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CLOWN LOACH END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Ally Bain [EGS]
Started: 26th June 2002
Finished: 23th June 2003 (Spring 1908)
Result: Five-way Draw
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | Result | | Austria | Nathan Courtney | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated | | England | Tarek Inoubli | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Anarchy | | France | Jim Lamb | 4 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Draw | | Germany | Simon Berry | 6 | 8 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 13 | Draw | | Italy | Jim Ramp | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Draw | | Russia | Jason De Boer | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | Draw | | Turkey | David Shockey | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 | Draw |
GERMANY (Simon Berry) Note: this was written after the final draw proposal was accepted and relies heavily on my rather fallible memory - apologies if the chronology is less than perfect.
1901: As a newcomer to the game, I had decided to play each country once at the standard level before graduating to regulars games. This was the Germany game in that plan and the my first game as Germany. I was feeling claustrophobic before the game had even started. I needed allies, reliable ones. The replacement Russia (Jase) was a very good communicator, as were Turkey (David), Italy (Jim) and Austria (Nathan) - potentially at least giving me plenty of choice in the East. England was relatively quiet and France (Jim) almost silent making me worry about being on the receiving end of a combined E/F attack. There were early suggestions of a R/T juggernaut as well (oh joy!). In response, I put together a central powers triple and we opted for standard openings as much as possible to conceal what we were doing for as long as possible. In Autumn my fears of a R/T alliance appeared to be justified and lead me to change my position and bounce Russia out of Swe - there was no way I was going to feed builds to the bear with the scent of a Juggernaut in the air. I ended up building 3, which was not my intention either. England writes but NMR's. I keep my options open and make proposals to both England and France. Surprisingly, France builds A(Par) instead of F(Bre) indicating that he would prefer friendship with England to friendship with me.
1902: In Spring, the central triple is still functioning well and I focus my attentions on Scandinavia and the west. England does not write, NMRs again and goes into anarchy. The R/T alliance looks solid as does our central triple. I'm slightly worried that I may fall victim to early leader syndrome after reaching 8 SCs by the end of 1902. I receive the third and (although I did not know it until much later) penultimate e-mail I would get from France for the remainder of the game - unfortunately there is no agreement between us but at least France is writing to me (which is more than can be said of England). I put a proposal to France to split the spoils of the English anarchy with the intention that we would set up a series of DMZs and then move in different directions. I failed to follow up and the next e-mail (after the spring adjudication) was France's unfounded accusation (sent to all players) that I had broken an agreement. My own take on this was that I had made a proposal that had never been accepted and that, therefore, there was no agreement to break. French silence cemented my commitment to a joint attack with Italy. This was also the last e-mail that I would receive from France. In this respect my own failure to keep corresponding with Jim (France) did not help matters.
1903: In spring France NMRs for the second time (fortunately not consecutively so no anarchy) and I am well positioned to add another 2 or 3 to my SC count at the end of the year. R/T still looks strong and is methodically cracking open the A/I defences in the Balkans and the Med - they can force ION in Autumn if they wish. I'm not sure if this is good news or bad news for me as I get overly ambitious and start figuring out which SCs I need in order to reach 18. I take Bre, Par and StP to find myself on 11 SCs. I pass up Edi as I can only build 3 and because I prefer to get a fleet into ENG so I at least have the option to bounce Italy out of MAO next year should he break from our alliance. My fears are well founded - Italy fails my expectations and builds A(Ven) instead of F(Nap) - ensuring that R/T can force the ION should they wish next year. This unexpected choice of build severely damages my confidence in the central powers alliance. I can only assume he now believes that I am more threatening than R/T? If he is moving against me there is no way I can afford to let him into MAO now (a point which had been under discussion for some time) and I have to worry about a move to Tyr as well. To be clear - Jim (Italy) never agreed not to build A(Ven) and I could not accuse him of breaking any agreement on this point - the problem was that A(Ven) could only be used against either Austria or myself and was useless for the purpose of fighting the Juggernaut.
