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DESOLATION_ROW END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Brian Frew
Started: February 2004
Finished: September 2004
Result: 2 way draw England / Italy
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | Result | | Austria | Darrell Blue | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | Lost 1907 | | England | Mark Porter | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 10 | Drew 1907 | | France | Steve Foister | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Lost 1903 | | Germany | Robert Dane | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Lost 1905 | | Italy | Peter Evans | 4 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 11 | Drew 1907 | | Russia | John Yates | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | Lost 1907 | | Turkey | Frank De Vocht | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Defeated 1907 |
ENGLAND (Mark Porter) Firstly, of course, thanks to Brian for being gamesmaster and keeping the balls in the air. And to Peter for our joint victory, and to the other players for hanging around while we whupped ‘em.
**Spoiler alert** reading this might cause offence to those stabbed…
I opened on friendly relations with Italy, and realising that there was some quite heavy pressure from Germany to set up an anti-French coalition. I suggested to Italy that this would be a good idea at about the same time, largely because it was the country between us and I knew I could get on well with Peter. But in fact my provisional orders were conventional and did not go to the English Channel, until Robert (Germany) maintained his suggestions of blitzing France. So I went along with it and having held my nose and stabbed good and hard right at the start, was committed to the French war.
I felt sorry for the speed that Steve collapsed but felt that relations with Germany were so good that I could also help him in his Baltic ambitions. I supported his attack on Sweden at the same time he stabbed me in the back in Belgium. There was a possible future swap for Belgium but Germany indicated agreement on several principles which meant not taking Belgium that time, and I specifically asked him not to. There was then a set of excuses about a broken PC and provisional orders to attack everyone that he had not been able to countermand.
So Autumn 1902 was a key turning point. Fortunately for me, Germany did the dirty on both me and Russia at the same time. My immediate and profuse apologies to Russia were accepted and we formed an anti-German alliance. All the while, I was on better and better terms with Italy and we were starting to think that we could pull off a joint victory, and preparing for it by agreeing to keep our distance from the flanking move in MAO.
The move against Germany went well, assisted by German efforts to indulge in a final attack on Russia. It was inevitable that my units would end up ranged against Russia and indeed they did. It was actually with a sense of sorrow that I carried through and attacked Russia – I got the distinct impression that there was some justifiable anger there. Russia put up a tenacious defence of Scandinavia but when the defences broke in Spring 1907 the writing was on the wall. Peter and I had circulated a joint email announcing our intention to fight to a joint finish and probably to nobody’s great surprise all others surrendered.
So, when I look back: an early stab on France, an alliance with Italy, revenge against Germany, cooperation with Russia followed by an inevitable sliding to war. All the while ably assisted by my good friend Peter. And a joint victory. Not a bad game, in fact very enjoyable.
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ITALY (Peter Evans)
This was an interesting game, and dramatically confirmed how good the basic advice, of avoiding repeated stabs and trying to get good long-term allies, was. And of communicating frequently and promptly.
At the start before talking to everyone, I was interested in playing an AIR vs T, followed by Italy and Russia crunching Austria between them. Naturally, when the negotiations started, Frank/Turkey was most communicative and also immediately struck me as probably the most trustworthy in the east. John/Russia was quiet for a week due to health problems. Blue/Austria and Frank/Turkey decided that they would attack the silent Russia and asked me to go elsewhere, and my original idea was thus completely shot out of the water.
I had been chatting a fair bit to Robert/Germany in the first week and found him easy to talk to, so despite the sudden shift in my strategy, we found we had a mutual interest in having a go at France. Blue/Austria and I quietly entered into an alliance, which we expanded to include Robert/Germany, but I got the distinct impression that Robert/Germany wasn’t too interested in formal alliances and didn’t attached a lot of importance to them.
I had just finished a game with Mark/England, in which we were allied and ultimately shared in a 3 way draw. I think both Mark and I started this game with the view that we would treat the situation as a clean slate, but little by little my past knowledge of Mark as very trustworthy and easy to work with assumed greater and greater importance to me and lead to the final result.
