There's a great deal that can be learned from board analysis gunboat style, which is why I would recommend that players trying to learn play some gunboat as well. If you have the ability to calculate likely moves with a high degree of accuracy it will help you both in defense and attack.

After looking at a couple of the moves made in Fall 02, I fear that a couple of the professor's brains may have melted.

I am actually learning alot as a TA...being half involved in the game and reading the professors analysis is really giving me some insights I never really considered before.
That said, I play in lower cost lower skill games and I would be curious to see if these insights are limited to higher level play games because poor play is difficult to read and predict.

@peter, I'll write up a post on that this weekend, you made a very good point, once you look at the board from a gunboat and logical view you then need to apply your diplomacy skills to change people's perceptions to best help your own goals. That's an extremely difficult topic to cover so I'll put some thought into how to explain that better.

Onto this turn. These rankings aren't in any particular order, I'll leave that to the other professors, and you'll know what I thought of your moves by the end anyways ;)

Russia - This year was fantastic for you. You pulled two builds out of your magic hat that you shouldn't have been able to get. Your negotiations with England have been stellar, as evidenced by your fleet in Sweden. The same with your alliance with Austria, well done capitalizing on his need for an ally after the Italian stab to get Rumania. You have free reign on what to do now, you aren't committed against anyone, and your two upcoming builds are free to move in any direction. Your choice of a fleet or army in StP, and which coast if you choose a fleet, will significantly change the course of the game.

England - So I think I might be partly to blame for your move to Denmark this turn, and if I am apologies. In this case Germany had to target the North Sea if he was going to have any chance of taking another center. Predictability is what hurt you here, Germany knew France would want support again, so the chance of Belgium being supported was limited. You're in a tough spot right now and really need to focus on your diplomacy right now. You're alliance with France just became less beneficial for you because he's in a position to make gains, but you are not. Talk to you TA about the options you have, and you should be talking to Russia nonstop, he'll shortly have 2 units that can come north...either to help you or attack you. If you were expecting his support into Denmark, which I suspect was the case, then you should be concerned right now.

France - I will probably cry if you don't make a fleet this build phase. That year went fairly well considering the limiting factor of your armies. The problem you see now is one that faces most french players who attack Germany with only armies, you have no guarantees, or easy progress. You broke through into Ruhr, but you only have a 50/50 shot of keeping it next turn after Germany's build. So while it's good you're making some progress, I don't expect to see you take a center next year without some seriously impressive diplomacy.

Germany - That was a well thought out attack on Belgium, well done getting a build despite being tag teamed by England and France. You're still in hot water, but that build makes you a very tough enemy. Use that to your advantage when talking to the people attacking you, they know they might not be able to take you out or get builds by attacking you. Use that! Talk to France, talk to England, to Russia, convince one of them that you'd make a good ally. It's not a lie at this point, but everything hinges on your ability to write effective press.

Turkey - I feel like a broken record here, what are you doing still attacking Russia? Austria messed up, so you didn't lose Bulgaria, but that was pure luck on your part. You have to talk to Russia and Austria, if you can't make peace with one of them then you are out of this game. The support to Greece doesn't make any sense. You had to know that Austria was going to attack Bulgaria with either his fleet or Serbia, so your support is already cut. While Italy's attack is helping you nothing besides press with Russia and Austria can help you right now. I really was hoping to see you and Russia have a dmz in the black sea this turn, with you supporting him into Rum. Even though the support would have failed it's the gesture that counts. For the record, here's what I would have done that turn (ank ->con, con->smy, arm support move to smy from con). Ask your TA if you aren't sure why I think that would have been your best option. I get the impression you and your ta aren't sharing press right now, please make sure to utilize your TA, there volunteered to help you, so take advantage of it, ask them questions about everything! Send them press, ask them what different replies mean, what they think of potential moves, if they agree with your predictions of other counties moves, etc.

Austria - Moving to Smyrna was a bad idea. Turkey would have had to be out of his mind not to cover it. By moving there you gave up a guaranteed gain of Bulgaria. You also got very lucky that Italy didn't take Vienna because he would have been able to take Trieste and probably Budapest next year if he had. Talk to your TA next turn, if he advised these moves then have him pm me and explain what I'm missing. Choose your disband carefully, a wrong choice here will end your chances of living 2 more years.

