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LUTZEN END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Brian Frew [EGS]
Started: March 2001
Finished: January 2003 (Spring 1917).
Result: England/Russia 2 way draw.
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Result | | Austria | Harvey Jones | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated (A12) | | England | Lloyd Mitchell | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 12 | Drew | | France | David Queenan | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 5 | Defeated (A06) | | Germany | Alan Allport | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated (A05) | | Italy | Craig Shadbolt | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated (A13) | | Russia | Tim Sweeney | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | Drew | | Turkey | Geerten Eijkelenboom | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Defeated |
AUSTRIA (Harvey Jones) This game was bad enough to play in without reliving it season by season, so this precis of my game will have to suffice:
Knifed shitless by Italy in Spring 1901; lingered on like some unfortunate member of the undead until 1912.
Many thanks to Brian for GMing.
A few observations on my fellow players.
Shaddy (Italy): Bastard! (for stabbing me in Spring 1901). Valiant effort to build anti-Tim coalition. Deserved to do better but let down sometimes by communication and NMRs.
Tim (Russia): Wrote very long e-mails, very often. Whined incessantly (and improbably) about how he had been stabbed by all the other players. I am almost tempted to take up 1 week games just to stab Tim for real. Sadly Tim would see it coming eleven seasons beforehand.
Geerten (Turkey): An unconfirmed rumour suggests that Geerten did not in fact proxy his units to Tim in pre-Spring 1901. I find this difficult to believe. Brilliant logician. Refused to join pact to stop Tim winning on grounds that this would inevitably lead to Austro-Italian victory.
Lloyd (England): Inspirational member of the anti-Tim alliance who never in fact managed to attack Tim because he had, err, signed a non-aggression pact with Russia. Bit naughty Lloyd. Best!
David (France): Only ever wrote to me when on fishing trip for information to pass on to my enemies. Inexplicably didn't eliminate Lloyd when he had the chance.
Alan (Germany): Based on level of communication best stick to playing Turkey in future.
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FRANCE (David Queenan) The start of this game seems so long ago now and my EGS will probably not do justice to the game itself, as I no longer have some of the original emails because I had to clear out Outlook Express a while back. So, I am more or less just referring back to the game history on the website as I write this.
I was looking forward to the game as I hadn't played France before and the game featured a number of veterans from the recently finished THYME game - Geerten (Turkey) and Alan (Germany). Geerten and I ended up stopping Alan from winning the game, so with Alan playing one of my neighbours it was going to be interesting to say the least. Of the others, I had only heard of Shaddy (being a GM) but I don't think I had even really heard of Tim at this point, as it was still early days in the Eagle point ratings.
Russia (Tim) was first to make contact and we immediately got on and agreed an alliance whereby we kept E/G tied up until we grew strong enough to squeeze them out. Italy (Shaddy) and I also set out the usual non-aggression policy and this allowed me the freedom to concentrate on E/G. This plan worked well to begin with and Eng bounced Germany in Hol in A01 which restricted both to only one build in A01. England convoyed to Bel in S02, but I invaded in A02 and left him with NRP. Athough this allowed him to re-build a F(Lpl), I now had fleets in ENG, IRI and Bre and wasn't too worried. Russia was also doing well, central Europe was in a mess and the F/R alliance was still looking good.
Things continued well in 1903 and I took Lpl while Russia invaded Ber. This brought both France and Russia up to 7 dots each and Eng looked to be on the way out, with Germany on the slide also. Russia supported me into Mun in S04 and we looked set to complete the task we set out to do at the gamestart. However, just when it all seemed to be going so well, Russia tried to support Germany back into Mun and I got overambitious with the rest of my moves thinking I could make substational gains. Germany NMR'd though and saved my bacon in Mun, but the rest of my moves were a total disaster, and to make matters worse, England was able to reteat to Den and made two builds while I was lucky to maintain my current level. I don't know why Tim broke the alliance as it was going really well and I'm sure the game would have finished far quicker had we kept going, but such is life. I didn't really trust Tim for ages after that and I patched things up with England and set about removing Germany whilst keeping Russia out of it.
The new found trust with England seemed to be going well and by A05 germany was out. Italy made brief incursion into WMS in S06 but quickly turned around when Turkish fleets also started to move West. This was probably the one time when it looked like Geerten and I were really going to get to work together but when Russia started the invasion of Turkey in 1907, Turkish forces were cut back severely and we never really got going. But by A07, English fleets were heading North while I moved into the Med and also drove through Germany and pushed Russia back out of Ber.
By 1908 the E/F alliance was in full swing and I had taken Tun while Eng had conquered Scandanavia and was knocking on the door of Mos. However, Russia's occupation of Turkey still meant he was going to be a tough nut to crack. The game at this point was looking like a stalemate and I should have seen the warning signs when England chose to destroy the lone Russian Northern fleet rather than push on and try for Mos. But, I didn't and England swept back into Bel and Ber.
Things started to look grim for a while and at one point I feared I may actually be eliminated, such was the speed with which Eng was growing. The next few years were hard going as I gradually fell back from 10 to 7 dots and struggled to try and turn England back. As Eng and I battled in the West, Russia started to take advantage in the East and was ominously growing strong again, but I had at least negotiated a truce with him and I withdrew my forces from his borders in order to save my homeland.
Gradually though I managed to hold of England and consolidate my position again to the point where England backed off and opened negotiations again to push back against Russia, who by this time had taken out Austria and was looking like becoming the main threat in the game. I was very wary of trusting Lloyd though and didn't want to be pushed back into the same position that I was in before he stabbed me the last time. So, in 1912 I had a little stab of my own and took Tun, Kie and Bel for 3 builds. This kind of upset things with England again but he had NMR'd (or at least his orders got lost lost somewhere) resulting in two of his units being disbanded. Looking back in hindsight, I should have pressed on from here and taken England on. I don't know why I didn't other than England did still have a strong navy and I might have been under pressure to hold MAO, but I kind of got stuck in the middle and wasn't sure which direction to go in.
