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OZ END-GAME STATEMENTS
GM:
Steve Turner [EGS]
Started: January 2002
Finished: December 2002
Result: 3 way draw between Austria, Italy and England.
| Country | Player | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | Result | | Austria | John Yates | 5 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 16 | Drew | | England | Jan Willem Omlo | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | Drew | | France | Jeff Crocombe | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated | | Germany | Tony Sait | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | Eliminated 1909 | | Italy | Olle Lundberg | 4 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Drew | | Russia | Tal Lessner | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated | | Turkey | Abdurrahman Ceylan | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Eliminated |
Austria (John Yates) Strange game. My biggest enemy was JW and we hardly crossed swords. Our
conflict was carried out by catspaw, distraction and innuendo. I began to
feel like Moriarty pursued by Holmes.
I think everyone got their first choice of country and since I had never
played Email Diplomacy before I decided to go for Austria. Just to see if I
could still do it. My first priority was to prevent a Russian/Turkish
agreement to attack me. Then to persuade Italy that I was no push over and
we could work together . Finally I wanted to keep Russia out of Gal in
Spring 1901. After that I hoped to grow slowly to the point I could grab
for a win.
1901
Work with Turkey to blitz Russia by grabbing Rumania in Autumn. Ask Germany
to bounce Sweden if Russia moves to Gal. Arrange Lepanto with Italy and fake
attack on Tri/Ven. Work with Russia to blitz Turkey by getting his army out
of Bul and into Rum. Offer Gal to Russia to show against Turkey, honestly.
Britain bounces back from French fleet in ENG to 5 units. Wow! I'll have to
watch him closely.
1902
Stab Turkey (sorry Ab), support Lepanto to Smy and take Bul. Fake attack on
Tri/Ven (is this fooling anyone?). Note to self: keep Italy at exactly one
unit less than me. Consider loan of Trieste to ensure this but luckily don't
need to. Try to encourage Franco-German entante but no go. France misses
out on builds again and Germany takes Sweden from Russia. England good at
writing positive letters that don't actually say anything.
1903
Finish off Turkey and move on Russia. Blitzkrieg the Ukraine to support
Turkey to Sev but Turkey has integrity and refuses to become my mercenary.
Take out Rumania and Constantinople. Italy heads west and takes Marseilles.
France in real trouble, Russia struggles. Support Russia against Germany
who obviously does not believe me. Plan to keep friends with Italy until
after taking down Germany. Who is obviously the big danger.
1904
Plan to use Russia against Germany but England stabs Germany first, gains 3
with good chance at 5! Organise anti-England fight which includes the
Russian forced retreat to Norway (sorry Tal). Italy holds in Tunis and moves
to ION, looks bad. Stab Germany AND Italy AND Russia and try to position for
win. I can give up any of Russia and Turkey and still reclaim it later but
to win I need to occupy Munich and Venice before Britain does. Horror! I
order an army build in Bohemia. What happened to the grow slowly plan John?
1905
Messing about, nobody trusts me, not surprised, try to agree mutual retreat
with Italy. Say I will build a fleet if and only if Italy attacks me.
Convince myself win is impossible so concentrate on being in position to
stop England when he goes for it. I could take Italy but only at the cost
of chaos in the Balkans and Britain all over the Mediterranean. JW refrains
from a stab with great self control. Take great care to do exactly what I
promise (except to England of course).
1906
Try to make friends with Germany and Italy offer to withdraw as gesture of
good will. Russia prevents my long march back to the homeland (good). Convoy
Italian army home in return for Olle's retreat from Tyrolia.
JW stabs at last! Try to prop up Germany and finish the Italy for Turkey
swap. Russia and Germany do not co-operate with each other or with my
plans.
1907
Go on holiday and offer proxies to everybody. I intend to stab in the
Autumn while officially on holiday. Don't think anyone is convinced. Have a
bad day at work and decide on impulse to go for a win. England still being
sneaky in Germany while Italy pushes the limits of our agreement. This is
the moment of truth. Some good luck, some bad. OK in Germany but not so
good in Italy. Invent work colleague 'Dave' to take the blame for this
year's stabs.
