IN the meantime, EoG volume 1 1901-1906. I think you'll find Spring 1906 interesting. Vol 2 should be up in a couple of hours.
First, I’d like to thank all of you all, professors and players, for making a truly informative and fun match! It was really great throughout. I will say that as a new comer to webdip (I started in January) one could not ask for a warmer, happier welcome than working with the whole crew.
Second, I’d like to dedicate this game to Vituslex, Jr., who shows great promise as a Diplomacy player, seeing as he backstabbed his own Dad when less than a month old by distracting him at a crucial time. He is dependent for all his shelter, food, and nurturing, but that doesn’t stop him from cutting a key deal. Nerves of steel, that boy!
So, thoughts for FRANCE, going from memory, since a lot of early press is gone. I wish I’d had the foresight to use the notes!.
Pre Game:
There was really one key decision for me at the outset: work with Germany or England. Here, it was really the press that sealed it. Russia was inclined to help with either or both from the outset. England and Germany both made positive noises, but Vituslex was relentless in his press. Very detailed about moves and positions and plans. In the end, he looked at the better partner. I wish I’d been able to work with both, but there it is.
I will suggest that the mods let EddardStark change his name to something a little more fortunate. Tyrion Lannister, maybe? I bet he’d be a wicked Dip player.
Also, Italy was friendly from the outset, but with notes of tension. I decided it was paramount to keep peace on the southern flank and not provoke a war by being ambiguous. Triumvr had that correct. Dyager was also correct in it proving to be a pain in the tush. However, freeing Italy to go full on after Turkey was the goal there.
Long term goal was England, then dominate the Mediterranean.
1901: The race for Belgium Chocolate
SPRING 1901:
I negotiated a DMZ in both EC and Burgundy if memory serves, but broke the one with Germany right away largely to ensure having six units to start. The double attack on Picardy and Burgundy was planned to have support into Belgium if Germany moved to Ruhr, or first shot from Picardy if he moved to Burgundy. That latter is nice, because it puts me in a position to bounce back to Marseilles and get Spain. Italy moved East, England moved north. Russia carried through on the northern opening, making England a more appealing target. I was probably apologizing profusely to Vituslex at this point, but I find it better to be aggressive and apologizing than timid and begging for mercy.
FALL 1901:
Ah, the much maligned Spain (nc) move. Despite the Profs’ comments I wanted to avoid provoking Italy with the south coast. From there I figure that fleet was roughly stranded from the year. In retrospect Portugal first would have been better, since Spain could be grabbed by an army. England got Norway on account of Russia’s move to Finland, suggesting a world of hurt for England, Germany returned to Munich while I was as good as my word and merely took Belgium. At this point I was strongly considering moving forward from Belgium and Burgundy, but Vituslex pointed out that these border wars can be fatally slow. However, my forward position was useful in convincing England that the assault on Germany was on.
BUILDS were Army Marseilles to grab Portugal, and Brest. Looking back, I remember I had some thought to spring some kind of trap on Italy. Marseilles was explained to England as a play for Tyrolia, while Brest was merely a second fleet should it be needed to defend against England or Italy. When Triumvir wrote “If France does not intend to move against England, he will have a LOT of explaining to do.” I thought that I had better attack, because I DON’T want to be called to the principal’s office!” In reality the plan was to move Marseilles to Portugal and convoy it to Liverpool in Spring 1903. Alas! The fleet in Brest was offered as backup for North Sea since England had talked of building an army. The EC was key for defending England. England also said that Germany was planning on supporting him to Sweden, but that was a stab of course. From that point, England was really on the ropes.
1902: The Tour de France for the French Armies.
SPRING 1902: Two things going on here: First, convincing a prickly Germany I really wanted peace. That meant heading out from Burgundy. Germany suggested Gascony, which was very good advice, but I was concerned about having to stand him out of Paris, as opposed to being in Paris should Munich have followed me into Burgundy. Spain would then be able to cover Marseilles while Paris and MAO have the option to stand out of Gascony and EC covers Belgium. Basically, my move set was to prevent a wandering German army from becoming a fatal gnat.
