Here is my EGS - late and lengthy, sorry , I didn't have the time to write something short.

EGS
In the opening I was undecided whether to go with <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" />England or Germany. England made the decision for me by moving into the channel in spring01. He seemed to target Nor, Bel and Bre for f01. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

I played the mad man and announced to throw all I had against England in f01 and even support Germany into Belgium. As a result, I mourned, F and UK would end up with 1 build each..and Germany with 3.
But in talks with Germany, he unexpectedly was willing to support me into Belgium to balance builds at 2 each. I decided to leave Brest at risk and move into Bel, Spa and Por. Lucky strike ! My threats had obviously warded England off as he did not take Bre and bounced Germany in Hol – so it ended with 3 builds for France and 1 for Germany and England each.

Germany turned out to be a really reliable partner in the following turns, so it was not too difficult to advance against England. England then tried and managed to get Russia involved against Germany in 1902, but was loosing ground out West and in 1903 had to decide whether to defend his home SC’s or concentrate on bringing down Germany. He opted for the latter and lost Lon and Liv in fall03.

In parallel I had to make up my mind in the Mediterranean. Austria was rapidly loosing ground against Italy and Turkey. So I decided for a call into Italy to alleviate Austrias situation.

Then Russia and Turkey teamed up. I called all the others to stop the Juggernaut. Italy said it would agree but insisted on taking out Austria first. England made clear it had been in an alliance with Russia from the beginning and was not willing to change sides. So I had to continue against England, Russia and Italy. I knew that - as it was - F-G-A could never win against R-T-GB-I. My only hope was that Turkey would stab Russia.

I managed to maintain my Northern border against England and together with Austria was able to take out Italy in 1905. But in 1906 things were starting to look dreary for me when Germany finally collapsed, Turkey took most of Italy from Austria, Russia pushed into Burgundy and England grabbed Belgium.

But then….there it was, “Le miracle de la maison du Brandenbourgâ€Â� : Turkey overestimated his position and stabbed Russia - Hallelujah ! To my surprise England joined in.

Turkey indicated he wanted to work with me, but broke an agreement which I had made clear would decide about war or peace. So it was clear he felt strong enough to openly run for the solo.

I teamed up with Russia and with his help was easily able to collect what was left of England. Russia threw all he had against Turkey and luckily managed to hold him off (which paved the way for my solo).

In the Med, Austria had made a run into Italy when Turkey flooded over Austrian home turf. With my help he could dig himself in with his last unit at Naples. Potentially this gave me a second seismic against Turkey - but Austria proofed unreliable (NMR, breach of promises, etc.) in the beginning. I considered eliminating Austria, but when after a couple of turns I was able to convince him to fully cooperate, his seismic was important to gain ground in what seismics had made of former Italy.
Italy actually seemed to be a battleground of minor importance as progress was slow and only 2 SC, Ven and Rome, to be won. The Balkan was solidly shut off behind a sea and a mighty Turkish fleet. …but in the end it was there that my solo was won.

When Russia started to advance against Turkey, the Sultan, sensing he was loosing this game, tried to talk me into stabbing Russia. Counting what I could take in a stab, it was clear to me, that I couldn’t win against a then probably R-T coalition and decided to wait. Time was on my side, I felt. I was not to repeat Turkeys fatal error to stab to early.

Up North I had to stand behind the Russian lines without any chance to participate in the gains – which I did for several turns. When it was clear that Russia would take two SC from Turkey next turn but could not build, I managed to talk him into “lendingâ€Â� me Holland. Standing at 12 SC, unexpectedly I also managed to take Venice. 14 SC. I counted what was in reach : Nap, Kiel, Den and Swe. 14+4 SC…..

I thought everybody would see what I saw - my chance to solo - and expected the worst, feared they all would immediately turn against me. I expected coordinated action of Turkey and Austria in the Western Med to move their fleets to a common target, a West shift of Russias Central European armies and a bounce with Russia in Sweden. Sweden was the only weak point in my plan. All the other operations I could guarantee success. But if Russia ordered "A St.Pet-Swe " I would be in serious trouble. There were no further SC’s easy to collect for me and I wasn’t sure I could win an extended battle against Russia and Turkey.
But now or never ….and nothing happened. Russia and Austria submitted moves against Turkey and everything went smoothly for my solo.

