Dip 1152 Standard
Dipknights Extra Credit Game.
I won as Germany in Fall 1909
Click on the hyperlinked names for the EOG
Players
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Name |
Nation |
Duration |
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GM: |
David Watson |
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Spring 1901-end |
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Players: |
Italy |
Spring 1901-end |
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Scott Troemel |
Russia |
Spring 1901-end |
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Germany |
Spring 1901-end |
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Grant Steel |
Turkey |
Spring 1901-Fall 1908 |
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France |
Spring 1901-Fall 1909 |
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Martin Gilbey |
England |
Spring 1901-Fall 1908 |
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Allen York |
Austria |
Spring 1901-Fall 1909 |
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I wasn't going to do this under the old "if you don't have anything nice to say..." adage, but I guess I do. Not much though. David, GM: Thank you for hosting the game and the invitation in the first place. Always the thankless task, this game was well GM'd and from that perspective a real pleasure. Stephen, Germany: Congratulations on the victory. Nicely played. I enjoyed our occasional discussions even though there was really never an opportunity for cooperation between us. I do appreciate that you never took a center from me, and appreciate the effort with which you took to take Tunis from France in that respect. I look forward to another chance to play with you. Scott, Russia: Well done. We did it all in this one.... well we didn't win, but we did everything else. Still, everthing about the game with you was as it always is. And that's fun. Thanks for your cooperation down the stretch. We came close to pulling off the improbable if not impossible. Allen, Austria: Man, we never got going in this game. Lots of back and forth stabs, alliances, and chance taking. I know that it was hard to suck it up and trust us at the end, but it was your only chance. It was our only chance, and you threw it away. Why? Martin, England: Nice work hanging in there till almost the end. I wish there had been something that I might have done for or with you, but I couldn't even think of any advice to give you. Lesser men would have resigned, and none would have blamed you if you had. Eva, France: Shame! Grant, Turkey: Grant, do you ever write players? I really think that you should consider playing only in gunboat games. Not even one message from you. Not one. I gave up trying. My only regret is that I bothered writing , knowing in advance that you'd ignore me. |
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When I took this game I hadn’t played much full press for a while, having only had time for gunboat. So I was happy to get involved in a game against some of the more experienced players in the dipknight community. I began the game neutrally, negotiating with Russia, England and France to try and find the best choice of ally. The first thing I decided was that Scott would be too dangerous a partner. This was not because he was particularly untrustworthy; simply because he wouldn't be influenced, standing by his guns even when I opposed his ideas. There was little chance I'd be able to dominate the partnership. Scott insisted on a northern opening despite my grumbles. Linked with his co-operation with Turkey, it wasn't difficult to stir up anti-Juggernaut sentiment. I encouraged Italy to support Austria from the start, and he did so with aplomb, to the extent of sending an army round to Galicia. With Russia's path to Sweden also blocked, any chance of a Juggernaut disappeared. Discussion in the West had touched upon the Western triple if Austria and Italy couldn't stem the Juggernaut. This worry aside, France and I cut England out of the deal and I relented against Russia. France took London while I took Norway and landed an army in Yorkshire. However, Scott again ignored my requests and built a northern fleet. Presumeably he needed extra builds to fight back the Austria-Italy alliance which was threatening to overwhelm him. I would have preferred to fulfill my promises to Austria and Italy by swooping on Russia's northern centres. But against my better judgement, I eventually decided to leave him alone and move against France. Russia simply looked too vulnerable to present a threat. However, he managed to turn Italy against Austria, and bounced back impressively - it is to his credit that he continually dissuaded me from attacking him despite my firm intention to do so. Austria was being squeezed, Turkey was marginalised and Russia was back in business. Then came France's perplexing retreat in the face of my attack. I must confess that I never really understood Eva’s motivation in throwing French centres to me and attacking Italy. I had anticipated a long slog, gaining centres one at a time and waiting for a Russian stab. Even after the first broadcast set of orders, I didn't believe it, and I was very tentative throughout my discussions