I'm generally a long EOG kind of guy, but honestly, this one was pretty basic. Fished around for a solid three-way. Found it in the moderately satisfying combo of T-R-I. Austria died quick. Then I needed to head somewhere. I headed north, expecting Italy to side with me. I truly believe if he had done so, this game would have been much more interesting, and perhaps even ended differently. But Italy turned on me and our internal strife left russia and italy defenseless to the Western powers.

I site the betrayal of Italy as a key moment because had he  gone west, we might have been able to seal the med, while I blocked the overland route. But even more so, I had favorable relations with France for much of the game and in past games as well, and I held out hope that If Italy and I put up enough of a fight, France might have been swayed to work with me vs italy and then vs E/G. As it was, I just never had a big enough carrot to dangle for any of the Western Triple. Realizing the futility of my position, I marshalled my diplomatic skills to try to sway england with what, I think, was perhaps one of the best pieces of diplomatic mail I had composed, selling the idea of The Turkish Alliance in an infomercial kind of style. It was my last hope, but, alas, England rebuffed it.

I probably worked least on Germany because I had almost literally nothing to offer him. He was a better target than an ally for me, and neither other power was biting. So the draw was the best I could do.

John