I agree with Warren - Hugh, you did a great job.  Thank you very much for GMing here in DC. 



As for End of Game for DC437 - I regret to be late in
writing it, especially since Jonny B did such a good write up and asked for
same.  But, I enjoyed the game, new map
for me, and a good crowd.


Australia's story: 
Well, I teamed up early with neighbors to see what may work, ended up
that I allied strongly with New Zealand on my right, and Japan to my north.  There was not a lot of mutual action possible
with New Zealand and Australia, but we kept a good border and a few mutual
supports as we moved northwards.


My alliance with Japan was reasonable solid, as he had no
reason to fear me, lots of open space to his east to expand into, leaving
Indonesia to be crushed between the two of us. 
So that worked great for a while, but Indonesia was played by a tough customer
who could hang in with the best of them. 
So, it turned into a death struggle with Indonesia and I, with a very
tough movement prospects for Australia (once I committed to defending the
continent).  The hard part is the
continent and the big islands that do not allow army airlift .  That was a real handicap for Indonesia and
Australia both I think.  Anyway, that struggle
finally lead to the inevitable Japanese stab - inevitable because all his
forces were south, and I was just too big and easy a target based on geography,
poor positioning on my part, and overmatch in Japanese forces.  Also, as Jonny of Japan pointed out, the swing of the Indonesian forces to his side was decisive for sure.  I should have done more diplomacy and perhaps that would have gone my way instead.


Also, Japan had three good things going for him:  1) no competition from the east - Mar, Fra,
USA were to engaged to threaten him, 2) the island hopping efficiencies and
really good unit (fleet/army) choices by Johnny, and finally, 3) Johnny is just
a darn good player.  Better than I am,
for sure.  He earned the solo through good diplomacy and good tactics.  Let that be a lesson to us all.


I look forward to playing all of you again sometime.  Good luck all.


Jason (stomped down-under (so to speak) as Australia in DC437)