Power

Name

Duration

GM:

Andrew Jameson

Spring 1901-end

Players:

Austria

Darryl Good

Spring 1901-end

England

John Doherty

Former Trout

Spring 1901-Spring 1909
Fall 1909-end

France

Stephen Worthy, 2

Spring 1901-end

Germany

Alan Farrington

Spring 1901-end

Italy

David Watson, 2

Spring 1901-end

Russia

Phil Ward

Spring 1901-end

Turkey

Rami Younes

Spring 1901-end

Phil’s EOG

I've decided to write this while the game is very fresh in my mind and  similar to my countryman Rasputin under the mild influence (3rd G&T!).

Firstly our GM is to be commended for running an excellent game and one in  which I thoroughly enjoyed. All this through the trials and tribulations of  defending the land of the free from the forces of the Dark Lord. By the way,  I certainly wish I was on a Caribbean Island right now being surrounded by  dancing girls etc etc etc.

For me the game fell into three phases, the first of which I was not in any  form of control. I joined as a replacement being harrassed by Turkey in the  south, England in the north and not having any set purpose in the middle. I  initially tried to form an alliance with Darryl as Austria against Turkey  but long term that wasn't going to be successful as Italian Dave was  nibbling away Austrian territory from the west. If I held this course of  action I believed I'd go under. It was at this point I (about 1903/4) that I  assisted Dave in finally knocking Darryl out the game, forgetting that  Darryl had a retreat that would I think have put me on three centres. I  didn't at this time really trust Dave at all and before the retreats were  due asked Darryl to fall on his sword as a favour to me. In this respect I  am extremely grateful to Darryl that he did.

From that point on though the alliance between myself and Dave went into  full swing. We agreed an equal division of Turkish spoils and then the broad  direction of the strategic direction we would both go. At this time  France/Germany & England were involved in a pretty static campaign against  each other and didn't really do much to stop us. Dave then progressed west  through the Med while I advanced north through Scandinavia and parts of  Germany. I think both Dave & I were pretty much convinced that we would go  for a two way draw. I may have half heartedly proposed the odd game end  proposal but it or they were vote down.

Then the artist formerly known as Trout arrived as replacement England. His  incessent banterings didn't deflect me from my aim to pursue the game to a  draw but his writings were certainly fun. Hopefully the identity of this  fish will soon become known. But the advnace continued.

Then, about 2 game years ago as I was writing my non descript orders I  realised that I could stab Dave for four and take one more off Germany and  end up on 17. I really felt bad about it as Dave had been an excellent ally  and we had done some spendid moves together. As I explained to Dave  afterwards I had never won a game of Cat23 Dip before and this probably  going to be the only chance I would ever get..... so I did it. The rest as  they say is history. Daves' disbands effectively gave me the game and it  took me just one more game year to finish things.

Thanks once more to all of you for making things enjoyable. I'm sure that  we'll all have some good tussles again in the future.

Trout’s EOG

First off, congratulations to Phil for the much-coveted solo.  From what I've seen it was very much deserved.  So much of life is due to the timing, and I have to admit that the final push from Russia was timed excellently.  In truth, it was the only thing that saved us all from yet another boring English solo.  =)

I also have to tip my hat to Andy for a very well run game.  Real life issues are real serious issues for him, and I admire the hell out of any GM that can maintain such a consistent pace while serving his or her country, as Andy does.  It was a pleasure diving into this one, as short as my stint in it was.

Which brings me to the play.  I jumped into the English position when it was very much under fire.  In fact, I titled my email folder for this one 'Dip 1250 - English Death' since I was positive I wouldn't last more than one or two turns. 

My first job was to evict Dave from his pleasant spot on my couch.  After I managed to turf him, (or more accurately after I managed to watch as he sailed away on his own steam,) I realized that there really wasn't much more I could do to combat either Phil or Dave.  Phil was engaged with the last units of Germany, and Stephen was managing to keep Dave tangled at the mouth of the Med. 

So I stabbed.  It's like Mom says - when in doubt, stab away.   I didn't want to impede Steve's efforts with Italy, and it looked like Alan was a goner anyways, so I went ahead and helped myself to Belgium.  At that point, it didn't really seem to make a difference in the long run because Dave appeared to be helping Phil solo.  I apologized to Alan for taking his center, and we both agreed that it really didn't matter anyways.  (Although he might have just been saying that..)

