Nice game everybody!  A big thanks to Kevin, it's always a pleasure to play in your games and I was happy to step in here.  In particular, I enjoy the central powers of Austria and Germany, and here was a replacement spot after only a single turn had passed -- seemed like a great game to fill in for.  But then I was in for a surprise, as I'd found RI had pretty much set up a team that was going to be nearly impossible to break.  This left me w a sinking feeling in my stomach, for I could sense that AIR was going to take out Turkey, then RI would squeeze me between them and there wasn't much I could do about it.
 
So to break out of this mold, I went for a very early stab at Ross.  I had to break up the 2-way RI somehow, and I didn't feel negotiations were doing it.  It was mildly effective, but not quite deathly, as Ross managed to weather the worst of it and stay viable most of the game.  The thing that really kept me alive was that Turkey and Russia got off to such a bad start w each other that I was pretty confident RT would fight while I slowly take out Italy.  The animosity between RT was so strong, I couldn't figure out if it was for real even or just faked... but it turned out to be real, and that's  what I attribute my survival to.  They liked each other so little in this game that neither wanted to chance stabbing me for fear of losing to the other. 
 
Naturally I hoped this dynamic would delay them as long as possible, slowly progressing vs Italy, trying everything I could to take you out Ross, after which point I felt I could re-enter the R-A-T negotiations w a safe back side, effectively 1-on-1-on-1. 
 
But then in the west, England disintegrated, and FG got into a 2-way and started marching east way faster than I hoped.  They weren't having any sort of the muddled struggle we were in the east.  In light of this, I think I started the talks, but RAT came to the conclusion that we really had to stop leveraging vs each other and try to stop the FG who was otherwise going to steamroll east.  This worked great, as Tim's pointed out below.  We were able to push back with overwhelming strength.  3 on 2, we had the numbers on our side and no stalemate lines for the westerners with Tim pumping out fleets in the north.  Around here we talked about doing a 3-way RAT ending.
 
Then I made a move that I consider questionable... As always, Tim wanting to in the background take Turkey out of the draw, at one point I bought in and made a stab at Turkey - hoping to take him out and end it in a 2-way AR.  But, that was a disaster as the turn I stabbed him, he changed up a move as well, and we ended up breaking even when I was hoping to go +2/-2, and as a result, my stab was thwarted, and I felt like quite the schmuck.
 
Then things got kinda confusing tho, since France and Germany made some what I'd consdier sub-par strategic plays... France I think stabbed Germany mostly killing him off, then Germany sent his last few units into France... all this chaos, I think, was caused by Tim and his wonderful way with words... forever keeping F and G doing just what he wanted -- while constantly marching forward and taking their dots.
 
I think this explains it beautifully... "James, I treated you poorly and lied almost every turn....i told you i would leave England alone then immediately attacked...then tried to patch things up...then attacked again".  I don't know how you managed to pull this off, constantly moving on FG, yet constantly re-convincing them to either attack each other or move south against me.  This must have been some amazing diplomacy and showed some real skill here to make this happen.  I remember tipping my hat to you for these feats of diplomacy several times during the game.
 
As a result, Russia managed to outgrow both Turkey and myself, and things started looking like a win for Russia, Turkey and I both put the recent turn's stab behind us, and we decided to move on Russia to stop the win, and that worked pretty well.  We staked out a stalemate line across Tyr-Boh-Gal-Sev, and after that any remaining Russian dots would have to come from France, all while not losing any to TA.  It would be tough.  But still doable, especially considering the final removal of France, pulling off one of his last two fleets!!!
 
Tim, in light of France pulling off that last fleet, you had commanding control over the French seas, and I really don't see why you didn't play this out a bit more.  4 dots.  Bre-Par-Por-Spa?  I think you could have got them.  It would have been a race, my and Turkey's fleets racing up to try to hold Spain.  The other 3 would have fallen squarely to you.  This is why I think my stab of Turkey was bad when I made it, cuz it killed our momentum to get out west and beat you to / help France hold Spain.  But at the time, I wasn't thinking you'd still be able to convince France to keep moving south away from you.
 
