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DWARF GOURAMI END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Ally Bain [EGS]
Started: 17th June 2002
Finished: 28th September 2002 (Autumn 1907)
Result: Austria win
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | Result | | Austria | Jeff Grzybowski | 5 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 15 | 18 | Won | | England | Pete Smith | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 3 | Survived | | France | Christopher Smith | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 | Survived | | Germany | Andy Scott | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | Survived | | Italy | Gavin Coles | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | Eliminated | | Russia | Marco Jansen | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated | | Turkey | Harvey Jones | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Eliminated |
AUSTRIA (Jeff Grzybowski) Austria's EGS
I would first like to thank Ally for being our GM and adjudicating each season precisely on time each week...:-)
Next I wish to thank all of my ally's and foes alike for participating in a wonderful game for me (for obvious reasons)...:-)
PRE Spring 1901 Negotiations:
My negotiations pretty much were the standard ones for Austria. I began by setting up a definite agreement with Gavin to keep the peace between our two nations. Although Andy and I never actually set up a DMZ of Boh & Tyr, Gavin and I tried to set up a 3-way alliance from the beginning with Andy, Gavin and myself. With Marco & Harvey I had decided to try and play each
one of them off the other so that I could have the advantage. I did however, set up a DMZ of Gal with Marco so that I could have a little breathing room to get my little schemes and designs in place before it came to actual warfare.
SPRING 1901:
Gavin and I bounced in Tri while the rest of my units went for Gre and Ser to get myself 2 builds for A01. The Gal DMZ was honored much to my relief and during this time I had arranged with Harv to take Ser & Gre while he could have Rum & Bul. This is where I started to scheme because I was getting emails from Marco asking for help to take Rum. I also kept
encouraging each of them separately, Harv & Marco, to keep bouncing in the BLA. During this time I was planning all along for an invasion of Turkey which is evident in my builds for the Autumn season. I was pretty sure that Gavin wasn't going to stab me but this early in the game I didn't want to take a chance so I did an uneccessary self-standoff in Tri with A(Ser) & A(Vie). To compensate for possibly not gaining Gre with F(Alb) I told Harv that I would support him into Rum so that he would go the other way away from Gre. I also told Marco that I would support him to Rum so that he could use his fleet to bounce Harv in the BLA again. My hope was to have them bounce and limit Harv to one build, and possibly Marco getting no builds because I asked Andy to bounce Marco in Swe.
AUTUMN 1901:
Unbelievably all of my plans and negotiations worked! Marco got no builds, Harv got one, and I got two. This is also the season where it was time for me to break the DMZ of Gal I had set up with Marco in the beginning of the game. I don't know how I convinced him to support me to Rum but I did which was great. I told Harv once again that I would support him to Rum because I lied and told him I heard a rumor that Gavin was going to attack Tri and I was going to need a fleet build, so thats why I needed the self-standoff. But I assured him that I would definitely support him to Rum in Spring 1902. With Harv trusting me and moving to Rum, I knew he couldn't support that unit so I had the chance of swiping Rum & Bul. I also told Harv that he
should move to Arm so that he would be able to possibly capture Sev on the next season. While I moved to Gal to put a serious threat on Marco. I felt pretty much golden as I had no worries about Gavin or Andy as they had moved away from me and no one was threatening my home centers.
SPRING 1902:
Again, my plans worked. I took Rum & Bul, moved successfully to Gal and Harv moved to Sev. Harv was a little miffed with me for the stab but now it kind of placed him in a position to rely on me to gain a SC. This season I decided to throw Harv a bone and support him into Sev so that we could further reduce Marco. I also decided to take a gamble and not protect Vie
from Marco's A(Boh) unit as I felt I would be getting at least two builds for the Autumn season and could reclaim my dot if need be. So I chose to go for War instead.