Then it was a waiting game for Phil to get to 18.  There was nothing either Steve, Alan or myself could do while he gobbled the Balkan dots.  When Dave switched sides to help against Russia, we all cheered.  But unfortunately by that point, this one was written and there was nothing even Dave could do. 

As for my incessent ramblings, well, sometimes even I felt that I was over-doing it a little.  At a couple points, I thought to myself  'Man, these guys are going to think you're an idiot!'..  Then I'd always realize that it was already too late, and went ahead and hit send anyways.  Hopefully though, it wasn't too much and I was able to bring something to the game other than a needless annexation of Belgium.. 

Thanks to all you guys for putting up with me, and once again, congratulations Phil.  Rah Rah Rasputin indeed.  (Where did I put those bell-bottoms?...)

Alan’s EOG

This was my first game online, I started it as soon as I got home from the  World boardgaming championships, when I was still excited about diplomacy.   The WBCs were my first real chance at a diplomacy game.  From the  perspective of a new playetr, playing over the internet is different, I  enjoyed it a lot more though because I could carefull choose my words in my  emails when face to face I had to make split-second decisions.

Well anyway, I started this game with a notion to go after France, for no  other reason than really his email was dip knight, and I figured who better  to attack then a diplomatic knight!  Unfortunately my campaign in the west  of Europe dragged on much longer than I thought it would, even with help  from England.

My next move was to attack move after England, my logic behind that idea was  everyone else was doing it, I might as well get a slice of the pie as well,  unfortunately though that campaign went nowhere as well.

The turning point in the game, which led to Russias solo victory was my   (2nd) attack on France.  I saw paris open and I figured i could slide an  army in there very quickly in pick up a couple of dots while he was trying  to hold off Italy.  My idea behind attacking him at that point was because  If I could somehow pick all the free French and Engilsh centers then I would  have an equal number as both Russia and Italy, who were both at  approximately 8 at that time.  My mistake was thinking that they would stand  still and let me do this (inexperience causes lapses in judgment sometime.)

It was a long and unfruitful game but I still had fun thanks to Andy's great  GMing and Trouts humourous antics.  I learned some very good lessons from  this game which I will carry on for sometime.

Darryl’s EOG

To trust or not to trust; this is Austria's dilemma, in my humble opinion.  On one hand, trusting could give aggressive neighbors all of the advantage.  On the other, not trusting could anger non-aggressive neighbors into action against you.  With the perfect vehicle to provide for Austria's security (the hedgehog maneuver), I chose not to trust, but to announce my intentions to my neighbors.  My thinking was; yes, I am being aggressive, but I am telling you so that you can defend yourself, therefore, I am being aggressively defensive.  I suppose though, whether an attack is announced or not . . . it is still an attack.  My advice to future Austria's; if you decide upon trust and become eliminated by the end of 1902, take it stride and begin looking for a new game because it was never "meant to be" for Austria; if you decide upon not trusting and use the hedgehog, do not announce that you are going to be aggressive and continue to use the hedgehog through all of 1901.

As I have already mentioned, although I did open with the hedgehog, I made every effort to present myself as peaceful but desiring security for Austria.  Therefore, I announced my intentions to attack Venice and occupy Galicia but offered support for Italy into Greece and Russia into Rumania as succors to any perceived wounds that I was to inflict.  When it came time to provide such support, I had no communication with Russia and Italy didn't believe the support would be provided.  This left Turkey unopposed to occupy Greece, a pivotal province in the occupation of the Balkan resources (again, in my opinion), and Russia unopposed to occupy Galicia and Rumania.

