|
GUPPY END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Ally Bain [EGS]
Started: 4th April 2002
Finished: 15th July 2002 (Autumn 1913)
Result: France win
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Result | | Austria | Andrew Rassweiler | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated (1908) | | England | Jason De Boer | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Survived (1 SC) | | France | Sean Timoney | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 16 | Won (16 SC - Vote) | | Germany | Walter De Oude | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated (1909) | | Italy | Jeff Grzybowski | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated (1911) | | Russia | Jarred Jacobs | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated (1906) | | Turkey | Mark Wegner | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 17 | 17 | Survived (17 SC) |
AUSTRIA (Andrew Rassweiler) This game made me doubt that Italy has any chance of winning a no press game against competent opponents. Everything that could have broken his way did.
1) He had a perfect, crippling stab on me where he took two supply centers in one turn.
2) France and Germany offered no aggression for the first 5 years.
3) Russia and Turkey remained deadlocked for the first three years.
I don't blame Italy for his loss, his playing was impressive. Sadly it seems that there is no way for Italy to make inroads on Austria in a no press game like this. The only way I could have been crippled more quickly would have been if I had been under more persistent attack from Russia and/or Turkey. Though this would have certainly speeded my demise, it seems likely that Russia or Turkey would have snapped up the remaining supply centers, leaving Italy in even worse trouble.
In sum; I take my hat off to you Italy, but think you were stuck with a lost cause.
I take some of the blame for Turkey running us over though. I talked too much trash about revenge in the early game so it was almost impossible for us to start cooperating when Russia was broken and the immediate danger became apparent. When Italy backed out of Tri in spring 1905 I hoped it was a prelude to peace but alas, there was no way to get from war to cooperation.
Cheers everyone, congratulations France,
AndyReturn to Top
ENGLAND (Jason De Boer) Well, as this was my first Gunboat game, I'm just happy I managed to survive. Thanks of course to Ally for GMing.
I don't really like playing England: seems if you don't attack France, a lot of the time you can butt your head up against a brick wall for a while without getting anywhere. Anyway, such is life - that's why you need to play countries you're not good at - to get better.
I attempted to signal to France that co-operation was in order by staying out of ENG in Spring 1901. France acceded by slipping into MAO and leaving it there while taking Spa and Por with his armies. I tried to convoy to Bel - but, as Germany had the same idea, it was a bounce and I only picked up Nwy.
Looking like I was getting nowhere, I decided to cut myself a piece of the Russian carcass and went into BAR in 1902. Much to my disgust, I didn't get a build - France stabbed by entering IRI and it was essentially game over for me from here. Germany and France started attacking each other - I picked up St P but the rest of the early game was centred around trying to dislodge France from my home SC's so I could build.
France got into ENG in 1904, but Germany was in Gascony. In the east, it was Turkey clearly dominating the board - Russia had fallen apart. Germany seemed to be in control with 8 centres to France's 6, but was disrupted by Russia coming over from War through Pru. The German NMR in 1905 effectively handed France the balance of power in the West - Germany lost 4 units, and France picked up 3!
1906 saw Germany reappear, but the damage was done - I was unable to assist him as I was frantically rushing around the board trying to regain some SC's. Turkey, meanwhile, gobbled up Russia and Austria (down to one unit in 1907). Austria was out in 1908 and Germany out in 1909 - he couldn't prevent France taking Mun and Den in 1908 and after that quickly crumbled. Italy was attacked from both sides after that and the stalemate line was set up with my pesky holding out for one more turn before death - I am intriuged to find out how Turkey could've voted for a French win though - seemed pretty dead to me, which was why I voted for all three EGP's.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for playing - only one NMR is great. Thanks to Ally and I hope to see you all again soon (incognito or not)!
JasonReturn to Top
FRANCE (Sean Timoney) For France, nothing much happened until Autumn 1902. The feint into the Med was a great help to Turkey as Italy rushed back from the East. France's volte face in the Med committed her to a war with England, which defended fiercely right to the end. Thank you, England.
