Oh ye of little faith. The uclabb solo is still inevitable.

Eh, four countries on that board still have plausible shots at a solo. Not the obvious four, though.

Well obviously (in descending order) it's Turkey, Italy, Austria, and France. Nothing could be clearer.

Don't tell me you still believe in the Wiggin, HR

Yeah. I think there *are* F/A possibilities on board, I think. I just don't think this turn
would have been the right turn for Austria. I'm sure France would have loved it. :-)

And I'm with HR above, I think there's a distinct possibility that F/R/G? could come to deals and cut England out. Sooner, rather than later, quite possibly. England's units are all over the map, and with the right orders, he could be out 3 SCs and down to home island SCs only just next year.

I don't know how likely that is, but it's certainly possible.

No, Goldie.

Russia, Austria, England, Germany.

Don't be silly. Uclabb doesn't solo, he's a draw guy.

R+A are playing it right, there's really no reason for them to sabotage their alliance right now short of a really strong relationship with somebody on the western side which i don't think really exists at the moment.

The dislodge was of Tyr Sea I'm sure was strategic assuming (hoping) ion would be left open, which of course it wasn't Agreed it puts France in an awkward spot where Italy may want to take advantage out of self preservation. Honestly would just give him a blessing to take a center to keep his loyalty. Yes not supporting Mun was boneheaded, France knows it. But getting Warsaw was sweet.

Still anybodies game (assuming anybody is one of F/E/A/R). Still would like to be in R's position, but the English army in Warsaw is a decent chink in the armour. You do gotta respect F/E's willingness to sacrifice centers for boldness. Who's going to be able to best capitalize is really going to be a strong testament for who are the stronger players.

Very much looking forward to seeing how this plays out.

Well, whether or not uclabb will solo isn't the same as whether or not he *could* solo. I can't see a way for France to solo that board; and PW is cactus, but I can see ways the other four could. If Germany got an EA hitting Russia then his position would actually be pretty fantastic.

HR has a point. If A/R are as daring as F/E, then its possible they could maneuver Germany into some builds this next year. A German comeback is possible. I just think with Turkey dying and E/F behind the lines, there are some opportunities to forge new alliances this year.

Although E/F are past the main stalemate line, R/A are bigger and have the support from the two small countries. England in Warsaw looks impressive, but he cannot damage any of the lines. Russia will move his armies from Turkey towards the center and easily take Warsaw back in a year or two. Meanwhile Austria is winning in the south while the North is stalemated. The players who have to come up with creative ideas are E/F.

goldfinger: your stabs are bad and you should feel bad. Boo.

AR have no reason to give Germany builds when they have him as a puppet. Germany only gets builds by breaking up the current alliances.

I'm not saying it would be a great stab, bas. I just want to be entertained. HR is the one who does serious critiques for this game.

I just want to watch the world burn.

Well, those builds are fairly unimpressive.

France: Really? F-Mar? You're actually letting Italy into the MAO? You just cost yourself Brest or Portugal this year; terrible build. You needed F-Bre. That'd have given you a unit to protect against any EA in future, and the option to go into an RF. You have pretty much no ability to shape the board anymore now.

Austria: Well, that was obvious. Good job for not doing something insane, I guess?

Russia: Poor. Allowing England to stay behind your lines for another year just makes the EA more and more tempting for Austria - it makes your centre horribly weak this year so that you can essentially get carved into 2 manageable lumps by the end of it, and it pretty much permanently rules out an ER.

So it sounds like Russia doesn't want to ally with England and France thinks no one else will. Something behind the scenes definitely playing a role there.

My money is on ATC...(and chiming in to star).

F StP/nc? ... unless there already *is* an E/R, that does seem odd.

Mind you, F Bre seems odd unless there's an F/A...

So maybe this *is* the alliance split we're all looking for?

*looks at above post*
*frowns*

STP NC... is a sign for an E/R...?

Assuming that's a typo for E/A it still wouldn't make sense; because an E/A would mean A-Mos.

And F-Bre is what was not built... F-Mar was. F-Bre could've been handy for either F/A or F/R, or just for killing Italy.

Yeah, excuse me, I have no idea what my post above was about. I plead temporary insanity.

Bump.

Why does everyone want Russia and Austria to stab each other? They are the ones making progress in the North and the South. The center of board will be locked up soon, and the English army in Moscow has no effect on the game whatsoever.

