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MARBLED HATCHETFISH END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Ally Bain [EGS]
Started: 11th December 2002
Finished: 28th August 2003
Result: Four-way draw
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | Result | | Austria | Chris Lepetit | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Anarchy | | England | Henrik Lublin | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 10 | Draw | | France | Jacques Breton | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | Draw | | Germany | Pierre Magnus | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 7 | Draw | | Italy | Elliot Reed | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Anarchy | | Russia | Neil Brass | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated | | Turkey | Pete Younger | 5 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 10 | Draw |
ENGLAND (Henrik Lublin) I have decided to rename this game to "The Game of Lost Oppertunities". I had a very good chance for a solo-win but I blew it. You are all welcome to mock me. I will not be offended but know this: I will never make this mistake again. At least not unitl my next game ;-)
Well - I played England and I tried to convince G and F that the three of us should form an alliance and head east. Strangely enough I succeeded and was able to get two builds that first year. Our Alliance seemed to work and there was no reason to break it up so yearly in the game. The only place I could get some new SC's without attacking G or F was in Scandinavia and here I ran into R. I had some interestings talks with R but I decided that I would rather have a strong G than a strong R. If G moved his forces east I would be safe. So Neil, I am sincerely sorry that I dubble-stabbed you and I do understand if you are eager to get even with me in another game.
When I look at game now I realise that I had some real good oppertunities to attack G and F in the early years. But if I had done it and crippled the Western Alliance the Juggernaut could easily conquer Eastern Europe and when the Juggernaut start rolling it is a formidable opponent.
My biggest problem was to convince G and F that I would NOT attack them if they moved East and left me alone in my corner. The obvious Juggernaut help me a lot at this stage. G and I succeeded in invading R and I landed a couple of armies in Stp nc and headed south.
There was some roumors going on that G and F was the same person but I don't believe it. I had some really funny talks with G and he even gave me carte blanche to attack France which I eventually did. I suspect that F was under great influence from T and they formed an alliance (it didn't last but the Western Alliance fell apart). The teamwork with G was excellent. When I helped him take a new SC he would let me take one in the west. The plan was to create a draw between the two of us and
possible F or T. I think our tactics helped to confuse our opponents so they was not sure if G and I was working together or not. In fact I was able to collect a lot of helpful information on how to proceed in the East.
When R was eliminated he Neil asked me why I didn't attack G. The reason is that I feared the Juggernaut. I belive the cooperation between R and T was extremely close. They had a lot of trust between them which became obvious when they arranged to dislodge a Russian fleet in Bulgaria. T tried to deny their intentions but from this point I deceided to stick with G as far as we could get.
I had one golden oppertunity to attack G. I could have taken three SC's from him and that would have been the end for G. If I had done it T would have marched into Central Europe and could not have been stopped. So I figured "Why exchange a good ally for a strong Turkey".
I had come to a standstill in Russia and needed to go elsewhere to get new SC's. I have always fancied french redwine so I thought "Why not". I talked to G and it was okay with him. I suspect that G agreed so I would not attck him. We agreed that G would be passive and try to gather information about the French moves which worked fine (sorry Pierre if I cause you any trouble be revealing this). With the info from G I was able to outguess the French moves and quickly gain a beachhead in France. Fortunately F had almost only fleets so the invasion was rather easy.
I have to admit that I am not pleased with the 4-way draw but that is my own fault. I could just have turned it down.
I would like to thank you all for playing this game. I have learned some important lessons and it was fun. Hope to see you in another game some time in the future.
Neil: Thank you for your fun mails and I am sorry about the stab. I did not dare trust you after I took Sweden. I was afraid of your desire to get even. Maybe I was wrong.
Pierre: Thanks for a great game and a good temawork. We almost did it. Good luck in your newly formed marriage.
Pete: Sorry we never got to talk much. Are you really sure this was your first game ???
Chris: Sorry about your mom loosing her job. I hope everything is okay.
Elliot: I was a shame you were thrown into anarchy. Your lack of presence in the Med was a shame and you could have made a difference in soften up the two big alliances in this game.
