've kind of been dilatory in getting around to this. I've been under the weather for the past couple of days which coincided with my birthday so do forgive the lapse in time.

First things first, many thanks to Paolo for running this game. You were an excellent GM who put up with my near constant revision of orders and guesswork. I'm fairly sure I filled up your email inbox in the course of this game.

Of course, I also want to thank all of the participants in the game. I think we all developed a rapport in the game and kept things civil, and I appreciate that.

Anyhoo, to get right down to it, I'll try to detail my strategy for you guys. This was my first time playing Germany in a diplomacy game, so I'm pretty sure I played an unorthodox strategy, but I suppose it worked. I'm probably going to detail my strategy in the west first, and then discuss the east. The inital strategy I focused on was an attack on France supported by England and Italy. This strategy was suggested by England and having heard nothing from France I decided to go with it. It was initially successful, but in the fall turn, Andy inexplicably held in the North sea, meaning he did not acquire a supply center that turn. That was alright at the time, because France failed to submit builds for his turn.

At that time, I turned to Mike and suggested an accomodation with him regarding the north, with a division of England. Subsequently, France abandoned the game and was replaced by David who was much more skilled and much more communicative than the previous France. I think Adam and I were discussing David as a new player and Adam remarked that he was getting done with the first paragraph of an email sent out by him.

So, with Andy not getting any builds that turn, I felt that he might be a drag on my expansion with Mike potentially getting more out of the north than myself. So I felt justified in reversing course. Had Andy moved to Norway, this would have been a very different game I think.

So, with David and myself in a pretty firm alliance, with Mike agreeing to assist us against Andy, we set out to conquer England. Given Andy's relative weakness, his position was breached fairly early and he was eliminated due to our triple attack.

In the east, things were generally unsettled throughout the game. This was my intention seeing that Mike was attacking Pat with Stuart on the fence. In order to keep things uncertain in the East, I moved a couple of units into the east to further unbalance things there. My stab against Mike was guesswork, he figured I would attack Norway, and accordingly moved there. I moved into Sweden and that move put me in the lead as far as Supply Centers went. Subsequently, Mikes overextension allowed Pat, myself, and Stuart to carve him up in a few turns. I think he lost Warsaw, Rumania, Bulgaria, St. P and Sev in a year.

As per my agreement with David, I submitted a draw proposal at that time calling for a two way draw between the two of us. It was voted down (I think I was at 12 centers and he was at 11 at that point). The next year brought me to 14 with Sev and Vienna falling to a smothering offensive. Another draw proposal was submitted (not by me) and that one was voted down as well. With an assist from Adam, I was able to capture Budapest and that brought me to 15, with David at 12 or 13. A final draw proposal was submitted and voted down. I was better positioned to gain 18, and I went for it and was successful.