AUTUMN 1902:
It was this season that kind of baffled me but at the same time it started to put crazy notions in my head that said "My God, you could get a solo out of this game". Though I kept that to myself of course. With my solid alliance thus far with Gavin, I was in a position to solely concentrate my war effort on the rest of Russia and then onto Turkey. Andy didn't prove to be a problem yet as he was still bouncing back between alliances with Pete & Christopher...:-) Those three had me confused for most of the game. It seemed like one season Andy would help Christopher against Pete, then the next season Pete would help Andy against Christopher, or something like that. See, I still am confused about it! Anyways, onto my baffled state: For some reason all of Marco's units stood. At this point I am unsure if he gave up with the game or if he submitted provisionals of all stands, and
then real-life got in the way of him actually submitting better orders, or what. But this was more or less his real downfall because prior to this he was still in quite a defensible position. I ended up helping Harv into Sev and took War for myself coupled with Pete taking Stp completely crushed Russia. I had no prior contact with Pete, so it was kind of a bonus for me that Pete took Stp. I ended up with 3 builds this season while at the same time I started to move my fleets in a position to attack Harv some more. My negotiations progressed with Gavin also as I suggested he should move his A(Naf) - Tun so I could convoy him to Gre for the next build season. My reasoning was because Christopher was gaining dots in the west and building up a formidable force for which Gavin would have trouble stalling if he didn't gain a build soon. Plus this would build up some more trust in Gavin
and I for my eventual stab to succeed if I were to go for the solo win.
SPRING 1903:
Not too exciting of a season for me here, I just kept pressing in on Marco while trying to keep Harv in check from gaining a foothold with which to defend himself. I also decided I could afford to go without a build in the Autumn and help Gavin gain his long awaited build to further bolster his fleets holding off Christopher. This was all of course if Andy stayed away from me it would work. I also somehow convinced Harv to support me into Mos in the Autumn which would negate any SC loss I was giving to Gavin.
AUTUMN 1903:
Harv supported me as planned and it was the collapse of the Russian Regime. Sorry Marco, and thanks for being my opponent and a good sport at that. I followed through with the convoy and got Gavin his build. It was a risky play on my part as I had nothing in the way of Gavin heading to Ser or even further into Austrian territory with his A(Gre), but I felt I had built up enough trust that he wouldn't screw me. Also with him in Gre he could prove useful to help support me when I went on a full fledged invasion of Turkey. I also told Gavin that when I got into a better position I would also convoy him to Turkey's mainland. Ironically he declined, and was content with where he was at and said he would just continue to support me.
SPRING 1904:
It was this season (the only season) where I felt a little pressure fall upon the growing Austrian Empire. The plan was for Gavin to support me in Bul while I took Sev. Gavin misordered and supported Bud, no existing army there, but it actually didn't matter. I was wondering if the misorder was on purpose though. I took Sev, uncontested, but Rum was dislodged to Bud, a minor set back. The bigger problem was Andy! He positioned himself in Tyr & Sil for an apparent attack on Austria. I couldn't protect War & Vie & at the same time hold Sev & gain Rum back. So this was a little bit tricky. What I decided to do was give up Vie, protect Tri, protect War, hold Sev, attack Smy, and gain Rum back. I figured I could loose Bul.
AUTUMN 1904:
Everything actually worked as I had hoped for. Vie was left alone and I ended up with a build by gaining Smy. Suprisingly, Andy attacked Gavin and myself. I thought that was a little odd, hence the press I posted in the following season's orders. I actually wanted to build my army in Vie and not Bud as I would have been in a better position to go after Andy my next
target...:-) Since he initiated the war between us...LOL. One other thing, I was emailing Pete and encouraging Pete and Gavin to work together to hit Christopher from behind.
SPRING 1905:
I now had things under control basically with Harv, so I could put more effort into the war on my north-western borders. Harv was down to 2 units and my forces completely outnumbered him.
AUTUMN 1905 - AUTUMN 1907:
From here on out it was basically hack & slash with Andy while I continued to make small gains on Harv until I finally eliminated him in Autumn 1907 as well as eliminating Gavin in 1907. My stab came in Spring 1906 on Gavin when I clearly had the win in sight. I will say I had Pete's proxy for 3 seasons prior to this and kept him in the game and competitive at that. I tried to use Pete's units to hurt Andy's position which added to me getting a solo. At the end I also had Gavin's proxy, however, my stab was before I had his proxy and had no bearing on a solo victory for me. I think Gavin new he was out after my stab and he also went on vacation or something like that. So Andy and I for about 2 or 3 seasons kept on bantering and insulting each other in a very enjoyable manner. Thank you Andy, you made me laugh a number of times.
