Okay, I guess I'll chime in now. This is my third time at this variant, and I must
say that I REALLY enjoy it.


One problem inherent in just about any variant as it's rolled out is that players tend to
miss some of the subtleties of the variant and play it like a standard dip game and THAT
is generally the first mistake. I'm not sure how much of that played here, but there can
be no doubt that it was a factor.


That being said here we go. I started out knowing I had to get west sooner rather than later
but I needed to stabilize the home area first. The problem was how, exactly, to do that. My
prior two plays I drew island locations so being on the continent was new. However, I had
seen the problem of staying put in both of those games. I opted to work with Sweden over
Denmark, but there was no good reason to actually do it that way. As the game started Denmark
emailed me and offered to work together and as I considered his offer, I noticed the inherent flaw
in the Norse/Swede area and it is the same thing Nick noted. Sweden can NOT get into the game
without a HUGE amount of trust being given by the Norse and, to a lesser extent (but still there) the
Danes.


So the Danes and I set about trashing the Swede and since we worked well together we more or
less cut him off at the knees. That being done I figured we were off to a great start. With my
understanding of the game and strong alliance play I figured the Danes and I were going to kick ass
and swing westward in a large armada that would thwart the island. Certainly the Dane could see
we needed to get west before any stab was a wise idea. Certainly? Certainly NOT!!!

He seemed to have missed a key element in this variant and once he did that I knew where this game
was going to end. The key was to tie the Danes up long enough for the other players to sort things
out set up for the draw. Now, to be fair, I never mentioned that to any of them since I wanted to see
how it was going to play out and see if I was reading it right. So I fought the good fight against my
"idiot" aggressor (nothing personal mind you, but it was a horribly bad idea) for as long as I could and
try to get the upper hand again.

In the final analysis if *this* game the Danes stab was a BADLY timed one and made the difference in
the outcome. Had he waited a few more seasons it would have been far more devastating and he most
surely would have been in a position to pull off the solo. In this variant you HAVE to make progress
across the water before you can stab those closest (physically) to you.

I tried to follow Nick's logic on different areas, but I'm not convinced all of those changes are necessary.
Certainly the Norse/Swede proximity thing needs work, but I think if you play this variant as it's own animal
and see the need for alliances and fast movement to the other side of the map then you'll see the nuance within
the game as a whole. Yes, the proximity to other countries makes it tricky, but that's part of the fun if it all.