Probably 'cause we don't.

Rude. Say more things about me.

What is Russia even doing in Turkey? All those armies..????

I see my draft pick is still on a great roll. Go SD!!

Bump so this doesn't die while we're paused. People should talk about it.

Bump.

bump...?

Oh hey, this is still a thing! And look, my horse is finally taking the lead.

Giddy-up!!

Somebody poke HR with a stick so he can commentary or something.

Wow... is this game still going on? As ghug as asked so nicely it's only right that the forum shines a light on the game that its players so richly deserve!

Oh dear, ghug...

Oh no...

Gosh, but that's embarrassing...

Joking aside, it's a nice looking end game. France has made good progress and seems to have won the north, but a quick glance suggests that Austro-Russia should hold.

Give or take a cock-up or two, of course ;).

The question is does Italy get a draw? He's in a less obviously useful position than is comfortable. What sort of example do the peanut game players want to give to the malleable young minds glued to the game?

Really think so?

Seeming to me like this is quickly slipping out from their fingers. Unless Italy starts looking into self interest (which of course is quite reasonable to expect) I think a solo is still a very real possible outcome here.

Looks like a likely French solo to me

You think so? Sure, France gets St Petersburg, Sweden and Kiel... but I'm not seeing how he makes gains in the south. France has just two fleets in the Med and reinforcements are over a year away. The allies have a fleet in Tunis and the Ionian, and plenty of back-up that can get to the front just as quick as whatever France can muster. The forces are balanced, and the allies hold the metaphorical high ground.

France has a build and it gets there one phase earlier than the reinforcements from the other side, if I'm reading the board correctly. Whether France solos or not comes down to guessing games.

Hmm, you may be right. So if France wins a coin toss or two, and Italy defies self preservation and remains loyal to him, he could solo?

My money's still firmly on the allies :).

Uh yeah, this is nearly over. French solo. Kiel, Sweden, and St. Petersburg are foregone conclusions. Tunis is up in the air, but it's very likely France can at least briefly grab Rome or Naples during the battle.

That said, it's not a gunboat, so Russia and AH have at least some hope of hanging on. If they can shore up their stalemate line in the Med quickly, anyway.

Hard to say. Logic dictates Italy falls on self-interest to sway the game, but having played TCS before i know he's capable of going in either direction so hard to lean too far on that as a sole factor. But TCS is asking for a draw so who knows? There could still be waves.

To Russia's question, Italy may find his own way to ensure he gets it. With an unlikely potential to ride out the draw italy may just want to punish those who got him into this position. Under those circumstances its more then plausible.

By all rights as the board dwindles xorxes being mostly a gunboater should be less of a handicap since diplomacy will play less a factor but there's been more then a few opportunities for AR to improve their situation but feet dragging continues to occur mostly with Russia seeming overly protective while Austria takes the trusting moves, not a great sign of cohesion which could continue to plague them. Rum should be in Gal, Aeg should have advanced for the show of good faith. They're not meshing as well as they need to which is going to lose their front line, Tunisia, and so on.

This could end up anywhere between a 4WD to a solo, but really i think it's heavily in the hands of xorxes and TCS. Xerxes really needs to step up his team player and diplomacy game and TCS really is in position to heavily swing this in any direction he chooses depending on what mood he's in day-to-day.

So many of the solo's I've managed to get were prefaced by somebody telling me how impossible that solo would be and the futility of continuing to try.

^

Really? What a romantic way to play the game. The glorious charge against seemingly impossible odds. I may have even done it once...

Sadly the vast majority of my solos were prefaced by somebody swearing a lot, accusations of cock-ups and gross stupidity, and prolonged periods of moody silence.

Dead draw. As A/R, I can publish my moves ahead of time, let you decide how to respond to them, and hold a draw anyway. A French solo requires both a tactical mistake and correctly guessing what that mistake will be and when it will happen (or a really bad tactical mistake).

As for the question Russia asked, I can come up with several ordersets that would let France take Kiel without losing Berlin. But that wouldn't get France to 18.

I'll avoid giving more specifics on the tactics unless asked, since this really isn't my game, even if I'm encouraged to kibitz.

This sounds like a job for the peanut gallery...

Is TooCoolSunday a "huge error"? Cast your votes now!

As it stands Stp and Sweden are likely going to fall and certainly an argument to be made that Tunisia could fall with a little luck and/or savviness really leaving it down to whether Kiel can be taken which i'd argue it could if for whatever reason TCS wanted him to. It's possible.

If A/R had legitimate rock solid cohesiveness this would already be stalemated. A/R are in a position now where they have pretty good security from each other out of necessity, but nevertheless it has to irritate Ghug a bit that Xorxes kept his options open by unnecessarily hanging back in some pretty convenient stabbing locations. With the right outside-the-box thinkers and ballsiness (or naivety depending on your perspective) there's still potential for creative backroom deals to be had here between ER or on the flip side some masterful playing into the smaller players paranoia for extra advantage. Heck, were TCS to flip it's not even outside of the realm of possibility for Russia to still turn the tides and make a solo bid (although a lot more work involved in that scenario).

I don't know all the players here enough to know their personalities to really speak to what's possible, but anybody assuming the game is settled simply by looking at the board is being a little too linear in their thinking.

"What set of orders would allow France to take Kiel without losing Berlin in the process?"
If Austria/Russia want, they can take Berlin anyway. Russia just has to force Sweden into Baltic Sea with the help of Gulf of Bothnia. Then Baltic Sea and Bohemia can cut the support in Munich resp. Kiel while Silesia takes Berlin with the help of Prussia. In order to hold Berlin Russia just needs to move Rumania via Galicia into Silesia (with help of Warsaw) and retreat Baltic Sea to Livonia if it is forced to retreat.
So if France finally gets Sweden, St. Petersburg, Tunis and Kiel he still only ends up with 17 SCs. Conclusion: It is a draw and Italy is a non-factor in deciding the outcome of the game.

Think this is intended to be more of a Monday morning quarterback or guess what they're up to type thing. Advising specific move sets may be taking thr peanut gallery a little further then it's intention.

I like drunk Ghug. ;)

Especially after we've gone to such lengths to give the impression that the result is in doubt and could swing either way.

Drunk ghug is fun, and seemingly less error prone than sober ghug :).

It's in doubt within the current bubble. Done by committee and it's a completely different story.

Ghug needs to be drunk all the time!