ENDGAME STATEMENTS ACD 217

AUSTRIA (David Cohen)

Thanks to all for an enjoyable and frustrating game, and especially JW Omlo for good handling of the GMing duties. Since not everyone was following the game, and especially since we had a couple of replacements, I will refer to country names rather than people, but here they are, just so you can connect players to the Powers:

Austria - Me
England - Kester Bearne (Suzanne Castagne as of Fall 1903)
France - Júlio Cardozo
Germany -Ben Hester
Italy - Paul Stuckwisch
Russia - Ray Setzer
Turkey - Ian Moes (Andy Jamison as of Spring 1906)

As Austria, I normally just want to go through 1901 by collecting a couple of dots, and avoid having Russia in Galicia, Italy in Tyrolia (or Trieste!), and not have Turkey try to push through to Serbia or Greece. I arranged a bounce in Galicia, made friendly noises to Turkey to encourage him to go north, and made the usual noises about him not attack me or moving to Tyrolia, which he sort of agreed to. Of course this meant that Italy moved to Tyrolia and Venice, and I started the game with a gun in my face. My plans now changed from growth and general flexibility to the search for an active ally. I also tried to convince Italy to move back, and told him that I would defend aggressively until he was out of my hair, but I didn't think I convinced him. Russia also kept asking to move to Galicia, where I most certainly did not want him, and as it turns out I was successful in dissuading him.

On the ally front, France seemed like he might be willing to movie into the Med, and I decided to take the plunge and let Turkey into Gre. A high risk strategy to be sure, but perhaps seeing five Turkish units in 1902 would scare Italy off me. I left Vienna open, and doubly covered Trieste as a guess, and to also give me at least a chance of a build in Serbia, and as it turned out Italy didn't attack me, but rather tried for Munich, which unsurprisingly failed, and even if it succeeded, he followed up with a move to Tyrolia, which meant I still would have had to deal with him. Turkey took Greece and Bulgaria with armies, which didn't look good for me, but did at least move to the Black Sea. Russia, however, did not build in Sevastopol, which seemed at the time a pretty obvious Juggernaut, but evidently wasn't, and Now I was really in trouble, even though France did build a fleet in Marseilles, because he and England had bounced in Bel. At least Russo-German tensions were high, with a bounce in Sweden, and a bunch of armies built, so I was hoping that I had to deal "only" with Italy and Turkey.

In 1902, Italy did turn west, but unfortunately all the way west, and left me to deal alone with the Turkish monster I had created, since Russia was busy up north, and seemed to want to just defend down south, rather than move against either me or Turkey, though he did slip an army into Rumania, which looked bad for my long term health. I was locked up, and at a numerical and tactical disadvantage. In 1903, my fears turned out to be correct. Russia supported Turkey into Serbia, cracking my defenses, and followed up with a move to Galicia and an attack on Budapest. I had to try to break up the Juggernaut, and successful counterattack was not an option. The only thing I thought I could do was unbalance it, and to that end, I let Russia walk into Budapest and Vienna in the Spring of 1904. I also gave Italy a taste of his own medicine, by moving to Tyrolia, Trieste and the Adriatic Sea, which was very satisfying. It actually worked more quickly than I thought, but I just wasn't ready to believe it, and missed a move to Serbia, which would have kept me at two units. I was down to one and in survival mode. I kept the Army in Tyrolia, since I thought it offered me the most in terms of both tactical maneuver and strategic/diplomatic options.

That thought turned out to be correct, as everyone seemed to want to talk to me, and there were plenty of offers. I had an amusing vision though, of piggybacking on Germany's shoulders. Germany and Russia were the board leaders at eight each, and I thought if I could take Munich by agreement, it would briefly mislead the rest of the board, and then I could push on to Paris or Marseilles, and survive to the end with a tramp unit, wreaking havoc as I went. Germany agreed, and I moved into Munich in 1905. I got halfway there in 1906, but England decided to throw in with France (thwarted by Suzanne Castagne, yet again--lol) and cut the German support which would have gotten me from Burgundy into Paris, and I was eliminated.

Well done everyone, and may we meet again, upon the field.

ENGLAND 1 (Kester Bearne)

Thanks to all for the invitation and to JW for his usual fine GMing display. I don't remember much of those early seasons: I have a suspicion that RG were about to roll over me or that I was about to make the wrong decision about F & G, or both of these things. My repeated apologies for the withdrawal, for which you already know the reasons, and thanks also for your understanding at that time. I would not have made any meaningful ongoing contribution to the game and I am certain that it was a better game for Suzanne's takeover, even for her victims! I am also certain that she pulled out a far better result than I would have in the normal scheme of things, so congratulations to her as well as to the other draw participants.

