Hi Mike,



Thanks for the lengthy post-game report.




To say for the 1,000th time to you, I was moving intending to work with and support you until you *stopped communicating*. I know you (angrily) told me after the fact you had RL issues getting in the way but you are conflating the result and my intent.




Dirk







On Mar 23, 2011, at 5:29 PM, Michael Sims wrote:





Well folks, it's been fun.  The level of intensity in this game was great... unfortunately I seem to have reached the end of my ride.  Sometimes you have those games where you just bet on the wrong allies, and this was certainly one of those games.  A lot hinged on Joe... he said early on that he didn't think A/I could coexist, and that challenged me to want to figure out ways to make an otherwise improbable alliance - work.  What I should have read tho from his words tho was not "I don't think the alliance will work"... rather... "I intend to stab you, over and over and over again, promise again to work w you, and stab yet more."  But something got lost in the translation.  Maybe it was the Irish accent.

 

The game actually started to break down earlier tho... when my secret allies of John and Dirk who were collectively running the board at one time stopped looking at the team and gave in to the temptation of greed (and per Dirk, perhaps some inexperience).  It's good to have allies, but always have to remember even your allies are still your enemy, as they will always look to themselves first.  This was no exception.  Dirk was quick to seal my fate by promising to help me survive, while moving units blatantly in my direction for the "so-obviously-coming-I-can't-believe-he's-telling-me-he's-not-going-to-take-it" stab.  He took it, and I was out.  I had no choice but to fall back, maybe survive in Spain or Africa, but Dirk made that impossible by not helping me into Madrid or keeping Joe out of Morocco.  I think we'll look back on this as a game-altering move, as Eire got nothing out of my death.  The Italian spoils went to Joe and Adam, and now the pass at Gibraltar is locked up.  Had Dirk entered the Med and established position, there might have been solo possibilities for him.

 

Kevin you never kept good on your promise to return the favor for me working so hard to keep you in the game when you were near eliminated in 01!

 

Not to blame my loss on anyone else, I made some severe mistakes in this game, most notably my own fatal flaw reared its head again, in that I like grand alliances.  I tend to be an alliancey player, and such has little place in this game especially against veterans.  Then mid-game I was severely pulled away from the game, tho the Sicilian decline had begun by this point.  I think it began when John flip-flopped twice in a row regarding whose side he was on in the south - stabbing Byz, pulling off, and stabbing him again.  That double stab permanently broke any possibility of a Sic-Ukr-Byz team, and pulled Kevin's focus off the south - leaving Joe free to focus 100% on me.

 

It has honestly been a long time since I played a game against some serious competition.  I've gotten so involved in running things at dc that I really stopped playing, and I think my Dip was very rusty for this game.  You all deserved better from me, which I'll have to provide sometime in the future...

 

I look forward to seeing where it goes from here... it looks like y'all have quite a game ahead of you still with many turns yet to come...

-mike

 

 

 



From: Garry Bledsoe [mailto:kielmarch(at)hotmail.com]
Sent: Fri 3/18/2011 3:52 PM
Subject: dc340 DCI 2010 - F09 Results: Sicilian Elimination




We Bid Goodbye To Sicily And Mr. Sims
Byzantium Really Wants Odessa (?) But Runs Into A Traffic Jam As Most Units Converge
Burgundy Feeling The Pinch?

Ukraine Now Down To One

Can He Pull A Spain? Okay, Admittedly Calling It "Pulling A Spain" Is Premature Since Spain Isn't Exactly Out of the Woods




All,

Sorry for the short delay. I was waiting for one set up to the deadline (or I would have had the thing already done and waiting to hit send if no late orders came in). As it turned out, by the time I got that I was already on a plane and I got home late. Thus the lack of adjudication until today.




That said, we had another interesting season! It is with sorrow that we bid farewell to our second casualty - Mike Sims as Sicily. Moment of silence...




And still other interesting things happen - Ukraine loses another center, Burgundy's line becomes thinner, and - ho hum - Eire continues to grow.




We had NO retreats so let's move to Winter. Adjustments are as follows:




Eire - build 2

Hungary - build 1

Israel - build 1

Ukraine - remove 1




Let's get those by Monday the 21st at 6pm CDT.




Garry





Burgundy: 

A Bavaria Supports A Silesia - Bohemia (*Cut*)

A Livonia - Warsaw

A Podolia - Galicia

A Saxony Supports A Bavaria

A Silesia - Bohemia (*Disbanded*)

A Swabia - Schwyz (*Fails*)




Sicily: 

F Palma Sea Supports A Algeria - Valencia




Eire: 

F Anglican Sea Convoys A Yorkshire - Brussels

F Barents Sea - Siberia (*Bounce*)

F Bornholm Sea - Gdansk

F Gibraltar - Valencia

F Hague - Helgoland Bight

A Karelia - Volga (*Fails*)

A Norromark - Finland

F North Sea - Denmark

F Santander Supports F South Atlantic Ocean

F South Atlantic Ocean Supports F Santander

A Yorkshire - Brussels




Hungary: 

F Adriatic Sea Hold

A Austria Supports A Bohemia

A Bohemia Supports A Galicia - Silesia

A Budapest - Croatia

A Galicia - Silesia

F Ligurian Sea - Languedoc

A Schwyz Supports F Ligurian Sea - Languedoc (*Cut*)

A Tyrol - Bavaria (*Fails*)

A Venezia - Piedmont

A Warsaw - Livonia (*Disbanded*)




Israel: 

A Algeria - Valencia (*Fails*)

A Jerusalem Hold

A Kazakhstan - Siberia (*Bounce*)

F Morroco - Ifni Sea

A Muscovy Supports A Novgorod (*Ordered to Move*)

F Pylos Sea Hold

F Tyrrhenian Sea - Naples

F Utica Sea Supports F Western Mediterranean

A Volga Supports A Muscovy (*Cut*)

F Western Mediterranean Convoys A Algeria - Valencia




Spain: 

A Catalonia Supports F Gibraltar - Valencia

A Estremadura Supports F Gibraltar - Valencia

A Languedoc - Dijon




Ukraine: 

A Masuria Supports A Livonia - Warsaw

A Novgorod - Muscovy (*Fails*)




Byzantium: 

F Armenia - Odessa (*Fails*)

F Bulgaria - Odessa (*Fails*)

A Circassia - Odessa (*Fails*)

A Don Supports A Muscovy

F East Black Sea - Odessa (*Fails*)

A Kiev - Odessa (*Bounce*)

A Rumania - Podolia

A Smyrna - Odessa (*Fails*)

F West Black Sea - Odessa (*Bounce*)