Spring 1901

I've received peaceful overtures from pretty much everybody, as
expected.  I'm happy to ignore Italy for now if he'll ignore me; of my
other two neighbours, I'm more interested in allying with Germany to
crush England.  Russia definitely seems interested in a northern
campaign, so Germany has worries there, and that should keep him off my
back for a while.

I think I'll be greedy for the first move; it's within my grasp to get
three centers (if I'm lucky), and I can guarantee almost certainly one
and probably two.  I move:
	F Bre->MAO
	A Mar->Gas
	A Par->Pic
In an ideal world, I then will occupy Portugal, Spain, and Belgium,
respectively.  That probably won't happen, and what exactly does happen
depends on who backstabs me.  If England occupies the Channel, Brest is
threatened, but he doesn't have any support, so I can just bounce him
out with F MAO->Bre, or A Gas->Bre.  If Germany moves into the Ruhr,
he'll be in a position either to bounce me from Belgium or actually take
it himself, though that would involve leaving either Denmark or Holland
open in the winter.  If Germany and England are allied, and occupy both
the Channel and Ruhr, they're in a position to fuck me out of Belgium
without sacrificing any SCs for the winter.  Meanwhile, if Italy
occupies the Piedmont, I would have to move the Gascon army back to
Marseilles.  In such a case, I might be better off having moved to Spain
(as bouncing would let me keep Spain as an SC), but I really want A Gas
to protect Brest in case of English treachery.  If I only can take one
of Spain or Portugal, I'd prefer Portugal (with F MAO), since Spain is
only one space away from a home center.

So, to sum up: if nobody backstabs, I get 3.  If only England backstabs
into the Channel, I get at least Portugal, and if he attacks Brest I get
Belgium, otherwise not (but at least he doesn't get Belgium either).  If
only Germany backstabs me, I get Portugal and Spain, and he may or may
not get Belgium, but he gets max 2 supply centers.  If Germany *and*
England attack, I get Portugal, saving Spain for later and writing off
Belgium entirely.  If Italy only attacks, I get Portugal and Belgium.
If Italy and England attack, I might get one or none; if all three
attack, I get none (but at least don't lose any supply centers!)

Hm.  Germany has suggested the Sealion offensive to me; this would
require me moving into the Channel.  It does indeed have a good chance
of demolishing England... but I don't think I'm ready for that,
especially as we seem to be agreeing on demilitarising the Channel.

I've just gotten confirmation on the Channel treaty, so ixnay on the
Sealion.

Fall 1901

Happy day; everyone has obeyed their treaties with me, that makes my
moves easy.  Iberia is mine, no problems.  My Picard army will try to
take Belgium, of course, but it's not at all clear what will happen
there.  There are four units vying for two SCs... could be messy.  If
either Germany *or* England don't want me in there, they can easily keep
me out.  Maybe I should support one or the other into Belgium?

Spring 1902

Gyeearrghh.  I *knew* that was going to happen.  Well, AH says he can't
help, and Russia has his own problems (though if he moved to the Baltic,
maybe he could take some of Germany's attention off me!)  Nothing to do
but swoop back to the northeast and hope England and Germany can't get
anything through while my Iberian units are in transit.

Fall 1902

Well, that went as well as could be expected.  Conveniently, England and
Germany have decided to divide their attention between me and Russia
(guess they didn't need any help there...).  That leaves six units
against my five, so if I'm clever enough I should be able to fend them
off for a while.  Looks like one of them will get Sweden next time
around, so I'll have another unit to deal with... eh.

Italy's being pretty feisty down there, looks like he's setting up a
convoy to Turkey.  Turkey's asked for my help, but I'm not going to
*think* about touching Italy while I'm so busy up north.  Maybe once
Austria gets its two new units, and puts some pressure on Germany, he
and I can squeeze Italy a bit.  At this point, Austria makes a very
attractive long term ally; with a little luck maybe I could get a
two-nation win with him.