ENGLAND 2 (Suzanne Castagne)

Thank you all for the game, and thanks very much to JW for being a friendly and extremely reliable GM.

I was invited to take over England when Kester, for perfectly valid reasons, was unable to devote the necessary time to this game. I really did not have the time, either, with much less valid reasons, but I couldn't resist.

The game had begun with Germany and England essentially allied in cooperation with Italy, although there was no clear strategic plan as far as I could see. Not my choice particularly, but no one but France seemed interested in changing that.

Unfortunately, I never did do what I needed to diplomatically or even tactically the first season. I couldn't get a good feel for many of the players, and I didn't even know exactly where the units were. My first moves were the worst possible -- a stupid attack on France instead of holding on to Belgium.

The Russo-Germany alliance that I feared ended up a self-fulfilling prophesy. B and Ray worked in complete accord against England, while B kept pushing against France.

At the same time the southeastern situation played in Ray's favor, and Russia looked like the major power on the board, which ended up worrying B in Germany. He decided that Ray's plans for England did more for Russia than for Germany, and we started talking about ways to work together. When I saw beyond a doubt that Ray was out to get England, I agreed to support B into Norway. Result : Ray was furious, and the game was open again, although both England and France were badly crippled.

B and I started making plans together, although I maintained contact with both France and Russia. I really would have stayed on board with Germany, at least for a while. However, when he insisted that my unique build should be an army aimed for St Pete, leaving my forces stretched beyond any limit and hopelessly vulnerable, I knew that it was time for a change.

While I was still working with B, he and I both tried to help shore up Turkey. But Ian had lost all interest in the game; nobody was really surprised by the Turkish NMR. It was wonderful of Andy to have stepped in and taken over Turkey. Unfortunately, it was a season or two too late; Turkey was already hopelessly compromised.

Russia was open to an easy, flexible relationship, and both Russia and France wanted nothing better than to stab Germany. Unfortunately for David, that happened just when David was supposed to take Paris; and his long journey ended with the stab on Germany.

Russia was already talking about an R/I/E draw. That looked fine to me, as long as it wasn't with an enormous Russia and midgets in England and Italy. This was also Paul's feeling. So, while Ray and I finished off Germany, he took steps to make sure that Italy would get his share, both in Austria and in the Med.

I expected Italy to stab Russia, but I didn't expect him to bring Turkey back into the mix. I see now that he wanted Turkey's help for tactical reasons. But diplomatically, it was disastrous. Russia and Italy started fighting seriously, while England had nothing better to do than to make headway in the Med, with France's help.

I also made some tentative advances in Germany, where Russia and I had shared the spoils; but I made sure that I never took enough to turn Russia's attention back west. (Or at least I didn't as long as he was still talking to me. I panicked the season he went off for what he thought was a long week-end; and made the mistake of leaving that move in place.)

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. Russia swore at several different occasions that he would never work with Italy again; but they always ended up making peace, and I didn't get anywhere fast enough to make a difference.

When Paul finally proved that there was nothing that I could do to break down the stalemate line, and both Ray and Julio confirmed his words, I agreed that it was a draw. I would have been happy to include Julio, but he didn't really care any more and had already agreed to vote himself out of the draw.

A word about each of the players :

Ray : as always, a pleasure to work with, and a big headache to work against. Always a word to make me smile, in either case.

Julio, who I had never met before : a pleasure to work with, even in a game where you never had an honest chance. I'm sure that you would be quietly devastating if you did have that chance, though.

B : Very active, full of ideas, but it was always easier and much more amusing to work against you than with you. I felt that I had to stand at attention and say "Yes, SIR" if I didn't want to be court-martialed the next morning.

Paul (who I knew, but had never played with) : very easy to talk with, straightforward about your general direction, but often something unexpected in your moves. If we were working together more closely, it would have been disorienting.

David : sitting on the fence, as usual. ;) If you had been straightforward about what you were doing that last season, I might have tried to arrange something, but as it was, I couldn't take the chance.

Ian : present at first, when I wasn't; and afterwards absent; I've known you to really play the game.

Andy : a big thanks for taking over and doing what you could with a lousy position

FRANCE (Júlio Cardozo)

Okay, the drawback of playing with good players is that they write good EOGs, too. Let me see if I can remember some details from the French side:

Early game: tough dividing this game in any way, cause I was always under stress, except maybe for the very game end. I'll keep it simple.

