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Anyone who's played with me knows I write long EOGs, so buckle up. Where
to start with this one?
Ok, the game lasted at least five years too long. I???m really interested
in what was going on with the failed KAGLEs and the failed ELKs during the
last decade of this game. Can people who write EOGs please let us know at
which point they began voting for draws or more accurately, which ones they
were against?
Wedged in the corner with a convenient access point to the underground I
determined early on to take on two priorities: 1) to make short work of at
least one neighbor, and 2) to make a move underground. I quickly cut a deal
with the Magicians to dismember the Undead. I didn???t really intend to get
involved in fights with the Ogres or Shades, but I fell in with the Hobbits
and Elves around the time they absolutely gored the Wizards and the three
of us joined to wipe out the Ogres and (after a long delay) the Shades. I
then followed the next step of my plan and went Underground to take on the
Dwarves, but that didn???t pan out at all.
Here???s an aside. In the Winter of 03, Roger (Undead) had one center left
and through disbands, had the chance to keep a fleet in Thunderhead with a
guarantee of capturing one of my centers in Tua and from there, wreaking
havoc in my other home centers. Instead he disbanded that unit and kept a
useless one in Nec that couldn???t do anything. If the Undead had kept that
unit and forced me to turn all my units around to take him out, I am fully
confident I would have been toast by 05. I???d love any explanation from
Roger on why he didn???t tear me up that turn.
Clearly my key partnership this game was with the Elves. Garry (Elves)
and I were communicating early on and worked the deal that took down the
Shades and Ogres. But real-life issues were interfering with Garry???s
ability to focus on the game and cooperate effectively, and I didn???t think
he had the attention to be the right partner in those early years. My best
partnership early on was probably with the Hobbits. We developed a loose
three-way HEL with an even looser third wheel in the form of the Magicians.
The partnership lasted until Garry brought down the hammer on Derek
(Hobbits) in the Fall of 06. That presented me with a tough decision and,
by a razor???s edge, I sided with the Elves. Derek, you should know how
close I came to buying into your plan to hit the Elves. But weirdly, I was
really focused on finishing off the Shades??? one last center, which had
lasted like two years longer than it should have. The plan to finish the
Shades tipped the scales toward the Elves and changed the course of the
game for me.
It???s worth noting that both before and after he stabbed the Hobbits, Garry
had opportunities to stab me hard and put me out of the game in short
order. I think I would have done it if I were him. But he stuck to the
game plan we were developing and once I stuck with him against the Hobbits
we worked hand-in-glove.
It was already becoming clear by 07 that Gary and I, along with Jeff
(Magicians), were going to become the dominant partnership in the southern
hemisphere. The Archers and Gnomes and resurgent Knights were clearly
dominating the north. The Dwarves were an X factor, but weren???t big fans
of mine because of a couple of ham-handed stabs I performed on him
Underground, and my subsequent capture of Jul. So by 07 we already had the
clear outlines of the eventual draw scenario. Garry and I knew that the
dying Hobbits had tossed their lot with the Archers and we needed to focus
like a laser on finishing off the Hobbits so we could position to counter
the growing alliance against us.
By 10, Garry and I were still grinding down the Hobbits, but our partner
Jeff was about to confront the Knights head-on and it wasn???t going to be
pretty. I???d been communicating with Rolf (Knights) for several turns.
There was a ridiculous war of attrition going on in the Central Sea between
the Dwarves/Archers and me and I felt I had the upper hand. We had to at
least fight to a draw in the Central Sea or things were going to turn sour
everywhere. With the Knights sweeping down through Tilva Straits, I knew
their arrival in the Central Sea would drastically upset the balance there.
I was determined to work a deal with the Knights and pursued it
relentlessly.
This deal really became my White Whale. I doubt that Rolf was ever really
serious about it, but he played along very, very well. I offered to
totally capsize the game???s trajectory by stabbing first the Magicians and
then the Elves while he took on the Gnomes, Dwarves, and Archers. In 11,
my end of the deal began with a stab of the Magicians, which I did without
warning the Elves. My hope was it would convince Rolf to go along with the
plan. But the same turn, the Knights captured my center in Dim and it
became clear the plan was not going to happen. I kept at it with Rolf,
trying to work other angles, but by 13 it was over and the long, slow slog
to the KAGLE draw effort began.
