bump.

Autumn 1911:

England - It wouldn't have bothered me if you had left the Western Med exposed this phase, instead moving Spain to the GoL, the MAO to Spain, and covering the MAO. You could have taken a shot at Piedmont in the spring (and you could cut Tyrolia). The GoL would have been more useful for you, and had you bounced it, you still would have been able to take it in the spring. Either way, your solo window is essentially closed in the Med if Italy makes the right disbands and Turkey makes the right moves. However, there is no reason to assume that will all happen, so keep pushing on. There is also a little bit of potential surrounding that army in Livonia, but again, it depends on a mistake by Turkey. You're likely going to end up as a 17-center power in a three-way draw.

(As an aside, I encourage you to play to a full stalemate even if a solo seems unreachable. Some players draw early but it would be helpful to see the stalemate in its entirety in the SoW game.)

Turkey - My only real concern for you is that Prussia is potentially vulnerable, and being forced to disband that without an army in both Ukraine and Sevastopol could be troublesome, though probably not a deal breaker with only a fleet in Berlin. You made the correct moves to form a stalemate, but now it needs to be fortified. Italy convoyed out of Albania, so Serbia is free to move north and fill that hole. As for the Med, you wisely moved to Piedmont since Italy couldn't covered it and took the pressure off of the Ionian by moving your fleet to Trieste. Hopefully Italy trusts you enough to form a permanent stalemate with him and end this with a draw.

Italy - I wouldn't have minded a convoy to Tuscany instead of Naples, but trying to contest the Western Med to buy yourself some time is justifiable. Unfortunately, it did nothing for you. The good news is that Turkey is clearly not going to threaten you as you now hold the key to the game, and some brilliant defensive play on your end for the last several years has you in a position to draw with your homeland intact. Were you to fit into any draw, I assumed that it would be in possession of Iberia trying to hold Turkey out of Tunis, but you proved me wrong. Well done. It should only be one more year for you to finish it off.

Autumn 11
England - Well you got to 17, now can you find a way to grab that elusive 18th center? Italy and Turkey look pretty well fortified to hold Tun, but will things look so solid after Italy has to get rid of two units? There may still be a window for you if the wrong units are disbanded or if Italy and Turkey have trouble getting on the same page with next steps. I agree with Bo that Gulf Of Lyons might have given you more options than ensuring taking W Med this turn, but we'll see what Italy disbands. Definitely worth playing this one to establishment of definitive stalemate line, especially since it should be clear after the next round or two of moves whether you will have a window or not.

Italy - if you had 5 centers right now I would say this game is over and the stalemate line would be unbreakable. Since Turkey didn't go for your attempt to disband one of his useless fleets when you attacked Gre it will now be a bit dicey, though probably you two can still thwart England.

Turkey - your Northern line is pretty well set. I think Bo's concerns regarding Prussia are overrated, especially with no army in Berlin. In the South things are a little less certain though you should probably be okay as long as Italy makes the right disbands. If he doesn't the. It may take some guesswork between the two of you to lock things down before England can steal a center.

Losing Prussia wouldn't hurt. I'm not trying to say it could be a make-or-break scenario. I'm just suggesting that it would be simpler to simply shift the stalemate line backwards a pace than it would be to deal with a disbanded unit and a rebuild.

bump.

Spring 12

England - got some armies into position, took Prussia but lost Munich. Turkey probably can't hold Mun though and the extra armies give you a little better shot at a solo but still probably won't happen. Keep at it until stalemate line is set though just in case.

Italy - correct disbands, you are in the right spots, now you just have to sit back and see what happens up north.

Turkey - lost Prussia, took Munich. Will be tough to hold Mun though and your line is a little vulnerable in some other spots, but you are moving towards locking it down.

Spring 1912:

England - It may appear to be of little importance, but if you lose Munich, Turkey would have 14 centers, four short of a solo, meaning that retreating and hoping that Turkey will reduce the draw to 2 is out of the question. However, Turkey is thin on armies, so you can take it back and form a full stalemate line. Talk with your TA about whether or not you think retreating and hoping Turkey will reduce the draw is worth the trouble.

Italy - You made the right disbands and the right moves, and Turkey filled the gap in the Ionian, meaning that you have a full stalemate. That's all you can control right now. Hopefully Turkey doesn't feel it necessary to cut you out were the opportunity to arise.