I was dealing with Kester and Ben in a cautious way, and have acquiesced to the German asking for a bounce in Belgium. It would delay England a bit in case of an EG, and looked something I could work out with Kester if I had to. But since day one things smelled like fish. Italy in Tyrolia, and Germany was cool with it. Then a bounce in Munich and 2 armies against Burgundy. Tsk, tsk, not that easy. Then Italy LEAVING THE IONIAN empty to Turkey as soon as 1902 or 1903, just to harass me in Spa/Mar. If that's standard or pragmatic, I should play monopoly instead... And so it was. 2-3 units always pressing for some more room inside my kitchen, but paying some price for advancing the red light somewhere else - Italy got a Turkish unit in the Ionian, Germany was hopefully going to take the heat from England. Trying to have some influence over ERT was the only thing to do, since the offers I had on the table were: "Let's work together - go after England and leave Marseilles behind" or "I promise the unit in Burgundy will not do any harm when you turn your back on me".

During that phase, when Italy gave it up, it looked I had a shot at a normal game. But the replacement in England changed things a bit. Not because it was Kester or Suzanne, but because I was all open to England, and the inevitable happened - EG. I was very surprised when i saw Ben stabbing Suzanne right after, that adjudication I got with a big giggle. I was back on track, but Brest was gone.

Midgame: Ray arose as a possible contender for a win, and Ben (who was in good shape despite the low growth over France) stabbed. Again, received as a huge relief on my back. It helped a lot - Austria was eliminated, Turkey shrunk, and Italy was going to get busy for a while - I was expecting him coming back at any moment, and in fact I was asking for it after I bet Marseilles and lost it.

The only thing I regret in that stage was not being able to convince Ray that Paul was going to stab him for sure - if he had a dot to take, he would, no matter what the alliance was. I remember discussing that before the stab, but Ray was right in that he had to focus on something, and react if things didn't go like he wanted. And we moved onto game end, when Italy stabbed.

Endgame: At this point, with the German demise, England was in an enviable position. Ray and I discussed endless times how little we did during the game, cause it was always a matter of putting out a new fire... No one was able to really pull anything outstanding out of the hat. During those days, Ray was in doubt whether he should let Suzanne solo or work with Paul - correct me if I'm wrong, but that was a horrible scenario for him as well. In the end, I think Ray did the "pragmatic" thing working toward the 3-way, and it was very straightforward. I voted YES for ANY draw, including me or not, like 2-3 years before the final one passed. But it took some long Seasons to pass. It was fun, though, to work with Suzanne, I had finally found a good partner in the game - and it was something meaningful in this one, cause I think I got only one support for a French unit in more than 10 years of game!

The balance is positive, everyone was seasoned here, so I guess it was a good defense skills practice. People could have done better in many ways, and I am to be blamed on that, too. I should have whined less and played more. Maybe the long deadlines had a bad influence as well, but I myself could not send orders very frequently when the game started. All in all, the result was kinda fair, I guess. I am happy to show the scars and a thicker skin next time I am invited for sparring :-)

GERMANY (Ben Hester)

A few ponderings from Schoenes Deutschland -

On Britain, in the age of Kester - I found Kester to be a very difficult player to work with. He seemed unwilling to commit to a true alliance with any of the other players in his region (Julio, myself, or Ray). He slowly expanded into Britain's "natural" sphere of influence, and seemed content to wait for one of us to self-destruct. It would have been interesting to see how that strategy played out over time - I'm certainly not saying it was a bad one, especially for Britain. However, Suzanne's entry heralded a marked change in both the talk and the action on the board, so I guess we'll never know.

On Britain, in the age of Suzanne - Not much I can say here. I made a few crucial mistakes during a particularly frantic time of my life, and Suzanne skillfully capitalized on the situation, and suceeded in completely dismantling my position in only two seasons. Well played, Suzanne - your skill in both tactics and negotiation is truly impressive.

On France - Julio's defensive capabilities are quite commendable. Any abuse he may have received for allowing me to walk on Marseilles is undeserved. He took a chance, perhaps knowing that I'm normally overcautious - and I got lucky. Moreover, I took a similar risk with Berlin and lost, so any criticism of his play falls squarely on my shoulders as well. Not to mention - he outlived me in this game. As for our interaction, I can only say that I wish I could have sold him on an attack against Britain. I was sincerely willing to work with any one of my three neighbours that would stay with me all the way through elimination of at least one of our northern rivals (Britain, France, or Russia). Julio never bit though - and was very frank and honest in letting me know that. Thus he became my target, because he convinced me that he would never attack Britain with me, and I wasn't interested in any other plan.