Thanks for playing to everybody ! I'm looking forward to meet again in some other game.

Rolf of France


Von: Nathan Deily <ndeily(at)yahoo.com>
An: Michael Sims <mike(at)southwall.com>; dc182(at)diplomaticcorp.com; former.trout(at)gmail.com; cluffy123(at)googlemail.com; mrh(at)panix.com; Rolf Loschek <rolfloschek(at)yahoo.de>; scaponig(at)yahoo.com; stevelytton(at)hotmail.com; susan Strebe <strebenator(at)gmail.com>; Adam Martin-Schwarze <smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com>
Gesendet: Mittwoch, den 19. November 2008, 20:08:58 Uhr
Betreff: Re: Seismic Solo! - TURKEY EGS

Thanks to all for a well-played game which I thoroughly enjoyed. Hats off to Austria for lasting as long as he did - the extra seismic did indeed prove to be my undoing, as was my too-early alienation of France in the Med/Italy. 3 sesmics against 1 is just too much - 2 against 1 probably insurmountable as well.

I have to say I like the variant a lot, especially as it allowed for my Black Sea fleet to become incredibly powerful and helped me break out early on.

Cheers, and see you all next time.

Nathan



----- Original Message ----
From: Michael Sims <mike(at)southwall.com ([email]mike(at)southwall.com[/email])>
To: dc182(at)diplomaticcorp.com ([email]dc182(at)diplomaticcorp.com[/email]); former.trout(at)gmail.com ([email]former.trout(at)gmail.com[/email]); cluffy123(at)googlemail.com ([email]cluffy123(at)googlemail.com[/email]); mrh(at)panix.com ([email]mrh(at)panix.com[/email]); Nathan Deily <ndeily(at)yahoo.com ([email]ndeily(at)yahoo.com[/email])>; Rolf Loschek <rolfloschek(at)yahoo.de ([email]rolfloschek(at)yahoo.de[/email])>; scaponig(at)yahoo.com ([email]scaponig(at)yahoo.com[/email]); stevelytton(at)hotmail.com ([email]stevelytton(at)hotmail.com[/email]); susan Strebe <strebenator(at)gmail.com ([email]strebenator(at)gmail.com[/email])>; Adam Martin-Schwarze <smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com ([email]smegdwarf(at)yahoo.com[/email])>
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 11:16:47 AM
Subject: Seismic Solo!

"Resistance is useless!" Said better than a Vogon, (and with better
effect) the opposition stands aside in reverence as France coasts to an
18 SC Solo Seismic Victory.

Congrats to Rolf for the win, which in Seismic is supposed to be harder
to get than in a standard game! Final standings are online,
www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc182.

This has got to be one of my favorite variants. Oddly enough, the first
Seismic (dc99) ended in a solo as well. There's another in play
already, dc211 so check that out if you're interested to see how their
map is shaping up. (www.diplomaticcorp.com?game_id=dc211)

Since France captures the 18, final seismic orders are not played.

That's it! Send EGS (End-Game-Statements) to the group, share your
perspectives on the game.

FINAL ORDERS:

Austria: NMR

Turkey: NMR

France:

OPERATION KARL I
(Austria wasn't particularly famous for its Navy, was it ?)
F Naples-Tunis
F MAO S F Naples-Tunis
F TYR S F Naples-Tunis
A Rome -Naples
A Tus - Rome
A Mar - Spain
A Piet S A Mar- Spain
A Venice -Apu (*Fails*)
OPERATION BARBAROSSA
F SKA - Denmark
A Kiel-Prussia
A Burgundy S A Kiel-Pru
F Holland -Kiel
F Nwy nc - StP nc (*Fails*)
A Sweden S F Nwy - StP

Russia:

A StP S A Sev (*Cut*)
A Mos S A Gal (*Impossible*)
A Sev S A StP
A War S A Gal
A Gal S A Sev
A Vie S A Gal
A Boh-Mun (*Fails*)
A Mun-Pru (*Fails*)