Turkey - Took Munich, lost Prussia. Likely to lose Munich, so the net gain is zero. You get to build an army though, and since England doesn't have an army in St. Petersburg, you have time to organize your stalemate line and patch up the holes. At this point, you simply need to hold the stalemate, as you have, and see whether or not England retreats and what openings he might leave you.

Bump. Commentary later.

Disappointing turn from Italy.

Autumn 1912:

England - The misplay in Piedmont reopens your solo chances. You have to outguess the other two for a couple of phases, but you might be able to win this game after all.

Turkey - I'm not going to criticize you for trying to hold Munich - no one ever sees a failed support coming. Hopefully no one else holds that against you either. Regardless, you're fortunate to have a couple of builds. It's possible to reconstruct the stalemate with those units, but you need to know where to put them and what to do with them. You'll also have to juggle your own defenses while rearranging said units, which is going to be a hell of a challenge in itself.

Italy - I'm not going to venture so far as to say that the hold in Venice was a misorder, but I'm going to assume it was for the sake of the commentary. They are frustrating, but they happen, just as orders in email games and face-to-face can be mishandled by the board operator (or whatever you call it in face-to-face). You are basically dependent on Turkey to save you now, and the odds are not in your favor. Hopefully he can save you.

Autumn 12 thoughts

England -Took back Mun as expected. Unexpectedly also took Pie as Italy failed to support Pie from Ven. Solo back in play as a result.

Italy - Hope that Ven hold was a misorder and not just laziness/inattention to detail. Pretty sure we covered this back in year one when France did it, but never hold when you can do a useful support instead. Back is now against the wall. Stalemate line would basically be set if Turkey still in Pie, but now things are trickier. Not impossible but definitely a lot harder now and will require some guesswork.

Turkey - not your fault but the draw now requires some guesswork. Good luck to you.

Bump for comments on why Turkey just decided to hand England a solo.

Turkey's move seems reasonable to me. It was a 50-50 shot as to whether England would go after Tyrrhenian or Tunis this turn. Turkey supported Tyrrhenian from Ionian. Check the moves. If Turkey supported Tunis and England went after Tyrrhenian would you also be accusing him of handing England the solo when England took Tun in the fall in that scenario? This solo goes squarely on Italy's failed support hold of Pie from Ven last year in my book. This turn was just Turkey guessing wrong, that happens on 50-50 calls.

I wouldn't call that a 50-50 call, but at the same time, it's not simply a hold as the map suggests. Personally, I would have supported Tunis and depended on Italy to cut the GoL and hopefully catch a break. After all, a break is what Italy and Turkey had to look for at this point. All in all, I would rather see Ionian support Tunis, but it's impossible to fault Turkey for taking a gamble in a scenario that required a gamble no matter what.

I agree with Yal's sentiment that the failed support, presumably a misorder, is largely the reason for this solo. England benefited from it and that happens sometimes.

Not sure why you say it is not a 50-50. England can't expect to stay in Pie long, so his options this turn were basically Pie-Tus, GoL-Tyr, WMed supports GoL-Tyr, and NAfr-Tun or the moves he ended up doing. Hoping that Tus can attack GoL and cut support from there of an attack on Tyrr seems like a dreamer move to me. If England decides to go after Tyrr why would you expect him to do the way that is easily blocked vs the way that is unstoppable unless Turkey supports Tyrr from Ion?

Yeah, that's fair. I'd go more like 60/40. In this instance, that's negligible. I simply lean toward protecting Tunis because England would be trying to outguess the defenders, meaning that he would be trying to be unpredictable. In this instance, that's taking the SC in the spring.

Thanks to the TAs, Profs, fellow players, and everyone who set this up. I learned a lot from this experience and can say that I've improved as a result. Happy Thanksgiving!

Congrats, England! Well played.

I'll write up an EoG soon. Can we get a list of TAs, too? Mine was excellent, despite my early elimination.

I was Austria's TA. The misorder when we lost Greece killed us, but in retrospect the move to Ionian was a major strategic error.

I think overall we had a good SOW, though, and we should consider starting another one after New Year's I think.

I will likely post some final thoughts on Friday.

