Finally, its done. This is a very long one, folks, if you can stomach the read.
1901-1904
I do some standard Turkish stuff in the opening. Try to talk to everyone, though Austria is immediately suspicious about my intentions to take Greece. He wants me to steer northward instead, though I keep pushing the Med angle and he’s just very very obstinate. In hindsight, I should’ve known it was Obi when he quoted Romeo and Juliet to me haha. Russia and I agreed to DMZ because I wanted to get as many fleets in the Med as quick as possible. It ended up being a good decision. Italy, uniquely enough, seems to be open to cooperation and DMZ’ing Ionian in 1902, which is a good sign.
Autumn, Austria shouts Jugger as loud as he can. I’m actually not talking to Russia too much though, and try to spread that to as many people as I can. In reality, we agreed on an early split of Austria and just didn’t talk because we tactically couldn’t help each other really. But Russia NMR’s this turn really ends up screwing me over for years into the future and Austria blocks me in anticipation. Surprisingly Italy moves into Trieste. What a break for me! Italy and I agree to DMZ Ionian by autumn 1902, and already we’re watching out for massive growth coming from E and G.
1902. Austria still isn’t having any of my talk of being friends, thinking that the fleet build means I’m automatically hostile to him. He tried to get me to build in Ankara and head north, but I tried to spin it off to him and Italy that it was going up to the Black Sea. Since Russia NMR’d, I believe he’ll definitely be an ally of mine, since everyone else is pouncing on him. I go to continue on with the Jugg (though in hindsight, I should have stabbed the hell out of him). Italy and Germany are still the only people talking to me on the whole board. The Ionian DMZ never happened, nor did a promised support into Greece. I’m going nowhere, but Austria is still in shit tons of trouble and I’m very safe
1903. I try to work something out with Italy where I move to Greece with his support and. The lack of any sort of communication from Russia is really hurting me now. We’re not exactly coordinating anything, and its preventing Germany from turning on England. I decide now is the time where enough is enough and I try to attack Russia. Austria offers support to Rumania, Italy asks for support to Rumania. I naturally decline Italy’s request and go for it myself, but Austria didn’t follow through. By fall, I’m really scared of E/G. I’m practically shouting to A and I to help me advance somehow, anyhow, to head of Germany in Russia. It’s a forgone conclusion that Russia has played a horribly noncommunicative game and deserves to die. Working with Italy is touchy though. She and I have both lied to each other, both promised supports to each other, etc. We have trust and communication problems, but we both see the future and before the fall turn decide to take out Austria. Germany continues chatting me up. In autumn Germany surprisingly takes Warsaw and its an uphill battle from here.
1904. From here on it turns into an E/G vs. I/T. An unlikely alliance, but a necessary one. Italy is going to be on the front lines so I support her into Serbia to guarantee her some more builds. Now the mopping up of the smaller powers is almost a formality, though I continually propose ways to keep each of them alive and useful, just so they’ll side with me and not E/G. But I still don’t have a way to expand northward. The most unlikely of all people, Germany, starts offering to help me out. Sure, I’ll take it, though he wants anti-Italian moves from me. I move into position to take Sev while Italy is having a rough year, with Austria promising (and failing to give) support. England also begins talking to me for the first real time, as all 4 of the major players begin to watch each other for solo shots.
1905-1914
1905. Move to take out Russia’s worthless fleet. Germany is advancing quicker than I thought, France is dead to the west and Russia is camping in Austria’s old centers. It’ll take a while to clean him out, but we will eventually. I try to convince E to stab G and G to go on a solo run. E/G is trying to get me to stab Italy, and due to some communication errors (Italy not logging in until 4 hours to go in autumn) I make a judgement call and move to Serbia and Aegean to try and push as far west as possible should Italy NMR/CD. Germany was more than happy to not tap Rumania as I had offered. But as it turned out, I had a lot of apologizing to do. I was, however, a major power with solo potential, so I was very happy. It also lined me up nicely to take Budapest next year
1906. Germany’s size is drawing glances from even England now, though he’s still proposing a EGT 3-way. Italy and I play the delicate game of trying to take out Russia and Austria while not letting Germany take any of them. We play it safe, but as a consequence we fail in the spring and Germany takes Sev. Italy requested a fleet build in Ionian, but I passed it off to Germany as an aggressive move. Germany is nervous about England’s fleet, England is nervous about Germany’s size. Italy wants to keep Russia alive, but I want none of that. I just want to grow and keep pumping out more fleets to push west to improve my positioning for a solo should I ever come into that position. I know I have to beat a stalemate line. So, I coordinate with Germany and get Bud for the build. Germany is really upset I didn’t go for Nap though.