In 1913 Italy's fate was sealed when he NMR'd. I also helped Russia into ION got a whole lot of stick from Lloyd for helping the Italian demise, which I always found a bit strange because Lloyd was always claiming that the reason he stabbed me was not to eliminate me but to make sure the draw numbers were reduced. However, another truce was declared between us, but I got the feeling we were never really going to trust each other completely again. But, it looked like we were going to have to because Russia had resumed his destruction of Turkey and was steadily marching across central Europe towards Germany. No need to panic though becuase the stalemate line could still be achieved if England and I got our act together. England was still making noises about pushing back into Russia and putting Tim under pressure, but I still didn't trust him, so I tried to hold a position that was so close to the line that if England stabbed, Russia would win. I felt that this was the only possible way to get England's co-operation as I was sure Tim would not pass up on the chance of another solo! How wrong could I be!
My worst fears began to be realised in S16 when England didn't order as agreed and moved to Bel. I gave him the benefit of the doubt for another season because the stalemate line was still looking secure and I thought he may just be trying to wind me up a bit. But it was not to be and England delivered his final stab in A16 and there was nothing more I could do to stop Tim from winning (if he so desired). As Geerten quite rightly pointed out in his EGS - Lloyd trusting Tim not to go for the solo must be one of the bravest risks in the history of Dip 2000 - I'm not sure I would have gone for it.
In the end I eventually voted for the draw because if Tim was going to go for the win, he could do so easily and the game would end either way. Yes, the final result was disappointing for me, to have come so far for so little, but I enjoyed the diplomacy immensely, especially with Tim as we kept up a good correspondence throughout the game. The battle with Lloyd in the early part of the game with England was also very exciting and I'll never forget the frenzy that was whipped up when Harvey and Shaddy met up for a drink ;-) Anyway, congratulations to Tim and Lloyd and thanks to everyone who took part in a memorable game, and of course Brian for GMing.
Please keep in touch guys and I hope we'll meet again in other games.
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RUSSIA (Tim Sweeney) My goodness, I can’t believe this game is over, it has been with me so long that it feels very strange to no longer be playing in it. Lutzen was my 3rd or 4th game start here on Dip2000, way back then only the 3-week games were “Regular” games and after finishing Badajoz (my first game start on Dip2000) I wanted to play in a Regular’s game and test my metal against more experienced and reliable players so put my name on the list, though I suspected I would find the 3-week turns painfully long (boy were they!) I still could not resist the chance to play with the Dip “Regulars” and that was something I was very excited about…rubbing elbows with the establishment and such ;-)
The game filled ever so slowly but eventually we were off and running, this was my first and only time ever playing Russia and it was a harrowing experience from the very start…
Pre-Spring:
Austria/Harvey: Harvey had just soloed in some game and he was Russia I believe and in his End-Game Statement made mention of his attempts to form an A/R alliance, I believed he called it a “cryptic juggernaut” or some such phrase. I figured if he liked it as Russia perhaps he would like it as Austria, regardless good relations with Austria while potentially difficult was certainly something I wanted even if Austria was going to be my first target. In the beginning I found Harvey’s email sparse in both frequency and substance and that is never to my liking but at the time did not know if that was just his style or a function of it being a 3-week game, I was used to the fast and furious pace of 1-week games and was not sure if these 3-week games had more of a laid back, easy-does-it kind of crowd…for me the long lapses in responses (not just from Harvey) was pure torture…for nearly two years have I suffered so ;-) and am thankful that I at least shared in the draw after such pro-longed frustration!
England/Lloyd: We had a great relationship right from the beginning and there was frequent and detailed correspondence coming from London and this is the type of play I like, emails arrived almost daily and we discussed plans to devour Germany and established plans for a long-term alliance…early in the game I would ruin this with poor decisions and an ill-conceived and a terribly executed stab…not to mention it cost me one of the most active sources of good diplomatic correspondence, but back in pre-Spring I was favoring an E/R alliance.
France/David: In the beginning as throughout the entire game David and I would communicate frequently and we talked about joint action first against Germany and then against England. David’s emails were initially cautious and brief but he did respond regularly even if his correspondence was overly guarded. Game long David would prove to be one of the most frequent communicators and I enjoyed playing with David quite a bit.
Germany/Alan: If I found Harvey’s replies brief and painfully slow in arriving then Alan’s bordered on torturous! I was proposing to A/G that we form an A/G/R, I would keep Galicia a DMZ in return for Sweden and I would focus on building fleets. Alan liked the idea but was direct (and brief) in that I should respect the DMZ else face a certain bounce in Sweden.
Italy/Shaddy: Initial correspondence was solid and frequent…this would last all of pre-Spring and then it would dry up by 1902 and remain such the rest of the game with the occasional email arriving either directly after the adjudication or right before the next deadline, I got the impression that come mid-game others were in frequent contact with Shaddy but my own emails often never got answered or were only replied to with minutes to go before the deadline…however back here in pre-Spring the diplomacy was great, we plotted an I/R alliance and things looked good.
Turkey/Geerten: I believe Geerten had some personal issues that needed dealing with at this time, and as I didn’t know Geerten well then I didn’t wish to pry nor to have our diplomacy affected by something beyond his control, so I was very direct in talking about a bounce and felt that as he got things straightened out we could get our working relationship up and off the ground…after all when it takes 6 weeks just to get to a1901 there is plenty of time for life to begin to sort itself out and still attend to diplomacy, for me the key was not to ruin what could potentially be a great ally just because he was taking a long time to sort out pre-Spring. In the end Geerten proved to be the most active writer in the game, my staunchest ally…perhaps ever and a gifted player and certainly now a friend, Geerten’s alliance would over anything be the single most influential turning point of the game for me…I of course would repay him with a knife…ok MANY knives but then again this is diplomacy…how else do you thank your friends ;-)
So as pre-Spring came to a close I was optimistic about my alliance with both England and Italy, felt I had good relations with France, thought it likely that Austria was up to something but considering I knew what Italy was planning felt he would suffer if he disregarded the DMZ and figured there was time to develop a relationship with Turkey.