So for now my tactics will bring forces to hit England, then eventually
swing around and get Germany (though I'd just as soon leave most of that
to Austria).  To that end, I'll try to occupy both the Irish Sea and the
English Channel, though admittedly I expect the English Channel move to
bounce again.  Once the Irish fleet is in place, though, it can support
the other in, and from there I can start convoying.  Meanwhile, my three
armies should be able to hold the Picardy-Burgundy front, since the
Anglo-German alliance has only one territory bordering Picardy and three
on Burgundy.  With Picardy and Paris supporting Burgundy, it should be
invincible (always assuming that Italy doesn't turn on me).

A possible concern regarding the Irish Sea move: it's possible that
England will use London and North Sea to support each other into the
Channel, which would then succeed.  In that case, he could possibly move
(or be forced) into the MAO, threatening my Iberian centers.  But hey,
if I'm in a position to force him out of the Channel, he's not going to
want to retreat *away* from his home SCs, which are rather more
important to him than my outside SCs in Iberia.

Winter 1902

Great!  I have a fleet in the Irish Sea *and* the English Channel, and a
stable front in eastern France.  It's too bad England talked Germany
into supporting him into Sweden, but I'll just deal with that extra unit
later.

I think I'll use my Channel fleet to support the Picardy army into
Belgium, with extra support from Burgundy (and Paris supporting
Burgundy).  This holds up fairly well to various configurations of
attack on Burgundy, except if England attacks with double support; but
in that case, I'll be trading Belgium for Burgundy, which is better than
fair (especially since that lone army won't be able to go anywhere
interesting before it has to disband).

Spring 1902

Feh.  Austria is busy with the whole Rumania-and-Black-Sea business, so
Germany will still concentrate on me.  Oh well, I'll try for Belgium and
see where it goes from there.  Maybe I should try to get Germany to
backstab England....

Fall 1902

Thbbt.  I thought supporting a support made it harder to break... oh
well, my fault for not checking the rules.  But England has just made it
easier for me to invade Britain---I think I'll convoy to Wales, so I can
have the manoeuvrability of a land unit to run around England.  Then,
the question becomes whether I should use my Irish fleet to support the
fleet, support the army, or attack Liverpool.  Decisions, decisions....

Or... maybe I should support the Irish Fleet into Wales!  Then I can
move my Parisian army into Brest in preparation for convoying *that*;
that would let me continue attacking Belgium.

Fall 1903

Blah, blah, blah.  I need to get Germany to stop supporting England, no
two ways about it.  To that end, I'll stop pushing Austria (who is being
a complete nitwit anyway).

Oh, sure, *now* Austria wants *my* support against Italy.  No way, I'm
fighting a nice little one-front war and I'd like to keep it that way.
Maybe once I've taken Britain I'll turn on Italy, but the Treaty of
Marseilles seems to be holding up quite well, and I don't really want to
break it unprovoked (yet).

Now Austria is sending me some incoherent plan involving him supporting
me from Tyrolia.  This is just bizarre.

Winter 1903

Look at me do a happy little dance of joy...  England totally fucked up
there, thinking he had a fleet in Wales.  Even if he'd tried that move
from Liverpool I'd've succeeded, but I'm much happier with him not
having the Irish Sea.  Now I just need to figure out if he knows his Dip
tactics that well... I'll support the Welsh fleet into London.  If he
supports his London fleet into Wales, we bounce off each other; but if
he tries the other route, supporting the Liverpudlian fleet into Wales,
my move for London succeeds!  I only wish I knew why he moved his
Swedish fleet into the Skagerrak.  I mean, if he were invading Denmark,
he'd've just done it; if he were moving to the North Sea, why not just
do that with his Norwegian fleet?  Also, it'll be interesting to see
what Germany does with his build, and whether he's just been stringing
me along....

Spring 1904

Well, who knew.  Turkey, of all people, is giving me advice---and good
advice at that; the English Channel has been the source of numerous
problems in the past (notably, it's one of the three spaces bordering
Belgium, but repeatedly gets its support cut from London; yet I don't
want to move out of the English Channel and let England in).  But now, I
can evacuate the Channel freely, since either A) my Welsh fleet takes
London or B) it retreats to the Channel itself.  If the English fleet is
in the Channel, I can move the Parisian army into Brest.  The best part
about this is it'll force England to either disband his army off the bat
or else take over German Holland... *that* ought to strain the alliance
<grin>  Much as it bugs me to take his advice straight, it wins out in
nearly every situation---the exception being if Germany gets wind of it
and attacks Burgundy, since Paris can't support an attacking Burgundy.

