Italy EOG:
 
Hi guys,
 
I agree with a great deal of Andrew's thoughts in his EOG, particularly over the stalemate line issue, though I'd like to add some thoughts of my own.
 
Firstly, well done to Rick, an excellent and well deserved solo I thought. You're a strong tactician and a worthy opponent, hope you end up near the top of the Blitz tables.
 
The move Andrew was referring to between him and me was the 'Blue Water Lepanto', the subject of an excellent article I read some time ago and was fascinated by, and wanted a chance to try to put into action sometime. The move is actually supposed to be an Austrian opening, rather than Italian, but I convinced Andrew to give it a go. Unfortunately, Andrew collapsed to his north before we had the chance to follow it right through - though pleasingly, I did at least get two fleets to Turkey's coast that helped for most of the game.
 
See article here:
 
http://devel.diplom.org/Zine/W1999A/Hand/bwl.html
 
Rick and I flirted with the idea of working together throughout the game, and I regret that a true opportunity to do so never arose - but I just couldn't see past the threat of the RT juggernaut, and so decided that I couldn't really leave the defensive line that Andrew and I were trying to put together. To some extent my ambition to work with Rick was a victim of his speedy success (if that makes sense) - had Rick advanced more slowly via a better Austrian defence, or had Rick shown signs of being willing to abandon the Turk, maybe things could have been different.
 
Desparate for some action, I made northwards movements around Gibraltar in the hope of something happening more than anything else. I had no set plan as to whether to attack England, or Germany, or how to do it, I thought I'd see how things developed before I got there. At first I was enjoying the discord between England and Germany, seeing it as a possible opportunity to capitalise upon, but then the tone of the emails changed and over time I became less and less interested in arguing the toss about stalemate lines and what-not, particularly as the tone of the messages deteriorated. Emails aimed at both E and G took on a bullying tone at times, in my opinion.
 
We probably could have held on and enforced a DIAS, but I just got sick of the catty group emails that were being sent between E and G and copied into the four of us. I just reached the conclusion that we could either die slowly trying to square an impossible circle in the north, or we could just credit Rick with the result and get it over and done with. A bit like pulling a plaster ('Band-Aid' off, really - the sooner you get it done, the less painful it is.
 
Still, there we are. Thanks to John for being an awesome GM once again, definitely one of the best. I hope to play alongside you in a game one day John, I think that would be real fun. Thanks also to Andrew for being a great ally, despite the screw-ups - it was a real pleasure working alongside you and in trying to put the Blue Water Lepanto into action. I've learned a lot about working together in defence with you in this game.
 
Thanks also to all of you guys for playing the game, and well done once more to Rick for his excellent win.
 
 
Jerome