Jacques: Sorry for the stab but we were in a deadlock and I needed to break out. It was not personal, you were just closest ;-)
Ally. Thank you for your time spent on this game and all your funny comments. It helped lift the game a bit.Return to Top
RUSSIA (Neil Brass) My apologies in advance for the quality of this endgame statement, as it is my first. (Typically my FTF Diplomacy endgame statements are profanity filled rants, and that didn't seem appropriate here.)
Spring 1901
My fate may have been sealed when I moved into both Gal and BLA successfully, which may have looked like the moves of a skilled Diplomacy player rather than what they were--a little diplomacy, a little luck, and a little blunder by Austria. While the move to BLA was agreed upon in advance with Turkey, the move to Gal was designed to bounce with Austria. Based on communications with him, I thought he would be coming straight at me, and certainly not leave himself open.
Autumn 1901
Because of my quick success in the Balkans, and Austria figuring he was up against a Juggernaught (correctly), he quickly bailed. This may have caused England and Germany to decide that life was too good for Russia. Or maybe Germany just really wanted Sweden, and didn't like me bouncing him.
The terms of the Juggernaught were quite simple, in my opinion: Turkey and Russia would stick together until 3 other countries were eliminated. We made the agreement assuming Austria and Italy would form a stiffer resistence than they did. When Austria went NMR and it become clear to everyone that Italy wasn't playing all that well, the Juggernaught became even more of a perceived threat. Either that, or players were sick of my contant emails. To-may-to, to-mah-to.
Spring 1902
It was somewhere around this time that I started to wonder if France and Germany were one and the same player, because they were coordinating moves so well, they both were using hotmail accounts, and people who live in Dallas, TX have a long and distinguished history of conspiracy theories. I had hoped Germany would maintain our agreed upon DMZ a little longer, so I could've shifted forces north to deal with England, but I failed in my diplomacy miserably. Germany and England then began a very well coordinated assault upon me, and Russia was doomed.
Autumn 1902
My favorite move of the game (although it really didn't have much affect long term) was moving my northern fleet on the accurate prediction that Germany would try to cut my support, so Germany would not get the build in Sweden in 1902, and this also allowed me to annoy him in Berlin the next season. However, grey and pink continued to move in on me.
Spring 1903
I change jobs and go into the hospital, which really limitted my diploming that season. Germany and England take no pity on me.
Autumn 1903
I messed up my disbands order, leaving a useless northern fleet instead of a southern army. I take no pity on myself.
Spring 1904
England moves towards France, which I've been begging for him to do since the start of the game. (Actually, I didn't care who attacked who in the west, just so long as it would slow up the E/G monster.) Too little too late to do me any good against Germany, though.
Autumn 1904
Russia bows out, giving longtime ally Turkey the heads up that Rum will be available.
I still continue to question why England didn't stab Germany in Autumn 1904. He could've easily gained 3 builds, Germany would've lost 1 build, Russia would've lost 1 build, and France would not be able to do much harm.
Spring 1905
Despite Ally's protest, I really think that Fleet(Nowhere)->Oblivion was a valid move.
The game resulting in a draw does not surprise me, and I'm glad Ally revised his decision and allowed Turkey to share in the draw. It doesn't look like much, but I'm quite proud of my .01 Eagle points.
Regards my fellow heads of state:
Chris (Austria): You were my first target, but really didn't stick around long enough for me to take any satisfaction in your quick demise.
Henrik (England): I wish you the best of luck with the challenge of raising a daughter. I don't think I will ever understand why you didn't stab Germany in Autumn 1904, but may be able to stop dwelling on it in a few years.
Jacques (France): Or are you really Pierre? Anyway, congratulations on making it to the draw and being able to survive an English invasion.
Pierre (Germany): Or are you really Jacques? I really had no intention of violating our DMZ until after securing Scandenavia, so you would've been safe for a good long while if you had decided to move west instead of east. I have no clue whether you used booze or women to keep Henrik from stabbing you, but whatever your bribe, it was a good one.
