Greetings all.  I have been a bit pre-occupied the last couple of weeks but I did want to give a little recap of the game from my perspective.  First of all, a HUGE thanks to Mike Sims for running this game.  I'm sure the map takes some time to make and dealing with a rash of chances and different adjudications because things are different than the standard map takes some time.  The game moved at a good pace and I'm glad I got to join.

From the outset at drawing England, I only knew three players on the board, Germany, Italy and Austria.  I don't think Steve and I ever played against each other, but I GM'ed a game he was in and we met briefly at a FTF game which I stopped by to watch and have a beer courtesy of the host that day.  Mike, Warren and I have played in many battles, including I think the original Seismic.  I wouldn't say that we have worked well or poorly together, but both are good players and I looked forward to working with them again if possible.

I started out negotiating in the west.  From my memory of the original game, I remembered the quicker it was to eliminate a neighbor, the better it was since it game lots of time to expand provinces to make quicker advances on the board.  I opened to both Germany and France to quickly rid the board of the other.  Germany bit on the offer, while France seemed to want nothing to do with the offer.  That made my decision pretty easy.  I really worked Mike.  I didn't want F Kie - Hol, but I couldn't talk him out of it.  I knew it left open a chance for him to work with France against me.  But I couldn't do anything about it.  Going into the Fall, I had laid out a plan for Mike and I each to grow a couple centers over the next two years, killing of France by 1903 and marching east before the other 4 powers had a chance to organize.  I'm not sure what Chris said to Mike to get him to change his mind, but Mike didn't follow along.  Chris and I didn't even try to speak for the next three years.  I think I emailed him once to try and go after Germany, but it was useless as our only battles were against each other.  Hindsight being 20/20, I think Mike regretted that decision as it left France and England fighting for three years without any progress while Russia and Italy really bonded together to stop any German growth.  At that point, Mike needed an ally and since he saw France struggling to make any progress against me, he probably figured it was better to work with me against Chris since it would be easier for him to get centers from France than for him to get any from me.  The only other option would have been for F/G to finish me off in 1902, but Mike saw gains in the east and didn't finish the job in the west.

My biggest saving grace was Steve in Italy.  He had made some great decisions early on and really played the best game on the board.  I was really trying him to push to France because that would get France off my back and with Germany working with me, I figured I'd be in the game long enough to stir the pot while the bigger countries went back and forth.  Steve aided me by stabbing Russia and going at France at about the same time.  That led to the entire board turning on him and let Steve and I get control of the neighbors in front of us (France in  front of me and Russia in front of Germany).  My plan was to get an advantage in the southwestern seas and then hit France, which was executed almost perfectly.  A bit of revenge was part of that plan since France really messed up my game, but Mike and I had promised that we wouldn't attack our allies if the board was still in doubt.  Once we knew the board was safe, we decided to start talking about gains of our own.

The ending boiled down to how it did based on the stab of Russia.  Mike and I had discussed stabbing France and we both agreed.  We didn't finish talks of his attack on Russia.  I was not in favor of it because any pressure taken off of Steve at that point basically threw the game into a 3-way draw.  Mike and I couldn't stab each other for gains as Steve would have easily walked to the victory.  I kept telling that to Mike, so maybe that's why he told Steve that he would stab but could never pull the trigger.

Austria and Turkey must have been busy with other parts of life because I didn't hear anything from them, almost nothing from Turkey and absolutely nothing from Austria.  They were in tough shape from the beginning and I probably couldn't have done much about it, but it felt like 5-player Dip from the outset.  Pete and I got along moderately well.  We had a bit of an exchange in 1902 where I thought he was using his early gains to try and force my decision making without selling me on how helping him would help me in the end.  After that though, we had a couple of good conversations down the road and I'd think we would work well together in future games.  Chris and I just never got on the same page.  Except for when we were fighting to stop the Italian push, we didn't really want to help each other.  I was mad at his decision making early on and he was mad that I wouldn't pushing anywhere else but against him later on.  We have different playing styles and I don't know if we accept the other's style.  But for a couple of seasons, we did work pretty well together.  I don't know if there was any chance of working together in this game.  I think we'd work better in a standard game, where I know your philosophy fits better with mine.  Steve, as I mentioned, played a fantastic game.  I don't know if he could have done anything different to get to 18.  If he didn't push West against France when he did.  France probably gains another center or two and is able to defend at home, whereas if he didn't hit Russia when he did, Russia probably forms a decent defense too.  But hitting Germany at that time with Russia could have weakened Germany and allowed for a later stab on Russia.  That could be what Steve thought about after the game.  If I were in his shoes, I probably would have taken his same chances.  For him, it just didn't work out because all four of us agreed to work together.  It is rare that everyone puts aside differences to work like that.  Lastly Mike.  I really wish we would have started our alliance in 1901 rather than in 1903.  Those two years slowed us down and probably cost you a shot at board top.  I would have wanted to fight you for it, but at least we would have had a better chance.  Our alliance was rock solid afterwards as we both knew the pressure points on our attacks and we knew how far we could push the other to make sure the alliance didn't break to allow a victory for Steve.

Thanks again to everyone who played.  I'll look forward to the next Seismic.

On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 7:55 AM, Steven Caponigri <stevencaponigri(at)gmail.com> wrote:

Also, it was I who voted against the draw last turn. I did vote for the GI draw. Mike kept on saying that he was going to stab Kevin, but kept on not doing it. 


On Saturday, April 14, 2012, Steven Caponigri wrote:

I'm a little sad to see the game end. I was on the edge of me seat practically every turn. Good game everyone!


On Saturday, April 14, 2012, administrator wrote:


Well done all of you.  I must learn to handle StPetersburg better - that was the beginning of my downfall.
Pete







On Sat 14/04/12 00:32 , "Mike Hoffman" mrh(at)panix.com sent:


Congrats All for a fun and exciting Seismic game. The best one I've played to date!



Kevin, you were a great ally the entire game. There were a couple times that I was tempted to stab, but the consequences were too high, and I really enjoyed trying to end the game waith a 2-way between us.



Steve, that being said, absolutely fantastic job at seismicing my butt to shreds so I couldn't implement a strong southern push! You also got your fleets in perfect position around Spain and Africa to block our underlying attack plan.  Very well done, and totally enjoy sharing a 3-way with you!





Mike
---------

"Sit Long, Talk Much, Laugh Often" -- anon

"Shared Pain is lessened, Shared Joy is increased" --- Spider Robinson








On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Michael Sims <mike(at)fuzzylogicllc.com> wrote:



Well folks this one just needs a bow on it and it's all wrapped up.  3-way draw!  Congrats guys... EOG's?  What should we run next?
 
Lots of neat seismics in this one, particularly the area around Tunis.  I couldn't decide between calling those NC and SC or EC and WC... It was interesting to see the MAO-ION connection go around Africa too... as if the great Sahara had sunk under the sea.  Sometime I'd like to see the Baltic joined to the Adriatic, and Europe split in two!

 
-mike
 




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