1904: I have Ber, Mun, Kie, Den, Swe, Nwy, StP, Bel, Hol, Par and Bre (11). England is in anarchy and I can mop up Lon, Edi and Lpl (3) if I can spare the units. I need 4 out of War, Mos, Mar, Spa and Por to win and realise that this should not happen if either Russia gains any builds this year or Italy moves solidly against me. It would take a miracle (i.e. misorders or disunity on the part of the other players) to win from here. The remaining powers have the numbers to stop me - in fact they can destroy me if they chose - but will they? In spring Austria misorders - losing Bud as a result only to temporarily regain it in the autumn. Nathan's gritty defence will not last much longer. I bounce Italy out of MAO - there is no way I am allowing him into MAO after last year's build. In autumn, Italy decides to surrender ION to Turkey and Tri to Russia. Has the game developed into a Germany versus the rest scenario? I do the maths and work out that I can create a stalemate line with 14 SCs on my side. This should be enough to ensure a place in a draw and hopefully leave me in a position to support whichever of the other players is needed to stop anyone else winning. There's only one catch - I need at least 13 units in the right positions to achieve this and I need to keep at least two home SCs free to make the builds in time. This could be tricky - in fact I will need a fair amount of luck to achieve this. The critical problems being (i) the French fleet hanging around behind my back lines and (ii) my weakness around Mar and Gas.
1905: I need to achieve two things this year (i) the elimination of the French navy and (ii) keeping two home SCs free to build in. If I can do both then I should be able to form and hold my stalemate line. I have to out guess France - will he move to NTH, NWG, Cly or hold? I have to guess and I guess wrong, as the French navy moves to NWG. The empty province of Boh is also key - I do not want to see a hostile army in that province - if that happens I will lose War sooner rather than later. The key here is Italy - he assures me that he is onside and promises not only that he will support an Austrian attack on Tri but also that he will cover both Tun and Nap against the Turkish advance. I tell him that, in effect I am still wary after the events of 1904 and give advance notice of a supported attack on Mar - an attack which had no prospect of succeeding but would serve to tie down the Italian defence ensuring that my move to MAO would not bounce. Again, the adjudication brings bad news - Italy has thrown himself against me - he has also failed to order the promised support for the Austrian attack on Tri (ensuring Austria's elimination). It's now definitely Germany versus the rest. I can only wonder what would have happened if I had not told Italy of my proposed attack on Mar?
1906 - 1908: The remainder of the game consisted of two parts. Firstly a short lived guessing game around MAO and Iberia. If I had won I would have been able to set up an uncrackable stalemate line. As it turns out Jim (Italy), Jim (France - still in the game in spite of being on one SC) and David (Turkey) combined to outmanoeuvre me decisively in short order. The second part of the end game was a matter of holding the imperfect line as long as possible until Jim (Italy) started to worry more about the advancing Turks than the retreating Germans. This part of the game (March - May 2003) coincided with three events which had the effect of severely limiting my ability to conduct diplomacy (i) work commitments that were keeping me in the office far longer than I would like - frequently after midnight (ii) being hit by a computer virus and being too busy to sort it out for several weeks and (iii) the SARS virus which (according to our ISP), for a time, affected e-mail and internet generally. Apologies to all for my relative lack of correspondence during this period.
The last season of the game saw a renewed exchange of correspondence. There was brief talk of trying to achieve a 3 way draw (T/I/G). At that stage I would have accepted any draw that included me and had no particular interest in trying to shrink the size of the draw by eliminating the smaller powers (France and Russia). The 5 way draw proposal was put forward by myself (I'm not sure if anyone else also proposed it). While I still wonder if I could have progressed further in 1904/5, the game ending when it did was something of a relief as the expected loss of Bur in the last season should have been followed by the loss of Mun (and other SCs) the following year.
Final thoughts
As with all games, thanks must go to Ally for his reliable and friendly GMing which made it all possible.
Also, to the players - the interaction between the players is what makes Diplomacy interesting and fun. In this game, leaving aside the early anarchist, all of the players added to the overall flavour of the game although there was a mix of players who communicated well and those who did not do quite so well. I'm embarrassed to say that for part of the game I fell into the category of poor communicators.
Nathan (Austria): With the R/T Juggernaut in full frontal attack mode, Austria generally has a hopeless task but all credit for not only hanging in there to the end but for keeping up the correspondence in a positive tone right to the end. Apologies for not being able to offer more support, but my own delusions of grandeur got in the way.
Jim (Italy): You effectively wrecked my chances of winning with your build of A(Ven) in 1903 - although you risked destruction at the hands of R/T at the time. Looking back, this was, from my perspective at least, the single most important point in the game. While we politely disagreed on who had agreed to do what and who had broken which agreement, I enjoyed our rather lively correspondence.