On Russia - Big, bad scary Ray. Wish that I had listened to him instead of the fearmongering his rivals successfully instilled in me. Having seen his conduct in the rest of the game (after our falling out) - I suspect he would have remained loyal with me throughout the destruction of Britain. I was not overly optimistic about my prospects after that time however. Had I known a 1909 elimination was in my future, I might have been a little more open-minded about the matter. But again, credit where it's due - Suzanne can be very convincing.

On Austria - David got dogpiled. Like we haven't seen that happen to Austria before. Not going to elaborate much more than that. Working with him as a guest in Munich was fun though. It would be interesting to hear (if he will confide) whether or not he intended to stab me down the road if I had become a solo threat...

On Italy - Paul is Paul, and I have yet to see another like him - I could probably read an anonymous transcript of negotiations and see a replay of a game, and pick out blind what position he had. Just look for the wake of frustrated alliance partners and the "two steps forward, one step back" pattern on the board. Paul was dangerous from the beginning, and successfully fought off R/T, claimed a more-than-usual Italian share of Austrian spoils, and was a contender going in to the midgame. I still stand by my decision not to follow through against Julio with him in the very beginning - maybe if he had been willing to commit to a follow on attack against Britain, but that was highly unlikely - R/T had too much steam building up. Perhaps had I known the situation with Ian at that point, I would have reconsidered though...

On Turkey, in the age of Ian - Ian's partial commitment to this game really didn't unbalance it too much I think. It still followed a similar pattern to so many other games of Diplomacy - early Austria elimination - R/T threatens, but crumbles - France and Germany reduced/eliminated, Britain/Italy come into conflict - ERI are the contenders in the midgame - each on the periphery of a triangle with a few rump states in between. So I wouldn't consider it as an asterisk on the game, nor do I think that a different Turkish player would have necessarily changed my fate, regardless of the natural alliance between G/T. Hope Ian comes back to play Dip fully engaged again at some point in the future - he carries the reputation of a good player and a contributor to the community, and that is always welcome.

On Turkey, in the age of Andy - minimal contact. I crumbled almost immediately after his entry into the game. It's commendable that he made a real play to mend fences with Russia, restore his battered replacement position, and go on the offensive against Italy.

On me - I am particularly ill-suited to play Germany in a game of Diplomacy. I realized that long ago, not sure how I forgot that, and can't imagine what I was thinking when I requested Germany for this game, especially given how important it was to me to make a decent showing. Successful German players have an extraordinary amount of patience, commit faithfully to an alliance early on (though remaining ready and willing to realign if needed), carefully safeguard their homeland, and press for complete destruction of at least one of their 3 immediate neighbours. Only one of those four objectives matches my method of play, and I failed to accomplish even that one. Some of my rivals may be particularly abusive in their assessment of my performance in this game - and perhaps rightly so. We'll see.

So here I sit, eliminated in the midgame, and scrambling to come up with some meager excuses for my performance. None coming to mind. Foolish play in a few key seasons on my part, and that was all it took for my rivals to effect one of the fastest collapses of any position I've seen. Particularly humiliating that it was my own. Oh well, maybe next time.

Kaiser B. - from his new headquarters beneath the sewers of Vienna.

ITALY (Paul Stuckwisch)

First, I'd like to thank JW for GM'ing this game and the rest of you all for participating. This game certainly had its ebb and flow and dragged quite a bit on occasion, but I did enjoy playing.

Back to the beginning, if I can remember that far, I remember picking Italy both because I've done well with it in the past and because it is difficult for Italy to be ganged up on early. I entered the game unfamiliar with many of the players and worried that it would be too easy for players who have played each other before to take out the unknown wild card.

I had played with three players before, Kester, who was in England, David, who was in Austria, and Ben, who was in Germany. Kester and I had played a series of games on the judges when I was first starting out in Diplomacy, and I was eager to get a chance to play with him again. His being England would give us a chance to work together against France, and so I started thinking along those lines.

David and I, meanwhile, were just finishing up a Sengoku game where we had ended up as opponents. I figured he would have a hard time trusting me even if this was a fresh game. I'm not talking about cross gaming, of course, but the impression I had last left David as a player was someone not to be trusted. His being Austria would complicate matters, but at least I was fairly confident he could not afford to target me early in the game.

Ben and I had played recently, and while he and I had had disputes within the game, I figured I could work with him.

My plan was twofold. First, in the west, I wanted a dogpile of France. As Italy, France is rarely a concern early, but they can be deadly in the midgame. If I could neutralize that threat early, so much the better. I contacted Kester and Ben about the possibility, and they both seemed on board. Given the difficulty of moving on France, the attack was scheduled for 1902, giving us all a season for setting things up.

