Dip 1195 – Standard
3-way draw between France, England and Austria
Click on the hyperlinked names for the EOG
Players
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Power |
Name |
Duration |
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GM: |
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Anthony Cutliffe |
Spring 1901-end |
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Players: |
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Spring 1901- end |
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Spring 1901- end |
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Ryan Legault |
Spring 1901-Spring 1903 |
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David Redick |
Spring 1901-Winter 1902 |
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Spring 1901- end |
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Seth Jones |
Spring 1901-Fall 1906 |
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Spring 1901- end |
Supply Centres
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Year |
01 |
02 |
03 |
04 |
05 |
06 |
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Austria |
5 |
7 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
11 |
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England |
4 |
6 |
7 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
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France |
6 |
6 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
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Germany |
4 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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Italy |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
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Russia |
5 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
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Turkey |
4 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
EOG Statements
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Well, I suppose I might as well write the eog now. first, many thanks to tony for gm'ing and thanks to everyone else for playing, making email diplomacy possible. Before this game started, I had not played for about 3 years. Incidentally that same summer I started playing chess online once in a while, then decided that I might as well go back to diplomacy. In any case, I felt a bit rusty at the start of the game, but the tactics of diplomacy are simply enough; negotiation and strategy are the hard parts. Communication opened with Thomas, France, pretty soon. I did not know how experienced a player he was at the time, but I had a good feeling about him. I recall being afraid of an f/g alliance at one point because both France and Germany wanted me to send my army to Edinburgh, and Thomas seemed non-committal, but these fears were unfounded. Also, I too was being non-committal because Ryan, the old German, proposed a western triple, so Thomas and I figured it would be easier to take our token centers in 1901 and see how things looked in 1902, to see whether I should focus on Russia, he on Italy. In short, agreeing to the triple offered greater flexibility. As it turned out, the German strategy backfired, as he immediately got attacked by Russia in s01. At this point Thomas made the decisive proposal: if we attack now, we can deprive Germany of a build and he won't be able to recover. So we attacked. The attack was not executed particularly well, but Germany and Russia were locked in conflict, so e/f was bound to succeed. It always seems that the players who jump into conflict immediately end up with the worse positions. Seth of course had been antagonized by the German, so did not have much of a choice, and had no chance of getting Sweden, hence the move to Baltic. In any case, the attack could have gone smoother if I had just seconded Thomas' plan of bur-mun, which would have been good for me as well, since both e (nth-hol) and f would be definitely committed to the war on Germany. But then again, Thomas' bur-bel (my suggestion actually) made sure Germany would spill information to France and also put an army next to Holland and Ruhr. Also, convoying the army to Denmark or nth-den was a possibility for me, since I knew Germany would order den-swe and had talked to Seth about gob-bal. But it now needs to be said that communication from Germany was rather infrequent and erratic (long joyful email proposing alliance followed by silence for a few days), so from the point of view of a 3-sc nation, is not to be heavily relied upon. Furthermore, communication from Seth was infrequent as well. On the plus side, the lack of communication from Germany and Russia meant that they would not make peace, but on the negative side, it is sometimes disappointing and counter-productive to have the game's alliance structure determined by who's talking and who's not talking. I had this same problem in another cat23 game as Austria: the only neighbor talking was turkey; I credited Italy and Russia with shooting for an I/r; well, to keep a long story short, Italy and Russia were the first players to be eliminated from that game. Another mystery in this game was the Italian, David Redick. We had something of a dialogue going and he seemed an experienced player, but for some reason egregiously misordered his pieces in s01, ruining the Italian