Jase (Russia): Our correspondence in 1901 and 1902 was great but with a rather obvious Juggernaut in progress the rather sad reality was that it was difficult to see beyond a G/R war. I hate to think what you would have done to me if I had actually let you into Swe in 1901. Hopefully future games will give us better opportunities to work together.
Jim (France): Although our correspondence was rather anaemic - for which I think we were both to blame, you hung in there to the end and, even on one SC, played an active part in ensuring that I was never in a position to reach 18SCs.
David (Turkey): But for some prompt pragmatism from Jim (Italy) and Nathan the well executed R/T could easily have overrun the board. You narrowly beat Jim (Italy) for the title of most prolific writer in this game - in spite of the fact that we never really had an opportunity to work together.
Looking forward to the next one.
Cheers
SimonReturn to Top
ITALY (Jim Ramp) First off thanks to Ally for GMing, and thanks to Simon, Nathan, David, Jason, and Jim for an enjoyable game. Too bad we had the early NMR from England.
David (Turkey) was the first to contact me, I wasn't too keen on committing to an alliance with Turkey. I felt that we would eventually stab one another. Nathan(Austria) then proposed an alliance of the Central Powers. This appealed to me and I committed to the DMZ's and we went forward. A lot of notes with Turkey and Russia, but no real alignments were reached.
S01: I open with a completely defensive posture in the North which could be viewed as aggressive by Jim (France), but we haven't talked at all. Jim starts on a Southern move with both his armies. This isn't very appealing to me, he could get 2 builds. Simon(Germany) looks on track to get 3 builds if England doesn't stop him. Looks like Simon and Jason have an alliance going since Simon moved his armies west. Jason is in the Black Sea, but the fleet standing in ANK is a give away and the Press from Turkey looks like a setup. I think R/T is going, Simon is emailing both Nathan and I preaching the perils of the Juggernaught. Nathan should get 2 builds next season and I can get 1.
A01: Nathan and I decide to bounce in TRI to disguise our alliance. I get my build from TUN and go with a fleet in NAP, pretty normal order for Italy. England NMR's too bad. Jim moves to defend MAR and I hold in PIE which I told him I would do. So, Jim gets just 1 build and it isn't in MAR. Simon had suggested that I support Jim's army from SPA into MAR in case he was going to bounce himself to leave it open for a build. I didn't do this because I didn't think Jim would use that tactic. Jason and David are doing a little dance in CON and BLA. No doubt they're working together. Jason gets into GAL and David's army in RUM are looking like some real pressure on Nathan. Simon build 2 fleets before he knew about the NMR so, maybe he was anticipating it and was preparing. Simon also bounces Jason in SWE limiting him to 1 build this year. Still looks like there maybe some agreement between Simon and Jason.
S02: France NMR's which leaves the A POR in a poor position to support. Simon lets Jason into SWE but is in a position to take it back again. Jason and David swap in CON/RUM. Jason is continuing to push on a southern front, still think he may have something going with Simon. I don't have much going and am looking for a place to get some growth. Now that Simon is in BUR I'm looking for help in MAR. Since Jim NMR'd I think he'll give it to me. Too bad Simon misordered into PIC.
A02: Well it was a very disappointing season. Nathan disbanded his fleet and left me holding the MED waters. He also lost ground to the Juggernaught. I think he could have just played a defensive round and held. I move my army back to VEN since I had nowhere to go from APU and didn't want Nathan looking to my open SC as a place to grow. Simon gains 2, I bounce Jim in SPA. I asked Simon for support to MAR but he's supporting himself into PIC, maybe next season I'll get Simon's help to get MAR.
S03: France NMR's again to my benefit. I get SPA and with help from Simon MAR. He also gets BRE and is set to take PAR next season. Jim is in real trouble because of this second NMR. Jim's forces are so disjointed that he'll have an impossible time on defense. Simon begins moving East, I had suggested PRU and SIL to pressure WAR and make Jason move out of GAL. Simon opted for BOH. I bounced in AEG as agreed on with David. I'm still trying to keep my options open as to whose camp I'm in alliance wise, especially since I need Simon's help or at least not hindrance to gain centers in the west.