Russia (ATC): A+
Building F Stp (nc) is one of the most brilliant decisions I have ever seen! You correctly recognized the English incursion into Warsaw for what it really was: a distraction. The real battle in this game will not be fought with armies, but fleets. Austria is dominating the Mediterranean; you are on your way to dominate the Northern Seas. With England conveniently distracted by the Italian fleet potentially moving to Brest, you grabbed the much more valuable Norwegian Sea. Now England cannot stalemate you any longer, and he has to take into account moves to Nao or convoys to Clyde. Finally, you were able to re-organize your armies, and you’re pretty well positioned to move onto Austria if E/F break up. Your spring and fall moves were obvious, but flawlessly executed. I would have made the exact same orders for every single unit in the spring and fall! If you end up solo-ing this game, this is the move that made it happen.

France: A-
In a year where many spectators and players alike expected your position to crumble, you actually managed to increase your SC count. Your spring moves were great: combining Tun-Wes and Tys-Ion gave you a good chance to keep Tunis for another year, and the move to Ruhr secured Munich for you, having to risk only Kiel, an English center after all. The fall moves were obvious, but again perfectly executed. I don’t know if the retreats are by design, but if they are, well done, because now you can disband and rebuild those units in any of your three empty home centers ;) The only reason you do not get full marks is diplomatic. You allowed England to stab you quite viciously in the fall. He didn’t, but he should have (or at least could have). More importantly, I see no evidence of diplomacy between you and Germany or Italy. Right now they are siding with Russia and Austria; imagine what the board would look like if they became your allies!

Austria: B+
You started this turn with the mother of all trump cards: complete certainty that Russia wouldn’t stab. He could’ve taken some centers off you, but with his home centers almost certain to be occupied, he would not have been able to build. Moving cautiously was not just a waste of time, in fact you signaled distrust towards Russia. On top of that, your moves together with Italy’s were sub-optimal. You could have asked Italy to cut Tunis and support Ion-Tys while you move Alb-Tri, Gre-Ion and Ven-Tyr. You risk losing Rome or Venice in the spring, but those centers can be regained in the fall. However, you get at least a 50-50 shot at Tunis and better chances to hold on to Munich, you know, the centers that actually matter ;)

England: C
Your moves portray a sense of confusion; I’m not sure what you were trying to achieve this year. Going into 1905, you had problems to solve: Russia’s imminent naval assault, the vulnerability of Kiel and the potential loss of Brest to Italy’s fleet. Of the three, Brest is by far the least threatening to you, yet you sacrificed Norwegian Sea and potentially Kiel by moving to the channel in the spring. This could have been a great move if you had followed up by stabbing France, building an extra army to prepare for a Russian attack, and started to work on destabilizing the alliance between Austria, Russia, Germany and Italy. However, you decided to go for passive defense, but the fleet in the channel is now completely misplaced.

Germany: B+
Not much to say here. Obvious move is obvious. I hope you’re talking to England and France about possible defection to the West. You have the ability to make or break Russia’s offensive position. Use it well, or perish.

Italy: B
As I said before, I think you misplayed the tactics in the Mediterranean, and you could have gotten a chance to gain Tunis. And with that, a chance for you to build! However, with your fleets in Rome and Mid-Atlantic Ocean, you have no chance to ever get a build, no potential for diplomacy with France and you survive at Austria’s mercy. I was going to give you lower marks, but the whole thing might not be your fault; perhaps Austria didn’t want you to get Tunis this year.

So, another year over, another catchup to do (bank holidays suck):

England: I... don't... what? Why on earth are you in the channel? I mean, I know you had to get your fleet out of Edinburgh, but after Russia built STP (NC), going to Channel was horrible unless you were stabbing the everlasting shit out of France and playing the EA(G). If you were sticking with the EF, then Edi -> Clyde in Spring and then support holding Norwegian Sea was the right set of moves to make (Clyde is better than Edi as it keeps a home SC open and also continues to give you a route to attack France in future). Holding in Warsaw in Spring was another dumb move - going to Moscow you could've opened up a way to bounce Sev or attack STP in Autumn and tied up a Russian

Let's try not posting this halfway through this time.

So, another year over, another catchup to do (bank holidays suck):

England: I... don't... what? Why on earth are you in the channel? I mean, I know you had to get your fleet out of Edinburgh, but after Russia built STP (NC), going to Channel was horrible unless you were stabbing the everlasting shit out of France and playing the EA(G). If you were sticking with the EF, then Edi -> Clyde in Spring and then support holding Norwegian Sea was the right set of moves to make (Clyde is better than Edi as it keeps a home SC open and also continues to give you a route to attack France in future). Holding in Warsaw in Spring was another dumb move - going to Moscow you could've opened up a way to bounce Sev or attack STP in Autumn and tied up a Russian unit there. And I won't even get started on what the hell you were doing with Kiel and Heligoland. As for Autumn - going to Moscow now is a bit late, but better late than never. Sadly what you're really doing now is actually stopping Russia stabbing Austria, when you want them to start fighting. You don't want Russia needing to move those armies Northward. But to get rid of you, he has to. Elsewhere - bleh, not great. Disbanding the fleet was fine, but why the absolute fuck did you disband F-NWG and then build F-LVP, when you could've just retreated to NAO? I assumed you were building A-LVP to cover both Edinburgh and Liverpool. Instead, you've... I don't even know. God. 250 lines of "I must not make disbands to move units FURTHER AWAY from my front line".

