AUSTRIA-HUNGARY (Marco Pedraglio)
F(Alb) - Tri; A(Bul) - Gre; A(Vie) s F(Alb) - Tri

ENGLAND (Pieter de Wilde)
F(Nwy) - StP nc; A(Wal) - Lon; F(Edi) - NTH; F(Lon) - ENG

FRANCE (Neil Brass)
F(ENG) - MAO; A(Bel) Stands; A(Mar) - Spa; A(Pic) s A(Bel)

GERMANY (Eelco)
A(Hol) - Bel (FAILED); A(Mun) - Bur; A(Ruh) s A(Mun) - Bur; F(Den) - Swe (FAILED); F(Kie) - BAL

ITALY (Nilo Sevsnen)
A(Ven) Stands; A(Tri) - Ser; A(Tun) - Alb; F(ION) c A(Tun) - Alb; F(Nap) - Apu

RUSSIA (Mattias Persson)
F(GoB) - Swe (FAILED); A(Gal) - Bud; A(Ukr) - Gal; F(Rum) s F(Sev) - BLA; F(Sev) - BLA

TURKEY (Nick Phin)
F(Con) - AEG; A(Smy) - Con; A(Ank) - Arm

PRESS

Andy-All:
Please don't forget the retreats and BUILDS for Autumn 1902.

Andy-All:
Please remember to include the game name, your powers name and the season in the subject of your orders e-mail, thanks :-))

Aus-All:
There is some problem in Trieste and Vienna but now we try to come back!
Regards for help!

Ger-All:
Somewhere in the suburbs of Paris

There was this little boy roaming around in the attic. He loved to play there. Lots of dust gathering antique stuff once belonging to his parents and grandparents. Lots of surprising treasures to discover. Once he had found an old antique dagger, inlayed with several shiny pink and black pearls on the hilt. He now kept it in his treasure chest which he had hid in his bedroom, somewhere in the back of a cupboard. He didn't tell his mother because he knew she wouldn't allow him to have it. Today he was convinced he could find another treasure like it. It was just that kind of day, that kind of feeling. But as the hours went by he could not find a new treasure, at least nothing he considered worthy. Sure, he did find an old box and he suspected it might be a game or something. He loved playing games. But when he peered into it only contained some sort of a board, with a map printed on it. The map appeared to be Europe. And besides the map the box only contained coloured pieces, but to his dismay no dice. "A game without dice is not a game", he thought and put the box aside again. But as he couldn't find anything else interesting enough he turned his attention to the box again. "I probably can use dice from another game for this one" he pondered. He checked the box again. "Hmm, no rules either, this is going to be difficult". But he became more and more intruiged by it. "Maybe my mum knows anything about it". And he decided to share this find with his mother. He went downstairs and found his mum ironing some blouses.

"Mum?"
"Yes, son?"
"What's this?" and he showed her the box.
"Ow my, where did you find this?". She stopped ironing and the surprise on her face appeared to be an unpleasant surprise.
"In the attic".
"Strange, I really thought we got rid of it after your grandfather had died".
"But here it is, what is it mum, is it a game?"
"A game....?" she murmured. "Yes, it's supposed to be a game...."... and she stared into the distance.
"But it's got no dice?"

His mum didn't answer, her thoughts had wandered into the past, back many many years ago when her father played the game. How he had loved it, and how he could talk about all the friends he made all over the world, about all the scheming, the fun, the game had brought him. That is to say, untill that fatal day...

"MUM, it's got no dice?" the boy said again, a little more anxious this time.

His mum came back into the present. "Ah yes, son, this game is played without them, you have to 'talk' yourself into winning this game".
"Talk"?
"Yes, it's a game of diplomacy".
The boy was full of questions now, and as there was apparently no turning back she then explained the rules to him. When she was finished the boy cried enthousiastically that he wanted to play the game without dice.

"Okay" she sighed, "let me check the internet if I can find a copy of the rules for you". While his mother searched the net the boy opened the box again....

"Mum?......this game isn't fair, I can count many pieces from most colours, but blue only got 4 pieces!"

His mum froze in her chair.....

Tur-All:
Under the baleful glow of Yitiken, the Sultan studied the contents of the recently delivered diplomatic pouch in the solitude of the lofty Minaret to the Stars. It made grim reading. His expeditionary force to Macedonia, sent to quell an uprising of the Macedonian Liberation force had been slaughtered to a man. The much vaunted support of the Carabiniers from the despot in Naples had failed to show. In addition, as the Turkish fleet was preparing for navel exercises with the Black Sea fleet of the young Russian Pretender off the south coast of Bulgaria, they had been attacked by the neutral Austrian's. Concerned about a possible communication failure, his admiral had withdrawn the fleet, despite having the fire power to win a bloody victory for the Sultan. His fleet was now safely in the great port of Constantinople.

As the Sultan reflected on the significance of these events he resolved to ready his empire against possible attack from the western barbarian hordes. They would not find him unprepared again. His soldiers would defend their land with every drop of blood in their bodies. He prayed that the other powers would see the duplicity of the Despot and the young Pretender and that suitable revenge would be extracted in other cycles of the Great Game. Until then he must prepare his country and send a fitting tribute to the great arbiter of the Game.

Andy-All:
Thanks for some great press, I look forward to seeing it continued!

AUTUMN 1902 DEADLINE: 09:00 GMT, Tuesday 24th January, 2006.