Hi folks,

Well, thanks to Penger for an excellent game as always. Also thanks to all my fellow players for joining in. It was kindof a quiet game, but one that I really enjoyed. I have to admit that I did spend quite a bit of time looking at the maps to see which provinces would soon be submerged and planning out how to move the troops.

Things started out fairly well - I managed to have good relations with all the powers - most importantly managing to secure a peace with England in the north and a neutral border with Germany. Fairly confident that the West would be duking it out, I hooked up with Nick and initiated the R/T Steamroller. It worked with smashing success.

The thing is, this whole game is a simple race to the middle of the board. Its one of the only variants I know that the middle powers have the advantage - they are already in position to win. The outer powers need to first smash their way through the central defenses before being able to gain high ground in Switzerland.

Weirdly though, the strategy articles for Deluge suggest that Russia should attack Turkey and take the Turkish high-grounds that last till near the end of the game. This didn't really strike me as a good idea - as Turkey is always a tough nut to crack. Getting involved in a turf war that would last several years would do nothing but impede Russia's chances of getting to the middle of the board in time.

Nontheless, I did try to convince folks that I'd be going for Turkey. It was a nasty trick on my part, but happily it worked out for me. =P

By 1904 I believe I had over half the remaining centers on the board. At that point, IF France, Italy and Turkey had banded together they MIGHT have had a chance to stop me.. But as I told Penger, there's a reason why most variants declare the winning condition to be half + one. I felt the key province to the puzzle was Tyrolia, and did what I could to protect it. In the meantime I allowed France to be first into Switzerland before knocking him out and pretended that I was interested in a Russian / Turkish draw to Nick in an attempt to keep him onside. (Sorry Nick, have to admit that the only thing I was interested in in this game was a solo... Hope you can forgive me there..)

So once again, my thanks to my valiant opponents. Congratulations to Penger for running yet another fun and successful game, and kudos to Nick for being with me there all the way to the end and surviving the flood. =P

Cheers everyone. See you all on the next board - where I totally expect to be creamed. *grin*

Flood-Master Trout