position for the rest of the game. The f01 moves didn't help because they antagonized Thomas. In any case, the Italian centers were an easy target for Thomas and Stephen. As for Stephen, he must have done some good diplomacy to get turkey to build an army in Ankara in w01. The Turk was trapped in his corner the rest of the game. I should admit, Stephen, that as far as I know Seth bears you no grudge. I just lied b/c I didn't you to negotiate with him, to arrange an attack on war/mos. The other decisive event in this game was the decision to stab Thomas, which on the face of things looked good because the French fleets were deep in the Mediterranean. However, the geography simply did not permit such a stab to succeed. There are certain invisible groves in the board that deprive such an attack of its momentum after bel and hol fall. On the other hand, it is also the case that I decided to pull back because I was convinced Stephen would play ven-tyr, shoring up Thomas in Munich. I did not think Stephen would attack war and mos immediately, however, I knew that he could give me serious trouble. This possibility disturbed me greatly; the very threat upset me in undue proportion to its likelihood. But then again, I did have a small chance for a solo if I get could get Munich and, with Belgium taken, push into burgundy. But this victory in this west, probably pyrrhic anyway, would not have done anything to guarantee the safety of war and mos, the token centers for the solo. However, what I failed to understand at the time was that Stephen was paranoid about turkey. Though mos and war were within the range of possibility, the vendetta between Austria and turkey was binding. In other words, the possibility of an Austrian attack on war and mos was irrelevant because fate wanted the vendetta between Austria and turkey to continue, and fate would have her way. I failed to recognize fate at that decisive moment, so I played it safe. The waves of time wished that blood be spilled in the Balkans and Asia minor till only nation remained, yet I retreated in the face of a meaningless what-if, a possibility not to be. Though the map appears nice and flat, the fact
is that paranoia distorts it, creates its gravitational fields visible
apparently only to the few. In other words, I did not see at the time that a
sort of Necessity, Fate, was pulling Stephen to Asia minor, that he did not
have his eyes on the cold north. My problem was that I think in rational
terms rather than magic, fate, and so on. Of course, one needs a balance of
rationality and magic, and needs to know which one to side with at the right
time. |
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Well that’s that. I’m sorry to see this end in a draw, since I believe that any one of the draw participants could have won this game, but we all blew it at one stage or another. Despite this, I think the right people shared in the draw, namely the only ones who kept up an acceptable level of diplomacy. Peter showed audacity in his counter-attack, taking Greece with a move that I had ruled out as being too low-percentage (that’ll teach me to go against my instincts). However, he simply didn’t communicate enough to build up trust. The same goes for Ryan and Seth. The game was also uneven in that there were some very experimental tactics being employed. The original Italy, Dave, had some very odd moves even after he fatally misordered in Spring 1901. Ryan opened as Germany by holding in Berlin. Seth’s kamikaze attack on Germany left St Petersburg completely open to England. Some elements of the opening phase were standard. The France-England steamroller headed east, while I got to choose between helping Turkey and Russia against the other (I chose Seth because he was talking more at that stage). Then Dave invited me into Venice, but went awol, leaving me with a new Italy who assumed I was an enemy. Fortunately he didn’t manage to defend himself very well and I picked up new centres. Unfortunately my struggles with Italy stopped me building fleets, which would prove to be my eventual undoing. I very nearly waived a build to give myself a chance, but I was surrounded by very unpredictable powers who could notice how big I’d grown at any time. To that end I joined England’s stab of Russia when Seth went silent again and finally managed to build a second fleet. I was horribly aware that France and England had nearly completed their prime objective of finishing off Germany. France would have to choose to attack England or me. My lack of fleets made me so vulnerable that most players wouldn’t have been able to resist avoiding the stab and going after my Italian holdings. I did my best to egg both parties on to stab the other, but I knew Thomas wouldn’t be able to resist attacking me. So it proved in Spring 1904, but I think Thomas will agree that it was a strategic error. England was about to finish subduing Russia and he’d have to choose between stabbing France or trying to attack me with an incredibly long supply chain. The stab on France was inevitable and Thomas made it more tempting by sending his fleets into the Med. Still, it did mean that I just had to hold on until Thomas was stabbed in turn. In Winter 1904, Adam did stab, and I escaped without losing centres to France, but Turkey took two centres off me. I negotiated a