1908
Now on 15 units, Moscow whenever I can find the units to take it. If I can
hold Germany that means I still need two from Rom,Nap,Tun. Unless England
and Italy have a brainstorm I think I am stuck. Steve suffers catastrophe
and puts the adjudication on hold. Italy defends well and I can see no way
to win. Propose a four way draw but Britain holds out for a three way. Last
desperate effort
1909
No chance now. Nothing to do with me or Olle, just Tony fighting JW for
survival. Support Germany just for fun.
General Comments
Turkey - Ab, You did nothing wrong and wrote well, you were just unlucky to
be the cement holding me and Olle together.
France - Jeff, a little quiet but as you said what could I do to help you.
Still you stuck in there when lesser men would have folded.
Russia - Tal I just kept stabbing and apologising but you never gave up. I
hope you are still doing OK.
Germany- Tony, even while fighting we always talked, good player unlucky in
your allies and your guesses.
England - JW , very smooth operator, sent me lots of emails saying
absolutely nothing.
Italy - Olle, excellent game, if you had not moved to the Ionian 1904 we
might have shared the draw and if you had not moved your fleet to Apu1907 I
might have won.
Thank you everybody for a very enjoyable game, thanks to Steve for all his
help to a beginner and particularly to Brian for rescuing the game.
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Germany (Tony Sait) I'll not write a long GES for this game. Although I was dastardly stabbed on no more than fourteen occasions (OK, so my adding up isn't all it's cracked up to be) I tried always the diplomatic mission to maintain peace and goodwill. I'll repeat (parts of ) the last couple of e-mails I sent to give one and all a flavour of the dying embers of what was a very enjoyable game, played in the best spirit by one and all, AND GM'd in an exemplary manner.
1
"sorry to stoop to first names rather than initials... I've been under a lot of stress with my stupid computer/e-mail system and many of my comments have been written at the office where I have no games-files to hand, and at my age
the old memory part of the brain disappears pretty quickly. ... The vitriol of Scottie was aimed at the stupid stab, which has in fact only happened to me once before, and at that time I found that annoying - what is the point ? This game (Oz) is different - both (all three / all five ?) stabs against me have been by someone trying to profit themselves...
that I understand and have no problem with - except REVENGE !!!
Let the final rounds commence..."
2
"Hi all, the choice I have, it appears, is to fight on and be eliminated OR not to fight, agree to a 3way draw (excluding me), and be eliminated (as far as I am concerned, survival points are those who lose in a 17centre winner game). So... either I make life easier for you guys by meekly rolling over, or make you earn your points by fighting to the finish ?
Hmmm let me think long and hard about that one.
You want the easy life - tough. If you can't stay the distance, then don't play the game!
I am willing to vote yes to a four way draw, but not to eliminate myself.
Backs to the wall lads, remember the Alamo, better dead than red, we will fight them on the beaches and never surrender etc etc etc"
Final message from the beleaguered garrison
"To all the sweet talking, back stabbing bastards out there...
WE WILL RISE AGAIN - AND YOU BETTER BE ON YOUR TOES ! (Otherwise we will chop them off !) Other than that, thanks for a fascinating game which really kept me busy for some months - I thought this internet Diplomacy would be a doddle compared to the play-by-mail version... how wrong I was. all 3 games I have played in contains as many devious, twisted-minded, meglomaniacs as the postal game... I must get signed up for some more !!
P.S. I include myself in that description, so please don't feel slighted !"
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Italy (Olle Lundberg) When I signed up to play my first game ever of email dip I didnt quite realise that it would take so long. Over a year after the first deadline, the game had proved to be interesting and the players were devoted and good diplomats. Only two NMR:s, and that from dying France and Turkey. This EGS is quite long, but I felt it had to be in order for me to sort out this game from my point of view.