Second, in the east, I wanted to arrange the destruction of Turkey and the weakening of Austria. I envisioned a system where Russia and Austria allied to take out Turkey while I came late to Turkey's rescue against Austria and then Russia and I (who were allies all along) would squash the weakened Austria between us.

I ran into an early dilemma. If I was waiting to attack France until the following year and was waiting to make any move against Austria until Turkey was on the ropes, I needed something to do in the meantime. I think I asked David whether he wanted to bounce over Trieste, but he declined. I had promised him I wasn't planning on attacking him in these opening moves so I didn't want to immediately break that. Finally, I decided on moving to Tyrolia, which could look like an attack on Austria, but didn't need to be, and could look like a sneak attack on Germany, but didn't need to be. At the very least, it should keep Julio convinced I wasn't coming his direction.

I should have seen the unintended consequences. Ben was suspicious, even after I agreed to bounce over Munich to give him a great opening position against France, but at least I was able to persuade him that the move was not directed his way. David was very angry, and I doubt he gave much credence to my insistence that I was not attacking him. David bunched up to protect against me, killing any chance of a Russo/Austrian strike on Turkey, and convincing Ray his best move was to ally with Turkey against Austria. Already, my eastern plan was in shambles, and I had no one to blame but myself.

So I adapted. I had already laid some groundwork between Ian and myself for coming to his rescue down the road so now, I tried to develop it into an even friendlier relationship. I'd help him against Austria, but only once we could be sure Russia could be denied the spoils. Of course, I didn't abandon my contacts with Ray either, trying to convince him that if he allied with Turkey, I'd have to ally with Austria to bottle the two of them up. I wasn't eager to see the Juggernaut at all.

So while things weren't going as smoothly as hoped after the first year, the attack on France still looked good to go with a bounce in Belgium keeping it out of French hands. Kester and Ben, with a lot of reassurance about Munich, were still on board. As long as France went down quickly, I felt I could still field enough units to block the Juggernaut if necessary.

The attack on France came off in Spring 1902, and Julio looked pretty well doomed even though no SC's could be assured early on. Kester moved into the Channel and landed an army in Belgium with Ben's support. Ben was poised to break into Burgundy, and I was flooding my units west. To his credit, Julio had determined it was coming, but there seemed little he could do about it.

In the east, Ben had apparently convinced Ray to go after England, but it looked like a double cross. At least, it took pressure off of David, who was still in full defense mode. Ian, however, was left trying to break Austria on his own, and that was an impossibility. He wanted me to provide assistance, which I promised as soon as France was broken. He wasn't willing to wait and asked for permission to move his fleet around Greece so that he could break Austria himself. I didn't want to go that far, but I felt a bit helpless to prevent it and tighten the screws on France.

Unfortunately, it was at this point that Kester felt he had to leave the game. Naturally, I was disappointed on a number of levels. First, I know Kester to be a great player and a fun opponent. Second, it put the entire French campaign that was the centerpiece of my strategy into a bit of limbo. Suzanne came into the game, and I hoped to convince her to follow through with the plan. After all, she was well positioned to make gains.

What I didn't know was that Suzanne and Ben apparently had a rocky history. Even though Suzanne did follow through the plan as requested, Ben apparently decided he couldn't work with Suzanne, and so he stabbed her for Belgium and decided to work with Ray in Scandinavia after all.

So just as I was finally in position to make gains against France, my two allies were suddenly much more interested in going after each other, and I had a Turkish fleet in the Ionian Sea. Ugh! The only bright side was that Suzanne's attack on Brest meant that at least Julio had been weakened slightly.

I had two options. I could either continue the attack on France and try to persuade Ben or Suzanne to continue helping me, or I could concede it was a doomed effort and swing back to protect against the Turkish fleet and perhaps gain against Austria. I decided on the latter course, thinking perhaps I could persuade Ian to pull back his fleet and join me in taking Austria down evenly. To cover my trail, I went ahead and persuaded Ben to continue the attack on France. The last thing I wanted was Julio nipping at my retreating rear. Fortunately, Julio seemed more than willing to let me go east and deal with Turkey.

After the spring season of 1903, Ian's attempt to vacate the Ionian Sea to Albania had been blocked, but he had gotten Serbia as a result. Ray and Ian now seemed clearly allied to take Austria down, and I began to realize my only play was to support Austria until that alliance cracked. While I continued to talk with Ray, my main focus was on persuading Ian to hit Russia since Ray was also moving in the north against England with Ben's assistance.

