Hi everyone,



Do you want fries with that? *grin*



I can't tell you all how much I enjoyed this game. Everything - from the units to the names of the provinces to the FOG style of the game to you - my fellow players - it all combined into one awesome ride. Thanks to all of ya for providing me with such a good time, and thanks to Mike for helming one hell of a game. =)


I remember laughing my ass off when I saw that my power was 'Spacequest'. All of the country themes really amused me - but I think I liked the Spacequest the best. It gave me a strange thrill over the course of the game to be spreading out burger barns across the map...


My strategy for the FOG game was pretty simple - Information is Power. I never did give out the map of my original home centers to anyone - although I exchanged a doctored version of it to Penger... (Sorry Steve - it made me chuckle to think of you running with a map that had a fake province named 'Peeyu' in it...)


At any case, right from the start I followed the strategy of lying my ass off to everyone I talked to. Poor Felix must have been *really* confused after talking to me about powers that didn't border him. Warren and Garry I stayed pretty much on the level with until we were fighting- but tried my best not to provide very much information to either.


Hamish was the first threat. When I saw how close he was to my home centers I pretty much determined right from the start that he had to go. When information I handed to him - or spaces that I knew only he and I could see - started to be referenced in emails from Penger, that only confirmed it. I managed to get the upper hand positioning-wise off the first jump and after that it was all gravy.


During the Hamish adventure, I had made DMZ's in both Pestulon with Garry and in Dramidj Ocean with Warren. There was a period of a few turns after Hamish was dealt with that I had to decide which was the next way to go. Moving into the center island at that point wasn't an option - I had only one army and I saw that the center was already a cluster-full of guys - Rob, Garry, and Steve to name a few. The only directions to go were either north or east.


I sent out expeditionary forces in both directions. The southern land-mass extended northwards into the Booty Bay bottleneck - a stab on Garry would have resulted in one or two quick centers but a quagmire afterwards...


On the other hand, my northward foray found me stumbling right into the heart of Warren's territory unopposed. In one move, I was suddenly in range of four or five of Greyhawk's undefended centers. Guilt struck me as I found myself in this position, and I was still getting strategy emails from Warren planning out the attack on Steve... But the guilt didn't outweigh the sheer fact that it was the perfect stab opportunity. My decision was made and northwards I went.


The rest went pretty smoothly until the end-game. I devastated Warren and was in position quickly enough to block Steve in the north. Through more deception and trickery, I backed Penger up onto the northern continent and out of northern waters. Somehow I managed to keep Steve and Rob guessing in the central island and steadily gained position there.


And in the south, I finally had to tackle Garry... That one was even harder for me to do then stabbing Warren was, but I knew that the nitty-gritty of the game was going to occur in the Super Mario Bros lands. Garry put up a spirited fight, but through sheer numbers I was able to bludgeon my way through...


All through the game, I had two very good allies - Mikael and Fletch. Mikael was a direct ally - and I kept him in it for his constant help but also simply because it pissed Penger off so much... (To be honest, it was nice to know that there was one center that - if a stalemate situation arose, I could fall back on and snap up.. Thankfully, it didn't come down to that.)


Fletch, on the other hand, was an indirect ally. I knew that as long as he continued to stir up trouble in the east that I would have a chance at the solo. I did what I could do to keep him in the loop of what was happening out my way - we had a common enemy in the Penger / Rob duo.


Fletch's stab of Garry at the end only hastened the finale. My plan was to take the Jolly Roger Bay and had the forces to do it in place. The turn after that Jolly Roger would cut support in Arc-Royal and I would force my way into Croctopus Bay. That would have meant that I didn't gain any centers that year, but both of those moves would have been unstoppable with the uncuttable supports that I had in place.


The following game-year, I would have used Croctopus to cut Arc-Royal support and moved Jolly Roger into the Isle of Skye with support from Booty Bay. That was one of the two centers that I needed. Then, I gave myself a few turns to force myself into Hazy Maze or Donut Plains... If I had failed in either of those two, I would have stabbed Mikael for his center and the last one that I needed to solo...


So don't be angry at Fletch - this game had already reached the point where it was just a matter of mopping up the last couple centers.


That's pretty much it. Once again, I seriously enjoyed this game and would play another FOG game in a heartbeat...


Hamish - our time together was too short. You were a great first foe.


Felix - you crazy kid - you drove me bonkers at the beginning of this one with all your emails... =P


Eric - Wish you had stuck in there bud.. The game would have been vastly different.


Warren - My stab on you was the textbook definition of a must-stab situation. That doesn't mean that you deserved it though... I was just lucky to move north at the exact right time, I think.


Garry - You were no pushover at the end, bro. It took everything I had to peel you back. I did it, but it wasn't easy. Hold your head high dude.


Rob - I enjoyed talking to you during the course of the game. We really didn't have much interaction till the end - but I'll look forward to the next one..


Fletch - One of my biggest accomplishments in this one was to link our two forces from across the map. What can I say except that you're the man, dude!


Mikael - You were my ace in the hole, and I can't tell you how much I appreciated all the help you extended to my troops during the game. Thanks for all the memories, bro.


Penger - What can I do? Grudging respect... You won the mini-game and were easily the biggest threat to my solo effort throughout the entire game. The only place I met with constant failure was at my attempts to break your northern naval blockade. As always, you were a hell of an opponent.


Sims - Very fun game. Excellent and smooth GMing. One of my favorite games I've ever been in - and that's not simply because I'm the one on top. ..


But this EOG is probably far too long already. Cheers everyone - thanks again for the great game - and I'd be honoured to be in another with any of you.


Grand Burger Baron Trout




On Fri, May 9, 2008 at 11:28 AM, Michael Sims <mike(at)southwall.com ([email]mike(at)southwall.com[/email])> wrote:

Hearty congratulations are in order to Former Trout, who has led the Space Quest janitors and burger counter clerks to a devastating 32-sc solo!!!

Only 30 sc were needed to win, and picking up a whopping 4 in the last year made all the difference – netting Trout his first solo in the club.