I want to re-iterate the point about not giving up. In a very ironic sense Diplomacy is a deterministic game where very little is actually determined.

Because for this game the combinatoric space is so large, we, much like the Sith, often find ourselves slipping into talk in absolutes. I'll often try to distinguish this by saying something is "mathematically certain" when there's no point discussing other possibilities (an example might be a late game western power surrounding STP with 4 units) compared to just if I'm talking in terms of something probably happening based on my logic and experience of the game. Neither France nor Turkey are mathematically certain eliminations yet.

Not giving up is an important skill. Both as a defender and as an aggressor in the mid game it is extremely easy to prey on those who have given up to be static and/or allocating less units their direction than I truly need so I can with other theatres I shouldn't be able to. Don't let other players think they can take advantage of you, or that you'll be taken advantage of. If there's one player I don't want to bother saving from the leader it's the one with a weak will and no fight in them.

One thing that hasn't been touched on as much is surviving not by the alliance to the other defenders, but by alliance to the Leader. Ask yourself, do I offer a service the leader desires and can't fulfill themselves?

I'll toss these guys a friendly bump so people don't have to dig for this game to spectate it. Besides, the SoW threads should get like a pin or something.. Front page for life.

That is the funniest set of moves around Denmark. I bet there's some fancy fast talking going on. :-)

More bumps!

Fall 1907

Turkey

A good use of your units, I'd say. Hitting CON was good to cut any support into BUL. The double attack on SER was also good to force BUD from moving or defending TRIE. I'm afraid I don't have much advice for you at this point, but tactically you are doing about as well as you can at this point, for what it's worth.

Italy

Nice job taking TRIE. I like how you and Turkey coordinated to assure Russia would lose either TRIE or SER. That was well done. EMD was also a smart move; it's important to keep as much pressure on Russia as possible. I'll talk about SPA in a separate section.

France

Support of England (however vain) was good. You are in a key position to help against the Russian solo. You should be using your tactical position as a starting point for diplomacy. I would be demanding PAR back in exchange for further help. After all, it's not like Germany is doing a damned thing against Russia.

Germany

I'm honestly not sure what you're doing. You had a guaranteed chance to take DEN and you didn't take it. Now, either you or England messed up taking DEN again. There's really no excuse for mistakes like this so late in the game. You also are doing the bare minimum to help Italy against Russia. It was nice of you to tap MAR, but why not also hit TYR? Russia wasn't going to sneak into MUN. You have a lot of units just sitting around when they have real things they could be doing.

England

Without knowing what went down in press, it's hard to say for sure what happened in DEN. I'll be honest, though, I'm inclined to place the blame on you, however unfair that may be, because you really had no reason to take DEN, even if Germany offered it. If you weren't going to help Germany into DEN, then you should nave been moving to NWG or SKA so you could get another unit on NWY. Germany is on the front line and he needs the build from DEN to mount an attack against Russia. There is nothing immediately useful you could have done with that build.

Russia

I may have risked losing CON to support SEV into RUM, it would have been easy enough to reclaim and you need to get that army into position. Other than that, I think your moves were solid. You lost TRIE, but you did manage to retake TYR, which is good, as that's a very important territory to hold.

F07 (just to augment and second abgemacht's post)

It seems the only German unit which did something useful was BUR, and that's assuming eliminating France is useful which as we've posted is not clear one way or the other. That's a 20% usefulness ratio. And I'm inclined to dock 10% because two of the moves (KIE-DEN; MUN s h TYR) not only didn't do anything, but show an active lack of communication with the other players (although maybe it's their fault and they changed the plan up on you, it still doesn't reflect well)

Hey Abge and Valis, I'm a (relatively) new player on here, but have had some success. I'd love to get a game (regular rules) with your guys tutelage like this one. This is good stuff

Hi apathetec! and welcome.

This game is currently full and the School of War usually only does one at a time. However, please feel free to:
-follow along and study this and previous SOW games,
-ask the Professors questions in this thread,
-sign up for the next School of War when the time comes (make sure to remain a player who doesn't NMR or CD!!),
-Always ask (and provide!) End Of Game statements for games you finish. The SOW is special in that we talk about it when it's still going rather than when it's over, but it's good and fair practice to talk about, give and take constructive criticism, and learn from any game you complete (you can read some, including all the SOW, former EOGs here: tinyurl.com/webDipEOG)
-Advertise a new game with an emphasis on new players or learning

While this list may not be exhaustive, hopefully it provides you some intriguing options.

Iberia seemed like an interesting guessing game, so I wanted to take a moment to see if there's a way to make a better than 50/50 guess for either side. I suspect not, but if nothing else this exercise may help someone with similar decisions in the future.

Italy has essentially 2 choices: Hold or move to SPA
France has several choices but they really all boil down to 2: Hold or move to SPA. The only question is if that move will have support or not. Very unlikely, but still a possibility.

Assuming for a moment that support would be cut, then there really is simply a 50/50 chance of Italy keeping all of Iberia (if they both hold or both move). At first glance, it may seem like each country should just randomly pick an order, but I think we can do better than that.

France is desperate and Germany has not been making traditional moves. Yes, he'll likely hit MAR, but what if he cares more about his own growth and supports himself to GAS instead? The potential is there to have a support into SPA, which makes it more likely that France will move to SPA than he otherwise might.

On the other hand, I would argue that it is slightly better for Italy to hold just SPA if he has to choose. SPA has the option of moving to more territories than POR and it is easier to retreat into an empty POR rather than advance into a blockaded SPA later. Therefore, it is also more likely for Italy to move than to hold.

So, what would I have recommended? For France, I would have said be sneaky and hold. It's unexpected and plays well against Italy's expected moves. For Italy, I would have said be expectable and move because a sneaky move for Italy only works if France is also being sneaky. A double-sneak is much harder to pull off than a single sneak.