Italy (Elliot): While it no doubt sucks to be Italy when France is gunning for you, the collapse of Austria should've made your life a little easier and I've got to think you didn't need to go NMR.
Pete (Turkey): While the Juggernaught did not work out at all (and perhaps did me more harm than good), I'd have no hesitation about making the alliance with you again. Your emails (both MH related and non-MH related) were interesting and amusing, and the diploming you did after I had left the game was a wonder to behold.
Final note to Ally: Thank you for your patience and quick adjucation. You did a fine job with the game which I truly appreciate.
Take care all!
NeilReturn to Top
TURKEY (Pete Younger) Marbled Hatchet (MH) was my first email Diplomacy. Despite finishing as joint largest power I under-achieved throughout the game. Turkey (T) couldn't have asked for a more helpful start than a good rapport with R and uncommitted play from both the other neighbouring powers (A & I). I didn't make the most of those opportunities - but in the end I was grateful to escape with a draw after my careless NMR in the final season.
I was concerned not to grow too quickly and make myself a common target for all the other powers. Neil and I agreed on an elaborate elimination of his R Black Sea fleet to remove any potential distrust between us. In retrospect this was a mistake because we had a strong relationship anyway - and time was now pressing with the three western powers (E G & F) moving eastwards. Also I had to deny accusations from E G & F who spotted that it was only a 'phony war' with R. This (minor) deception meant that unfortunately I couldn't later present myself as entirely honest in all my dealings in the game.
During MH I was plagued by problems with my email account which meant some messages were repeatedly sent - and more seriously a few others didn't get sent at all. The resulting NMR in 1903 was annoying for everybody of course but also slowed my own progress west into the defenceless Italy. After this delay I couldn't realistically exclude F from the Italian mainland as I had planned. This effectively ended any slim ambitions I might have had of an outright win.
From the start I had been convinced that Jacques and Pierre as F and G were going to form a natural alliance in MH. And so it proved - no hostilities between them happened at any stage. Even after R had been eliminated by E & G (when F was ostensibly working with me to hold off a joint attack) F was allowed to hold onto Vie as an enclave within G's territory!
What I hadn't anticipated was that this cosy relationship would also include E. The western powers maintained a non-aggression pact throughout the game. None of the three ever seriously attacked the others even when it was clearly in their short and long term interests to do so. At the very end of the game E had F at his mercy but kindly chose to knock off his SCs one by one - F responded by attacking me. Other instances include F's refusal to use plans I suggested to first of all pre-empt E's 'attack' and then to hold it off.
But the most glaring example of ignoring self-interest was E's refusal in Autumn 1904 to crush G who was horribly exposed having sent all his units east in his vendetta against Neil. To an outsider G's trust in his ally seemed suicidal and it is remarkable that Pierre's faith was rewarded by E's mercy. Henrik had played very astutely until then and could surely have gone on to an easy 18 SCs had he made a decisive move.
Because the alliances were so deeply entrenched (T & R, E & F & G) diploming was rather limited in MH. I worked hard to undermine the western alliance but achieved nothing except to irritate Pierre. Latterly it became obvious that all messages were promptly forwarded to the other partners so I cc:ed my emails to all three. At least it gave me opportunities to tease them in public.
Towards the end the play of all three opponents (G trusting E, E refusing to win, F refusing my co-operation) became rather frustrating and I proposed the four way draw. I was surprised that Henrik voted for the draw from a position which was still very strong for him.
If all this sounds negative then I must make clear that I enjoyed MH and learned a lot. It was conducted in good spirit and I look forward to keeping an eye on everyone's illustrious future careers in Diplomacy. My alliance with Neil became very friendly and I'm sure we'll continue to correspond (on subjects as varied as hedgehogs and Lance Armstrong).
Many thanks to all the players and to Ally for giving up his time to conduct MH and to everybody involved in the Diplomacy 2000 site.
Cheers
PeteReturn to Top
GM (Ally Bain) I thought the game was going to be very good later in the seasons but an early draw it became.
Either way, well done on the draw & see you around.
AllyReturn to Top
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