1907. This is an awkward year. Both G and I were playing it safe. I didn’t want to lose territory to him, he didn’t want any rouge units getting behind my line. Most of all, I was trying to prevent Italy from getting nervous and botching everything up. England is pushing for an EGT, I’m pushing for an EIT. I called the German stab in Spring 1907, saying privately to him “To: Germany, from you) - Spring, 1907: Go to Norwegian and convoy and army into Edi” The response was “(To: You, from Germany) - Spring, 1907: Shhh, nobody is supposed to notice that. Pay no attention to the top of the board.” I keep mum to E and I about it, since I know Germany can’t solo, but I keep pushing for England to stab Germany.
1908. England wants a 4-way draw all of a sudden haha. My my how tones change quickly. I tell him the “Yeah sure!” speech, not being sincere in the slightest. Germany misorders with Warsaw, allowing me to gain Gal and get a HUGE advantage in the east. Not too much press other than tactics now. Very little strategy going on, with my fleet just chilling in Piedmont.
1909. I gladly give up Gal to take Sev and get another build, while Italy gains Bohemia (which guarantees that I’ll get Gal back in the fall). Shame to destroy a unit, but oh well. England is giving Germany a hell of a time with that fleet in Ska, while everywhere else E/I/T is advancing. Germany realizes he won’t solo and tries to encourage me to go for the solo run instead. I politely decline, saying I need War and Mos first.
1910. More armies for me to keep Italy happy and to build for a push into Russian territory. England is pushing for a draw, and I tell him I want a 3-way. Again, its mostly tactics going back and forth here. No strategies. By some miracle we got Silesia, and England promised to give Italy Marseilles, while Italy was talking about getting more of my fleets involved in the north.
1911. We lose Sil, and don’t even get anything out of it. I do finally get my fleet out of Rum, which was hampering me for some time. England is very cautious, and is starting to ask about what I think of Italy’s intentions, while Italy and I are just both gunning to push our units as far north as possible. I begin moving another fleet west with Italy’s blessing. With a complete stroke of luck though, Italy (unexpectedly) takes Munich! Germany begins feeding me doomsday scenarios with Italy soloing, which I don’t believe any of. I firmly believe that Italy doesn’t want to solo at this point. Convincing Germany to destroy Ukraine is futile, so my conquest of Warsaw and Moscow (which I have been waiting on as a pre-requisite to stab) is going to have to wait a bit longer. Here though, is where I ensure Germany that I will not let him die. I need him alive and fighting if I want a solo shot.
1912. I try to speed up the process of eastern conquest. I have Italy move to Silesia to set up me taking Ukraine in the fall. It all works well and though we lose both Munich and Silesia, England is making progress to the west and I have Ukraine! I also pass the major stalemate lines with my fleets and pass a trust test of Italy’s by passing through Tunis and not staying there. England, however, doesn’t like any of that, and is threatening to work with Germany again against Italy and I. Italy and I are as tight as ever, though my solo shot is coming soon.
1913. England gives me the benefit of the doubt and lets me keep advancing. I take Moscow, but in my zeal to get Warsaw, I lose Gal since I backfilled Ukraine. My only retreat is to the Italian Vienna. This presents me with a very, very interesting option. I’m sitting in Moscow and Vienna, and have fleets open to Portugal and Liv. I can go +4 and be on my way. While Italy and I negotiate a way for me to leave Vienna. I don’t know what I was thinking though. England had the convoy to St. Petes set up for the fall. Instead of letting him take it and putting Germany into a destroy position as well as getting an English army off of the island, I offer to support hold Germany instead. For some reason, I thought I could string along Germany for a year or two, and tried to get on his good graces. We colluded for the turn (as indeed I had been promising collusion for years) and we both gain. So while I did go up 4 centers and weaken my principle enemy (Italy) as well, I was much too weak in the north to hold my gains.
