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