Sorry on the delayed EOG! And I'd love to hear everyone else's take on the game too! My EOG is below, and I made up for Laurence's brevity with my longwindedness. Be forewarned!

We started out this game with a strong western triple. We intended to stay together until all three of us had 9 centers apiece. We figured at that point, only turkey and maybe a couple other rogue units would be left. It worked like a charm for a while, and I like to think we even kept the alliance secret for several turns. But then Fall of 04 came, and France had moved into belgium and allowed the italians to take my southernmost fleet. After hyperventilating for a while, I quickly regrouped and went on the defensive. Retreating the southern fleet otb and rebuilding in Lvp, I was able to mount a solid defensive in the seas. I have to assume Max (France) hoped Laurence (germany) would see my weakened state and pick up some easy centers herself, but, to her credit, she remained true to our original agreement and left my centers alone.

Another reason Fall 04 was a key turn is it signaled the first direct cooperation between Andrew (turkey) and me. Andrew was the underdog for the beginning of the game, barely clinging to survival in the face of overwhelming odds. I kept throwing him empty platitudes about holding on until reinforcements could arrive, all the while mentally writing off Turkey as a lost cause. But he proved to be in place to help me polish off Russia, and the newfound ally couldn't have come at a better time.

Now a new triple alliance had formed (E/G/T). But this time we were countered by an opposing triple. Austria and Italy had a firm alliance (from outward appearances) almost the entire game, and they apparently welcomed France into their number to secure their western flank. Thus the two sides were fairly evenly balanced. One particularly interesting skirmish in this war was the french fleet behind my lines at the end of 05 and throughout 06. While not terribly dangerous, it was still a sizable thorn in my flesh. But fate smiled on me, and apparently Max NMRed in winter 06, thus losing that key unit.

The three of us tried every trick in the book to crack the opposing alliance, but were unsuccessful. It looked like a pitiful six-way draw was inevitable. Then, the unthinkable happened. Italy cracked and grabbed Greece from Austria. I think by that point I had given up even trying to convince Italy, and that's when he moved. I'm sure there's a lesson in that somewhere. Or maybe he just was as sickened by the looming 6-way as I was. In any case, Austria joined our merry band for survival. This lasted a couple of years, until we decided it was time to grab those austrian centers. Beset on four sides, austria collapsed. At the same time, I managed to claim Brest, which was the beginning of the end for france. By the time of Austria's demise, france's homeland was almost completely occupied by french and german units, I had three fleets in the med, and Germany was in Venice.

During this time, almost every season Germay and I would ask one another, "Should we turn on Turkey yet?" The answer was alway no. No, we still need his support. No, we need to get into a better position. etc... But in Fall of 1913 it happened. The time had arrived. Andrew fought brilliantly, but in the end there was nothing he could do. Still, I received emails until the last turn trying to convince me to turn on Laurence. He never gave up.

Overall, This was a great game. Everyone played well. In the end, though, it was always about the numbers. At the start, the E/F/G steamrollered the indivdual powers. Then, once the betrayal occured, and it was 3on 3, the game ground to a halt. Italy's stab unbalanced the numbers once again, and F/I and A were simply overpowered by sheer numbers. Finally, Andrew, though he fought valiantly, just couldn't stop the weight of the forces arrayed against him.

This brings up the final point of my EOG. The burning question on everyone's mind. Why didn't Laurence or I stab? I can't speak for her, but here's my rationale. In part, it was about the score. The length of our game allowed us to see the final results of all of round one. There were two solos. Laurence and I were each paired against one of those soloers in round two, and it looked like events were favoring the two solo winners in round two as well. So we assumed one of them would win the tournament, and one would win the round one prize. By the end of our game, even if one of us soloed, we couldn't get the round one prize because of the way the tie-breaker system was designed. And round two looked like a pretty long shot as well. So point wise, it was unneccesary. But the other reason is that we worked in perfect harmony from the first season on. We grew to trust one another implicitly, and our respect for one another grew. At the end of 18 game years of working together, I felt it would be a shame to throw it away for 5 more points when it's unlikely they would matter in the long run. Betraying Austria after he turned to us for help was pretty easy. He was still "the enemy" in my mind. Betraying Andrew was much harder, because he was faithful to us the whole game through. It really was stabbing a friend. But we hadn't worked as closely together and the gain was greater. It put me tied for third in the standings for round one. If I had betrayed Laurence, I still would have only been third. So there was no real gain, and might have made my fellow round 2 players that much more nervous about me. And it would have been at the cost of a trusted ally and friend.

So, in closing, I really think everyone played well. I apologize for making each of you have such a low round one score. Writing that sounds like I'm being patronizing, but I'm really not. The scores truly don't reflect reality in this case. Russia just got dogpiled at the start, and that through no fault of his. And the rest of us almost got a 6 way. Luck tipped the scale more than skill, in many ways. A key NMR or two and a betrayal that I can't take credit for engineering. Without those, the ending could have been completely different.

Good game all. Thanks to everyone for sticking to it till the bitter end. And thanks to our GM, who manned the wheel a lot longer than I think he signed on for! (18 years! wow!) It was a long game, but I had a blast the entire time.

John