Hi all-
First, thanks to everyone for a very enjoyable game. I liked the interactions with everyone and found the twists and turns of fate very interesting. And thanks to Felix for doing the GM work, often a challenging task.

My view of the story is very similar to Stephen's. He proposed the "Russian fleet heads for the Med" strategy. I was interested in trying a juggernaut, and my reading of some of the strategy websites indicated that these usually favor Russia. So I went for it and I think we executed it well. The attacks against Austria and Italy went smoothly and the juggernaut was off and running. I had good discussions with Michael and Nick from the beginning and was pretty honest about my intentions, and I think this laid the groundwork for pretty good relationships throughout the game, even as I started attacking Michael in the end. And I was able to get a beachhead against England and kept the northern fleets coming.

My biggest concern, as Stephen mentioned, was that I was starting to grow faster than Turkey. I was very pleased that Italy was slow to go away so I could pull ahead, but I worried that this would lead Stephen to stab me if I did not either slow down or strengthen my southern border in time (or both).

The first key turning point in the game for me was before Spring '05. Stephen sent me a message recommending that I move my southern armies to the west and mentioned that he would "probably" convoy his army to Italy, and then he moved his army from Con to Bul instead. Fortunately I did not follow his recommendation (if I had, he would have been able to take Rum with no resistance). This sequence led me to believe that he was going to attack me, so I attacked him in the fall, expecting him to do the same. He did not, with the outcome having the impact of a stab--I got a center, he was angry with me, etc. I explained things, we made moves to patch things up, he got his center back, and I thought we were back in business.

The second key turning point was after Spring '06 (right after fixing the previous problem). He moved a fleet from Aeg-Con, and I could not come up with a reasonable explanation except that he was heading for the Black Sea and my unprotected territories. So I attacked again, expecting him to do the same, and again he did not.

By this time I had 14 centers with a path to at least 3 more, and so the juggernaut was clearly finished beyond repair (and rightly so). At this point the game entered a very different phase as Stephen described, with him trying to "rally the troops" against me. I sent a message to reach out to all of the other nations, telling them that Stephen planned to eliminate them all and push for a 2-way draw with me, etc. I didn't hear back from England, but had extended discussions with France and Germany. I don't know what their views on the situation really were (i.e., I don't know if they were actually on my side or Stephen's), but there were fun discussions! I think the relatively good relationships I had built early in the game helped quite a bit at this point, but I am not really sure since I think they both went along with nearly all of the "Turkish plan" anyway. And then I communicated with Josh to see if he would be willing to help me since Turkey was killing him anyway, he was, and that was it. I was hoping Turkey would not cut his support for me and I got lucky. By the way, Stephen, I am not sure I understand why you see his choice as unreasonable--if I were in his shoes and you were taking all of my centers, I would have done the same thing he did!

I think it would have been interesting if I had not been able to get Ven immediately. My hunch is that I would have been able to get the 18th over time through a combination of overall masses of troops, the two German removals, and the potential defection of one or more of the parties from the alliance. But I am not sure about this.

So, that was the story from my side. Thanks again to all for a fun game!

Scott


----- Original Message ----
From: DANIEL JOLLIFFE <daniel.jolliffe(at)btinternet.com>
To: Nick Cherrier <zeclient(at)hotmail.com>; Stephen Lytton <stevelytton(at)hotmail.com>; Felix Kam Chung <felixkamchung(at)mac.com>; Josh Engsberg <aramis604(at)yahoo.com>; 117 <dc117(at)diplomaticcorp.com>; Michael Thompson <m_d_thompson(at)hotmail.com>; Scott Ellis <crimson_93(at)yahoo.com>; Former Trout <former.trout(at)gmail.com>
Cc: Michael Sims <mike(at)southwall.com>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 12:32:43 AM
Subject: RE: Dc117 End of Game: England

Well played Scott, congratulations!!

Like France, this was also my first ever game of Diplomacy in any form and i thorough enjoyed it.

I think the biggest lessons i have learnt is that i should have talked to more of the people more of the time, and not to be blinkered by my own battles as to whats going on with the rest of the board.

After reading up on some opening game strategies for England, i decided that France should be my target regardless and that i should try to enlist Germany to help (especially since i felt that France/Germany may ally against me). Whilst this was going on i was naive in the way i handled Russia and allowed him to slip into Norway and then the fleets started coming round the top, a sign of my inexperience.

