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MASTERSOFWAR END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Brian Frew
Started: October 2003
Finished: June 2004
Result: WIN England
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | Result | | Austria | Raymond Pratt | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | Lost 1909 | | England | Eduard Van Dijk | 5 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 13 | 18 | Won 1909 | | France | Paul Clayson | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 2 | Lost 1909 | | Germany | Ben Franettovich | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Out 1905 | | Italy | Eric Kildow | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Out 1906 | | Russia | Matthew Cullen | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Lost 1909 | | Turkey | Peter King | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Lost 1909 |
AUSTRIA (Raymond Pratt) Firstly I would like to wish all the players good luck
in future games. This game certainly threw up some
interesting problems, some of which were down to the
personalities of the players. I think Ben had a major
problem from the outset with both Eduard and Paul
attacking relentlessly. The game hinged around
Eduard's stab at Paul which worked tremendously. From
my point of view the major pain came from Peter who
doesn't appreciate the subtleties of give and take, we
give he takes, no argument. It was this disagreement
that handed the game to Eduard.
Matthew should have given a better account of himself
but decided to give the reins to Peter which slowed
down any attempt to put pressure on Turkey. I would
also like to thank Paul for at least trying to put up
some resistance against Eduard, but this was once
again thwarted by Peter's insistence on not giving
anything at all. This attitude will surely give him
headaches in other games.
Finally I wish all the players (yes even Peter) and GM
all the best for the future and hope our paths cross
again in better circumstances. Return to Top
FRANCE (Paul Clayson) A bit of a dissapointing game. It started off quite well and I managed
to get into a good alliance with England and attacked Italy. I agreed a
split up of the centres with Austria and started talking about working
together against Turkey. It all seemed to be going well when England
stabbed me! I've no complaints about that - I gave him the chance and he
took it!
There only seemed to be one option - make peace with Turkey and
concentrate on defending my home centres. Russia was a good as out, so there
seemed a good chance for Turkey to take Russian centres while Austria
takes Germany and I defend. With England on only 10 centres when he
stabbed me, we should easily be able to hold out for a draw. I did propose
the draws a one point to see what the reaction would be from England.
What I didn't expect was both Austria and Turkey to announce that they
would veto it because "England will win the solo". No-one was prepared to
even try and stop him!!!
Oh well, all that was left was to defend as best I could, to see if I
could at least have some centres left when England won - while Austria
and Turkey slug it out to become the biggest loser.
Congratulations to Eduard - well played and a well deserved victory.
Thanks Brian for GMing.Return to Top
TURKEY (Peter King) The game began with Turkey stuck in the corner as always. I made alliances with both Austria and Russia. Since Ray's communication was excellent I decided to throw my lot in with him and we orchestrated a stab on Russia. This was very succesfull and we were making good progress when Ray decided to stab me as well. Oh well thats the game. I had to stay and fight against his strong position. This set us both back.
At this stage I tried to call in Italy to assist me but he was under pressure from Paul and could not help. It seemed as though Paul and Eduard were going to share the win comfortably by the halfway mark in the game. Eng and Fra had a huge lead.
At this stage Matt (Russia) gave me his proxy and I tried to convince Ray that we should turn our attentions to the North otherwise Eng/Fra had a clean sweep on their hands. Ray was no longer communicative and was unable to see the fluid nature of the game. A stab is not the end of a relationship. Necessity can and should rebuild alliances.
At this stage Eduard stabbed Paul and Paul appealed for help. Paul and I tried to construct a three way alliance between Fra/Austria/Turkey (plus my Russia). Paul and I both agreed to the necessity of this alliance. The game was ours for the taking. Our countries had 21 centres and Eduard had only 13. We could not however convince Ray to answer our pleas and so I must congratulate Eduard on his skillful Diplomacy in this respect.
He convinced Ray to allow him to have the solo.
All kinds of strange draws were proposed which were ridiculous since either Eduard was going to win a solo or we three were going to share the draw. They were the only 2 possible outcomes.
Each year we tried to convince Ray and each year he continued to support Eduard as he went to 14, 15, and finally 18.
I thought Paul managed a magnificent defence against Eduards overwhelming forces. My own play was sometimes good sometimes ordinary and in hindsight I would have to say that having Russia's proxy should have enabled me to take more centres than the 10 I finished with.
Congratulations to Eduard on his much deserved win. He was skillful in all aspects of Diplomacy, timed his stab against Paul just right and succeeded in using Ray as his foil brilliantly.
I will be interested to hear what the Bourse players thought about the game from the outside.
My thanks to all players and especially to Brian our GM whose running of the game was excellent.Return to Top
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