ADCT01 Game C, Fall 1910 Moves

[SnowFire]

The Mediterranean waters continue to bleed red with the advancing Austrian flag. Meanwhile English marines land in Prussia.

Russia has proposed a 3-way draw between England, Austria, and France with Russia conceding. Send in your votes with your next set of moves.

Spring moves (no builds for anybody) are due either ASAP or after Thanksgiving weekend, depending on how fast you want these. Or possibly never at all if you all decide to draw.

http://www.geocities.com/myrdred_ii/ADT01c/index.html

Fall 1910
England (Reismark)
F North Sea-English Channel
F Norwegian Sea-North Sea
F Norway-Sweden
A Denmark-Prussia
F Baltic Sea CONVOY A Denmark-Prussia
A Berlin SUPPORT A Denmark-Prussia
F Livonia SUPPORT A Denmark-Prussia
A Kiel SUPPORT A Berlin
F St. Petersburg SUPPORT F Livonia

Austria (RUFFHAUS)
A Munich supports Russian A Silesia - Berlin (*void*)
A Bohemia supports Munich - hold
A Tyrolia supports Munich - hold
A Piedmont - hold
A Venice supports A Piedmont - hold
F Tuscany supports F Tyrhennian Sea - Gulf of Lyon
F Tyrhennian Sea - Gulf of Lyon
F Naples - Tyrhennian Sea
F Ionian Sea - Tunis
A Rome - hold
A Galicia - hold
A Rumania - hold
A Armenia - hold

Russia (Chazzy)
A-MOS S A-SEV
A-SEV HOLD
A-PRU>WAR
A-SIL S A-PRU>WAR

France (El Awrence)
F Wme S F Tun
F Tun S F Wme (*cut*)
F Lyo H (*dislodged, retreat to: Spa (sc), OTB*)
A Par > Gas
A Bur > Mun (*bounce*)
A Mar H
A Ruh S A Bur > Mun
A Hol > Bel

[Dr. Nick]

Vote aye.

[reismark]

Aye.

[RUFFHAUS 8]

I would like to make a counter proposal:

Austria-Hungary, England, France, Russia draw.


I think we have a DIAS situation here. Yes, Chazzy has played himself into the draw. And frankly my position is as dependent on his Russia as England and France are depenent upon each other. Furthermore, a stab upon Russia by my Austria wouldn't bring a solo, because I lose his support for Munich, which then falls to England or France, leaving me at 17 assuming that I take all of Chazzy's centers (very likely) and Tunis (also very likely). I don't play that way. That's a pointless stab that also opens me up to some (minimal) risk that I don't close in on Russia fast enough, and I lose evrything. I might consider selling him out for a solo, but I don't see it there. So I'm not attacking Russia without his expressed invitation.

So I'm voting NO for the three-way draw. But I vote YES for a four-way (DIAS).

[Dr. Nick]

Yeah on what Ruff said. It's true anyway.

[SnowFire]

Erm... well, I would come in and declare the game over, but if Ruffhaus is changing his vote, I suppose not.

Reismark & Chazzy, I suppose you have to vote on this new proposal as well. Although RUFFHAUS, you might want to clarify the strength of this new proposal- if either Reismark or Chazzy votes no to your proposal, will you change your vote back and go with the old 3-way? Not that you have to say, of course, but it might speed things up.

[RUFFHAUS 8]

I suppose if Chazzy votes against including himself then we have a problem. I'm not trying to drag this out or play games with people's time. I just really feel that Chazzy earned his spot here. Sorry for the confusion...

So my position is:

Austria-Hungary/England/France = NO
Austria-Hungary/England/France/Russia = YES

[reismark]

I'll agree to including Russia in the draw, but only because it would take me at least a few years to finish him off since I have few armies which are in a bad position... If I could do it in one or two seasons, I'd say no, but that's obviously not the case.

I could complain about the scoring for the tournament, because if we include the last year as I would have preferred (as I said to Snowie on a number of occasions) it would be ME rather than Erwin getting the final spot (as of the last count, anyway)... but I'm not going to because I've got other things to worry about.

[RUFFHAUS 8]

Well, if you were going to complain about the tournament scoring, then you should have done so before it started. That's when the tournament rules established that the four preliminary games would be played to the end of 1909. This may not be a popular method in some circles, but it is effective and has established tournament precedent behind it.