After the break down of the Russia/Turkey alliance i was pleased with the way we attempted to rally against Russia and credit goes to Stephen here mainly. Even if we didn't all agree at least we were talking!!

I hope to cross paths with you again...

Dan

Nick Cherrier <zeclient(at)hotmail.com> wrote:

.hmmessage P {margin:0px;padding:0px;}body.hmmessage {FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma;} Congratulations to Scott,

That was a magnificently well played game. Thanks to everyone else for playing, I had a lot of fun. It was my first Diplomacy game EVER and I will definitely continue playing, and hopefully will cross paths with you guys in the future.

So as we say here in Australia... Good on ya mate!

Nick



[quote:f7836908b6] From: stevelytton(at)hotmail.com
To: felixkamchung(at)mac.com; zeclient(at)hotmail.com; aramis604(at)yahoo.com; dc117(at)diplomaticcorp.com; m_d_thompson(at)hotmail.com; crimson_93(at)yahoo.com; former.trout(at)gmail.com; daniel.jolliffe(at)btinternet.com
CC: mike(at)southwall.com
Subject: Dc117 End of Game: Turkey
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:52:19 +1100

.ExternalClass .EC_hmmessage P {padding:0px;}.ExternalClass EC_body.hmmessage {font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;} First of all, I will state despite how the 18th SC was taken by Russia, I think Scott played an excellent game and is well
deserving of the solo.

I would like to thank Scott, Nick, Daniel and Michael for their interaction with me in this game. I have thoroughly enojyed playing
against them.

My initial plan was to form a juggernaut with Russia and sweep across the board. Scott of Russia seemed keen on this
as well as we quickly formed an alliance moving west. We both were emailing Italy and got him to help attack Austria
leaving France, England and germany to fight amongst themselves. Thinking back i'm not sure if this was the best move.

Austria fell very quickly (sorry John) and the west was a mess. Germany was hitting France hard and i could not tell who england
was allied with.

Russia and i moved across and i started hitting Italy after Russia tricked him into making a couple of moves so his supports could be
easily cut. Italy seemed to be falling well and i convoyed an army across to apulia to strike the final blow when russia moved
against me fearing a stab.

Unfortunately I was out of position, to hit Italy and Russia and since Josh had stopped talking to me at that point, i continued
listening to Scott. Russia was making huge gains in the north, (too much and too quickly than i had anticipated). So instead of moving against Russia
i continyed my plan against Italy. However Russia just 'juggernauted' in the north.

and i need to scramble and i started to email Nick/France, Michael/Germany and Daniel/England to establish some sort of defence
against Russia. I also mailed Josh/Italy but with no response.

England, Germany, France and I passed many emails back and forth to discuss a strategy and despite some initial conflict between
France and Germany, all were willing to try and stop Russia. I attempted to try and get Russia out of his mindset at this point
and i kept emailing him suggesting draw proposals etc... to see how much information he was feeding back to the others so that
we could know if russia was trying to play us off against each other. Hey I would have in that position, and Scott had already proven
to be an excellent player. The information filtered back through germany which was who russia needed to make paranoid.
It was during this time, I feel i got to know the other 3 players well and i did enjoy our correspondance, even
the arguements between Nick and Michael..... If only we had emailed this much at the start.

This is where a series of unfortunate incidents, led to Russia's win.

in the second last season, germany did not move to Burgundy (as we had discussed or i thought we had) which unfortunately led to the fall of Munich. I can understand that there
was still anomosity between France and Germany at this point, and germany told me he was worried about my fleets moving up which
was a fair call. However Munich was a crucial space we could not afford to lose. AND this was a 'flaw' in our stalemate pattern.

and then in the last season, the silent italy, played by the experienced player Josh, supported Russia into a SC giving him the magical
18 number.

It would have been nice to see if our four way alliance could have held Russia off, but when Italy effectively gave Russia his last SC (note Italy was on holiday during the last adjudication
and could not be contacted) but Scott played an excellent game and i take my hat off to him for the win.

I hope to play against or ally with Scott, Nick, Daniel and Michael again in perhaps another game. Your emails and strategies (Russia at the beginning of the game, and the others
in the end game for me) were excellent and i am honoured to have played with such committed people. I was disapointed with the way Josh played in this game, but then i am
not a fan of anyone who just gives up and kingmakes.

