I told you, it was the meatballs.

I knew the game would be intense from the start when I got Austria. He's always hard to play and needs a constant vigilance and intensity to get anywhere. That precarious nature also allows an Austrian player to experiment, steal crap and enrage people. And the first two are what I proceeded to do.

I chatted to everyone on the board, feeling them out. Italy hit me from the start without saying a thing, so he was Priority #1. Austria depends on Greece so I took it, while aware the Turk would stab me and take it. I didn't anticipate him placing a fleet in Rumania which saved me. If he'd put an army there, or cycled around, he'd have had me.

The north looked insane. Sweden didn't get taken for a long time, so I figured if I had a good ally I'd be able to survive. Germany helped me into Italy, and I meandered around with my armies in it. Soon I became aware that France and Turkey had an alliance. I thought I was screwed.

Then England NMRed and we decided to draw. :D

I've never seen Sweden fought with THAT much intensity before. That was absolutely crazy.

My EoG: These thoughts are Random, so please dont be offended if I seem incoherent

First of all, despite the unfortunate CD at the end, great game. Enjoyed playing with all of you and would do so in the future.

Italy: If you are reading this, it seemed like your first game, from your profile I see it was. The interface takeks getting used to. You'll get better.

England: If you read this, you played well, real well, but you're press was unreliable, at least to me. I understand England and Turkey have no common interests at the beginning, but towards the end when we were bumping into each other in russia I never got anything form you which was frustrating,

Austria: Great playing with you. Even more fun stabbing you in the back. Sorry about that. You played Austria well, but you trusted me, and well....I fucked you. Name of the agem though, You did a great job of keeping my forces out of Rumania so I could bring armies to bear against you.

Germany: We didnt have much to do with each other, but you did well to survive. I think if England had convoyed more armies you would have been worse off, but he didn't

Russia: Your diplomacy was very cagey. Maybe too cagey, to the point where I never trusted you. So I stabbed you. Sorry.

France: We worked great together. Good job. Great maneuvering when Austria got to the Ionian Sea.

Ok, so ill start from the beginning.

i draw germany. Not my fave, not one i hate. Ittl be cool to play. For my opening negotiations, i DMZ burgundy with france and try to stay on top of negotiations with all 3 of my immediate neighbors. England and France both express extreme interest in taking belguim, while i also have my eyes set on it. In the Autumn, i tried to fully negotiate with everyone but the time was running out, so I decided to make a noncommital move and not try for bel while keeping britain happy by bouncing russia in sweden. My messages with austria are very cordial and I know i have a friend for the game. France and Britain, however, worry me as they are both always making demands and when i try to talk to them the conversations feel choppy. The one good thing is that Brit moved to NAo. I think that this is a window of opportunity and mesage britain about taking france down. He agrees as long as "i help him out in the north" which he takes to mean support into sweden., but i dont.
1902; for my opening move, i hope england will make true on his promise to move against france, and his channel build encourages me that he will move to the channel. I break My DMZ with france in burgundy and take belgium too.
Me and frnace go back and forth fighting over belgium. Eventually, russia outsmatrs me by letting me move out of swe (probably assisted by britain), although i didnt see t at the time. I get no builds in 1903. I try to reconcile with france and move out of bur, but then it turns out that britain hates me after all and Im basically screwed. I make one last push into france, but im beaten back because france is able to make gains in the south due to italy's poor play.

Eventually, I get a huge stroke of luck as england NMRs and everyone agrees to include even me, with only 2 little supply centers. I really cant beleive i managed to pull a draw out of this one.
Definitely the best game ive played in a while, if in a very funny way. GG to all. France, very well played. You too austria =).

Yeah, Turkey and I had an allegiance from the start. But so did I and Germany. And I and England.

I was going to stab England with Germany, but then Germany stabbed me. Because Italy decided to attack Austria rather than take Tunis (probably because I told him I wanted to kill Germany as soon as the game started), I was able to thwart Germany's stab, but it took a while and I wouldn't have been able to do it without support from England.

I kept in contact with Turkey throughout the game, and that was nice. I'm glad he trusted me. I believe we could have taken England if England would have stabbed me, as I was anticipating towards the end (and really throughout the whole game. See my army in Brest).

Loads and loads of alliances, tricky you sir! :D

France, our really stated with just an agreement to share info. But Italy;s quick death brought us into contact and that worked well. Its a testament to the need to open good diplomacy with all players even if you dont have immediate contact with them.

lol, yeah, turkey, we really had those communication lines going throughout the game =).

Yeah, I always try to open diplomacy on all fronts. I even talked to England this game, though he didn't answer.

I know sock, lol. And I apologized for it. I usually make it a rule to send a message to every power in the first round but those 5 minute phases lol.....

Glad to know I wasnt the only person England was ignoring.

I am glad Turkey did initiate diplomacy with me. I undoubtedly would not have done so well if he had not. And it may have started solely informational, but it was an alliance! Lol.

I wish Russia would have Juggernaut'd with Turkey.

Me too! lol. But like I said. I could never get a straight answer out of him so I said the hell with it. Which was good, because that engendered Austria's trust long enough to stab him. With Italy's help lol.

lol, I dont =). but yeah. My general rule is that in live games its better to focus talking to your allies/ enemies than the ones you have no relation to. Its just not worth the time talking to a "board stranger". Unless they have something you need, you have an offer to make or you want to give them something that will make them indebted to you, i dont usually talk.

Different strokes for different folks. Night all. Great game, great thread.

Oh and by looking at Italy's profile, it really was his first real game.

yep. GG all, and good night.

Germany attempted to start a Western Triple, but I knew that that would never work out.

It was a very fun and enjoyable game! Thanks everyone. Good game. And good night!

lol yeah once i decied to anger neither you or brit in the fall move i decided to try that out. definitely wouldve failed, no question tho.