Hi apathetec,

In addition to what Valis said, you can look here threadID=1253337 to request your finished games be analyzed. You can also always make a thread and see if there's anyone who's willing to give you pointers or answer specific questions.

bump for moves

Re-bump.

Spring 1908



Turkey



A good set of disbands. That fleet in BUL NC wasn't doing anything for you and having a fleet in AEG is very powerful.



I like your capture of BUL, but I wish Italy moved to AEG to help you keep it. The two of you had been working well together; I hope there wasn't a falling out.



Russia



I'm still concerned about how many units you're sending South. There is a big fight brewing in the North, which you aren't going to be prepared for. I'm glad to see you get out of SEV, though. At some point you'll need another Southern fleet (hopefully after you've shifted some armies north). The capture of TRIE was good, but I don't like how you keep vacating TYR. It is such an important territory to hold, especially now that you're moving against Germany. You made good use of your scandinavia units, though. I'm glad you didn't get timid and just hold. Those bounces were well-played.



Italy



I think you could have made better use of your units this turn. I wish you had moved to AEG to hold BUL. Yes, I understand why you didn't, but I don't think it will help you if Turkey is gone. I also don't like that you moved NAP south (again, I know why you did), but you would have been better off using ALB, which was likely to have to retreat and moving ROM north to start wrapping around Russia. You could then have started to coordinate with Germany.



Germany



Trying for BAL was good, but I would have used KIE supported by BER. You could have defended KIE with MUN and still had the same bounce train. The only difference being you would have been in BAL, which would have been excellent. I suppose you were hoping to sneak into DEN, which isn't a terrible plan. Still, at this point I would be working on mounting a solid defense that's likely to succeed rather than hoping to get lucky on tricky moves.



England



A good set of moves by you. You had good counter-measures in place to stop Russia from taking NTH. I'm also glad to see GAS mobilizing. I do wonder if moving to SKA would have been better. That would have given Germany DEN or allowed him into BAL. It would have risked letting Russia behind your line, though, so I think it was a safer play to go for NWG.



France



Not much to say here. Maybe Russia will be willing to keep you alive in exchange for support of NWY.

Autumn 1908



France and Turkey



Thanks for sticking it out until the end. It is appreciated. I hope you found the SOW helpful. Looking forward to your EOGs.



Russia



You did a good job getting your fleet into CON. That's going to be very important for you. I still feel you're putting too much effort into TRIE and not enough into TYR. There was a really good chance of someone moving there this turn and if they had that would have been very bad for you. Personally, I would have risked TRIE to hit TYR with VIE.



The North is finally getting messy. I'm a little surprised you didn't try to work out a deal with France to keep NWY. Perhaps he was unwilling or you just thought he was too much of a liability? Getting into BAL was good (although I'm honestly a bit surprised you got it with that move-set). You need to get at least one German center to win.



Italy



I understand the motivation for taking GRE. Personally, though, I would have liked to see you convoy to SYR and leave Turkey alive. This would have really ruined Russia's plans in Turkey Proper and forced him to continue to dedicate more units South. Of course, this would have only really worked if EG had let you take MAR, which is, they should have considering how important you are to the draw. If you knew, however, that you were never getting MAR, then I think taking out GRE was the right thing to do. It doesn't help EG as much, but they don't seem to care about that anyway.



Geramny



I'm not much of a fan at all of you helping England take MAR. He doesn't need the build and Italy could really use you in TYR, which you could have done if BUR was defending MUN. Getting into HEL so Russia can't fall behind your line was good, I just wish it didn't have to invovle losing BAL.



England



You are getting very greedy and I hope it doesn't come back to bite you. Italy could have used another build more than you, especially since you were getting two. Worse, it prevented Germany from better defending the South. You need to be careful that you don't starve the front of units. Taking NWY was good though and I like the way you took it. That army in FIN is very powerful and I'm glad to see it still there.

Well I just cast the final draw vote, so I guess that is the end of things.

Wow! Congratulations everyone!

A big round of thanks to abgemacht! As well as all the students and TAs.

Interesting that it's the same draw as our last SOW, though from a very different board position. Let's see those EOGs!

Indeed! Fall 2014 SOW board for comparison: gameID=149309
Please post EOGs in this thread.

Almost the same end date too! I'll definitely have an EoG up sometime this week(end). If people don't mind profanities, I'll post my notes verbatim right now.

I was wondering if the game was going to continue. Russia had the only draw vote up for some time. Looking forward to some EOGs. I hope people found my commentary helpful. It was a fun game to watch and a great group of students.

I'll post an EOG sometime next week.

Yes, much thanks to everyone involved. I'll get an EOG up as soon as possible.

Germany End of Game: England? Russia! FRANCE!!!

First of all I would like to thank peterwiggin, my TA. Without him, I probably would have been eliminated going off to fight Russia without support. Also thanks to abgemacht for his commentary and Valis for running a great school of war. Props to Sh@dow for some interesting counter-commentary too.

1900: In which I spurn England for France and live to regret it.

I open to France by asking if he wants a Sealion. I ask England if he has interest in opening to the channel. I ask Italy to ask France to open to the channel. I ask Russia to open north. Generally relatively standard stuff if you are trying to pull off the SeaLion.

So I'll admit that I came into the game with a bit of tunnel vision and I think that probably affected how I played 1901, which I think in many ways shaped the game from my perspective. Pregame I talked with peterwiggin about eliminating a fellow Western power early. I had heard of the Sealion and wanted to try to pull it off to that effect. It was my judgement that England would be hard to eliminate (turned out to be true), so it would be better to try to get the jump on him early (turned out to be not true). This was a mistake and I'm now inclined to go with whomever gives me the better offer in future games.