With Russia and Turkey now in prime positions to attack Austria at the beginning of 1902, it was hardly any surprise that they would.  However, this is not unrecoverable position for Austria . . . with Italy as an ally.  However, considering, the unfortunate posting of early but countermanded Italian orders and due to Austria's hedgehog maneuver in the Spring of 1901, I am not sure that Italy was ever an ally of Austria.  It is true that I was able to convince Italy to attack Greece with Austria support even though we both knew it was likely to be a stand-off; however, Austria also still occupied Trieste in the Spring of 1902.  Still, I do not see how Austria survives without eventually trusting Italy and I was convinced by Italy's argument, "Italy must support Austria or face being crushed beneath the Russian/Turkish Juggernaut shortly after Austria is eliminated."  So, Italy's betrayal in the Fall of 1902 was a bit of a shock.  Although in Italy's defense, I did not completely trust Italy to not take both Greece and Trieste leaving Austria in the unrecoverable position occupying only Budapest and Vienna.  Therefore, I devised an elaborate set of orders that gave Austria security, but left Italy holding the bag again.  Had Italy followed the orders, Austria and Italy would have been in prime position to occupy Greece, Bulgaria, and probably place an Italian unit in the Turkish homeland due to the error on Turkey's part of not building a fleet.  However, considering the results of the season . . . I wonder if the lack of Turkish fleets was an error or just one more indication that Italy was never an ally of Austria.  In fact, this is when I started to suspect that Italy and Turkey had been working together all along.

With Italy's betrayal and Russia occupying Budapest, Austria was now in an unrecoverable position.  Even if I had eliminated the fleet in the winter of 1902, as everyone expected, I had no way to defend both Vienna and Serbia.  Even given Italy's support or at least the expectation that Italy would not attack Trieste; Vienna would have fallen to Russia, Serbia to Turkey and most likely Trieste to Italy.  Nor, would re-occupying Budapest have allowed Austria to survive any longer.  In this scenario; Turkey occupies Serbia, Russia re-re-occupies Budapest, and most likely Italy occupies Trieste.  Devoid of any opportunity for defense and survival, I chose to attack.  Unfortunately for Italy, his betrayal left Austria in a position from which attacking Italy was the only viable option and Italy was unable or unwilling to offer any alternatives that didn't seem to reward Italy for betrayal.  Therefore, I eliminated the Army in Serbia in favor of the units capable of successfully launching an offensive against Italy.  It seemed the only just reward to ensure that Italy would, "be crushed beneath the Russian/Turkish Juggernaut shortly after Austria is eliminated."

With the change of leadership in Russia in the Fall of 1903, a breath of life was offered.  For the remainder of Austria's existence, I worked with Russia in an attempt to curtail Italy and Turkey's aggression in the East.  And, once again, was surprised in the following year (1904) when Russia decided to take the short term gains rather than work with Austria for the long term advantage.  Therefore, in returning to my original question, to trust or not to trust; it seems that the lesson is that Austria survives only when treachery and deceit are generously applied.

My EOG

Well, that’s that.  As with Trout, I was a passive observer at the end of this game, but the first half was fun, in a rather odd way.

After a solid first year, I had England and Germany suddenly ganging up on me.  Unfortunately for them, my main strength at this game is tactical play, especially pig-headed defence.  They attacked in 1902 and it was 1906 before they beat a retreat, having made no progress whatsoever.  You find your triumphs where you can in diplomacy, and that was mine.

Having said that, in the midst of my small triumph was the seed of destruction, as Italy snuck a fleet through behind the stalemate line on the pretext of helping me (which he had been doing and for which I thank him).  Nevertheless when peace broke out in the west, my job was simple.  All I had to do was hold the Mao-Por-Spa-Mar line against Italy, while England and Germany held the line against Russia and the rogue Italian fleet.

The beautiful part was that my job was easy.  With five units, you can hold the mouth of the Mediterranean for ever, as long as Germany and England hold up, and they could have done so.  But then came Alan’s suicidal attack on me for a second time.  He’s recognised in his EOG statement that this was a mistake and I’m glad, and I won’t dwell on it. It's worth mentioning, though, that had he not, Italy would have made no progress against me and would have been forced to attack Russia or see him make the majority of any future gains.  The game end might have been very different.  Ah well, c’est la vie, as we French say.

The end game was as tedious as lost causes always are – undermanned, the only breath of fresh air was Trout’s unpredictable utterances.  David and I had quite a dispute when he threw the game to Phil – I’ve actually profited from this behaviour before myself, but I never expect it from a veteran.  Still he had his reasons, and I accepted that you have to take such developments in your stride.  I’d agree that Phil is worthy of a win, even I felt he could have been stopped in this game.  Incidentally, the cat23 records have Phil down as winning 774 – is that incorrect?