Although the end game had some rough patches at the end, I would like to thank the players for the game and for tolerating
my annoying and possibly domineering attitude at the end. I was going through some medical issues and I allowed my frustration at my treatment (or the lack of results) and
my reaction to my new and current medication change spill over into the game. I believe the expression is something like the straw that broke the camel's back. Anyway I apologise to
Nick, Daniel, Michael and Scott for that and hope that we may cross swords another day.

Well done on the win, Scott. You played an excellent juggernaut and did deserve it.


Stephen
aka Deathblade_penguin (Knight of the Shrubbery)
www.diplomaticcorp.com



[quote:f7836908b6] To: zeclient(at)hotmail.com; aramis604(at)yahoo.com; dc117(at)diplomaticcorp.com; m_d_thompson(at)hotmail.com; crimson_93(at)yahoo.com; former.trout(at)gmail.com; stevelytton(at)hotmail.com; daniel.jolliffe(at)btinternet.com
CC: mike(at)southwall.com; former.trout(at)gmail.com
Subject: DC 117:: SOLO TO RUSSIA
From: felixkamchung(at)mac.com
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:01:38 -0800

And so the game ends!!
Solo to the Russian player!!

Thank you all for playing!

EOG are welcomed!!


As submitted::
Germany's moves...

A Hol support A Mun - Kie
A Mun - Kie
A Ruh support A Mun - Kie
A Bre - Par
A Mar - Bur

France::
My moves for Fall:

F Nth-Nwy
A Gas-Bre

Italy::


A Tuscany support A Trieste - Venice



Turkey::
F mao S French A Gas - Bre
F Tyn - Tun
F Rom Holds
A apu - Ven
F Gre Holds
A Bul Holds
F Con - aeg
F Arm holds


Russia::

A Sev-Arm
A Ukr-Rum
A Ser-Gre
A Tri-Ven
A Bud-Ser

F Lpl hold
A Edi hold
F Nwg-Nor

A Kie-Mun
A Sil S Kie-Mun
A Ber S Kie-Mun

F Hel-Hol
F Bal-Kie
F Den S Bal-Kie

England::
England Fall 07 moves:


F NAO - Norweigan Sea
F LON support F Bel-Nth
F BEL - NTH

As adjudicated::

Results for Fall, 1907 (Movement)
General Notices:
Game ends. Power Russia wins by controlling 18 supply centers; 18 supply centers are required to win.
Order resolution completed on 29-Nov-2007 at 20:12:03 PST
Order Results:
England:
England: F bel -> nth
England: F lon Supports F bel -> nth
[u:f7836908b6]England: F nao -> nwg[/u:f7836908b6]
Failed because Russia: F nwg -> nwy failed.
France:
France: A gas -> bre
[u:f7836908b6]France: F nth -> nwy[/u:f7836908b6]
Bounced with nwg (1 against 1).
Dislodged from bel (2 against 1).
Germany:
Germany: A bre -> par
[u:f7836908b6]Germany: F hol Supports A mun -> kie[/u:f7836908b6]
Support cut by Move from Helgoland Bight.
Germany: A mar -> bur
[u:f7836908b6]Germany: A mun -> kie[/u:f7836908b6]
Bounced with bal (2 against 1).
Dislodged from kie (3 against 1).
Germany: A ruh Supports A mun -> kie
Italy:
Italy: A tus Supports A tri -> ven
Russia:
Russia: F bal -> kie
Russia: A ber Supports A kie -> mun
[u:f7836908b6]Russia: A bud -> ser[/u:f7836908b6]
Failed because Russia: A ser -> gre failed.
Russia: F den Supports F bal -> kie
Russia: A edi Holds
[u:f7836908b6]Russia: F hel -> hol[/u:f7836908b6]
Bounced with hol (1 against 1).
Russia: A kie -> mun
Russia: F lvp Holds
[u:f7836908b6]Russia: F nwg -> nwy[/u:f7836908b6]
Bounced with nth (1 against 1).
[u:f7836908b6]Russia: A ser -> gre[/u:f7836908b6]
Bounced with gre (1 against 1).
[u:f7836908b6]Russia: A sev -> arm[/u:f7836908b6]
Bounced with arm (1 against 1).
Russia: A sil Supports A kie -> mun
Russia: A tri -> ven
Russia: A ukr -> rum
Turkey:
[u:f7836908b6]Turkey: A apu -> ven[/u:f7836908b6]
Failed.
Turkey: F arm Holds
Turkey: A bul Holds
Turkey: F con -> aeg
Turkey: F gre Holds
Turkey: F mao Supports A gas -> bre
Turkey: F rom Holds
Turkey: F tys -> tun

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