The reason I say it was a mistake was that France initially turned down my offer of the SeaLion. England was the first to respond to me with any substance and perhaps the first overall after initial messages. He was very friendly, but wary of going to the channel. He, understandably, wanted me to head for Burgundy and attack France. I didn't want to commit to that because I hadn't heard from France and I didn't really want to betray someone right off the bat after giving them a pretty hard sell on a mutual alliance. So I told England I'd probably take a more neutral stance. He was agreeable, but hinted he would take the Scandinavian route (which was fine with me since I was still trying to get France to SL). Eventually France comes to me and says the SL is too risky. I get Italy in on the pitch and keep hard selling him. Eventually he agrees. Unfortunately Russia does not want to open north, so in general my grand plan is falling apart and I'm still pushing for it. Oops!

Spring 1901: Bad plans go off without a hitch!

England, France, and Austria go ahead with plans I was aware of and liked. Russia opens south, and Turkey does the non-committal opening despite my request that he attack Russia to show there was no attempt to form a Juggernaut. Italy's move to Tri was completely out of the blue. We had talked about France and Turkey as targets, not Austria!

So now I go to Austria and Italy to make sure they are planning a Key Lepanto. Austria wasn't, but he was willing to go for it. What choice did he really have? Italy seemed to be on board too. Then I try to get Turkey to attack Russia again. My goal mainly being to get the KL through. I hint to England that a move to Belgium will have German support.

Fall 1901: SEALIONS!!!! (and Austria commits to a quick death)

I take Nth without a hitch. France and England bounce in Belgium! The Key goes off just fine, but Austria moves to protect TRI not Gal which dooms the whole thing.

I thought Austria and Italy had things worked out, but it turns out Austria thought Italy was actually stabbing him. I'd like to know how he thought his moves would benefit him if this was actually the case, but in general this kind of doomed a lot of plans. Now Russia was in Galicia and Turkey had the KL stalemated. It was only a matter of time until Austria collapsed under Russian pressure. I ask Russia to build in Moscow and STP (nc). I get one of those, but England disbands and makes good defensive builds so I'm in a tough spot with the SL.

England sends out an ultimatum that basically says he will help France and Russia destroy me if I keep attacking him. I hear that France got one too, so I don't really take it seriously. I figure that England will probably protect against convoys, so he needs to defend Yor and Wal. The way he was positioned, he had to expose one of them or London. I figured he would try to block my convoy by taking Nth back and then cover Wales. So it was my estimation that support holding Nth would be the closest to guarantee a convoy through. The move set France and I pulled off in Spring 1902 was my idea based on this hypothesis. Boy was I wrong!

I ask Russia to bounce in Silesia because he decided to build in Warsaw despite my request.

Spring 1902: I pick a fight with Russia for no reason.

England is as good as his word and blocks my convoy idea while leaving himself open to France. If France or England could comment on the thought process involved or if there were plans disclosed by France, I'd appreciate it. England later told me that he had more leverage over me and that was his reason why. He wasn't exactly wrong. Was that the only reason though?

The Key is still stalemated with Turkey. Russia does not bounce me in Silesia. Instead he moves to Boh and Gal from Gal and War. This dooms Austria even more since he didn't even support himself to Vie. Russia is pissed that I moved to Bal and Sil. He tries to tell me that he never agreed to bounce in Sil. I guess in the most technical sense that is true, but that was not the impression I got so I don't feel too bad about this. The reason I did make those moves was I felt like Russia was stringing me along. Every season I would ask for something and I never got it. Opening north. Moving the F-Sev to take Rum. Not building in War. Every time Russia ignored me. I'll be honest I was probably paranoid since it should have been clear that Russia was targeting Austria and my requests were probably ridiculous to the Russian. Still he was making me uneasy and the move to Bal and Sil was my attempt to protect Berlin and Munich on the chance he took advantage of my bounce request and moved to Prussia and Bohemia. If he would have been more clear that he did not want to bounce instead of vaguely agreeing to it this would not have happened. The other thing that was making me irritated at Russia was I kind of wanted to deny him Swe, but I couldn't if I wanted to take Nth and go for the SL. Austria told me the Gal bounce was fine with him in Spring 1901, so I was inclined to believe that things were going fine there. As fall showed this was not the case, so I felt like Russia got into Swe, when he probably really shouldn't have given what he gave me. Still I let it happen because I was so focused on the SL.

As to Abge's questions about this phase. The sh of Swe was intentional. I didn't have a whole lot I could do with that considering what I was expecting to happen and what I was planning on doing. I didn't feel comfortable leaving Den open with Russia being difficult in my perception. Thus the support hold of Sweden was all I could really do besides straight up holding. Since I wasn't necessarily intending to attack Russia, this was designed as a sort of show of peace since my moves were a sort of premptive strike for what I suspected might happen. The reason England needed to support Lvp to Yor was because London could have fallen if he didn't. I didn't actually expect the convoy to succeed. However, if it kept the supporting army out of Yor then France could support Nth to Lon and then Russia takes Nor and England is down to two centers. I can demand that France support me since his support can't be cut while mine can be from both England or Russia.

Russia also took Norway, so England had to retreat. I told England I would help him back into Norway if he retreated anywhere other than Ska. I'll be honest I don't think he made the right choice, but given the press we had to that point I don't necessarily blame him. I had told him prior to the spring 1902 convoy attempt that I would still be helping France attack him. I was just trying to be honest, but I think this really set him off. I guess this was also a contributing factor to the move's failure as well. Still I was being honest with him. I was trying to get Italy and Austria to stop attacking Turkey, so Turkey would attack Russia. Turkey was giving me hints he would be willing to do that. Later I think it will be clear that this was not the case, but I'll wait for that. I was starting to be concerned about the Russian growth and even more so about his potential for even more growth. I would have supported England as promised if he would have retreated anywhere else, but...

Fall 1902: England in Ska

England does exactly what I ask him not to do so now I'm in trouble. He's talking about suiciding into me. Uh oh.

