Dip 1154 Standard Gunboat

After the GM lost everyone’s details and identities and only two players got back in touch, it was declared a DIAS after Fall 1910

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Final Map

Click on the hyperlinked names for the EOG

Players

	Name	Nation	Duration
GM:	David Stewart		Spring 1901-end
Players:	?	Austria	Spring 1901-Fall 1906
	?	England	Spring 1901-Fall 1904
	Stephen Worthy	France	Spring 1901-end
	?	Germany	Spring 1901-end
	?	Italy	Spring 1901-end
	?	Russia	Spring 1901-end
	Ray Setzer	Turkey	Spring 1901-end

David’s EOG

Since my computer difficulties ended and I called for the players to get back in contact with me, I have only heard from 2 players.  One of these players has suggested that, if I did not hear from more of the players, I ought to either post for replacements or call the game a DIAS, or call a vote among those players in contact for an EOG proposal.  Since I was only contacted by two players, I have decided to call this game dead as a DIAS.  There is no need to bother with EOG statements.  It's been a pleasure having those who played in this game as players, and I apologize for all of the computer problems I had that caused this game to die.

My EOG

Just a quick note on the history of this game. Everything went smoothly till David started having problems with his computer and so on. I’ve had the same situation with a computer dying in the past, losing all the identities and maps, but I managed to get enough people back in touch to get things going again. Unfortunately, three players never got back in touch, most perplexingly Germany, the board leader.

The game was most likely heading for a draw anyway. Germany was on 14 centres, all parties (with the possible exception of Italy) were in line for the stop-the-leader, and the units were mostly in position to hold a stalemate line. There’s always a chance that he does something exceptional or a defender does something stupid, but if he can’t even be bothered to come back and finish the game off, then he doesn’t deserve the win.

To go back to the start, the game was black press gunboat. Germany and I communicated copiously, with Turkey and Russia chipping in infrequently. I advertised to Germany and England that I’d help the first of them to offer alliance by their actions, using Belgium as the bargaining chip, and Germany took me up on the offer. The disparity between our communications style and that of the others meant that it was very easy to finish off England and agree terms on which to head our separate ways.

However, it fell apart when Russia collapsed in the face of Germany’s attack. Germany grew disproportionately quickly and I couldn’t keep up with him. I pushed Italy out of his own country and was growing, but I had no leverage for a move on Germany. I needed Germany to make a mistake for me to get an edge, but he never did. He made the stab earlier than I expected and pushed me back.

However, I made turned away from the east and drew up a reasonable defensive line. Turkey responded very sensibly, pulling his fleets back so I could move my fleets away from the Ionian and defend the west against Germany. There was a mix-up with finishing off Italy – I could have used the extra unit by taking Trieste – but in the end, the defensive line looked likely to hold throughout. Sadly, Germany isn’t here to give his views. Not entirely satisfactory, but the most likely conclusion, I feel.