German End Game Statement: A great group of players! I have the suspicion the group is a mixture of experienced and newer players.  As Germany I have not had much luck when allying with England so at start of game I decided he would be the target of my diplomatic efforts.  An email circulated by Italy indicating a R/A/F alliance resulted in my worrying about what Stuart might do and I stood of on Burgundy instead of making a better move.  To that extent the forwarded email had some affect.  A
breakthrough occurred when France agreed to convoy my army Belgium to Wales and Russia agreed to trade Sweden for Norway.  Now it took to long to set this all up giving Austria and Italy time to grow to point where they could strike at F/G. Still if Russia had not joined in attack the game might have ended differently.  The other deciding factor was R/I/A ganging up on Turkey, this left no country counter weight to I/A/R plans. Facing elimination after convoy to Wales, England agreed to abandon England in return for survival position in Norway and StP.  He
did not keep exact deal, on one occasion retreating to SKA, and in another not voting for F/A draw and attacking my SC in Norway threatening to occupy North Sea.  Still his actions enabled F/G to establish a solid stalemate line. If it had not been for key NMR by France because of GM communication to Germany error, game could have ended in F/A tie.  Still Game Mastering is no easy task and each must do it in his or her own way.  Except for Eric my communications with all players were excellent. My teasing of Eric to get him to attack France worked; but too well. Still it prevented France from joining an A/R/F alliance.  I finished with 5 SC including Munich, that is better than being eliminated. With Warm Regards!Hugh  -  hapolley(at)yahoo.ca