Almost no one communicates with me during this phase. I push France to convoy Belgium to Wales. I know this will work because of England's commitment to screw me over. There is no way he leaves Lon exposed to a potential Nth-Lon supported by Eng. Yor sh Lon is a 100% certain play. The rest though I'm not really sure about. What could Russia really have offered? Eventually France drops some moves, but they turn out to be wrong. I go with the defense of Denmark that will work on either an attack from Ska or Sweden because I'm guessing the only reason England went to Ska was Russia offered him support into Den, but I don't trust Russia either. France also tells me he will be support holding Nth. I tell him not to bother. I'm telling England that I can get into his homeland with a French offer to lock in the York sh and set up France for the convoy. France ignores me and holds in Belgium. If he would have listened, we each get a build (me Bel, he Spa) and he's in Wales with an army. How this is not better than the great drift around Enland he did with FOUR FLEETS for a while after this instead is beyond me and I would love to hear his thoughts on this.

In the east, I tell basically everyone I'm going to Warsaw to prop up Austria and trying to play my move to Baltic and Silesia as assistance against Russia to get Italy and Turkey on the same page (Austria is dying and can't help at this point). I even stop trying to get Italy to not stab Austria. At this point I'm desperate for anyone to join me against Russia. I tell Russia that he has no chance going for Munich. I also play it up and tell him I don't even want to bounce there. We do anyways. Basically that was the goal, so that was a sort of win.

Retreats/Builds (apologies for the language this is a direct quote from my notes so I was a bit angry at the time):

Now I've got Eng-Russia on me; AI being dumbasses committed to a course that can't work until Austria is basically dead; T being a pansy and not committing to anything until everyone stops attacking him; and no real way to help France. AND RUSSIA IS GROWING. I go to everyone except France and I think Austria because he really has no option but to fight Russia the best he can, to see who will go with me. Turkey wants to help (or so he said), but not enough to actually risk anything. England comes back with a pack of lies about how he had no intention of attacking Denmark even though that is the only reason to retreat to Ska. I tell him that he got what he wanted. North Sea is not mine anymore. Russia is in it instead and unless he works with me to stop Russia, he will be muted because I'm not interested in BS when Russia can really blow up if he keeps up his revenge fantasy. I then get a very similar reply from Russia about not wishing to attack me. This suggested to me that E/R are still together so I tell England I'm muting him because of that and then do so. At this point I start communicating through Turkey exclusively. I'm still trying to get him to turn on Russia and I'm using him to talk to England and show both of them how serious I am about stopping Russia. They both waffle and I tell them I will not allow them to defend their corner and be a part of a draw. Either come out and fight or go get your survivor's pin. At this point I also put a deadline out or I'll ready my retreat. I hadn't been getting anywhere and Austria has no option and has already readied, so why not just move on. Turkey comes back with a message a couple hours before my deadline and we get into a good conversation that eventually leads to me unmuting England and getting into a good chat that lets us hatch the disband plan the next day.

Spring 1903: Livonia is nice this time of year.

England hatches a plan where I disband my fleet that Russia knocked out of Nth, build an army and then convoy to Liv. Honestly I had already been considering it. Russia had been pissing me off so I was all in when he suggested it and my TA tentatively cosigned. England wanted Nth so this would get him in and protect Norway, so he was on board too. I was kind of pissing off Russia too I think so he played his part in taking Den which was necessary since that was how Eng got Nth back. This was okay because I could guarantee that back with England's support in the fall and attack Russia with the Livonia army. It all went to plan. France just extended his blockade rather than taking TWO centers from England. A/I screw up but I kind of knew that was coming since I had been working Turkey hard to go at Russia and he understandably was just sitting back until Italy backed off. Italy had been getting less and less enchanted with Austria each phase so it wasn't shocking that this happened.

The only issues were the Jugg getting off the ground, which frankly I saw coming, but there wasn't a lot that could stop that eventually after Austria didn't bounce Galicia in fall 1901. And Russia in SILESIA. I knew it could happen, but I was convinced it was going to Galicia. If I knew it as going to Sil would I have gone to Livonia? Maybe, maybe not. War-Sil was the only thing keeping this from being a great phase for me.

Fall 1903: Payback

So now that I have had time to think through the last year I think it could have been worse. Yes everything that I thought would happen did not. England didn't go for Stp or support me into Den as promised. France did not vacate Belgium so I could take it, as promised. If those two would have followed through I would be in pretty decent shape with a build and England gets a build and Russia gets no build to flush my army out of Moscow. Russia is stopped (kind of he's still in Munich) E(5)/F(5)/G(6) is a pretty even alliance to form a WT until Turkey or Russia break up the Jugg.

Of course none of that actually happened thanks to the blue and pink nations. The good news for me is I'm not in some limbo where one of them helped me and I end up with no disband, but Russia with two builds (which is what would have happened if France hadn't horribly misordered [that's what was claimed at least]). Now the only hope I have is pushing Russia's growth. Thankfully I do have a disband and I can disband Moscow to gain Russian trust and get all my units concentrated on the front that I want them on.

1904: I pledge allegiance to the purple monster

From my perspective not much happened in this year. I basically traded Moscow for Munich and Russia shifted a little bit south which was nice for me. England and France kept up their commitment to dancing around each other with no resolution or change in centers.

Spring 1905: I feed Turkey to the Russian wolf to save myself

Russia wants me to do what I eventually do: Ruhr s Mun-Bur, Hol-Bel, Kie-Hol. I am skeptical because then Russia could walk up behind me take Berlin and Munich and boom I'm done. So I seek out other options. So I go to France. We have a back and forth about the Jugg and how I need to move East and he needs to back off England and unite against it. He admits Russia offered a 3-way to him and that is why he went to Munich in Spring 1904. He thinks Eng and Italy are coming for him and I tell him I'm coming for him too if he doesn't support the rest of us against the Jugg. France decides to talk to Eng and see what he can do.