Second, I was still pretty convinced that Italy would maintain the peace.
Dyager was right that Germany was working the press very actively. To my vision, Germany was the Konzertmeister. Russia and I were still talking about a stab and joint invasion of Germany.
FALL 1902:
Curses on you treacherous Italians! My plan to land an army in England was in ruins because I had to cover Marseilles. RAZ might remember better, but I imagine I had some choice words for him. Still, one army does not an invasion make. It only serves to annoy. More probably it was “My goodness, Austria just stabbed you. Are you SURE you want a war with me too? Venice is nice this time of year.” By now the German Russian alliance was in full swing and England truly kicked back on its heels. Russia’s role pretty much done, making it time for the stab of Germany, but my efforts to be to Britain before them was pretty much toast. Only a fleet could go, while everyone else scrambled to cover.
So: EC to Irish Sea, the lone representative to the English invasion. Then, Spain to Marseille as the only place to cover from. That meant MAO to Portugal instead. A third fleet build was pretty key for my plans of heading north in a serious way, which meant the only option for convoying an army to England was Gascony. The thought of Italy came later.
However, this turn was the start of the Austrian Waltz or the Tyrolian slalom. Having seen Piedmont, I furiously lobbied for help against Italy with the move Munich to Tyrolia. By now, my relationship with Germany was pretty solid, so he moved to help.
BUILDS: pretty straightforward: going north meant another fleet. I’d originally been thinking of taking all of England. Dina happen, alas. If memory serves, there was a decided anti-German bent to the Warsaw build. Rojimy may be able to correct me there.
1903: IN WHICH WE MAKE DYAGER THROW UP ON THIS CHILDREN. (Turnabout it fair play, I’d say!)
Our press that year was roughly an April Fool’s joke. “What can we do to REALLY mess with those guys!”
SPRING 1903: Actually. I really don’t remember. Was I drunk? Quite possibly.
Actually, my dominant mood was, now what the hell do I do? I was still hoping to grab London and maybe Edinburgh by putting Gascony in Wales. Basically, what happened for Germany and I was that we chickened out on launching a war on Italy that would result in Italy conquering Iberia quickly, the juggernaut eating our toys, and England returning from the dead, so we ordered everyone back to barracks. Italy bought the notion that the Fall moves were in response to Piedmont, so no harm no foul. However a good stab really needs Italy further east, which he provided the following turn.
I HATE holding and that point felt that I’d pretty much peed all over myself in front of the entire WebDip community. It was the start of a bitter ember of rage that made me determined to win at all costs to redeem myself.
Ok, not really. But I was pretty frustrated not having better options for them.
PRESS: I think it was about now that Germany convinced me to hand over London AND Edinburgh and hand over the northern front to him exclusively to keep our alliance balanced. A new idea to me, but one that I saw the sense of. Immediately following that decision, Germany turned on Russia. I thought it better to maintain what had become a great working relationship. I wish I’d thought of the idea, but that was pure Vituslex. I was calculating that one English center was enough to prevent me from needing any center that doesn’t have a coast in the med but one. However, the key to understanding my game was Vituslex’s excellent press. He’s a great partner.
Lesson learned from Profs: Be more aggressive and move early even if not fully ready.
FALL 1903: HOUNDS UNLEASHED
With Italy reassured and heading back toward Turkey again, Germany and I go for the southern and Eastern moves. I support Germany into London, as per our agreement, and Gascony has to cancel the Welsh vacation plans. For one SC, I’m not sending that north. Let the Germans go shear sheep. Low countries are DMZ. Gascony stays still for lack of imagination. Picardy is watching the German border carefully.
Build for Liverpool is the obvious fleet in Marseilles. Eventually EC would join.
1904: STEAM ROLLER
SPRING 1904: In discussion with Germany, we looked for position for the fall. I figured Tyrrhenian was the most logical guess where a standoff could bottle Italy up on the eastern Med, so that was that while everyone else snuck into position. I was thrilled it worked. Tuscany was also prime real estate.