Early Game:
My early game was to be decided largely based upon my Austrian/German neighbors and some strange notion I had to help them and try to maintain the balance of power…still to this day I have no idea what possessed me to abandon my proven principle…ally with the guy(s) who writes the MOST and that was certainly NOT Alan, nor Harvey for that matter…but I would break with Lloyd anyway and pay for it most of the game.
Two things of critical importance happened in 1901, first was that Austria broke the DMZ agreement and moved into Galicia, fortunately my Italian “ally” marched into Austria and Austria had to hurry home, all the while whining for help and trying to claim that his move to Galicia was “pro-Austrian” and not “anti-Russian” (chuckle) I loved that line and will have to store it away for my own use…of course I didn’t buy it and was all set to move into Galicia and help Shaddy/Italy divvy up the Dual-Monarchy…the plus side was that Germany had promised me Sweden if I honored the DMZ, which I had, plus he correctly suspected that he was under pressure by an E/F alliance, an alliance I was actually a part of, having negotiated with E/F in pre-Spring this attack on Germany. Anyway with Austria on the ropes, Germany promised to deliver Sweden if we organized an A/G/R alliance, to help him in the north and Harv in the south…why I would select the two guys who never wrote as allies I just don’t know, but I agreed to build F(Stp)nc and promised to help Austria hang on…both would bite my hand in return and I would kick myself endlessly for having broken with Lloyd!
Now 1902 was a bitter, bitter year, in the spring I attack Lloyd and dislodge him from Nwy and convince David/France to stab Lloyd, so all looks good in the north, in the south Turkey is clearly coming for me and Italy isn’t building any fleets…hey that smells funny, are they working together? So I start to use Harvey/Austria as a human shield and Geerten and I begin a trend of lying/stabbing/lying/stabbing/lying/stabbing which lasted for the first several seasons, in the meantime I continue to push Italy to sail towards Turkey, promising to let Austria die if Italy proves to me he is anti-Turkish…all looks good until the autumn when Germany decides to switch sides in the north and actually HELPS England BACK INTO NORWAY on the ground that England needs a build in Lpl to avoid losing it to France…which doesn’t even MAKE SENSE as France is going to take Lpl even if England builds an atomic bomb in Lpl!!! In the meantime I am pushing Harvey this way and that as we continually fend off I/T attacks, all the while I am careful to focus my attention on Turkey so as to not offend Italy…who isn’t writing anyway and when he does he demands that I support him into an Austrian dot…which I won’t do as I am certain there is an I/T or I/T/E or I/T/F…regardless there doesn’t actually appear to be an I/R and that is what I want as Austria is so vulnerable and Turkey is snapping at me like a hungry wolf and Italy and I could have soooo easily finished them off!
1903 and s1904 and hell breaks lose all over the board! Italy finally moves towards Turkey, I teach the German whelps a lesson and slip into Silesia where I have a free grab at Berlin and I continue to use Harvey as a shield and France is making great progress against the English and is in Munich…a1904 is down right PAINFUL and I feel the full affect of having broken with Lloyd in order to help Alan and Harvey…I can’t remember but I think I was attacked by FIVE of the SIX players (I had all of 7 dots?) and like an idiot I try and screw David/France the same time everyone confuses me for a pin cushion! Lousy timing on my part…
A1904, I am a stuck pig bleeding profuse quantities of blood everywhere, I am in a full war with E/G, Austria decides he doesn’t like acting as my shield and swipes Rumania and Italy passes on my very generous supports and instead helps the Turks retake Bulgaria and I can’t shake the feeling that Lloyd/England and Shaddy/Italy are behind the entire 5 way alliance!!!
Regardless I try to patch things up with Lloyd and he, David and I decide to finish off Germany, David wants to finish off England right afterwards…I don’t, I realize Lloyd was the ally I should have stuck with in the beginning so am hoping it can be repaired now and am hoping Lloyd will go and attack David once Alan is eliminated, plus David/France is VERY powerful at this point and I really think if David had played this a bit different he might have won this game any about hoping Lloyd would side with me…WRONG AGAIN!!! As we squeeze out Alan, Alan continues to attack me in revenge for me taking Berlin (conveniently forgetting he started it by helping kick me out of Nwy when I went there originally to help him at his request) while it is really E/F that are smacking the life right out of him then David GIVES back to England Lpl…UGH!!! HOW DID LLOYD MANAGE THAT?! Worse yet Lloyd is out for revenge for my stab in 1902 and he doesn’t side with me…he sides with France (sob…weep, gnashing of teeth, pulling of hair and wearing of sack cloth) on top of that David, somehow is convinced by Lloyd that I am a more tempting target then all of bloody England??? The only bright spot and the single saving grace for me at this time was that Geerten/Turkey sided with me and was to be my staunchest ally and most active correspondent for the remainder of the game!
1905 & 1906 were bleak and desperate years for mother Russia, a battle royal rages in the Balkans and in the north David/France lies habitually each and every season, I put up a desperate and tenacious fight against England, drawing off valuable English resources on the delusional hope that France will attack England, instead France makes a cheap grab at Berlin and I know I am lost and so is everyone else if we don’t stop the E/F alliance…thus it is time to rally the troops, end the war and stalemate them, pray England stabs France and then get back on track!
