunately, Austria got caught in the Center (he actually lost 5 dots, dropping from 6 to 1 in one season!), meaning the balance on the board would be disrupted (until then I had not really feared a strong R/T alliance but now I had that and a very strong Italy), but I once again was lucky to capitalize on E/G now being squeezed, which allowed me to kick England out of Holland just one season after I supported him in there, leaving me in complete dominance in the West after A1904: I had 9, Germany 3 and England 1.

At this stage, I tried to talk up Russia and Turkey independently, and although they both responded they seemed quite uncommitted to working with me. Meanwhile, Italy grew silent, I would get a maximum of one mail per season confirming the DMZ in Pie and surrounding seas - and I seriously began to believe in a solo if I could keep Germany switching sides, assuming Italy would communicate as little with R/T as he did with me (which would make it impossible to create an organized IRT alliance to stop me). And not much to lose in case of a failed solo attempt: I figured Italy would talk even less with Turkey than with me (after all, I had a DMZ agreement with him and he was completely focused to the East), which suggested it would be difficult for I/T to form any serious opposition in the Med which might allow me to get a stalemate line in place before hitting Italy.

I tried hard to make it clear to Germany that I could kill him if I wanted, but that I could not solo, in which case all there was to play for was a draw - while having fun. Michael was clearly interested in having fun and complied, while Austria, being marginalized after losing 5 dots in 1904, also joined the alliance with his rogue army behind enemy lines. This allowed me to slowly move in on the remaining English dot while Germany pushed against Russia - I actually delivered Norway by supporting Germany in there, the plan being that Germany should continue to Sweden come autumn.

It worked extremely well, Austria took Moscow and Germany got to Sweden, which meant Norway was still Russian, but Russia didn’t build despite stealing a dot from Italy plus the last Austrian home-dot, and Russia was left with just two fleets in Scandinavia - in Den and BLA , which meant he would have to choose between kicking Germany out of Sweden again and keeping me away. At the same time I was able to allocate three fleets to the South, slowly forming a stalemate line which would eventually lead to the stab of the now completely silent Italy.

The big question was when to stab Germany and how much I had to give him to keep him on board (Michael had been swinging back and forth throughout the game and I was worried the Dark Side would succeed in talking him into an anti-France alliance). I kept a tight squeeze on Germany with armies in Holland and Ruhr, and persuaded Germany to a plan which would see me move to Mun in S1906, with the purpose of continuing to Sil or Boh (the real purpose of course being to "accidentally" snatch Munich - sorry, Mike).

This time it didn’t work: I tried to snatch both Kiel and stay in Munich but Hol-Kie was bounced and A(Mun) was kicked out and I feared I had to settle for a draw - which would probably be an FRT draw although I tried to talk the Sultan into a 2-way draw (as Austria was still operating behind the Russian lines making life quite tough for the Tsar I guess).

As I feared, Germany supported Russia in S1907 - but surprisingly, he agreed to reverse come autumn and A1907 must have been a very, very bad adjudication for Russia as Germany went East, the price being that I pulled back, which I did by convoying A(Hol) to Norway (presumably I had to deliver something to keep Germany on board - and I had a very strong position so a draw was still the worst possible outcome for me).

The end: R/T blocked by cheer luck

Russia did not stand a chance against a combined FG and in S1908, he was left with just a fleet in Norway. Meanwhile, I promised Austria support in StP but Paul stated he didn’t need it - which gave me the opening which in the end secured the solo: If Turkey (who had an army in Moscow) could support the Russian F(Nwy) into StP nc, R/T would effectively have blocked themselves in the North: They would never be able to get the Russian fleet out of StP, which meant they would never be able to mobilize a second Northern fleet, making it a simple question of time before I controlled the whole North if I could get a good stab in on Germany (who was going east at full throttle, leaving both Kiel and Munich open).

Meanwhile, Turkey stabbed Italy in the South, leading to new communication between myself and Daryl and a promise to help Daryl take back Naples (and also including the acceptance of a French army in Rome).

It went perfectly well, Russia took StP, handing me the North on a platter, I supported myself into Munich, and in the South, I helped Italy to stay alive which meant he held Naples but with me having three units around it (and just one Turkish fleet in ION). I was at 14, could cash in Naples in 1909, could take Sweden and StP eventually regardless of the opposition, and just needed one of Den/Kie for 18.

The rest was really a matter of expedition, I couldn’t be stopped at this stage despite a valiant effort by the Dark Side which included Russia taking Munich back, but me growing to 16 through Den, Kie and Nap - and still having Swe and StP which I could take at will (and Andy even promising me victory at 17 as the adjudication stated I was just one dot from victory).