In closing I would like to say thank again you to all for a very enjoyable game for me. And I thank Gavin for his stout alliance with me from the beginning of the game and I am sorry for the stab but I had to do it to try for a solo. Harv, I am also sorry as I screwed you right from the beginning as well as Marco, but I guess someone has to get screwed in this glorious game.
Thank you Ally again for GM'ing a great game and enjoyable readings of the headlines and press!
Cheers,
JeffReturn to Top
ENGLAND (Pete Smith) England EGS Dwarf Gourami or to us dyslexics "Dwarf.", much to Ally's dismay.
Looking at the role of honour as the game began, my heart started to beat a little faster. First of all we had a good GM "Ally, just call me fish-face", and among the contenders for the head of Europe were my old fighting buddies JEFF Austria, ANDY Germany, and GALVIN Italy. MARCO Russia, HARVEY Turkey and CHRISTOPHER France were all new to me.
From the start I played my usual way, by sending all the players an into, and awaited feedback from it, this way I can join up with someone on my wavelength from the beginning, and makes for me a more enjoyable game experience. Andy wrote back in the same vain as myself, and so did Christopher and Harvey. The best quote I received from the rest was one which went..
aww Pete you are a bit mad mate and I'm keeping my distance.....
So, as England who do I trust ?, its a toss up between France Christopher or Germany Andy. Having played Andy as a player and as his GM, I know that Andy has a lot of skill and the gift of the gab. His letters can be very funny at times, but, he has never won a solo. In a few games in which he has done well, the knife as struck him down in his prime, and so I did think that he might want to strike first in any partnership if it started to do well. That left France. This fellow had only played one other game so far on the site, and was touting for a ally from the very first. Here was my ideal game partner, a fairly new player, one who had the same mental humour as myself, and some one who would be susceptible to a long time partnership. This has worked in a number of games for me, the best one being "CROW". I do not mind in being half of a draw, as long as I have fun playing the game.
So, France it was, all I had to do now was the dirty on Germany. Which we did. Poor Andy was left high and dry thinking that he and I were bosom pals. The one request that Chris asked for was to have 3 builds in the first year, something he had always wanted to do. To lay down the foundations of " TRUST", and against my better judgement, I said yes. This was my first mistake in the game. The game started, and France got 3 builds, Germany was reeling from the shock of a 2 point attack, and we were all happy. (Well I was). Then in S1902 the rot started in our partnership. Every time I asked Chris for support, he would drag his heals, throwing up objections on why he might not do it.
Then in A1902 Gavin spoke up, saying he would help me if I needed help in the area of the MAO. This is were the final straw broke my camels back. I got a mail from Chris saying..Unfortunately, it does mean that I won't be able to support you... AGGG, the whole idea was for him to have a very strong France so that he could help me in 1902, and now he was trying to wriggle out of it. When I had my builds that year, which was a fleet in Liverpool, and Edi he then had a go about threatening France with my navies, even when we had set out from the start that he would have army's, and I would have fleets.
I told him that I would be moving down south, and all hell let lose. I could not move any force within 1 square of any French bit of land without indignant cries coming from Paris. It looked as if the TRUST was all one way. So, the only thing now was to change horses in mid battle, not a very good idea, but better than the self abuse I was doing to keep me occupied, as so not to have time to send inflammatory mail to my partner.
Andy, Andy, come back, please forgive me. He did, great, gave him lots of love and kiss's, and planed a nice long game with Andy. The bugger stabbed me. AGGG (again), now I really am up the creek without a paddle. Gavin offers to help again, but fails to deliver (AGAIN). Harvey (Turkey) sends mail, and some info, but is to far away to help much.
The game goes on, and I am franticly trying to save my neck. Some bugger starts sending bad mail about (thanks lads), and the whole of Europe is poisoned by innuendo's, killers spring up from every were, its a kind of magic that I am not going slightly mad, but then another one bits the dust and Russia goes.