I suspect Germany isn’t doing a write up, but I know that Vituslex was working the press actively and talking peace with Russia in order to have help against Austria. This turn was the stab of that plan with the attack on Norway and Bohemia. I believe this is where the seeds of Russia’s help with my solo were sown. Rojimy can fill us in, but I think he was pretty pissed, while he and I had continued our talk of the join stab of Germany.
It was also about this time I believe that the F/G/T draw plan was hatched. Frankly, I liked the idea because I enjoyed working with Vituslex.
Also, I talked England into the move to Yorkshire. I was still nervous about Germany, hence the two armies in France. I promised the return of Liverpool and London and help in Scandinavia if Germany stabbed me. He didn’t, and England was toast. Indeed, the exchange of support in Venice was helpful right away.
FALL 1904: Lady luck shines on me
I had expected to get Venice, but Tyrrhenian and Tunis both were pure gravy. I had expected to get one, and stood out of the other, allowing me to get the other the following turn.
BUILDS: THE CRITICAL TURNING POINT!!
WHY SO MANY FLEETS, FRANCE?
In a word, power in the north. Only four were ever intended to head to the med. More is a waste. Two were intended to defend against the German stab. I was STILL nervous about leaving my north undefended. I was figuring Germany would run through Scandinavia, and by building a couple of fleets, overpower me around Britain and the Atlantic. Professors were right also about not wanting to disturb Germany’s eastward push. Hence, Brest. Turns out to have been very important.
However, there was a second part to it. After much prodding from the professors I started looking VERY HARD at the solo. I did roughly the same math that Dyager in calculating the final :
“9 currently owned, Naples, Rome, London, Edinborough, Holland, Munich, Kiel, Denmark, Norway.”
The kicker was THE most important professor comment that changed the game for me also came from Dyager: “So that fleet build in Marseilles tells me, that France at least, intends to draw the game with Germany or he foolishly thinks he will be the first France to ever occupy the Turkish Peninsula in its entirety.”
Actually, yes, that was PRECISELY what I’d been planning. That was what finally pushed me to stab, which I would probably have been too timid to do otherwise. That was a HUGE growth moment for me as a Dip player.
So, take a look at Dyager’s list again. Presuming that anything past Italy is off limits, I needed those “too many fleets” to grab the 18. Of those, all but Munich would rely on sea power to grab. From that point I was pretty confident of the solo based on two principles. One, I should be able to get Naples and Rome, grab a couple of SCs in Germany and establish a stalemate line. (Yes, Austria, I didn’t need either Venice or Trieste to solo and my offers to support you there as part of my firewall were genuine.) Second, with enough fleets in the north and too few from Germany and Russia, I would be able to waltz to the solo with no one really able to stop me. THAT, my dear Triumvir, was the plan that required six fleets (actually 9 fleets in the end.) As it turns out I DID lay the groundwork for the solo in the 1904 build, although I did it first to simply reach fleet parity with Germany in the north at three each. My basic instinct of maintaining a balance of power in the north, though was key, because with two more builds, I had clear superiority. I wasn’t that interested in a land war with Germany. I was VERY much interested in a naval war, though.
1905: THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
The turning point of the game for me was Austria’s retaking of Venice. In short, Germany left me hanging there and I pitched a fit (yes, hysterics are a time honored tool of diplomacy. I can say I am GLAD that some of my press from other games isn’t public…) After some heated discussion, Germany suggested my taking Munich to even it up. Then, there Germany wanted me to waive the build, but more on that later
SPRING 1905: Chaos reigns.
The key action was around Venice. First, Germany had agreed to support Venice from Tyrolia, but then went waltzing off to Bohemia, which cost me the center. I moved into Norwegian Sea to help Germany into Norway. Otherwise, these moves were all aimed at moving into the Med to carry out my part of the F/G/T draw. With all three of us advancing nicely, it looked inevitable. I was pretty pleased with my defenses at that point, but was irked at the surprise withdrawal of support in Tyrolia, especially since that made taking Rome a lot harder.
