BoG, you made me look like a terd at the end. Well done Professor.

I am curious to know what you were saying to keep alamothe on your side during the pivotal years when you grew from 12 to 16 centers. Or was it just me being polarizing.

It was not what he said, it was what you said/did :-)

what did he say/do, alamothe? it's a very interesting outcome.

@ alamothe - I thought so ;)

@djbent - I probably was a bit belligerent when he wouldn't go for the draw with us during the swing years, and I probably just pissed him off. Not good on my diplomatic part.

but BoG75 played a perfect game. We was extremely disciplined in his approach and wouldn't take any bait too soon or too late. He won about every 50/50 shot and seemed to be in my head. I've never wanted to know who a player was moreso than in this anon game, and I'm glad it was him.

Great game, BoG! Exceptionally well played. Congratulations!

Thank you very much guys. Would love to hear what was going behind the scenes in your side of the map so I will get the ball started by going through the recap as best as I can of what I did and why I did it.

In 1901 - I had a very good relationship with France and Germany and we all were playing nice three way. With Italy pissing off France AND Germany in a single year I thought I was golden because both of them would need me in case one of them joined Italy against the other. Bad news was that Russia moved 2nd unit north and was threatening denying me Norway if I didn't support myself.

1902 - I managed to patch things with Russia and go for Germany. What I didn't expect was France to start turning towards me and but I did have enough time to cover Channel in fall and then convince France that it would be pointless to fight me now that I had an extra fleet build via Sweden.

1903 - This year brought a full scale invasion of Germany at the forefront with already allied Russia with me and newly signed peace treaty with France, we all moved against Germany and in a single year he was decapitated from 6 units to 3 and no strategical position.

1904 - Was continuation of assault on Germany by getting pre arranged Holland with French help in spring and destroying German army in the process. The fall brought my toughest decision yet. It was stabbing my new ally France or trying to muck my way through Germany and going long way around to Russia. With France having 3 units in a prolonged war with Italy in the south and far away from home SC, I felt that I had to try for a big stab. I ended up taking Channel and NAO and building a new fleet in Liverpool.

1905 - France seeing the exposed flank rushed his northern armies back home, reminding me of WW2 French retreat home under German Blitzkrieg outflanking them but the result was eerily similar. We landed the ever important army in Brest and even taken MAO. From this point on France was in deep DEEP trouble. Loss of Brest and Portugal in fall was satisfying but Russia did take Denmark from me due to miscommunication between us. Seeing how he was fighting a prolonged war against my biggest rival in Austria I felt losing Denmark to keep him afloat was a small price to pay. Fighting proxy wars is my favorite thing in this game.

1906 - Was a mop up job in Germany and continued assault on France who was putting up stiffer resistance than in 1905. My one regret was that I couldn't convince Italy to take Spain with my help. If I could have convinced him to do that the game might have ended a little earlier. Russia was keeping Austria busy and Turkey was being his normal hell of a job to crack so the quagmire in the east was still working for me.

1907 - Here comes the first Russian stab attempt at me which was orchestrated brilliantly by Austria and Italy is starting to fight me and offering his single fleet to help collapsing France. This is the point where I was seriously worried. Then comes the miracle of fall 1907 and Austria attacks Warsaw and pushes Russia into deep resentment and bitterness. This single move proved my opening to work diplomacy with Russia which it turned out worked out perfectly. I lost Sweden but gained Paris and therefore didn't have to remove any units.

1908 - Russia is converted to the good guys side again and last French fleet pinned in Gascony is destroyed. Spain falls now that French unit is removed and English fleets are ready to storm Mediterranean. Last German SC falls to Russia who is himself taking a pounding in the east due to last year's Austrian stab. St Pete falls to Austrian invaders but I had a fleet to spare to move to Norway. Turkey is decimated by Italy, Austria and Russia but he is still hanging on with one unit, theme to the end.

1909 - England is trying to pour fleets through Gibraltar while Italy is rushing her brand new fleets west to plug up the holes. This will turn into a crazy battlefield to the end and Italy can proudly say he held out without losing SC in the south for the remainder of the game even as they were slowly but surely being pushed back east. France is reduced to last rogue unit in Berlin while Austria who got behind the lines in Finland decides to kill that army. My happiest moment was seeing Russia and Turkey cooperate to hold out against Austria and Italy in the south for another year.

1910 - English fleets are finally in the warm waters of the Gulf of Lyon and the most bizarre thing happened. AUSTRIA MISSED A TURN!!!!! Too bad that I didn't get as much of an advantage but it was enough. Managed to get an army in St Pete to offer any help I can to keep Russia afloat. Our fleet is kicked out of Gulf of Lyon but we did land on the shores of North Africa. Italy has massed three fleets and build a new one in Naples.

1911 - Slow but steady push against Italy in the south but the progress was too slow. I was still short by one SC even if I took three north Russian SCs. There was no chance I was going to take those until I got Tunis, Warsaw or Moscow first. Loss of Moscow army and Turkey stooping to cooperate with Russia put some scare into me that this would be a draw after all. But as long as Russia didn't stab me I was still in position to continue to try for solo.

1912 - WARSAW FALLS!!!!!! This is when visions of solo started flying through my head. Loss of another vital Russian army in Tyrolia was a blow but in the long run maybe a blessing since he did turn on me eventually but didn't have much to offer in terms of resources to the Alliance.