Here comes the peace de la résistance...I was going away on holiday for 3 weeks, and would have no internet access. I would have to find a proxy. After striking off France, Germany, and Italy, the only one left who could help me was Austria. Jeff, had been sending me tit bits all though the game, and as he was the only one in the area who had not had a pot-shot at me, then Jeff it was. THIS IS WHY SOME OF THE ENGLISH MOVES LOOKED A BIT STRANGE.
On my return, I found that I was still alive, but Austria was in a very strong position. Both France and Germany were trying to bury the hatchet, but I still believed that it was to be in me. Do I go with them and then find out that I was to be next on the kill list, or sit back and wait for Austria to solo ?. I sat back and watched.
Summery of the players in a nutshell.
Ally, much thanks for running the game, it was always on time, and with nice coloured maps, cheers mate. A pleasure to play under you.
Jeff. Well done, you deserved the game.
Chris. Good game, sorry for all the evil play my end, but next time you must trust your partner, or you will find it hard to find someone to buddy you up until the bitter end. Love the mail you sent, and would happy work with you again when you loose some of your paranoia.
Andy. What can I say, normal loonies mail from you, sorry about the deceit from the start, If we had been allies from the beginning, what would the result be now I wonder.
Gavin. The only mail you sent, was full of lies, treachery and fibs. Its a pity we were not neighbours, as we could have worked quite well together I think.
Marco. Sorry mate, did not have much time to talk to you, as the Russian fate was swift in this game. I hope you had fun in this game, and hope to be better acquainted with you next time we meet.
Harvey. Thanks for all the mail. I also hope that you had a good time, and will look out for you next time you play. Its a pity that you were squashed by Austria so quickly, and I would love to been able to help you, but alas, the aircraft has not been invented yet in this game.
End result? Well deserved win for Jeff, Good game...good game..Once again, thanks Ally, and to all the rest of the players.
Pete SmithReturn to Top
FRANCE (Christopher Smith) FRANCE (Christopher Smith)
Well, it's all over now, and I must confess that I wish it had lasted longer. This was my first one-week-per-turn game (my second PBEM game), and I quite liked the hectic pace, especially around 1903-4. It got the adrenaline going!
Many thanks to our GM, Ally Bain, for his ultra-prompt adjudications - usually within a couple of hours after the deadline - and for 'outsider' comments that did not give anything away, even though he was privy to some of the inter-player correspondence.
Thanks also to my friend Stuart Bennett for taking my place in 1904 and allowing me a relaxing holiday.
A gong for Jeff Grzybowski for a good, clear-cut win, probably due to more diplomacy on his part than I was aware of.
A big, embarrassing Gallic hug for my ally through much of the game, Andy Scott (Germany). Thanks for taking the brunt of it in the end, Andy; I'd have done the same for you.
A smart and respectful salute across the Channel to Pete Smith (England), my main enemy in the game. I know I outwitted you a couple of times (the last move doesn't count) but I had to work for it.
A sympathetic pat on the shoulder for Harvey Jones (Turkey), whom I would have supported more if I had been given the opportunity.
A big custard pie and an appointment at the poodle parlour for Gavin Coles (Italy), for his constant, witless and ineffectual attacks on my southern flank, and for selflessly sacrificing any semblance of an independent foreign policy.
Finally, a bag of Mustrum Ridcully's dried frog pills for Mad Marco Jansen (Russia), whose inane orders threw away any chance he had of surviving (let alone winning) the game, thereby incidentally depriving me of a significant potential ally from the start.
SUMMARY
I don't think I did too badly, considering the early departure of Russia, France's traditional ally, and Italy's mystifying hostility throughout. At one point, it looked as though I might have to fight England, Germany and Italy simultaneously, but fortunately I managed to ally with Germany and so only had England and Italy to deal with. In the meantime, Austria-Hungary mopped up in the East. Considering that I had no easy breaks, I'm happy that I ended up in a relatively strong position.
