From a Persian perspective:

My opening thoughts on being allocated Persia was that I had a decent position, but I'd need to work with one of Greece or Egypt to get some decent growth. Egypt was more talkative, so Egypt and I allied fairly early in the game which allowed me to run to the north and make advances there. This wasn't without some nervousness on my part - Garry and I had been in a similar position in an Aegean game, with me getting stabbed and eliminated fairly early.

I worked with Egypt for most of the early and middle parts of the game, gradually beating Greece down...Egypt's growth stalled somewhat after a couple of years, as Carthage put pressure on him, but he somehow managed to convince Carthage that Rome was his best target. However, around about this point, thoughts of a solo entered my head due to my good defensive position and (marginal) supply centre lead. I agonised for several turns, and eventually chose to stab Egypt in year 6, grabbing Athens and Sparta off him and moving on Jerusalem.

I thought I could solo at this point, as I figured that Rome and Carthage putting aside their differences was unlikely, and I thought I'd have an outside change of a solo even if they somehow worked together - the south and centre of the board was secure, and I was making gains in the north - the question was how quickly I could make those gains.

As it turned out, Carthage and Rome quickly started working together (and well played to both for sorting that out quickly!), scuppering my chances - I got to 17, but that proved unsustainable - and there was a couple of nervous moments when I realised that Carthage and Rome could take Sarmatia/Dacia if I wasn't careful, which would expose my undefended Chersonesus/Sinope area. I managed to shore up my defences with a couple of convoys to Macedonia. I figured a two way draw would be fraught with danger (the temptation on both sides would be to grab that extra centre for a solo) so realistically a three way draw was the best I could hope for, so I proposed that, and it was voted through.

Great variant, as you need to balance armies and fleets effectively to get a good position, and I like the fact that there's only 5 powers on the board.

Couple of questions for other players:
- Did any of you think a solo for me was a likelihood at any point?
- To Egypt - did you see the stab coming?
- Carthage/Rome - did you settle your differences quickly when you realised the risk of me soloing?

As always, thanks to the other players and the GM for running the game so smoothly!

Michael

--- On Fri, 25/9/09, Michael Sims <mike(at)fuzzylogicllc.net> wrote:

From: Michael Sims <mike(at)fuzzylogicllc.net>
Subject: dc252 - Draw!
To: "Garry Bledsoe" <kielmarch(at)hotmail.com>, aislattery(at)aol.com, blom.fredrik(at)gmail.com, psychosis(at)sky.com, "dc252" <dc252(at)diplomaticcorp.com>, "Former Trout" <former.trout(at)gmail.com>
Date: Friday, 25 September, 2009, 2:42 PM









A relatively short and sweet game at only 166
days, dc252 is called a 3-way Draw between Carthage, Persia,
and Rome.  Egypt eeks out a Survival, and Greece
didn't quite make it to the Middle Ages.  This is
one of my favorite variants, and has now been played 6 times
with Carthage and Persia still retaining the
highest overall performaces following this
game.
 
See:  http://www.diplomaticcorp.com/country_stats.php?map=Ancient
Med.
 
End-Game-Statements are appreciated from all so
send those in while the game is fresh on your mind. 
Thanks are due to the players for making this an easy one to
GM, as there was rarely a time that I was tracking anyone
down for orders.
 
See you next
game,
-mike
Order of the
Lion
www.diplomaticcorp.com