I forced Ian out of the Ionian Sea in the fall to finally feel somewhat safe in the short term. France was too occupied with Germany to pose a threat at my rear, and Austria needed my help, which I was offering. I was working Ian hard in an effort to get him to build an army with his gain from Serbia since I knew a fleet build would force me to fight him. I failed to convince Ian, and a fleet appeared. From that point on, I abandoned trying to convince Ian and focused on persuading Ray to hit Turkey instead.

A number of things probably worked in my favor. First, Ian kept a fleet in the Black Sea, meaning he could turn against Ray at any time. Second, Ray took advantage of a strange play by David to grab his spoils from Austria early in 1904, removing much of his incentive to remaining allied with Turkey. Finally, while Ray was benefitting from his alliance with Germany in the north, it was somewhat clear that there were tensions there and he needed someone who could provide a check against German growth. And neither England nor France seemed in position to do it at that time.

Meanwhile, David had basically ignored my attempt to support him. If he distrusted me, I guess I can't blame him. While I had not attacked him to this point, my opening move to Tyrolia had effectively ruined his game. The result of David's movement was to surround Venice with all his units, putting me on the defensive. It came to nothing in the fall fortunately, but I wasn't at all sure what to expect from him going forward.

Fall 1904 also saw France recover Brest from England as Suzanne was left with just her home centers and Germany slip into an unprotected Marseilles. I was impressed. Even without my assistance, Ben had somehow managed to make gains in the west. He and Ray looked like the two powers to beat.

The following spring, my efforts of persuasion paid off when Ray moved against Turkey, helping me into Trieste, which had been considered Turkish spoils. David took his remaining army to Munich (apparently with Ben's permission), which got him temporarily out of my way.

But Ben had apparently decided it was time to deal with Russia in the same turn, forcing Norway and moving on Warsaw. He claimed I had asked him to attack Russia, which I didn't recall. It may have happened back when I was still hoping to persuade Ian to hit Russia, but it was not on my mind when Ben finally followed through. I worried Ray would let Ian off the hook to fight Ben.

Fortunately, Ray now needed any ally he could get. We followed through on our attack on Turkey, eschewing comfortable position relative to each other for gains and advantage against Turkey. Ray fought Ben off in the north, but the real beneficiary of Ben's move against Russia was Suzanne, who managed to grow by stealing Brest back from Julio.

Ben had apparently overreached. Unable to get additional gains from Russia, he now found himself caught between Russia, England, and France with only Austria as a janissary fighting actively on his side. I used the fight against Turkey as an excuse to stay out of the battle in the north. And that fight against Turkey went well as Ray and I methodically pared down Turkey's presence in the Balkans.

By the end of Fall 1906, Turkey was back in his home centers. David was eliminated when Ben felt the need to cover Munich from an attack that wasn't coming. I had moved to Tyrolia in the spring to prevent David from coming my way, but I had little interest in Munich. I had actually decided to take Julio up on an offer to support me into Marseilles, but that offer was made irrelevant when Julio managed to slip into Marseilles himself that fall. With Germany also losing northern Scandinavia to England and Holland to a rogue Russian fleet, Ben suffered a dramatic reversal in fortune.

With Germany and Turkey declining so rapidly, the endgame seemed assured. Ray and I and the quickly growing Suzanne would form the remaining powers. Germany, Turkey, and France would be squeezed out. Ben was offering me help on the way out to get back at Ray and Suzanne so I knew I would get assistance into the southern French centers.

While in retrospect, I think I was overly paranoid, I was concerned that Ray would go for a win. He still needed my help to take over Turkey, but after that, I wasn't sure I could prevent him from taking the Balkans as well. Suzanne was growing, but she wasn't big enough to threaten Ray yet, and it seemed Ray would take a significant chunk of Ben as he fell. All in all, I didn't want to take the chance. I began making plans to move against Ray.

I enlisted Andy, who had taken over from Ian in Turkey. Andy wasn't really in position to decline any assistance he could get. And of course, I had Ben's full support for going after Ray. I'm guessing Ray must have seen the need to placate me because he came out with an offer to give me all the Balkans (except Budapest and Rumania) as he took over Turkey. It almost changed my mind, and if I hadn't been caught up making a last minute decision due to a deadline I had overlooked, I might have done so. As it was, it seemed my last real chance to make a move, I wasn't entirely convinced that Ray wouldn't try to solo anyway, and I felt in some respects I should be trying to solo myself if I could. I didn't think I could be successful, but I didn't want to sell myself short without giving it an effort.

So I gave support to Turkey to retake Bulgaria, which not only knocked Russia down a center, but also removed a key army that could wreck my position. And instead of settling for Trieste, which Ray had already approved for my capture, I moved onto Vienna a year ahead of schedule. With the builds from Vienna, Marseilles, and Spain, the latter two of which I captured with Ben's assistance, I was fairly sure I'd be able to seize most of the Balkans for myself within a year or so.