Mid-Game:
What a mess, France and England are strong, the A/I vrs R/T conflict rages and our only hope is to set aside our differences and stalemate F/E. I have intentionally yielded ground in the center in order to make France a living buffer between England and the rest of Europe, England’s only hope of expansion is a narrow funnel down into Moscow or to stab France, France seems oblivious to this…
I try to rally I/A to the cause but secretly propose to Italy that we knife Austria as it will be too tough to turn and eliminate Turkey now so we had better pull Turkey up into Austria and then if the opportunity develops we stab Turkey and squeeze him out of the draw! Shaddy/Italy refuses…Europe is on fire around us, the French are marching on Warsaw and sailing towards Rome and the English are marching into St. Petersburg and he is worried Geerten and I will stab him!!!! (OK, maybe long-term I was *thinking* it was a possibility but certainly not ready to do so at this stage!) The price for an alliance is Geerten’s head on a platter and Austria gets to stick around, so I agree and stab Geerten in a spectacular array of flashing knives, spouting blood and curdling death cries, Geerten threatens to throw the game to E/F I tell him no he won’t and that he will take part of a 6-way draw as his units are vital to the stalemate and if we are lucky enough to see England and France break their alliance we will get him back into the game…Geerten is an excellent diplomat and extremely practical not to mention a very skilled tactician, this would neither be the first nor the last time his play would impress me, he bites the bullet and joins the alliance, in short time we have our units in place and Europe is saved! Hurray! ;-) Now I sit and wait, start beating the drums for a 6-way draw, knowing it is in everyone’s interest but France’s/England’s and of course MINE, I know if the E/F alliance falls apart I can reclaim my precious Warsaw and Moscow and with my flank safely anchored in Turkey I am well situated to make a comeback.
Lloyd flatly decries that he wants nothing to do with a large draw, I point out that the GM will impose a draw as the stalemate is in place and that the alliances are unbreakable…Lloyd is like me, he hates large draws and France is very, VERY vulnerable. ;-)
David gets the knife and is in shock, he was already for a 6-way draw…I scratch my head and begin to suspect that David would have voted for a 7-way draw if I had proposed one in s1901?
Then I/A/R/T waits and watches for another season, the E/F conflicts flares and then as if a whistle has been blown we four start beating the pulp out of one another AGAIN!
Here Geerten and I show our tactical “genius (or perhaps lack there of), we set-up Harvey for the stab, we are both lying to Harvey and are pouring over the maps based on what we think Harvey will do…now as we are telling Harvey what we will do, he is telling us what he will do…Geerten and I are lying, so we assume Harvey is lying, our brilliant planning is very thorough we are reading every nuance of Harvey’s emails, no period or semi-colon is spared scrutiny our tactical strategy is brilliant and thus we move…problem is we never calculated on the fact that Harvey was telling the truth! Do we learn our lesson…NOPE, not us, we again hash out an agreement with Harvey, once more we cackle with glee certain in our knowledge that we have Harvey out-foxed…what is this…HE TOLD THE TRUTH AGAIN! Ooo what a clever ploy, what a dastardly plan, the TRUTH “it shall set you free”, who would have thought?!…Geerten and I continued on in this vain for 3, 4 maybe even 5 or 6 season! I really don’t know, all I know is that we put poor Harvey through the slowest and most painful death an Austria could have, all of our machinations, planning and deceitful maneuvering was no match for Harvey’s “ok, I’ll move as suggested”. In the end it was just brute force that finished off Austria and Harvey left the game in a1912, the second casualty of the game and I found some small satisfaction in knowing that I had at least gotten revenge on both Austria/Germany for their betrayal and considering I was in my current predicament because of my decision to aid them I was happy that both were gone, though I did enjoy playing with Harvey and after playing together for so long you get familiar with people and the game certainly changed with Harvey gone…in some ways it was sad to see him go…though I think he was relieved! :-)
Somewhere while putting Harvey to the sword (albeit a short and very dull sword) England and France settled their differences and again attacked me…this I just couldn’t figure out and I remember looking at the map and saying boy if E/F work something out this season they could be right back on Warsaw’s door-step…then prophetically there they were again the dynamic duo and for the life of me I was not certain why David halted his attack on Lloyd…now in my opinion Lloyd is perhaps one of the most gifted diplomats I have ever played against, he is always a strong contender in his games and his ability to influence the board in Lutzen was down right IMPRESSIVE! And how he continued to bring David onside made me suspect he must have had compromising photos or something…because even Lloyd’s skill couldn’t be enough to get David to throw away such a great opportunity…or could it? So now that they are working together again I run around to reform the I/A/R/T and again threaten to stalemate…this time it is David who stabs Lloyd and I simultaneously stab Harvey and Shaddy also however Shaddy stabs Geerten…damn it all this was a GOOOOOD game, knives everywhere and you never knew who you could trust and frequently I never could see it coming!
End-Game:
David and Lloyd are battling it out, Lloyd makes some friendly overtures, but I think I finally have a good working relationship with David and talk about how to make this game a 2-way draw, I offer David tactical advice and agree to certain DMZs. David always ignores my tactical advice and fails to capitalize on several opportunities, besides that he frequently moves in such a way that I know he doesn’t trust me and rather then going and taking out Lloyd, he is just shifting armies about with no real long range planning…at least that is what I think and then I think something else…ugh, he just wants to draw and END THIS game on some large 4 or 5 way draw…no, no, no, No, NO!
