F 1905

With no major developments this turn and one power who is turning into a real solo threat, I expect some big moves from 1906. In any case, I like the direction this game is taking and it is still (literally) anyone's game.

6. GERMANY - You helped Italy and took a spite center from France, which is about all you can hope to accomplish at this point. Unfortunately, you're down to a single center and stuck between four different powers all vying for your territory. 1906 will likely be your last year, so make the best of it.

5. RUSSIA - I don't quite see the logic in helping out England at this point. In fact, I don't see the logic in any of your moves this year. You covered Moscow, which didn't need to be covered; you supported your unit in Berlin, which didn't need to be supported. You left Warsaw open in doing so. You supported England into Kiel, who is currently killing you and sitting in St. Pete. You also ceded the Black Sea to Turkey after 10 turns of bouncing. Why now? You could have played this turn much better.

4. FRANCE - Grabbing Belgium is a nice bonus this turn and more than makes up for the loss of Munich, which will be yours in a few turns again. Not taking Tunis last turn has you in a bit of a tight spot in the Med, but with your build, you're not as bad off as it looks. However, it does stress the importance of anticipating your opponent's moves and playing accordingly. Had you supported WMed to Tunis last turn, Italy would not be sitting in WMed this turn. Your biggest concern now is being stuck between the two largest powers on the board and only having one build.

3. TURKEY - Your stab of Italy, while being a good idea in principle, was terribly executed. For starters, you had to have known that Rumania would support Serbia (and vice versa). Not having a means of cutting that support means that you sprung your trap but gained nothing except allowing Italy to see your intentions. You really ought to have gotten Russia on your side for this. You two have a common enemy in Italy and you could use the extra few units in the attack.

2. ITALY - Losing Tunis, like I said, is only a short term loss, but taking Warsaw is a bonus. Having a build as well as the retreat is nice as well. The stab from Turkey, although poorly timed, is bad news for you, as you will have a difficult time doing much against Turkey, given his position and your preoccupation with France at the moment. With Russia seemingly of no use in the fight, you're on your own. Right now, you need a distraction for France to get him off your back.

1. ENGLAND - Another excellent turn. Getting Russia to support you to Berlin was a great piece of diplomacy, especially considering that you'll steamroll his remaining centers in the next few turns. You're well balanced in terms of armies and navies. My only gripe is your support of France to Belgium - that may come back to cause problems in the future.

You've also got St. Pete, which presents an issue for every England. St. Pete is problematic for two reasons. First, its a large center (relative to the rest of the board). I've always felt that England taking St. Pete presents an unrealistic threat to the rest of the board, given all that new pink territory. You're now the solo threat on the board, so be prepared to deal with the hassles of being the leader. St. Pete is also a bit of a dead end for England. You can only take and hold Moscow for so long, if you get it at all, and you don't want to devote too many units to a possibly fruitless campaign in Russia. On the plus side, once you have St. Pete, nobody else can take it from the south.

bump

Bump

Fall 1905

I just figured out 2WL's reverse-order rankings ;)

In between turns, there was a question about, as a smaller power, using your last few dots productively. There's 2 ways to do that. You could, in a fit of rage, throw all your dots to one player rather than another. Or, you could set up a Janissary-type arrangement where you agree to remain weak and submissive and supportive of your big strong attacker or somebody big and strong in exchange for their protection. I've done both, and when you don't have a lot of dots left, that's a way to stay in the game, or at least affect it productively. Being a Janissary is one of my favorite ways to hang on with a dot or two, and sometimes make it in on the draw. (Sorry about killing you in our game awhile back Dyager... This thread has turned into me apologizing for a lot of my past stabs. I've played a lot of games and stabbed a lot of people. I'm sorry!)

Wow, this was a heck of a turn. Retreats haven't gone through, so I suppose that could affect the builds slightly. If I was France, I would consider taking the disband to net an extra build.

1. England. Obviously, you're far and away the leader. I don't know how he managed to get Russia to support him into Kiel while he's otherwise beating the hell out of him, but that sure made me laugh. To England: Keep at it. Keep examining the board. England's halfway to 18 centers, and the next 9 will be harder than the first. Another round of armies for England, Edinburgh and London I'll assume?

2. Italy. You're also at 9 centers, but I'm getting worried. Italy was just gently stabbed by Turkey. If that wasn't a trick (remember, Italy apparently set up a bizarre bounce in Trieste back in 1901, so I wouldn't put it past him to orchestrate weird moves), it's not good. The board indicates that Italy's only friend is Germany. I would be biting my nails if I was in Italy's seat. The fleet that broke through in the Western Med could annoy France, fortunately. I'll predict an army in Venice as a build.

3. France. Germany has lived another day in Munich, at your expense. France still has a nice ally in England, possibilities of Turkish assistance against Italy, and a build, which will be a fleet in Marseilles.

4. Turkey. It didn't look like Italy was going to let you have much anyway, so you might as well take the stab, right? Turkey gets a build, likely A Con, although F Smyrna could be considered.