I don't think Ross' move in the end to ADR would have changed much.  I talked this over w Doug, and I was just going to let him have Ven or Tri, cuz it didn't affect the stalemate line.  Then eventually he'd get squeezed out, so probly better to vote for any draw that gets a survival, and I'm happy you got that cuz you were one of the most active players in the game.  This game was awesome in terms of the early negotiations.  There was so much mail flowing between Ross, Tim, Doug, and myself, which made it a really exciting game.  There were lots of stabs which kept it interesting, a solo race, and then a RAT draw which we talked about long ago, before we all got greedy and tried to figure out ways to squeeze so-and-so out. 
 
Good game,
-mike
Austira
 



From: Timothy Crosby [mailto:timothyl.crosby(at)gmail.com]
Subject: Re: dc393 - Game Over


Wow, where to begin. It was a fun game thank you all for playing.


Thanks Kevin for running the game for us.


I entered the game thinking that i knew a fair amount about the game....i had a couple of wins under my belt and my attitude and such got me into some trouble here....however, regardless of how the game could have ended. I learned more in this game than all of the others i have played in thanks to Mike and Doug and Ross. You guys showed me things i had never considered and gave me a whole new perspective that i have already put into practice in games i am in now. I feel honored to be part of a wining draw when at a couple points in the game i did not think i deserved to be there never the less playing the game at all.


Things started off strange because no one heard a thing from the original Austria but he has submitted prelims thus we moved on....I agreed to keep the Black Sea open with Turkey, though he decided to come after me from the start...which was fine, i was upset because he lied and i had no communications with Austria which put me in a tough spot. My only other option was to befriend Italy..we decided to wait and see what would happen with Austria for the Fall and in the mean time we made plans to attack Turkey together....when Fall 01 arrived there were no Austrian orders so a ringer was brought in to take up the vacant spot. There is where i ran into the problem of sticking with Italy or trying to work with Austria....all the plans were laid out with Italy but I wanted to go with Austria. The three of us talked about attacking Turkey together, a LOT of discussion was going on.....Austria made the decision for us by supporting Doug into Rumania so it turned into R/I vs. A/T. Mike i did get you reasoning why you did that, but I would have dropped Italy in a second to get back at Doug for stabbing me on the first turn. (sorry Ross) Several turns were spent stagnating one another around GAL when Mike mentioned that we (RAT) should join forces or spend the game doing nothing. I had seen a big move on Germany since i was in GAL and WAR. I was very bitter with Turkey and it was tough to give in but it worked out....Turkey moved up through GAL and i moved on BER. I had to let Ross go because Austria needed a place to expand..i could not come to your defense because this was the only option i had to get any progress.


RAT went on for most of the game. We approached France to have him turn on Germany just as England was falling out and that should have been the end of Germany but France made some curious moves that drove two German armies into France...I kept building fleets in the north which should have signaled to France that i would be coming after him but France concentrated on getting Germany out of his home centers as i moved my fleets closer. I think i made some mistakes here by not taking either of the two chances i had to get into MAO....I should not have stabbed France as early as i did i think now looking back. France made a retreat of a fleet OTB that should have gone to IRI..at that point I thought i was going to get a win....I think Mike say that too and made the right move on the next turn to push his units north....you made the right call at the right time Mike...I will strive to recognize those times because i do not know that i would have done that were our positions switched and in the end i would have lost, I think it was that close. If you did not make the move right at that time the game was going to be lost.


Ross, i am glad you got a survival out of the game. I wanted to stick with you as an ally but a great opportunity came up and i could not pass on it...I would have loved to see how this last turn went especially that order for ADR. Maybe it could have helped me win...we'll never know. Thanks for the game


Doug and Mike, thank you for being patient with me as i questioned everything that was going on when we were putting RAT together. It was difficult for me to break out of my single minded mode of thinking but it happened. I am sure there was more than one time where it would have been easier to just wipe me out and be done with it...i am glad that didn't happen. I look forward to playing with you guys again.


Rene....F/G got the jump on you and it was too much to take...nice playing with you again.


James, I treated you poorly and lied almost every turn....i told you i would leave England alone then immediately attacked...then tried to patch things up...then attacked again. As you were telling me that you would move south though you kept moving fleets north so i did have to respond...with more fleet builds than i wanted. Nice playing with  you and i hope you are fully recovered.


Buck, Mike made me do it! It was the only way out of 8 years of stalemate until you were too strong to fight.


Kevin, thanks again for GMing...sorry to keep bugging you about the resutls...the game was very intense at times.


I am sure i missed some thing from my perspective here but that is what i remember the most. It was a lot of fun and very enlightening. This is one i will not soon forget.


Tim
Russia