Hi Stabbers!

An interesting round for what was revealed (a mystery convoy) and what was not (damn near everything else).

In the first case, we faced a situation that is not covered by the rules and which I cannot remember seeing in either of the Stab! games I played in.  The Turkish fleet in Ionian was attacked but not dislodged while in the act of convoying.  Since the rules are silent on this manner it was left to me to make a decision.  My thoughts:
The convoy was successful.  According to the rules, successful moves are not reported... EXCEPT where they cause another player's moves to fail.  England's attempt to move to Ionian Sea failed.  One argument in favor of reporting.
If the fleet had held, I would report
that.  If the fleet had supported another move, I would report that.  It seems consistent to report that the fleet was in the act of convoying when attacked.A successful support is reported, unless the move supported was successful and the support was unnecessary.  An insufficient support (i.e. move failed) is always reported, while an unsuccessful (*cut*) support is not reported.  The success or failure of the convoy depends on (a) whether the convoy held its position and (b) whether the convoyed army reached its destination.
The army being convoyed, however, did not come in contact with any units.  It's move was successful and did NOT impact any other moves.  Therefore, the army's movement remains hidden.
Ergo:  In my opinion, the fourth bullet point trumps the third.  In order to preserve the hidden army move, the fleet's order shall be reported as:  F Ionian Sea Convoys
*

Any or all of you are welcome to comment on the wisdom of my decision.  You can't change it for this turn, but you can influence the addendum I intend to add to the DipWiki at the end of our game.

All of which distracts us a little bit from the fact that in all of Europe, there were only two spaces contested over in Spring of 1908.  One was the aforementioned Ionian Sea, and the other is Spain.  I think this makes 37 consecutive turns that E and F have butted heads over the Catalan Coast.  Will they ever learn?

When one gets right down to it, there is a little bit of a tricky situation in the Spain bounce, too.  France only needed one unit to bounce with England's F MAO, so why did I report both?  Again, the rules are fuzzy on that one, but this way just feels right to me.  A self-bounce that impacts no one else is a secret.  If you're going to send two units to a single space to bounce each
other and a foreign unit moves there, too, I think that unit would notice that you sent two and not one.  I believe I already set a precedent for this decision earlier in the game.  Once again, feel free to chip in with your opinion.

A final note on sneaky tactics to take advantage of the rules:  It might occur to you clever types that instead of ordering
a unit to hold you could issue bogus support orders or bogus convoy
orders in the hopes of misleading your fellow players.  While I confess
that if I was playing this is EXACTLY the sort of ploy I would come up
with, my instinct as a GM is not to allow it.  But I'm waffling on that
one.  Let's say I'm not going to allow it in this game, but I'm happy to add this as another good point of discussion.  Think about it.

 
RETREATS REQUIRED:  None.  We can head happily into our week-end with no pending business.

NEXT DEADLINE:  Fall 1908 is due Tuesday, June 22, at 8 pm Eastern US time.  Send me finals early and I'll get back to you on Monday.

Cheers,
Chris


Orders as resolved.  Please review and report any errors ASAP.

=====================================
England:
F Mid-Atlantic Ocean - Spain(sc) (*Bounce*)
F Tunis - Ionian Sea (*Fails*)
F Tyrrhenian Sea Supports F Tunis - Ionian Sea

France:
A Gascony - Spain (*Bounce*)
F Marseilles - Spain(sc) (*Bounce*)
F Portugal - Mid-Atlantic Ocean (*Fails*)

Italy:

Russia:

Turkey:
F Aegean Sea Supports F Ionian Sea
F Ionian Sea Convoys *

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