Dip20 Concluded - EOGs Please.

[LordStone1]

Dip20 has ended in a draw between Austria, Australia, South Africa, and the United States of America. It's interesting to see how four continents are represented - Europe, North America, Africa, and Australasia.

This game began in Spring 1861 with eighteen players: England, Australia, Prussia, Austria, South Africa, Russia, the Middle East, China, Japan, Brazil, Central America, USA, the Confederacy, Southeast Asia, India, North Africa, France, and lastly, Canada.

It concluded in Winter 1878 with seven players: Australia, Prussia, Austria, South Africa, USA, the Confederacy, and India.

My EOG will be posted shortly. I'm sure I speak for everyone in saying that we await all of your EOGs - this has been a long and complex game, and tested the mettles of every single player. Also remarkable about this game is that we had few dropouts: Thucydides of India, someone for France, and one for England. That's a feat in such a high-player game.

Enough rattling on. Proceed!

[Berzerker]

USA EOG -

American patriots joined forces with our southern neighbors under the command of that great Dixie general, Defiant; an alliance that lasted the entire game. We defeated the Canadians and ventured out to sea to dominate the N Atlantic taking the British Isles and engaging Prussia over control of Scandinavia which ended in our hands.

We tried to keep our only other ally, France, alive against the Austro-Prussian alliance but to no avail. We were stalemated in Europe, and with no ability to build western fleets in San Francisco - a major oversight by the game's designer - USA stalled over several years near the end. But then India, in the role of the Phoenix, asked for an attack on a key Prussian army and India swept northward taking Prussia by surprise. This forced Prussia to move eastward to fend off India leaving Scandinavia weakened. And so we took Scandinavia and was about to start convoying armies across the Atlantic when a draw was agreed to...

[PolarisGL]

Is someone going to try this variant again? It was very successful, it seems, the first time.

[Talon22]

EOG-Prussia

What an awesome game this was. I tip my hat to everyone who played till the end in this one. Anyways, on to the good stuff.

I started off as Prussia in this new game. Immediately I set off to get as big as possible as fast as possible. With agreements with France I moved north into Scandinavia. By the 3rd year or so I saw that Russia was being beat up by the Austrian-Ottoman alliance so I decided to capitalize on it. My army and fleet marched(and sailed) into Sweden and St. Petersburg on the same turn effectively elminating Russia from Europe.

Now that I had solidified my eastern flank I helped France take over Britain. this was around the time that Austria started to war with France. I rushed into Austria and with France we pinned him on his own Supply Centers. Unfortunately, there was no way of actually removing him so with an agreement set up 2 DMZs and retreated out. The next turn I partially stabbed France(as he had seen it coming). I fought with him bitterly for many years until I finally(with Austrian help) kicked him out of France proper.

Now I found a new foe: USA. While I was busy with France on the mainland, he had built a sizeable fleet and now controlled the entire North Atlanic. I was able to stalemate him there while I sent troops into Asia to counter balance the newly powerful India.

Our attacks in India also stalemated so now I was basically supporting my troops in the east and my fleets in the west.

In a suprise, India broke my stalemate line and forced me to hurry troops that way. I finally beat him back when Australia attacked him, but by then I was looking for any ways to expand. I briefly attack my long itme ally Austria, but then attacked India again.

During the last turn I knew my hold on Scandinavia was very very thin. The US took that and probably would have taken me over eventually. Congrats to Berzerker for that.

All in all, a very enjoyable game. I would like to play this one again, perhaps on a modified map.

[Du_Chateau]

I glad the game has ended. It was a good game and I GMed the game to the best of my abilities. I would like to thank all the following people to make this game memorable.

Canada (Coug)
USA (Berzerker)
CSA (Defiant)
Mexico (Sahib)
Brazil (Kropotkin)
South Africa (Boshko)
North Africa (Hans2)
England (Snowfire/JT3/Brave)
France (Scott F/Hacksaw)
Germany (Talon)
Austria (Gibster/Zakhiago)
Middle East (Mjd/Alphaman)
Russia (Dan.te/Bill3000)
India (Ruffhaus8/Thucycdides)
Japan (Mao)
China (bcr3)
Southeast Asia (Coug/snowcrash22)
Australia (Lordstone1)

Thanks,

Du_Chateau GM for dip 20.

