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 - -
EOG England PART 1/2
ReplyDeleteDark Blue. Interesting. This would be my first time playing England in a face-to-face game. (Leaving Germany and Russia as the only two I have not played in FTF). I knew from the start what my ultimate goal was: ally with Germany against France, maintain balance against Russia in the north, and ultimately surround Germany. However, circumstances dictated that this would not work.
Spring 01: Despite my goal of attacking France, I did not want to do an all out assault on France from the get-go. To prevent a stab, France and I arranged a mutual bounce in the Channel. In hopes of stabbing him the near future, I tried to convince France to head towards Italy. In hopes of sparking a war in the Med., I attempted to get Italy to move to Piedmont. Talks with Germany and Russia were friendly as well.
The moves were very worrisome. The bounce in the channel occurred, but his army in Paris headed to Picardy. Strange to me since he expressed interest in Iberia. Germany made the expected Blitzkrieg, and Italy made a passive Venice hold. More surprising though was that Russia moved War-Liv. What was that?! Definitely anti-England.
Fall 01: It was clear France and Italy were friendly and Russia was anti-England. France, moving to Picardy seemed like he would move against me since he was not heading toward Italy. He assured me he wanted Germany gone. I needed to seek help in Germany. He agreed to bounce Russia in Sweden and France in Belgium.
When the moves came, I took the channel, Frances fleet went to MAO. More surprisingly though, Germany did not bounce Russia or Germany and sent his fleet to the Baltic Sea – ultimately a mistake I believe. He allowed two of his biggest threats a build, while making an enemy out of me. At this point, I assumed all three of my neighbors had it out for me.
During 02, now seeking the aid of France against an untrustworthy Germany, I told him that for us to be friends, he needed to get his fleet out of MAO and not build any more fleets in Brest. He agreed (and followed by moving his fleet to Portugal so as not to upset Italy either). The fleet remained there for numerous years to follow, sealing our alliance. I also abandoned the channel for several years. With the only German fleet in the Baltic, my fleets were able to reign Supreme in the North. And now, with a Russian army in Finland, I knew Russia had intentions on either attacking me, or at least preventing expansion. Russia seemed to go back and forth on trusting me. He would protect his home of St. Pete and attack Germany, and on other turns he would make a single move against me. They were very strange moves and very non-committal. Ultimately, he had to go and could not be trusted.
I left France to take out Germany. Although he requested support several times, I never gave it to him since he could do it on his own, and I did not want him growing faster than me. Furthermore, he and Italy kept exchanging Munich on agreements. This of course, only gave me more time to take out Russia in the North myself. I had the numerical and tactical advantage on him (a disbanded German fleet meant no aid from the Germans). It only took a matter of time before Russia was kicked out of Scandinavia (He was eliminated in the South as well).
EOG England PART 2/2
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile in the South half of the board, France and myself had been talking to Italy about the Turkey/Austria situation. My goal was to push Italy toward Turkey, in hopes that France would push at his back end. Although France did ultimately build a fleet in Mars as advised, it never moved towards the boot. Finally, when Turkey seemed to be out of the picture, a well-timed stab of Italy on Austria yielded Italy 3 builds. It seemed that we could end this with an English-French-Italian draw with a push on Austria from 3 directions.
However, then the mind games began. Austria refused to be taken out easily and declared that he would allow France a solo win. Although it was clear he was not bluffing, France did not take full advantage of this, and left himself open to a stab. (By this point, France had had numerous occasions to stab me since he finally moved his fleet to MAO and did not. I knew I could trust him fully).
I took the channel and arranged a bounce in Brest, but moved to MAO. With a new build in London, I retook the channel, bounced in Spain, reinforced the Lowlands with armies, and captured Holland. Convincing France that this was a regretted manipulation by Austria and that I was still interested in an alliance, I easily took Portugal and Brest. This also ultimately lead to the capture of Spain and Paris as well since all of Frances forces were too far east. France fell in a matter of a few turns.
At this occurrence Austria, Italy (and France before the fall) all became fearful of a solo victory, and fully cooperated against me. The pushed me back to a stalemate in Russian territories, and Italy gathered an armada of British-bound fleets.
After the elimination of France, the three of us remaining, England, Austria, and Italy called a draw due to time. At the time, I had only needed 3 more SC’s for a solo.
My prediction: it’s tough to say what would have happened. It was a very interesting end game situation. I honestly believe any one of us could have won. The Italian or Austrian win would have come from Balkan territories which were split between them, but left completely empty at end game. Austria, of course, would have had an easier time gaining them due to his leftover armies in the area and Italy’s fleet commitment to the Med. With Italian fleets in the Med and Austrian armies in Southern France, I probably would have lost Spain at the least. It would have been interesting to say the least. The way the board was at the end, I think if we had continued, either myself or the Austrian would have won. Very interesting though.