with Eva, in case I had misinterpreted past actions. There was a debate about whether the game was tenable in the face of France’s actions. But unpredictable behaviour is all part of the game. While I'd have preferred to win by crushing all before me, I decided to give Eva full rein to carry me to victory. Naturally Russia would be forced to move against me to counter the obvious threat of a German solo. In Fall 1906, I pre-empted him by helping England back into Liverpool. The stab didn't seem like a success at the time. I certainly hadn't anticipated Scott gaining Ankara and hence building two. However, if I hadn’t deprived him of Liverpool, Scott would have built three, including a unit in St Petersburg, and he could have afforded to leave a garrison unit. I had a lot of loose ends to tie up. I needed to grab eastern centres from Russia, continue my acquisition of French centres, and protect Munich. Finally I needed to deal with a rogue Russian fleet and an obstinate English army in Liverpool. Some would have dealt with the latter first. But it would have taken so much manpower to trap the fleet that my advance would have come to a standstill. I settled on a risky blitzkrieg approach: get over the stalemate line and the rest could follow. With French help I did this and in the process I discovered that my solo attempt wasn't significant to others as I'd thought. I chatted at length to Allen and Randolph, trying to encourage their concerns about each other and Russia, and discovered there was potential there. In Allen's case his concerns were clearly justified. He wouldn't have survived to 1909 without his capture of Vienna in 1907, and he indicated to me that he was aware of my intentions. The loss of Vienna did not directly affect Russia's defences, but Scott made the mistake of trying to eliminate Austria: the diversion of resources away from the German front increased my flexibility considerably. Finally, Allen's need to disband Army Tyrolia in 1908 to try and avoid elimination clinched the solo. Randolph was also open to discussion. When he e-mailed to complain that I had violated an agreement that I was to avoid the Med, I realised the alarm bells weren’t ringing yet. I had already spent a year assuming he was against me. By assuaging his fears about me and feeding his fears about Austria and Russia, I may have bought a little time. In the end, Anglo-Russian co-operation fell apart over Liverpool and I trapped the Russian fleet. Scott was too thinly spread to defend Russia, attack Munich and eliminate Austria, and I successfully invaded his home country. I was able to avoid conflict with Italy and take the French centres when they were offered to me. Thanks to all involved; I enjoyed both the victory and the company. Conversations with Randolph and Allen in the final years made a refreshing change from the usual isolation of the soloist. While I avoided Scott after stabbing him (for fear of giving something away) we had some entertaining discussions earlier on. With others, conversation was often brief, but never brusque. I am also indebted to some nice moves and tactical suggestions from Eva. Thanks to David for running the game very professionally and for having the idea of Dipknights games in the first place. |
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Fairly standard intro, with France and Germany quickly routing the English down to a boat. Our plan was to have Germany move east and France move against Italy. For *some* reason, and I'll leave it to Germany to confirm my suspicion that it was either Italy or Russia who talked him into doing it, Germany picks this moment to stab. If I were Germany at that point, I wouldn't have stabbed unless I had assurance that Russia wasn't going to attack from behind. Did Germany have that assurance? Hmm. Questions, I sure, of my plans in this game will most likely revolve around throwing my centers to Germany. This move arose from a three-part interaction I had with Germany and Russia. 1)After inquiring with Russia about his plans on the German front, and discovering that he had no plans to attack Germany, I went through with my attack on Italy. It was in the back of my head that Germany might stab me, but I thought with Russia's help, this could be beat back. 2)Russia and Italy were fairly obviously allied against Austria and Turkey and doing rather well. Italy's EoG confirmed my suspicions: Turkey and Austria were not the best of allies, what with Turkey not writing and the natural dislike Turkey and Austria have for one another. 3)Germany stabs as I move on Italy. 4)Russia answers my request for help curtly in the negative, saying he intends to finish Turkey and (apparently) Austria. At the same time, he is moving in stereo with German boats in the northern waters. 5)I threaten to throw it by publicly sending orders doing such. Silence from Russia. Italy is fighting Austria and Turkey. I carry through on my threat. 6)Russia sends message that he sure wished that I hadn't done that, saying he would have later come to my aid. (An intention he never mentioned or implied before.) 7)I succeed in helping to see that Germany wins. Feeling no shame, E.G. Vandergeld |
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