Russia’s EOG
I will use Andrew's EOG statements [***] to
explain how things went from my point of view.
[Instead I studied the game history and tried
to find some best and worst moves for everyone. Unfortunately the 'best'
moves proved elusive, while the worst glared like small suns. So I picked the
overall BEST move and did a worst for each country and commented.]
The Game is called Diplomacy for a reason, the
tactical game is supposed to implement the Diplomatic agreements. Russia had
strong diplomatic agreements with both Germany and Austria in 1901. With
Germany a non aggression pact and support into Swe. With Austria the conquest
by Austria of the Balkans to deny Turkey Gre. In Sp1901 everything went as
planned, by 1902 both had dishonored their agreements with Russia. Still had
the first Turkish player not outguessed me tactically the situation could have
been salvaged.
[BEST move: Big surprise, this goes to Turkey.
Activation of Greece as a Home center ]
No! Out Guessing Russia's F Bla S A Arm-Ank in
1902 saved his situation and forced Russia to disband F Bla.
[The WORST:
ENGLAND I had two, count them, rule
misunderstanding misorders under my belt by 03, got no where for some 3 years
of play and didn't use a newly created SC to build till the bitter end.
Despite all that this is my worst move.
Spring 02 F Lon -> Eng
When units were needed in the north to break a
stalemate what do I do? Send them to the English channel of course!! The
brilliance is breath taking. ]
I would agree as diplomatically you decided to
take Scandinavia 'at all costs' without successfully convincing Russia not to
defend 'at all costs'. Which is why you 'got no where for three years'.
Further you did not convince Germany to attack France but allowed him to
attack Russia letting Turkey completely off the hook!
[TURKEY: Unfortunately there is not much here
to berate. Not enough rope was handed to our Turkish player to hang himself
like so many others. Though this is in hind sight, I think this was his worst
move.
'Spring 01 F Ankara hold'
So you had a deal with Russia. So whaaaaat?!
You weren't doing anything else with the fleet.]
Actually this was his worst diplomatic mistake
as I proposed a neutral Black Sea and he accepted. This gave me a shot with
AH help, at taking out Turkey in 1902. I went for it but AH never came
through with his end. When Bill took over the position I offered to be his
Cat's Paw in order to gain some revenge on the other players in this game. In
this I was successful, but disapointed when Turkey did not let me keep StP as
requested.
[FRANCE Doh! This is the only thing that can be
said about France's worst.
[Fall 03 F WMS s F WMS - TYS (*Illegal Order*)
Fall 04 F Tyrrhenian Sea Supports F Tunis -
Rome (*Void*)
Not just one... but TWO critical moves lost to
"didn't edit" syndrome! ]
France never played the triangle game moving
with G support against E or E support agaist G this was his greatest mistake.
The above was a failed gamble which gave England lots of breathing room which
he failed to fully exploit.
[GERMANY The fall of Germany was fast and
furious. It was accomplished by 4 other powers in semiconcert. There was
little to be done for the hapless German. So his worst move must come from an
earlier period.
Fall 01 F Denmark Hold
Russia has opened with hostilities on two
fronts. Your line of attack is wide open. Best move? Let him build some more
defense. Bloody Excellent Mate! ]
Completely dissagree this was his only good
move not following this up with an attack upon England with Russian support
was his undoing. So long as Russia honored his agreement to not build A War
and F StP(sc) he was safe as houses and could have held on to Hol,Bel and
attacked the North Sea. He decided to take a de-activated no threat War
instead! This put him between E/F with no ally to bail him out. When Russia
sold out to Turkey he lost War/Mos and was crushed by F/E.
[AUSTRIA I had a tough choice on this one. I
settled on an opening move that just boggled my mind.
Fall 01 A Vienna -> Budapest
I mean, why do this! At least make an attempt
for Greece while blocking Trieste with the two armies. Turkey, of course,
took Greece and thus began Austria's nose dive of doom. ]
Completely Agree! What you don't know was his
Sp1901 moves were suggested by myself. He agreed to take out Turkey with my
support. His comments to me were I 'm with you and will take Gre or something
like that. So imagine my shock and dismay when he did otherwise. A 1902 five
unit AH is very hard to beat I would like to know why he dishonored our
agreement. His E-Mail of 'I told you I was a lone Wolf' was somehow not
informative!
[ITALY Though the majority of Italy's down fall
can be attributed to the stalemate with Austria, the following I think
warrantes as the dumbest move/s.
France Spring 02 F Por -> Spain SC
Italy's reaction...
Fall 02 F Apulia Supports A Venice
Fall 02 F Ionian Sea - Adriatic Sea (*Fails*)
Like... where else was Spain going to go?
Apparently the might of the Italian forces was to have crushed the Austrians,
thus ensuring Italy's tactical advantage in the West Med against France. ]
Italy is always a difficult position to play
unless a successful alliance with Russia defeats AH/T. I never allied with
Italy in an effective way.
[RUSSIA Right off the bat the Russian set up to
ineptly get nowhere.
Spring 01 A Mos -> Stp F Sev -> Bla
Bring yourself in to conflict with both corner
powers. Fantastic! Develop stalemates with both corner powers. Excellant! Let
Germany walk right into not only Warsaw but Moscow too. Astounding!!...Having
two fronts is bad okay.]
Strongly Diaagree! Russia has three fronts no
matter what he does. Diplomatically I tried to disarm the North and German
fronts but Englands obvious attempt to land a Alpha Army in Norway left no
choice but a two front war! Had Germany not turned it into a three front war
or had AH kept his word I may have done better. My diplomatic skills were not
up to the job that is were I blew it.
GM'ing! Though I had a the feeling I was not
Libby's favorite player I liked her fast ajudication game pace. Her variant
idea caused me to put together my own variant from ideas I have long
harboured. Unless I find 4 more players the game will not see play testing.
This was a very tough game many thanks to those who stayed with it from
beginning to end.
|