1913 - I float the idea of Russia giving up his northern SCs to me in exchange for a survival which Russia obviously rejects and attacks Holland for second Russian stab. At that point I knew I had to kill that rouge fleet behind my lines. The hardest thing was holding on to Warsaw while repositioning resources to deal with Russia. Losing Galicia made me very worried about Warsaw but as long as I held both Silesia and Bohemia I was in good enough position to dictate to Austria where I was going to attack. Plus moving a fleet to Tuscany was a great joy as it brought Tunis and Rome within a sight.

1914 - Warsaw is still holding out against the attacks that is the good news but the bad news is the destruction of the fleet in Tuscany. All the hard work was gone in a minute and it would require some more positioning to get in situation to attack Italy. At least we got Tyrolia and Holland was surrounded and ready to be destroyed. Another attack on Tuscany and this time an army managed to get in in and put more pressure on Austrian help Venice.

1915 - Finally Russian rogue fleet is destroyed in Holland and Austria took a big gamble and moved to Prussia which left the door open for me to slide my army from Finland and into St Pete. The last move was mostly to help Russia kill Turkey, for whatever reason he wanted revenge so I granted it to him.

This has been a great game and I hope you enjoyed my recap from purely English side of the coin.

An English Solo in a high-stake WTA game??
I had to flip through the entire game.
Very well played BoG75....
I especially appreciate how you allied with Russia, in order to be able to hit France more effectively. Had you taken STP first , I think the opportunity of the Solo had slipped through your fingers..

1901 - Standard opening, England should not fear. Things started fine with Austria, an alliance with him is prefered. Was determined to have Bla, even if that means not getting any builds. Can work with Turkey only if I control Bla :-) Germany bounced me in Sweden, and England convoyed to Norway, my strategy was to waive Sweden in favor of England, turning his expansion towards Germany. Eventually he will face a strong France :-)

1902 - England is a skilled player, meaning I don't have to keep units around Stp for defense. Will position the fleet in Baltic, excellent. Germany is recovering, must help England by all means. Continuing operations vs Turkey

Autumn 1903 - Decided to accept the support to Kiel just for build's sake. Turkey agreed to reposition units. I estimated he will do so with 99% probability. Finally taking Bla :-) Huge mistake! Excellent position for Austria, but he has no friends. Germany decided to suicide on me, not much I can do about it

1904 - "Patched" things with Austria, but I will NEVER accept losing Rumania. Just waiting for a better time... Will punish him in autumn. Austria lost two, I'm pleased, but haven't yet liberated Rumania. England is so nice letting me stay in Kiel even though my fleet is slowing him down. German armies are still around Warsaw, probably made a mistake there to bounce him but wanted to move out of the way for England.

1905 – Helping Turkey so he could help me. This is just under current circumstances, I don't see a future for our relationship. Finally liberated Rumania but lost Warsaw. Huge mistake bouncing Berlin in spring. Austria is poking with me, we continue to lie and piss each other off as much as possible. Not a single move can be anticipated from this point. We can reach a mutually satisfiable position only by chance :-) England will not have problems with builds so decided to take Denmark :-)

1906 – This year brought excellent cooperation with England. I'm very satisfied with the result. With Baltic and Livonia I can stab him effectively, Austria only needs to give me some space. Acting with Austria as if I don't see English rise. He managed to involve Italy in a late Lepanto, very good. Turkey is confused, what was he thinking? I don't see a bright future for him

1907 – Okay, let's see how this works out. They want me to take Norway as well, but I know this is unsound. I will rather build a fleet at the north coast later (I knew my convoy to Ank would work), and keep mentally unstable Germany from Denmark. Bounce in Galicia in autumn was arranged. It was the first move in awhile that Austria and I have actually agreed upon. I thought at some point about screwing him this time as well, but the idea was somehow lost in my mind.

1908 –I knew I would never recover from losing Warsaw. From now on, I was on the decline. I could only hope to be a part of a draw, but at this point it was obvious that Austria chose Italy in the draw with England and not me. He wanted to kill me. I was fighting for my bare life and had to turn to England again. The logic was to help him to the point when A and I would not have time to eliminate me or England would solo.

1909, 1910 – I largely succeeded in my plan. Austria lost two in 1909, I'm pleased. I offer A and I to work with them if they hand me Sev and Warsaw, but they refuse. I ask only for Sev, but they still refuse. My survival is still endangered.

1911 – Austria destroyed my armies, England was not interested to make the orders which would keep them. Completely understood. Turkey joins A/I in a pact to destroy me. This guy is completely confused :-) I finish with only a center below the stalemate, my survival still hangs by a thread.

1912– Austria managed to lose Warsaw. Don't know how he did it :-) First sings of possible English solo. Austria finally decides to move his fleet away from me. They agree to keep me in a draw. My fleet in Kiel turns against England.

1913, 1914 – In a series of "accidents" and "gambles" Austria manages not to retake Warsaw, even more so he manages to lose ground everywhere. Mos – Liv in spring 1914 showed to me that he had no idea what he was doing, but it was too late. He didn't bother to discuss the moves with me or accept any of my proposals, saying I should just "sit tight" :-)

Well done, England