1914-1915
1914. England thinks that I’m trying to eliminate him for the 3-way,Italy thinks I’m soloing, but Germany clearly pulls them together an organizes a coalition against me. He tries to get a stalemate line going with me so we can both advance together, but after spring moves I clearly see that I am outmatched and my generosity towards Germany is not going to be reciprocated. Also, the choice of centers that were taken (2 English, 2 Italian) meant that I pissed off both of them and didn’t have much of any leeway in negotiations. They all thought I was full of shit (indeed I was) and it was a painful year, as I gave up my English gains (thought England would move Portugal back to Spain. Kicked myself hard after that one). I see after the spring moves that I will not come close to soloing, and begin to start my negotiations for peace with Germany and England to start off with. I guess wrong on supports and lose Trieste to Italy. In sum, bad tactics and the inability to foresee Germany’s moves were what doomed this solo run (story of the whole game actually). Germany offers a Mos-Vie swap and friendship in exchange for destroying Liv. Germany really wants to work together, but I am just too uneasy with it. I destroy Liv, but I really don’t want to work with him, because frankly I don’t trust him too much.
1915. I concentrate on punishing Italy, and in the process I lose lots of ground to Germany in the north, as well as stick a fleet in Adriatic (where it does become a pain for Italy). I am slowly getting on good terms with England, though he doesn’t take kindly to my request to pass through Spain and attack Marseilles. Waste of a turn for the MAO fleet. I’m getting pushed back very quickly and am starting to get scared that I’ll be eliminated. Italy hates my German-friendly disbands from last year, but Germany was the one who painted me a nice picture moving forward. I’m paying for those disbands though. I kick myself for misordering my move to Warsaw in the fall. I simply cannot get a read on how Germany is going to attack me and he’s completely ripping through my lines, gaining lots of ground. My talks with E and I, however, are beginning to bear fruit. Germany, meanwhile, is starting to spread rumors of an English run of the Med to get rid of Italy. I find out England was under the impression that I had wanted a 2-way draw with Germany. The lies that the German spreads! By the end of 1915, I’m telling Germany the tides have shifted and he’s the one people will be attacking soon.
1916-1932
1916. Consolidation. I’m very, very exposed and just trying to get the armies to the right places to cover the right units. I lose Budapest, but that doesn’t matter to me since I get to keep Rum and Sev. The German stab comes with the English NMRs. It looks very, very bad to the west. But with the German stab of England, my live is ensured and I begin looking to grow again. Germany keeps pushing that he wants Italy eliminated.
1917. The English NMR of last year is followed by an Italian one this year. Ugh, things are not looking good at all. In the fall, though, everything is much better. I’m missing lots of chances to expand because again I am being tactically cautious. I’d rather expand slowly and gradually than risk losing more center s to Germany. He’s looking awful close to soloing.
1918. Italy and I make some moderate progress, getting Trieste back. Germany and I banter back and forth. Italy and I finally rebuild our trust to let me use my fleets in more productive areas, though I wished I had moved towards Black Sea earlier.
1919. Things are looking up for Italy and I, with us steadily gaining ground, but England is quickly losing ground just as fast as we are gaining it in the south. It becomes a race. Germany realizes he can’t take us on in the south, but hopes that if he can take out England quick enough, he might still have the solo shot. Germany is also support holding his fleets, which is puzzling. England loses his last chunk of northern France, which is going to prove to be a huge headache over the next decade. What is more frustrating is that I told England the exact moves to do to keep both Paris and Brest, and he didn’t listen to me. Very frustrating times, for even though we are all trading ideas and plans, it doesn’t necessarily mean we all do what the other tells us to.
