To echo comments from others, thanks for an enjoyable game, and thanks to Felix for GMing. I've played a few games on the judges, and playing on the DC website is considerably better than my judge experience - it just seems more personal and generally better organised...

So, the game itself...

Things kicked off with the usual mess in the west - i took the approach of appearing friendly to both England and France and seeing how things developed in the first year...France's supported move to Burgundy on the first move swayed it for me, so I made a decision there and then to ally with England, whilst spinning France a line. At the same time I made a non agression pact with Russia to try and seal my eastern front - in hindsight this was a bit of a mistake. France got a bit greedy in the first turn, leaving BRE exposed, and England and I tried to take advantage. France proved to be a resolute foe however, and we ended up spending far too long trying to elminate him (aided by some moves on our part which weren't perhaps the best in the situation).

Meanwhile, in the east, everyone was ganging up on Austria - perhaps I should have helped him out in retrospect. After a couple of years, it became obvious that a R-T juggernaut was in place, although this was (at least to me) fairly well hidden for the first couple of years. Delays in the West in taking out France meant that the juggernaut started to roll strongly, and with Russia making strong gains in the north, it became fairly obvious that the game could come down to which of RUssia or Turkey successfully stabbed the other first. I tried to plant a few seeds to encourage the stabs, but to no effect. With Russia at the door, I tried firstly a convoy to LVN, behind Russian lines, which Scott successfully blocked (if this had suceeded, things would have got interesting), and following a mess up by me in defending Denmark, I lost Denmark, after which I decided on a strategic withdrawal.

As others have indicated, the game entered a different phase after this, with Turkey trying to rally the troops. This led to the most intensive period of discussion during the whole game, and I (and from Scott's message below, France) were also corresponding with Russia during this period. I was a reluctant part of the anti-Russian alliance, as, firstly, I was sure France would hold a grudge and try to grab as much of his territory back as he could (leading to me not moving MAR to BUR to try and stop Russia taking MUN - I hoped to use this to improve my bargaining position in the anti Russia discussions, to no avail), secondly, it struck me that Turkey, as the largest power other than Russia would be the main benificiary of the anti-Russian alliance, and that I in particular wouldn't be gaining much (indeed I'd end up losing forces), and thirdly, I felt Turkey had ample opportunity as Russia's main ally and neighbour to stab him or check his growth.

Anyway, this led to a, shall we say, interesting four way discussions over who was going to do what and what moves to make. I suspect the discussions would have got even more interesting if Italy hadn't ended up supporting Russia to the win - I think the EFGT alliance could have stopped Russia.

In closing, my thoughts about each country:
Austria - a shame he had communication problems, which probably led to his (very) early exit
England - a good ally
France - my nemesis, and a worthy opponent
Italy - didn't communicate much with him, but he kept his word about his forces close to German territory
Russia - well done on the win - you played it really well in the north, and you were always honest about your intentions
Turkey - never gave anything away in his communications in the early part of the game, but when he needed to stop the Russian win, proved a good strategic and tactical thinker (and refereed the spats between myself and France well)

Anyway, hope to cross swords with you all again

Michael
________________________________

Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:23:15 -0800
From: crimson_93(at)yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Dc117 End of Game: Russia
To: daniel.jolliffe(at)btinternet.com; zeclient(at)hotmail.com; stevelytton(at)hotmail.com; felixkamchung(at)mac.com; aramis604(at)yahoo.com; dc117(at)diplomaticcorp.com; m_d_thompson(at)hotmail.com; former.trout(at)gmail.com
CC: mike(at)southwall.com







Hi all-

First, thanks to everyone for a very enjoyable game. I liked the interactions with everyone and found the twists and turns of fate very interesting. And thanks to Felix for doing the GM work, often a challenging task.



My view of the story is very similar to Stephen's. He proposed the "Russian fleet heads for the Med" strategy. I was interested in trying a juggernaut, and my reading of some of the strategy websites indicated that these usually favor Russia. So I went for it and I think we executed it well. The attacks against Austria and Italy went smoothly and the juggernaut was off and running. I had good discussions with Michael and Nick from the beginning and was pretty honest about my intentions, and I think this laid the groundwork for pretty good relationships throughout the game, even as I started attacking Michael in the end. And I was able to get a beachhead against England and kept the northern fleets coming.