I try hard to get Turkey to stab. He keeps saying he wants another year. We have a long convo, but he still doesn't commit to anything more than positioning for a stab in the next year. France comes back and says England is on board. At this point I am looking for any way that I could take Belgium and defend all my home centers and leave one open for a build. I don't think there is a solution to that puzzle. So I'm debating whether to follow through with Russia or turn back and hope France gives me Belgium and I somehow manage a build. PW tells me to follow through with Russia's plan or France will just cut me out. I tell Russia that Turkey is planning on stabbing him next year and tell France some quotes from Turkey that show Turkey is getting stabby in the hopes that these are passed on to Russia. I don't think that happened, but I would be glad to be proven wrong. Near the end of the phase England comes to me and says that France is refusing to negotiate and promising to continue attacking him. I don't think this is true, but I'm inclined to believe the sentiment that France is looking for a 3-way. I lock in the Russian orders and am finally happy with the adjudication for once (though admittedly Russia still looks pretty scary, but scary isn't so bad when it is not in your face).

Fall 1905: I finally get my heart's desire (Belgium)

Not much of interest. Follow through on taking Belgium, miss out on taking Mar since I judged that the loss of Paris would be worse for France so he would likely defend it. Instead he defends Mar and I only get one build. Builds are good all around for me though I would have preferred France's disband to be Eng rather than Iri. I still think this was better and expressed this to both France and England, but France refused and England didn't want to push it, so that was that.

I guess it is also mildly interesting that Russia kept bouncing himself out of Sweden and France didn't do anything about that. Not particularly relevant to Germany though.

1906: Finally hope of stopping Russia

1906 was an exciting year but not in the flash bang way, but in the good things could be coming way. Spring I followed Russia's moves again and got into Pic/Bur. England and France were finally working togetherish in the North. I convinced Italy to come at France with me and he got the Pie-Ven-Adr line together in spring. In the fall I offered to retreat from France if he gave me a center (Paris). He continued to refuse and I knew it was between Italy and me getting one, so I kept pushing. I knew it was easier for him to defend Par and Brest if he wanted, because I wanted no part of him in Bur. Thus I kept provoking him since I knew that would lock up Spain for Italy. I really would have followed through if he gave me any reason to believe him, but getting Belgium from France in the last year had been like pulling teeth and that was a center that he promised me several times. I didn't have much hope. I even told him that I knew England and Italy's moves (and I did). I would have sold them out to get Paris (probably), but France was adamant that he would not give up a center to me. Why is beyond me. I don't think he understood that he had to lose one, and if he did I would like to know what Italy's proposal was that was so much better than mine. Personally, I think he should have defended Spain anyways because once that was gone there was no getting it back (or Por either). But perhaps he was tunneled in on stopping me too much. I would like to hear Italy and France's side of this. So long story short, I don't get Paris, but am still well positioned. I move to Hel and Kie to let France and England know I do have interests other than being Russia's puppet. I tell Russia that I meant Hol, since he had been asking me that, but that I didn't check because I was arguing with France and messed up. I really was setting up to take Denmark, but wouldn't have done so if Italy had decided to take Tyr this turn. Instead he decided to guarantee Spa, so he didn't have the units to take Tyr.

Spring 1907: France's grand voyage reaches St. Petersburg

Abge is right I had no way of knowing that I could take Paris. However, I still didn't want to move back because of how France responded to center requests. Frankly it was his refusals and good defense that kept pushing me deeper. Had I got Mar in 1905 I would be attacking Russia at this point. Had I got Par in 1906 I would be attacking Russia at this point. I didn't feel comfortable with a five center France behind me and even a four center one that was pretty hostile was not something I was excited about. If he would even entertained my proposals I might not have had as many qualms, but PW was pushing me to get the extra center and France was making me uneasy, so in the end I convinced Eng and Italy to finish France. Or at least effectively finish him.

England had promised to get France into Stp as a ploy to keep him in Bar rather than letting him turtle up with four units behind us. And I was trying to still sell myself to Russia as an ally. The goal being to split his forces, get an extra unit and counterattack. Because of this I was getting the feeling that Russia would attack Norway. I had been telling him France and England were working together. Not that it wasn't obvious and even though I knew their plans I pretended I didn't. This was a little similar to how I sold out Turkey right before the Russian stab, so when he told me that he wouldn't be attacking me and I told him I wasn't attacking Denmark, it was pretty obvious he was going for Nor. Of course everyone involved knew that was possible, but consequences weren't that severe. It wasn't ideal to have Russia in Nor/Swe/Den,but with two units behind his lines and two in front it wasn't the worst either.

The reason I didn't take Den was threefold. 1) I had to cover Munich because Italy wanted to take Tyr and we needed him to. 2) I wasn't leaving France without gaining a center and I couldn't cover Munich and stay in position on France without giving up Denmark. 3) I didn't want a unit in Baltic. If we work under the assumption that Russia would be in Stp(or Nor)/Swe/Bal(and Boh), which is what I was expecting should I take Den then Berlin/Mun/Den would be vulnerable. This would have required that I retreat from France to cover Mun too. France was saying he wanted to tap Bur so I would likely be Pic/Bel/Mun if I did that to cover for taking Den. This may have been a miscalculation since Eng in Fin would make it much easier to defend everything. Really I think the deciding factor was France was hard to work with, dismissive of my proposals, had little press and generally was annoying me. Russia I had been working with just fine and though I really wanted to fight him, I hadn't secured the resources I wanted to so I went with PW's advice to hold off and keep Russia thinking I was a friend. I told him Italy was going for Tyr and Tri when he thought he was focused on France. He didn't believe me or ignored that info to his detriment.

