Center Chart Foxtrot: 05.07.11 @ Red Cap's Corner
Center Chart Foxtrot: 05. 07. 11 @ Red Cap's Corner
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A Christian 5 4 4 5 6 7 6 8 9 10
E Brandon 4 5 6 7 7 9 10 12 14 15
F Gio 5 6 6 6 8 8 8 7 3 0
G Josh 5 4 3 2 1 0 - - - -
I Eric 4 5 4 5 5 8 8 6 8 9
R Zafir 5 6 6 5 3 0 - - - -
T Mathias 4 4 5 4 4 2 2 1 - -
With my first game in this group, I draw the red block of blood. First thought: Not again. Although I have played many times online, where diplomacy is often absent, in my 6 to 8 face to face games, both Italy and Austria make up one third of my games. Therefore, I am rather familiar with the southern part of the board.
ReplyDeleteIn my prior Austria plays, I was usually the victim of a R/T juggernaut, or an early and foolish stab from Italy. I was determined to not make it so!
With Italy being a new player, the first goal was to prevent an early stab manipulated by another player. Italy and myself quickly agreed that an early stab on either of us would be the end of both of us. I also convinced him to put pressure on France by moving to Piedmont, since his prosperity rested on controlling the Med. My next goal was to turn Russia and Turkey against each other, ultimately hoping for a Turkish demise. I was able to persuade Turkey into an all out attack against Russia, and convinced Russia that the Turk was our enemy.
In Spring of '01, I couldn't have asked for better position. Everyone had done what they told me, and I was sitting in Rumania with both Venice and Trieste clear of troops.
For Fall of '01, on the Italian front, I convinced Italy of supporting Spain into Mars, leaving no room for France to build a fleet. This was crippling to France since they were also being attacked by England. On the eastern front, the disguise of an attack on Russia worked. Since Turkey held the Black Sea, it was clear to him that he could take Sev., with my help, which I offered. And of course, now that Turkey's intents were clear, it was easy to convince Russia of support Sev. Ultimately, in the fall, the stab on Turkey was clear, and I gain 2 builds. (It should have been three, but this was my first mis-order of four in the game (:o), one of which attempted to build in Serbia (stupid me)).
In summary of the mid years, Italy was easy to keep away from me since he was tangled with France and England. On the Balkan front, a pseudo-pre-arranged stab from Russia allowed for the final blade to take out Turkey. That is, Russia and Turkey agreed to boot me from Rumania by convoying the Turkish army in Armenia across the Black Sea, leaving Russia more at ease. However, this was a set-up to allow the Russian fleet to slip into the Armenian back door, ultimately leading to the end of Turkey.
The final years saw Italy hedgehogging back home, leaving the opportunity to expand west unlikely. This forced a year after year gussing game with the Russian troops. And year after year, the shuffle continued.
Near the end of the game, I felt confident in my position, had the game continued, however, Italy and Germany had started to turn their eyes on me (although Italy would have fallen in another turn or two). But, with friendly relations with England, I have to conclude that the game my have emerged as a A/E vs. G/R dynamic.
Thanks for the excellent EOG, Brandon, and welcome to the club!
ReplyDeleteI played England in this game and decided before any diplomacy took place that I was definitely going to play aggressively from the start. It's not my usual style and, in spite of some bumps along the road, I have to say it worked out in my favor.
I began by solemnly upholding the hallowed Philly diplomacy tradition of picking a fight over the English Channel, which allowed me to start the game right off with my boot on France's neck. To my delight, Germany was more than willing to help out with an army in Burgundy and Italy's army in Piedmont more or less sealed the deal on what we all expected to be the demise of France.
Unfortunately, France refused to die. Through a combination of Italy's hesitation, France's excellent tactical guessing, and my poorly timed stab on Germany, France continued to gasp for air for far too many years. I don't remember the details of my stab on Germany but I do recall that France cut my own support to knock Germany out of Paris. If I only had the forethought to confer with France about my stab!
After the stab, my progress ground to a halt as Germany redirected his energy against me in what amounted to a big stalemate in the low countries and north sea. All the while, Germany frantically warned me about the impending onslaught from the Russo-Austrian machine (I believe at this point they had already digested poor Turkey). I was dubious of Germany's claims, mostly because I still saw conflict between Austria and Russia, so I felt free to keep pushing on Germany, even though it didn't really get me anywhere. When it was clear that Russia was siding with Germany on the issue, I relented and started exploring the south west of the board with my fleets, subtlely taking Italian possessions.
By this point, a draw had been proposed a few times and we were getting hungry and irritable, so I kept pressing through the Med, hoping to reach Austrian shores someday to hasten a draw. Thankfully, the game was drawn before I got too far. Unfortunately, there was definitely more to be done on the board and I don't think it was actually to my advantage to draw at that point but, that's how it goes.
It was a great game and a good learning experience for me.