There's a little voice in me, with a Yiddish accent, that sounds like my grandmother, and always says things like "Vhatch your tucas, you're leaving it out vhere za dog can bite it."
I should listen to that voice - cause it always turns out to be right, but yet I don't, and I get my tucas bit.
Case in point - this game.
I wanted to ally with Rome. It looked to me (Carthage) like the best bet and most workable arrangement. Yeah, it involved a little bit of retrograde motion to secure the Western Med, but that could be done almost at leisure as the main body of phalanx and fleets headed east.
But Rome didn't talk much, and by contrast, Egypt wouldn't shut up. He was like a used car salesman, and despite the warnings of my inner Yid, I bought the jalopy.
It seemed to be going well, then there came a time when continuing the push into Europe required leaving the house unguarded. Here's where you either trust or don't trust your neighbors. I played through various scenarios in RW and opted to trust my neighbor and make the push. It meant gaining a position to subdue Rome and be ready to face Persia in the North if my "ally" decided to make the 3-way a 2-way. The push was as fancy a set of maneuvers as one could manage in this game, and I was sure the Roman gulped when the results hit his email box. For sure, I was all smiles. Ah, those heady days.
Back to business and looking ahead, I "wargamed" out the situation in RW and the realization that Egypt could sweep west in two moves and pretty much do me in and there was literally nothing I could do about it - made ME gulp. I confronted him, got jokes in reply, took that as a "Yep, I'm doing just that" and tried to recall the far flung legions home to defend the realm. Too late. The doors just fell off that jalopy I bought.
Egypt swept in like the Christmas tsunami. Rome wasn't interested in a truce, even though it was obvious he was next on the menu. I'm sure he felt I stabbed him and was happy to see me get mine. I spent the last turns fighting a guerrilla war, more against Rome, oddly, than Egypt. I though of begging Persia for help - he could make Egypt experience my pain and had a lot to gain by it, but something told me it wouldn't fly, so I didn't. It was all but over and Rome was doomed as well with Persia riding across the North after the demise of Greece. In the end, a "survival" is better than an "elimination" so I voted for the draw.
Lessons have been learned and I will always, from now on, listen to my inner Yid.
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