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TINFOIL BARB END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Ally Bain [EGS]
Started: 15th February 2004
Finished: 15th June 2004
Result: France won
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | Result | | Austria | Stephen Custance-Baker | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | Survived | | England | Shawn O'Driscoll | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Anarchy | | France | Carl Hanich | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 14 | Won | | Germany | Charlie Carabine | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Eliminated | | Italy | James Barrington-Brown | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | Survived | | Russia | James Pawley | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 | Survived | | Turkey | Simon Berry | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | Survived |
FRANCE (Carl Hanich) Well this was my first game on Dip2000 but my early naivety and timidness ended up giving me an edge as both England and Germany attacked Russia. Thanks Ally for answering my questions and your professional GMing.
I didn't realise until later (by reading more gunboat articles) that leaving ENG empty France and England were supposedly signalling an alliance. I wanted 5 SC by 1901 and didn't want the Germans in Bur. But by being timid, I let the Germans get very strong on my eastern border, so I thought my best option was to head north with my two fleets leaving my three armies to defend Germany while Italy was busy with Austria and England was busy attacking Russia. This strategy seemed to work as I managed to take Lpl in 1903 to get to 6 SC but I let the Germans into ENG and the Italians moved into WMS and Pie. At this stage I honestly thought that I would be an early casualty.
But luckily the Turks came and threatened Italy so they headed back east and the German fleet in ENG went rather surprisingly to Pic rather than causing havoc in MAO which gave me a defensive line again. Also England were doomed and decided to go into Anarchy which enabled me to take Edi and get to 7 SC by 1904 with only one front against Germany as Austria was making inroads into Italy. Germany also had 7 SCs but decided to use three units to fight the Russians which stopped them from coming round via the NWG. I easily started making inroads east in 1905 at which point I knew that I couldn't lose as the rest couldn't communicate to effectively stop my march and I was using my builds to go towards Italy.
Regards
Carl P. HanichReturn to Top
GERMANY (Charlie Carabine) I was the second of two casualties in this game. And I was sooooo close to pulling it off too. Good Job to my largest oppenent, France, and also to my other "friend" Russia. My collapse came at a convient time. I was about to accomplish what almost none never could, fight a war on two fronts.
Had I hung in there for another year, I'm confident I wouldn've been in Moscow and Sevastopl, and that would've been the downfall of mighty France. Due to England's Anarchy, my stab into Russia quickly turned into a war, dragging me deeper into the pit of despair.
My agressive tactics, would have worked, if not for a few spelling errors, and left out pieces in my orders. Some of these I don't know what happened. For example the disaster in '05 which was the main reason for my subsequent collapse.
I hope to meet up with you later France, next time you wont be so lucky!
Charlie CarabineReturn to Top
ITALY (James Barrington-Brown) Italy is always a difficult country to play at the best of times and I was disappointed when it was the country selected for me on my second game here on Dip2000.
I started in spring with a Lepanto opening and signalled friendship (falsely I admit) by supporting Austria with my army in Ven. I then planned a pincer movement, with Ven invading Trieste and invading Albania from the sea. This was a very high risk strategy resulting in either swift defeat of Austria or a dead end game for me following no first year builds. Well, unfortunately it was the later. Austria didn't trust me and rather than going for the multi-build by taking Greece, he retreated to Tri bouncing both my armies and leaving me looking, well, a little stupid.
Next I tried the traditional attack on Austria by moving armies to Tyr and Ven. This can never work unless Austria is being pressured from elsewhere and as Turkey and Russia were quite happy distracting each other in the Black sea, I knew I was onto a looser. So, seeing that France was heading towards England, I thought I would liven up my life by switching fronts to the west. Again, fate was cruel, with England going into Anarchy, France was not troubled by my puny attack and with both Austria and Turkey on my home turf in A04, I had to sail for home. I think I did quite well to kick out both sets of invaders and to even build in A06, but with Germany also NMRing and collapsing, it left France no option except to come into the med and mess up my western front. With no opposition to France, not even from Russia in the North, it was obvious that they were going to win. Luckily the EGP was voted just before the move that I was to loose all three of my remaining centres, so I think I can claim to not have been eliminated. :o)
Thanks to the other players for playing and to Ally for GMing.Return to Top
RUSSIA (James Pawley) This was my first game on this site, and having only played diplomacy a few times previously (and never with all countries involved), I was not sure what to expect.
