This was a satisfying game for me as it was my first in over 30 years.  I played by mail (the old fashined kind) for a period of time and stopped when my son was about 2 and we were expecting another. 
 I came in as a replacement for Germany, in season 2 I think.  I had an immediate choice in terms of alliance with France or England.  Both contacted me with interesting suggestions about how we ought to proceed, and ultimately I allied with France.  My reasoning had to do with my position on the board and belief that France offered Germany a better future.  England did everything a player in his position could, and I enjoyed our negotiations.
 I thought the Austrian player did a great job, but perhaps was too strong too soon.  I joined the stop Austria-Hungary movement and as Alfred said, once Russia and Turkey got involved Austria was stopped and ultimately defeated.  I enjoyed John's emails, he was a good player whose only mistake was scaring everyone into thinking he was going to run off and win the game.
 As to my alliance with France,  I would not have expected it to last as it did.  In part Al's regular emails helped and when I thought I had an excellent chance to stab him, I remembered how everyone joined together to stop Austria-Hungard and imagined the same would happen to me since I was not strong enough to withstand a coordinated effort.  Later on France had an opportunity to stab me and didn't - and althought I was never a fan of draws, be they 2 or 3 way, it seemed fitting that in this game France and I share the victory.  Had I seen a clear path to 18 I might have voted against the draw, blamed it on Turkey and done my best to grab the neeed centers, but there was no path and I just didn't want to stab France for the heck of it. 
 I have to say that while Turkey didn't ever become a major force, his emails were always well worth reading and I was glad to have gotten to play with Isaac.  I look forward to meeting up with players in this game in the future.
 Finally, thanks to Alan who did a great job. Jake

On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 11:00 AM, Alan Farrington <alley_cat_1990(at)hotmail.com> wrote:


After 10 Long years, there is peace in Europe once again!  A Draw has been agreed to by all the remaining powers.  France and Germany both tally up with 15 centers and Turkey gets to hold on to 4.

I'd very much like to hear any end game commentary that you all have.  I'm quite surprised that the German/France alliance lasted so long and was never broken.  I'm curious as to if it was never broken because of a great commitment by both players or if the opportunity never really arouse.



Orders:
France:
Build A Marseilles

Germany:
Build A Kiel
Build A Berlin

Turkey:
Remove F Black Sea



Ownership of Supply Centers
France:    Belgium, Brest, Greece, Liverpool, London,

           Marseilles, Naples, Paris, Portugal, Rome, Serbia,
           Spain, Trieste, Tunis, Venice.
Germany:   Berlin, Budapest, Denmark, Edinburgh, Holland, Kiel,
           Moscow, Munich, Norway, Rumania, Sevastopol, St

           Petersburg, Sweden, Vienna, Warsaw.
Turkey:    Ankara, Bulgaria, Constantinople, Smyrna.


Thanks,
Alan Farrington