Okay, enough boring season-by-season comments. In the end, what gave me victory, I think, was a combination of Germany switching back and forth, Russian and Turkey not getting organized in an R/T early enough, Turkey stabbing Italy at a time where the Dark Side needed all powers to stick together against me, great behind-enemy-lines work by Austria - and that Russian Nwy-StP order in 1908 which bottled up Russia, allowing me to operate freely from BAR to TYS/Tun.

In Michael (Germany’s) defence should be said that if he had not been willing to continuously hit Russia, there is a huge risk he would have been eliminated as I had him by his "cojones" most of the time, and as Russia had no dots to offer him and posed less of a threat to him. Likewise, when Turkey hit Italy he had to assume he could reach a narrow draw with me, assuming Germany’s late stab of me was for real (I still don’t know if it was but I got him talked out of it). At the time, I would have voted for a 2-way draw F/T but happily, someone else voted it down when it was proposed (Andy, can you check whether I voted for the F/T draw?) [You only ever voted in favour of the French solo - Andy]

All in all, a very enjoyable game, with all players being quite active right from the beginning – it is funny how you can sometime feel after s1901 that a game will be good. To my fellow players: I love you

Derek, I am so sorry for stabbing you as you Derek proved an extremely good communicator who replied swiftly and frequently but of course had to realize that it is called ‘La Manche’ and not ‘English Channel’. Looking back, you - together with Mike - were the best communicators on the board and I hope to get a chance to either ally with you or fight you again, the first will be a pleasure, the second a challenge, especially if you are not playing a corner power.

Daryl, you should have communicated a lot more, maybe you should even have been the one trying to bridge IRT when I stabbed Germany, maybe that would have prevented Turkey from stabbing you (although I would have made much more of an effort to persuade him to play an FT alliance).

Paul, sorry you had to die, especially as we talk so well, I would have liked you to survive but when you turned down support to StP the opportunity was simply too big to turn down and I had to give Nwy-StP the chance of succeeding.

Mike, I loved every minute of our many alliances and I am sorry for continuously stabbing you - you should have stuck with Russia the last time although I do admit it is easy to say and less easy to do as I had a lot of units around you at the time. Our communication was impeccable, I’d have you as an ally again any day (heck, maybe I would even deliver next time).

Stephen, you actually played an extremely solid game - it must have been a nightmare having that rogue Austrian army behind your lines as it screwed up both your dot harvest and your ability to place builds where needed.

The same to you Andy, at a late stage I would happily have accepted a 2-way draw but based on the communication I always had the feeling you were not really interested - still, it must have been a close call for you whether to go with France or try to fight me. In fairness, had you stabbed Russia I would not rule out I would have gone for the solo anyway (but it would have been difficult with Italy still at 4-5 dots).

In conclusion, one of those games where it is influence on the minor powers which makes the difference. I was lucky to have A and G on my side - G most of the time at least. Mike, you change your mind as often as a woman - and thank God for that!

GERMANY : Michael Valentine
Well, that was an interesting game. Stephen must hate me. I started badly by issuing extremely violent provisional orders and forgetting to change them... I tried briefly to make the anti-Russian opening that I had embarked on work, but Stephen defended it well, so I quickly gave up and tried to salvage something in the west. Lars is quite the character and I enjoyed communicating with him the most, so I tried to ally with him. If only he hadn’t kept stabbing me. Obviously, I shouldn’t have trusted him, but not only did trusting him make the game fun and unpredictable, his suggestion of trying to get Austria back into a home center or at least force a draw involving Austria’s lone unit appealed greatly to me. Nevertheless, all the warning signs were there, especially Lars’ continued denial of the idea that he had a chance at a solo, even when presented with a dot count that showed that it wouldn’t be that tough. I chose to ignore the warning signs in favor of a chance for a wildly entertaining game, but unfortunately got only an entertaining game. Three stabs by Lars. Maybe he did it because for a long time I wouldn’t actually commit to attacking Stephen. I wanted to wait until England was finished and Lars and I had set up appropriate defensive DMZs. This allowed me to not burn the bridge I might’ve used to join up with Stephen in case Lars stabbed me. I may as well have not bothered. Oh well. I think I just have to be a little more interested in achieving game related objectives over pursuit of the bizarre. My apologies to everyone. (except Lars) If at any point before the last couple of seasons I had decide to abandon madness for reason, we could’ve stopped him.

Paul (Austria) You were always hoping I’d help you against Stephen, and I never did. Sorry about that. I was much too tentative.

Derek (England) I didn’t hear much from you, nor did I write you much as I was always either helping Lars against you or getting stabbed by him. You had it rough this game. Thanks for sticking it out.

Lars (France) You bastard! Despite it all, I had a great time. I hope you still love me.