withdrawal in return for Turkey not building a second fleet, making peace just in time to see Adam stab me over Sevastopol. It was a sensible move from Adam, delaying my progress against Turkey long enough to give himself time to break through France’s defences. Then in Spring 1905, I have to admit I was a little disappointed. Adam was in a strong position; if he pressed the attack, I would still have had a reasonable chance of a solo, but he was in pole position. When he pulled out of the attack, he was settling for a draw instead of taking a chance for the solo. By leaving him alone when he stabbed Thomas, I was gambling on my own chance for the solo, so Adam dashed both our hopes. Adam’s comments about my view of Turkey are interesting. I had actually been trying to give off vibes of being obsessed with finishing Turkey during the game, but his EOG statement suggests he only noticed this after it was too late. In fact I had nothing against Peter, who was always impeccably polite and rational. However for an eastern power to dominate, Turkey must be bottled up in his homeland. I had to be single-minded about this until Peter was no longer a threat, otherwise I was storing up trouble for myself. Once he was trapped, I was open as to my next move. I often analysed the benefits of attacking War/Mos or supporting Mun, but I needed England and France to be more entangled before I antagonised Adam. Adam had to be incapable of reinforcing his Russian holdings through fear of Thomas’ retribution, and that needed another season of England-France war. I don’t agree that England couldn’t have cracked France. As Adam says, Bel and Hol would have fallen, which would have given him armies to push into Ruh, Bur and Stp. The army in Stp would protect his eastern assets while Ruh and Bur menaced Mun, Par and Bre. Having played as France in a very similar situation, I can vouch for the fact the cracks continue to grow as an attack from the north gains momentum. In the end we spent some time haggling over the draw; paranoia was naturally rampant. I repeatedly analysed the chances of the solo, but Adam knew his stalemate lines too well and Thomas’s fleets were too numerous. I didn’t particularly feel like telling Peter to vote himself out of the draw, but Adam and Thomas must have been persuasive. Thanks everyone for the game. Tony was a very efficient GM and I enjoyed the diplomacy. |
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I think a lot if not all has already been said by Adam and Stephen so there
is no necessity to repeat it again. I feel glad that this game ends in a draw since I think - contrary to Stephen
- that I was not able to win it by soloing. Maybe Adam (England) and you,
Stephen, would have got the chance, but certainly not me. However, I agree that the 3 most eager diplomats of this game deserved to
share in this draw. They were the players exchanging and sending out correspondence
regulary, which cannot be said of the other 4 powers. So a regular
communication decided the game once more. After having checked out my close neighbours E, G and I it was clear to me
that I would side with Adam as he seemed to be the most capable player.
Germany proposed a triple alliance of the western powers, which I was
prepared to perform, but Ryan played far too erratic and Adam and I soon
decided to take him out. A quick German elimination was supported by a Russian help in atatcking the
Reich. It was obvious that the successful E/F steamroller would head for
Russia and Italy next. Those were easy targets after all. Maybe you are right, Stephen, that strategically it was a mistake to go against
your Austria next. But at that point of the game it was also difficult to
attack England and since Adam and I had worked together pretty well I didn't
want to give that up for nothing. Then Adam stabbed me, but it was a bad and uncoordinated attacked as Adam
hand't got enough armies to advance against me. Of course he could have done
so and finally would have managed to bring me down to 4-5 units and centres.
But on the other ahnd he recognized immediately after the stab that I was
able to defend myself well enough, at least for a couple of turns, which
would cost him the solo finally. He would never have been able to gain 18 SCs while Stephen was even closer
to it. So Adam made the right decision and offered peace to me, which I
accepted. The best I could now reach was a 3-way-draw on my opinion.
Fortunately enough it turned out that way! Many thanks to all of you, especially to Adam and Stephen for some interesting
and most enjoyable mails. Last but not least many thanks to our GM Tony who did a very good job on adjudicating the game properly. I would like to play in your next offered standard again, Tony! |
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Well, as the last hold out of the 4 defeated, I
shall send in my own EOG. I know I enjoyed the game, even though I was
bottled in the corner mostly from the get go. I was quite leery of trusting
Stephen, as I had never had a good Austria Turkey arrangement before, but
thought I'd give it a go, much to my ruin. And alas, my own fault for not
being able to keep up a steady dialogue ended my chances of swinging either
Stephen or Adam before the end. Yet, still a fun game. And I to shall hope to meet you all again at another board. |