I chose Italy, since it is my favourite power, and actually the only one Ive ever managed to solo with in FtF dip.
I reckoned my best chances of doing well in this game would be to try my best to follow the same strategy as the time I won. That means I entered the game with the hopes of making friends with Austria and Russia to take out Turkey, arrange DMZ:s with France and initiate contact with England and Germany in order to help them out against France later on.
My primary aim with this my first game of email dip ever was to survive. A draw was more than I had hoped for, even though at one point in this game I actually believed I could solo.
1901 (Lepanto with Turkish consent)
Initiated contact with everyone. Turkey and Austria were most talkative, and both willing to throw me at the other one. Excellent. I decided to start out Lepanto, in order to keep all options. Contact with Russia led to an agreement of mutual help against first one, then the other one of Austria/Turkey. I decided to attack Turkey after seeing John (Austria) doing what he had said he would in spring. This was a good thing, getting rid of the other possible fleet power in the Eastern Med is clearly in Italys interests.
Meanwhile, the western side of the board confused me. Jeff (France) started out to both Burgundy and English Channel, which had the effect that Tony (Germany) and JW (England) turned on him in autumn.
1901 and 1902 was the best part of the game, I think, with everyone active. My relation to Austria was very entertaining, and our tricking Ab (Turkey) with faked forwarded mails, agreeing to help him, keeping good contact well, it was excellent.
Managed to convince Ab that an army build in Constantinople was far better than a fleet in Smyrna or Constantinople, even though I started Lepanto with a convoy to Tunis (!).
1902 (Grilling the Turkey)
Our plan in Turkey worked out, together with Tal (Russia), we disbanded the Turkish army in Rumania, while the Lepanto sneaked into EMS and AEG. This meant Smyrna was mine in fall with the support of Austria. Turkey down to two units after 1902.
After a series of bounces in Trieste, my Venice army headed for Piedmont in fall. By then it was clear that France was falling, and quickly. I needed the army to Piedmont, either to help France standing, or to ensure that I got at least Marseille and Spain, to keep England out of the Med.
Germany seemed to be the great power in the north, growing to six centers. It seemed obvious that the powerful alliances in this game was A/I and E/G. I hadnt managed to make the strong I/R alliance I wanted, and Austria moved to Gal in fall to threaten Russia along with German and English troops.
1903 (Getting my share of France)
With Turkey dead and Russia under Austrian pressure, I decided to go west. The diplomacy of 1903 was pretty much advising Russia and France on how to defend against the other nations, while I divided France with Germany, trying to keep England out from as much as possible, as I saw an opportunity to get rid of the only remaining natural fleet power (with France and Turkey already gone)
With Austria I kept a good relation, we decided to share Europe between us and go for a two-way.
I managed to trick myself into Marseille using the German threat, telling France I knew Germany was going for Marseille and moving there in order to bounce him out. This way I managed to stay friends with France even though I had conquered his home center.
Fall saw me taking Ankara and thus eliminating Turkey, keeping Marseille even though I moved to Burgundy to stop the quick German growth. I kept him out of Paris!
I also moved fleets to GoL and WMS, to stop the Brits from getting anywhere near the med.
The A/I alliance was now stronger than the E/G, with us at 15 centers against their 12.
1904 (First Austrian stab)
Everything at once. Probably one of the strangest diplomacy years Ive ever seen.
In spring Austria and England attacks Germany. This after a year in which I suspected Germany had the English proxy; he opened himself VERY much to the Brits.
All in all Germany loses five centers of his earlier seven to A/E. He also manages to take three centers from F/R.
In spring both Austria and I positioned up to stab one another. At least his moves looked that way to me, and mine looked that way to him. Truth to say, I was unsure about the move west, since Austria had far better expansion possibilities than I. I decided to stab him in fall, and my moves were to keep all doors open.
His faked bounce in Bulgaria I think had the same reasons.