Daryl (Italy) Sorry we were never in closer touch…

Stephen (Russia) I probably shouldn’t have played in this game, as having stabbed you in RotD, I always felt awkward with you, whether it was not attacking in contrition or not quite believing that you could trust me. I need to get over that. You certainly did. I’ve said it before - You’re an excellent tactician. Maybe we’ll meet up again and things will be different.

Andy (Turkey) You seemed to know what you were doing based on the limited contact we had.

And finally, Thanks to Andy Scott for his flawless performance in the role of GM.

RUSSIA : Stephen Custance-baker
Andy thanks for your hard work, as always we would be lost without you.

I won't attempt to go into details on this game; it was too tangled for that. My main problems were Austria, Germany, France and Italy. England was reduced quite early by the F/G alliance.

Austria would not commit to any kind of positive alliance so, based on information received, I moved into our agreed DMZ in Gal. It was clear from Germany's move east that the information I had received was wrong so I moved out again at the first opportunity - only to find that Austria moved in. Autumn '04 was Austria's disaster year; Italy, Turkey and I agreed that Austria could not be trusted to keep to an agreement and carried out a blitzkrieg. Unfortunately, the one remaining Austrian army escaped to the east and carried out very successful guerrilla warfare for over 4 years.

Germany proved to be the key to the game. First as an aggressor, then an ally, then an enemy and finally as an ally again when it became that that was the only hope of stopping the French juggernaut. By then it was too late.

When it became obvious that France was heading for a solo, I tried to organise a 5-way alliance. Unfortunately, Austria refused to take part, so we had to waste some effort in the centre.

Italy, Turkey and I had a slightly iffy alliance for some time, but then Italy stopped communicating with us and Turkey and I decided that it would be safer to move west ourselves to oppose France. This was probably a mistake, but it seemed a good idea at the time.

By the time I had formed a solid alliance with Turkey, it was too late. The remains of Austria and Italy and the back-and-forth Germany kept us too weak to do a proper job against France.

France did a superb job of creating and then dominating his alliances, sowing discord amongst his enemies and making the best use of his forces. Well done, Lars, a lesson to us all.

My thanks to my allies (and enemies) for a very interesting game.

Stephen Custance-Baker

TURKEY : Andy Longford
Fist things first - many thanks to Andy for running the game in such a professional manner. Thank you. Now, to the game. I don't do a running commentary in my EGS. So sorry if I miss anything you guys feel important, and sorry if anything I say here was misconstrued by me and I have completely the wrong end of the stick in respect of your actual intentions! The opening banter was the usual attempt at trying to decide who was up to what and where the dangers lie. That became easy to understand when Italy advised me that he and Russia were allied and coming my way! That left me trying to befriend Russia, but more importantly I needed to create a strong alliance with Austria. That caused me a problem. One of Austria's first mails to me was to copy an article explaining in detail what A/T forces should do. Sorry Paul, that approach does not work for me. It's a bit like painting by numbers. Better in my mind to splash the paintbrush around. The result may not be as pleasing in the eye - but its more fun. Anyway, I tried to work with Austria in light of what Italy had told me. Unfortunately, Paul had decided that since I was not playing to the plan and started to be very aggressive. At the same time, I has started to build some form of relationship with Stephen in Russia. It appears that the I/R alliance was not as strong as Daryl made out (by this time, Daryl was starting to make friendly noises as well). The outcome was that a three way alliance was formed by 1904 that in effect halted the Austrian expansion - dramatically! (By the way - thanks Paul for keeping with the game to the bitter end. Many would have walked in your position). Unfortunately, whilst confusion reigned in the South, a certain Lars (is that King, God, Lord, Master???) has been quietly taking control of the rest of then board. He overran England (how come Derek we never managed to start any rapport?) It was obvious that Lars would eventually move South, but Italy was reluctant to agree to move to stem any French fleets. When eventually we started to plug the gaps, it was to late and Lars had struck. What made things worse was at the time Italy had to show resolve, Daryl capitulated to Lars sweet talk and allowed France to create an unbreakable line. Whilst all this was going on, I started to realise (to late!) that the real ally in this game would have been Stephen. Russia was turning out to be a very dependable ally, always willing to look at the bigger picture, not afraid to take what appeared to be a backward step in his own position in an effort to strengthen the overall position and was enlightening in his tactical reading. Its a shame it took me until 1906 before this became clear to me. By now, the writing was on the wall. Russia had been attempting to persuade Germany to join in a fight against France, but without real success. To my mind, the Italian and German wavering had presented a winning opportunity to France - which Lars expertly took. Congratulations Lars and thanks to everyone else for an enjoyable game.