My biggest concern, as Stephen mentioned, was that I was starting to grow faster than Turkey. I was very pleased that Italy was slow to go away so I could pull ahead, but I worried that this would lead Stephen to stab me if I did not either slow down or strengthen my southern border in time (or both).



The first key turning point in the game for me was before Spring '05. Stephen sent me a message recommending that I move my southern armies to the west and mentioned that he would "probably" convoy his army to Italy, and then he moved his army from Con to Bul instead. Fortunately I did not follow his recommendation (if I had, he would have been able to take Rum with no resistance). This sequence led me to believe that he was going to attack me, so I attacked him in the fall, expecting him to do the same. He did not, with the outcome having the impact of a stab--I got a center, he was angry with me, etc. I explained things, we made moves to patch things up, he got his center back, and I thought we were back in business.



The second key turning point was after Spring '06 (right after fixing the previous problem). He moved a fleet from Aeg-Con, and I could not come up with a reasonable explanation except that he was heading for the Black Sea and my unprotected territories. So I attacked again, expecting him to do the same, and again he did not.



By this time I had 14 centers with a path to at least 3 more, and so the juggernaut was clearly finished beyond repair (and rightly so). At this point the game entered a very different phase as Stephen described, with him trying to "rally the troops" against me. I sent a message to reach out to all of the other nations, telling them that Stephen planned to eliminate them all and push for a 2-way draw with me, etc. I didn't hear back from England, but had extended discussions with France and Germany. I don't know what their views on the situation really were (i.e., I don't know if they were actually on my side or Stephen's), but there were fun discussions! I think the relatively good relationships I had built early in the game helped quite a bit at this point, but I am not really sure since I think they both went along with nearly all of the "Turkish plan" anyway. And then I communicated with Josh to see if he would be willing to help me since Turkey was killing him anyway, he was, and that was it. I was hoping Turkey would not cut his support for me and I got lucky. By the way, Stephen, I am not sure I understand why you see his choice as unreasonable--if I were in his shoes and you were taking all of my centers, I would have done the same thing he did!



I think it would have been interesting if I had not been able to get Ven immediately. My hunch is that I would have been able to get the 18th over time through a combination of overall masses of troops, the two German removals, and the potential defection of one or more of the parties from the alliance. But I am not sure about this.



So, that was the story from my side. Thanks again to all for a fun game!



Scott



----- Original Message ----
From: DANIEL JOLLIFFE
To: Nick Cherrier ; Stephen Lytton ; Felix Kam Chung ; Josh Engsberg ; 117 ; Michael Thompson ; Scott Ellis ; Former Trout
Cc: Michael Sims
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 12:32:43 AM
Subject: RE: Dc117 End of Game: England


Well played Scott, congratulations!!



Like France, this was also my first ever game of Diplomacy in any form and i thorough enjoyed it.



I think the biggest lessons i have learnt is that i should have talked to more of the people more of the time, and not to be blinkered by my own battles as to whats going on with the rest of the board.



After reading up on some opening game strategies for England, i decided that France should be my target regardless and that i should try to enlist Germany to help (especially since i felt that France/Germany may ally against me). Whilst this was going on i was naive in the way i handled Russia and allowed him to slip into Norway and then the fleets started coming round the top, a sign of my inexperience.



After the break down of the Russia/Turkey alliance i was pleased with the way we attempted to rally against Russia and credit goes to Stephen here mainly. Even if we didn't all agree at least we were talking!!



I hope to cross paths with you again...



Dan

Nick Cherrier wrote:



Congratulations to Scott,

That was a magnificently well played game. Thanks to everyone else for playing, I had a lot of fun. It was my first Diplomacy game EVER and I will definitely continue playing, and hopefully will cross paths with you guys in the future.

So as we say here in Australia... Good on ya mate!