Italy - Not a bad turn. Italy's first big wall to climb is the 5th supply center, and you just vaulted that wall cleanly. You have it secured, though I do wish you'd taken a chance and moved to Vienna too, it was so unexpected that it probably would work against most players. Though I can't argue with ensuring that France didn't stab you. I'm not really seeing a point for the convoy right now, but I do see ways it could be helpful next year, so I'll hold off judgement on that for now.

Because I get the feeling there were a lot of surprises for the players this turn I'm opening up the floor till disbands go through for questions on my commentary from players and TA's via pm. Please pm me any questions you have and I'll post the question and my answer here unless I really think answering it would be unfair to the other players.

Fall 1902.

Please take advantage of JMo on his offer to answer questions. I'm awfully sick suddenly (the cold and the rain of the NE is killing me), so I'm quite happy JMo has volunteered to do the hard work.

This was an awfully fun move. Russia climbed up near the top. Germany scraped himself out of the gutter. And Austria made me scream and smile at the same time.

It’s worth noting that 2WL is primary a gunboater (9th in GR in gunboat), and JMo and I are primarily full-pressers (6th and 14th in overall GR). JMo and I particularly specialize in PPSC (he’s 2nd, I’m 1st in the category). So look to 2WL to explain the game through the lens of tactics, and look to JMo and I to explain through the lens of diplomacy, with strategy resting somewhere in the awareness of all of us.

Tactics: The move-by-move techniques to gain an edge. How do I defend against an attack? How do I counter my opponent’s possible moves? How do I guarantee my attack will succeed? Where do I need to cut support?

Strategy: The big-picture flow of the game. Example: If I’m England, I would love to ally with Germany first to take out France, because France threatens my backside. On the other end of the board, I want Austria, Russia, and Italy busy fighting Turkey. Then, I want to stab Germany, trick Italy into thinking that Austria will stab him, start a skirmish, convoy armies into northern Russia, and win the game.

Diplomacy: The words you write to get what you want. If your strategy is good and your tactics are good, diplomacy will ensure everything goes as expected. When diplomacy fails, you get surprised, and that’s not usually a good thing.

So as I, 2WL, and JMo look at the board, we can all see the same things and attribute the mistakes to bad tactics, bad strategy, or bad diplomacy. And the truth is, they’re all interconnected anyway.

1. France. You’re in the top spot again. Russia has stabbed France’s ally, England, and he could now either try to bolster his friend, turn a blind eye, or join in the slaughter. The fleet guarding the Atlantic waters dipped into Portugal to pick up a build, which will either be a fleet in Brest or Marseilles. Interestingly, if he wanted to ensure that Italy would be weak and defenseless in the long term, and he was tipped off about the self-bounce in Venice, he could have supported Trieste to Venice, causing him to lose his foothold in Austria and be awfully mad. Instead, France moved, as expected, into Tyrolia to surround Germany. He’s got lots of options, and all of them are great.

2. Russia. How the weak have risen! Russia has gone from hardly participating to playing the most active role of all players this year. In the spring, he managed to coax England into supporting him into Sweden. And in the fall, he stabbed his new buddy, switched sides in his relationship with Germany, found a friend in the languishing Austria, and picked up two builds. Somehow, the unguarded St Petersburg is empty, which I don’t expect to last long, with what I expect will be a build of F St Pete NC and A Warsaw. (I would encourage considering waiving the Warsaw build until next year, though I don’t expect it.)

3. Italy. As well as you’re doing, I’m so reluctant to be supportive. A successful Italian player has to get to 6 SC’s by Fall 1904. If we take a count, he’s already at 5 with two years left. As easily as he got to 5 centers, he chose an awfully tough path to get to 6. An alliance with Austria to attack Turkey would have been wonderful, since Austria customarily gets the Balkans while Italy gets all 3 of mainland Turkey’s centers in such an arrangement. France’s mostly unguarded waters would have even been easier to navigate. Instead, Italy chose the path of most resistance, and I think he’ll get stuck at 5 centers. Army Venice is likely this winter.

4. Austria. You’ve managed to thrill me and disappoint me in one fell swoop. As I hoped and hoped and hoped, Austria solidified an alliance with Russia. I think that alliance is just fantastic and crucial for the success of both powers. (Although, seeing as how Russia treated his ‘ally’ England this fall, who knows?) With that in mind, Budapest supports UKR to RUM is a wonderful move. All the other moves Austria made this turn were horrible. He was guaranteed to lose a home center, but he could have easily supported his fleet into Bulgaria and crippled Turkey. Instead, he gets a disband, which I hope will be F Albania, but I expect it will be F AEG.

