Wow. I had 861 messages saved from this game and that probably doesn't include some deleted by accident. I know this because I had to go back to look at what exactly happened early on in the game and try to figure out how we got to where we ended. I remembered some bigger parts that shaped the mid-late game (i.e. my stab of the Hobbits) but couldn't remember the earlier parts. And now I remember why...

 

At the time I signed up things were relatively calm in real life but that would all change with the first email about gamestart. Literally that email arrived and things went into overdrive at home - winter storms arrived right on Christmas day and knocked out my home power for a week, the house we had been trying to sell for months suddenly got an attractive offer (during the power outage no less) and with the sale of the house came a move across country and the need to purchase a new house. All just in time for Spring 01. The insanity lasted through around S03...

 

I provide that commentary because I think it helped influence some of what happened early on and where my mind was. Also an influence was my previous experience with the Elf/Ogre dynamic (different game) and some of what I saw happening around me. I started simply wanting to avoid being outflanked by my neighbors and to see if I could gain enough security to stick around for a while. So gladly I made a DMZ with the Ogres, played nice with the Leps and had a loose agreement to attack the Shades (hey whatever had the L/O looking away from me!). My moves to the Central Isle ultimately set me up for a nice conversation/agreement with the Leps about Ter/Old that ultimately may have cemented our long-term alliance.

 

In Spring02 I went completely rogue for the first time (only happened twice - the second was the upcoming stab of the Hobbits). I had no idea where to go this turn and had even less time to communicate much with neighbors. I admit I was somewhat worried that the lack of communication on my part meant a stab was forthcoming from someone and figured it would come from the Ogres (not because of anything about Jerome but rather because I figured expanding north is ALWAYS attractive to the Ogres). So I moved against the Ogres hard. I lucked up and it happened to coincide with the Shades striking out at the Ogres too so things were looking up. And that brought me several opportunities for friends - the Leps were on board to split some of the spoils (plus now we shared a common goal around Ter as I moved to that side of the Central Isle) and the newly-formed HWP alliance reached out to see if I was interested in working together against the Nomads and the Shades. Seemed perfect for me because it meant that only one alliance was with a neighbor that had units standing on top of my units (the Leps). HWP lasted exactly a year as Derek decided it was time to surprise the Wizards. Seeing where that was going I cut a deal with him to get Cos and maybe Zhe while he took the other SC's. That plus agreement to work against the remaining Nomad/Shade/Ogre units in the south and watching the holes in the ground for the Dwarves meant we were well on our way.

 

04-Spring 06 saw my two alliances start to work together as the Wizards were replaced by the Leps and we officially were the HELP alliance. Derek, Brian and I worked effectively in the south against the remaining forces there and we started to push north into the center as well. Brian and I exchanged SC's as we had previously agreed and stayed the course. As we stretched north and south I began to get a bit worried that I was both getting units far from home AND that I was the delicious filling in a LH sandwich. Irrational really since neither Derek nor Brian gave me any cause to believe that; but, what's Diplomacy without a little paranoia? Hadn't Derek just gutted the Wizards 3 years back? Wasn't there still chaos in the north at this point? Isn't his Dip-handle derekthefeared? And he was growing awfully fast....

 

{sigh} I don't have to be proud of it but it happens. It's Diplomacy and we play to win. So I stabbed Derek. I honestly felt like I was simply beating him to the punch, especially since he was relatively insulated from other action by the Pirates (thus a stab of me would have not put him in a multi-front war). So I decided that was just as good of a reason for me to stab. Not sure but somewhere in the mix I might have been able to stab Brian but I was already nervous about Derek stabbing me and was thinking about hitting him so I just never saw a way to hit Brian. And he and I were working so well together at that point that I just felt like it was the relationship I would want until late in the game. That proved a very smart decision (not that Derek wouldn't have proven likewise). I will deviate here to praise Brian as a great ally and a perfect person to work with in this type of game where a larger strategy is needed along with tactics because of the immensity of the board and players.

 

Derek said I would regret the stab and he was almost 100% right. I am not sure he wasn't still 75% right in the end because HEL could have become the southern version of AGK and we had the advantage of uniting much earlier than they did (until I messed it up). Derek took my stab in stride and had to stab Jim to gain Pirate SC's to minimize the impact (well-played Derek). And honestly Derek's defense of his homeland almost cost Brian and I the game. It took from 07-13 to finally eliminate Derek and that was with the combined might of EL. Unfortunately while that was happening, AGKD became a unified alliance in the north and had pretty much eliminated everyone leaving me and Brian by ourselves. Derek's defense cause it to take longer than I ever expected to eliminate him and was probably 1 year away from giving AGKD the time it needed to overwhelm and start to eliminate EL.

 

But somehow we broke through just in time and Brian and I fought to create a stalemate line. Yes, a stalemate line in Haven is a bit like a Unicorn...that race doesn't exist. Nonetheless I was convinced that I could create one. Years 14-18 were just plain boring as each side traded punches and didn't really get anywhere. Somewhere around year 15/16 a KAGLE draw was proposed. For the record, I was voting YES until somewhere around Fall19. In Fall of 18 the Knights pushed us back but slightly around the Undead peninsula BUT by then I had found a stalemate line and Brian and I were entrenched on it. To be transparent, the stalemate line did have one flaw because a F in place of an A on one of the AGKD spaces would have spelled disaster. However it didn't impact us because a} I don't think they realized it and b} they couldn't get a F in place of that A without leaving a huge gap in the line.

 

So 19 and 20 became about the stalemate. We had LONG been talking to Rolf to get him to turn on the Archers and Gnomes. Once the stalemate seemed locked, it looked like he might at last do it and the plan was to go for an ELK finish. So, in hope that he would stab, I voted NO for the KAGLE in both F19 and S20. The Knight stab came in F20 and the game was afoot again. I honestly held hope at this point that things could get real interesting BUT the Gnomes had a few NMR turns and didn't disband and rebuild at home. When that happened and Rolf wouldn't stop his assault NOR give Brian and I SC's to keep the balance of power from him getting a runaway solo, we freaked. Brian and I immediately started talking seriously with Tom (Archers) about leaving him alone and trying to flow around him to help stop the Knights advance. Years 21-25 became about stopping the solo and we just managed. Unfortunately the Magicians became a casualty in this process but fortunately the Dwarves did not (their last unit became key to locking in a NEW war front - I am not calling it a stalemate line because I am not 100% sure that it was that in fact). I think we had Rolf stopped and there was no way he was going to get the 5 he needed to solo and I am quite sure that we couldn't make much progress against him. I agreed to the LEAK because there was no real hope of ALE making progress against Rolf and I felt like there really wasn't much left in the game at this point.

 

Thanks to all for playing and for an amazing game. That to me is what Dip is all about. And congrats to my fellow draw participants and to G/D who someone managed to hang on and still impact the endgame.

 

Thanks as always Mike!

Garry