[Defiant]

CSA EOG-
This was a good game, not outstanding and not because I wasn't in the finals but because the N.American countries where hampered by not having a West coast port, except for Mexico which was a non entity in this game again.
The CSA made a alliance with our northern brothers and we headed south to quiet Mexico and S.America which we did until that slimey, lying, dirty leader of S.Africa(Boshkorelli) stab the CSA in the behinder.
Then of coarse Lordstone took out Japan and is moving against India and he is quite gratious in letting it be a four way draw and the CSA would have been lucky to survive.
All in all a good game, would play the variant again with a port for CSA or USA or both.

[RUFFHAUS8]

India - EOG

I entered this game as a newcomer to Apolyton at in the Fall of 1865 with 6 supply centers and a lot of enemies. Apparently my predecessor had just taken a clumsy stab of the board learder (South Africa), and given me another one. No wonder he quit!

Some of my early difficulties in this game can be that I underestimated th need for ICQ, as few players would respond to e-mail. However, LordStone was one of those, and so was Boshko, and they quickly became my allies or at least were content to leave me alone in concession for my actions against other nations. Since these other nations were my enemies, this was a relative no-brainer. Unfortunately I had a lot of them, and builds did not come easy.

I eventually beat them back, but in order to do so, had to accept the continued presence of an Australian fleet in the Gulf of Manaar. Since this body of water bordered Madras (a home SC), I was very loathe to do this. And this became the eventual sticking point between Australia and India, in spite of the fact that I amassed a huge army and only a token navy.


And at this time Gibster's Austria (the game leader) got incredibly greedy and decided to have a go at me. I warned him not to, but he just had to have Shiraz. I warned him that he would overextend himself in a war with me, and that he wouldn't be able to hold the Arabian peninsula becaus of my fleets. But on he came. An I let him along with Talon's Germans come right into my trap, whereupon I began to surrond and destroy theri armies rather than seek to take theor supply centers. This forced them to rebuild them back in Europe where there were no harm to me. Evnetually I gained the advantage and flanked Germany with Berzerker's assistance of a cut support in Karelia.

In the end I suspect that LordStone expected me to be his Janisary, which in the beginning I was happy to do. And eventually I became more powerful, and perhaps he feared that I would turn on him. I tried to build armies to discourage this, and I helped him take down Japan, hoping that this also would spare me. Unfortunately it didn't. When I reached my peak at 18 SCs, and was knock on Europe's back door, the stab came.

In hindsight I understand why it happened. I had become more than a junior ally. I was now a threat to an Australian victory. I honestly wasn't planning to turn on either Australia or South Africa, but there was no way to convince LS that. Add in the fact that Bezerker had established Fortress California, and it was clear that the Aussies would hit either India or South Africa.

I knew that it was coming, and set up a deal with South Africa whereby we agreed that if LS stabbed either one of us, we'd both attack him. Well when the stab came, Boshko wussed out. He offered token help, but I felt that he was in on the stab. I told Boshko that if he didn't help me that I would go to Austria for help. He still refused to help sufficiently.

I reluctantly made a deal with Gibster and was prepared to send hin soaring into Africa. But he lost interest in the game and quit writing to me. I went back to Boshko and convinced him to turn on Australia, which is where things were at the end of the game. I've left a lot out (purposely), but in a nutshell that's my view of things.

This one was a blast. I do think that the map was altered too much, particularly by removing SF as a US home SC. If we do it again, there are some options available, but we can discuss it then. The original varient designer has two futher updates of the Imperial map, and I'll post them here later for anyone interested. Defiant, Berzerker, and Boshko have seen Imperial II.

[Defiant]

Excellent map the Imperial II, we should try it at apolyton with mixed players if that is what it takes to get a good consistent crew.

[LordStone1]

Ok, here goes. I played the entire game as the leader of Australia, and watched as it grew from a simple continent to encompass half the world, from the Himalayas to the Aluetians, from Kamachatak to Christchurch.

In the beginning, I had plenty of nations to worry about - South Africa, India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Pretty soon I decided that my first target would be Southeast Asia, since it was closest and pretty much the center of the entire Asia sphere (akin to Germany on the standard map). But how to get everyone else not to attack me? Through some brilliant diplomacy and a lot of luck, I formed a quadruple alliance with South Africa, India, and Japan, with the focus on Southeast Asia shared with India.

The game began, and I stabbed SE Asia fast and hard, and it soon began to fall. But then all of a sudden Thucydides disappeared. Ruffhaus8 stepped into his place. By that time, SE Asia was nearly annihilated, and I was determined to continue my strong relationship with India, South Africa, and Japan. So I took India under my wings and through some great tactics. India revived itself from the ongoing slaughter by the Chinese and the Middle East.

