Austria EGP:

I've never played Austria before, and made a muddle out of it!  Some of that can be chalked up to luck:  I pretty much had to hope Turkey or Russia would partner with me, and Russia seemed most willing to entertain the thought.  In the end he chose Turkey as his ally, and from that point I was, at best, going to survive. 


Fortunately Italy wanted me as an ally and proposed a bold modified lepanto style attack on Turkey at gamestart, which I agreed to.  Unfortunately events rapidly spiraled, and we were never able to execute the plan - in large part due to my taking a big risk in trusting that Russia wouldn't attack me right off, and then a foulup in ordering on my part which let him make some moves I'd intended to counter.  The result?  I lost most of my home centers, and threw most of the rest to Italy in exchange for guaranteed survival.


With a juggernaut to our East, Italy and I figured that working together would be pretty much necessary to have any hope in this game.  We agreed to take up blocking positions and try to get Russia or Turkey to switch sides.  Didn't work, and a harebrained move idea on my part plus a late order set slowly eroded the stalemate line we had going.


Of course, it didn't much matter, as England's vendetta against Germany stemming from some drama early in the game kept the two of them battling it out even as Russia took centers from both of them.  This vendetta led him to sabotage any and all attempts to form a line in the north, as he wanted Germany to be eliminated before the end of the game.  He refused to even risk a single center and threatened to throw the game to Russia if he failed to get his way. 


A fairly well known stalemate line runs northwest from the Ionian Sea through Greece and Trieste, then on up through Munich, Kiel, and the North/Norwegian Seas.  Its not seen much because England's inherent advantage in early fleet position means that it takes some bad turns in the game for Russia or Germany to threaten the line.  With Russia having only 2 fleets up north, the truth of it is that England probably could have held Denmark and gone on the offensive at the same time while Germany and Italy held the line.  The calculation is pretty simple:  Germany needs 5 units to hold Mun and Kie assuming Den-Nth-Nwg are in allied hands, and from Tyr on south is as well.  Italy/Austria need 7 total to hold Tyr-Ven-Adr-Ion.  Up north 6 are needed to hold Den-Skag-Nth-Nwg.  Collectively, we had the necessary units on hand.


And all this assumes a perfect build strategy by the opposition that is perfectly situated - and few opponents are.  Russia/Turkey wasn't, so my count of needed units was wholly pessimistic.  Russia would need 2 more fleets than he had. With current dispositions, all that was needed to hold Nth-Nwg-Den was 4 fleets in total. Hence, we could technically very easily have effected a stalemate and DIAS.


Alas, wasn't to be.  Even though we only discussed eliminating England once he started on his paranoid rants, that is where we were inevitably headed.  Although I actually feel the game could have gone on to an inclusive DIAS even if we did have to knock out England, I think everyone got so sick of the infighting that we just wanted to end it with some dignity intact.


Rick, congrats on a well earned solo!  You are a savvy and gracious opponent.

On Thu, May 17, 2012 at 8:19 AM, rick powell <rick_powell_2000(at)yahoo.com> wrote:

Well I honestly didnt see that coming.. thank you guys..
I will draw up a prop end game in the next couple of days but thanks to you all for making it a memorable game to say the least and I do hope our paths cross again..


From: John R <untitled36(at)hotmail.com>
To: amtrating(at)gmail.com;
bret_pollack(at)hotmail.com; davidknight1955(at)gmail.com; dip.power.915(at)gmail.com; WB 2011 england 1 <jerome777(at)ymail.com>; wb 2 russia <rich3520(at)aol.com>; England WB 2012 <rick_powell_2000(at)yahoo.com>; blitz(at)diplomaticcorp.com

Sent: Thursday, 17 May 2012, 14:52
Subject: DC 424 Peace Reigns!



Hey all,
 
     Peace reigns in Europe after six years of war. And it appears the only situation agreeable to everyone is.... THE RUSSIAN SOLO! Congrats to the Russian. This will catapult him ahead to the top of the round two standings. The rest of you get a survival, except the eliminated french of course. I'd love to see end of game statments from everyone, especially since in my mind it was still possible to stop Russia, at least in theory. With Turkey helping Russia in the southeast combined with the unrest in the northwest, perhaps in practice it was impossible.

 
Thanks all! Hopefully we'll see you for the blitz next year!
 
John