I was bored and checked in on the game every so often, and Alex's assessment seems pretty accurate. That said, that stab from France on Germany there was obviously going to happen at some point.

For no reason? lol, Alex- you allied with France and gave him liberty to get 6 centers and build 2 fleets to come after me. Fighting off France in that situation is really tough as a 5 center England is rather vulernable. So, I decided to inlfluence the game and cripple you. It is not my fault that I didn't die like you wanted me to.

S 1901: Standard opening ensuring I get into Burgundy. Germany supports me in - this could be interesting. Italy opens to Tyrrhenian which makes me concerned he will attack from the beginning.
F 1901: I bounce Belgium with England, and gain 2 builds, F Mar and F Bre, which should defend adequately against England or Italy. A Juggernaut is forming - good news for France.
S 1902: Seeing England's build F Bre, I am forced to move to the Channel, and as expected it bounces. I get into Belgium with German support, which is nice. Italy's moves here seem half-assed: what is he trying to do? Does he want to attack me - in which case why not WMed? If not, why Piedmont?
F 1902: I hold my position in the south anticipating Italy will try me. Sneak into Irish Sea while no-one is looking, while England is fighting a war with me and Russia and Germany at the same time (wtf), but since England gains StP and Denmark in exchange for losing Norway, he gets a build. Russia tries for Munich and bounces.

Now Germany is crippled, and this defines the nature of my alliance with him.

S 1903: Manuever into the North-Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic, guessing correctly Lvp - Iri and Lon - EC. Since Italy has backed off already, GoL goes north.
F 1903: Guessing correctly the bounce in Brest, and since England does not get to build (I hoped he had to disband, but no), Liverpool is guaranteed. Russia gets into Munich, a nasty surprise. I had hoped Germany would see the obvious supported attack.
S 1904: I cover Burgundy, and manuever myself into position to take Liverpool.
F 1904: I get into Liverpool, and...England disbands F Cly? What is this?

1905: England goes kamikaze against Germany. Very good for me, couldn't have hoped for better, but I'd like to know why. The Juggernaut makes progress against Italy and I must prop him up soon.
1906: Sending support to Italy, mopping up the British Isles. England continues his kamikaze.
1907 - 1908: Getting into Norway. If I wanted to solo, I had to control Scandinavia, so why not. Germany starts moving to Sweden every turn - even when it's under my control. I successfully manuever so that I can get both Norway and Sweden the following year. Germany gets into Warsaw which should force some unpleasant disband for Russia. I prop up Italy preventing Turkey from getting past Ion.

S 1909: Getting into Norway; Germany has moved to Livonia. Now here comes the crucial moment. Germany is getting Moscow this turn, and if I want to solo I must conquer the whole of Germany. I figure, since I have 2 units on Den and Holland is undefended, I could make Germany lose 1 unit, while I get to build 3 armies and roll east. Now if Italy will acquiesce...

F 1909: Stab time. Russia disbands F Bar, good so I don't have to deal with it. Build 3 armies and prepare to go against Germany hardcore. In retrospect I should probably have taken Tunis right then too, as I should have expected Italy to try stop the solo.

1910: Nice, Russia retakes Warsaw while I move into StP. This Russian move probably cemented the solo. Germany falls from 5 to 2, completely decimating his armed forces and leaving a big vacuum. Turkey rushes north in an attempt to save Germany.
Italy and Turkey make some progress against my southern fleets but unfortunately since Turkey cannot move into Italian centres he has no way to fortify Tys.

1911-1912: Forcing the solo.

Good game.

Barn3tt as England: I'm sorry I had to attack you outright but your F Lon build, and the German friendship made it inevitable. I want to know, why did you suicide on Germany instead of trying to defend your island?

AlexNesta as Germany: Sorry to stab you, but I wanted to solo. We worked well together while it lasted, nice playing you.

Angsrom as Russia: Good playing you. I think you made some key strategical mistakes (e.g. letting me into StP so easily, making Germany lose more centres than he was going to), that cost the game.

SplitDiplomat as Turkey: A very powerful adversary on the other end of the board. You grew quickly as well - faster than I did at the beginning, but I blocked you off in the Med and that was it. Your defence against me in the south was nicely played, and I think had you and Italy been one power you would have prevented the loss of Tunis. Too bad you cannot move into Naples and Rome without destroying the Italian fleets...

TheCzech as Italy: Nice playing you. You attacked Austria, then promptly got ganged on by the Juggernaut and I had to save you. You defended well after I stabbed Germany, but too bad there was nothing you could have done against my overwhelming forces and Turkey being out of position.

BusDespres: you went CD. shame on you.

Well, if going down in flames is the only thing you can hope for in that situation, I guess that's all you get. At no point did you ever try to lure me to your side (by offering support against Russia, for example).

Yeah, I found it strange that Barnett decided to attack me, Russia and Germany all at once before settling on a migration plan from the British Isles to the Danish Isles.

Alex- your moves indicated that you were wedded to France. We can play the guessing game now, but I sincerely doubt that in game Alex would have turned on France. You would have gone for Warsaw and Scandinavia (which if I had pulled back to defend England you would have walked into and benefited from that).

Anyway, just a game. But I figured if you were going to make a big France my problem I'd make it yours as well.

@Barnett: You never tried to offer me any indication of peace though. I wonder why?

@Gobbledydook: "F 1903: [...]. Russia gets into Munich, a nasty surprise. I had hoped Germany would see the obvious supported attack." - Berlin was open too, so I had to outguess Russia. Unfortunately for me, I didn't.
@Barn3tt: I supported you in Norway at one point, but after that I was under pressure and didn't have too many units to spare to signal any kind of friendly intent towards you. Hopefully next game we'll do better.

lol, is that a serious question- Gobbledydook
It shouldn't be. You build two fleets in 02.

The only one I feel I jacked over was Russia. I was planning on going for Sweden in 02 and expected Russia to retreat to St. Pete's. When he advanced into it, I was desparete for a build knowing that I could (and would have) been bounced from Sweden had I gone there.

Just looking at the first few years of the game, I would have to agree with Barn3tt instead of Alex. England made all kinds of anti-German moves and there was no reason for G to work with E. E attacked G and gave little to no way for G to show that he would be willing to call peace, and E left himself wide-opened for F to invade. I think G made the right call and E should have changed course once F started the stab.

I missed the support to Norway, Alex. All I saw was a very strong F-G alliance. France is a powerhouse in gunboat games and so I really couldn't do much to hurt his game. I could, especially with Russian pressure added, wound you. If I could have burned France, I instead I would have.

Wait zultar, you say you agree with Barn3tt, but then go on and say Germany made the right call and England (Barn3tt) should have changed course... Which is it?

Oh LOL, I mixed up who's playing whom. I would side with Germany, not England. Sorry Barn3tt.

@Barn3tt: That's life, I guess. Maybe we'll have better luck next time.

Fleet Marseilles was intended to defend against Italy, but whatever.

So, if I pulled back Germany would have gone after France. I doubt that. I wouldn't have. I would have picked up the free northern centers.

Me too...

There really isn't much of a reason to attack France at that point.

I get your point, Barn3tt, and you may be right. But, had I been England, I think I would have at least tried to put up a fight against France, honestly. But in the end, this is the beauty of Diplomacy - you never know what people think or what they are going to do.

BusDespres - Resigned: 10 games ( 15% ). Ugly.

you guys want to go again with me instead of bus?

Sorry, I would love to, but I don't have the time.

Sorry, but it's 7 am and I need to sleep.