Ah... but why should Burgundy attack Ruhr?  That leaves me open to
accidentally *taking* Ruhr, which I don't want, when I can achieve the
same thing by just supporting the Belgian attack.  *And* that lets me
support the Burgundian army, in case Germany tries some funny stuff.  I
wonder if he put Turkey up to this?

Fall 1904

I'm a moron, I'm a moron.  Burgundy needed to attack Ruhr to cut its
support, what the FUCK was I thinking.  Ah well.  And I can't try it
again, because of the English fleet now in the North Sea.  Time for Plan
B.  What's Plan B?

Here's a thought: not attack Belgium, but have Picardy and Burgundy
support each other and let Paris move to Brest.  Then, move the Welsh
fleet back out to the Irish Sea, and the English Channel fleet into
Wales (bouncing off the Liverpudlian fleet, presumably.  With any luck
at all this will look like I'm convoying the Brest army to Wales, and I
can two-prong my fleets into Liverpool and London.  Problem: I've got to
worry about the two fleets now in the seas.  Norwegian isn't a direct
threat this round, but North Sea could *either* support Belgium *or*
support the Londoner fleet into the Channel.  I can counter either one,
but not both.

Winter 1905

Oh happy day!  Belgium is mine at last.  Of course, clever me, I managed
to put an army in Brest, which I would've wanted to build a fleet in.
*sigh*  We'll see whether I'm allowed to convert that into a fleet,
which would at least solve my Atlantic problem. ... Nope.  Oh well.

If I build an army in Paris, it's not very useful to my other stuff
since it'll be moving, and it'd get there slower than something coming
from Marseilles anyway.  So I build in Marseilles.  Clearly, in the
conflict against England, I need another fleet, so that's what I'll
build.  Then I'll move it to southern Spain and, I think, to Portugal;
on the one hand this could bounce England out of both, and on the other,
he gets Spain.  (I'd kill the Welsh fleet, presumably).  He's then going
to either hold Spain, which isn't very useful for him, or else move to
Gascony or Marseilles (depending on which coast he's on).  Gascony I
don't care, Marseilles I'd hopefully pull an army from somewhere to
defend.  But what other choice do I have?

Spring 1905

Well, so Marseilles will move to Spain.  I'm going to try to get a fleet
in the North Sea from Belgium, rotating in the Picardy army; then I can
threaten Edinburgh and there's nothing he can do about it.  That's about
the best I can hope for.  I'm pretty much doomed to lose one of the
Iberians in the upcoming winter, afaict.  Yuck.

Fall 1905

Onward with the plan.  So I can do one of two things with my Spanish
fleet: move to Portugal or move to MAO.  Each permits England to move
into an Iberian province, if he picks the right one.  However, it would
be a bit better for him to have Portugal than to have Spain, so I think
I'll move to MAO.

Then there's the whole mess in the north of France.  I'd love to have an
army in Belgium but don't have the military might to orchestrate a
rotation.  The best I can hope for is that I could use the Channel to
support Belgium into the North Sea (dislodging its presumable support,
moving Picardy into Belgium and leaving Burgundy to fend for itself.
That would likely result in a German occupation of Burgundy, and a
retreat to Paris or Marseilles.  But I can't see anything better....

Winter 1906

Feh feh feh.  Belgium is taken back from me and I lose that fleet.  It
could be worse, he could've gotten Spain.  We'll see what the builds
look like for next year, but it looks like I have to be very much on the
defensive until I can evict England from the MAO.

Spring 1906

The King building in Liverpool, that can't be good.  Obviously he's
going to try to hit Iberia harder; and with two units over there he can
really make a go of it.  Feh.  Looks like I'm back to needing Germany's
help.

Barring that, how can I retake the MAO and maintain a front there?  I
will need to do something soon... well, hm.  I have two fleets bordering
it; English Channel is sure to have its support cut, so it'd have to do
the moving.  With Spain supporting it, that'd knock him out of the MAO;
he could retreat to the NAO or Irish Sea, both of which are wins for me,
or Gascony, or Portugal, or North Africa.  That last is a little odd,
methinks, but in that case I'd get help from Italy at least.  Portugal
is easy, because with MAO and Spain I could squeeze him out.  Gascony
likewise, him being a fleet and all.  Seems promising, absent any
further word from Germany....