France: Well, that was certainly one way of doing it. Pulling back out of Bohemia to take Munich was very conservative, but it worked. Italy fucked up a lot by bothering to bounce you in Spain, too, which turned that into a very successful year for you. Somehow you're continuing to persuade England to let himself slowly melt into oblivion instead of stabbing you, and despite Austria using Italy as a hand puppet (or at least, that's how much of Austria is up Italy's ass now), you've killed the Austrian unit in Kiel and turned that into a horrible year for Austria. It's time for you to start working out how to RF here - clearly you need the AR to break up, and an FA remains very implausible due to the GoL retreat instead of a WMed retreat - and though it isn't off the table by board means, but you do seem to hate each other. That Brest build is an opportunity for you - it finally gives you the means to stab England, and you have a perfectly reasonable reason to build it. Germany is crying out for the bone of Kiel that you can fling him if you stab England, too - and by doing so, he can be a bit of a buffer zone between you and Russia. Not bad at all - for the first time in a long time, you actually have some real options. Have a cookie.

Germany: Well, I can't say anything. You achieved nothing, but you didn't lose anything either. Sure, hitting Heligoland with Denmark could've been an option to keep Austria in Kiel, and Austria in Kiel was a very good thing for you, so that army being disbanded hurts, but that would've been a huge risk. Perhaps you need to start taking some risks though - you won't survive to end on those 3 SC's, and you need to start your recovery soon. No cookies or detention.

Italy: What the hell was that? Bouncing France in Spring stopped you getting a shot at Brest this year. Even worse, you put yourself further away from Liverpool, so that's not an option either. Keeping France stuck in Tunis wasn't worth that when you were supporting Austria to Tyrrhenian anyway. Now, even worse, England and France have both built and shut off both Brest and Liverpool to you, unless you can get Russian support to the latter. And given you were already an Austrian puppet; you didn't want or need to kneel down and suck another cock for survival. Now you do. Get blowing. 200 lines of "I MUST GO FOR THE FUCKING EMPTY SC'S".

Austria: Bad, bad, bad year. Spring was mostly fine, except for letting France into Tyrolia (the supporting of Italy to Rome was really not necessary - France would've trapped himself in Rome if he'd gone there and then you could've made an even bigger hole in his lines). Going for Kiel was solid, though ruling out an EA was maybe not the best move. But letting France into Tyrolia... that was awful. It forced you to make those Autumn moves of utter panic which has turned you from solid position with lots of options into horrible position where you're utterly reliant on Russia - exactly what Russia wants. Sure, you've done well getting Italy to suck you off so hard, but that won't save you from Russia, and in fact, now that Italy might need Russian help against England, it could even be a bad thing, as Italy could turn on you too and play for to be the one getting all the wood in a FIR. With Kiel lost, and so many armies so badly out of position, you have a lot of work to do to repair this situation and get any sort of momentum again now. Undid a lot of previous good work. 200 lines of "Don't let the enemy into the single worst province for him to be in".

Russia: well, that worked out very nicely. England did dumb things, Germany did nothing, Austria did dumb things, and an RF is far stronger than an EA now, so the EA threat is mostly gone, too. I am a little disappointed you went for Black Sea instead of parking that fleet in Constantinople and looking at the Med, especially as Austria is in no position to stab you if you did it, so you could force it down his throat, but I suppose you're keeping it friendly for now. Your moves themselves were nothing surprising - clearly taking Norwegian Sea is great, but other than that, shrug. But the press you must've woven to get everything else into place is definitely worth a tip of the hat. And if you had any sort of hand in that idiotic English build - even better! ConvoysRus is now in business. Have a big cookie. Then go solo.

Turkey: I hope you had a drachma for Charon.

##VOTE UCLABB takes TUN, NAP, ROM with 100% certainty for 3 builds fuck the consequences.

Ah, good, movements!