5. Germany. Russia has given you a glimmer of hope. Germany played some miraculously good defense, received help from Russia’s silent stab of England, and picked up a build in Holland in the process. England expected Russia to support North Sea to Denmark, but, instead, Russia support-held Denmark. At this point, Russia is using his newfound allies in Germany and Austria to shield him from much of the ugliness on the board. And I don’t think Germany minds the role. He’ll build an army in Berlin and watch the now uneven England/France alliance convulse.

6. Turkey. You, also, have made me very happy for your one move that wasn’t visible on the board. Turkey ordered his army in Bulgaria to support Tunis to Greece. Obviously, that order would not have worked even if Tunis was convoyed accordingly, but it indicates that Turkey has found a friend in Italy. It may be too little too late, but I’m happy to see the attempt. No builds for Turkey (probably ever).

7. England. There’s not much to say. The professors didn’t think much of England’s decision to support Russia into Sweden, and now his game is falling apart. His fleet on the continent (in Holland) got popped by Germany. And now Russia will send a fleet up to tear apart the remains of England’s offense. A French build of a fleet in Brest will mean almost sure death. This really goes to show how the subtle decision to support Russia into Sweden caused the castle to come crumbling.

It seems to me that France's moves around Ruhr were pretty close to the worst possible choice. Am I wrong? If not, how could he have improved?

Even if Italy hadn't defended Venice, he couldn't have gotten a second build, so on first pass it does seem like self-bouncing in Venice was a safe move. But I'm not so sure. What moves could have been made (jmo touched on this briefly) that would have given Italy dominating position on Austria (with high probability)?

And then obviously Austria's move was terrible, but y'all already touched on that. The bounce in Smyrna is especially bad given his support of Ukraine into Rumania. Why might this be the case?

Fall 1902

Quite the interesting phase. Still no front runners, IMO, but a few strong contenders are starting to emerge, as is usually the case by the end of 1902. As is also usually the case, one or two countries are starting to feel the heat. Lets discuss by degree of heat being felt.

AS COLD AS ICE

FRANCE: Solid turn. Your Tyrolian unit is bringing the heat from the south, adding a unique dimension to your German attack. You've also managed to grab Ruhr, which is an important step in controlling the fight for Munich and Holland. Your build should give you pause at this point, though. Another army puts you at a significant disadvantage to any potential stab. A second fleet has you begging English and/or Italian permission. Don't take this decision lightly, as it will likely help determine your strategy for the next few years.

ITALY: Another solid turn, but it could have been better. On one hand, you pulled off a great piece of diplomacy by convincing Austria to NOT attack you while you're sitting in Tri. On the other hand, you didn't really take advantage of that knowledge by pressing the issue even further. I would have convoyed to Alb with support from Tri, setting you up to take Gre this coming year. Seeing as France has another build coming, I'd be strongly lobbying for a northern fleet or another army. Your build will also be an important decision, especially given the French build, although you have the luxury of not having to fight Turkey on the water at the moment.

RUSSIA: Probably the best year on the board. Going from 0 builds in 1901 to 2 in 1902 is excellent diplomacy on your part, and all of a sudden everyone wants to be friends with the former Old Man of Europe. Having Sev occupied by your fleet is a bit annoying, but if Turkey is serious about fighting Austria, you've got nothing to worry about on that front. Austria is on the verge of chaos, and is apparently eager to help. You can take your leisurely time in the south. In the north, you've the prettiest girl at the ball. England and Germany are both currying your favor, so you can afford to pick and choose who to help. Supporting Den was a wasted move and sends an unnecessary signal to England; however, given the likely build in StP, Norway is probably yours next turn. This coming year should end up with you and France as the leading powers on the board.

GETTING WARM IN HERE

GERMANY: You did exactly what I'd hoped you would do and kicked England out of Holland and grabbed the build. In your circumstances, that was the best move possible and nice job spotting it. Unfortunately, France is sitting in Ruhr, but that bounce in Bur bought you some time. The Tyrolian army is obviously worrysome as well. Use your allies wisely this turn. This French build should also be of particular concern to you.

ENGLAND: Not sure what happened here. You've been booted from Holland and are looking at an R/G alliance, despite your best efforts. Losing Norway is very likely. You probably could have coordinated your moves better with France - a support from Bel would have let you keep Hol, and you could have used that army to support France to Ruhr and still achieved the same result minus the disband. The French build is also concerning to you. A fleet in Bre is not a good sign.

