Spring 1901 Turkey this time. I think I played Turkey in an ftf game in the TV pit way back in the day. A little scary being boxed in the corner like that, but it gives me something to keep my back against. I think I need Sevastopol to be really secure (and not let Russia sneak around into Armenia), so that's the direction I'll try to go first. Assuming I can get Austria not to attack me. On the other hand, once I have Sev, further expansion into Russia would leave me with an awkward long overextended front, which is what killed me in the last game. So I'll be well-situated for a stab at Austria. We'll see. Italy's the first to send out correspondence, at least to me, and he's certainly right down to business. I'm pretty sure he's not a rank newbie, but most of the people I've played against have done the whole "greetings, king!" style for the first few communications. Maybe he's just varying his style. I gave him some "advice" that might direct his attention westward; I can only hope. So here's my plan for the first year: let Austria have Greece, but get his support into Rumania (against Russia). Russia can't defend against that without using his Sevastopol fleet, and if he does *that* I'll have my fleet in the Black Sea. A win either way. Then the next year I can put an army in Smyrna to come through Armenia and help take Sevastopol. It might conceivably be _better_ to lose Rumania in the first year if I took the Black Sea instead, because then when I do take Sevastopol and Rumania, I can immediately build a fleet in Constantinople for my westward sweep---Austria will obviously know the gig is up when that happens. For reference, the people that posted to alt.jarf between 11:31 (when Neil posted the announcement of the game) and 1:42 (when I sent the mail requesting to be in it; I was the seventh), were the following: sundiver cove romashko keithw panther maceo kraut mhoram anarchy kimmitt estuckey ngroot mstan rdroth data bruce aloysius neilk davids wolfgang kubiak Neil is running it, and Joe said "for the record" that he's out. Which might be a lie, but I don't think so: I suspect he'll write the Missive again. Of the rest, there are a few (wolfgang and kubiak) who are confessed newbies, playing in the beginner game, and probably wouldn't do this. Kevin specifically said he was jonesing for a dip game earlier, but it's not clear if the ftf this weekend will sate that. I'm 100% certain that Dave is playing, and 99% that Mike Kimmitt is. Bob, Eva, and Mike McLawhorn all played in the last one, so are definite possibilities. Brian seems generally interested in Dip, so he might be in; I vaguely recall Al playing back when we were at IMSA but I get the impression he doesn't do that sort of thing much anymore. In any case, there's always the possibility that someone saw Neil's earlier "I'm thinking about" message and jumped in before the official announcement, or that they read =jarf and joined without posting in that timeframe. But my current guess as to the players is myself, Dave, Mike K, Bob, Eva, Mike M, and Brian. I have no idea how they'll distribute, although I'd bet that most of them would want a different country than the one they just played. The freaking Italian player is just a little too jumpy. Less than one hour into the game, he'd sent me *three* messages, the last of which was that he hadn't heard from me yet and was a little worried. Sheesh. He's nosy, too, wants to know exactly the state of my diplomatic agreements. *cackles with glee* I have now sent Italy a message implying that France is likely to attack him, and France a message saying Italy had insinuated he was going to attack France. This could totally backfire, of course, but it was fun to do. :) Italy has sent three more emails in the last day, including one with a webpage on possible openings. My attempt at engendering discord between France and Italy seems to have failed, but they're not actively calling me on it ("oh, you must have misunderstood"). Oh well. He further proposed a whole-game alliance, praising me for being "very good at DIPLOMACY" (all caps like that, too). I think he's putting me on, because *nobody* can be that naive. I'm going to have to keep a very close eye on this one. Italy sent two more today. Will it never end? Fall 1901 Everything goes pretty standardly, except that Russia has _already_ invaded Germany. Poor Germany. Italy, meanwhile, seems to be squaring off with France, which is good news for me and Austria, of course. Assuming Austria doesn't renege, I will have either Rumania or the Black Sea next year. There are, of course, advantages to both. It just occurred to me that there's a third possibility: that the fleet in Sev go to Armenia. Still, that's not a threat, since I'll get to build an army in Ankara. The German claims to have "considerable influence" on Austria. I don't know about that, but it's sort of scary if he does, since that would make it harder for Austria to ally with me (he'd be in the middle of a sandwich, bleah. Then again, the German could be just blowing smoke. The Russian just offered to support me