Well, firstly many thanks to all players in this game for a most enjoyable experience - and also super thanks to Trout for GMing the whole affair.
I guess like most solos, a combination of good luck, good judgement and good allies contributed to my success.
My first bit of good luck was being allocated France - probably my favourite power. As always for the western powers, I was keen to avoid being on the wrong end of a 2 on 1 - as such I negotiated an Italian non agression pact, and entered discussions with Germany and England.
I made a non-commital opening, having agreed a ENG DMZ with England, but then made a judgement call to go with Germany, and in Fall 01 decided to sacrifice a build to make a move on ENG. Understandably, Rene was pissed by this. Germany and I thought we'd recruited Russia to our England hunt, but it became apparent in Spring 02 that Max was (probably unsurprisingly, given he'd get very little of the spoils) going to side with England in that battle.
The next couple of seasons were consumed by back and forth between England and I and between Germany and Russia. During this time (and for quite a few years after) Russia was sending me regular messages to encourage me to join him against Germany, but I declined (although leaving the door open for future suggestions) as I felt that Troy was a good ally and seemed to have a very good grasp of strategy and tactics. Also, if I had jumped in on Germany at that stage, I was pretty sure i'd be next for England and Russia.
At the end of 1903, the Russia/Turkey juggernaut became apparent, and, prompted by, and largely thanks to Troy's efforts, myself, Troy and Rene allied to stop it, aided by my agreeing to disband in NTH, and Rene agreeing to return BRE to it's rightful owner in the course of time. Rene was to move north on Russia, Troy was to try and hold Russia in the centre, and I was to move south strongly to stop Turkey getting dominance in the Med. Italy was still in the game at this stage, and facing pressure from the Turk - I made and attempt to convince him that my moves south and into the med were to assist him in his battle against the Turk - he was never convinced really, and he was right - Turkey and I had cut a deal to split his centres between us.
I think Russia saw the writing on the wall for him over the next few seasons, which contained his stab on Turkey and numerous attempts to drive a wedge between the western triple alliance. I managed to make a NMR thanks to a brainfart where I thought the deadline was Tuesday, not Monday. This set me back against Italy a couple of seasons, but eventually Turkey and I made progress against Italy, and in a second stroke of luck, Turkey got stabbed by Russia, diverting his attention a little and allowing me to get more of Italy than was agreed, by giving me a chance to stab him.
It was only when Turkey stabbed Russia that I thought a solo might be on for me - I was making strong progress in the Med, and thought I could dominate there, but i still needed a couple of Russian centres in the Balkans and in Germany to get to a solo. I figured Russia would ease off against Germany (and Troy informed us that Max was offering to vacate some german centres to concentrate on Turkey). With Russia moving out of Germany, Troy would be getting stronger and possibly picking up some Russian centres, so I made a tough decision to stab Germany to stop his revival and go for the solo. Thankfully, Rene was agreeable to a joint stab - at the time I offered him more than I ended up delivering - for which apologies Rene.
It was still touch and go at that point - a three way draw between Russia, England and myself was still probably odds on at the time, depending on how Turkey played his end game. In a final stroke of luck, Turkey started to NMR, allowing me a much easier time in the Med and ultimately I think leading to the solo.
Over the final few years of the game, things got drawn out and progress was slow. Thankfully, I'd managed to arrange forces such that an effective stab by Rene would be pretty much impossible - I was tempted occassionaly to grab Holland, Kiel or Berlin from Rene, but he'd proved a doughty ally, so the temptation was resisted - as such Rene and I chipped away at Russia.
Some final observations on my relations with each country:
England - depsite early battling, Rene proved to be a good ally - I genuinely feel sorry I didn't follow through with my offers of a two way draw with him, but the opportunity of my first solo on DC was too much. Hopefully a good second place and the fact that I didn't grab any of his vulnerable centres as the game wound down might provide some recompense.
Germany - probably my best ally through the game, as he was (at least to my eyes) the prime mover in the alliance to stop the Juggernaut, and the stab on him to give me a chance at a solo, especially given his lengthy travails against Russia, was difficult.
Russia - I tried to play Russia a little bit with suggestions that I might stab England or Germany to see how he'd react. I was never convinced of his long term reliability as an ally though, as he seemed to be focussed a little on the short term.
Austria - didn't really have a lot to do with Austria, thanks to his early elimination
Italy - I don't think anyone would have believed my suggestions I was heading to the med to help him. I suppose if he'd acquiesced to my support, I'd have supported him against Turkey, but i'd have eventually stabbed him anyway.
Turkey - I cut a secret deal with him over Italy, and at one point we'd agreed a two way draw proposal, which would have seen him take the east and me the west, which would have been an amazing achievement if it came to fruition, but ultimately, the chance to grab Turkey's share of Italy proved too tempting. His NMR did help me to my solo...
One final note - I love the blitz format - it keeps everyone on their toes, and moves quickly - part of the problem with a weekly move approach is that after the initial flurry of diplomacy in the first few years, a week ends up being too long between turns. I think the site should host more blitz games outside of the tournaments....
Anyway, longest post ever...again thanks to all the players and particularly the GM in this game.
Michael