My move was not without some risk. I certainly didn't want Turkey growing big enough to be a threat again so I wasn't intending on helping into Rumania as I'm sure Ray feared. I had calculated that helping Turkey into Bulgaria wouldn't hurt me because Andy wouldn't be able to effectively come after me even if he so chose. I did try to persuade Andy to build an army, which would have lessened the threat to nothing, but Andy, like Ian before him, built the fleet. While I still felt that I could keep Turkey bottled up, this did effectively end any chance of my soloing. I could not both keep Turkey at bay and adequately exploit my advances in the west.

My gains at Julio's expense had put him at the verge of elimination, and I tried to convince Suzanne to help me finish the deal, splitting the last two centers. Suzanne wanted both, and I tried to dissuade her because I figured that would set up a situation I couldn't adequately defend. Perhaps it didn't matter and Suzanne would have gone after me regardless - I definitely feel she felt I had replaced Ray as the big threat after my move.

Meanwhile, Ray was justifiably angry about my stab. Given his condemnations, I tend to believe that my worries of him going for the solo were probably just paranoia on my part (although I still maintain that he could have done so). In the aftermath, however, he would be sending his units my direction to the extent possible. As soon as Germany was dealt with, the entire north would be left open for Suzanne to exploit.

All of 1908 was spent solidifying my gains. I captured almost all of the Balkans save Rumania, which I knew I couldn't really hold anyway, and Bulgaria, where the Turkish fleet was now effectively trapped, preventing any real movement against me. When I saw I wouldn't have enough units to protect Vienna, I invited Ben to drop in there to complete a stalemate wall. With my realization that I could not solo, I was looking to put such a wall up against Ray so that we could stop fighting each other and make sure we stopped Suzanne from winning. Ironically, my position was only one center deeper than Ray had offered before my stab (Budapest). The difference in my perspective was that I hadn't had to rely on Ray keeping his promises to get it, and it was defensible.

Unfortunately, my thin line in the west was compromised when England arranged a forward retreat with France to get his fleet behind my units. To defend against this would require a weakening of my defense against Turkey, but I realized that defending against both assaults would be my defeat. I decided to hold firm against Ray and Andy. The only way out was to convince Ray that Suzanne would win unless he'd allow me room to breathe again.

Ray wasn't budging, but neither was I. My position in the east was pretty strong with Ben's remaining army in Vienna forming part of the line. Unfortunately, my west line was extraordinarily weak and would fall soon. Only a lucky guess kept the French fleet at bay in the spring. Meanwhile, I was already offering Suzanne a solo to head off any other ending result that wouldn't include me.

Finally, a breakthrough was achieved when Ray insisted that I eliminate Ben as a concession for calling a truce. I could hardly let that be the cause for allowing a preventable solo so I agreed. I was to support Ray into Bulgaria as well, which I did, but I tried to play it too cute to protect myself in case of treachery. (I did not want Turkey to get an army into Bulgaria.) When Ray didn't support himself in with his fleet, he bounced, and the compromise almost fell apart again.

While I immediately went into damage control over that misunderstanding, I otherwise felt much better about the situation. I had guessed right again to keep the French fleet at bay, and while I had lost Spain to England, I could now hold Marseilles temporarily. Even if Ray remained angry, cooperation between Russia and Turkey was at least compromised. The only disappointing thing was that Suzanne hadn't kept hold off Portugal when she could have. I had been trying to persuade her to finish Julio off to prevent him from joining forces with Ray and Andy against me and securing Tunis against her.

Fortunately, Ray must have realized I hadn't intentionally screwed him over Bulgaria, and we were able to come to agreement over Turkey. Once that occurred, Andy was doomed. England and France were too far away to help, and we had him outnumbered and surrounded.

At this point, my biggest concern was getting a defense to the Western Med fast enough to prevent a breakthrough by France and England. If Suzanne secured Tunis, she could well win the game. Fortunately, she put a greater emphasis on taking Marseilles than pushing her advantage. Since I figured Marseilles was doomed eventually regardless, this was not a bad development from my point of view.

By the end of 1910, Turkey had only survived by escaping to Sevastopol, but England had not advanced enough in the north for this to be a concern, and the threat was finished off early in 1911. Marseilles fell as expected (to France in exchange for Suzanne taking Paris), but I offset that loss with a capture of Bulgaria. By disbanding my retreating army, I was able to build a new fleet that assured me the stalemate line I needed in the Med. The threat I had feared was over.