5. Russia. In all fairness, this was a tough game for you, but you had some good moments. Russia's moves this year gave me a good laugh. 3 Reasons.
1. He supported the guy attacking him into Kiel. Is he going to support England into Berlin next turn?
2. He had an army sitting uselessly in Warsaw this entire game, and now, when he actually needed one there, it was nowhere to be found! Remarkable!
3. He bounced the stinking Black every single turn, except the turn when he really needed it. Gosh!
2 Disbands, probably the armies in Germany, although it doesn't matter.

6. Germany. You're like my grandmother. You just won't die.

Sorry for having a laugh at all of your expense. Feel free to laugh at my games (privately).

Bump

bump

I have a question: Italy could be almost 100% sure of France's move in the Med that turn. For that reason, I would have been tempted to order Tyrr-> west Med, Tuscany -> GoL and let GoL into Tyrr to get a sweet counterattack going on France. Let's assume we didn't know for sure that France was getting Belgium, but thought it was a possibility and also didn't know our move to Moscow would succeed. Would that have been a good idea? I think I am leaning toward no, but it definitely would be interesting.

He did move Tyrr to W Med. Even though Italy has a lot of units, particularly with the Turkish stab, he can only afford to devote 1 unit to counterplay. Breaking into GoL would give him a second unit for counterplay which, although interesting, seems to disfavor Italy in the long run. That's just my feeling, but I've always been a fan of, and had reasonable success with, conservative play rather than crazy risky type stuff.

Retreats

I have the day off today so obviously I'm spending my morning on the couch waiting for SOW to progress. I'm sad.

Not much to add here. I'm torn on whether the French disband was a good idea. Two builds is awesome, true, but I'm not sure if its a wise tradeoff to give up your foothold in Munich that could potentially retreat to Bohemia and give Italy fits. If France is worried about an English stab, though, this is an excellent idea, even if it removes the possibility of picking up any more centers this year despite the (presumed) loss of Tunis.

Bump

Bump chicka wow-wow

Bump

I think Russia may be about to NMR again - can we get someone to pause the game?

The game has been paused. I will attempt to contact Russia to find out what's going on.

I don't want to hold up the game unnecessarily but I don't want to make the call to unpause without getting some feedback first. Profs and TA's particularly if you wouldn't mind weighing in - given Russia's current position, would it be alright to carry on without him if he hasn't returned in the next 12-24 hours?

Russia entered moves. We're still talking about the future but I'm hoping he'll be able to stick it out. In the meantime, I'll unpause the game.

I put in my move. I have had my time very spoken for between work, the winery that I have started with people, eating and sleeping. I want to finish the game. But I understand if people are sick of paused game. If you guys want to replace me I understand. It's really hard to find the time right now. As the list of things to do is very large right now. Sorry for the holding the game. I really don't like wasting your time.

If there's a chance that you might be only a few hours late, then Pharos we could enable wait for orders mode? The delays haven't been much burden so far.

Er. "Perhaps" not Pharos...

If it brings another winery into the world, I'm ok with waiting :)

I'm ok if you guys are. I'm the one holding stuff up. I'm not long for this world at this point anyways so it would not be a problem much longer. I hate to ditch on the game.

I have the next two days off from walmart. So the next move phase won't be a problem. It's the days I work. I can run to the library on lunch and make a quick move on the days I work. But once I clock out for the day I run to the office and do that. I often find my self remembering about the game at the last minute as of late. So I'm sure I can get my moves in. But there will be delays.

Not to mention I don't get time to contact my ta or really put much thought into the moves right now. Or respond to any players wishing to plot.

Bump. Builds are in.

Were Russia's builds tantamount to a quit?

No I just put them in so as not to delay the game.

Winter Adjustment 1905

Most of the builds were as expected. Italy's decision to agree with my suggestion and build an army rather than a fleet will, interestingly enough, leave him outnumbered by the combination of France's extra build and Turkey's new fleet. This should be interesting.

On to 1906.

Russia's builds were as expected?!?!?

Okay, so I haven't had any time at all, as I'm sure you've all noticed. But I completely agree with uclabb here. Russia's builds were not expected at all. He had a few choices with his possible disbands. He could focus on defending his units in Germany, his ones in south Russia, or focus on giving England hell in the north. By disbanding a unit in the north and in the west he just turned his attention to holding his southern units which is to England's advantage. As much as I hate using the word since it causes mass panic, Russia's builds just gave England a solo shot and might be the decisive factor in the end of the game.

Keeping the unit in Sil would have given Italy time to come and help Russia hold the unit in Berlin, which will fall this turn without fail. Keeping the unit in Finland while disbanding Sev would have allowed him to make a deal with Turkey to leave Sev untouched as long as he used that extra unit to threaten England. There were so many diplomatic options available to him, but it seems like he feel into the all too regular defeatist mode, where people stop negotiating just because they are losing units. There is always a chance to worm your way into a draw...even now, so please do not stop talking!

I also want to commend France on his disband choice and rebuilding in Brest and Mar. It would have been all too easy to make the mistake of retreating into Ruhr, and allowing Italy to break your lines. It was a well thought out retreat on your part.

Things have started to slow down at my work and with the moderator team so I should be able to get some more commentary in now. Thank you tons to thehampster and 2ndWhiteLine for covering for me in my absence. Also thank you to uclabb for making us professors answer almost any key topic we miss.