As F/E fight some more, I begin to suspect that all David is after is to secure his own position by weakening England’s and then have me take out Shaddy and Geerten and see a 3-way draw, suddenly Shaddy collapses in a spectacular NMR, which insures Geerten and I can finish him off in ½ the time, thus Shaddy is the third to go and he is another who betrayed me so I put another notch on my scabbard and move on! ;-) I am doing my best to sell David on a 2-way draw, I point out that a move to the BAL would insure we can take out Lloyd…he refuses and I go and pound my head into the wall, bemoaning David and again cursing my decision in 1901 to attack Lloyd, I decide now I am fed up with the endless dance between E/F, Lloyd is clearly the better Diplomat out of the two, but David is better tactically, Lloyd is very gutsy…David is fanatically cautious and the two players cancel each other out in their on going conflict…the game is in the end stages and I have eliminated Shaddy and Harvey with some aid from Geerten, but Geerten is at my mercy and I am conducting diplomacy at the end of a bayonet with him so he is little more then a conscripted mercenary. Germany is out mostly because of my attack on him in 1903 and then I insured that Lloyd and David could crack him open (right before they trampled over me). I own the parts of Europe where countries used to be…David and Lloyd own all the neutral dots with the exception of Germany (which I delivered into their hands) and of course Lloyd does OWN Stp – [grmbgrmblgrmbl - *spit* ;-)] Basically I have conquered Europe and these two (the mighty conquerors of Spain, Belgium and Norway!) are forcing a large draw on me! I took out whole nations while they subjugated Iberia, the Lowlands and Scandinavia…whoopee! Suddenly Lloyd pulls off this brilliant convoy, I mean it was one of the best moves I have ever seen as a player or GM and it really put France on the back foot and I thought “Good now David HAS to FINALLY fight hard”, and so in a1914 it is clear that if I can get David to vacate Tunis and Lloyd plays the obvious that David won’t build and maybe even DISBAND one or dare I hope for two, and if I lunge forward NOW I can win in a year or so, so I lunge like a cat on the prowl…and when the adjudication comes out my dreams are dashed like so much broken glass…the absolute WORSE scenario has happened…Lloyd actually LOSES a dot to David, *HOW* he managed that after what s1914 looked is a mystery to me, so instead of David just staying EVEN (which I still could have won)…he actually BUILDS!!!! On top of that Captain Cautious (as I privately refer to David) stayed in Tunis despite several YEARS of me doing EXACTLY as I promised and I though I had swindled him to move OUT of Tunis…heh…heh…sob…good on Captain Cautious….errrr I mean David…his play that season…it cost me the game :-) wait I mean :-(((((. Seriously, David’s cautious play and strong moves against Lloyd stopped me from winning, so good play by David, but after all the trials of this game (none to few inflicted by the French) I wanted R-E-V-E-N-G-E…yes I know it has no place in diplomacy, but I just couldn’t help myself!
So here I am war weary, blood spattered, all my knives are used and the best I can do is take out Geerten get to 17 and have a 3-way draw…Geerten is really a very good diplomacy friend of mine and I admit that I shamelessly played on this friendship promising all sorts of things and routinely broke my agreements with him, but now I was not about to eliminate him for a lousy 3-way draw (normally I don’t consider a 3-way draw lousy…but if I had to share it with the two guys who caused me the most grief all game then YES it is lousy )…at least one that included BOTH David and Lloyd!
You see my early mistake of stabbing Lloyd haunted me all game long, Lloyd was the one who formulated alliance after alliance to thwart me at every turn, he played masterfully and David who is certainly a solid diplomat and competent tactician foiled me constantly by never getting off the fence for very long (though IMO his cautious play really hurt him), if he had worked with me seriously EVEN ONCE after 1903 I could have handled a 3-way draw. But here in 1915 I sat looking at my two impediments to victory and the cause of much of my pain and suffering while the best ally I have ever had lay barely conscious with my foot poised over his head [Ummm yes, well errr lets move on and not get bogged down about what happened to this greatest of allies] and David and Lloyd cheering for his death so that we three could share in a draw…their immaculate white gloves with my blood covered hands…NEVER!
That is when Lloyd writes me and proposes that I eliminate Geerten…I hate large draws I really do, what is the point, why with such frequently do players refuse to reassess the situation and find another solution? Why does diplomacy become so inflexible…I have said it before and I’ll say it again (yes Mr. Hilton I know you don’t agree) this represents a break-down in the diplomatic process not a success…but hey that is only my opinion…
At this time I was going for a solo in 3-games…Gobstopper, Colostomy and this one, it was clear I was going to win in Gobstopper, but in Colostomy I was stymied and then had to accept a 4-way draw while being on 17 dots (weep)…not here, not again, not if it could be helped…but to betray Geerten again just for a 3-way…no I needed something juicier :-) So I decided that from then on out I had a new policy, if by luck I am in position to go for the win and do so and am stopped and am forced to accept a large draw I will say “Good job well played…now lets reduce the draw” and I will do*whatever* I have to do to make it happen…even if I must pass on a chance to win, in Colostomy I tried to pull back and sacrifice some dots but England wouldn’t accept it, here I gave Lloyd an iron clad promise to pass on the win and anyone who looks at the board can see I clearly could have won, so this is no idle promise, it is simply Lloyd and I doing what we could to do our part to reduce the far too frequent large draws that are occurring, anyway if Lloyd would help me eliminate David, I would insure that Geerten voted for the draw or was eliminated and we could take the rare and ever elusive 2-way draw, which are far rarer in a game of diplomacy then even a solo! (of course so is a six way draw and thankfully I have never been saddled with one of THEM) I had repeatedly tried to work with David all game long, he routinely would not trust me or passed on the chance to break open Lloyd, plus he single handedly foiled my dash for the win! He had to go! :-)) In the mid-game I had tried to formulate a plan with Lloyd to work for a 2-way draw but it didn’t come to pass. So I laid everything out with Lloyd here at the end and I was glad I did, I felt from the beginning I had made a severe strategic error in stabbing Lloyd, his correspondence in the early game was great stuff and I thoroughly enjoyed trying to counter his behind the scenes maneuvering all game long it was loads and LOADS of fun and he really is a very talented player diplomatically and the chance to accomplish here in the end game what we had failed to do in the early and mid game was too good an opportunity to pass on…so I held my ground while Lloyd stabbed David and then helped him when I could and yes…I passed on the win and no I don’t regret it, (sorry to disappoint those of you who have portrayed me as far too cruel and malicious ) I gave the best I had to win but David thwarted me and I would have been forced to take a large draw had not Lloyd been willing to take a risk and trust me, I both respect and am thankful for that and am honored and pleased to have shared in a 2-way draw in what was absolutely a terrific game of diplomacy and with such a great group of guys.