into Rumania. I'm not quite sure what to make of that. If I could somehow get rid of the Sevastopol fleet, I would be ok with letting Russia keep the center... Hmm.... A PLAN: Come clean with Russia. Get Russia to move to Armenia, where I can attack it and he can then voluntarily disband. Depending on his level of trust, he can either leave Sevastopol open or send Ukraine army up to defend his other front. With his fleet gone, I can then rotate my fleet out through Constantinople, and he can just leave one army defending Sevastopol. I like it. I think I'll propose it to him. *sigh* Russia has rejected my brilliant plan. Oh well. Winter 1901 What a totally screwed up Fall. Russia betrayed me for essentially no gain in position. I have Black Sea *AND* Rumania now, and there's no way he can take the Sea back, now I just have to maneuver the fleet into a squeeze play. Mopping-up action, as it were. I'm baffled as to why Russia let Germany into Sweden like that. And left St Petersburg undefended---England will have it easily and Russia can't defend. Fortunately, it'll be a north coast fleet, so England can't just swoop through. For now, I need to figure out where to build. I can't even vaguely threaten Austria right now or he'll attack me, and I'm not ready for that until I have at _least_ Sev. So, armies. If I build Ank/Smy, then I can force the fleet disband this round and take Sevastopol (by using the fleet to support in Rumania). But then, I'd have to bring Bul up to Rum and I have an undefended front with Austria, who I still don't trust. OTOH, if I build Ank/Con, then it'd take two rounds to force disband the fleet... but then, that's ok, because I'd still have Sev by the next adjustments. Ank/Con it is. Spring 1902 Ok, so taking southern Russia will be very straightforward. By the time I accomplish that, I suspect that Germany and Italy will have been dismantled, or nearly so; I only hope that I can get the jump on Austria when the time comes. The alliances will almost certainly be FT/EA, afaict---it's important that I stay on good terms with France! You know, it occurs to me that it was in Austria's best interest to support me over Russia because (he thinks) I'll be easier to squeeze out, maybe. Oh well, really nothing to be done for it.... Fall 1902 So odd. What the _fuck_ is wrong with Italy? He _still_ hasn't made any move to take Tunis, and we're now going to go a second year with it unoccupied. Bizarre. England is turning into a slightly scary juggernaut, set to hold seven centres at year's end. Meanwhile, Austria fails to avail himself of the free supply centres in Italy (or Tunis), preferring to move north towards Germany. I am now certain that he intends a stab either this season or next. Galicia in particular is almost certainly there just to help him take Rumania. NOT GOOD. If that fleet weren't in Sevastopol, I could maneuver more, but as it is, I just can't leave myself open like that. DAMMIT I really wish Russia had agreed to my plan. Italy and Austria are clearly in alliance. I'll send Austria a missive to see what he claims he's doing, and then see if there's any way to convince Russia to help me out. I'm so torn. On the one hand, I _know_ that leaving that fleet in Russia is just an invitation: PLEASE stab me! But Austria _will_ stab me this turn. And I don't think Russia will actually help me much anyway; England has certainly played Russia well, and I'm beginning to wonder if he hasn't had a backroom alliance with Austria as well. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find that Austria had promised Russia temporary setbacks wrt me but eventual domination of Asia minor---and if Russia believed him. I think I'll pick the brain of England and Germany, see what they think... Well, Russia's losing St Petersburg in any case, so he's not likely to be a very useful ally anyway. Certainly that fleet in Sevastopol won't help me in moving west. I'm going to have to take Sevastopol this turn and hope that it doesn't screw my westward chances too much. I hope it doesn't piss off England, because he's right, I'm going to have to deal with him before too long. :( Now just to make Austria think I don't know.... Winter 1902 I called the stab. I just wish I'd seen how it was going to work in the Balkans; I could've kept Bulgaria if I hadn't moved the army out of the way. And I could've still built a fleet in Smyrna. Live and learn, I guess. At least now I'll be able to build a fleet in Constantinople (by disbanding the other one). I'll lose Serbia for sure but maybe I can eat away at the others. I should've coordinated better with Germany---if he hand't attacked Warsaw, the Russian would've taken Galicia. Wouldn't have mattered for the play of the thing, but the Russian army would've been elsewhere. :P Spring 1903 Nothing surprising in the winter builds, really. What a mess. Well, if the army in the Ukraine doesn't support Austria, then I should at _least_ be able to take one center back this round. I can't even begin to imagine how I can guarantee Russia's support. Maybe get England to lean on him? Ok, so