With Germany England and Myself moving into Scandinavia in 1901 I could see problems quickly arising. I was surprised to reach the black sea and even more so to take Ankara. What appeared to be a good steal was (with hindsight) not the greatest move. I began to think that splitting my force may have been a bad plan.
Germany appeared to be offering a truce, allowing me to focus my energies on the south. The weakness of my split force rapidly became apparent. Losing my capital and Ankara, combined with simple (read “idiot”) mistakes – I was looking at a quick exit. . . Only one of my closest enemies going into anarchy could save me. . .
… Once England had obligingly dropped out of existence and a brief scuffle with Germany had been resolved, (during which I lost my capital, again) I seemed to gain a little breathing room. This would have been greater had I ordered all of the builds I was entitled to. Undoubtedly this was my biggest mistake, and one I repeated later on. Had I played with a full complement, I may have been able to avoid the messy fight that ensued with Austria and Turkey, oppose France and possibly even force a draw. Ooops.
All in all it was a messy performance with too many mistakes that I would hope not to repeat again. I would like to thank Ally for his patience when dealing with my sometimes less than perfect orders. I am looking forward to playing in more games. I also walk away knowing a lot more about playing as Russia.
James PawleyReturn to Top
TURKEY (Simon Berry) 1901: I began the game with the intention of getting out of my corner as soon as possible. In gunboat, there are only two viable options - to attack Russia or to ally with Russia and dismember Austria as quickly as possible to generate the builds needed to reach across the Med to Italy and, ideally, beyond. I decided to ally with Russia and that proved to be an exercise in futility. The Russian opening to BLA was neither a surprise, nor a source of concern. With Austria in Gal and England lining up convoy to Nor, I was confident that Russia would decide that wars on two fronts were enough and that attacking Turkey would result in a war on three fronts. The Autumn move to Ank came as an unwelcome surprise and, ultimately, I never recovered from this set back.
1902-1903: this was a case of trying hard to make some progress against Italy, but continually being held back by Russia's attacks. I ended up reaching Italy and was ultimately forced to turn back. With the benefit of hindsight my inability to gain and hold the stalemate line around Tun and the Italian mainland contributed as much as the English anarchy to France's win.
1904 - 1906: with England in anarchy and a valiant Germany collapsing under the sheer weight of the forces ranged against him, it was obvious that France would race to victory unless there was a very strong effort to throw up a stalemate line. In standard diplomacy this should have been achievable. In gunboat, it would be very difficult and I had very little hope of succeeding.
1907 - game end: I tried to do what I could to move my units into position to stop the blue tide from sweeping across Europe. Italy and Austria appeared to have similar ideas. Russia kept attacking me and ignored the French advance. Recognising the inevitable, I put up a proposal for a win to France in the last few seasons.
Congratulations to France for a game well played. I don't think that the English anarchy should detract from the quality of your win. It was very much a case of one western power achieving dominance while the Eastern side of the board were still in conflict and unable to present a unified response. Kudos to Austria, Italy and Germany for going down fighting. Russia's play remained something of an enigma to me for the entire game - some of Russia's moves showed daring and focus, others left me somewhat bewildered. I look forward to reading the EGS's of the other players. My own play was quite ordinary and my misguided attempts to ally with Russia proved to be the cause of Turkey's undoing.
Many thanks to Ally for his prompt and friendly GMing without which this game would not have been possible.
Cheers
SimonReturn to Top
GM (Ally Bain) As you should have gathered by now is that I have GMd many Gunboat games & did organise 'Admiral' Gunboat Competition. Having GMd quite a few 'GUNBOAT' games (not regular players) I wasn't planning to do this one, simply for too many anarchies in the others. Seeing too many players waiting, I decided to GM it & having done so, I'm really pleased I did. Yes, anarchy did arrive but not as many as in the others.
In short, well done to you all for the game & those who didn't go into anarchy will be told when 'Admiral' Gunboat Competition 2004 starts. At a guess, that will probably be August as Victory (the final for 'Admiral' 03) is still being played.
As said before, the stats I do for Gunboat have the openings & result shown. I also have written a few articles about Gunboat games. The address is; http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/alb_gsb/diplomacy.htm
See you soon.
Ally Return to Top
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