And rest assured, this game was played with the assumption by more than one player that the jig was up in 1909, otherwise, there might still be Italian fleets on the British Isles.

As for going anywhere in the north against Russia, all I can say is not without my say so. His position is pretty strong as long as I'm backing him. Furthermore, how long do you think that your alliance with France last if you were planning to pass him up?

[Defiant]

Reismark,
If the dog hadn't stopped to take a piss, he would have caught the rabbit too.

[reismark]

Skip the lecture, gentlemen... it turns out neither of us would've made it anyway...

[Chazzy]

I will vote " Aye " to a 4-way and and put a close to this game. My congrats to all who were involved in game C , and to those who advanced to the championship round.
I originally proposed the 3-way because my position was tenuous at best, what with England to my north and Austria to my west and south I was a stab waiting to happen. I appreciate the loyalty my Austrian ally has shown in this game . If the game would have drawn out further I would probably have slowly yeilded my sc's to him for his staying the course in our alliance, and for France's refusal to commit to a stab of his partner ( England ) which would have assured him of a solid second place in the game .
I like the format of the game ending in 1909. I set my plans for this senario and tried to hold on to them even when the game turned against me. I made some critical errors in the early going which hurt my position bad and prohibited me form gaining strength in the north. i also would'nt have allied with Austria if this were a normal format for obvious reasons, but I wanted to see if it would work in a tourney game that ends in 09'. We live and learn , Thanks all for a good game !

[SnowFire]

Okay, game's over folks. Post your EOGs (if you want), I'll add in a brief GM EOG in a few days, I suppose.

Good game all.

[reismark]

England EOG

I originally was rather displeased with my drawing of England - it's not a particularly strong country for mainland efforts, because of its location; I had also had a rather distasteful experience in the 2000 Worldmasters tourney (though that experience was largely due to my idiocy and inexperience at the time, as well as a duplicitous France).

I resolved to make peace with the aforementioned France right off the bat and was successful; Erwin, as I learned later in the game, is a loyal Diplomacy player and doesn't like the politics or backstabbing. We resolved to dispatch Germany quickly (Germany & Austria, being very centralized, are huge wild cards and can either be your best friends or your worst enemies from a position standpoint). Fortunately, Coug's failure to do anything with Berlin, plus an NMR made our job signifcantly easier.

Getting full control of Scandinavia was much tougher, as I did not have any assistance from France in the area and Russia was far more intelligent and resourceful than I expected. It turned into a see-saw battle, and I really did not gain full control of the north until the last season that counted in the tournament standings (Fall 1909). During that time, we traded Sweden & St. Petersburg back and forth on several occasions, until I managed to flood the area with fleets and surround him from all corners.

This ended up costing me in the middle of a game, as an unnamed Dipper not in the game convinced me to stab France due to his much stronger armies on the mainland, which made my hold on Kiel tenuous at best. I helped Austria get into Munich, and then quickly payed the price for not trusting my instincts as Austria stabbed me in the back and helped Russia into Berlin, which would pretty much set the table up for the rest of the game.

My stab at France, though not elongated, was particularly damaging, because it gave Austria time to amass a fleet large enough that would slowly and steadily push France back in the Mediterranean. While I was making gains in the north, France was losing ground in the south, and even though I was sending a ship to the south after the claiming of the north was completed, I'm not sure if it would've been enough to stop him. The game probably would've stalemated had we played on, because I only had three armies in the north, and I was not in a good position to make a stab for Moscow. Had we played on, and I had beaten Austria to Moscow (assuming, of course, that Austria would inevitably turn on its far weaker ally), that would've been the key to preventing an Austrian solo.

The reason why the England/France alliance worked so well, even in the time period after I pulled back from my stab where France could've easily distrusted me, was because one of us never grew measurably bigger than the other. In an alliance like Austria/Russia, where one clearly dwarfs another, stabs are inevitable. My stab was totally out of spur-of-the-moment paranoia, and regrettably, it ultimately led to Austria gaining the upper hand. Erwin, I would like to once again apologize to you for my tomfoolery.

An excellent game which proves once again that the old adage holds true: Stick to your instincts.

[Dr. Nick]

Was it that dastardly orange? Was it that backstabbing orange that I will make juice out of??? Not the ONE orange, the other orange!