|
DIAGORAS END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Andy Scott [EGS]
Started: 28 November, 2005
Finished: 23 April, 2006 (Autumn 1904)
Result: Four way draw between England, Germany, Italy and Russia
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | Result | | Austria | Marco Pedraglio | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated (A04) | | England | Pieter de Wilde | 4 | 6 | 6 | 0 | Drew | | France | Neil Brass | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | Survived | | Germany | Eelco van Duijnhoven | 5 | 7 | 8 | 0 | Drew | | Italy | Niilo Sevsnen | 5 | 7 | 7 | 0 | /Drew | | Russia | Mattias Persson | 5 | 6 | 7 | 0 | Drew | | Turkey | Nick Phin | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | Survived |
AUSTRIA (Marco Pedraglio) The fall of Austria!
This was one of my first game with Austria and I made a big mistake! Don't use a Key Lepanto if you don't know well Italy's player and how he plays.
AT the start my proposal was a Key Lepanto with Italy, no war with Russia. To mask it I ask to Nilo and Mattias to move as we are at war. But Nilo likes Trieste and decides to stay...
I ask help to Mattias but he stabbed me too...
Two stabs is better that one, isn't it?
Thanks to all! This is an enjoy game for me only the ending was not so good :)
Marco
Return to Top
ENGLAND (Pieter de Wilde) Indeed as our game master noted: a very quick end. As I found myself looking at a french fleet in the channel after the first adjudication, I wondered wether this would be a very short game for me indeed. Eelco (Germany) noted he had never cooperated well with other fellow dutchmen so things were looking bleak. However, there turned out te be a reason why Eelco is so successful on the Dip2000 website. He proved to be a very able negotiater. I put all my hopes on creating an alliance with him. At the same time three-way negotiations with France were under way to engage in a triple alliance. In the end I guess Eelco and I just communicated more often and thus managed to establish a basic trust on which to build. Also, that French fleet in the channel and that French army in Burgundy weren't helping Neil's case.
Eelco and I agreed we would both have to make a decisive agressive move against both France and Russia at the same time in order for our alliance to work. We both held our promisses and cooperation from then onwards was very smooth. Thanks Eelco for being such a strong partner! After a while I started to feel like the junior partner in this alliance as Eelco had far more contact with the other players and usually came up with concrete tactical proposals before I did. Persuasions to stab him from other players were only half-heartedly and I just didn't feel like stabbing.
Nearing what proved to be the final stages of the game, my attention was on France. I was willing to start the triple alliance after all, but he understandably decided against it. This created a stalemateline in the south. Northern expansion wasn't able either. This meant that the game for me was practically over. I guess the one who could have made a gamble for the solo was Niilo. Probably, he went along with the draw to be able to spend time with his new born child.
Thanks all for playing. Eelco: you were great to be in an alliance with. Niilo: good luck (and lots of fun) with your upcomming baby. The rest of you: good luck in future games! Next time, I think I'll chose a central power again. It's just more negotiation fun!
Kind regards,
Pieter
Return to Top
FRANCE (Neil Brass) "How are we doing?"
"Same as always."
"That bad, huh?"
--Return of the Jedi
I tried to maintain civil relationships will all of my neighbors, with the intention of stabbing England immediately and working with Germany to eliminate him. This went perfectly well, except I accidently stabbed Germany at the same time.
At one point I thought that Germany and I would bounce in Bur, but then sent in new orders overriding those. Instead of replying to emails from Andy as I had done originally, I used the old address from my email--which was TOO old. I didn't really think about how I didn't get receipts until it was too late.
At this point, I attempted to do what I could to recover my relationship with Germany, but that didn't go so well, thus the slow collapse of France began.
The good news was that while France was collapsing, Austria and Turkey were doing same at a much faster rate, so that the growth of Russia and Italy concerned E/G. This allowed me to get into a better position in the south, and then I was able to work with Italy to setup a strong stalemate line. Italy and I had been talking throughout, though really we did very little to help each other up until the final few seasons.
I'm quite happy to have survived after my blunder in Bur.