After some fits, Germany offered to give me Munich to make it up. That was a surprising move, but our relationship had been so good to that point that it made sense to Germany, especially since another army would help in defense more than an empty space.
The retreat: In retreating from Venice, I had Piedmont, Tyrolia, and Apulia as options. I quickly dismissed Apulia as a strange dead end, whereas Piedmont was moving backwards, but Tyrolia is typically a hard fought spot to win that gives the potential to have a say in the fate of the Austrian centers. Part of me was still thinking that if I could grab Vienna and Budapest, stabbing Germany wouldn’t perhaps be necessary. I completely overlooked the potential for Apulia to get me Naples since I was relatively confident that my armies and control of Tyrrhenian would get them for me. I kicked myself mightily at the time, although the sense that I didn’t need to head down there turned out to be modestly true (although look at the contortions I had to go through later to end up there and back in Venice!)
FALL 1905:
Fall 1905 was about plans further developing. In the north, I supported the convoy to Norway, in large measure to get the army off of Britain. I took Germany up on the offer of Munich as a peace offering in exchange, which meant no German build. I also moved my “defensive” fleets up to help at the same time. In the south, the much maligned retreat to Tyrolia did its job: it cut Venice’s support for Rome as effectively as it could from Apulia. That set up a guessing game. Would Italy choose to grab the Brass ring of Tyrrhenian, seeking to take it or at least cut the support while relying on Venice? I figured that Venice had to stay put to maintain its own support (Austria wouldn’t take that risk for Italy), which made Tuscany the uncuttable support, which mean Tyrrhenian had to move. Fortunately, my back up fleets were enough to stand Italy out of Tyrrhenian.
Now here is the interesting bit: Since Munich was actually Germany’s suggestion and I’d been talking about wanting defensive units in France for years (actually we discussed practically every build), Germany was willing to accept that this wasn’t actually a stab. My fleets I’d moved up in large measure because the move out of Tyrolia made me think that a switch of alliances was in the works, so my fleets jumped east in order respond to the stab I thought was coming. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure myself whether it was a stab. When Dyager said he wasn’t sure I had the stab in me, his intuition wasn’t far wrong. In fact, (and here my press with Germany starts) we had a long discussion about my build that year. Germany was seeking to have me waive the build out of security concerns. I responded that I wanted a 3+1 formation with three armies our collective east while one stayed at home. Actually, the timing of the Turkish stab was perfect. Germany was concerned that he didn’t have any spare units to stab me with, so why worry. My response was that with the Turkish stab, peace with Russia was likely in which case ALL of his units were spare units. A fast about face by Germany and I’d be in real trouble. In the end of a long and somewhat testy (for Vituslex) negotiation, I agreed to withdraw from Munich and pull my fleets back.
At this point, no one knew of the stab, if I remember rightly, simply because if you are soloing, there’s scarcely any upside to telling anyone.
Build: Army Marseilles. Fastest access to Tyrolia or Munich. Nuf said.
Also, I was absolutely on tenterhooks about the Italian disband. Seeing Apulia vanish was absolutely lovely. Remember, I had no interest in every getting into Ionian, much less past it.
1906: THE STAB!!!!!!
Spring 1906:
Truth be told I felt absolutely terrible at stabbing my absolutely fantastic partner. The strategy was position first, supply centers after. Rinse, repeat.
So the northern fleets: The plan was to grab the seas and force the North Sea fleet to retreat anywhere. With Norwegian, North Sea and English Channel, I can take three SCs guaranteed, while Germany takes one, giving me two builds and him two disbands. I honestly didn’t care where he retreated and was perfectly happy to have his one fleet sit in Liverpool with one tender of mine, while the rest of my fleets mopped up. (more on that in a bit). With Germany losing two SCs, I’d hope that at least one would be a fleet. If the armies were tossed in favor of defending Berlin and the south, so much the easier.
