Now then everybody,
First of all, a massive thanks to John R for doing such a wonderful job in GM'ing our game with applomb, giving up his time in the process to help us lot get our jollies in the greatest game on earth.
Secondly, let me say thank you to all six of my opponents in this game, I got to know some of you quite well through our email messages, I hope to get to know you all better in the games I hope we have to come at the stupendous DC website. Particular thanks must go to France - Andy, you are a star sir, I've learned so much from being your ally, I just wish we could have gotten our act together earlier.
Wow what a game! Great fun, and a massive learning curve for me. The main reason I entered this tournament was to get myself some experience at playing Dip, this was my third ever game of Dip and I'm still highly surprised and delighted to have gotten a slice of a two-way draw. I've learned a hell of a lot in this game, and if you'll let an excited noobie bore the pants off you for a moment, in particular I learned:
i) to not be strategically rigid pre-Spring 1901 - as soon as I knew I was England I'd thought I'd go into the game forming an alliance with Germany against France, and this prejudice then made it really difficult for me to communicate effectively with France for the first few years.
ii) never to give up - I was considering abandoning ship (and ordering all units to hold till knocked out) in Autumn 1903 when convinced that France was to roll over me, and it was only due to some frank email exchanges between France and me that I realised we could put the past behind us and cooperate together that I kept fighting.
iii) look carefully across the whole board each adjudication - I'd badly misjudged the changing balance of power relationships in the East, leading me to misguidedly support Turkey into Sevastopol from Moscow in Autumn 1903 thinking I was doing my friend Italy a favour. How different the game would have been without this.
iv) PBEM Dip is about as much fun as you can have with your pants on!
I note from other peoples' comments that there is some degree of surprise amongst some at my failure to stab France in Autumn 1909. I was well aware at the time that I was in position to stab France and take Ber, Kie, Bel and Bre simultaneously. Yet the stab never did appeal to me. I'd given my word to France to strain every sinew in working towards an EF two-way, and that means a lot to me. I'm quite happy to fib to other players about short-term tactical considerations (as Turkey and Germany found out in Spring 06 with my failure to support either one of them into Warsaw), though when I give my word that's different. Coupled with this is the fact that I couldn't see me soloing from that position - the only Power that would have benefited from the stab would have been Turkey, and I felt (rightly or wrongly) that I had no realistic chance of manoevring Turkey into a two-way ET draw from that position.
John asks us all to reveal our draw-proposal votes. I'm not sure there's that much point in me doing this as it must be fairly obvious how I voted each time, but for the record, I voted in favour of each one of the proposed EF draws, and I also proposed most of them too. It's a shame we couldn't have concluded a two-way EF before Germany had gotten knocked out, I thought Matt deserved a survival outcome from the game, though that's life I suppose. Hope you solo your round two game, Matt!
Anyway, enough rambling from me. Take care you guys, it was a privilege and an honour to spend time around the virtual board with you all. Good luck all in your Blitz round two games.
Jerome
From: John R <untitled36(at)hotmail.com>
To: Wb 2011 france 1 <lebaron0819(at)yahoo.com>; wb 1 2011 russia <chessman121212(at)gmail.com>; DC359 Italy <dance.scholar(at)gmail.com>; WB 2011 england 1 <jerome777(at)ymail.com>; Joe Hackett <jhack16(at)gmail.com>; DC359 Austria <ihatehairyspiders(at)hotmail.com>; blitz(at)diplomaticcorp.com; wb 1 2011 germany <matthew_barnes(at)brown.edu>
Sent: Thu, 31 March, 2011 14:28:10
Subject: DC 359 Game Over
Hey all,
Well, the fat lady is singing, the cows have come home, and peace is celebrated throughout Europe. Good game, all. You were all the best kinds of players to have, cordial, punctual, and reliable (well, except for the Russian abandon...). I appreciate you all.
It was difficult not to comment on the game more than I did. I certainly tried to be careful in my press, and only point out things that were obvious to all. I hope I succeeded in that goal. But now that the game's over, I can share a couple thoughts. First, way back in the day I predicted (in my own mind) that Germany and Turkey would be the two powerhouses at games end. I still feel they were both very strong players, but they just got overwhelmed by the sheer number of troops France and England can muster.
Speaking of France and England, they formed an incredibly strong partnership. I think that's the power of alliances in Diplomacy. A tight knit pair of powers can
almost always defeat any number of loosely allied, untrusting enemies. Still, I have to admit my suprise that England did not at some point stab France. Specifically in Fall 09. At that point, England could have easily claimed 4 french centers, with the rest of france essentially undefended, and quite possibly led to an English win. By that point of the game France and England were pretty solid, so I wondered if England was even considering a stab at that juncture.
Anyway, that's my EoG. I'd love to hear all of yours!
Housekeeping-wise, a few things.
1) I will NOT reveal draw votes, because it is against DC house rules, which I told you guys in the beginning that I was following for the blitz. I do encourage you guys to reveal them though.
2) The score, to the best of my knowledge, should be:
Austria - 2 points
England - 16 Points
France - 15.9
Points
Germany - 2 points
Italy - 4.5 points
Russia - 2 points
Turkey - 4.9 points
Hope that helps! Thanks for playing!
John