Germany's going to beat himself to death on Russia; Russia is trying to stay alive; Italy's a moron. *sigh* At least I'm having fun by feeding Italy okay-but-not-great advice.... Fall 1903 That went... pretty well, actually. Now, due to Austria's units in Trieste and Greece being _fleets_, I can guarantee that I'll keep Bulgaria, and that if I lose Serbia I'll take Rumania. If Austria really missteps (by leaving Greece and not using Galicia to support a Rumanian hold), then I could actually be up _three_ centres at the end of the year. Yay! France is starting to worry me a little bit. He seems to have his act together, and has a lovely eastern front line. I think I need to try to get England to attack France---I'd certainly much rather come out the other side of Austria to find a crazy Italy than to find a powerful France. England, for his part, seems to agree, and France has been annoying him recently.... Winter 1903 Damn! Austria did exactly the optimal thing, and everything bounced. Fortunately, I kept Bulgaria, so I have a build---that'll disengage the deadlock. Once I take Greece, I can start to work my way northward. Unfortunately, France will beat me to the Ionian. In fact, France could make my life really difficult by allying with Austria. Damn damn damn. My diplomacy has to be engineered towards making England threaten France, to get France to pull back some---looks like the final four will be me and England against Austria and France. Yuck. Spring 1904 Looks like England was already thinking along those lines---a fleet in Liverpool can mean little else. Hm, I was going to use the same moves as last time plus a move into the Aegean, but I just realised that then Austria could bounce me and negate that whole sequence. I need Bulgaria to support the move; but then Rumania can cut that support. I think it cuts support even if it's dislodged (which it would be). On the other hand, then I would have Rumania, so it's not a total wash. (Hm, but then Austria would be poised to support Russia back into Sevastopol... whatta pain. I think it's still my best option, though.) Eenteresting. France and Austria have now just appealed to me to halt England's expansion so as not to throw the win to him. Of course, he has _nine_ centres right now, so it's not like it's an imminent threat. Sounds like they really are allied. Well, maybe I can get something out of this. Fall 1904 Nothing terribly unexpected. Austria traded Serbia for Rumania; now I have a unified front, although some of it is defensive only because of the coastal fleets. I need to take care of that. I can support myself into Greece next round, the only question is how (fleet? army? which one?)---I have four choices, and all four of my southern units are involved in each of them. Then there is the question of Moscow. If I rely on English support into Moscow, then that leaves Rumania unsupported, and Austria could take it. On the other hand, I may have the unique opportunity this round of getting Germany to hit Warsaw, which would let me take Moscow. On the other hand, retaking Rumania *again* will be a royal pain. Hm, maybe if I could get Russia to do me a favour and hit Galicia? That would certainly be a diplomatic triumph---getting Russia to prevent Austria from hitting me, even as I hit Russia. And get Germany to hit him, in case he reneges. The funniest of all would be if Austria used Galicia to take Rumania, making Russia's unit leave Warsaw, allowing Germany's in---and I'd take Moscow, so Russia would be eliminated like *that*. Then again, I'd still lose Rumania. :P Damn the German for moving to Ukraine! Talk about screwing up my plans. :( And now this France is sending exactly the same sort of messages to me as Turkey that I sent as France to Don Ford's Turkey: stop your bickering in the Balkans and halt the northern aggressor. :P Germany now is offering to support me in to Moscow, but I don't want to let him know I'm doing that this season, because then he could just walk into Sevastopol. He and Austria may be in cahoots and counting on that, in fact. Hmm. Ok, I'm now conceding Greece to Austria. I'll set up a front with my fleets through the Aegean and EMed, and reclaim the Albanian army by disbanding and rebuilding it, hopefully. I have no idea if any of this will word out. We'll see, I guess. Well, assuming nobody's lying, I think I've just masterminded the elimination of Russia. Russia, if you read this: nothing personal! Don't worry, Germany's next. :) (Then again, now that I've admitted to Austria that I'm not supporting Rumania, dollars to doughnuts he's going to attack Rumania. On the other hand, that would make him lose Serbia, I think. Well, we'll see. I will at least gain position down by the Aegean.) After I thanked Germany I just got a response: "The pleasure is mine." Creepiest damn thing I ever read. Winter 1904 YESSSSSS! That is all. Spring 1905 This will be a year of consolidation, I think; obviously I need to get a unit up to Sevastopol post haste, and a fleet in the Black Sea will be useful both to support armies and to convoy built armies up to