The Kiel Move:
First, I knew Germany was going to attack Munich, because he said so. I couldn’t keep it. However, it was imperative to keep that fleet in the Baltic away from the North Sea if I could. Half of me hoped for a stand off and a retreat to Berlin, and the other half felt that I could take Kiel, keep Germany with two losses and surround Munich with Kiel Tyrolia and Burgundy (see? That was the vision that motivated that retreat, even if Apulia was maybe a smarter choice I didn’t see).
That said, I agree that Germany made what seemed to be a series of crazy moves in 1906, but I can shed some light there. First, as I alluded to earlier, I’d convinced Germany that this wasn’t a stab, so he wasn’t moving to defend. After all I’d agreed to hand back Munich, etc. Also, I had a pretty good notion the war between Russia and Germany hadn’t ended at all. From the press I was getting, in fact Germany and Russia had NOT made peace and Russia was still pretty ready to work to kill Germany and Germany was responding in kind. Thus, my sense is that the Prussian hold was to keep a Silesia-Prussia front against Russia. Barents Sea was inexplicable, but I am guessing the theory was to be sure to be in position to attack St. P. The fact that that war would continue another two years was great for me and something I actively encouraged.
The South: I had Rome, need to recover Tyrrhenian to get back in position. Protecting Rome was a matter of attacking Venice so that I’d end up with Venice or Rome. This kept Rome safe and the support from Tyrolia was essentially keeping Austria honest, since Tyrolia’s role wasn’t going to come until I retook Munich in the fall.
FALL1906:
The North: All payoff. With the absolutely inexplicable disband of North Sea (which I understand is what he did, not just an NMR), that left me with three SCs to grab and Munich to retake. In my eagerness I left North Sea wide open, which could have been a pain, but my plan was to force as many disbands as possible. I think the profs will agree that three disbands while keeping the wall intact would have been much smarter.
The South: Here, Italy tried a double cross, with a plan for me to leave him in Naples, while he let me into Ionian. RAZ000 had me utterly, hook, line and sinker. He of course attacked Tyrrhenian, with Naples unmolested to support an AUSTRIAN (WTF!?!) attack on Rome. Boy, I was astonished. It meant that I more or less stumbled into Ionian. However, it seems he didn’t let Turkey in on his plan, so Turkey couldn’t stand me out.
OVERALL and Press:
My plan was fairly straightforward at that point: Iberia, France, England, low countries, Kiel Munich, Rome, Naples, and Tunis makes 15. That meant that of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, St. P., and Venice, I needed three of the five. Yes, Dyager, your earlier posts on this were absolutely critical. Now, again, my three fleets up north, with two additions would make a five to two/three fleet advantage, so I was banking that the bulk of them would be the northern four. That’d make Naples and Venice optional. If I got one of those two, even Liverpool would be ok to keep as a German zoo. Maybe I was naïve, but I just didn’t see the units in the north that would be able to hold off five fleets, so the talk of a long shot at the solo seemed odd. I presume there was a lot I wasn’t seeing up there and I hope the professors and A_Tin_Can can fill me in on what that was. (Turkey and I were talking quite a bit.).
Also, through the entire rest of the game I presented Austria, Italy and Russia with two alternatives: first, if I didn’t solo, I would hand back my SCs to Germany and we’d go back to the Germany, Turkey France solo and they’d be defeated. Option 2 was to offer protection and a safe haven in exchange for help as janissaries. I very much appreciated the discussion of the janissary/ “dick” strategy in the forum, and to a large degree, Turkey’s continued gobbling up of Austria made that a little bit easier. Of the three, Italy used it to play me a couple of times, Austria nobly said no, and Russia was sufficiently anti-German to take me up on the offer.
Builds: Four builds, three home centers. Oh, how I’d wished for modern. Still, given my overall strategy, a no brainer. Another northern fleet (I wanted five) and two armies.
Still, 1906 put me in position for Naples, and for three or four Scandinavians. I had the two German SCs I wanted. From Fall 1906 on I just needed to bring four armies to Germany, one more to Piedmont/Rome and hold on while the northern fleets worked their inexorable way toward St. P. I know Triumvir thought the final four would be tough, but I wasn’t that worried.
I'm thinking of setting up a new passworded game
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