In summary there were so many things I liked about this game, I got to become friends with Geerten, David and Lloyd and while not as close with Harv or Shaddy I certainly liked playing with them and found them to be very enjoyable to play with. I never got to know Alan very well but certainly wish him well. The on going press, some of which I know was from Lloyd and some from what I assumed was Shaddy was great stuff, and between us we carried a story theme throughout much of the game that reflected events going on in the game and despite my grammatical and spelling errors was loads of fun. The constant swirl of alliance shifting was exhilarating and really kept you on your toes. The only thing I didn’t like was that it was a three-week game and in the end Brian was kind enough to allow us to make it a 2-week game I still found the pace slow for my liking…oddly though I can’t help but wonder if the game would have been as fun had it been a 1 week game???
Individually I would like to say:
Austria/Harvey: You really did a great job sticking with a game that never saw you over what…4 dots, maybe 5? The banter and diplomacy was great fun even if in the beginning I found your emails sparse and brief, we certainly had better correspondence going mid game and I wonder how much different of a game it might have been if you had stayed out of Galicia in s1901? Good luck to you and look forward to seeing you either in Swashbuckler or anther dip game in the future!
England/Lloyd: A kindred diplomacy spirit in many ways, I thank you for the exciting and tumultuous game, I apologize for throwing away our alliance so early and trust me I know it was a mistake and you made me pay for it ten fold! Well done, I appreciate the willingness to take a risk like you did in the end game and encourage you to try a 1-week game sometime and maybe we will meet up in the World Masters! And yes I know how much you enjoy ending the game owning my capital (among others) St. Petersburg!!!
France/David: Sorry you had to go at the end but the chance to get revenge for your march on Berlin and Warsaw and thwarting my win was too much for me to pass on :-) I thank you for the constant stream of emails, they were always prompt and thorough and even when we were at odds it was great to still be writing each other, that is not always possible in most diplomacy games, glad we could do so here. I would encourage you not to worry about the fence so much and to be willing to stick your neck out a little more…there was a time I felt you could have won this game!
Germany/Alan: Hope you are doing well. If I may be so bold…a big mistake asking me to help against England and then double crossing me the next season, if you had stuck with me, your fortunes would have been vastly different. Maybe next time you will be in position to write with greater frequency?
Italy/Shaddy: Thanks for the grand struggle and the words of war in the press, I would have loved to get the I/R off the ground, your silence in replying to my emails was frequently your undoing as I often believed everything you told me! It was only the silence that keyed me into the fact that things were not as good as I thought…brilliant stab in 1904…brilliant!
Turkey/Geerten: What can I say? You are clearly a talented player and I apologize for my diplomacy at knife point, which you handled so well throughout the game. I know I played you dirty and made heavy capital out of our friendship which grew out of this game especially since you rescued me in 1905 from certain destruction! I am sure you will never let me get away with THAT again! :-) Regardless you are now all the wiser and my hands perhaps all the more soiled. I found your diplomacy great stuff, well written, well thought out and thoroughly enjoyable, your tactical ideas are bold and solid and out of all of the 6 players I would say you were the most fun to play with. I thank you for saving my bacon in 1905 and thank you even more for leaving your back exposed ;-)
GM/Brian: Thank you for the game and hosting such an excellent one at that. I appreciate you putting up with my constant efforts to move the game to a 2-week time line and thank you for allowing it when it eventually passed. I hope my seasonal summaries didn’t bore you and would like to thank you for giving nearly two years of your life to GMing this game, it was in many ways the best game of diplomacy I have played in.
In closing I know there are many out there who think I should have stabbed Lloyd after getting him to agree to the 2-way draw and I want you to know that I can appreciate your view, but you were not involved in this game nor in the diplomacy, it really had a life and flare of its own and trust me when I say that this game was not short on blood (lots of it mine) and skullduggery and the ending to Lloyd and I seemed apropos…of course it could be that Lloyd is just such a crafty diplomat that he convinced me I should stick to the 2-way draw :-) Regardless it was a well earned draw on both accounts and my 2nd two way draw and that my friends is something I am pleased with!
Thank you one and all for the game!
Be Well my friends…be well –
Tim/Russia in Lutzen
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TURKEY (Geerten Eijkelenboom) Lutzen End Game Statement
Turkey (Geerten Eijkelenboom)
Well, where should I start to describe this game!! Some facts:
1. I received and sent about 1671 e-mails (so 3342 in total);
2. If you reckon that making up a mail (especially when you play oll
Timbo)takes about ten minutes...then time spent on this game is 16710
minutes which is 278 hours, that is 7 FULL WORKING WEEKS!;
3. It took me nearly 2 years to end up with one unit in Apulia;
4. The winners of this game have both been in REAL big trouble in the early
days;
5. This was my first regulars game and I had played David (france) and Alan
in my first Dip2000 game Thyme..furthermore I didn't know anyone from the
line-up. This would be a decisive fact in this game as I didn't know Tim
either.....I'll come back to this later.
6. I NEVER proxied my units to someone inside the game!
First:
CONGRATULATIONS TO LLOYD AND TIMBO.....I feel like you have won one of the
most heroic battles in the history of Dip2000!!!! Lutzen has been something
else and I want to think every player involved for being part of this...It
was worth two years of hard labour and although I finished with one
sc....I'm proud of it!!!
So that's that...now back to when it all began..Due to a computer system
breakdown two months ago I am not able to look back at the negotiation
schemes..but I know...I guess!
EARLY YEARS (1901-1902)....THE ITALIAN CONNECTION
In 1901 there was little time to negotiate due to sad personal circumstances
so I made a standard opening...bouncing Russia in BLA and taking Bul in the
process. Tim had been talking about the Juggernaut, but somehow I didn't
feel up to it! My love for unexpected alliances and strategies is legendary
so I tried to achieve another quite surprising alliance...Italy. With Craig
at the helm in Italy I figured that some Australian optimism could do the
job..
AND IT DID!!
Spring 1901 saw an Austria slipped into Galicia..but being chased by the
Italians in Trieste. In the west the English opened north and Germany was in
Denmark. The only thing that wasn't right was the French move to
Burgundy...with a threatened Germany there wasn't much chance that he would
bounce Sweden...But alas: Russia had to be on his guard and Austria was
hunted!!
