GM : Andy Scott
Starting date : 31st October 2006
End date : 13th August 2007
Result : France Solo Victory

AUSTRIA	Andrew Cochrane	Survived
ENGLAND	Janar Dhanan	Eliminated
FRANCE	Laurence Parrott	Won
GERMANY	James Ogle	Eliminated
ITALY	Greg Pierce	Survived
RUSSIA	Stephen Custance-baker	Eliminated
TURKEY	David Jackson	Survived

GM : Andy Scott
First off once again I am forced to apologise for the length of time it has taken me to get the EGS up on the site, Sorry! As for the actual game itself I found it easy to run with only one NMR from Italy who immediatly wrote apologising as he was under the mistaken impression he had submitted some. Tactically France's game was near perfect, his wait and see opening paid high dividends in this case and despite Germany's sometimes brilliant but always gutsy defence he was my favourite from about 1905 onwards. Once he grabbed Tunis in 1911 then the writing was on the wall. I felt sorry for Turkey, I can't say he did anything wrong as such but was just abit too slow out of his corner and in the end was trapped behind other players combatting France when ideally he should have been on the front line himself. Still an enjoyable game to watch and run, the best type really :-))) Well played all and a special mention to those that stuck with it all the way to the end with little hope. Your commitment is appreciated. I look forward to crossing swords or GM'ing you all again one day. Regards, Andy Scott

AUSTRIA : Andrew Cochrane
Firstly thanks to Andy for the time and effort put in to managing another fine game. Excellent as usual. Congratulations to France on the solo and thanks also to the other losers. Putting no preferences again ( I think) I got Austria once more. I had a good A01 gaining Serbia and Greece and thought I may be able to make a go of this game. However as so often with Austria if you don't have the friendship of Italy you are going to struggle. I found myself being attacked by Italy and Russia whilst Turkey pretty well left me be. Having lost Budapest in A02 I managed to oust Russia from Budapest in A03 only to see Trieste go to Italy. 2 years later I was down to 3 centres with Italy looking to get me out. Then I decided to try and get a survive by supporting Italy. This seemed to work at first but it appears Italy decided to continue attacking me. In the meantime as you know France and Turkey were gaining on the rest of us. By I think year 7 or 8 Italy and myself realized we had to put aside former hostilities if we were to hope to last the course. I'm glad to say that was the final outcome. My dilemma in the latter 3 years was wondering how far to trust Turkey as he came around me. It was obvious that France was the solo leader and so the rest of us had to play to stop that. My sympathy goes to Russia and England who didn't quite manage to last to the end but they didn't give up which I for one applaud. As I guessed, Turkey did try to finish me off in the last two seasons but after realizing France was going to win I played to survive and along with Italy I did. Basically Austria spent the whole game on 3 supply centres before finally dwindling to 2. A very good game nevertheless and I hope the rest of you enjoyed it as much as me. Thanks again to all the players and especially GM Andy Andy