So finally thanks to Andy for running the game, and to all for their participation.  I’m so busy at work at the moment that I’m not starting any new games at the moment (and doing badly in all the ones I’m still in!), but I hope to be playing and running games again soon – I have my 20th game to run, after all!

Dave’s EOG

Most of you will stop reading this about midway I'm sure. This is highly long winded because I started writing this months ago when the game started. I hate writing EOGs when I've all but forgotten my moods, motivations, emotions, etc. So I took a different tact and wrote it as I went along...adding a paragraph or two at each major turning point. For those of you who are still reading even 'now'...here it is:

Dip 1250 Italy EOG;

Well, it all started as your regular 'blah blah' game...everyone seemed to open with normal moves. My first thought was to ally with Austria as all good Italys should. However, after the first talks I was thinking of doing something different. Austria opened talks something like this: "I'm moving in a hedghog fashion...deal with it." While Turkey was much more opened to making something happen right away. In fact, HE aproached ME with an offer I could not refuse. Turkey offered a long term alliance by promising not to build any fleets. I was floored! This seemed too good to be true, and visions of a powerful IT alliance danced in my head. Austria offered me Greece in '01, but since you really don't know whats going on in the beginning, and  since Austria started with defensive moves "against" Italy, how could I go for a "maybe" Greece and not take Italys only sure thing in Tunis. I leaked this info to Turkey and voila...Turkey got two builds in '01!! When Turkey, true to his word, built 2 armies I breathed a sigh of relief, but was still leary of the collusion between Russia/Turkey. I started demanding Turkey attack Russia, while Turkey demanded I help against Austria first...what a dilemma.

I fnally lost patience, while Austria was a decent enough fellow, several things turned me 'off' to actually helping him. There was the constant defense from possible Italian attacks, the earlier Hedgehog aproach still did not sit well with me, and then there was Austrias Diplomatic 'style' which probably broke the camels back. While I know that the  fantasy side of online Dip play is alluring to some, it kind of turns me off when someones constantly sending messages to the effect of "His high lord majesty wishes to discuss important matters with his emperor muck-a-muck". I'm exaggerating here for effect :), I certainly don't hold it against anyone for "how" they like to play, but I just got the feeling this time that this player wasn't interested in a "friendship" kind of alliance. That somehow the fantasy would 'mask' any stab he needed to make in the name of "Diplomacy". When Darryl confirmed my fears by telling me exactly what kind of Dip player he was, and that the moves he made were dictated by his Austrian situation, I knew right there I could never truly ally with him. People who always play for "the win" and whose moves are 'strictly' dictated by  circumstance and the belief that Diplomacy rewards deceipt, will never understand where I'm coming from. And indeed, I don't think Darryl and I understood each other.

Sorry for the long explanation but thats what really caused me to help Russia into one of Austrias centers. Even though the Juggernaut still loomed large in the background... I was nervous as crap. But then another miracle from Turkey. Perhaps it was the fact that I helped put a chink in the Austrian armor, I'm not sure, but Turkey decided he was going to attack Russia that Fall as well. Another sigh of relief.

I was really psyched about this IT starting to work! I didn't care that Austria was suiciding against me for all 'my' transgressions.

But then another couple of events occurred that swayed me once more. Russia abandoned the game, apparently disgusted at Turkeys stab. Someone much more tactically capable took the reigns of Russia, and much more Diplomatically capable as well. Looks like he sued for peace in the North and middle sectors...probably playing on the fact that England/Germany had much bigger fish to fry, and suddenly Russia was a force to be reckoned with in the Balkans. Couple that with some masterful suggestions to Austria and things looked back on track for Russia. But now it was time to end The Austrian Thorn's reign. Russia again was the mastermind...and again I was slightly nervous about collusion between Russia/Turkey.

