Hi Folks,

Well - here we are... A successful four-way draw with one survival. Not quite what I had in mind when I started my Captaincy of the Southlands, but a result I'm quite content with nontheless. Congratulations to my fellow draw-sharers, a tip o' the hat to Sean for his work in the Borderlands and my thanks to Julz and Tim for their efforts. (Julz - you deserved a better neighbour, that's for sure.)


Above all, a huge shout-out goes to Jason who designed and GM'd this exciting new game variant. It was a lot of fun to play, brother. I totally enjoyed it.


Although, I have to admit to being greatly frustrated - but this was mostly at myself. I am the first to volunteer that I did not pay the diplomacy in this game nearly the attention that it deserved. The biggest result of this was my long stalemate with Jorge and the Seafolk - a situation that finally began to resolve itself at the end of the game. (Surprisingly enough, it changed up when I wrote a few emails to him... Weird, eh?)


During the mid-game, I was once again stung by my failure to pay attention to the play. I think I had several opportunities to start working with Garry - all of which I squandered by timidity or lack of focus. I spent pretty much the entire mid-game propping up Julz against the West/Border/Whitecloaks alliance while trying to defend my own south from Jorge.

Things started to roll in the last turn - I managed to start talking to Jorge again and with some concessions made, he opened the front against the Westlands. If things had continued, and we had talked Garry into joining our northward-heading group, things could have gotten fairly interesting.

However, I agree with Steve when he points out that another replacement at this point would have blown. After the lack of attention I paid this one, I'm more than happy to be part of the draw - and I'd look forward to the next playtest where I can focus more on the game. =)

Map notes:

- I might open the sea zones up a little more by adding a few more over-lapping shallow water zones. With just two fleets, the Sea-folk can pin down three or four units for any nation with a coast.

- Windbiters Finger - make this a passable space?

- Another pass through the Mountains of Mist - sounds good... How about another through the Spine Of the World?

- Make the passes through the Spine of the world navigable by players and open up part of the Aiel Waste for traffic.. This would help eliminate part of the stalemate-ness of the board and take away the 'Southern Fortress' aspect.

Those are my thoughts. Thanks for the game everyone! And once again, nice work Jason...

Trout