.ExternalClass .EC_hmmessage P {padding:0px;} .ExternalClass body.EC_hmmessage {font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;} I thank you all for the privelage of playing together. Now that the Austrians have fallen, I thought I would unveil some of what happened.

I opened with a non-traditional Austrian opening called the "Blue Water Lepanto". The point is to appear to begin with an all-out attack on Italy while secretly working with Turkey to setup a Lepanto that involves an Austrian fleet as one of the fleets setup in the convoy chain to Turkey. Logistically, it looked good in the beginning and everything was falling into place. I followed the opening as I read it including not disclosing my plan early to Italy. This is where some of my Diplomacy began to fail. Italy, appeared quite vinidictive in his Diplomacy with me after I let him in on what I was doing which then led to weak relations when I was wedged between both Italy and Turkey. Italy siezed the opportunity and took the stab.

Who could blame Italy? I mean, it was the type of slow churn I would expect to experience as Italy, but I was Austria and was failing to pickup much needed SCs. Here is the rest of the things I viewed that slowed, failed or stopped the Blue Water Lepanto from completing. In my Diplomacy I wanted to pit Russia and Turkey against one another and while there was some distrust in the beginning they refused to attack one another which allowed both of them to grow. Additionally, I needed a strong Germany as a northern neighbor and we all saw how well that worked out. Whether it was true or not I do not know but at one point it seemed that Germany even feared an attack from me. Furthermore, England refused to attack Russia in the beginning so Russia flexed his muscles hard and heavy and became pretty solidified in his position. I sounded the alarm concerning the balance of power as a tactic and nobody seemed to care. Russia grew. I finally found a willing partner against Russia in Turkey, who at the same time was working with Italy against me. As a result, Italy bailed out on me and stabbed me instead of following through on the Blue Water Lepanto and Turkey grew very quickly.

So, here are the lessons for anyone who may be Austria and consider a Blue Water Lepanto in the future. It is a good strategy if (as with many Italio-Austrian alliances) that the alliance holds and trust can be kept between both countries. Russia cannot expand so quickly and needs to distrust Turkey so it keeps Turkey smaller as well. As with many situations if Germany falls quickly, Austria will most likely not last long after that.

As I see the current setup, England waited too long to act on Russia. It also appears that France and Russia could be working together which means they almost already have the horizontal stalemate line set. I would not be surprised to see England fall to Russia and France. With the stalemate line almost set it will be very difficult for Italy and Turkey to break it together. They need French help. It also seems it would be of some benefit to a Franco-Russian alliance to make a a joint attack on Italy so only Turkey needs watched.

It was fun!

Shawn

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