I dreamt about solo when I saw that I would have both Spain and Portugal to myself, which meant I should have had nine centers. However, since the Austrian stab was better than my pre-stab, he managed to take both Smyrna and Venice from me.
1905 (Pegging Austria back)
Austrias rapid growth to thirteen centers threatened all of us. An E/G/I alliance was formed, and we managed to push back the Austrians a bit. I was convoyed from Spain to Portugal by an English fleet in MAO. A brilliant idea, perhaps my best contribution to this game ;)
We managed to take back Smy, Mun and War, which pegged Austria back to eleven centers, while I was at eight.
My hat off to Austrias fall moves, in which he was cool enough to see my bounce in Rome to keep a build center free, and supporting me into it to deny my build.
1906 (Italians convoyed home)
I again formed the A/I alliance, after Austria had begged me to, in order to have a strong ally in my back when I was to stop England from taking the Iberians and take MAO.
I was convoyed home from Turkey to Apulia, which really meant I traded my two Turkish centers (that I wouldnt have held anyway) for Venice.
After 1906 it was quite obvious that the battle would be between the greater powers England and Austria, with me, Germany and Russia still able to influence the end of the game.
1907 (Second Austrian stab)
Austria stabbed me again. Once again my hat off, this time for the diplomatic skills in promising me (and perhaps the rest of the board) his proxy, which meant I really thought I could trust him. Have to use that myself some time : )
Somewhat of my Italian intuition made me change my move from F Nap Rom to F Nap Apu in the last second. Looking back, this move probably saved my existence in this game, since Austria didnt get into Apulia in fall.
I let JW into WMS to cover up, since I needed him there and I had long ago lost my monopoly on the Mediterranean. Russia finally eliminated.
1908 1910 (End of the Game)
1908 was spent positioning myself in Italy, with English fleets to back me up. A perfect stalemate, with me as an essential part, gave me a part of the draw.
Austria couldnt get through my wall, and England couldnt attack me, since I told him this would mean I would give up enough centers for Austria to win.
These years were spent chasing down the last brave German units, reducing the drawing players to three.
A few remarks to the players:Austria/John I loved the diplomacy, especially taking down Turkey, but also the way we could communicate and negotiate ourselves out of conflicts. An excellent game, both tactically and diplomatic. Its a wonder we managed to stop you.
England/JW Great cooperation through the end of the game, setting up stalemates. I had hoped for more early diplomacy, but I guess you were just too busy : )
France/Jeff I think your upsetting both Germany and England in 1901 was your fall. I didnt really want you to go down that soon, since I think we did agree quite well over how the DMZ zones should be placed. As I see it I had no other choice but attacking you when I did.
Germany/Tony The communication we had was good, especially during the peg back AustriaI never understood why you opened your back to England though. Didnt you see the room you made for an English knife?
I also admire your heroic refusal to let us win with you still alive.
Russia/Tal A good survivor, it seems, for all those years behind Austrian lines. The communication was sparse, however, and I think the fact that you could only talk during some weekends was what made me side with Austria instead of with you.
Turkey/Ab Even though you were a good diplomat, my cooperation with Austria demanded your elimination. Im really sorry, and that you kept talking even though I was in Smyrna and you only had two centers left shows that you are a good player.
Finally I want to thank the other players for an interesting (at least until 1908) game of diplomacy. Thanks to Steve for GM:ing, and a huge thanks to Brian for taking over after Steve.
Congratulations to John and JW, for being part of the draw. The battle was between the two of you, and I feel like I stole part of this draw.
A good game by me with just a few mistakes made. A draw in a game where I would have been pleased with surviving. New contacts made with players I hope I will play against again some time.
Thanks everyone for this experience!
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GM (Steve Turner) I took over the game when it had virtually finished due to Steve Turner's home crisis. All the remaining players were a pleasure to deal with and the game was obviously played in a good spirit and enjoyed by it's participants. We GMs ask for no more.
Brian FrewReturn to Top
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