I now had freedom to send a fleet to assist France...with Austria gone Italy was finally the only country with fleets in the Med! And then another big gulp! Turkey sent me a message saying they were "building a fleet to help balance out Italys fleets" !!! Not to ask me...but TELL me. Crap. There goes another good alliance. I kind of half expected Dorian to betray that promise as he was always complaining about Italy not doing their fair share...never could understand that reason, as Italy always had equal or less centers than Turkey. I just chalked it up to perception and Turkey not really wanting it to be an even alliance. But as long as he kept building armies I didn't mind if he was a bit duplicitous of heart, there was nothing he could do to hurt me. Now he built a fleet...in Smyrna no less...I began to believe he had something going on with Russia. But Russia was still talking great moves with Italy...so I chanced cooperation with Russia. Sorry Turkey, but you did it to me. I was spoiled in having the Med to myself. :)

To make a long story short...the more we worked together the easier it got trusting Phils Russia over the priors Rami's Russia. Can't tell for sure of course, but Rami struck me as being very young, beating his chest a lot when things were going well, getting very quiet when they weren't. Only time I ever heard from Rami was when I could do something to benefit HIM...which is a good segway to talk about Alans Germany. At first Germany wanted the usual blah blah stay out of Tyrolia types of things. He also apparently decided to go after France early on and tried to pursuade me to help him into Marseille... Germany was always asking for something from Italy...never the other way round...so suffice it to say that I was always a bit 'cool' toward Germany. Especially when I asked what would be in it for Italy if they assisted in helping attack France... thats when Germany simply said 'never mind' he could do it himself. Probably about the same time he realised he had a strong alliance with England.:)

I don't remember hearing word one from England. Not that we had anything to talk about early on but I think I sent the usual pleasantries and got no response. I applaud Germany for obviously having his ear.

Now, about France. After having successfully helped him defend against England (I doubt he'll even give me any credit), I thought I had another good connection. Alas, after the crisis was over all France wanted from Itlay was to "back off Jack, I'm a big boy now. You saw how I fended off everyone else...and I'll do the same to you!" Thats probably not the exact words France used but thats what I heard.:) I decided to keep the peace with France by not attacking anything of his until he attacked something of mine. Tunis was the turning point. Thanks for helping me keep the high ground in my mind Steph.:)

Jump to the last turning point.: the Russian stab. While of course naturally dissappointed that I still  have yet to find a soulmate in this game Phil and I at least worked well together and if anyone should win this one I don't mind it being Russia. Only clear up the thing about 774. I DO have you as a win and if thats incorrect I'd like to correct my records. (You sly dog)

And France, you could NOT have held indefinitely against Italy. Certainly not by yourself with an Italian fleet in Northern waters. But I guess everyones entitled to their fantasies.

A word about the Trout. Wish you had started the game. Don't particular like people who hide their persona behind the veil of the Internet but you seem very likeable and verbose. Just what this game needed. I half expected Russia to attack after the long delay... almost seems to happen like clockwork. I'm also in another game where we had a month long delay and sure enough big game changing stab in that one too...

but the people who ended up in this seem to be of the right calibre.;)

Many thanks to GM and player alike. See you in the funny papers.

My response to Dave

Hopefully you'll appreciate my thanks in my EOG statement for your help against England - not entirely ungracious :-)

re. the stalemate line: my statement was based on an assumption England and Germany holding the line, which includes England keeping the Italian fleet away by blocking Eng, which was a reasonable assumption until Alan's stab.  F Por, F Mao, A Spa, A Mar, A Gas is unlikely to be broken from the south if Germany stays friendly and holds his home centres (also a reasonable assumption before the stab).

I take your point on the move against Tunis.  I have a tendency to pre-empt stabs that weren't imminent by not quite understanding my opponents' motivations, which has just undone me on another game too.  I'll be trying extra hard not to do it next time, so maybe I'll be a better ally then!  Like I say, I've never had much skill as a diplomat.

Dave’s response to me

Well, my EOG was created months ago...most of it anyway. I knew that line didn't exactly mesh with what your EOG said, but left it in in the interest of purity.

Your tactics ARE very sound. Didn't mean to denigrate.

But nobody wins a game of Diplomacy by themselves. :)

It would have been fun to see anyway in regards to the rogue fleet. Either it could have kept valuable English units from making a stand versus Russia...or give you headaches at the stalemate line.

I had fun with it.