Autumn 1906:
England - I'm a little bit befuddled at why you took such a conservative stance this phase, but you're in no worse position than before and Germany has to disband. In all likelihood, you'll have a build next year, and depending on what Germany disbands, you may get more in the years to come. Still, I would have liked to have seen you in Kiel this phase - it seemed like the time to go for it was now, and Germany nearly gifted it to you trying to rearrange his units. All things said, Germany is still disbanding, which is good for you, and maybe once you take St. Petersburg this next year you can thank Austria for his help by supporting him in Moscow.
France - Interestingly enough, Germany has the option of disbanding Brest. I wouldn't necessarily recommend he do so, but if he does, is it worth giving up your safe haven to get back into your homeland?
Germany - Disbanding is so annoying, but England has you beat here whether you're disbanding or not. You are pretty much stalemated, so try to encourage England to move south with your disband. That's how you communicate in gunboat - unit movement and placement. Sure, he can take the Baltic, but if you rearrange (again) this spring, you can prevent him from taking any of your territory, and his only real alleys would be into Russia or into the Med.
Russia - Oddly enough, you got Turkey's support into Moscow. Very weird and I don't like it. I would have gone for Norway this phase. It was a much better shot at a build. No harm no foul.
Turkey - All of your important moves were the right moves. Trieste was obvious, and getting a fleet into the Adriatic is devastating for Italy. Budapest could be yours this spring, and depending on your build choices, you could secure Moscow and Warsaw within a couple of years. All in all, things are looking up. One question though - why support Russia to Moscow? It was pretty safe to assume that Austria was going to go for northern centers after the retreat to Galicia and let you roam free, so why mess with him? I don't get that.
Italy - Things are looking bleaker by the year. You would have been far better off to support the Western Med into the Tyrrhenian rather than bounce. You have very little in the way of defense and Turkey has at least one, maybe two, more units headed your way next spring. You are more than likely going to disband Bohemia (there's no reason to keep it), but you are still unlikely to hold onto your homeland for more than another couple of years. This is the point where you start considering your escape route.
Austria - You aren't disbanding because of a wise move on Munich, but you will be next year, and again I think you should consider who is friend and who is enemy. Italy's retreat to Tyrolia instead of Budapest was either a misorder or a show of friendship, and if it were a misorder, he would likely have bounced his retreats in Tyrolia and destroyed both. On top of that, Turkey supported Russia to Moscow, which can't make you happy - good job supporting it just in case. Think about whether you could take a shot at your homeland again. It's a long shot, but so is everything else at this point.
On the retreats from the spring phase:
Austria's retreat to Galicia over Ukraine should have signaled to Turkey that he was going to fight for his homeland. I'm not sure why that hint wasn't received, but that's what it told me. Given that, I would have liked to have seen more aggression from Turkey on both of his fronts, maybe going for Budapest from Rumania to forward his line (which would have worked) and taking Rumania with the Black Sea.
England's retreat to Heligoland over the North Sea told me a couple of things. Firstly, he wants more than Denmark, and secondly, he's not chasing Iberia. Since he already indicated that he was gunning for Germany, I think he should have been more aggressive, and Germany lucked out that he simply chose to order holds. Had he been more aggressive, he'd have Kiel and Germany would be all but finished. A missed opportunity.
The other half to that retreat was less obvious (and less feasible given the circumstances), but given that we knew the English Channel fleet would move to the North Sea, the MAO would be open, and if Italy hadn't felt like he needed to use each of his fleets in defense, he could have taken the MAO to secure Portugal next year. I think it was wise to wait since he still has that opportunity this coming year if he feels he can afford to use that fleet up.
Rankings as of this year:
Turkey - the favorite by far and the only one absolutely assured a place in a draw.
England - with a strong push, could become an empire again in the Med. The odds of expanding into Russia are growing relatively slim.
Germany - the focus right now is to hold England out of the homeland. The long-term focus is to keep Turkey out.
Italy - likely to survive if Turkey solos, but it will take half a miracle to get into a draw.
Austria - similarly to Italy, the best realistic scenario is a survival.
France - Portugal may be safe for a little while longer, but extremely unlikely to survive.
Russia - Enjoy your final winter.
Challenge takeover position
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