Typed it up and it ended up being pretty long, but as I said before, it was pretty interesting from my point of view even though I had no more than 4 centers at any point in the game. Hopefully someone gets some entertainment from reading it.
Spring 1901
I did the standard safe opening as England, looking to evaluate the situation after the turn. In a perfect world, I'd work with Germany against France beginning in 1902, but I'll obviously let it play out and reevaluate.
Fall 1901
Ouch...Turkey NMRed. Pretty standard for a live game unfortunately. I throw up my Draw/Cancel vote and hope my opponents will do the same so we can remake and play a real game. In the meantime, I better head North and put some pressure on Russia. At the same time, neither France or Germany opened to Burgundy, which was not a great sign for me. I decide not to many any move on Belgium because I don't feel like it's a good idea to anger either Germany or France early when I want to put pressure on Russia, but I do hope that Germany takes Holland with one unit and bounces France with the other.
Builds 1901
Fall went Exactly as I hoped. Turkey was back for the fall, but his first-turn NMR left him in bad position, so I elected to go for the second army and try for the 50-50 to guarantee taking StP in 1902.
Spring 1902
Germany's fleet build made me nervous, but it looked like hostility was brewing between him and France...was he really going to provoke me on top of it? Hopefully he moves east. France built his fleet in MAR, which pleases me greatly. I end up guessing wrong on Russia, thinking he would support StP and let me into Finland which would then let me take Stp in the fall. However, Germany thankfully moved into the Baltic, so he should be able to cut the Gulf’s support on StP and I should still take it.
Fall 1902
Uh oh. Germany moved from the Baltic back to Denmark. Was he just protecting it in case I tried to walk in, or was he planning an assault on me? I get a sick feeling and decide that he must be planning an assault on me (especially with the Swedish support). I'm not sure if he was planning it the whole time of he he was either scared by (or simply saw an opportunity because of) my second army, so I decide it's time to completely abandon my Russian assault and focus on Germany. I certainly accomplished slowing Russia down, but I wish I would have been able to take StP so I could have had another fleet. Germany and France also appear to be fighting, so it looks like I'll be working with France.
1903
I figure I should be alright against Germany. I'm moving out of the Barents into the Norwegian so I can support the North Sea because Germany probably will put a second unit on it. I decided to hit Holland to cut support and hope France makes a move on Belgium instead of simply trying to hold Burgundy (Because I reeeeally needed Germany to disband one of his three fleets), and that works perfectly. What I did not expect, however, was Russia supporting Germany into Norway. Tough break. In the fall, Germany out-guesses me. I took a gamble: I thought that he would assume I would support the North Sea and try and sneak into Sweden and would self-bounce Denmark and Norway there, so I instead supported Finland into Normaly. Alas, I did take back Norway, but at the cost of the North Sea. I debated hard on the retreat, and ultimately decided that retreating back to Edinburgh would simply lead to a slow death, so I decided to retreat forward to Heligan in order to try create an opening for myself or France; I desperately need him to disband.
1904
Had to guess what Germany would do, and he out-guessed me yet again. I am very disappointed because I had the move to Denmark entered for about 4 minutes (assuming he would use it to try and bounce me from Kiel), but I changed it at the last second and he did, indeed, bounce me in Kiel. In the fall, I out-geussed him on one front. I was able to cut Holland's support to let France take back Belgium (which Germany took in the spring), but he DID take Norway. He didn't have to disband, unfortunately, but at least he didn't get another build. However, Norway was able to retreat to StP for what ended up being Russia's last SC, so at least I didn't have to disband.
1905-1910
I really am regretting gambling on taking that second army before the third fleet. I have an army on my island being essentially useless. I realize there is no way I can beat Germany, and given enough time without interruption, he will surely eliminate me. However, Turkey is getting pretty big. Hopefully I can pester and stall Germany long enough for me to force him to back off and set up the stalemate to prevent Turkey from the solo.
At one point, I move my London fleet into the channel as a precaution to a German fleet moving there, and I hope France realizes that I'm doing this to defend both of us and that I'm not trying to walk into a vacant Brest. He seems to understand my move as he holds his defensive position against Germany and doesn't try to defend the attack that isn't coming.
Eventually, StP falls to Germany even though it's clear Turkey is pressing for the solo. Is Germany really going to throw his chances at a draw away just so he can say he eliminated me? In any case, I disband my London army and move my StP Army to LIV and then eventually into Prussia to set up part of the stalemate line. On the same turn, Germany took Edinburgh. Does this guy know what he's doing? At the time, I have no idea if he’s experienced or a random clueless player. Sure, I guess he could use the build for an army in Kiel (even though had an idle one in Holland). Again, it makes no difference to me if I lose by elimination or lose by surviving in a Turkish solo; a loss is a loss, so I'm doing whatever I can to make sure I'm in a draw should Germany decide to try and actually lock one up.
As I'm moving my Channel fleet to the MAO to assist France/Italy in the Med, Germany gets in position to take Liverpool and/or London, so I'm forced to walk into Portugal in order to keep my two units (my army in Prussia and my southern fleet). Surely it can only be a turn or two before Germany will absolutely have to stop taking my centers if he wants to draw, and if he doesn't, I lose either way. I really hope France understands that I'm not just trying to take a useless dot, and that I'm trying to force the draw, but when it comes down to it, I'm not sure he much of a choice; he had to hope I wasn't just throwing the game, because he couldn't afford to give up southern position since he only had two fleets.
Germany doesn't support my army in Prussia, so I lose it to Turkey. This is both good and bad; I thought for a second Turkey might be able to break through the line, but not only did he not end up being able to, but that left me with a fleet in London, which should at least make it less tempting to him to walk into.
In 1910 I tried to bounce Turkey in a vacant Tunis and ended up walking into it, taking Italy's last center. At the same time, I figure it's time to move out of London with my second fleet and make sure the southern front holds. Thankfully, Germany decided it was time to simply lock up the stalemate and moved away from London.
1911-1915
This was pretty much just waiting for Turkey to agree to a draw. I was worried that I was still expendable, and that France and Germany (or perhaps Germany alone) could decide to eliminate me without sacrificing their draw. A couple German moved made me more nervous about it (moving two fleets to boarding my MAO one), but it turns out he was simply moving up to support it in case we messed up our orders or something on the southern Front. I was prepared do do everything I could (which wasn't a whole lot, but perhaps might have been enough) to give Turkey the solo had they tried to eliminate me from the draw, because....hey, if I'm not getting one, I don't want them to get it either. Eventually, Turkey realizes there weren't going to try and cut me out of the draw and the game finally ended.
Will You Be My Friend?
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