As Germany, I apologize for some late moves (and that one I missed--that one hit on the roughest part of an already rough week, and I didn't even think to check here until the deadline was already passed). Thanks to everyone here, especially my TA Ogion--I learned a lot!

I was the England TA. I can post thoughts a bit later as well.

i was the england student. y2kjbk was the best ta one could possibly wish for. thank you all for the great game! learned very much. i will write an eog tomorrow.

I was the replacement TA for Turkey and it was great to see Kallen really making a lot of solid decisions on his own as the game progressed.

Congrats England! We tried our best to stop you, but this game was really won in Scandinavia. Turns out I don't actually understand how to play Germany! It didn't help that I started a new job at the same time rs2excelsior got busy so our communication and attention fell way off. France made it easy, but we really didn't put enough focus on helping Russia in SCandinavia and getting a strong fleet presence fast enough to make it a fight. We needed a couple more breaks than we got, but I think what happened is that we got beat and then fell apart making a come back impossible.

Great fun, and I'm hoping that excelsior goes forward to great things. he really was a great student and we had some really useful discussions.

As the Italy student, it was a shame my TA left without warning halfway through the game, leaving me without a TA for a few moves. Bo_sox was a really helpful sub and I thank him. However I feel that I was without a TA for several important phases.

That being what it was, I found the game interesting and I am really sorry my NMR late in the game happened when it did. It was my fault, but it was just after I'd had to swap TA's and I was waiting on my new TA's advice, and stupidly didn't have default moves saved.

As for Turkey's decisions in the last couple of moves..... well... shit.. fuck you.

This was a solid overall game. It had an atypical endgame trio, which is beneficial for the SoW games - Turkey, Italy, and England will rarely end up stalemating one another. Each of the remaining players (as well as most of those eliminated, save maybe France) played well and Turkey and Italy did all that they could. It is my understanding that the failed support of Piedmont was a misorder of some kind, and there's nothing we can do about that.

However, I think it's worth noting that England could have very easily drawn prior to that misorder. There was no realistic way for him to gain an 18th center, and many players choose to draw before forming a stalemate line. He didn't, and he happened to get lucky and claim a solo off of a misorder. It goes without saying, I think - play to the end.

I don't think the solo was Turkey's fault. He took a gamble. There is no reason to give him shit for that play. He took a shot and it failed. Oh well.

Good game, everyone. If you feel like I did a good job as a professor, don't hesitate to tap the +1 button on as many posts of mine as possible.

I guess I owe Jamie an explanation. So after England broke into Piedmont in Autumn 1912, I felt that the game was lost. I guess this is kind of due to my playstyle and what I've observed from England throughout the game. More likely than not, England would lose Pie the next turn and so I thought the best way he could utilize it was to practically guarantee himself the TyrS and hence Tunis by moving Pie-Tus, because the chances of us moving Tunis to West Med to cut support was pretty slim. So the move set would've been Pie-Tus, WestMed support GoL-TyrS, NA-Tunis to cut support. Additionally, one thing I learned early on in this game was that Spring is usually the time to position, and Fall usually the time to go for SCs / make safe your unsecure SCs. So because it was Spring, I took a gamble in hopes that England would do that same. Unfortunately, I was wrong, and hindsight is always 20/20.

Since I'm writing this, I might as well put write about the rest of the game. As Chaqa pointed out, the misorder early on allowing me to take Greece and Serbia was huge, essentially polevaulting me into powerhouse status in the early game. I felt the rest of the moves up until 1909 were fairly self explanatory; just the long slow process of eliminated Austria. My biggest mistake came that Autumn, when I forgot to order Serbia to cover Trieste. It really stung the next Spring because I was unable to take advantage of Italy's NMR, as dirty as that sounds. Had I covered Trieste, I would've been able to take Venice, not worry about his retreat to Albania and cover Serbia, and taken the Ionian sooner/convoy to Apulia. If there was a single turning point in my race with England, I'd say that was it. In retrospect, I do play very cautiously, to a fault, which is something I'll still have to learn in future games; when to take calculated risks vs when to play it safe. I believe Yaleunc has had the unfortunate privilege of witnessing this fault of mine first hand, where I cost him twice in cardcollecter's gunboat games =/

Again, thanks to everyone involved--fellow students, profs, TAs, organisers--and especially to 2WL who stepped in as a replacement TA after my original left.