Dip 1014 – The Yugoslavian Cup

I won as Bosnia in Fall 2012 on the SRFJ map, a variant for 6 players based on the former Yugoslavia, using chaos builds.

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Final Map

Click on the hyperlinked names for the EOG

Players

	Name	Nation	Duration
GM:	Shane Armstrong		Spring 2000-end
Players:	Stephen Worthy	Bosnia	Spring 2000-end
	David Stewart	Macedonia	Spring 2000-end
	Steph Mabie	Slovenia	Spring 2000-end
	Kevin Hoyt	Croatia	Spring 2000-end
	Doug Burgoyne	Serbia	Spring 2000-end
	Charlie Clarke	Montenegro	Spring 2000-end

David’s EOG

First off, thanks to Shane for running this game, for the compliment on my play, and for bearing with me when I had trouble with communicating. Next off, congratulations to Stephen on a great win. Other than that, great game, everybody. Now, to begin with my inexpert analysis of the game.

I started off with the bad tactical and strategic error of not going for Pristina right away, which was only compounded by Montenegro opening to the East. Thus, I was penned in for a couple of years that I could have used for more expansion and possibly have penned Stephen in before he could solo. Unfortunately, that was the story of my whole game. I just didn't move quickly enough. In case anyone else recognized it, yes, towards the end I was using a variant on the old Schlieffen plan from World War 1. Basically, I was trying to take one enemy at a time. I tried a conservative game of slow expansion, which I guess doesn't work in this variant. Oh, well. I'll know better for next time.

My EOG

I wrote this before Macedonia’s EOG, but largely I think we agree. Those who have been in my games will know my penchant for long EOG’s, so here goes.

I found this game very interesting because it strongly favoured a player with strong logistics and tactics. Starting with only one unit and building in any owned centre allows exponential expansion for a canny player. Playing gunboat also means that alliances are harder to manage due to the limited communication. I chose Bosnia with the simple aim of growing so quickly that the other nations wouldn’t be able to organise a stop-the-leader alliance fast enough.

The key seemed to be grabbing centres that most helped you to expand your range and leaving the easy ones till later. Serbia understood this in leaving the north-east centres till last, as did Montenegro in going for Pec and passing up Cetinje. But Macedonia made a largely unpunished error when he went for Ohrid instead of expanding outwards. With Montenegro grabbing Pristina in 2001, Macedonia could easily have been cut off had Serbia headed west or north. His late expansion was largely due to Montenegro’s demise and Serbia’s long retreat north.

Montenegro was unlucky. He communicated well and had the insight to warn me off with a move to Trebinje before backing off himself. However, his second move to Trebinje seemed less well thought out. His army was too close to my centres and he was too involved against Serbia to back it up. It just made more sense to eliminate him while he was stretched. My feeling was that attacking Serbia was a mistake. Serbia was the neighbouring power least likely to attack him. At the same time, given Montenegro’s opening gambit, Macedonia was a ready made enemy.

Serbia’s expansion mirrored mine and he benefitted from Montenegro’s demise. However, he appeared to realise that I was in a better position than he, and began what appeared to be a very sensible strategic withdrawal. Macedonia was completely unable to disengage from his war with Serbia because there was too little room to attack me. When Serbia lost two centres in 2007, he disbanded armies in Ivanjica and Bijelo Polje, opening up a channel for Macedonia to head west. Perhaps it was purely defensive strategy that made him chose those two units, but it was the move that caused me the most concern throughout the game.

However, Macedonia ignored Serbia’s attempts to make peace and Serbia ruined his good work by retreating rapidly northwards. His northern territories were poorly defended, but under no threat due to the Slovenia-Bosnia war, so I assume that Serbia was trying to show Macedonia how important is was to make peace. However, it was simply an invitation to Macedonia to steamroller him, and so it proved. Perhaps if Serbia had held fast, Macedonia would have had to give up and turn against me. But in the end the promise of easy centres was too tempting for Macedonia.

In the north, the opening position of Slovenia and Croatia makes war hard to avoid. Both nations provoked it with contentious openings – Croatia going for the 50-50 Maribor, while Slovenia grabbed Karlovac. Both could have done very well if it they had disengaged, grabbed their respective clusters of centres and attacked me. Croatia made moves that suggested this, but Slovenia wasn’t interested. They ended up deadlocked, allowing me to creep up on them.

I tried to ally with Croatia, because he’d been communicating more, but they abandoned their feud to face me. In mopping Croatia up, I made the most horrendous error. I lost possession of Zagreb and Karlovac with a hastily submitted set of moves, so instead of a 4-centre power to sweep up, I had a 6-centre power facing me.

Slovenia proved to be an aggressive opponent and it took me a while to work out his tactics. For a while I struggled to get an edge as a rogue Montenegro unit distracted me. Finally I worked out that he attacked whenever possible, even in Spring. That allowed me to guess his moves. In both of the final two years, I used the gambit of allowing him into my centre in the Spring and kicking him out in the Fall to good effect.

The crucial moment came in 2010. His moves in 2009 had suggested his intention to build a fleet in Rijeka, which could have caused havoc if it had got loose. I risked ruin in 2010 when I destroyed his army, then failed to force a unit into Rijeka, even though I knew he’d try the same trick again. With a Slovenian fleet build imminent, I feared I was stretched too thinly. To be honest, I had actually started voting in favour of the draw proposals that kept popping up, because I really thought I had shot my bolt. Macedonia could have found me out at any moment with a committed attack on my thin southern defences. However, the key decision – build a fleet to trap the Slovenian fleet or an army to boost my defences - suddenly shifted my perspective. Instead of trying to play it safe, why not load everything onto attacking Slovenia and trust to Macedonia’s unwillingness to attack me?

I knew I had to break Slovenia before Macedonia broke me. I set myself a two-year deadline to get the centres I needed, or face being overwhelmed in the south. Indisputably Macedonia should at least have attacked me in Spring 2011. He had the numbers to do so and mop up Serbia at the same time. That would have given him an even chance of the solo. But it would take more than two years before an attack would have given him results, so maybe he didn’t fancy it.

The rest is history; in the end, various chance elements came together to make the solo fairly simple. Firstly, Serbia contested Novi Sad, which stopped Slovenia avoiding a disband. Secondly, Macedonia didn’t attack until 2012, so I could use my builds from one front to reinforce the other front. Thirdly, Slovenia disbanded Army Sisak, a unit that had me quite worried due to the chance element. It might have been worth disbanding Army Subotica and trusting Serbia to hold me at bay. Fourthly and finally, Slovenia’s moves to Zagreb and Ljubljana in Spring 2012 allowed me slip past him and grab Maribor, while still being able to kick him out of Zagreb.

I enjoyed this game immensely, especially the focus on tactics. Little sideshows like my plans to hold onto Osijek and delay the Macedonian attack as long as possible required detailed planning (and at one stage flowcharts!), while I enjoyed the opportunity to get to grips with all of the unpronounceable province names. I enjoyed the GMing of Shane, who seems to share my love of variants (I’m currently running my 7th, 8th and 9th variant games in the cat23 community), so thanks to everyone for the game. I’m sure I’ll want to play again and try out a new country if this variant comes up again.