FEELING THE HEAT

TURKEY: Still haven't figured out what direction you're heading in. Russia's attempted moves seem to indicate that you two are not friendly, and Austria is obviously so dead set on fighting you that he'll ignore an Italian army back at home. What did you do to make him so mad? You're lucky to still be in Bul. You've no friends and too many enemies right now to do anything until Italy eliminates Austria, and at that point its likely too late.

AUSTRIA: What the hell man? Italy is sitting in Tri, but you choose to support Russia into Rum and also fail to guarantee yourself Bulgaria? Poorly played all around. A simple move to Con would have guaranteed you Bulgaria, and I don't know why you're concerned with helping Russia while Italy is at your rear. Like I said, poor decisions all around. At this rate, next turn is going to be very painful.

I paused the game till we can find England's TA.

I just heard from England's TA saying he had made contact with his player. If the English player could confirm that, we'll unpause and get underway. Thank you for your patience.

Contact has been made. Thank you all for your patience.

Do we all have to vote Unpause now?

The game has been unpaused. Carry on. Best of luck as we continue.

Bump, builds in one hour.

I'm hesitant to answer uclabb's question from earlier, since I feel like I'm not sure where you're going. Austria has obviously decided to court Russia, so were you looking for a commentary on that decision, or something deeper?
Obviously, if Italy knew what everybody else was doing, he could have taken advantage of Austria's horrible movements and slid into Vienna, but he obviously didn't assume Austria would play so poorly.

Winter Adjustment 1902

All of the builds were as expected. Perhaps the most anticipated build was France's. Would he build a fleet in Brest or in Marseilles? He chose Marseilles, which gives England a glimmer of hope, and gives Italy a little time to defend himself for what's to come. I'm looking forward to a strong 1903. Feel free to finalize your orders more quickly if you want to speed up the pace of the game. It's up to the players.

A new French fleet in Marseilles changes the scope of the game as far as Italy is concerned, but I have some reservations about the build. Taking Spain instead of Portugal in 1901 now looms large. You would be much better off having that fleet in Spain (SC) rather than stuck two moves away in Portugal.

This serves to illustrate well the idea of having a strategy, or at least a loose vision for the next few turns. France could have planned this much better. With four armies occupied fighting Germany, two fleets are hardly a threat to Italy at the moment, giving him a full year to counter your build. While I am glad you recognized the G/I alliance and decided to not build in Brest and keep England on your side, this could have been done better.

@2WL - Could you clarify what you mean by the G/I alliance? Did you mean to write G/R or do you actually see evidence on the board that Germany and Italy are working together?

oh thats a good question Triumvr, i noticed that also. Eagerly awaiting 2WL

That should be G/R.

I typically refrain from asking questions as a TA, but I am curious (and I think further commentary would be helpful both to our students and others): it seems one prof liked the Austrian support of Russia and one did not. I wondered if each of you might explain your reasoning.

bump

Official Bump - Game has progressed. (gameID=126887)

Spring 1903

This was an awfully bizarre set of turns. If I could, I would put everybody in last place. Pieces aren't coordinating. Attacks are flailing and unclear. This game is just ugly and messy. I wouldn't want to be playing anywhere on this board. Maybe Switzerland.

1. Italy. Congratulations, Italy. The goal of any successful Italy is to attain 6 supply centers by the end of 1904. That doesn't seem like much, but it's awfully tough. Our Italy managed to, indeed, make that happen. Obviously, I am awfully reluctant to put Italy in the top spot because of his abysmal move into the Tyrrhenian. If he didn't trust France, it would have been better to just hold the fleet than to move it. Now, he has disconnected fleets (hint: fleets should usually touch each other), and it'll take the rest of the year to get them back in sync.

2. France. Despite being in second place, you are in for a lecture. France kindly enough helped his buddy England get his Holland center back. Instead of going ahead and attacking Italy (which seems to be a great idea), he has pulled his fleets back, supported Italy into Austria, and lost all of his offensive tempo. Now that he is friends with both Italy and England, where does he plan to go with his fleets? His movements in Germany would have been much better played if he used Tyrolia to support Ruhr to Munich. Where does France go from here? If he doesn't want to attack his ally Italy (who doesn't appear to trust him), and he wants to stay loyal to England, all he has a chance to attack is Germany. And he's doing a lousy job of attacking Germany.