Germany was doing very well and seeing France pre-occupied with England, concentrated all its efforts against France, leaving Turkey to gobble up a collapsing Russia. Germany's NMR in Autumn 1905 was a godsend for France, putting her in serious contention for the first time with nine centres against Turkey's eight. France still had a major struggle ahead with a still strong Germany and England, while Turkey was rampant with Russia in collapse and Austria and Italy both in trouble and at each other's throats. Then France really slipped, letting Germany into Burgundy and neglecting to order a retreat. This was a severe setback, but then Germany collapsed in Spring 1909 with no retreats ordered for A(Par) or F(Kie).
The winning strategy for France was decided on in Spring 1908. The plan was to take and hold the line from Tunis though Switzerland to St. Petersburg against Turkey while trying to contain and eliminate Germany and England. Because of the demands of the war against Germany and England, it was decided to abandon Tunis to Italy in Autumn 1909. The hope was that Italy, keeping this supply centre, would then be strong enough to resist Turkey's advance into the Western Med until fleets were available to hold it. The thanks France got for that was an Italian army in Piedmont and a stab into Munich!
Italy's collapse was much faster than expected and the rush was on to retake Tunis and to build the wall. This was done on JIT (Just in Time) principles. By Autumn 1911, the wall looked pretty good but there were some severe problems. If England took Holland and attacked Kiel, Berlin would fall to a Turkish attack. This was covered by F(Den) to BAL and fortunately the English fleet went to London and its eventual fate.. The other problem was that Marseilles needed a fleet and not an army to defend against F(Tus) and F(TYS) supporting F(Pie) to GoL.
All the efforts to get A(Mar)-Pie and sacrifice it for a fleet failed. A new strategy depended on building a fleet in Marseilles in Autumn 1914 and a general reshuffle. It meant leaving Marseilles completely empty and open to attack from Piedmont. Luckily, Turkey fluffed its move of a fleet to Piedmont. The shuffle could now be delayed until Spring and an army was built in Brest, with risk reduced to almost zero. I would like to know if this worked to plan. If it did, St. Petersburg was doomed to fall in Autumn 1916, with a forced victory for France. It is interesting to observe that there was virtually no direct contact between Turkey and France throughout the game.
I enjoyed the game thoroughly. It may have looked a bit boring at the end to everyone else, but for me it was on a knife-edge right to the end. England played a great defence and was really hard to contain with the units that could be spared from the wall.
Thanks to everyone and especially to Ally who really kept the game moving. I hope you enjoyed the game. You thoroughly deserved to, for all the hard work you put in.
SeanReturn to Top
GERMANY (Walter De Oude) Firstly, sorry that I didn't submit an EGS on time. Silly Summer Season does huge damage to ones ongoing obligations!
As for Guppy - Well, as Germany, things started out ok. I was all set for 3 builds in A01, but the silly Brit bounced me out of Bel. This really pissed me off, and so I secretly vowed to make him pay. That was the first secret vow I made. I made a few more later on, but then it is difficult following up on a vow made if you are dead! OH, well.
For the next 4 years, things progressed pretty amicably. Everyone hates me and I hate everyone. My general game plan was Diaspora (yes, in fact the Germans were the originators of the Disapora concept at the turn of the century). I moved in every direction to get a piece of the pie. Some success in Scandinavia, and some strategic advantage in France.
However, my ability to capitalise on my sound position gained in 1903 was hampered my my total lack of intelligence, common sense or logical ability. Instead of consolidating on growth in a sensible fashion, I gambled on what France would do. It didn't work, and I left myself an open back door and had passed the advantage to France.
My NMR in 1905 was not my fault. It was the bloody Asians. Being away on a week holiday for the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens cost me all I had left in the game! Not only did I have to remove 2 units, but the units that I had left were so poorly positioned, that my survival was as likely a payout on a 2010 Enron share option.
Oh, well, better luck next time.
Walt
Return to Top
ITALY (Jeff Grzybowski) Well, I would first like to congradulate France on his/her solo win. I personally think it should have been a F/T draw but maybe that's just me.
