Not much more for me to add to the excellent EOG's already.

I started the game in a strong alliance with Russia, which I think became apparent to everyone pretty rapidly.  The initial Austrian player was completely silent, which discomfitted me at the beginning.  I could have gone either way on attacking Austria or Turkey, but Doug's aggressive early moves against Tim pretty much settled that.  Austria's lack of communication suggested to me that there was little chance of coordination between Turkey and Austria, so it seemed the thing to do to defeat them in detail: Turkey first, then Austria.

Then the initial Austrian player dropped out and Mike took over.  I didn't realise it at the time, but this was the crucial moment for my game.  Tim and I had a good plan of advance worked out for taking on Turkey, and I didn't
want to see that upset.  Mike was making all the right noises about wanting to join in with this, and so foolishly I believed him, because it was convenient to believe him.  First big mistake - no matter how invested I was in the existing plan, we should have torn it up and thrown it out as soon as the players changed.  The second big mistake was in not thinking through that it was highly implausible Mike would side with Tim and me against Doug: he would surely realise he would be next on the menu.

My downfall was sealed by a seemingly innocuous decision: a failure to bounce an Austrian army from moving into Trieste.  This apparently minor stab cost me Venice, and it was all downhill from there.  I was immediately on the back foot, and stayed that way for the rest of the game.  Briefly, France, Germany and myself rallied in a defence of western Europe, and I managed to regain Venice, but the defensive line was
fragile and precarious and relied on lucky breaks going our way.  In the event that was irrelevant as James stabbed Buck and the whole thing started to unravel.

Mike made huge inroads into my home centres and I was left with just a couple of units.  I couldn't blame Tim for leaving me in the lurch: it was the right call, and I would have done exactly the same thing in his shoes.  However, by now he was moving against France and drawing James' attention to the north so I rolled the dice and lurched to the west, hoping to find a quiet spot away from trouble in Iberia and sit it out.  It wasn't to be, but my fleet did get as far as Mid Atlantic and I briefly entertained the possibility of trying for somewhere in the British Isles!

The battle lines in the Med swung again and for a time I could camp out with my lonely unit in the Med, hoping to cling on for a survival.  This lasted for longer than I could realistically
have hoped for, but once draw votes started being proposed and failing I felt I had to do something to try to exert any tiny influence I had left: the move to Adriatic was intended to throw a wildcard into central Europe.  Hopefully, it would make the situation there unpredictable enough that the other players would accept the draw.  By the sounds of it, that doesn't seem to have made much difference (though the plan evolved to one of trying to disrupt Austrian fleet movements - if the game had gone on a turn or so, who knows).

In the end it didn't matter, as somewhat to my surprise the draw passed.  I didn't expect to be celebrating a one-centre survival (and not even a home centre at that), but this game has been an educational experience, and has been nothing short of fascinating from start to finish (even if I did spend much of it on the sidelines).

Thanks everyone for a great
game!

Ross.

------------------------

"Field_Marshal_Vague"

Ross Galloway

rgall.dip(at)btinternet.com

------------------------

--- On Sat, 11/2/12, Kevin O <kodiplomacy(at)gmail.com> wrote:

From: Kevin O <kodiplomacy(at)gmail.com>
Subject: dc393 - Game Over
To: dc393(at)diplomaticcorp.com, "Douglas Kent" <diplomacyworld(at)yahoo.com>, "james pillington" <mountaindew(at)btconnect.com>, "Michael Sims" <mike(at)fuzzylogicllc.com>, "Ross Galloway" <rgall.dip(at)btinternet.com>, "Timothy Crosby" <timothyl.crosby(at)gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, 11 February, 2012, 0:51

MESSAGE:
 
The 3-way Austria/Russia/Turkey draw proposal has passed with a unanimous vote.
 
Thanks to all that played through the game, made orders time, and put up with my delays.  Please submit end of game statements.  A final map will be added to the website later.