I can't blame Pete for hammering at me, especially after Andy and I formed our alliance. In the closing stages of the game, he couldn't do much to work with us against Austria-Hungary even if he wanted to: it was a question of geography. I therefore had no option but to try to beat him.
Unfortunately, I cannot accord the same understanding to Gavin, who from Year 2 acted as an extension of Jeff's forces and virtually handed him the win on a plate. Fortunately, the 4 units that Jeff thereby gained were consistently mishandled, so they proved more of an inconvenience than a threat.
YEAR BY YEAR
1901: My aim was to go for big expansion while keeping on good terms, as far as possible, with my neighbours. Italy went along with the peaceful approach, and so did England. Germany, however, tried to move into Burgundy in contravention of our agreement. England tipped me off that he might try to do so, so I supported my own A (Par) to Burgundy. In retrospect, it appears that Pete was diploming to set me up against Germany (and vice-versa) from the start. Mad Marco showed the first, worrying signs, and Italy broke our DMZ treaty by entering TYS. By the end of the year, however, I had doubled France's SC's, and quantity has a quality all of its own.
1902: Getting along with England, but somehow Pete's approach reminded me of a second-hand car salesman. My plan at this stage was to work with England against Germany with one third of my forces while dealing with Italy with the other two thirds (Italy having broken the DMZ agreement yet again). On the other hand, Pete seemed to be getting greedy, stabbed Russia, and took St. Pet. I sent out a warning signal that a fleet in Lpl would not be welcome, and relations started to deteriorate. Italy advanced into NAf, wondered what he was doing there, and wandered back to Tunis. Warnings to Mad Marco that he would not last another year if he carried on squandering his forces were met with sunny optimism.
1903: Things were not looking encouraging. As far as I could see, England expected me to fight Germany and Italy while he zipped around knocking off opportunity SC's and enveloped me in the process. I could either play as Pete's poodle, leaving myself open for a massive stab sooner rather than later, or look for another ally. I approached Germany and we immediately started sensible talks that didn't involve false expectations or undue trust for either of us. Knowing for certain now of Pete's intentions to put the knife into France, we developed a deception plan that played on his ambition and his under-estimation of my skill as a player. We took a big chance, but it paid off: Germany deliberately destroyed one of my armies, enabling me to build a fleet in Brest in its place, while he took Holland from England. Seeing three of Pete's moves resulting in 'FAILED-FAILED-FAILED' was worth a whole game in itself! In the meantime, Italy continued the futile attacks and was outguessed at every turn, and Mad Marco headed for exile.
1904-7: The new relationship with Germany had resulted in a clearer understanding of the total situation. Italy was in league with Austria-Hungary, and this was unlikely to change (it didn't!). France was still under great pressure from England and Italy, while Germany had to act quickly against Austria-Hungary before Jeff could get his units back from the East. We agreed that England was a greater threat than Italy, and that I should concentrate on attacking England, conceding territory if necessary to Italy. After all, it would be easier to win it back from Italy. In the end, no territory was lost to Italy at any stage of the game. I managed to invade England and (with help from my proxy, Stuart Bennett) took London. England, however, took Brest (liberated Spring 1907). Andy and I had decided that if we played conventionally, we were going to get beaten conventionally, so we took calculated risks and, on the whole, these paid off in that France made inroads against England while Germany kept Austria guessing. Finally, Andy took the brunt of the growing Austrian might and Jeff's victory became inevitable. Gavin played the poodle to the end, attacking France even after he had been mercilessly stabbed by Jeff. Mad Marco passed into legend.Return to Top
GERMANY (Andy Scott) What can I say.........Dwarf Gourami has been a bloody infuriating game that's what!!!!!
Oh it started well enough the normal pleasantries were exchanged and I entered into detailed discussions with both England and France. I agreed with both of them to go after the other and was faced with the choice of who to side with??? I chose England. WRONG!!!! :-((( It had after all come down to a straight choice between Pete and Chris! And I picked Pete. Anyway I should have known better but have been kicking myself about it ever since.