Anyways onto my view of the game. This was my first time ever playing Italy and I knew Italy was one of those countries that typically grew slowly. I decided to push it and grab my first SC in the usual way by convoying to Tun. Then I convoyed straight to Alb to capture Gre and help my northern armies take Tri and possibly Vie. I ended up getting stalemated by Austria and we went back and forth for a few seasons until Russia and Turkey moved in on Austria and took it out from the backside. By then it was too late for me to actually help Austria stay in the game but I tried nonetheless. My thinking was that if Austria fell to elimination it wouldn't be too long after that Turkey could squash me. That's exactly what happened. It only took 6 more seasons before Turkey and France eliminated me from 6 units down to 0. It was a fun game and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Thank you Ally for GM'ing for us.
Cheers,
JeffReturn to Top
TURKEY (Mark Wegner) Well, I have to happy with how I ended up in this game when I look back to Fall '01: I had a Russian fleet in Ankara. Still, I made some mistakes in the midgame that ended up costing me the game.
Specifically, I was too cautious in the Mediterranean. I didn't look at the stalemate lines early enough, and I got caught without Tunis. I knew that France would have no trouble kicking me out of St. Pete eventually, and that I was gaining no ground on him,
so I proposed a France victory.
Congradulations to France. You played very well, but to be honest I still would have rolled to victory if Germany hadn't NMRed in Fall '05. Still, you never panicked and rolled into the endgame very smoothly.
England too deserves some kudos. You seemed down for the count very early, but you kept fighting. Admirable indeed.
I'm not sure what happened to Russia. After he outguessed me in the first year, nothing he did seemed to work. Sorry about that, but I suppose your loss is my gain.
Austria is simply not a country you want to play in a gunboat game. To be honest, Austria isn't a country I want to play in any game. You went the way of countless other Austrians, but again you kept fighting.
Italy, you had me rather frightened for a while with your fleets in the Med, but Austria held you off while Russia collapsed under my pressure. Eventually I simply outnumbered you so badly that there wasn't anything you could do. Your early pushes east, however, kept me paranoid about keeping your fleets away, which led me holding off on Tunis until I had control of everything east of it. By that time, as I said, France had me bottlenecked.
Germany, you looked so strong. Why did you have to go and NMR? I could have won if you and France had balanced each other for a bit longer. Well, that's just part of PBM games, I guess.
All in all, a very enjoyable game. Ally, you performed wonderfully in your first dip2000 GM outing.
Thanks, everyone.
Mark "Abd al-Hamid" WegnerReturn to Top
GM (Ally Bain) As you probably know, this was my first GM game on Dip2000. What really made me enjoy the game was not that part but simply the fact that you, players, made the game a good contest. Either way, well done Sean!
You all played, in my opinion the 'human' rule. As you know I often use the phase, 'it's not over until the fat lady sings'. I think Mark was able to show how it can work. We all know his early moves compared to others however we moved from a bad area to almost winning the game.
You may be surprised to find Walt was Germany & he NMRd. At the moment, he is on holiday & was unable to send an EGS. Simply, he went on holiday & thought he had sent the moves in. Walt & others, you will probably have a laugh at me, as I will mention the thoughts I was having when he NMRd.
Knowing that he is a GM & I was on his list I thought, oh hell. After a while I realised NMRs are out of order & too hell with my comments. When he got back from his holiday, he wrote & explained the reason, which sadly was due to go on the 'press' but like an idiot I deleted the file.
As said before, I do not like NMR however an incident happen last week in a game I am GMing on a different site. This week, the player's father sent me a message. His son was involved in an accident & is still in hospital. The player asked his father to apologise for 'letting us down' & handing proxies to other players. Needless to say, I have delayed the game until he is back & equally sent his father a message saying he has not let us down & to tell him to get better. Together with that, I found out on the same day, my son, Graeme, is about to lose his uncle due to cancer. Working with Essex Police, I, on the same day, had to watch two videos, which containing two people dieing due to road accidents. The following is something I have sent to other people:
Life is far more important than everything! Sometimes we are victims but also we do silly things, if not stupid. Our actions can put our life into danger. Not only are you losing yourself but also equally important, those around you, who enjoy you, are losing a valuable person. Do not do it for you & them!
PLEASE TAKE CARE
AllyReturn to Top
|