In 19 the game stalemated along KAG-LE lines with the Dwarves as a
middling but lynchpin KAG partner. Things stayed stalemated for two turns.
KAGLEs were proposed and failed. I am intensely interested in who defeated
these proposals. The game should have ended before 20.
It was Garry who cut the deal that turned the Knights against the AGD
partnership. My role was to stab and eliminate the Magicians, whom the
Knights feared would reestablish their homeland in Knight territory if Rolf
was distracted. Small price to pay ??? sorry Jeff.
The massive stab occurred in 20. At first everything went great. The
Knights caught the allies napping. But in Winter 21 the Gnomes NMRd on a
major adjustment phase and everything changed. Rather than building units
to parry the Knights, the Gnomes opened the door for a massive pickup and
the Knight attack turned into a total rout. He began picking up four and
five centers a year. Our ELK draw proposals, which were the purported goal
of our partnership, were failing even though everyone was claiming to vote
for them. Garry and I started waving caution flags. I asked Rolf if he
would consider allowing me to occupy some of the territories he captured in
order to even out the gains, but he demurred.
Garry and I had to act swiftly and partner with the Archers to stem the
Knight advance. We quickly abandoned our plans to take down the Archer
centers from the south as we???d agreed to do with Rolf and began shuttling
units through Archer territory to support Tom???s (Archer???s) front lines. We
offered Tom a part in a new draw proposal, LEAK. Tom was the one of us who
could bring the Dwarves along and he did. It???s a good thing. The Dwarves
could have used their last remaining fleet to undermine us in the Central
Sea and would have probably thrown the game to the Knights, even as late as
23.
The Gnomes were overwhelmingly frustrating, NMRing several times in final
turns, but taking him out would have benefited the Knights, so we bore
through it.
The stalemate line was about to lock by 24 and Rolf knew it. Finally a
draw came through in the form of LEAK.
I tip my hat to a lot of players in this game. Of course to Garry, my
strategic partner. We schemed together for the last year and made it
count. We both studied this map hard and usually caught each other???s
mistakes (usually ??? we both made a couple of whoppers). Rolf played
brilliantly and nearly won. He???s a very shrewd player. I didn???t cover it
in my EOG, because I can only see it as colors on a map, but Rolf only had
his original three centers as late as 03 before he began growing. I???d love
to hear what went on the north in those early years. Whatever it was, he
pursued a good plan and almost, almost pulled it off. Jeff was a solid
ally for a long time and I felt guilty when I did him in. Patrick
(Dwarves) was a worthy foe for most of the game and I stabbed him more
often than I think I have anyone in any game. Yet he still saw it in his
interest to loosely partner with me at the end to secure the draw. Tom did
a nice turnabout in pivoting to block the Knights with our help ??? he
deserved a place in the draw.
Thanks to everyone for a great game and to Mike for running it. Look
forward to the next one!
Brian (Leps)
On Wed, 16 Apr 2014 17:50:04 -0500, "Michael Sims"
wrote:
There you have it! 24.5 years played, 4-way LEAK draw. Tim of the
Gnomes
and Pat of the Dwarves manage survivals. 483 days.
It's the longest Haven game ever (by turns)... previous was dc224 at
20.5
years... but shorter in real life time, as dc224 took 575 days to do
those
20 years... about 100 days longer! This game falls shy of any "overall"
records, as dc92 cleanly retains both, for a game that went 36 years
over
595 days. I think this game comes in at 3rd overall, behind dc92 at 36
years and dc122 at 29 years.
EOG's are expected from all!
Next we're heading to Disney World in about 3 weeks... After the return
from that, I'll start up the next Haven.
Might open it before, and
let it gather joins up until it starts.
Enjoy!!
-mike