France took Burgundy first turn and Pete opened with the Northern Yorkshire and I knew I was in big trouble!!!! The thing was I was quite happy to secure the lowlands and Scandinavia and let Pete have France and the Iberian peninsula so that I could turn my attentions East and go after Russia???? Instead by the end of the year I was looking at a 6 strong France and England in Norway and complete control of the North Sea while I had only managed to grab Denmark. I looked forward at 1902 and I did not like what I saw coming!!!! By the end of '02 I was dead chuffed, I hadn't lost any SC's !!! Admittedly I hadn't gained any either and was now facing and England France combination that were both 6 units strong. Maybe I should have been just dead it would have been easier????
Still undeterred by the horrendous odds against us the heroic German Empire continued with their struggle. I opened negotiations with Italy and Austria and formed a three way pact out of which all I got was Italy attacking France's South coast which at least stopped me from being overrun as England was busy with Russia in Scandinavia. However I hadn't completely given up hope of cracking the English/French alliance and thanks to some dubious moves by Pete (who was unwilling to leave his rear completely unguarded, and who can blame him???) I finally made some headway and got Pete to support me into Sweden while getting France to destroy the British Army in Holland. I had never expected to get them both to actually try my proposals and they did!!! I was back in the same situation of having to choose between the two of them!!! Eny, meany, miny, mo......
Damn it I choose France because I went for Britain last time and that went horribly wrong!!! This I freely admit is no way to choose your allies in dip but what can I say it worked :-)))))))) Chris became one of the best allies I have ever had, thanks mate it was a real pleasure :-)) The problem though was now Italy there was nothing I could do to stop him as there was just no alternative for him, he knew he had entered a to the death fight with France and wasn't backing off for any one. Still despite this we made slow headway against England but all the time I was watching poor Turkey with his back to the wall thanks to an Austrian who had the devils own luck. He had a completely faithful lap dog in Italy and a madman of a Russian who collapsed at the perfect time for Jeff. Don't get me wrong Jeff I know you showed tactical brilliance in achieving this but I admit I watched on in horror as Italy blindly followed your lead leaving himself completely open and Russia collapsed like a burst balloon????
By Spring 1904 Chris and I had got Pete completely off of the European mainland but France was completely defensive and trying to get an edge against England. I was no use to him until I could get my fleet to help him which meant doing a horrendous bit of swapping amongst my forces but I had no choice as otherwise we stayed in stalemate and Austria won. I then thought sod it and sent two armies to their doom against Austria and Italy and still swapped off the forces in Northern Europe. I tried to grab Venice and Warsaw and was bounced from both and even worse Turkey finally started to collapse from the overwhelming Austrian Pressure. Not that you can blame Harvey in any way as he had defended a hopeless position for quite some time and I had sent to little to late??
The rest of the game went on then as could be expected. With no Turkish Alamo Austria turned around and ran my pitifully too few units under, finally put us all out of our misery and stabbed Italy. By the time I had England and France agreeing that they should put their enmity aside it was to late and they just had no units in position to hold back the Austrian horde. As I'm sure Chris will confirmed I tried everything I could think of and took some huge risks just to try and delay the inevitable but eventually
Austria had my capital and Berlin and the game was up at the end of 1907.
Christ, it was only 14 turns??? It felt a damn site longer than that from where I was sitting I can tell you!!!! As is my want I will now give an opinion of the other Players :-)) Whether they want it or not???
Austria - Jeff, The first time I'd played you and my impression was good tactician but I your diplomacy with me was lacking something?? Don't know what but you must have it otherwise why did Italy sacrifice himself for you????
England - Pete, An old timer who gave as usual his distinctive style to all who would listen :-))) As always mate a pleasure crossing daggers with you :-))
France - Chris, Ah we missed an opportunity here my new friend if we could have got along from the start we would have changed the world???? Nice to have met you mate and I look forward to playing against you sometime soon :-)))
Germany - Me, I was crap from start to finish!!! But hey you got to admire the consistency :-))
Italy - Gavin, no Jeff, No Gavin???? Just who the hell was playing Italy????????????????
Russia - Marco, all I will say is that either you haven't played Russia much or you are very unlucky, I don't know which???