Really, the only question now was whether Ray could hold on in the north, but it became apparent over the next year that we could indeed put a stalemate line in place. Munich was lost, and St. Petersburg was always doomed, but even expecting Berlin to fall as well, Ray and I found a line that would prevent Suzanne from getting to 18 centers (and we later found an even better one).

Suzanne tried to get Ray and I to turn on each other again, but we each had the other over the barrel. Throwing to Suzanne would be a simple act, and there was no way either of us could move fast enough to prevent it, even if Suzanne gave us some space to work with. A draw was inevitable, and it was up to Suzanne whether she was willing to include Julio or not. (There was nothing preventing her from taking him out safely.)

David criticized excluding Julio from the draw, and I'll take the blame for it. I know David has a different philosophy on draws, but I do hold that the smaller draw is better, if marginally so. Julio could be safely removed so he should be unless he could convince Suzanne otherwise. If Suzanne had insisted on his inclusion, I would have gone along. It certainly isn't anything personal against Julio, who I enjoyed playing against and who I think is a really good player who did an outstanding job with the cards he was dealt.

I think both Ray and Suzanne played really well and deserved their places in the draw. I think Suzanne might have gotten the solo if she had played a little more aggressively towards the end, but who knows? Ben certainly made the game interesting, and while I question some of his moves, I can certainly attest he put full effort into the game. I know David is a good player as well although I'm sure this wasn't one of his better games. I'm still not sure I understand what he was doing before he escaped to Munich, but it did end up working out for me. I got along OK with Ian as well, but I do think he made a mistake with that fleet build that led to my first cooperation with Russia. I had only a small window of real exchange with Andy, but I'm sure he's a formidable opponent too when he's not confined to a box.

As for me, I played OK. I don't think it was my best game. I made some mistakes and took some risks I may not have needed to, but at least I was able to recover from them. I'll look forward to doing this again sometime soon.

RUSSIA (Ray Setzer)

No endgame statement received.

TURKEY 1 (Ian Moes)

No endgame statement received.

TURKEY 2 (Andy "the White Wolf" Jamison)

I'm honored to have been invited into this game, which I didn't know until well into my tenure as Turkey was originally invite-only. Thanks, JW, for having faith in me as a replacement.

Ray - My first goal, upon assuming the throne, was to get you on my side. I didn't expect to meet with success at all, so I was pleasantly surprised when you approached me. I've always wanted to work side-by-side with Big Bad Uncle Ray, and I was not disappointed at all in the results. I know the stab was the only path you saw to an end game, so I'm not really hurt by it - you're right, we couldn't have gained any more ground from Italy without a monumental screw up on his part.

Ben - I appreciated the early communications from you (and the RP file!) I was sad to see your position break down so soon after my entrance. I saw you as my best bet for keeping Ray in check.

Paul - The definition of insanity is repeating an action over and over, and expecting a different outcome. You were the brick wall I bashed my head against repeatedly, expecting my thick skull to win the battle one time or another. Having convinced you to work with me by the end of 07, I thought I was set. Of course, Ray's offer of alliance in spring 08 seemed a lot more solid. Sorry for that. I'm not always so fickle!

I think my biggest failing in this game was not getting that fleet out of Bul(ec) - it really hampered the possibilities Ray and I could think up. That, and Paul seemed to know exactly how to counter every sneaky attempt we made to change the situation.
I had a blast in this one, everybody. Thanks for making me part of one of the best games I've played in years.

GM (Jan Willem Omlo)

After over a year I can finally draw ACD217 to a close. No need for me to go into any game-playing details in this one, as the extensive endgame statements have already covered quite enough of that. This game was great to GM, both from play and players perspective, but there were some frustrating parts in GM-ing this game over which I had less influence than I wanted to have.

I had adopted the policy of granting extensions whenever they were requested. In this game they were plenty and that also meant that we had a lot of delays. This frustrated the flow of the game and made some of the turns. Also we had a few longer extensions because of Ben's departures from the sandbox and because I had to find replacements twice. Next time I'll definitely set boundaries on amount and length.

And then the biggest disappointment of ACD217. Twice in this game I had to write to the ACD Community that someone forgot to send in orders for the second time in the game. Ian and Ray were both put up for expulsion from the group, but gladly (and understandably) they were both allowed to stay. Ray was even asked to play on and Ian asked to be replaced himself. Nevertheless, as a game that represents a group that frowns on NMRs, this was not what I had expected.

Still, according to the two games I've GM-d here so far, I can say that the Academy doesn't disappoint me in the level of game-play. I'll stick around and might step up to GM or play in another, just as our Benevolent Dictator requests :-)