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DOOMSEEKER END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Andy Scott [EGS]
Started: 18 November, 2005
Finished: 18 April, 2006 (Autumn 1911)
Result: Two way draw between England and Turkey
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | Result | | Austria | Mike Grogan | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Survived | | England | Andrew Muller | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 0 | Drew | | France | Paul Atmore | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | Survived | | Germany | Thomas Gourgolitsas | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Anarchied | | Italy | Colin Blacker | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 | Survived | | Russia | Christopher Yaure | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | Survived | | Turkey | Lars Topholm | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 0 | Drew |
ENGLAND (Andrew Muller) Well it was my first game at this type of diplomacy and I felt like I had no idea what was going on.
Fortunately it seemed as if others thought the same. Still it was a great learning experience.
My biggest regret was not knowing the rules well enough, re voting for the end of game, and not having access over Easter, it would have been good to get a win up!Return to Top
RUSSIA (Christopher Yaure) My apologies to Andy Scott for my delayed EGS. As usual, Andy ran an excellent game. Only one minor glitch, and that rapidly repaired.
Following is a selection of notes from me to Andy that accompanied my moves [post-game comments in brackets]:
Spring 1901 - Two Gunboat games with the same GM, the same country, the same deadlines, and similar names. If I don't mess this up somewhere along the line, I will be amazed. And if you keep them straight, I will be really impressed. [I am impressed - he never mixed up my moves - although I might have been better off if he had. And why did I think Slayer and Doomseeker were similar names?]
Spring 1902 - At least a slightly better start than in Slayer. Hopefully Turkey will be confused by his unexpected success (and I know it was unexpected, since he only ordered one build).
Fall 1902 - Perhaps Austria will convince Turkey to look west. [Instead, he went west AND north.]
Spring 1903 - If Germany anarchies, I'll be there to pick up the pieces. If not, I hope for help from France. On the other hand, if Austria and Turkey work together, I could be in trouble. [I correctly predicted Germany's anarchy, and captured all of its dots. I would have been better off settling for 2 and leaving my units in better position to support each other.]
Fall 1903 - Germany's goal appears to be self-immolation to avoid greylisting. I will accommodate him. I am gambling in the southeast that Turkey will turn and attack Austria to try and regain Bul. If I guessed very badly, I could be down to 2 dots. If I guessed well, I could be at 8. I am aiming for a solo in this one, and am willing to take risks for the possibility of one. [Germany ended up going into anarchy, despite my best efforts to eliminate him first.]
Spring 1904 - I'm hoping that Turkey ad Austria will amuse each there long enough for me to focus on England in the North, and that France will join me in attacking the pink scourge. [France never seemed to understand that we could work together - which may be why he and I each ended with only 2 dots.]
Spring 1905 - Perhaps a bit reckless this turn, but aggressiveness seems to pay off in this game. [There is a fine line between reckless an stupid, and I crossed it. For the next several moves, I had no idea what I was trying to do.]
Fall 1905 - At this point, I believe my moves are best described as an approximation of Brownian motion.
Fall 1906 - Not only do I have no clue what I am doing, I have no clue what anyone else is doing as well.
Fall 1906 (#2) - I expect to be down to 4, or at best 5, dots. [Correct.]
Fall 1907 - Maybe I can convince A and I to work together, but I'm not expecting it. [Correct again.]
Fall 1908 - Trying to outguess both England and Austria. My goal is to hold on until I am the only thing between Turkey and England, then hope that the weaker one has to support me to stop the stronger.
Spring 1909 - I guessed England perfectly. If Austria had played A(Sil)-Ber as I expected, I would have held all three dots. Instead, an NMR, and I am pretty much out of it. I wonder if Turkey and Italy will manage to work together, but I doubt it. [They didn't.]
Fall 1909 - Flip of a coin this turn. England can use F(Kie) to cut the support of A(Ber), but then A(Mun)-Kie, supported by A(Ber), would retake Kie and stay on two dots. If instead F(Kie) Stands and F(Den) S F(Kie), I hold onto Mun and Ber, while I would lose Mun with A(Mun)-Kie. My goal (hope) is to hold onto Mun until Turkey arrives, and then hope that Turkey and/or England find it necessary to support me against the other. In other words, I should be gone soon, but no rolling over. [Turkey didn't arrive in time, but I managed to survive until a draw was agreed.]
Spring 1910 - Well, I guessed right. Let's see if I can do it again. I am just hoping to hold on until Turkey arrives. Then, I hope that he will support me to keep England from the solo (or England supports me to keep Turkey from the solo). [Turkey moved too slowly, which should have led to an English win.]
Fall 1910 - If England plays correctly (no guessing required), he will eliminate both France and me. The key is whether he notices the need for A(Bur)-Mun. He should be up to 17. It is not obvious where he will get the 18th. [Instead, England failed to vote against the EGP. I survived, barely.]
An entertaining game. I don't think anyone ever worked together, which explains why England and Turkey were the winners. Thanks for running a smooth and enjoyable game, Andy!Return to Top
TURKEY (Lars Topholm) Doomseeker was a weird, but extremely funny game - the most interesting gunboat game I've played so far!
It all started in 1901 (nothing weird about that) with some aggressive openings. I opened to BLA and Arm, which is an opening Tim Sweeney have persuaded me to love, but the other powers were equally aggressive from start with Italy opening to Pie, France to Bur and Russia to Gal. Looked like fun.
First weird thing happened in A1901 when Arm-Sev was allowed to succeed - apparently, Russia preferred to force Rumania and thus give me an extra build, rather than bouncing me in Rumania, hereby keeping Sev, which would keep his dot-gain the same but leave me with one build less. Thanks. And France took Munich, weird, too! In any case, I only ordered one build, it was very difficult to commit to a direction at this early stage so I built F(Con) and kept the other build in the bank, leaving open the possibility to choose between a fleet and an army in 1902 depending on the situation.
