Ah, excellent. Lots to talk about here!

England: I am quite surprised by that. With weak Italy's and Turkey's, I expected you to hit France hard and fill the power vacuum in the Med very quickly. Instead, you've hit Germany, who appears to have double crossed you in Sweden despite attempting to leave Holland... a little puzzling. Either way, you've driven Germany & Russia into making amends, as I fully expect them to do here, and possibly cost yourself Norway in the process. If France now floats up into you as well, you're in big trouble. Of course, if you can keep France onside, you can convoy into Holland or Denmark and possibly try to support him to Kiel too. But your advantage has disappeared here, and you'll have to put in some more excellent press to win it back. I'm sure you're up to that challenge, but no cookie for you this time.

France: Well, that turned around nicely. Great diplomatic work on directing England into an inferior target in Germany, and despite being in Ruhr, you could actually still cut a deal with Germany to smash England here. A delayed Sealion between you, Germany, and Russia targetting England right now could cost him Belgium, Norway, and Liverpool in quick succession. You still have too many armies, but at least you have the chance to rectify that now. I'm unconvinced of the merits of sticking in an E/F here, as with Russia and Germany apparently sorting their differences out, England would gain far quicker than you would, but perhaps there are ways around that. Have a cookie for convincing England not to attack you!

Germany: Excellent stuff. Putting aside your differences with Russia is exactly what needs to be done here, and whilst moving to Baltic is a little odd, I assume it was a defensive move. By putting Russia in a place where he can attack Norway, you've blunted England's attack on you. Holland is a write-off unless you can convince France to support hold it with Ruhr (which isn't in his interests and probably isn't in yours either), but you have a chance to counter-attack next year. The best that can be expected here. Blocking France out of Burgundy also makes siding with you far more appealing to him. I have to say though - given a disband is almost inevitable, I'd be trying to keep that Baltic fleet, putting it in Kiel or Denmark, and giving yourself the ability to force North Sea next year. You can have a cookie for making England far less appealing an ally to both Russia and France - but you still have a lot of work to do to stop this just becoming an F/R that crushes both you AND England.

Italy: Well, that went pretty much entirely how I expected it to go. Aegean was an error that you've been punished for. Blocking Tyrolia and Ionian stops it being even worse, but unless you can convince Turkey to support you into Ionian, you could well be dead by the end of next year. Venice is gone, and this'll be quite something to turnaround now. It's a shame - the I/T could've worked extremely well if you'd gone for it, and I expect both of you to lose without it. 100 lines of "I must not rule out promising alliances without any benefit to myself".

Austria: Perfecto! Ignore all the Balki-hype, that's 3 phases (inc. builds) in a row where you've been the guy to watch on this board. Italy is likely to collapse extremely quickly unless Russia stabs you, but with the board so brilliantly set up for an A/R now, with weak Italy's and Turkey's, and a France who hasn't got the fleets to fill the med vacuum... there are huge amounts of options for you. Turkey will be desperate for your help, too, and an A/T isn't entirely out of the question. If you could get him to support you into the Ionian, that would be a true masterstroke - if you could afford the price he'd put on it. But really, he'll have to work very hard to convince you not to go for an A/R. The only downside is that, with Russia now gaining in the North again, he won't be quite as reliant on you as he might have been. Have a big cookie though. Onwards to greater things!

Russia: Fantastic turnaround! Moscow build may be even more futile now (England bouncing you in STP would've been a far worse turn), but patching things up with Germany was just the ticket you needed here. With Norway looking so juicy too, that's two feasible builds - not counting what you could snatch in the South. If anything, you need to moderate yourself not to grow too quickly and undo your hard diplomatic work here. Turkey staying in Armenia is an issue that could stop you truly hammering him down this year, but with chances at Bulgaria, Constantinople or Ankara in the south, you're definitely into a far nicer position. Austria kicking Italy off the board does rather tie you into an A/R, but given how nice the board is set up... that's not such a bad thing. A cookie for you, too.

Turkey: I'd have kept up the stalemated attack on Russia here. Italy was always going to be busy with Austria - but the position you WERE in would at least make you a fairly attractive ally to Austria later. Now, with Russia all over you, you don't even have that. Staying in Armenia was your one good move there - as it means that Russia has to worry about covering Sevastopol, which could rescue you elsewhere. To make it a great move, you'd have had to make an unsupported attack on Sevastopol though. It'll take some fantastic diplomatic work to salvage an A/T or, even less likely, a juggernaut here. With Russia in the shape he is now, it's very hard to say it's in his interests to keep you alive. You do have the Ionian Sea question as a bargaining chip with Austria; the only real chip you have. Use it well. I don't know what you were hoping for by withdrawing from Russia, but it clearly hasn't happened. If you'd not told Russia you were going to withdraw - so that he had to enter defensive moves, then you could've made a juggernaut plausible. Instead, you just invited him to shaft you harder than a night out in Brighton. 100 lines of "Don't tell my enemy where and how to attack me".