Turkey - Harvey, You have my admiration for never losing faith and hanging on in there when many lesser players would have anarchied. You must have had a very frustrating and maybe boring game. Sorry I couldn't send help earlier but I look forward to playing against you again some day :-)))
GM - Ally, Your normal superlative job apart from the odd cutting and pasting slip??? :-))) Thanks Ally, always a pleasure.
Andy ScottReturn to Top
ITALY (Gavin Coles) As italy, i had the choice of either going for austria or france. Jeff was the initial big risk in austria, so i forged an alliance with the view to keeping to it all the way, and i wanted to experiment to see if italy could take out france.
the answer is, no. even with outrageous help from jeff, the fact that italy starts with no natural builds after the first year means that it cannit break france unless england is pressuring strongly from the north - and that didnt happen. the geography means that marseilles is a rock, and if you bump up against his fleets you have the dual problem - as i did - of both dislodging him from iberia AND making sure he cant retreat through your lines to rampage the med.
The french leader, onion breath chris, threw his toys out of the pram on a couple of occasions when i failed to stab jeff - i have kept the pretty salty emails for posterity as they might be useful in any future trial when his (un)balance of mind needs to be proven :).
england came to the party too late - we could have cracked france in 02 if he had played ball, but no!
germany decided to piss everyone off by attacking one country a turn. well done that man.
overall, an odd game for me as i wasnt playing to win, really playing to experiment. one thing its taught me - NEVER go for france if you are italy unless you have england with you from the start.
and jeffs final stab - well, i was on leave sipping beer in BAli, so I really wasn't that worried :)
GReturn to Top
TURKEY (Harvey Jones) Sorry, been a bit busy - baby born on Monday so I didn't have a chance to write anything before. Julia's in hospital and I can stay up as late as I like to recount this tale of woe...
This was my first one week game - I normally play 3 week deadlines - and conscious that I might not have the time for serious diploming and having played a lot of central powers recently I put in for Turkey. As it happened I had rather less diploming to do than I might have hoped!
I opted for a neutral opening. I just didn't get the right vibes from Marco for a juggernaut opening. HIs talk of allying with Austria to attack Germany seemed just too bizarre to be true! Conversely I wasn't going to open with the blood curdling Russian attack either and give Austria an easy run in the Balkans. Jeff seemed friendly and despite the natural suspicions that exist between Turkey and Austria, I confess that I had no idea that I was Jeff's target from Day One. I suppose it was pretty easy to delude myself that Russia was.... I also try to impress on Italy the dangers of a strong Austria - well, didn't do that very well did I.
Spring 1901 went as expected although Russia's A (War) holds came as something of a surprise. I wrongly thought Italy had misordered his attack on Austria rather than being in league with him. Doh!
Autumn 1901 - never one not to kick a man when he's down I proposed to Jeff that he assist me to take Rum and leave Russia without any builds. Jeff rather cleverly ensures Russia has no builds but I don't get Rum. I fall for Jeff's excuse that he was worried about Italy's attack on him in Spring. Doh!
Spring 1902 - convinced by his recent orders that Marco is an idiot I go for the Russian attack. Alas it appears that I am the idiot as Jeff stabs me and I lose Bul. I confess to being perplexed by Russia's behaviour however in the following missive:
Jeff,
You seem to have done me up like a kipper! Austria controls all 4 Balkan centres by Spring 1902 - this must surely be an unparalleled achievement. I think I might have to put it on the Message Board!
I don't blame you for knifing me. Frankly if I could persuade Russia to order something as bizarre as A (Ukr) s AUSTRIAN A (Bud) - Rum, I'd have done the same. And A (Sil) - Boh - what was the point of that? This whole Russia invades Germany thing is really quite odd!
Anyway, you've got Bul but I reckon you'll struggle to take any more centres from me in the foreseeable future. Italy looks like an easier target - or Russia. I did wonder why you moved to Gal. I can't imagine Russia is too happy with this threat to War.
If by some remote chance you would like to give me back Bul and support me to Sev then let me know.
and then this great exchange with Italy which should have convinced me I was f****d:
Italy: hi there matey. i think russia is about to squish austria
Turkey: Mate, you must be looking at a different map to me if you think Russia is going to squish Austria!