Fall 1907: The resistance has a communication breakdown

France and England did not return my messages in time. I was away for work for the last 10 hours or so prior to the end of phase and missed their messages. That is why England and I failed to take Denmark and France inched closer to elimination. I had promised France that I would not tap Mar if he kept helping and I planned to keep to that. However, I didn't hear any confirmation before I left and so I locked in orders assuming he was working with Russia as he had threatened when England, Italy and myself triple teamed him in the spring.

1908: Mop up

There isn't much to say at this point. Russia was taking STP back, so there wasn't much point in keeping France around. England asked for support into Mar and Italy didn't (though I knew he was going there). I judged that the lack of Russian fleets in the Med region meant that Italy could hold out just fine without the build. I didn't have a center open for a build. That left England. He was going to help me take back Scandinavia so it wasn't that big of a deal for me to help him get a second build. Russia was talking draw at this point too so there was incentive to eliminate the small powers.

1909: Draw

I was fine attacking Russia to lock him out of the north. But England came to me asking if I wanted to cut out Italy. That was crazy to me at this point. After taking back Scandinavia, maybe. But at this point that just suggested to me that he might actually want to cut me out. He assured me that this was not the case, but I wasn't sure. Russia was the first one with a draw vote out. I asked him who England was telling him he wanted to cut out. He said England was being vague which was another alarm for me. I put my draw vote out and messaged Italy and England that we were waiting on them. They both eventually voted draw.



Sorry most of the stuff after the first two years is lightly edited from my notes. Please ask questions if you would like clarification. This took me a long time to write as is.

Russia End of Game statement

Spring 1901 - Everyone wants Something
Hmmm. Russia, eh? It's quite...big.

Germany and France are (very) insistent that I open North. Turkey wants to bounce in the Black Sea, and then Austria decides he would like to open to Galicia. There's no way I'm letting Austria into Gal, so there's another bounce. If I do everything everyone wants I end up with nothing in the South moving and a rubbish position to boot. I don't ever quite agree to going North, but Germany starts a long career of annoying the hell out of me by saying move North or he'll deny me Sweden.

So, Mos-Ukr it is then.

England does open anti-Russia, but FG starting the sealion meant the attack never got off the ground.

Fall 1901 - Gosh, Galicia
That's more than likely a Lepanto, but what else was I going to do with War but go to Gal again? Luckily Austria didn't appear to be sure it was a Lepanto either...

It was important to get Rum, as if Germany followed through on his threats then it would be my only build. I didn't really mind that Turkey got into Black Sea, and it was nice to have Sev blocked up so that I couldn't build there - this didn't stop Germany ranting about me fighting Turkey and not Austria. Germany was egged on by abgemacht's commentary I suspect and Richard Sharp's "Austria falling is bad for Germany" mantra, one that generations of Russian players have cursed roundly. (Did I mention I met Richard two or three times back in the day?) But then Germany let me into Sweden as part of going on with the Sea Lion, so that’s OK then.

I built A War in the face of German "build A Mos or else" threats. I'd picked Austria as my target, and couldn't see any reason to change my mind - and the more Germany threatened and ranted the more I was likely to do the opposite of what he wanted. Turkey was easy and fun to get along with, Austria didn't return my phone calls, and Italy seemed suspect. One thing that wasn't ever in the plan was to attack Germany.

Spring 1902 - Are you *sure* you wanted to do that?
So Germany attacked me instead. In press, he wanted to bounce in Sil, but omitted to mention also putting a fleet into the Baltic Sea. Bouncing in Sil seemed to be a waste of time and motion, so I sidled into Boh on the basis that I knew where Germany was going and Austria wasn't ever going to go there. This gave me great position on Austria, and a threat against Munich if I needed it.

The prof chides me for opening up too many fronts, but I don’t really feel like it was my choice.

Indecisive moves from Austria, and Italy was isolated in Serbia. The Austrian fleet in Albanian seemed a waste as well. I had some nervousness over Turkey, but I thought he was the one to trust (plus Italy and Austria were gunning for him) and our relationship grew better with each move.

Fall 1902 - How to be Nice to England
It didn't seem to be in my interests to see England go down, especially in view of the German attack on me. So we talked and I got out of Norway to save England a disband. Pretty good to have a Russian fleet in the North Sea as well. England and France were spatting in global press around this time - I don’t remember the detail, just that it seemed good as far as I was concerned.

Spring 1903 - Playing Follow the Leader
Germany had to go back to Munich, so I followed him to Sil, especially as I was still smarting over his F Baltic.. The possibility of him convoying Kiel to Livonia to get behind my lines had occurred to me but I'd put a low probability on it (because, well, then what?).

Italy and Austria weren’t reading the same page, and Italy’s Army in Apu still not doing anything useful for him, plus the Austria F Ion was always going to be difficult for Italy to deal with.

Fall 1903 - France moves a unit
Just the one mind. France and I hadn't had a lot of contact, although he'd expressed some disappointment when I declined the North opening in '01. We did have some sporadic contact, but it seems real life was getting in the way for him.

I think Austria is taken over by a new player at this point. He tried quite hard to get me to back off, but wasn’t actually offering anything for me to do so, so on with the campaign. I suggest he moves to Tunis to guarantee a centre.

Germany goes to Moscow, and I get Munich and two builds. Big hat tip to Tru_Ninja for urging me to take the risk against Germany rather than just going against Austria. In the end, I felt I got the better of the exchange and while yes the army behind my lines could have been a pain things could have been a lot worse.

Spring 1904 - Overextended, moi?
So, I’m fighting Germany, Italy and Austria at this point, and have been accused of overexpansion, which doesn’t sound good. Concentrating on getting Austria out seems like the best option, and I’m a little wary of Turkey finally breaking out and what he might think of doing with Germany.

So Germany and I finally have a discussion that doesn’t involve him saying DO [SOMETHING] OR [SOMETHING ELSE HORRIBLE WILL HAPPEN TO YOU] to me. (Late edit after reading Germany’s EoG: I have to say your “requests” read more like threats. I didn’t move north for what seemed like good reasons to me -see above- and after that I really just saw your requests as attempts at bullying - you may not of thought of them this way, but it’s what came across to me.)