the front line. Unfortunately, if Austria remains hostile, I can't prevent him from taking Rumania back. If he attacks in the spring, with Gal and Ser, then I could hold it by supporting it with Bulgaria. But then if he doesn't attack, he would have three units on Rumania (Gal, Bud, Ser) and I just couldn't defend it. If I do lose Rumania in the shuffle, I might not be able to take it back immediately, but I could get it eventually, hopefully. And at least it wouldn't form an actual break in my front line, since the army couldn't go through the Black Sea. In the south, I could move the EMed to Ion, but that would just antagonise Austria. I'll pass on that one.... Fall 1905 All continues according to plan. Next season I will have a solid front line. Austria obviously trusts me---he left Greece open---and may continue to trust me since I didn't stab him on it. (Yet.) My next major plan is to move to Sev, then move Mos/Sev to Lvn/Mos in an apparent attack on St Petersburg, but turn it around and take Warsaw. Ideally, I would then turn on Austria at the same time. However, that is already the Fall of next year, three seasons away, by which time England will have advanced considerably. I think I need to move west against Austria/France sooner... but how? Not least, I want Austria not to get a build this year, and since he just took Venice that means reducing him by one, i.e. taking Greece. I can do that, I think, unless he moves on Greece with support (but if he were doing that, why would he have moved into the Ionian at all?). Moving on Greece probably also means that I'd leave Bulgaria open, but that's unlikely to matter, since Austria probably wouldn't think to move on it. (If he did, then oh well, we trade centres and I take it back next year. There are worse things.) Maybe I could talk Italy into supporting me into the Ionian.... The trick is hoping that he won't tell Austria, since not only would that tip Austria off on the Ionian move, my need for outside support would also indicate that I'm using my Aegean fleet for something else, i.e. attacking Greece. Well, there's nothing for it but to try. Italy says yes.... Winter 1905 Holy shit, dude! Austria just got _decimated_! I certainly wasn't expecting Italy to get Venice back. Ok, now I'm officially A Little Worried about England's expansion---I may take St Petersburg hostage for a little while to make sure he doesn't overtake me. He now has 13, and I just have 8. I can move fast, but perhaps not as fast as he can.... I think I can take three centres next year: Tunis, Serbia, and either Warsaw or StP. He's not positioned to grow quite so fast, especially if I hold StP for a while. Fortunately, he's got his armies all bottled up in Germany and it'll take a bit to get them over to France where they'll be useful. We'll see. Spring 1906 Ok, time to put my plan into action. Take Tunis and move the Constantinople army into Bulgaria, positioned to take Serbia; also position myself to take either StP or War. Fall 1906 Huh, France is gaining ground back against England. I think I'll not attack StP, then; put Germany out of his misery. Italy is an idiot; he should've used his idle unit in Venice to support Rome to Tuscany. Now, what to do in the Balkans? I _think_ I can count on Italy to try attacking the Ionian again, so I can stand him off with the Tunisian fleet and still take Tunis. That frees up the Aegean fleet to move on Greece and prevent the Austrian from taking it as the Greek army takes Serbia. I'd rather use the Bulgarian army to take Serbia, but then I can't guarantee support. On the other hand, if Austria supports Italy into the Ionian, it would make my life really difficult, as they would then have access to the Aegean and Eastern Med. On the third hand, with three brand new supply centers I could build fresh fleets to populate those water provinces, so it might not be too bad. Another scenario is if Austria realises that Galicia can break Rumania's support with Budapest still supporting Serbia and Albania breaking Greece's support. A very defensive manoeuvre, but it would block any progress in that direction. Winter 1906 Oops, I meant to fix the Tunis thing based on correspondence with Italy... oh well, maybe I can play this up with France or something. Meanwhile, I just traded Serbia for Rumania AGAIN. At least this time I'm in a better position to keep Serbia when I retake Rumania. Let's see if I can manage to do that while landing an army on Italian shores.... Spring 1908 I haven't written in a while, as I've been a bit distracted. But it looks like England has finally decided to turn on me. I should have taken St Petersburg after all; it would have extended me a bit, but it would have put me in a better position, and Warsaw would be held by neither England nor Austria right now. Oh well. At this point, I'm pretty much viewing the game as tactics practice. Italy and France aren't really worth talking to, Austria wouldn't believe me even if I did want to ally with him, and England, well, England's set to win by the end of next year. How many centres can I grab by then?