There's still a worry that Burgundy is invadable, but there's not much I
can do there if I don't want to lose Brest this turn or the next.  Oh
well.

Summer 1906

Fuckety fuck.  I lose Burgundy; best retreat to Paris, where I can at
least maintain a nucleus of armies that can support each other.  Maybe I
can get Marseilles back later.

Fall 1906

So.  Il faut absolument that I not lose any SCs this Fall.  With my
usual 20/20 hindsight I now see that I should probably have retreated to
Marseilles. :(  Ok, so my threatened territories are Marseilles and
Brest; each is only threatened by one unit, so a simple bounce should
suffice.  Meanwhile, Picardy and the MAO are each threatened by two;
unfortunately, that means I really need six units for defence, but I
only have five.

Ah.  MAO is only a *true* problem because of Iberia.  So if I use MAO to
protect Brest, and slide Spain in behind it, then if England
successfully attacks MAO I can retreat to Portugal.  Unless the move to
Brest succeeds, which seems somewhat unlikely.

Another thought: Which is more important, keeping MAO or regaining
Burgundy?  If I just plan to bounce Marseilles, he could always move his
army to Gascony, pipelining his Münchner army on into Burgundy, and then
he's fucked me up the ass (whereas with MAO the worst I can lose is
Iberia, which would suck but at least be more distant).  Thus I could
use MAO to bounce Brest, while using Paris to support Gascony into
Burgundy, moving my fleet back into Marseilles to keep him from
going there.

And again: I could use *Picardy* to do the bounce in Brest.  And MAO can
bounce thru English Channel, preventing any support to an invasion of...
well, I guess that'd be a useless gesture, but that's okay.  No, better
to invade the NAO since then I'd at least have access to an English SC.
Gaah, I dunno.

Winter 1906

And here we are again.  *sigh*  Where shall my atlantic fleet retreat
to?  Having expelled the German from Burgundy, I can move my
Marseillaise fleet back to Spain, so I suppose I should retreat to
Portugal.  Then I can (hopefully) play bouncy-bouncy with England over
the MAO.

Spring 1907

Well.  I had thought to move Por-MAO and Mar-Spa, but it would seem to
be more sensible to use Portugal to support Marseilles into Spain.  That
guarantees that I'll have F Por/F Spa by the fall, and then I can
squeeze out England (again).  All assuming I can maintain the
Brest-Paris-Burgundy front, which may be difficult (but it's not as
thought the Marseillaise fleet could help there anyway).  Even assuming
the MAO fleet doesn't help, I still have four units against three, and
those three can't even all support each other.

Then again, there's Belgium sitting open up there.  Oh, but so's the
North Sea fleet, he'll just move that in.  Feh feh feh.

Anything I do now is a gamble of one sort or another.  Germany will take
Burgundy regardless, so I might as well use that to invade Picardy, with
support from Paris (who can't be disrupted).  Of course, I'd like to
take back Burgundy next round, but that'll just push him into
Marseilles.  FUCK.  I see no realistic way to actually stay in the game
here.  It's just delaying tactics at this point.  Clearly, the turning
point was when I accidentally tied up Brest and wasn't able to build a
fleet there.  *sigh*

Fall 1907

Boy, talk about it being time to throw in the towel.  Yuck.  I predict a
three-way win between England, Germany, and Italy.  Quant à moi, I just
can't manage to get that damn fleet where I want it.  I could send it
back to Marseilles *again* and it would successfully bounce Germany, but
it would continue to just be a placeholder and not very useful.  If I
can get a fleet into the MAO, maybe I can fight my way back south with
one of my armies?  I sure as hell can't do much else; at this point
they'll just keep pecking away at me.

Here then: I'll move from Spain to the MAO, supported by Portugal, who
will then disband when I lose Marseilles.  From there I'll stick the
fleet in Brest and use my armies to fight southward as best I can.
'Course, then I'll lose Spain and Portugal, and the armies along with
them.  :P  At least England can't get another *army* in Picardy, thus
can't do inland invasion (he's got Germany for that :P).

Winter 1907

Well, that about wraps it up for France.