Thanks to all the players, but especially to my neighbors Pieter, Eelco, and Nilo. Sometimes you were great allies, others not so much, but all 3 of you kept me entertained with your emails. Special thanks also to Andy for running the game.
Take care, all!
Return to Top
GERMANY (Eelco van Duijnhoven) Diagoras - or, game over in 3 seasons.....
Diagoras was my 10th 'normal' game on the site, but not the most memorable one or maybe as the shortest game I participated in. I didn't know any of the other players except for Nick, who I had met in a game ftf on a tournament in Utrecht last year. So he was the only one I knew just a little bit about. The others were all new faces to me, and off course I checked on how they had been doing on dip2000. Naturally I kept an open mind. Having drawn Germany it was interesting to find Pieter, another fellow dutchman, having been assigned England. From the other EGS's I concluded he could be a loyal ally, but the same also applied to Neil who drew France. I let early correspondence and proceedings decide who I thought would be the better ally for my position. Having said that I do have a little nudge for an F/G vs E, as England always poses a threat later on for France and Germany (maybe even more to Germany) because of his fleets. But then again, with a good ally this should not be an issue.
I'm going to focus on the first 3 seasons as the game was actually over right after. So, both France and England corresponded regularly and in a pleasant way. Early messages never resulted in a heated discussion about DMZ's, spheres of influences or disputable claims. Only France suggested Belgium should be his in an F/G-partnership, but I left the issue open. Anyway, after the first flurry of messages I increased the pressure on France a bit with suggesting to him an F/G should profit a lot more if we took initiative from the start, meaning he should open to the Channel. I'm not sure but I thought Neil was not opposed to the idea but he never committed to it in his messages to me. But that's allright.... We also arranged a DMZ of Bur and at the end of S01 I thought everything in the west appeared to be okay and maybe even a bit promising.
Elsewhere on the board Italy and Russia were in the hands of 2 scandinavian players. I'm not sure if other players were wary of 2 dutch guys in England and Germany, but I confess that Niilo and Mattias had my attention from the start. Maybe this also had something to do with my last game where Italy and Russia had ruled the board.... Anyway, I made a big effort to try to keep on their good side and I think I did pretty well concerning Niilo, with Mattias things were okay initially as well, but German and Russian coordination after the early seasons is not seen much. Still, I tried to convince him it could be done. In between them there was Marco, an Italian guy. I really tried to get a good thing going with him as Austrian well being is not a bad thing for any Germany. It was difficult and I always had this feeling Marco focused more on the eastern players than discuss things with me. Have to say he was always very prompt with his replies! In his first seasons messages he always told me that there was a deal here and there... And this leaves Nick as Turkey. Sadly, it was hard to get hold of him most of the times, but then again Turkey probably wanted to focus his attention on his direct neighbours and I thought that could be the case here. So, at the end of S01 I thought things appeared to be okay in the east as well...
Bring on the adjudication.... oh my.... France in ENG, but also in Bur??? Italy in Tri???....what happened? Neil immediately wrote me and explained about a hiccup in orders and that the move to Bur was a stupid mistake. Okay, I was inclined to believe him, especially as I never got word Neil claimed a similar thing with his move to the Channel. Marco assured me the move to Tri was part of a deal, but I just couldn't believe Italy would follow through and tried to convince Marco about it. It just seems I never really got through to him. Quite naturally I was worried and the moves only enhanced my fears about an I/R scandinavian partnership. Because of this I felt the need to sort our the western mess as soon as possible fearing a quick carve up of Austria. I threw a lot of ideas to France and kept my messages with Pieter friendly, which was no problem because of the French weird set of moves in spring 1901. Pieter was only concerned with defending his homeland while grabbing at least 1 build (Nwy). There was no need to try anything for Bel as France had ENG, Pic and Bur allready lined up to take it by force anyway. I mentioned this to Neil and that he was free to retreat Bur again, not needing it to take Bel.... but while Pieter feared France to move at him even more, France feared E/G were combining to try to outsmart him from his only possible build (Bel). So he just could not agree to any decent or crazy F/G plan to attack England. A real shame because if there was really an I/R, with Neil's reluctance the western situation could be stalled maybe a bit too long for any of E/G, F/G or F/E to stand up against I/R and/or take them on later on. This all made me shift my attention to Pieter and figured maybe an E/G was a better way forward.
