Sorry for the delay all, very busy these days.
I kinda feel bad on this one.
I was the one who convinced the assorted western powers that we should trust England again.
I thought we could make the ERG work. I was wrong.
The other big question seems to be the pile on of Italy.
As I recall, it was decided before the first move as Italy irritated everyone around him.
This was mostly by telling each of us that another (specified) player was planning to attack.
When we compared notes, he told at least 3 countries that they were going to be betrayed by one of the other 3.
Normal dip? maybe, but it seemed overly deceptive and unnecessary.
Anyway, it was a good game, I allowed
myself to be stabbed.
I'll see you all on the next board!
From: Douglas Kent <dougray30(at)yahoo.com>
To: Michael Norton <mjn82(at)yahoo.com>; NDM <holyyakker(at)gmail.com>; dc391(at)diplomaticcorp.com; diplomacyworld(at)yahoo.com; Githraine(at)yahoo.com; Alex Maslow <blueraider0(at)gmail.com>; Jack McHugh <jwmchughjr(at)gmail.com>; JOHN CLARKE <john.c1arke(at)btinternet.com>; "NICOL, Alfred (AMN)" <amn(at)benenden.kent.sch.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, October 4, 2011 10:14 PM
Subject: Russian EOG, DC391
This was a bit of an odd game. Germany from the start was very
demanding; he did not regard Sweden to be Russian territory, which is something
I am not used to. He also had a pact with Austria that he would bounce me
in Sweden if I moved to Gal. Kinda pissed me off...so I moved to Gal out
of spite, without even thinking about the consequences.
I should state that Jack and I were not going to be allies at first.
We???ve played in MANY games together...I usually attack him, because there is
nothing more enjoyable than listening to Jack whine. But once Germany
moved to Tyrolia, it was clear Jack and I should at least communicate and try to
get Turkey working with us against Austria. Which is what we did.
Turkey and I had agreed to at the very least be peaceful and keep the Black Sea
empty, and it seemed our relationship was going well. My biggest concerns
were (aside from bossy Germany) France and England. Jack was going to be
toast (Turkey will recall that I TOLD him what Jack???s fate would be...he would
be down to 3 centers or less by 1902, whine a lot, and quickly lose
interest). France and England did not have Germany to worry about, as he
was busy meddling in Italy and Austria. So they had no enemies...France
could swing into the Med, and England up north, and the rest of us would be
squashed.
By 1902 England had agreed to my requests for an alliance. Germany
didn???t see the level of cooperation coming, which allowed me to move to Swe and
then Den, with England taking Sweden. At the same time, Turkey came to the
rescue in the Balkans allowing me to take Ser while he took Gre. So
somehow I was still growing.
1903 arrived, and England and I were quickly dicing and slicing up
Germany. He had left himself far too exposed, and France was of little
help. France had also left HIS backside wide open for the English
fleets. My only disappointment was that Turkey couldn???t get his fleets
into the Med fast enough. Italy was going down too quickly.
Then I made a true goof. I use RP to adjudicate games in Eternal
Sunshine and I sometimes click pieces incorrectly. That???s what I did here
too; I clocked Sev-Bla, and I did NOT mean to. And I didn???t look at my
orders closely. But then it was too late, and it only took the slightest
prodding from England to convince me that I should use that error to my
advantage and strike Turkey while the iron was hot. Germany was
eliminated, so I was going to need to grow from somewhere! The Ottoman
Empire was the most convenient place, and I snuck into Ankara and Greece, and
actually had to waive a build to keep my DMZ agreement with England.
I don???t know what would have happened. I believe England could have
worked it into a solo, 70% at least....but I was happy to take the draw. I
think I played decently after finding myself facing the A/G...the two things I
am proud of would be convincing England to jump in the water with me, and the
Turkish stab, even if it required a bonehead move to put it in place.
From: Michael Norton
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 2:53 PM
To: NDM ; dc391(at)diplomaticcorp.com ; diplomacyworld(at)yahoo.com ; Githraine(at)yahoo.com ; Alex Maslow
; Jack
McHugh ; JOHN CLARKE ; NICOL,
Alfred (AMN)
Subject: Re: The Zombie Lords Revealed
Awesome! I had to pull
over on the road and read the whole thing it was so good. Congrats to everyone
and especially Doug. I'll send an EOG later.
Mike
From: NDM
<holyyakker(at)gmail.com>
To: dc391(at)diplomaticcorp.com;
diplomacyworld(at)yahoo.com; Githraine(at)yahoo.com; Alex Maslow
<blueraider0(at)gmail.com>; Jack McHugh <jwmchughjr(at)gmail.com>; JOHN
CLARKE <john.c1arke(at)btinternet.com>; Michael Norton
<mjn82(at)yahoo.com>; "NICOL, Alfred (AMN)" <amn(at)benenden.kent.sch.uk>;
holyyakker(at)gmail.com
Sent:
Monday, October 3, 2011 11:26 AM
Subject: The Zombie Lords
Revealed
Across all of Europe the zombies have rampaged, devouring
the strong and the guilty as well as the weak and the innocent. Military forces
have crested and ebbed again and again in massive violence fighting both with
other nations as well as the against their own former citizen's now turned into
mindless monsters. Throughout the lands speculation has been wild. The public
had considered the rise of the zombies as a sign of god, or a sign of the devil,
blame had been placed on medical testing to reckless disregard to the laws of
church and nature. But as the conflict spread two nations seemed best equipped
to defeat their enemies as well as the zombie hordes.