In 1902, France went from Munich to Tyrolia, and Italy to MAO(!), escalating what would be a game-long conflict between France and Italy (obviously to great benefit for my Turkey as it should later show). More worryingly, England was allowed into St. Pete's. In my corner, Russia and I swapped Sev for Rum, which made me order a third fleet in the Med as my position in the Balkans and my army in Arm/BLA meant Asia Minor was safe (and I hoped I'd get an opportunity in the Med from the F/I fighting).
1903 was another weird year, mainly as Germany decided to commit suicide, as Andy put it, following an NMR in A1902 - which was actually quite worrying as England was growing and as Russia seemed not to contest the English growth (partly because he was occupied fighting me). I was attacked by Austria in the spring, but was actually in pretty good position and managed to take Serbia in the autumn, hereby keeping my dot count but managing to isolate the Austrian fleet in Greece - excellent, but really sad about Germany's approach to the game, I do think he screwed it up a bit (although it still became a great game).
1904 an extremely weird year, because Russia suddenly seemed to care about England - he moved.North? And Austria - moved to Gal? What do they think I am, their friend? I took Greece, Italy and France was still engaged in fighting , but my hopes of a quick Islamisation of the Eastern Med was dashed as Italy built a fleet in Naples. Still, my position at this stage was damn good, with the positions of Austria and Russia quickly deteriorating.
1905 and more - in my view - weird moves as Russia voluntarily moved out of St. Pete's to let England get an army in. Why did Russia move against England in 1904 in the first place? And Austria - moved Gal-Sil, but then saw the light and took Warsaw by A1905 which made Russia disband F(Sev). Which was my call!
1906: Great spring season - I forced BLA, and England was slightly pushed back by France and Russia, but as Russia also took Munich from France, it looked un-coordinated, and the English position is even better than mine. I gained Rum for a seventh dot but England reached nine, and with Russia under pressure and not co-ordinating with France, and France and Italy still entangled, England is actually in solo position, although he did leave his army in Moscow isolated, maybe as an invitation to me - although in reality, it meant I could have a shot at keeping him at 17 if I managed to grab Moscow from him.
In S1907 I forced Tri, cutting support from Bud, and leaving me in position to take Bud in the autumn, hereby potentially gaining three units if England failed to support Russia into Sev in the autumn (to keep me out). Which he did, I did gain three, although slightly surprising, Italy and I swapped Ven for Tri. I was now at 10, equal with England - who however spend 1907 putting his fleets in position to attack France, having Brest surrounded.
Great play by England in S1908, instead of forcing Brest he takes Portugal - Brest will eventually be his anyway, this guy is good! I unsurprisingly lost Ven and began to count the dots - to prevent an English solo I need to gain War, Mos, Tri, Vie and all the green dots (Ven, Rom, Nap, Tun) - and be able to stalemate England too, which looked easy in the Med, but could be difficult around Vie/War. Still, the direction was clear, I moved in on War and took War in the autumn - England ordered Mos-War, he should probably have supported Austria in there to try to bounce me out, but as Austria NMR'ed, that really wouldn't have changed things. War was mine, Mos would be mine next year, the plan worked, question was really if England could reach Tun before me (I think not). But he did gain three to reach 13 while I only compensated for the loss of Ven by taking War. And France and Italy stopped fighting after France expelled Italy from Spain, maybe meaning Italy would now concentrate on defending against me. Bad news.
1909 became a race - for England to reach 18, for me to reach the 17 which would prevent an English solo. England focused on the North instead of trying to send fleets into the Med - that would have been my strategy if I was England, as the North would become his anyway, but I did have quite a strong presence in the Med so it would probably have been a race lost, although he would make it harder for me to establish a stalemate line across Italy, TYS/ION and Tun. I convoyed an army into Apu (a pain for Italy, it mist have been, he had to focus on defending his centers and couldn't do a thing about it). I took Tri and Mos in the autumn while England finally sent a second fleet South (to MAO) - he was now in position to force Por-Spa sc while moving MAO-NAf, hereby contesting Tunis (or keep me out which could lead to a 3-way draw as Italy would be in a situation where Tun would be a bounce forever).
In 1910, England did force Por-Spa sc - but supported it from MAO, rather than from Gas, which meant there came no English fleet to Northern Africa - good for me. Meanwhile, I was beginning to establish a reasonable defendable line in Eastern Europe - a 2-way draw between England and me was proposed by myself, and I voted in favour of it, but didn't expect it to pass (as I thought England should play a little longer to try for the solo). The draw was accepted though (did England fail to vote, Andy?) - I think the most realistic outcome would still have been the draw, had we played on, as I am convinced I would have gained the boot, and that I would have momentum enough to at least hold TYS and ION, hereby keeping England out of Tun (my A1910 orders didn't include the massive attack on Italy, but rather a move ION-TYS to accomplish just that, but Italy could of course have bounced me out of TYS).
All in all, an exciting game, with some good play by England and in my view some occasionally weird - but not less interesting - moves from Russia in particular, with no clear direction on what he was actually trying to do, which made the game unpredictable (but I think he should and could have given England and myself a harder time).
Thanks to Andy for running the game up to his normal extremely high standards - and sorry for being so slow in posting this EGS. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, thanks to all for playing!
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GM (Andy Scott) Well as none of the players have deemed this game worthy for comment I will say only that it was marred by an anarchy caused by a misunderstanding. That said there was some fine play involved and despite the fact that all the players seem no longer to care about it I for enjoyed it!
AndyReturn to Top
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