England: Well that's what you get for making such an awful move. Broadcasting to Russia that you can't cover Edinburgh unless you risk North Sea, by building F-LVP instead of A-LVP, taking a variable out of the equation and putting yourself at even more of a disadvantage. At this point, you're probably going to be outlived by Italy and maybe even Germany. Embarrassing. Looking east, you didn't bother to bounce Ukraine or Livonia (admittedly, the latter would have been risky, but also brilliant), and thus have lowered your options even more. You can no longer retreat to STP and screw up Russia's plans in Scandinavia, so the strategic benefit of the Moscow army is also non-existent. You have no armies for defending the home isles, you're probably losing two SC's unless you sacrifice North Sea, and if France is remotely sensible he'll be covering Brest this turn to stop you trying a last gasp kamikaze attack there to try and stick around for a draw spot. Holland's gain is irrelevant with another loss of Kiel (and probably your 1000th pointless attack on Denmark), and your position is so bad you look like you've smoked a fat pound of grass and fallen on your ass. I don't have lines for you anymore; just go sit in the corner out of my sight.

France: Solid, but I'm bemused by your leaving of Tunis. Once more you've crossed the chokepoint, into Berlin this time, which was smart, as it must've required you to deceive Germany to know he was leaving it. Kudos for that one. Italy's rogue unit is finally no longer your problem, and is now another one for the rapidly disintegrating corpse to your north. Your med moves are rather less impressive - why bother to defend WMed if you're cutting Tyrr - you took the worst of both worlds by neither self bouncing WMed nor trying to defend Tunis. Still, you have the fleet capacity to grind Austria to a halt after this year. So now it's time to seize the moment, freeze it and own it - England is imploding and you have two choices: Take what you can and give nothing back; or sit there and hand it all to the red (purple?) menace. Germany's line is far worse now, so make him your pawn like Italy is Austria and Russia's. Have a small cookie.

Germany: Well, you took some initiative, so I'll give you credit for that. Clearly, you must've been communicating with France, and despite the fact that he's stabbed you in the back, you and he might still be able to make a profitable agreement due to the upcoming English demise. If you can't profit from the English death, then you'll be following him swiftly down to Erebos. So no more crying, wipe them tears; there's work to be done, your last opportunity is here. It's make or break time for you, too.

Italy: So, the Russian route it is. Waiting for the retreat to maximise negotiating time was sensible, and NAO was the obvious route. Your voyage is almost over, and whilst it's seemed like you dunno where you're going, all you know is when you get there someone's gonna touch your... home SC's. Because now that Austria has Tunis, there's pretty much no reason for him not to waltz into Naples this turn with Ionian Sea, take the build, stop you getting one, and ensure you continue to have no choice but to be his pawn. It's a shame, and it's why Brest last year would've been so nice, but hey, that's life.

Austria: Guess who's back, back again, uclabb's back, tell a friend. Excellent stuff - Russia has wasted every one of those armies going north to deal with his English tumour, France has handed you Tunis on a silver platter, Italy has moved to Tuscany and left Naples wide open for you to stop him getting a build, you've got a threat on Munich to take it back, and Serbia gives you a semblance of southern protection and a springboard to build on later. The next year or so could be your last opportunity to stab Russia, though, as once England collapses he'll be getting so many regular builds that your opportunities will be extremely limited. An EA is clearly gone, but finally, the French withdrawal paves the way for a possible FA, if you two can get past the 'put my bum on your lips' phase with each other. Once more, you have options, and whilst momentum is now also with Russia rather than just with you, France's pull back has at least ensured that Russia won't be massively outmatching you. Makes up for last year, anyway, though it'll be far harder to get your advantage back rather than just parity. Have a cookie.

Russia: Fantastic! You've tied England in knots and thrown him away, and his final destruction is in sight now you've got that convoy done AND locked him out of Scandinavia. Supporting Italy to Liverpool is logical to speed the process up, and maybe give you an ally against Austria later as it won't just be Austria who has leverage on him. Beyond that; it's time to prioritise your other gains. North Sea? Sweden? Germany's use is beginning to wane, unless you really think you can swing past England all the way into France and use him as your land forces. Your builds will give you the force to take on Austria if that's what you decide, though a war there would be very gritty due to his own successes this turn suddenly handing him one or two builds in addition to the Serbian army. I remain disappointed you've not parked up in Constantinople, and look forward to seeing you in the Med soon enough, though. France will be desperate for a new ally now that his has spontaneously combusted - and by pulling back from Austria he's given himself options there. If you're going to switch to an RF, you have to do it soon - else you might be too late. Otherwise, you need to work hard to keep Austria on side for the AR. A big cookie for you, but remember: you've only got one shot, do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a board game.

It's a different three than I was hoping, but I'll allow it.

Don't worry Yale, units are overrated in high quality games anyways

Well, damn, I didn't see some of that coming.