France and I also actually have some communication, so he attacks Munich on my promise of supporting him there, but I don’t think it’s a firm promise, and retreat to Boh to put pressure on Austria (and fulfil my agreement with Germany).

Fall 1904 - Germany and I work it out, mostly.
I pull out of Munich, and Germany disbands Moscow. I say that in return for all of this he should attack France, and I would take one of his centres for everyone that he took from France. The lesson I take from this (as I never did take another centre from him) and from Germany’s stance over Sweden at the start, is that if you say these things you should really follow through. Austria is out, and I have all his home centres.

Spring 1905 - Friends, friends everywhere, and nary an enemy in sight.
As the professor pointed out, I then had a lot of friends and very few enemies. I also had a lot of units, mostly armies, and they sort of collectively demanded to be moved somewhere - anywhere, really, as long as they moved. It came down to North or South, Germany or Turkey: in the end I thought Turkey was the better fight. He'd been making some of those odd moves that presage a stab (e.g. not convoying to Italy, but to Albania). I didn't really want to give Trieste back, and I thought the WT would take some time to sort itself out still. If the war against Turkey was quick, I thought I could shift North after that and still make the solo. It was with genuine regret that I stabbed Turkey, as our relationship was good and he was the easiest to talk to.

Autumn 1905 - I save Italy. Was he grateful?
As the professor pointed out, Italy was woefully out of position. So my attack on Turkey was good news for him. Sadly, I didn't get much in the way of appreciation and he was soon supporting Turkey. I may have told a few white lies in earlier seasons that lowered his appreciation of me, but he also told a few himself.

Spring 1906 - Is that a Fleet I see before me?
Now everyone is jumping in. France gets off the Norwegian Sea fence and moves to Barents! England moves to North Sea! Fleets everywhere, and none of them mine. In my mind, I knew this was England moving against me, but my heart didn't want to believe it.

Autumn 1906 - England's fiance
"What's going on? ," I ask England, "tell me something to make me feel warm and fuzzy." And, to his credit, he does. It involves something about proposing to his fiance, and it's enough to make me not want to be the one that definitively breaks our alliance. I should have moved StP to Nor to bounce the convoy there, but I didn't, I kept on bouncing Den and Swe to Nor as ever. Tru_Ninja points out that repeating moves a lot is not a good idea, as it makes everything predictable, and I have to (ruefully) agree with him.

Spring 1907 - Finland, duh.
So I forget that an *army* in Norway can retreat to *Finland*. That's not ideal, but it's not the end of the world either.

Fall 1907 - Francophone I ain't
I still don't understand what France is up to, or his thinking, and I don’t think I ever did. I'd offered StP to him as a better alternative to having an English army in there, and also in the hope he might support me if I guaranteed him survival. His press stepped up a little, but never enough to inspire confidence, and his words and moves weren’t exactly in lock step.

Spring 1908 - Et tu, Germany?
Germany turns as well. Like a slow motion car crash, I could see it coming but not do anything much about it. Well, actually, I probably could have produced better press, but when you're on 13 centres and everyone else is on 5 or 6 then the excuses start wearing a little thin.

I try and persuade Turkey a couple of times to keep his fleets and use them for me, and I would guarantee his survival. His demands that I back off weren't (to my mind) reasonable or practical, so this didn't work out. My fault, I guess, in that my stab was fairly brutal, but I was trying to get things wrapped up in the South quickly. I'm not sure whether I would have taken my offer either if the positions had been reversed.

Fall 1908 - Kill the stragglers
So, can I get to 18? Tru_Ninja and I discuss it, and can't see it working out. The more pressure I put on the others, the more they will stick together. I could cave in either North or South and hope the resulting melee worked out, but this would be risky. I propose to the others that we finish off Turkey and France and call the draw. Germany goes back to shouting at me about not taking my builds.

Spring 1909 - Nowhere to go to
I put the draw up early. There was some half-hearted negotiation with England about the possibility of turning it into a three-way draw, but I wanted to follow through on my promise to call the draw if we eliminated France and Turkey. I think I might have taken it down if one of the others hadn’t voted in favour that season, but who knows?

I very much appreciate the advice and guidance from TA Tru_Ninja, and the input from abgemacht, sh@dow and Valis. Thanks also to all the other players for a well- (and hard-) fought game. In a ground-breaking agreement with Germany I too understand little of what France did or why and am interested to see his EoG. I thought England played an extremely good defence, as did Germany when he stopped shouting at me. As I mentioned above I thought Italy got lucky after some confused early moves, and similarly Turkey was unlucky after some good moves to survive the opening onslaughts.

Here's my view on the game standing from the sidelines talking to my star quarterback:

1901: 01 for me was all about stability and making sure that we're the one with the ally. Stein and I talked for a bit about opening north vs not opening north, but with the bounce in Gal, Mos-Ukr was the only real sound decision--gotta ensure Rum as a build, after all.
I hated the bounces in Gal and the BLA and we tried to talk one or the other out of it, but when people are insistent, it just makes for a boring year.
By the fall, we still weren't sure where Italy would go, from what I recall, but I was pretty sure initially that Italy was on board for the fight. We had discussed taking Rum and doing it with the army for versatility. Things weren't terribly stressful at this stage.
In the north, I was stressing that we sue for peace with Germany because we didn't want a war there. The option to bounce in Sil was put on the table and I said that it wasn't worth the fight. The bounce was worthless and we needed to instead focus on simply attacking where we needed to. Germany had been pushy in the past, but we told Germany that we were NOT moving to Silesia and preferred to leave it empty. It was too taxing on our resources. I talked a bit at length that going north should only be a solution when invited, and not forced, but to take everything that's given to you. Russia has to stay bigger than the countries around him to survive. I felt that attacking England wouldn't be a bad idea since we did need a German ally (or at least neutral) to be successful at this stage. Germany was also threatening us to not move to Boh, but we have to do what is best for us. Plus, it was a good means of keeping him in check in case he did move to Silesia.