The A01-adjudication then showed no real surprise as France indeed used 3 units to capture Bel while England defended his homeland. And in the east Italy stayed put in Tri, while Russia supported Austria to Bul, leaving Austrian units scattered around the place and up for grabs. No builds for Austria, no builds for Turkey. Brilliant play by Niilo and Mattias. What to do? Nick then provided the opening with his plea for help directed at Neil, Pieter and me. Despite the weird french opening I must say that it was not very difficult at all the get our noses in the same direction and get the orders for a 3-way sorted. And in hindsight maybe the 3-way might have brought a more interesting game, but I just couldn't help fearing Germany would be in the most vulnerable position in this partnership and I thought of an idea for E/G to take on France ánd Russia at the same time and presented it to Pieter. Pieter agreed, realizing there was lot more room for him to grow and we both thought we might get Niilo on board as well later on to get to at least a 3-way. In the east I tried to warn and help Marco the best I could but somehow everything I mentioned to him backfired. I can't help suspecting he was taking in by Niilo and/or Mattias and it looks like what I told Marco somehow got to Niilo and/or Mattias. If not, than he effectively tricked himself one way or the other.
The adjudication S02 came and Neil hadn't expected a thing. The E/G-plan worked! Maybe it wasn't as brilliant as the I/R coordination in year 1, but it worked pretty well. France was out of position and it would only be a matter of time before we took his centers and Russia was deadlocked in the north without StPetes. Time to hint Niilo about a 3-way...
...but Niilo wasn't that enthusiastic, holding things off a bit. Maybe not really surprising as it was apparent there were 2 powers forming, E/G vs I/R, and Niilo's thoughts look tuned to this scenario only; as E/G vs I/R. And if he was to go along with an E/G/I he probably feared being the next victim. Effectively if Niilo wasn't go to change his mind the game was deadlocked. Apart from some kind of loyalty to Mattias or some other unknown reason I just couldn't see a valid reason for him not to jump on board, but so be it. He chose to stick with I/R. I kept trying turn after turn and in A04 Niilo had the best opportunity where he could've stabbed Russia for 3, and with 3 builds secure himself a healthy defensive position against E/G, especially as he had Neil to work as his doorman in the west, effectively closing the door for us. But again he didn't, an enigma. So the game ends, there was little point in going on with it if noone was to change course. And I don't believe either Pieter or I was in a position to change the game ourselves. As a last effort I tried to interest Mattias for a 3-way E/G/R, but that was probably because I was losing out of ideas.
So, game over in 3 seasons...
I like to thank Pieter for being an immaculate ally, never had any doubts trusting you. And if I should've worried, then you hid it well. Thanks Neil, for being a good sport. It was great corresponding with you and hit you with all those logical and crazy ideas. Thanks Niilo, for being a very worthy and rock solid opponent. I hope you'll stick around on the dip2000 site after the baby is born. Thanks Mattias for keeping in touch even if we didn't have much to work with. Wonderfull change of attitude when we discussed me bouncing you in Sweden, great stuff! Thanks Marco, I did try to save you for several turns but somehow nothing went right, really weird. Thanks Nick, for being the thorn in the I/R-back. Sorry our contact wasn't that intensive in this game, and maybe my mistake. Maybe I should've put more effort to try to keep you as healthy as possible. And off course thank you to Andy, a perfect job! Love to have you as my GM any day.
Cheers, and maybe we'll meet again.
Eelco (Germany)
Return to Top
ITALY (Niilo Sevsnen) This was the first time ever I played Italy and I was determined that I will not just hover around and get squashed in the midgame. Austria was the obvious target but the trick was to do it so that Turkey would not gain the lion's share of the spoils. Already from the beginning I thought that my most dreadful adversaries would be Eelco and Pieter. With Mattias I was hoping to build a lasting alliance.