England: Better. See what happens when you don't waste your units attacking Denmark?! Still not an especially good position, but I think Russia has made quite an error dislodging Moscow, as it means you can now disband that army, rebuild it on the mainland, and have a fighting chance (though no more than a chance) of keeping your homeland. The stab on France was extremely effective (far more so than it had any right to be, so I congratulate your press there), and the set of moves around Kiel and Holland to work with Austria in a belated EA were very good. I still think you should've EA'd when I said so earlier, but you've resurrected yourself enough to give yourself a fighting chance; mostly by swallowing France's life force. Russia pulling out of Norway is even better, too. Have your first cookie in a while.

France: Well, that was catastrophic. This is why I told you to stab England - when Russia broke him in the North, the chance of a desperate stab increased 100 fold. The fact that the AR broke in exactly the wrong way for you at the same time was some very opportunistic stuff from Austria, but you really should've have been so open. You were doing the right thing withdrawing from the Med - but you didn't go far enough. That was the wrong place to hold a line, and it required you to leave Brest open - very bad mistake. There was absolutely no contingency plan for England stabbing you; no fall back, nothing. Which means you've really been taken for a ride by him there. Ouch. 200 lines of "Don't put all my faith in someone whose other flank has just imploded".

Germany: Another year gone, and nothing gained again. The stabs have arrived and you haven't capitalised. I don't think you will get many more chances, now. France was hit too brutally to be a good thing for you; as his total collapse is going to take one of the players out of the equation in your homeland - which means people have more time to eye YOU up. If you can't make some gains next year due to the current confusion, and it settles down again with you in the same position but France hanging from a tree, I think that'll be it for you.

Italy: Well, England decided to block Liverpool, and the gamble paid off from him. Good for him. Bad for you. At least Austria didn't stab you, but now that France is imploding instead, his use for you is likely to wane significantly. The only thing you really have going for you now is simply that Austria has too big a frontline to direct forces against you easily. Not great. Getting into Liverpool is your only hope of survival, my friend.

Austria: Aha. You got your momentum back; perhaps I was wrong to doubt you (though your A05 moves were still horrible). My faith from 1901 has clearly not been misplaced. The tie up with England, and the directing of Germany, was extraordinarily effective, and you've essentially blown France off the map in a single turn. By doing so, you've made it possible for you to attack Russia, or peace back out with him, because you'll have such a strong force in the Balkans that fighting you will not be what he wants to do. France might fight to the death, but he also might beg for peace - Italy is tied up with one unit up north and the other in no shape to defend his homeland - so such a peace deal could let you swallow him up (I'd not recommend it, though). Germany has got nowhere yet again and is still reliant on your help against England; but England is also in need of your help, too. Options on every single front is never a bad thing. You've just stamped your name on this board, and that will be very hard for them to undo.

Russia: Well, I said you had one shot, but I think you've rather blown it. Honestly, the moves in your homeland? Was that English army really such a problem that you had to weaken your other flanks to destroy it this year? I mean, yes, you probably couldn't expect him to make such an effective stab on France that he wouldn't have to make any disbands and as such would be able to disband + rebuild the Moscow army at home, but pulling out of Norway was a truly horrible move. The rest I could forgive, if Livonia had covered STP instead and you'd taken North Sea, but man... not good. Sure, you get a build, and a full Austrian invasion of you will be extremely difficult. But your options are gone. The cards are all in his hand now. You can no longer kill Germany with ease, so your hands are tied there. You can no longer finish England's home islands next year, so you've lost a strong source of builds. And an RF is rather off the table, because France has just been sucker punched into next year. I ripped into uclabb for pulling back so drastically in A05; but you just did the exact same thing. The difference is, you've been punished. You should've made him suffer for it before and gone with the RF. Now; I fear it is too late. Maybe you can salvage an ER here and cut a deal with Balki, but I rather suspect that would be like swallowing petroleum for you. 250 lines of "I must not tie up FOUR units to remove one lump, and pull back from my juicy growth prospects at the same time".

Turkey: Looks like reality is reflected in game, as everyone ignores Syria for yet another year.

Austria gets a whole post dedicated to just how big his cookie is, too. Here you are.

Seems to me the field is still fairly wide open. Austria got a huge boost and a nice new ally but at the same time painted himself as a very viable solo threat in a game where there's a lot of savvy diplomats. Tactically he's far ahead but if he becomes the guy all eyes are on assuming there's no serious bridges burn the could have problems. The biggest shake up in the coming rounds will be the recent stab on France and dire situation he's in probably leading to some revenge moves coming which will help Austria for a bit but not enough to get across the finish line from 10.

bump for builds. Who the fuck waives builds?