1920. More success for Italy and I to the east, but England is entering its death throes. Again, being more conservative, I opted to move to NAO inexpectation of a bounce, rather than Norwegian as England wanted. As a result, Edi is gone. This whole time Germany thinking that we’ll be moving as he would move, while in reality, our triple alliance is trying to be very conservative in our moves, defending rather than attacking. It bothers the hell out of him for the longest time.
In general, the next few years were just us exchanging tactics on how to foil the German and Germany always pushing for us to eliminate England. There was lots of frustration on both sides in regards to failed tactics and whatnot. We lost ground in England at a steady and agonizingly slow pace. Germany just kept destroying our fleets (and then laughing) but we just kept pumping them up there. My rouge fleet in Norwegian kept Germany’s fleets tied up long enough for our forces to gain ground in France. By 1923 though it was scary. We had started to learn Germany’s tactics, but were still being pushed back. We were at a stalemate in the east, and were almost pushed back to MAO in the west. We needed a miracle. And then, it happened. Spring 1925, England escaped into Norwegian Sea and relieved a lot of pressure from our front, since he had to pull back so many troops to defend against that one, tiny fleet. Germany up to that point was talking about wiping out England and then working on Italy, battling over the last centers for us to get the solo. After this though, his tone changed. His talk became much more like it was back in 1909 when he was being pushed back.
Though Germany has still gained quite a bit of ground, he’s mentally checked out (at least halfway) from this game after that misorder. We start pushing him back, with Italy convoying an army onto the mainland (that’s really what sealed the deal) and us moving up through France. In 1926 Italy and I decide its time to knock out England and we take away his last reserve center in Iberia. Then in 1928 Italy isn’t around for the retreats phase and the army is destroyed! But in 1929 we again put a fleet into Norwegian to harass Germany and I’m in France gaining SC’s. Since 1926 I’ve been contemplating a solo run and voicing that to Germany, trying to keep it interesting for him still. Indeed, it was still one hell of an uphill challenge and by 1930 I still didn’t see my window for the solo run.
1930, however, was a very important year. I gained significantly, but postponed a build to appease Italy, because he had to be getting antsy. Why I did this, I do not know. It turned out to be a huge mistake later on, because I kept postponing and postponing that build. Italy, however, was not postponing her builds. Italy had negotiated her way into taking Spain from me, among other things, and 1930-1932 saw Italy gaining centers disproportionately. By autumn 1932, I had had enough. Italy was getting far too strong. I was falling too far behind in the SC count, so I began talking to German on the exact ways of stabbing Italy and how likely he would be to come to my help. He said there wouldn’t be enough left of him to help after 1933. The fool of me believed him, and on top of that, I postponed the build yet again to keep Italy unawares.
Germany kept stressing that we had a stable line in the east and that we should work together after the stab. It all sounded so good the way he painted it. I actually stabbed exactly as he advised, though I regret not moving to Irish instead of NAO (oh, and for all the “we have a stable border in the east” talk, Germany moved into Gal the same turn I stabbed! The dirty double crosser!”). The idea was to force destroy as many units as possible from Italy while making a run for MAO and holding it for as long as I could until my fleets coming from Turkey had a chance to work through the other way into the Med. Too many things went wrong though. Italy was able to get fleets into the Med too fast and had another build coming. I couldn’t properly defend Greece from a retreat so had to postpone an attack on Ionian. If I had a unit able to defend Greece (like the one whose build I had been postponing) then I would have kept playing. But I saw that the next few years would be very poor for me. I probably put the draw vote in too soon, yes, but I meant to do it as a tactic to appease Italy. I was running short on time that day, so was unable to get in touch with and collude with Germany. So, lack of press ended the game, not a real stalemate. I could’ve taken all of Iberia the next year, but only at the risk of losing all of England to Germany yet again, and I didn’t want to risk any of that. So while the stab was good, I didn’t do enough preparation for it. My eastern side was too weak since I had been delaying that build for so long, among other things. It’s a shame that the game ended, because as I said, though I voted draw, I didn’t actually intend on drawing the game. Now, a few weeks later, I look back and think that I could’ve kept going, but oh well, whats done is done. A great, great game by all the final four players, and by far the longest one I’ve had on this site. Well done by all. It was great fun.
Game: Reunification
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