My initial hopes, as usual for France, were to establish a firm alliance with England or Germany against the other. Unfortunately, England was often non-communicative (except to complain that I didn’t provide a support he had never asked for), and Germany displayed a level a brusque arrogance that really rubbed me the wrong way (nothing personal, but that’s the honest truth). Thankfully, Italy and I had a firm DMZ that we both kept to, and there were no open hostilities among the E/F/G triangle at first. When they did come, however, they were an ugly tangle; Russia and I went after Germany, while England went after Russia and I (and eventually Germany). I’m not sure who else was communicating with each other at this stage, but to me it felt a lot like a Gunboat game; only Russia seemed to be talking to me on any regular basis.

Eventually Germany fell under the combined (if not coordinated) E/F/R assault (except for the rogue unit that I let wander into my backfield since I didn’t have time to deal with it at the moment). I then turned to England, and managed to outmaneuver his staunch defenses with a few lucky guesses, letting me start to wear him down. Russia and I were still on good terms, and things looked good for the midgame. Austria was becoming the 800-lb gorilla of the southeast, but Russia and I would probably have been able to contain him…until Russia decided to take Belgium from me. At that point, my insincere negotiations to form an F/A alliance against Russia became sincere, and Russia began to crumble quickly. (Thus always to those who stab for a single SC!)

Austria got the lion’s share of the gains against Russia, since most of my attention was directed towards polishing off the stubborn English. It was clear that Austria was becoming a solo threat, so when the moment seemed right, I began moving into the Med, hoping to make some significant gains before he could get his forces repositioned. Italy and Russia also seemed amenable to stopping the solo, and the anti-Austrian alliance went well at first. However, my initial gains were apparently a little too successful, and it soon became apparent that Italy would no longer be helping fight Austria for fear of a French solo. I wasn’t opposed to an F/A draw in principle, but I intended to keep pushing against Austria until he demonstrated the ability to slow me down. This past year, he finally did, and I accepted the draw with only a small pang of regret for what might have been.

Many thanks to Monsieur Bielschowsky, our esteemed Judge; to the players who saw it through to the end, however bitter it might have been; and to those who stepped in as replacements. This was my first game on DC, and I definitely plan to be back for more!

Best,

Brian/France