A03: Simon proposed a DMZ for MAO and GAS. I can't agree to MAO because I need to get a fleet there to take POR from Jim. And I suggest to Simon that I'd like to get LPL as a part of the English spoils. He's not keen on me being in MAO but we'll talk more next season. He also suggests moving into AEG to stop the fleet from CON coming out, but I'm afraid of my fleet getting surrounded and taken off by the right moves. I move my army west to leave VEN open for a build and stand everywhere else. David gives me support into TRI. I had begun talking to David because of my disappointment with how Nathan was doing. I figured I could try to play the middle for a while. David must have thought I was doing that and forced tried to force my hand. I then had to explain myself to my allies. Simon doesn't force Jason out of GAL which is what Nathan and I thought he was going to do. Nathan is back down to 3 units and is trying to hold on at this point. Simon has gotten STP from Jason, but with a fleet. He really would want an army there. Simon has grown to 11 and is starting to look ominous. I'm beginning to suspect my German ally.
S04: Simon and I agree that I can go into MAO, then comes back later and says that he'll move into MAO and support me next season. We end up bouncing in MAO much to my displeasure, but I knew it was a possibility. Simon moves into GAS and TYR in what I consider a STAB! Nathan misorders his support of BUD and ends up losing it. That pretty much seals his fate. Simon finally moves into GAL but that's because it was vacated by Jason's army moving to BUD he never supported himself in. Jason and David are trying to get me to support against Nathan in TRI, but I'm resisting until I can get into MAO. I want Simon to not oppose me in those moves, which he did.
In the press Simon writes to David "Care to split a bottle of Chianti (or two)?" I'm in trouble!
A04: Well Simon writes and says that he was reacting to my building an army in VEN and my reluctance to accept his help from MAO into POR. He continues to present the "Eastern Barbarians" as the threat. Simon talks about fence mending then shares moves that are all aggressive towards me. His attacks on MAR and PIE assure that I can't get into MAO this season. Simon begins his English invasion and will soon be even bigger. I've definitely joined in the oppose Germany Coalition! No more fence sitting. I take Simon out of TYR, David takes ION in a planned action and I move a fleet west to try to take MAO by force. Simon also brings in support for his entry into MAO. I try to get Jim to bounce the fleet going into NAO but he goes for the SC even though he can't build a new unit. Jason loses WAR and LVN which allow Simon to setup a tough defense of WAR.
S05: Well I woke up as to how easy it is for Simon to get to 18 with my position. With England, Iberia, and MAR Simon is at 18 with the SC's he already has control of. A move to GoL is a must to help with the protection of SPA and MAR. Jim gives me his proxy which helps me support SPA and try to cause havoc in Simon's rear in the seas. I move the French fleet out to NWG planning to move to NTH and cut support from ENG. David lands in TUN as a stop over towards NAFand onto MAO. I've worked out in my mind how if he stabs me I'll roll over and die for Simon. Jason NMR's due to illness. I was going to support him into BOH if he agreed. I think that is a good way to try to split Simon's forces. Simon and I end any form of alliance and have a couple of fairly long emails presenting our positions in the process. Simon makes it into MAO. I tell Simon I won't attack MUN or try for BOH and live up to my word, unfortunately Simon moves expecting that I'll do as I said I would. This allows him to have a pretty strong front in the east. I'm not sure how we'll crack it.
A05: I goofed up with the French fleet. I was thinking that Simon would move to ENG to stop our moves into MAO, but he took away both the SC's that France had on the English Isles. I should have gone to NWY as I had first thought of doing. I'll kick myself a few times before the game is over about this decision. I'm not doing much other than holding my own against Simon in the west. Jason takes one of Nathan's last two SCs, but David gets the build by taking one of Jason's. Since Jason had nowhere to build we don't lose the build this way, just have to get the unit into action.
S06: I pull off a surprise move on Simon, from the comment in the Adjudication I don't think Ally expected it either. I know I can take back MAR and SPA in the Autumn turn, I'm not sure if I'll surround his armies or get the builds in PAR and BRE. I put in a misorder for France to try to disguise that I have his proxy. I make MAO with David's help. Jason agrees to give up TRI and disband his fleet. Makes me a little happier not having two fleets at my backside. No progress in the east.
A06:Nathan is out this time. Good game tough spot to be in with not much support. I never attacked you my ally, though my support had to go away due to our German ally. I decide to have Simon start his troops back in Germany. I get one build by retreating to BRE which I use for an army in VEN. David builds a fleet which I'm a little concerned about.
S07: I take PAR for a build in the Autumn turn. I help David into MAO to get another fleet against Simons Armada. Simon moves into position with his fleets to put pressure on BRE and take it away from me if I'm not careful. I bounce Simon out of BUR for this turn. David gets Simon out of GAL, but Jason loses MOS. We get David into BOH to try to get some pressure on MUN.