1902: Hmm. German invasion. That throws a kink into things. We attempted peace (contrary to what the professors saw) but in the end it was Germany that overextended himself. Once we saw Germany hit us, selling England as an ally was pretty simple. I told Stein that he had to continue to ply for peace with Germany but to also apply pressure. In the south, a series of bad Austrian choices were wonderful for us. For the fall, given Germany's attack, we had to do something so I told Stein to use Boh to hit Munich. We needed to press the assault on Austria, so we could order an attack on Munich. One of two things were going to happen: we lose War and gain Mun, or there's a bounce. Either way, it was positive for us since we come out even, and bad for Germany because he either extends units further than he can handle while losing a home center, or he gains nothing by protecting what he has.

1903: Germany was again threatening to not build in Warsaw. Pff, like that's going to happen. We were going to continue to press for peace but still be on the offensive with Germany until he cracks. When Germany convoyed his army, I was thrilled. The profs were chastising us for leaving our backfield naked, but I strongly believe that this was because they didn't really understand what was going on. This was Germany's war to lose. We had told Germany that we were going to continue to attack until he backs off. I told Stein to force Germany to choose between protecting his home and attacking. I was worried that Germany could simply sail into the GoB or Lvn to take StP with his fleet and still hold Denmark. In the end, Germany made the mistake of convoying, thus tying up 2 units to do the work of 1. This was awesome because it isolated two units away from home while we assaulted everything he had. My thoughts were that Germany would lose all of his home centers and have no place to build units if he got the upper-hand, or he would do the wise thing and return. Keep pressing for peace.
In the south, we convinced Italy to about-face on Austria. Stein did an EXCELLENT job with his press getting Italy AND Turkey to support him to Tri. We essentially told Italy that we wouldn't take anything from his home centers but on the side we were still siding with Turkey.

1904: Germany disbands Mos--awesome. We traded Mun for peace, but weren't giving up Denmark. Easy sell. At this point, we had plenty of centers and we began focusing on soloing. We had peace with England and Germany in the north, Germany was content with his losses at Denmark for the time being, and our campaign in the south was going well. Italy was going to die, and we were, at that point determining the best way to collect our 18.
We decided to build in prep for taking Norway. I didn't think it was the best choice, but Stein felt that he could take Nwy since England couldn't really argue. Austria was gone and I felt we had too many holes in the south, so we sent units there. We were going to allow Germany and England to focus on France while we pick a fight in the south.

1905: I had Stein self-standoff in Norway to ensure we remained peaceful with England. We can take Norway later on. It was time to stab Turkey, so we didn't need war with England and Germany at that point. Fighting Italy and Turkey was easy enough. This was going to be a great game. The ONLY CHINK IN OUR ARMOR WAS THAT DARN COMMENTARY TELLING EVERYONE TO ATTACK US OR WE WOULD SOLO. Thanks profs :)

1906 and following: England convoys to Norway with FRENCH HELP!?!?
France is an idiot. He spends the next several years attacking us while England wrecks his homeland. We tried getting him to attack England instead, but France wasn't talking. As the seasons went on, what started like a sure solo fell apart. Germany and England continued to get a foothold on France who was spending all of his efforts preventing us from soloing. Sometimes the ONLY French moves issued was his fleet in the north that was attacking us or supporting England.

In the end, after our solo efforts were dwindled to nothing, we sent press to England, Germany and Italy to end the Turk and the Frenchman and call it a game.

@Steingrim
It's interesting that you felt I was shouting at you Steingrim. I was trying to open negotiations from a position of strength. Much like France, you were not interested in negotiation and I think that was something I didn't recognize, but I don't think playing that way is a good way to play either. At many points I was irritated and angry at you for a variety of reasons (getting Sweden when I felt you probably didn't deserve it after your other fall moves and not opening north, helping out England at my expense, being the solo threat). I wasn't going to just roll over. Like I said my tunnel vision on the SL affected my early play and I would have bounced you out of Sweden most likely if that wasn't my focus.

@Tru Ninja
Despite what Steingrim may have told you, he never said that he wasn't bouncing in Sil. This is what he told me:

"I'll bounce in Silesia if you insist, but it seems like a waste of units on both our parts."

I agreed it was a waste, but told him that I didn't trust him and still wanted to bounce. His response:

"*sigh*"

So you see why I figured he was either resigned to bouncing or could take advantage of that knowledge and attack me.

I also disagree that I was shouting and threatening. This is an example of the so called threats and shouts from 1901:

"It's great to hear from you. I would definitely be interested in your support against England. Are you considering building an army or a fleet(nc) in St. Petersburg?

I'm sorry to hear that Austria has been very demanding. Perhaps I can persuade the Emperor of the error in his ways. What would be the basis for a constructive proposal on your part? Obviously you would want Italy or Austria to take Bulgaria and then assist you in taking Ankara. What sort of division of centers would you desire?

Based on this conversation, I would suggest building in Moscow. That build gives you the flexibility to have the unit on any front for the critical fall moves. While I'm happy you still wish to remain at peace, a Warsaw build would make me very nervous. You have been very reluctant to follow my advice, while I was generous enough to allow you into Sweden. Since it was not a guarantee at the time I understand your desire to guarantee Rumania, but I would like to see some mutual benefit from your builds or I may feel as if the great Tsar does not actually read my correspondence. What set of builds from myself and others would make you comfortable with building in Stp and Moscow?"

I would appreciated thoughts from neutral observers.

Also, in press you promised to tell the story of the Turkey stab in your EoG. If that's it, I'm disappointed.