Autumn 1902 - however Jeff has only taken one supply centre off me and I'm not one for holding pointless grudges against people so I stick with Jeff who supports me to Sev. My thinking really being that if I can take Sev I can bolster my defensive position, hope that Austria turns west and then just defend even if I can't expand. However, Russia's orders of hold all units (presumably provisionals that were never replaced with final orders) really mucks up my plans leaving Austria in a much stronger position than anticipated.
Spring 1903 - I order defensively. It has become clear that Jeff can go for the solo win if he wants to but that I might share in a draw if I defend well and he doesn't act decisively. However Jeff suggests that I might get Mos and I don't really try to develop a solid defence with Russia.
Autumn 1903 - I finally wake up and decide that I have to support Russia to stop Austria winning - alas too little too late. It becomes clear that Italy doesn't really want to help stop Jeff winning:
Italy: I've decided that I've lost this one and i'm just trying to bugger france up cos he has a hectoring tone.
However, I am amazed when Italy moves to Greece - what possible rationale could there be for such a move? Chris at least of the western powers has woken up to the Austrian threat but England and Germany don't seem to have. Chris seems worried that I will NMR which I find a bit insulting since this is a regulars game.
Spring 1904 - one last go at persuading Gavin of the folly of his pro-Austrian position:
Turkey: Can't say that I have high hopes of convincing you of the dangers inherent in your alliance with Austria but I'll give it a go! Once Austria has taken out me as well as Russia he will have Austria (3), Balkans (3), Russia (3) and Turkey (3) = 12 centres It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that your 5 centres add up nicely to 17 centres and then he needs just one more for victory. Your attack on France doesn't seem to be going anywhere - and while I understand why you might wish to annoy Chris - all it does is let Austria win. Given Jeff's aversion to fighting a war on two fronts, I can but hope that you decide to help cut him back to size while we still can.
Italy: hmmm. well, thats a bit of a negative assessment
Well that seems to make it clear that this game is not going to end in a draw - at least not one that I will participate in! So, Jeff has beaten me strategically but I can at least match him at a tactical level as I take Rum when he forces Sev. Germany makes a move to take on Austria but is it too little too late?
Autumn 1904 - and then I take Bul to compensate for the loss of Sev since I cannot possibly hold Rum.
1905 to 1907 - I am on the retreat although I do my best to hold up Jeff. Not much diplomacy; well there's not much to say! Predictably Austria gobbles up Italy's centres. Western powers can't get their act together. A number of silly end game proposals. I never vote for a proposal which does not include me (even if I only have 1 unit) and I know this is common with a number of players. Why do people bother???
Anyway, congratulations to Jeff for a really rather easy victory. Was he lucky? Well perhaps but you take your chances where you find them. Thanks to Ally for GMing. Thanks to Chris, Pete, Andy, Gavin and Marco. After being so comprehensively outwitted by Jeff, I shall resist the temptation to blame my misfortune on them! I think this will be my last one week game, although this may change once I get a PC at home but I hope to play everyone again some time. I'm really still quite amazed to have a game over in 14 weeks!!!!
Cheers, HarvReturn to Top
GM (Ally Bain) Dear Lords, Ladies & Gentlemen, oh & of course the Mad Tank
Seeing some of the names on the Waiting List that I have seen playing & in some are/have played with, I was unable to resist the temptation of GMing it. Enjoyment? Yes! A good laugh? Yes! Surprised about the season it ended? Yes!
One thing mentioned in more than one EGS, was about the speed of me adjudicating your games. I was very surprised to read that. My overall view is that the deadline is the deadline. If I am saying that as a GM dealines, then I must equally live with the same set of rules therefore the game must be adjudicated ASAP after the deadline. Obviously I wait a period of time to make sure no e-mails are being delayed by our servers but as said before, I think it is wrong to make a deadline if the GM does not match it. I know two of you are GMs & perhaps more that I am not aware of however I think you would agree with my view.
Conclusion, would I like to GM any games you are in? Yes! Would I like to play in a game with you? Yes!
Well done to you all & Austria for winning.
See you on the boards
Ally
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