3. Russia. Your decision to help out some of the languishing powers seemed like the best option in 1902, but now that 1903 has come, it would have been smart to reevaluate. Russia has lots of armies, which would be great at capturing land powers, but he is allied with Austria and Germany, the two land powers. Hmm... This leaves only England and Turkey to attack. Looks like Russia missed a nice chance to get his armies into the fray.

4. England. You've got Holland (unless France drops the support-hold again), and lost Norway (probably for good). France's fleet in the Mid Atlantic is only two moves away from nabbing Liverpool. On the bright side, Russia is, once again, looking like an uncoordinated juggler, so your offensive path moving forward is brightening.

5. Germany. You really are doing a great job of defending against a double attack. At this point, Germany has lost Holland and might lose more this turn, but he's been fighting a lot harder than Turkey.

6. Austria. You might die before Turkey, but you're not in last place yet. Austria's lousy set of defensive moves a year ago are really costing him now. He still hasn't taken Bulgaria, which is almost a freebie supply center. It would have been tough to guess that France would support Italy into Vienna, and there's not much Austria can do about that. It would have been nice if Russia had been persuaded to move into Galicia last fall to help Austria defend his holdings. He could have offered Russia assistance in cracking Turkey in exchange for some defensive help in the Austrian homeland. Or, he could have taken Turkey's support into Bulgaria, which appears to have been ignored.

7. Turkey. This time, you're getting the last spot. It doesn't seem like Turkey is doing anything. For the fifth time, he's bouncing the stinking Black Sea. He is naturally well enough defended that he can hang on an awfully long time, but what's the fun in doing that?

Spring 1903

As we are starting to round into the midgame phases, some of the early game wrinkles are starting to iron themselves out. For the most part, anyway. There is still quite a bit of confusion as to who will end up allied with who, who is helping who, and who doesn't want to fight anyone.

One of the biggest themes I'm noticing during this round of the SOW is that players only want to fight one other person at a time. Take Russia, for example. At the moment, he is propping up a very weak Austria in the south while engineering a standoff with Turkey, while his army in Warsaw sits uselessly as he takes advantage of English weakness. France is busy helping both Italy and England while his attack on Germany is stalling because of his eagerness to please his neighbors. I'll get into detail on these "appeasement" strategies in my individual discussion section, but let me just highlight something important first. This is Diplomacy. You don't win by being friends with everyone. Helping too much at the expense of your own growth will ultimately lead to defeat. While you can't be entirely selfish, there is a fine line between helping your allies and having your allies help you, and I don't think this board entirely knows the difference.

Lets take a look at where we stand.

RUSSIA: Right now, you're doing very well. Taking Norway was a great tactical decision and really puts the pressure on England this upcoming turn. I really can't tell if you and Turkey have buried the hatchet or not - your moves say no, but you're also not really trying that hard, so it's tough to say. My problem with your play so far is that you're not taking advantage of all the chaos in the south. Instead of jumping into the fray, you're sitting back and supporting Austrian moves while Italy slowly eats up Trieste and Vienna. Has Warsaw even moved this game? What do you stand to gain by propping up a dying Austria, and why even bother with an essentially useless support to Serbia? With the current state of the board, you should be sitting as the clear favorite with 7 or 8 centers. Lots of missed opportunities.

TURKEY: Like I wrote for Russia, I have no idea if you two have patched things up. Russia's moves appear to say otherwise, but his halfhearted attempts at the BLA seem to indicate that you two might still be at odds. Right now, you're being saved by Italy, because Austria had you in a pretty tight spot a few turns ago. Veteran Turkey players will see Italy and Austria fighting and be chomping at the bit to grab a few easy centers. Neither you nor Russia are going to gain anything by fighting a war of attrition over BLA, so I'd advise you both to patch up your differences and get on the same page.

AUSTRIA: Italy is just slowly eating you alive right now and its pretty clear that Russian help isn't very valuable. This past turn should have been balls-to-the-wall Italian attack - spite attack him at every avenue possible. Make him regret attacking you! Instead, you're passively moving all your units around and thinking of mitigating losses rather than thinking about how you can turn the tables on Italy. This turn was a golden opportunity to be sitting in ION and forcing a 50/50 move by Italy's TYRR fleet. You could have also put yourself in a position to attack Tri OR move on Bul and hope a home center was left open for a build, or at least a non disband. Passive moves won't gain you any ground. Quick's the word, sharp's the action!