-------------------------------------------------
The fireplace burned brightly in the corner, but the rest of the lights
were dimmed, causing eerie shadows to dance and twist along the walls. Two men
stand over a large wooden table peering down at documents in front of them,
their shadows cast long over a map of Europe.
"Well, my friend, it appears our plans have worked."
"Yes." came the short answer from a smile curled around a slowly smoldering
cigarette.
"The other nations have all but given up. Perhaps we should release the
vaccine now?" The first voice a bit more nervous than the other.
"I suppose comrade. If you wish." A pair of hands, covered in black leather
gloves smooth over a map of Europe, arrows and crosses showing the routes of
massive armies and their victories. "They all seem ready to cave as it
is."
"Do you ever think that maybe we shouldn't have done it? All those
innocents dead, your countrymen, my country men." A hint of regret fills the
speaker's voice.
"No." The answer firm and direct. "What we have done has ensured the
survival of our nations for the next two centuries. A few million is a small
sacrifice to secure the future for the rest of us."
"Yes... I suppose you are right."
--------------------------------------------------
"What do you mean, it doesn't work?" the army official angrily questioned
the younger man in a lab coat.
"I didn't say it didn't work!" the technician attempted to explain, again,
with frustration mounting in his voice. "It just doesn't always work!"
The commander of the research facility slammed his fist against the desk.
"Damn it man, it either works or it doesn't work. Does it work?"
"Look, here is what happens. In most subjects the vaccine works fine. It
will revert recent zombification victims to human status and prevent future
zombification infections."
"So it works!"
"In MOST subjects!" the technician interrupted, "In very rare cases the
vaccine will appear to work and continue working for months before the subject
begins to... revert."
"Do they all revert?" The commander looked concerned now, as realization
dawned across his face.
"We don't know, we've only be testing for a few years. It seemed to work
perfectly to begin with, but we never had a chance to study the long term
effects before you folks decided to unleash it on the world! What's worse is
there is evidence to suggest that even in healthy non-zombified humans the
vaccine can cause the change to take place in the long term, but we haven't
confirmed whether or not that can happen or how common it will be. We just don't
know."
"And we never will." The commander clasped his hands in front of his chin,
deep in thought.
"What do you mean? We have to research this more, we need to find
out.."
It was the commander's turn to interrupt, "Find out what?" He snapped
angrily, "Whether or not we are all doomed? The vaccine has already been handed
out like candy across the world. If we go public with this information now all
that will happen is the brass will see that we are silenced. No. We bury this
report. We burn it, and we bury it that is the only way we stay alive."
"And... and then what?" the scientist seemed defeated and scared now, as if
reality had come crashing down around him.
"Then we both go home and pray to god that you are wrong."
--------------------------------------------
The sun was shining bright on the shores of Naples. A family was taking an
outing, enjoying the fair weather. Life was finally returning to some semblance
of normal. Along the shoreline various buildings were still in ruins, reminders
of the brutal conflict that had taken place. Several locals had taken to combing
the shore for pieces of scrap metal that would still wash up from the destroyed
fleets. On a good day the scavengers could bring in a hefty load of iron and
steel, on the bad days all they found were bloated half eaten corpses.
Fernando and his family were hoping they'd find neither today. The harbor
wall had done a good job of keeping most of the debris off of this particular
stretch of beach. "Don't go wading in too far!" he called to his children,
"Lunch will be ready soon!" He felt blessed each and every day that his family
had made it through the war untouched. His brother had not been so lucky when
his wife had succumb to the infection and turned on him. He was able to fend her
off, their infant had not been as fortunate. It was a wonder he hadn't killed
himself in grief.
He shook his head, trying to abandon such dark thoughts on a sunny day. It
would have helped had there been a few more families out to enjoy the great
weather. They seemed to have the beach to themselves other than for the strange
figure in the distance who was slowly limping down the beach. Fernando idly
wondered if he'd join them for lunch, he looked like he might be a wounded
soldier from the war...
---------------------------------------------
"Did you bring the proof?" A hushed voice asked from behind a thick wooden
door.
"Ja, it is here, let me in." The short man's eyes darted nervously up and
down the street. As soon as the door was open more than a crack he pushed
through into the foyer of the house in what used to part of the German
Empire.
"Here it is." he said pulling an envelope form his coat. "Documents, they
prove everything."
The older man's eyes lit up and his mouth opened in a wide grin. "So we can
finally prove they started the entire plague. We can prove they were the ones
who caused everything."
"Yes, yes! All we need to do is go public and their hegemony will be
destroyed." The shorter man smiled.
The soft report of a silenced pistol went off and the shorter man clutched
at his abdomen. "I am sorry friend, but what will that do? It won't bring back
the German Empire, it won't bring back our rule. But what they will do is pay
for silence, and pay handsomely, and that money, and time, can buy influence
and, ultimately, revenge."
The shorter man attempted to speak but no sound would come, he could feel
the blood flooding into his lungs, drowning him like so many German soldiers
drowned in the northern seas.
"Don't worry my friend, we will have our vengeance, Germany will remember
all you have done, but this requires a delicate touch. A better sense of...
diplomacy."
===========================================
End of Game Results
Russia/England Draw was voted up by everyone. I apologize for the delay,
but I wanted time to give you guys a slightly more enjoyable end game email. A
final map will be distributed/uploaded as soon as I get back onto my laptop and
off a work computer. I hope you all enjoyed the game and were willing to forgive
the minor delays and setbacks. I hope you enjoyed my ending story lines as well.
I felt I needed to give you something special after delaying so many deadlines
on my part. Feel free to give me any feedback you'd like and thanks for
playing.