Nick




From: stevelytton(at)hotmail.com
To: felixkamchung(at)mac.com; zeclient(at)hotmail.com; aramis604(at)yahoo.com; dc117(at)diplomaticcorp.com; m_d_thompson(at)hotmail.com; crimson_93(at)yahoo.com; former.trout(at)gmail.com; daniel.jolliffe(at)btinternet.com
CC: mike(at)southwall.com
Subject: Dc117 End of Game: Turkey
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:52:19 +1100



First of all, I will state despite how the 18th SC was taken by Russia, I think Scott played an excellent game and is well
deserving of the solo.

I would like to thank Scott, Nick, Daniel and Michael for their interaction with me in this game. I have thoroughly enojyed playing
against them.

My initial plan was to form a juggernaut with Russia and sweep across the board. Scott of Russia seemed keen on this
as well as we quickly formed an alliance moving west. We both were emailing Italy and got him to help attack Austria
leaving France, England and germany to fight amongst themselves. Thinking back i'm not sure if this was the best move.

Austria fell very quickly (sorry John) and the west was a mess. Germany was hitting France hard and i could not tell who england
was allied with.

Russia and i moved across and i started hitting Italy after Russia tricked him into making a couple of moves so his supports could be
easily cut. Italy seemed to be falling well and i convoyed an army across to apulia to strike the final blow when russia moved
against me fearing a stab.

Unfortunately I was out of position, to hit Italy and Russia and since Josh had stopped talking to me at that point, i continued
listening to Scott. Russia was making huge gains in the north, (too much and too quickly than i had anticipated). So instead of moving against Russia
i continyed my plan against Italy. However Russia just 'juggernauted' in the north.

and i need to scramble and i started to email Nick/France, Michael/Germany and Daniel/England to establish some sort of defence
against Russia. I also mailed Josh/Italy but with no response.

England, Germany, France and I passed many emails back and forth to discuss a strategy and despite some initial conflict between
France and Germany, all were willing to try and stop Russia. I attempted to try and get Russia out of his mindset at this point
and i kept emailing him suggesting draw proposals etc... to see how much information he was feeding back to the others so that
we could know if russia was trying to play us off against each other. Hey I would have in that position, and Scott had already proven
to be an excellent player. The information filtered back through germany which was who russia needed to make paranoid.
It was during this time, I feel i got to know the other 3 players well and i did enjoy our correspondance, even
the arguements between Nick and Michael..... If only we had emailed this much at the start.

This is where a series of unfortunate incidents, led to Russia's win.

in the second last season, germany did not move to Burgundy (as we had discussed or i thought we had) which unfortunately led to the fall of Munich. I can understand that there
was still anomosity between France and Germany at this point, and germany told me he was worried about my fleets moving up which
was a fair call. However Munich was a crucial space we could not afford to lose. AND this was a 'flaw' in our stalemate pattern.

and then in the last season, the silent italy, played by the experienced player Josh, supported Russia into a SC giving him the magical
18 number.

It would have been nice to see if our four way alliance could have held Russia off, but when Italy effectively gave Russia his last SC (note Italy was on holiday during the last adjudication
and could not be contacted) but Scott played an excellent game and i take my hat off to him for the win.

I hope to play against or ally with Scott, Nick, Daniel and Michael again in perhaps another game. Your emails and strategies (Russia at the beginning of the game, and the others
in the end game for me) were excellent and i am honoured to have played with such committed people. I was disapointed with the way Josh played in this game, but then i am
not a fan of anyone who just gives up and kingmakes.

Although the end game had some rough patches at the end, I would like to thank the players for the game and for tolerating
my annoying and possibly domineering attitude at the end. I was going through some medical issues and I allowed my frustration at my treatment (or the lack of results) and
my reaction to my new and current medication change spill over into the game. I believe the expression is something like the straw that broke the camel's back. Anyway I apologise to
Nick, Daniel, Michael and Scott for that and hope that we may cross swords another day.

Well done on the win, Scott. You played an excellent juggernaut and did deserve it.



Stephen
aka Deathblade_penguin (Knight of the Shrubbery)
www.diplomaticcorp.com





To: zeclient(at)hotmail.com; aramis604(at)yahoo.com; dc117(at)diplomaticcorp.com; m_d_thompson(at)hotmail.com; crimson_93(at)yahoo.com; former.trout(at)gmail.com; stevelytton(at)hotmail.com; daniel.jolliffe(at)btinternet.com
CC: mike(at)southwall.com; former.trout(at)gmail.com
Subject: DC 117:: SOLO TO RUSSIA
From: felixkamchung(at)mac.com
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:01:38 -0800


And so the game ends!!