A07: Simon uses his potential threat against BRE as an opportunity to convoy his army to BEL from WAL. We convoy the French army to GAS to get some support for the push into Germany. David builds ANOTHER fleet. I'm real uncomfortable with that build. Where will it go but after me? I built a fleet as convoy potential and some protection of the homeland. I try to convince David to go to SIL, but he orders support for me to MUN. I was going to MUN to cut support and knew that it wouldn't win with support from just BOH.
S08: I almost had an NMR. Thanks Ally for accepting my orders late. I had in my mind that the adjudication was a week later for some reason. Things had been extremely hectic at work and home. With my haste I forgot to send in the retreat order for the army BUR, so it gets to start over in my homeland and I have to protect MAR.
And it ends. I've learned to do an EGS you have to keep your notes while the game is going because recreating is a pain. The message boards are full of comments about our 5-way draw, but this game is a draw, it's just a matter of how many. It could possibly be taken down to a 3-way GIT, but there may be a solo in that effort for someone.
Enjoyed the game hope to run across the active players again.
Rampus Caesar
(Jim Ramp)Return to Top
TURKEY (David Shockey) This was my first Diplomacy game in years so I wanted to make a good show of it. Turkey was my first choice because it is a corner power and therefore easier to defend. I have won face-to-face games as Turkey by starting with a Russian alliance so I worked hard at getting Jason (Russia) on board with my plans. This suited me well for another reason, none of the other players were willing to commit to the time of day much less an early alliance.
Jason liked my proposals and we agreed to start by getting his fleet out where it could do some good for us. Our opening moves had the added plus of appearing to be a Russian stab of Turkey when Jason took Constantinople and I then forced him out to the Aegean. I don't think that anyone was deceived for more than one turn because the cries of "Juggernaut!" started pretty early on. Our first target was the obvious one, Austria. As his fate became apparent, Nathan (Austria) tried to make a deal for his survival but Jason and I decided to stick with the plan. I commend Nathan on his determination to play well up to the end, a goal that he achieved. About the time we were delivering the coup de grace to Austria disaster struck when Germany attacked Russia in the almost undefended North. I think that we would have had a fine Juggernaut going if Russia had not taken the blow when he did. That threw a wrench in our plans and we never really recovered from it.
Our greatest success was turning Jim (Italy) to our side. He was obviously working with Germany but was about to run out of places to go unless he turned on his ally or changed direction completely and came at me. The fact that Germany was very close to a solo made him choose the former option. I truly enjoyed moving a Turkish fleet directly thru Italian centers in order to take MAO. Why Simon didn't beat us there I don't know. Maybe he didn't realize what we were up to or didn't realize the importantance of MAO to us.
But the fun soon fizzled as the game bogged down again. Jason began to communicate less. He still had four units but we were not making optimal moves in the East bacause of our lack of communication. About this time, life became much busier and I was not communicating very well myself. In haste to get orders out just before the deadline of the Spring 1908 turn, I made a mistake in not bouncing Simon (Germany) in Silesia. Had I done that (as Jim told me to do!) Italy would have been in Munich in the Fall and we would have had a much better position for another year of play.
In the end the game had bogged down, I didn't have the heart to stab Jason, and I had the feeling that Jim was about to swap sides again. So I voted for the EGP that was proposed. Congratulations to everyone involved in the draw. I truly enjoyed the game. Thanks to you Ally for all the work you put into it, it is greatly appreciated.
David ShockeyReturn to Top
GM (Ally Bain) When doing all the files needed, I found out this game lasted just three days under one year. Well, alright you might think 'so' but I thought it was funny, so there! ;-)
As for anarchies, I hate them but tonight in another game I announced that a player was involved in a car accident & due to the injuries she was able to continue but thankfully she's alive. Before you wonder, the game isn't on this site. Either way, I'll leave any other comments out of this.
We all know that other players are wobbling on about a five-way draw. Well I think this game was fine & so what about a five-way draw. Not long ago I was part of a six-way draw so perhaps I could say to you five, I beat you. :-)
There is perhaps one comment I would say about this draw. I'm not too sure that France should have been included as they proxies & the last time I heard from him was a long time ago. If you were still involved, i.e. still speaking to Italy, then fair enough but if not....well, no comment.
Either way & as said, this game was good therefore you should pat yourselves on the back.
See you on the boards.
AllyReturn to Top
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