FRANCE : Laurence Parrott
This was my first Gunboat game, although I had previously played a number of regular games, both FtF, by mail and on the internet. The differences between Gunboat and regular became apparent to this Gunboat novice as soon I considered my first moves; it really is a completely different game! Unable to diplome to find out what England Germany and Italy had in mind, I decided to begin with the plan of collecting Spain and Portugal, whilst taking a purely defensive position against both Germany and England, and then reacting to events as the game progressed. So I began with F (Bre) - MAO, a self-standoff in Bur, potentially allowing England in ENG, but annoying nobody and leaving my army in Paris to cover Brest in the fall if necessary. In fact, England chose to head north, and may even have then been encouraged to continue on this course by my rather timid opening. But after the builds, by competing with Germany for Belgium, I felt England had left himself vulnerable. I therefore decided on an assault on England. In Spring 1902 I entered the channel and MAO. I think England at this stage should have abandoned his plan to attack in Scandinavia, instead moving his units back to defend himself. But, perhaps because he was not sure whether my moves were a feint for an attack on Italy, or for some other reason, that did not happen. England instead kicked Russia out of Sweden, and left himself fighting on two fronts. At this stage I felt I needed another build to keep up the momentum of the attack on England and decided to adopt the risky policy of taking on Germany and England at the same time; which can sometimes work in Gunboat because two opponents may find it difficult to coordinate. I snatched Belgium in Fall 1902. Although I felt it would be a struggle to hold Belgium, I hoped to use the extra army to make progress in England while Germany spent time trying to recover Belgium. In Autumn 1903 I had taken Liverpool and managed to outguess Germany over whether he would go for Belgium or Burgundy, ending the move with seven units. Germany had meanwhile moved to NTH, which gave him the chance to take back Belgium, but also threatened Edinburgh. This was another key moment where I could have been stopped if England and Germany had managed to cooperate. But, perhaps because of a perceived threat to Edi, England instead grabbed Denmark from Germany. This meant that Germany had to check back and recover Denmark, allowing me to consolidate. In 1905 and 1906 I took the remaining mainland English centers, and once again took Belgium. By Autumn 1906 I had taken ENG, NTH and NWG. Even so, by this stage Germany, England (now in exile in Norway and Sweden) and Russia were finally cooperating effectively and it was difficult to see how I could make any further progress. I considered trying to send an army through Italy to Tyrolia and then Bohemia, but was concerned that might be misunderstood by Italy and result in conflict in the south, for which I had no spare units. Up to then, the German moves had been inspired. Home supply centers had daringly been left unguarded, outguessing various opponents, and letting German armies punch above their numbers. I therefore felt it unlikely that I could hope for any tactical errors from the skillful German. But then in Spring 1907, Germany inexplicably left Holland unsupported, while I had fortuitously ordered A(Bel) S A Edi- Hol, not expecting this to succeed. I wondered whether this was another risky plan which unfortunately had not worked out, but the lack of any ordered retreat suggests it was just an error. Hopefully the answer is in Germany EGS! This opened the floodgates, with Spain to StP (or 17 centres) a matter of time; the last issue was whether I could find an 18th unit somewhere. There were three candidates: Venice, Warsaw or Tunis, of which I felt the last the most likely. I calculated that if I could take the Tyrannian Sea, I would be able to take Tunis; otherwise I would not. I also thought that if I could move fleets in NaF and WMS, then Italy would be forced to guess every turn whether to defend Tunis or TYS; eventually I would get either Tunis, or first TYS and then Tunis. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) by Autumn 1909, Itlay had been sufficiently ditracted by the growing Turkey that I managed to get fleets into NAf and WMS and in Spring 1911 and Tunis duly fell. The last wrinkle was that cunning England ratted on his loyal ally Russia to take StP as the French units arrived in Norway and Sweden in 1911! Many thanks to Andy for excellent GMing and to the other players for a very enjoyable game.