Solo to the Russian player!!



Thank you all for playing!



EOG are welcomed!!


As submitted::



Germany's moves...


A Hol support A Mun - Kie

A Mun - Kie

A Ruh support A Mun - Kie

A Bre - Par

A Mar - Bur



France::


My moves for Fall:


F Nth-Nwy

A Gas-Bre



Italy::




A Tuscany support A Trieste - Venice



Turkey::


F mao S French A Gas - Bre

F Tyn - Tun

F Rom Holds

A apu - Ven

F Gre Holds

A Bul Holds

F Con - aeg

F Arm holds


Russia::



A Sev-Arm

A Ukr-Rum

A Ser-Gre

A Tri-Ven

A Bud-Ser


F Lpl hold

A Edi hold

F Nwg-Nor


A Kie-Mun

A Sil S Kie-Mun

A Ber S Kie-Mun


F Hel-Hol

F Bal-Kie

F Den S Bal-Kie


England::


England Fall 07 moves:


F NAO - Norweigan Sea

F LON support F Bel-Nth

F BEL - NTH



As adjudicated::




Results for Fall, 1907 (Movement)
General Notices:

Game ends. Power Russia wins by controlling 18 supply centers; 18 supply centers are required to win.

Order resolution completed on 29-Nov-2007 at 20:12:03 PST
Order Results:

England:

England: F bel -> nth

England: F lon Supports F bel -> nth

England: F nao -> nwg

Failed because Russia: F nwg -> nwy failed.

France:

France: A gas -> bre

France: F nth -> nwy

Bounced with nwg (1 against 1).

Dislodged from bel (2 against 1).

Germany:

Germany: A bre -> par

Germany: F hol Supports A mun -> kie

Support cut by Move from Helgoland Bight.

Germany: A mar -> bur

Germany: A mun -> kie

Bounced with bal (2 against 1).

Dislodged from kie (3 against 1).

Germany: A ruh Supports A mun -> kie

Italy:

Italy: A tus Supports A tri -> ven

Russia:

Russia: F bal -> kie

Russia: A ber Supports A kie -> mun

Russia: A bud -> ser

Failed because Russia: A ser -> gre failed.

Russia: F den Supports F bal -> kie

Russia: A edi Holds

Russia: F hel -> hol

Bounced with hol (1 against 1).

Russia: A kie -> mun

Russia: F lvp Holds

Russia: F nwg -> nwy

Bounced with nth (1 against 1).

Russia: A ser -> gre

Bounced with gre (1 against 1).

Russia: A sev -> arm

Bounced with arm (1 against 1).

Russia: A sil Supports A kie -> mun

Russia: A tri -> ven

Russia: A ukr -> rum

Turkey:

Turkey: A apu -> ven

Failed.

Turkey: F arm Holds

Turkey: A bul Holds

Turkey: F con -> aeg

Turkey: F gre Holds

Turkey: F mao Supports A gas -> bre

Turkey: F rom Holds

Turkey: F tys -> tun



[http://by135w.bay135.mail.live.com/mail/SafeRedirect.aspx?hm__tg=http://65.55.140.121/att/GetAttachment.aspx&hm__qs=file%3ddb1bbd33-8708-4c61-b233-45e8ad7ae25a%26ct%3daW1hZ2UvanBlZw_3d_3d%26name%3dQVRUMDAwMDE_3d%26inline%3d1%26rfc%3d0%26empty%3dFalse%26imgsrc%3dcid%253a1.2817673619%2540web37404.mail.mud.yahoo.com&oneredir=1&ip=10.1.106.109&d=d3385&mf=0]



Listen now! New music from the Rogue Traders.

Lancez des recherches en toute sécurité depuis n'importe quelle page Web. Téléchargez GRATUITEMENT Windows Live Toolbar aujourd'hui ! Essayez-le maintenant !




________________________________

Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it now.

_________________________________________________________________
The next generation of MSN Hotmail has arrived - Windows Live Hotmail
http://www.newhotmail.co.uk