Hi to all from surprisingly sunny Ontario -
 
Thanks to Mike for a very well-run game, and to all the players for their dedication to the game.  Always good to play a game without excessive delays, NMRs, or abandonments - you all have my gratitude, and I would welcome the opportunity to play with any and all of you again.
 
So - as for the game - it started off rocky for me.  I think Ancient Med is generally a very well balanced variant, with one major exception - Egypt is a particularly tough nut for Persia to crack.  I had it in mind to try and launch an attack on Egypt immediately, if I could secure a Carthaginian commitment to the cause.  Charlie politely declined, and Tim didn't seem much inclined to provoke him either.  So plan A went out the window by the end of the first spring.
 
Fortunately - Robin and I hit it off well, and though both Tim and Charlie seemed rather resistant to my efforts to stir up a C/E war, Greece was more than willing to ally with me.  I found that I enjoyed Robin's unorthodox and aggressive style immensely, and was content to hang back for a while as long as he was willing to focus his efforts heavily east.  I still did not want to engage Egypt alone without Carthaginian aid, so I peaceably gobbled neutrals for a while and jockeyed around for a good stab position either north or south, whichever first became available.
 
That ultimately came at Robin's expense.  Rome and Carthage mended fences, and seized the initiative in the great clash of east and west typical of many Ancient Med games.  This helped me greatly, as I finally got my much desired Egypt/Carthage war, and Robin committed against Rome, leaving a few choice vulnerabilities at home.  So I moved on Robin.
 
But so did Alan - with great effectiveness.  I horribly underestimated how quickly his own forces would settle into Greece, and how much of the Greek territory I would have to concede to him in this new R/P alliance.  Robin was soon on the ropes, and I ultimately (some would say foolishly) eliminated him with an unintended betrayal - I missed what was probably the single most important message I received the whole game from Robin, where he accepted my proposal to shelter him in Cyprus in exchange for use of his remaining fleets in the western drive.  Had we worked that out, P/G/E would have advanced much more rapidly than P/E did alone - and we might even have seen a resurgent Greece gaining SCs again.  I took no pleasure in Robin's elimination, and I owe him a sincere apology for the unintended stab. 
 
Then came the hardest decision of the game - I had decent options to attack either Rome or Egypt, and I spent days running one scenario after another through RP trying to figure out which one would play out best.  Long story short, I chose to side with Egypt because:
 
1 - R/C was scary as hell and had a fresh new agreement inked (so it seemed to me)
 
2 - Invading the Egyptian homeland was every bit as difficult then as at the beginning.
 
and 3 - E/C seemed completely committed to fighting each other, whereas Alan could have gone either way.
 
There were a few scary situations after that where I nearly threw the solo away (allowing Alan to disband a fleet and rebuild it as an Army in Rome comes to mind) - but fortunately #3 above held true the rest of the game, and that gave me the edge I needed for the win.  I'd be interested to hear what E/C negotiations were like in this game - though I know Tim's time availability for this game restricted his negotiations greatly. 
 
All in all - this was an excellent game, and a very strong challenge from all involved - I hope to see you all around again in DC, and I'm sure you will do very well here.  Pleased to finally have my first DC solo and the shiny medal that goes with it, plus enough credits to bump me up to Knight Errant.  All that, and the US qualifies first in Group C and advances to the next round of the World Cup.  Have to say it was a good Wednesday  
 
I'm off to bed, heading out kayaking in some white water in the morning - thanks again -
 
B. of Persia
 

 
On Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 9:40 AM, Michael Sims <mike(at)fuzzylogicllc.net> wrote:


Woohoo!
Congrats to Ben, as the EGP is voted down but he wraps up 18 centers... Everyone showed some resolve in the end to stop a win, but it was too late - nothing could reverse the Persian momentum.  End-Game-Statements would be enjoyed by all, share your thoughts on the game.  Hope it was fun!  For me, it was relatively painless to GM.  Only 5 sets of orders to enter, and everyone on time made for a pleasant GM'ing experience. 
See you next game,
-mike
 
Rome:
F Neapolis - Apulia
A Ravenna - Roma
A Venetia - Ravenna (*Dislodged*)
 
Carthage:
F Baleares - Ligurian Sea
A Cirta Supports F Numidia
A Mauretania - Saguntum
F Numidia Supports A Cirta (*Fails*)
F Punic Sea - Gulf of Tacape

F Sicilia - Ausonian Sea
A Thapsus Supports A Cirta
F Tyrrhenean Sea Supports F Sicilia - Ausonian Sea
 
Persia:
F Adriatic Sea Supports A Etruria - Ravenna
F Aegean Sea - Messenian Sea (*Fails*)
A Arabia - Jerusalem
A Athens Supports F Sparta
A Crete Hold

A Dalmatia - Venetia
F Egyptian Sea - Gulf of Pelusium
A Epirus Supports A Athens
A Etruria - Ravenna
A Gaul - Tarraconensis
F Minoan Sea - Egyptian Sea
A Rhaetia Supports A Dalmatia - Venetia
A Sarmatia - Vindobona

F Sparta Supports F Aegean Sea - Messenian Sea (*Cut*)
 
Egypt:
F Ausonian Sea - Messenian Sea
A Cyrene - Alexandria
F Gulf of Syrtis - Cyrene
F Ionian Sea - Sparta (*Fails*)
F Leptis Supports A Phazania (*Fails*)

F Libyan Sea Supports F Ausonian Sea - Messenian Sea
A Marmarica - Memphis
A Phazania Supports F Leptis
A Sahara Hold
 
 
 


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