GERMANY : James Ogle
Well, this was an interesting game. I write this having just been eliminated so it is still fresh in my head. The shame of being the first eliminated engulfs me! Though the fact it wasn't until A1909 gives me some credit back I hope… The beginning:
This was my first game as Germany ever, Gunboat or not and I decided to remain out of any conflict and see if anyone attacked anyone else until all the neutral centres were all taken. Because of this I tried a fairly usual opening for Germany, moving to Denmark straight away to block Russia. No loyal German wants Russia doing well in the north so that he can build more units in Warsaw! England and France were also fairly neutral unfortunately, neither provoking the other as id hoped to distract them away from Belgium! I tried for it anyway but the English convoy bounced me. 1902:The first of many 'cock ups'. I took Bel but failed to hold it because I took it with the wrong piece! I assumed France might be friendly as neither of us had made an effort to take the other on, whilst England seemed to be spreading himself thinly. I didn't realise the possibility of me not holding it until the adjudication, so I only have myself to blame for that. I'd built a fleet in Kiel to give me options either way, and in the spring I made my move on north sea, only to see id have to fight france now. Looking back at the board I could have gone for Scandinavia and russia, but England also took that approach… too many choices and I made the wrong one, going for Scandinavia would have been safer and maybe kept England onside? 1903:Saw me trying to block France and get ready to retake Bel, or support England by taking north sea. I knew it could look aggressive, but if I was really going for England at this point I would have moved to Denmark and SKa as well. In hindsight maybe I should as England then disbanded the army he needed to have any hope of defending himself. In 1904 I tried to support both our causes by cutting any support from England channel, saving London and took Bel. Then came the most crucial point in the game for Germany. England then attacked Denmark!!!!! I didn't and still don't understand why?!?!?!?! I never once attacked England, I made one aggressive move early on before France attacked both of us, and was just beginning to make ground on France. If not for his attack I would have been on 6, him on 3, and him on seven and we could have done something. I even left him the option to retreat in the autumn, but he continued to run the other way, whilst holding Denmark. I couldn't take it back and hold Belgium, but then French fleets began enmassing so I took it back in 1905 when it became clear I couldn't hold Bel anyway. From that point on I lost interest a bit. I was constantly defending on the back foot whilst England hid in Norway and Sweden. I soon got fed up of holding up France just for Turkeys benefit whilst noone else attempting to get involved was helping when it was clear I couldn't do it indefinately, and tried a few risk tactics and missed a retreat or two. In 1908 I tried a breakout, just to see how far id get, but I think I sum things up by saying I didn't, and was first to be eliminated in 1909, despite most of it being England's fault. However I didn't think 1909 was exactly early to be leaving proceedings? About that time France flooded the Med whilst everyone else was still bickering. Italy never once looked the other way until it was too late tho his NMR's didn't help, and his support of French army piedmont did amuse me! All in all I think it was fitting that France won. Turkey may blame me for not holding up France long enough, but in all honesty, I was not going to get anything out of it, I would have just been crushed between the jaws of the two blue and yellow giants as they fought over my centres, just as I did in last gunboat game as Austria. It's a shame that the Balkan states couldn't leave each other alone to stop the blue horde earlier then they did, but such is life. France- Well done, and well played. If England had been more helpful then maybe who knows, but you took your chances well. England – I still have no idea what you attacked Denmark, but that pretty much finished off any chances we had at that point. I interested to know what you thought you were doing there. Your piecemeal supports later on were too little too late really. Russia – Sorry about Sweden, but as I said, no German wants Russia in Sweden! Ever! Admittedly it did make things harder for you with England and let him run off and cower… Italy – I noticed a few NMR's which hampered your fight against Turkey. You seemed to be insistently fighting Turkey despite the fact France was bound to be coming your way sooner rather than later. There was no effort to make peace, or hold the line until it was crossed and it was too late. Austria - Not much seemed to go your way but you still hung in there. I did try and help you with Italy before France became too pressing. I'm sorry I wasn't of more use! Turkey – again, little effort to try and hamper France until it was too late. You continued to try and race him to the finish line, despite being lightyears behind. Would you have come and saved me? Hard to say what you could do with Italy being determined to fight you and ignore France. Ah well, well played everyone! And thanks to Andy for his GMing of the game! I tried to keep you up to date with my thoughts, though I'm sure it seemed I was moaning about English moves a lot. But as always you were great. Thanks! James

ITALY : Greg Pierce
First off, I'd like to thank Andy for another spectacularly GMd game. Always a pleasure! : ) Well, as Italy there is that age old question of how to start... Attack Turkey or Austria? I decided to go for Austria, but it was a tough slog to get into Trieste... Congratulations to Austria for a good defence! Once I finally started to make some headway, disaster struck. The NMR in the fall of 1906 didn't lose me any SCs but it allowed Austria and Turkey to reform their lines. This also allowed Turkey to eat into the soft eastern Austrian boarder and build fleets to send against me. From that point on it was pretty much a matter of how long I was going to last until France or Turkey started to gobble me up. Once France entered the Med, I toyed with the idea of helping him against Turkey, but after a season of that, I noticed how dangerously close to a solo he was. It seems that Austria noticed the danger, too. Unfortunately, I couldn't get things organized with Turkey, seeing as he was intent on eliminating Austria and I before the eventual French solo... Ah well, I'll have to be content with a survival on this one. Congratulations to France on a well deserved solo and thanks again to Andy. Later,
Greg.

RUSSIA : Stephen Custance-baker
Congratulations to France for an excellent victory and my thanks to Andy for his usual highly competent and efficient performance as GM.

This was not a successful game from the Russian point of view. It started OK (though letting Turkey into BLA was a mistake) but I was rapidly pushed back to my own borders and then kicked north in 1903/04. The pincer movement of Turkey and England was very effective, even if not intentional.

By 1905 I was down to the single spot in StP. I hoped that, by supporting England in Nwy, I would be able to survive to the end but in 1911 England decided that StP was his best chance of survival and I was out. It didn't do him much good as he only survived one year there before the French forces arrived.

Stephen