Congratulations to David for an excellent win.

And many thanks to Mike for GMing.

Just a brief report from France's perspective.

I started the game making a strong alliance with Germany, and also
agreeing with Italy that neither
of us would enter the Med. This meant I just had to tackle England
who made an early aggressive move
into the channel. The pact with Germany meant England didn't get a
foothold on the continent, and Russia
kept him out of the north, so I was able to concentrate on attacking
the English mainland.

At the end of this, it was clear Italy was going to think about
coming west, and also that Germany had
been way over-stretched, and left vulnerable to either myself or
Russia. I knew I couldn't leave all the
continent to Russia so quickly, so I had to make a move into Germany
at this point (sorry Sharon), and
Germany was quickly over-run, from east and west.

The next move was key, and I approached Italy who had an easy grab of
two Russian SCs. It was clear that
Russia was going to grow very quickly if Italy didn't grab these. I
offered Italy a pact to try and fend off
Russia, and was warmly greeted. I started moving east, but was
shocked to see Italy moving armies
west.

After that Italy was completely exposed, and Russia too strong to
stop, so it was inevitable, the French set
up a wall, but Russia finished the deal.

Thanks to all for an enjoyable - and very quick - game.