Sorry that I bugged out ... that's the first time I've done that in a Dip game, EVER. My life became a Dip game itself . I was in a Corporate Board fight that was both crazy busy and brutal. It was too hard for me to do both, especially with the similarities.

Austria is my worst country for two reasons: 1 I like naval power, and 2 I'm paranoid and don't like taking risks. My wanting to go after Barry had nothing to do with personalities. He's the only player who I didn't know before the game and it was a pleasure meeting him. I also like reading his FB posts. I highly recommend FB friending him. Basically I'm paranoid about Turkey, and in particular when I play Austria. So I wanted RIA vs. T and divide the spoils evenly. I would then take my chances being between Steve and Randy. Unfortunately, Randy had different ideas. Steve thought he was crazy at the time, and Steve was angrier than I was, but as Ronald Reagan said (when Jesse Jackson brought home hostages from North Korea I believe), never argue with success. I saw the stab coming, but was in denial about it. If you stop and read e-mails carefully, you can tell. Randy thought that Steve and I were too close, but that's not really well founded. We like each other, but we are both realists and would act accordingly.

I didn't have time to review tactics with Steve, which was probably frustrating for him. I also didn't have time for much diplomacy either as the corporate stuff got worse and worse. Sorry that I abandoned position, particularly to Steve, because it was worse for him than anyone.

My only disappointment is that you guys stopped at the 3-way draw. If I were France or Russia I would want to keep going. I don't understand being ruthless in the first half of the game, and then getting all soft at the end. I wonder in particular if Randy could have soloed ...

Peace,

Monte