Mark, after staying uncommitted for a long time in the first 2 weeks, (which he did to me in the earlier game I might add) came to the allied party against the luckless Steve/France who suffered a rapid exit under the combined blows of E/G/I. By the start of Spring 1903, there arose the problem of what to do next. A very toxic, circular stabbing fight had developed between A/R/T, which was maintaining pretty much the status quo in the east. I had been nervous of Blue/Austria on his past record, but he had been an exemplary ally to me up until this point, something he maintained throughout the entire game, and it was I who ultimately wielded the knife. I decided that Blue had too much on his plate to cause me trouble, and that I could leave the toxic fight to go on in the east while trying to advance in the west.
So which of my anti-French allies was it to be? In the west, I had been communicating most with Robert/Germany. Mark/England and John/Russia were clearly heading for a fight, which Mark/England launched first. Much to my surprise, Robert/Germany, instead of siding with one or the other and grabbing sources off the luckless victim, decided to attack and advance against both. This had the effect of antagonising both Mark and John, and made me somewhat nervous of how Robert would ultimately view my own alliance with him. This was coupled with comments over the past couple of years by Robert that led me to believe that he didn’t set a lot of importance in alliances and tended to work move by move – something that doesn’t sit very well with my own temperment.
Mark/England, in particular, was feeling very vunerable to find that he had started attacking Russia and now Germany had attacked him. I decided that he was the best long-term ally to try to run with and I must confess my previous knowledge of his trustworthiness played a part in this. The fact Germany was geographically easier for me to attack and then defend didn’t go astray either. John/Russia was fairly easy to rope into a 3 way mugging of Robert/Germany.
Heading into Spring 1905 was the decisive time for me. I’d collected 2 sources from the French attack and 2 from the German attack, and thoughts of a solo were wandering through my mind. To advance, it was either going to have to be England or Austria. A very nasty little stab of Mark/England was staring me in the face. It would net me 2 more sources and give me a good attacking position against him. Mark/England realised this and sent a lot of emails to me during this fortnight. If I didn’t take the stab now, it would very probably mean giving up all ideas of a solo.
I emailed Blue about the possibility of stabbing Mark/England. Unfortunately, Blue was having domestic dramas and either didn’t get back to me or got back to me very late (I forget which). His opinion/support was crucial as he had 2 units over my sources and could snuff any solo chances out like a light. Blue’s lack of communication could work either way for me – he could be too domestically distracted and allow me to romp home to a solo in the west, or I could get a knife in the back at any time.
The other critical factor was John/Russia, who really was the great “What if?” for me in this game. John as tactician and a negotiator is one of the best players I have encountered in this game. His A(Mos) – StP move in the first season, while under attack from A/T, but knowing England was trying to land his army on France, was one of the most inspired things I have seen on a diplomacy board and was rightly well rewarded. He showed incredible negotiation skill to keep the A/R/T circus running in the east and avoiding A/T combining on him.
Unfortunately though, John’s attention was being constantly deflected by work, home and health concerns, which frequently made for long silences. Despite his considerable negotiation skill, I could never work up a great deal of trust in John, particularly in light of the circular stab circus he had so successfully set up in the east. If John came in on Mark/England’s side in the stab, or later swapped sides to him, I simply wouldn’t be able to progress, and if Blue joined in, then elimination would be my lot.
So, ultimately, despite the length I’ve written about it here, it was a complete no contest to stay with Mark/England – Blue/Austria was over 2 sources and not talking, and John/Russia I didn’t feel I could trust. Mark was very trustworthy, communicated promptly, and very easy to talk to, and to work with. Quite a deadly combination for a diplomacy player & the reason why he’s got so many of those nice little Eagle Points.
So Mark and I started to work for a two way draw and that’s where we ended. Mark attacked John/Russia and I went into the back of Blue/Austria. The A/R/T toxic relations continued to the end and no effective defence could be put up against us – which is what I thought would happen. Blue rightly asked me for survival if he would act as my rusted on ally vs R/T, and I was pleased to give him this. And very useful he was to. Despite my stab, I think Blue did not make one hostile move against me in the entire game – which is certainly something.
Coming into Autumn 1907, Mark and I put out a general request for the rest of the board to agree to an E/I draw in return for survival, which they promptly did. I was particularly glad Blue with his one army got a survival.
Many thanks to GM Brian for his prompt and efficient work, and to all the other players for making this an enjoyable and good natured game. Particular thanks to my ally Mark – you are an all round first class act. And it just shows how cooperative doctors and lawyers can be when they try :)
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