And The hunt began..what to do?? Take a shot at Greece??? Go for Rum? NO!
With Craig I made an appointment about Serbia...he was going to support me
there to gain position and momentum against both Austria AND Russia.. In the
west I put a lot of pressure on David and Alan to stop messing around and
bounce Tim in Sweden. But I didn't know Tim that well back then..I should
have known that he would get access to Sweden..
It worked out to a certain extent..Italy stood in Trieste, building F Nap/A
Ven And I was in Serbia, building A Smy/F Con...ready to attack Russia. BUT
as I said...Timbo did his Houdini trick again and took Rum unopposed and
stood in Sweden netting two builds....Planning to go north, but he saw it
coming!! And acted...
Spring 1902 saw a shift in balance on the Balkans...Off course Austria and
Russia found eachother while Craig and me had some bad calls..losing
Serbia..but winning BLA and Arm. I decided that the attack on Russia was
useless at this point and tried to convoy A Arm-Bul in order to put the
pressure on Harvey.... I failed AND worse.....CRAIG changed to Timbo's camp,
putting fleets in ION and EMS..
Meanwhile the western front saw a G/F/R massacre of England..Russia took Nwy
and France was in Bel/Iri and ENG....Austria was at 2 sc's and with the new
found trust between R/I I knew what was going to happen...Austria was to go
first...and me after that.
1903-Spring 1904 THE PROXY SEASONS....AND WHAT AN ACCIDENT IN CRETE CAN DO
TO YOUR GAME OF DIPLOMACY
Then it was holiday time....and as I was going to Crete for two weeks I
asked an old friend of mine to see to my dipping..and he did. I instructed
him to try to work out something with Austria and not to trust
Timbo....WRONG AGAIN! The second I was gone Tim started to work heavily on
Edwin...telling him that he felt that Edwin was a far better and less
opportunistic player than I am, seeing the grand scheme of things...
To cut things short...Timbo ate Edwin!!! The poor guy attacked Austria and
was eaten from behind by 'passerby' Russian forces..
To make matters worse I fell from a swimming pool stairs on Crete and
injured my back so badly I had to be hospitalized for ten days, lying flat
on my back...When I came home two weeks late I had to sleep downstairs..and
the PC is in the attic!!
I arrived back at the board after Spring 1904 seeing the Russians in Bul and
Con and Italians in EMS...That's it I thought. I'm dead!! Austria was on his
way back with help
AUTUMN 1904..the turnaround..
When I came back I realized that something had to be done...I contacted both
Harvey and Craig to propose an alliance....cause I feared that Tim would
walk away with this game if we didn't act... To my astonishment they both
reacted positive and a plan was born!! We made up a bold plan that should
see Italians in Bul and Gre, Austrians in Rum and me back in Con...Meanwhile
Tim counted on Craig to finish me off.
It was heart achingly suspense...BUT IT WORKED.....I think this was the
first and the last time that I saw 5 out of 7 of Timbo's moves fail or
misordered.
We had a totally different game on our hands!!! Russia down to five with
only F BLA and A Ukr to defend against A/I/T....and in trouble in the north
also as Lloyd put himself to the fray and into our plans and the "The
alliance of underprivileged countries" was born. We planned to let Tim not
suffer too long unnecessary and agreed that Harv and me would do the job
while Craig was turning west to take on France in cooperation with Lloyd...
And then it happened...
1905...MY PERSONAL DISASTER
Somehow I had a little seed of doubt about my position and what would happen
if Russia would be gone....and that my dear audience is the secret of
Timbo's succes...He got a scent of my doubt and started to work on that
fear....making it grow and grow and grow.
And finally I did it...I STABBED MY ALLIES AND KILLED THE ALLIANCE OF
UNDERPRIVILEGED COUNTRIES...And gave Timbo a shot at another run...and this
time he would not let himself be surprised another time! Things looked
totally different again! Italy was on the receiving end now and I was about
to grow!
My former allies made a very big effort to get me back on board and I knew
they were right..We agreed that I would get the benefit of the doubt. And
that was what Timbo and I wanted to hear!
I took a huge risk by abandoning Ser and going for the kill in Greece and
Bulgaria..but it succeeded..and by the end of 1905 we were in firm control
with Italy far away at the french shores and Austria immobilized at the
northern Balkans surrounded by hostile R/T forces...THe Juggernaut would
roll once more..Lloyd acted immediatley and in the west we saw the demise of
Germany....by a devils pact between Lloyd and Timbo!
And I had made two enemies for life....looking back I can understand the
anger and frustration that Craig and Harv felt...Sorry guys...I could have
made this game very different! But I didn't and started to develop a warm
understanding with Timbo!
1906...ROLLING, BUT TOO SLOW!
From 1906 I was in league with Russia and saw us taking Rumania..and by the
end of 1906 I was in TYS/ION/AEG and seeing France in very good shape in WMS
and building in Mar. England took on Russia in the north and Timbo and I saw
the dawning of an E/F alliance!! Russia was under large pressure again with
still 3 austrian armies on his southern border and fastly approaching
English in the north!
This point is when and where things went wrong for me! I should have seen it
coming but somehow failed to act!
1907 STABBED!!!
Appointments were made...I would batter on against Austria in Trieste with
Tim cutting support from Vie and Bud. Meanwhile I would sneak around Italy's
backdoor and take ADS. France would do the job with me in Italy....
Good idea, but Tim decided it was time to bottle up in Turkey...with a
devastating stab of
F BLA C A Rum-Con with me FAR away from home!! I should have turned around
immediately to regain my homeland but I knew that Craig and Harv would skin
me alive if I did so...even if it was the last thing they would do!!
So what happenen is that I took Tim's excuses and decided that I would go
all the way with the Russian alliance...even if he was in my homeland!!
ONLY to be stabbed again....Tim supported Harv back to Ser and I lost Smy,
Ank and Serbia...Bye bye again..thanks you for the music and that was that I
would say...I WAS FURIOUS and wished Tim to hell and back and swore
vengeance into the seventh generation!