The start was perfect. First year left both Austria and Turkey without a build and everything went as planned. In the west things seemed to be more messy so at this point all looked good for R/I alliance. I was dreaming of a glorious end-game where at the last minute I would stab my buddy Russia and get a solo. But then the fortune vomited on my eiderdown - as Black Adder would put it.
England took St. Petersburg and France was invaded by G/E. After that the momentum was lost and it was just the question of who will make a stalemate line faster. Helping France was the only reasonable thing to do since on my own I could have not kept the English out of Mediterranean.
Now some people will blame me for ending game so soon. I had a good chance to stab my ally Russia but I didn't do it. The reason is that I really don't believe I could have gained a solo that way. It would have ended in a 3-way E/G/I or then I would have been taken down and Germany would have been close to a solo. So I don't think it was worth the risk.
All in all this was a nice game. Marco and Nick, I hope you have no hard feelings because I stabbed you. Pieter and Eelco, sorry that I didn't stab Russia:) Mattias and Neil, it was good to fight by your side! And a big thanks to Andy for flawless adjudications! Hope to meet you all in the future!
Cheers,
NiiloReturn to Top
RUSSIA (Mattias Persson) This is my best game yet. Maybe it wasn't optimal to fight two wars from the beginning, but I had a solid alliance from the first round. Then I was attacked by Germany and England - mostly by England, who took StP. With Germany I was in a state of rather friendly uncooperativeness more than a state of war. Mutual lies and mutual distrust, but no real campaigns. There were more centres to grab since Turkey was on the rope, but there were also a golden opportunity for Italy to stab me or maybe other constellations, among which I would have drawn the shortest straw, to form. In the end, I'm happy with a draw. I would like to thank the other players and the GM for a good game, and I wish you all good luck in future games!
Regards,
MattiasReturn to Top
TURKEY (Nick Phin) Really sorry for the late arrival of the EGS. First of all, a big thank you to Andy for GMing the game and keeping my sometimes sloppy orders in line -it couldn't have happened without you.
Thanks also to all the rest of the players for their input, special thanks to Niilo and Mattias for reminding me of the duplicity and frailties of human nature!
This was the first time I had played Turkey and this game yet again demonstrates the need for Turkey to play a cautious waiting game in the beginning. I committed the cardinal sin by trying to go for two centres in the first year (not to mention believing Mattias and Niilo) and ended up stuck, hanging on till the end.
The plan had been quite simple a R/T/I alliance to take out Austria. First move seemed fine and then I started to get a conscience - fatal in this game. I had decided after the first year to support Austria in the game to keep a wedge between Russia and Italy then disaster struck. By season two, I could see that Marco had somehow been mesmerised by Italy and Russia and was either telling them all or doing as they suggested despite the fact that they seemed determined to take him out! Sorry we couldn't work anything out Marco!
After Russia's first stab his moves became predictable (mostly) - if he said one thing plan to do the opposite. I can't think of one move where he actually kept to the spirit of any agreement he made. Niilo played a good game and actually on one occasion had me convinced that he had repented - needless to say that didn't last and I suffered the consequences - again!
My plea for help to Eelco, Pieter and Neil was heard, I believe, with sympathetic ears but clearly there was an agenda there and any intervention was needed early on if it was to have any effect. I didn't have much contact with you three but your e-mails of support were encouraging, especially Eelco - consider the favour last year now paid back in full!
All in all, a challenging game after the first year and as I have already said a lesson in how not to play Turkey. Hope to meet some of you guys in another game, especially Niilo or Mattias!
Nick
PS I'll try not to impale anyone
Return to Top
GM (Andy Scott) Well very much like the game this won't take long! :-))
I understand how the early agreement to end the game came about but I have to say I was disappointed. This was a game with a lot of potential and to my mind it didn't get the chance to fulfil it's potential.
Poor Marco was done up like a kipper, I suspect before the first turn was even run. This in turn led to a huge I/R assault on Turkey before anybody in the North was even contemplating interfering and so Turkey was stuffed but bravely hung on. I think if Neil hadn't of blundered and therefore been happy with a survival then things could have been very different?
Still a four way draw in Autumn 1904 was the agreed result so who am I to argue. Well played guys, catch you all again.
AndyReturn to Top
|