GM : Andy Scott
Starting date : 12th August 2007
End date : 14th February 2008
Result : Italy/Russia and Turkey share a 3 - way draw

AUSTRIA	Joe Payne	Eliminated
ENGLAND	Michael Valentine	Survived
FRANCE	John Patrick	Eliminated
GERMANY	Donal Murray	Anarchy
ITALY	Greg Longley	Drew
RUSSIA	Rene van Duijnhoven	Drew
TURKEY	Karl Georg Hrn	Drew

GM : Andy Scott
Kat was a weird game to oversee! The first four years were absolutely strewn with NMR's which had huge consequences for people. One person would NMR and others would then try and take advantage only for someone else to NMR! During this period Russia was dominant and I would not have been surprised if he had gone on the get a solo. However he eventually too caught the NMR bug and crippled himself because of it! However with all that going on only one player went into Anarchy and I have to say that given his communication up to that point I never thought Germany would be the one but he was?!?!? All in all though I thought everyone showed some solid tactical sense but in the end it came down, to what was probably the right result in my view. I look forward to seeing you all again here at dip 2000 and once more I am forced to apologise for the length of time it has taken me to get an EGS up. Sorry! Regards, Andy

ENGLAND : Michael Valentine
Well, not too much to say here... Thanks to Andy for running the game smoothly- Thanks to everyone who played... (Except Germany- Anarchy blows!) I feel lucky to have survived. Certainly, someone could've taken the English dots and tried for a solo... Yes? I wonder if someone forgot to vote... As for my actual part in the game: Openings- Went well, standard opening yielded 2 builds- But then, just when I might've done some communicative moves, I NMR, much to my embarrassment. I mangage to get Holland, and then France NMRs, so I figure I'll set myself up to take advantage if he anarchys... he doesn't and Germany takes the north sea. Dang. Mid Game- About this time, Russia comes over the top and I find myself trying to defend myself from both of them. And I didn't forget to build that one turn- I just thought either Edi or Lon would be open and didn't think to order a conditional build in Lpl. Rats! End Game- Germany's NMRs and eventual anarchy never helped me much and I spent most of my effort trying to retake NTH. I eventually did, but Russia immediately booted me out. I'm not entirely sure how I retook my home provinces- I have to assume it was due to Russia's kind-heartedness (though why that should appear after his ruthless invasion, I don't know). Perhaps matters elsewhere (that I was paying no attention to) required the use of the fleet he had in England. Anyway, up came Italy from the South, there was Russia in the East and I was pretty sure I'd be following France and Germany, but lo- the EGP was accepted and I lived! And there was much rejoicing. (Yea.)

ITALY : Greg Longley
Salutations all, Firstly let me congratulate my former foes and say that it was an enjoyable conflict. From my own point of view I still cannot understand why I agreed to a draw as I had a good chance of achieving hegemony across Europe. Perhaps I was feeling generous and had already demonstrated that my valiant forces were peerless. My strategy had been simple: to create bottlenecks using fleets occupying Ionian Sea and MAO and shoring up Trieste. This allowed me unrestricted use of the sea ways in the Med and meant my enemies would then have to turn around and fight each other. With relation to my neighbours I had benefitted from NMRs from France, which allowed me easy gains in the south west and later Germany. Turkey was always my major foe and had adopted a systematic approach to dislodging me from Ion, as it sought to creep along the coasts of Greece and Albania in an effort to overload my defensive position. It did not succeed here, but did in Trieste following a temporary weakening of the Russia’s position, whereby Turkey could surround Trieste and create numerical supremacy. Towards the end of the game, Turkey, faced with a rejuvenated Russia, pointed its forces inwards, and for this reason I should never have agreed to a cease fire. Russia had become my ally. Only in Belgium and Holland did we cross swords, otherwise she drew the attention of Turkey and the English fleets. As for England, I kept just enough pressure on her so as to force her to maintain a defensive position and hence could not afford the chance for making new builds. In truth I did not want to invade her because I needed her still in the fight, because her Home fleet was occupying the Russian northern fleets...in successive years the English and Russian fleets failed to put pressure on MAO, which meant I could adopt a purely attacking position in the north, latterly. Lets all hope this peace is short lived so we can indulge in some more meaningful destruction...

RUSSIA : Rene van Duijnhoven
Well; on occasion our adversaries are not without their charms… But in this case they were… I usually tend to sign up for a Gunboat game once in while; to check something out; and end up regretting it very fast… This game was no exception… I am not a gunboat player… I need talk… Communication… And an ally who works WITH me… I wanted to claim Scandinavia for Russia and get Turkey to side with me against the rest of the world… Scandinavia succeeded; but Turkey failed to see that we should ally instead of fight… The fact that Austria was total dissaray; and I was able to gain fast there… Might have something to do with it? That he was scared of a big bear up north? Anyway; since he was reluctant to work with me… I tried my luck with Italy… Hoping he would ally with me against Turkey… No such luck… Then I found one ally for a while; cause I helped Germany out against England… Taking some gains there for myself aswell… Happy I had finally found a partner in crime; I immediately hoped it would last… We would get married, settle down, buy a few kids, maybe even a dog… Aaah; what dreams… But he turned around and stabbed me over Norway… Sending all my units fleeing back to caves and what not… So; since Italy and Turkey were bothering me down south… And Germany stabbed me where it hurt… I decided that I only wanted Germany off the map… And the rest could be Turkey’s or Italy’s… So with Italian pressure on Germany and me wanting to sweep him off the board… It happened pretty quickly… An NMR was the death of him… I then envisioned to stop Turkey in the south and hoped to gain enough of Germany to also stop Italy… Which in my opinion was almost impossible… But with the loom of a kingmaker-solo over their heads… They might/should accept a draw proposed… Right? Right… So… I proposed the three way draw and got accepted… Making me whoop it up in a violent style… The entire neighborhood is still complaining about that night… Anyhoo… Thanks to Andy for GM’ing the game… He did a pretty decent job… Apart from singling me out every turn as the main target to shoot at… Grrrr! And even though I am not a gunboat player; and shall again not sign up for a new one for a long time; I still enjoyed this one… Thanks to all the players… And hey; we might meet on a board some day some where…