The story of this game was the alliances. At the start of the game I was part of the "Super Alliance" put together by the original Nomads player. It included: Archers, Nomads, Ogres, Pirates, Rogues, Samurai, Undead. It was a flawed alliance at its core, as geographically it was really centered around the Nomads' interests moreso than an objective strategic review of how best to win the board. This led to tremendous success in the south - particularly romping by the Ogres and Samurai - and disaster in the north - the Rogues being eliminated very early and the Archers, Nomads and Undead under attack and great pressure.
I was in the Super Alliance whole hog and loyally. That changed for a couple of reasons: first and most essentially, the downfall of the Rogues which was facilitated in part by the Trolls, with whom the Rogues and I had (what I thought was a) tight local alliance. The Trolls and I got along so well that, after the Rogues were eliminated, he invited me into a secret Northern Alliance, the FCKT (Fairies, Centaurs, Knights, Trolls). The second major factor was the original Nomads player leaving: he had been the glue, and the Super Alliance in general were terrible communicators. The Samurai and I were the only real regular "talkers" on list. For me this does not facilitate a healthy alliance and creates uncomfortable paranoia.
What I decided to do was be part of both alliances and undermine neither. This was a difficult process, playing hard for both alliances without betraying the other or even directly revealing the existence of the other alliance. At first this worked well. There were still a handful of diminishing powers in neither alliance and I was able to use their destruction to avoid the issue of my dual alliances coming into conflict. As the game went on it was clear the old Super Alliance would win and the Northern Alliance was doomed, so I set toward trying to figure out how to cast in with the Super Alliance in the strongest way possible that played well with my conscience. Unfortunately, the Super Alliance had decided it needed to turn on *me* in order to keep expanding and thus, with the attacks from the Ogres and Samurai, I was forced to stick with the Northern Alliance instead, riding that ill-fated association to the bottom of the sea.
I do want to say I REALLY liked diploming with those guys though. We may have had our faces shoved in the mud but you're a great group of guys that are fun to play with. FCKTU forever!  
Finally, I want to give special mention to Michael Norton, the Archers player. He and I hardly diplomed at all this game, but he had a tough, tough position located right in the teeth of the Northern Alliance and was in peril at various times. For him to come out of this with a 3-way draw is just an exceptional piece of playing. Enjoying none of the benefits of the Ogres and Samurai as they easily cleared out half a continent he ended the game with the most centers. Very impressed, Michael. Huge props from the raggidy Undead.
As to the variant, while it would have been great fun as the original fog variant, I didn't like it revealed at all. 18 people are just too many to deal with. I would not play it again. But it must have been grand in the fog, and hopefully someone creates a great, new fog variant as I would really enjoy it.
Thanks for GMing this Mike, it must be a bear. Your consistency and quality as a GM are always appreciated.
DirkUndead

On Aug 23, 2010, at 4:03 PM, Michael Sims wrote:
Well there ya have it folks, unexpected from my POV, I have checked my list and checked it twice - we have 11 votes in favor of a 3-way Archer-Ogre-Samurai draw!  Duhn-Duhn-Duuhnnnnn... And just like that, peace descends upon the Haven, tho the landscape surely slashed, smashed, and shot full of holes by our victorious trio.  Congrats!  This is the best result ever attained in the Haven world, and done in very efficient time.  The final center-counts that will go down for our leaders are 17-16-14, or 47 total centers, just shy of half the 102 dots on the board. EGS's?  Of course!  All should send them!  Let us know what you thought. With this game done unexpectedly quick, I'll have to run something else.  Any suggestions?  A Colonial has been suggested in the forums... Enjoy,-mike