A&E 090205 / DC240: Thanks again to all of the players and observers. I read the EOG statements and other comments with great interest. With David's EOG statement, we've heard from almost everyone, and so I figure it's time to wrap this up, and provide some overall comments on the game from your GM.


Britain: While he was the beneficiary of some luck, Frank played a near flawless game and deserved the win. I thought the critical moment for Britain actually came very early, with the crippling of France in the first year. Not only was Britain's biggest rival neutralized, but Frank managed to woo Mike into serving the invaluable role of loyal Janissary. With the Danes secured as an ally, this left Frank with no serious threats, and Spain was the only potentially hostile enemy by sea. With French help, the Spanish were wiped out from Iberia, and then there were no threats. It was not an accidental situation that Frank ended up with no enemies, and it was a remarkable achievement to win the game without any opponent putting up a significant challenge. Another key for Britain was keeping his army in Hanover, which proved extremely useful later in establishing control of northern Germany.

Austria: Jorge played an outstanding game also, and came extremely close to the win. I am writing an article on Austrian strategy, and feel like Jorge executed the optimal plan nearly perfectly. The two main threats to Austria are France and Turkey, and Jorge developed his gameplan with this in mind from the start. He was a key orchestrator of the first year attack on France, which allowed him to establish himself as the dominant power in the Alps. He recognized that attacking Turkey and becoming a Med power requires fleets, and with only one port, he needed to build fleets at every opportunity. I also like how he bypassed the easy build in Bavaria to get the more distant build in BaW, figuring he could come back and get Bavaria later. Finally, Jorge's ability to gather DPs was unbelievable, as he won the DP battle every turn. I love the diplomacy point rules because the neutral units can serve as a force multiplier for players that are strong
diplomats, and this is a particularly valuable skill for the Archduke, given all of the neutral units nearby.

The Turning Point of the Game: Jorge was the early leader, and then in Fall 1765 the most critical event of the game happened, although by itself it didn't seem too important. Prussia sent in an original set of orders that helped Austria by cutting Turkish support in Wallachia for a Polish attack on Budapest. The deadline was delayed for a day when Britain didn't send orders in. At the very last minute, Prussia sent in a new order set, in which they ordered more conservatively and protected themselves from a possible Polish attack. Prussia indicated in his EOG statement that Frank convinced him to prevent an Austrian solo, and so Frank must be given some credit here. With the first order set, Austria would have retained Budapest, Poland would have been reduced to 1 SC and likely disbanded the army threatening Austria, and most importantly Austria could have built a 3rd fleet against Turkey, as he worked hard to leave Vienna open. With this build,
he likely would have defeated Turkey and won the game. Instead, Austria lost Budapest, had no builds, and never was able to regain momentum in the southeast.

Denmark-Norway: With my articles on Denmark-Norway and Turkey, I had special interest in watching how the game went for these two players. My most forceful argument in the D-N article was that Denmark cannot ally with both Britain and Sweden, yet David took this strategy right from the start. Maybe it just took some time for my words to sink in, as David later brilliantly implemented the ideas from my article, which is to eliminate quickly either Britain or Sweden (Sweden in this case), and then form a rock-solid alliance with either Britain or Russia as you kill the other one. There was only one flaw here: his alliance with Britain was so strong that David let his ally win the game!

Turkey: I was pleased when Robert convoyed his army into Tunis in the first year. In my article, I outlined various reasons why this tactic is useful, and it proved so here as Robert became the "Master of the Maghreb". Robert also fought a brilliant war against a dangerous opponent in Austria, and had to play perfectly in order to both prevent Austrian victory and save himself. Sending armies into the chaos in the eastern steppes was a risky strategy that could have paid off with victory, although losses in Two Sicilies and Barcelona forced disbands that undermined this plan.

The End of the Game: The final major point of discussion is the ending. At first I was bothered by how the game finished, but I believe that the actions were largely defensible from each player's individual perspective, if not collectively. Denmark made a calculated gamble that he could count on Austria and hopefully Turkey to prevent British victory long enough that Denmark could maybe beat Britain to the finish line. Turkey also gambled by leaving the Med somewhat vulnerable in order to pursue their land attack in Russia, and counting on Austria to prevent British victory while Turkey still attacked Austria. Jorge realized in the mid-game that he could not defeat Turkey, and made a dogged attempt to instead work with Turkey that ended up making Jorge look foolish twice (although I think Jorge had the correct idea). However, it is clear from Robert's EOG statement that cooperation with Jorge was never going to happen as much for personal as
strategic reasons. And to be fair, if Robert had worked with Jorge, he likely would have faced an Austrian stab down the road where Jorge went for the win once Britain was safely contained. Jorge was faced with the scenario where he was a sacrificial lamb being the "good boy" by fighting Frank, when both the Danes and Turks were unwilling to do so, and indeed counting on Jorge to do so in order to further their own ambitions. With little hope of personal glory in this situation, he decided that he might as well influence the final outcome, and for obvious reasons preferred Frank to David or Robert after weeks of frustrating diplomacy with the latter two.

For the other players, I would like to thank everybody for their participation, and for staying active in the game until the end. I thought that Kurt (Sweden) had a great game plan, by making peace with the Danes and attacking Russia, but had some bad luck where the Russians guessed correctly every time on defense. Conversely, Tsar Nathan was faced with a tough situation where he was forced to defend from the first turn, and put up a memorable resistance.

There was some conversation earlier about the 2 SC powers. Personally, I have no problem with some powers starting in better positions than others. There is no pretence in this game that all 10 positions are equal to start, and as a player of A&E I take this into account when evaluating my final performance. For example, I had a game as Denmark-Norway where I expanded to 6 SCs and managed to eliminate Sweden and Britain (who was played by the extremely formidable Ray Bruce). Although I later made errors and was stabbed by Prussia, that is one of my proudest games as a Dip player, even if I only reached 6 SCs and didn't come close to victory. Some players like the challenge of playing a minnow, and seeing what they can do with the position; it's not for everybody, but there are enough of us out there that enjoy it. Also, as mentioned earlier, I feel like the DPs are a huge leveling force that allow any power to punch well above their weight.
Somebody (I believe Warren) asked if any 2 DP powers have been eliminated in the first year, and yes, Denmark-Norway was eliminated in the first year in the previous game that I GM-ed. I don't see this as a problem though.

That wraps things up from my end. Looking towards the future, I am writing a strategy article for Austria that will be in the Diplomatic Pouch later this summer. A&E is now programmed to play on the DPJudge, and the next game that I GM will be the first A&E game on that platform. Thanks to those that have expressed interest in playing, and while I will seek new blood first, we had some problems filling this game, and so I expect that there may well be some spots open.

Finally, my own WW2 1931 variant is finally ready for its first gametest after years of development. You can learn more about the variant here: http://ww2-1931.tripod.com/. You can see the original (huge) map with the units, plus the new pretty map that Kristian Gustafsen has kindly helped me with (although without units, I'm doing that this week). The last steps will be completed by this weekend, and I will formally put out a recruiting call then. I would be happy to have anyone from this game on the roster, so please let me know if you're interested.

Thanks again to our players and observers, it was a very entertaining game, and I look forward to crossing paths again.

Nick


---------------------------------------
Nick Higgins
Congress of Vienna variant website:
http://1814congressofvienna.tripod.com