ITALY: That French support was key to breaking through Austrian lines. I don't know how you wrangled his help, but good job. Ideally you could have also convoyed that army in Apu, but its understandable that you wanted to cover Ven. Right now, with Turkey and Russia's inaction, you're in a good position to dominate the southern corner of the board. You can't do it alone though, at least without a lot of luck. France is a good ally to have, but he's not going to be able to help you against Turkey or Russia, so this is the time to get another power on your side. Otherwise, I fear your progress will falter pretty quickly.

GERMANY: Not much you could have done about losing Hol. Thanks to Russia, though, you're still in a halfway decent position, but that French army in Tyrolia is still worrysome if he ever decides to use it in a productive fashion. Your best hope right now is diplomacy. Good luck this turn.

ENGLAND: Losing Norway puts you in a tight spot. Depending on your retreat, you can either retake it or risk losing NTH. Not an enviable position. On the plus side, you don't have to disband, but a Russian build can't be good news for your Scandinavian plans. I imagine you're kicking yourself for supporting Russia to Swe, right?

FRANCE: France, France, France. I would love to know what exactly has been going through your head this year. I'm not sure whether to applaud you for your generosity or chastise you for your stupidity. You managed to help TWO neighbors get builds at the expense of your Ruhr army. How does that help you? Holland should have been yours. You should have bounced Mun. Italy and England should *not* have gotten centers, period.

Like I mentioned earlier, there is a fine line between helping your allies and having your allies help you. Much to your detriment, you are being far too helpful. I understand that you want to avoid conflicts - its still early in the game and your position on Germany is still too tenuous to possibly start another conflict. Right now, you are a classic case of playing too conservatively. Focus on one player at a time, don't make any enemies, keep your allies from attacking you by appeasing them with centers.

This strategy is poor for two reasons. First, you're appeasing allies who don't need appeasing. Look at the current states of England and Italy. Are they in any position to attack you right now? Italy is knee deep in Austria, and England is losing ground to Russia. Neither need to pick up another conflict right now. Second, you need to get centers. You just lost Ruhr and probably won't pick up Mun this year. You have two fleets with apparently zero desire to use them. Don't be afraid to use that fleet power! If you dropped both those fleets into GoL and WMD this turn, you would have a 2 on 1 against Italy. If you had built in Bre, you could be sitting in ENG and MAO with a build in Hol and an English disband. Next year, Liv and Lon were yours. Instead, you chose to help BOTH Italy and England, thereby causing yourself more problems in the long run by building up (unnecessarily - the big difference) your neighbors who you inevitably need to attack to take centers.

Wow. What a terrible set of moves.

@uclabb - We're trying to reserve this thread for prof commentary and for questions. Thanks.

I will try and make this question as general as possible as I dont want to effect the game as its playing out :

Can the professors touch on the following comment from 2WL :
"One of the biggest themes I'm noticing during this round of the SOW is that players only want to fight one other person at a time."

Is it common to voluntarily enter into multiple conflicts at the same time at this stage of the game?

For me a better theme to describe this game isnt that people only want to fight one person at a time, but more in the fact that the 2 vs 1 alliances havent solidified which I am used to seeing in my games. It almost seems a little wishy washy...like people are scared to commit together and roll into someone.

Let's be nice to uclabb :)
Now, dyager is somewhat right. Traditionally, a diplomacy game has a predictable flow. Two of the western powers team up and kill the third. And three of the eastern powers get together and kill the fourth. The five remaining powers whittle down to three. And the last three powers duke it out for either a win or a draw. In reality, many games are messier than that. However messy the game is, it is important to use all your pieces. So, if, say, you're italy and you're attacking turkey, and you're only using 2 fleets and an army to attack him, it's worth considering using your other units productively. If you have a fleet and an army sitting around, and france is already being attacked by england and germany, why not try to grab marseilles? I think that example illustrates the practical balance that 2WL is talking about.

bump

This would be better answered by the players themselves after the game, but is it possible some of these questionable moves are paradoxically influenced by the professors' commentary? By which I mean, a player thinks to himself, "They say I should do this, everyone expects I'll do this, so I'll do something else! Brilliant!"

I believe a professor upthread did advocate surprising moves. Anyone care to speculate? Or perhaps lecture on how sometimes the move everyone knows is coming is still your best move?