But Harv forgot to build...I gather he didn't count on anything and just
forgot to do so!
But what did I do instead?? I went along with Tim who asked me if I was
planning to stay in the game or wanted to die...I chose the latter...the
rest is history!
Meanwhile the E/F alliance grinded on with France on 10 and England on 8
sc's !!!
1908-CHANGING ALLIANCES
1908 saw a brief cooperation with Italy to snatch Tunis, which didn't
succeed and saw Harv in Galicia working with Tim to beat the French out of
Warsaw...At the Balkans I managed to hang on and got Rum in exchange for
Con...
At the grand scheme..it was France who was at the receiving end, being
stabbed by England!! And again Tim won another battle in this war..france
was on his way back!@
1909-1913 HANGING BY A (RUSSIAN) THREAD!
From 1909 I decided that I should put my faith into the hands of Timbo and
my main goal became to outlive both Austria and Italy and somewhere at the
back of my mind I thought that somehow Tim was going to hand me back my
homeland somewhere in time!
What happened in those years....look at the site..I visited all kinda
strange places from Tyr to Rome. I actually got back Smy and
Con.....Together with Timbo I managed to eliminate Italy and Austria....The
E/F alliance was established once more to stop Timbo...
AND ALL THE TIME I WAS AT 2-3 UNITS! While Timbo grew to an astounding 16
sc's!! But I have to say that I developed a rather good relation with Tim in
the process...he kept his word to keep me in the game and give me a part of
the draw if E/F were stalemating him!
1914-1915 THE E/F/T STALEMATE
This year saw the forming of an E/F stalemate line.. I only had Vienna left
and managed to get a rogue fleet through the Russian lines..but I also knew
that I lived by the grace of Timbo here.. He kept his word and told David
and Lloyd that he would only eliminate me in case he would need Vie for the
solo..a promise he kept once more!
So....with the E/F stalemate in sight I had a very realistic hope of being
part of a 4-way E/F/R/T draw...And I still think that would have been the
best result for this game...man, the sheer effort we all put into this would
have been acknowledged best by the four of us sharing this draw..
1916-ENDGAME...TIMBO'S LAST TRICK
But Timbo had one last trick up his sleave....he knew that Lloyd hates draws
with more than 2 countries involved...and decided to make Lloyd a final
offer....Attack France in exchange of a 2-way draw..
And that's exactly what happened...I immediately thought that this would be
Tim's fifth solo as he told me once that he would never let a game he could
win end up in a draw.. But to my big surprise he kept his word...
AND SO LUTZEN ENDED IN AN E/R draw..
What a game...
CONGRATULATIONS TO LLOYD AND TIMBO.....I feel like you have won one of the
most heroic battles in the history of Dip2000!!!! Lutzen has been something
else and I want to think every player involved for being part of this...It
was worth two years of hard labour and although I finished with one
sc....I'm proud of it!!!
Some personal remarks:
ALAN (GERMANY)
Your part in this game was over too soon and too long ago to say something
more sensible than good luck to you in future games...You just had the bad
luck that you faced Tim Sweeney in his death struggle in 1905...
HARVEY (AUSTRIA)
Man..has this been something. From the start I had the impression that you
were never going to let me off the hook...but I was wrong and messed it up
myself. We had a very good time back in 1904 when we made it work with the
"underprivileged alliance". After that we had a tough, but fair battle in
which I came up on top after 8 years or so! I thoroughly enjoyed the way you
handled the situation with a relentless effort to let me know I made a
mistake in 1904...I appreciate the way you were not giving up and fought to
the last man standing. Most of all I like your dry sense of humour...Cheers
mate!
CRAIG (ITALY)
I heard that you have given your dipping hobby a sabbatical period. I truly
feel that is a loss to the Dip2000 site..I had a great time battling you and
YES..I am truly sorry that I messed up the underprivileged alliance..But on
the other hand I never understood why you gave up on our early alliance so
quickly...if you look at the S02 map we could have taken it a long way! Good
luck to you in everything you do!
DAVID (FRANCE)
And so we met again..In THYME we had a great thing going but somehow didn't
manage to come around it this time. I totally blame that to the fact that
there hasn't been any TRUE chance that we could make things work.. When we
had a chance in 1906 I was stabbed relentlessly by Timbo and had to quit our
growing understanding... All in all I feel you played a good game, but
somehow didn't manage to finish it.. I figure that the end-result is a bit
dissapointing to you and don't blame you for feeling that way.
LLOYD (ENGLAND)
What can I say...if you look at your situation in 1902 people can make it up
for themselves. You played a great game!!! Knowing when to handle the
situation at the right time...and taking the largest risk in history of
Dip2000 by trusting Tim to let you in the 2-way draw. Just for that you
deserve a medal of honour. I also know that you blame me for letting Tim
back into this game, but what can I say?? The underprivileged were bound to
rule the board but I still regret that we didn't manage to give me a clear
enough sight at a good result.. The last two years have seen us becoming
'dip2000 friends'in my opinion and I wish you all the best in future games!
TIM (RUSSIA)
You are really out of another league! You have a close to second sight
feeling for this game and always know what to do at the right time.. It
still baffles me how you succeeded in taking me along in fighting a heroic
battle on the Balkans while I stayed at 2-3 units and you growed slowly to a
position that could have won you the game...and me enjoying all bits of the
experience. You have shown me how diplomacy should be played and have proven
to be a "Dip2000 friend". Thanks for the lessons learned and for keeping
your word by letting me stay into this game!
BRIAN (GM)
Thanks for staying along with us for nearly 2 years...you did a splendid
job! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did...Thanx mate.
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GM (Brian Frew) Lutzen was a pleasure to GM as the players worked hard at the game and clearly enjoyed it. That is what makes GMing worthwhile. The contrived 2 way did surprise me - I, like some of the players, thought that he was setting himself up for a solo, but he was a man of his word! Doubtless we will hear much of most of you in future games.
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