With the demise of Southeast Asia, the next target was obviously China, who was, at that time, getting hammered by Japan. In those years, Japan had grown to take Hawaii and the Aleutians, and had the most powerful fleet in the game. I knew that in order to advance in the game, I'd have to build a stronger fleet. But first, China was the focus. India, Japan, and I beat down the Hans until they were no more.

However, there were tensions between Japan and I, mostly because Mao wasn't very communicative, and often didn't write the support orders I asked him to. So, with my fleets positioned, I made a massive stab. The great battle of the Pacific ensured, as Japanese and Australian fleets chased each other around the seas. With the capture of Hawaii, Japan began its downfall. India joined in later by taking Japan's possessions in China, as I eventually took the island chains as well as the northeastern Russian territories. In the end, Japan was relegated to a small colony on the Aluetians, and squatted there for several years.

With the defeat of Japan, I was the undisputed ruler of the Pacific, and probably the most powerful nation on the map, equal with only South Africa. I had two choices - go east or go west. At that time, India and I had some tensions over the Gulf of Manaar. I wanted Ruffhaus to keep it demilitarized, and even worse, he refused to give up Upper Burma to me which was part of the deal in the war against Southeast Asia. So, I took Manchuria, and we both seemed fine with that. At the same time, South Africa was starting its landfall upon Latin America. I had to choose between a long war against the Confederacy, with little gains, or a fast, dirty, and very, very risky war with India. Worse, India constantly threatened to give up all of his centers to South Africa should I stab him, via massive convoys on the Indian Ocean from Johannesburg to Delhi.

So, I stabbed India. Almost immediately, all the alliances shifted, yet my alliance with South Africa remained intact provided that I help him out in Latin America. The fight against India was slow at first, but I broke through his Chinese front, and soon, armies began to pour in. At the same time, India was attacked by Austria and Prussia by the west, and South Africa appeared unwilling to help out India. Just as well, I supposed.

But ties with South Africa were fraying, as Austria conquered almost the entire Berber coast, and the fight against the CSA came to a standstill. India also tore into Africa and the Middle East in a desperate attempt to replace centers lost to me in China. Around the last few turns, South Africa capitulated to India and they both started working together, and to my horror, it appeared as if India was following up on his threat to convoy African armies to the subcontinent.

And then the unthinkable happened. South Africa, my ally of 20 game years, stabbed me with a capture of Peru as well as the Antarctic Indian Ocean. I immediately jumped into bed with the CSA, Austria, and the USA. But before we all could see what happened next, the game ended in a draw, with me as one of the victors.

In all, this was the most enjoyable game I've ever played, and probably my most successful. Thanks!

[LordStone1]

Ok, here's the GIF animation of the Dip20 game history since the beginning. Sure makes the game seem a lot shorter than it was...
http://www.geocities.com/lordstone1/dip20history.gif

[Talon22]

wow, that's cool.


I want to see everyone else's EOGs!

[Dave Boshko]

The African Empirium EOG
Well I started out in the south, I grabbed the nuetral SCs. I looks east: ocean, I looked west: ocean, I looked north: tasty North African SCs! Yum yum yum! Well I killed poor Hans and united virtually all of Africa. India stabbed me for Mad, but RUFF took over and gave it back. I waged intermittant warfare against Austria in the Med for most of the game after that but noth very much came of it except a lot of see-sawing. I then turned my energies on Brazil, but he put of a good defense against me and not much against the CSA in the North so I only got 2 SCs out of Brazil's fall much to my disappointment.
So then I allied with LS1 (Australia) to take the South America that was rightfully mine! But right when things start up, LS1 backs out to go stab my Indian friend (aaargh!!!). RUFF was telling me that I should make peace with Defiant and let Defiant send his fleets around Tierra Del Fuego. Now Defiant's a good man, but I knew he couldn't pass up such a good opportunity to stab me so I told RUFF I couldn't do that.
I planned to start attacking LS1 in a year or so but I kept the war with Defiant going. RUFF stabbed me (aaargh!!) but I kept the war with Defiant going . Then RUFF begged for forgiveness and I turned on LS1 and stabbing him simultaneously in Chile and Bombay if I remember correctly

[Defiant]

David,
Who didn't you stab in this game, new title for Boshko, King Stabber