Russia EOG

I'd like to thank Darren for a really well run game. I very much appreciated how I could always depend on an adjudication in my inbox on Tuesday morning when I woke up. His adjudications within minutes of the deadline are the kind of thing you just can't expect to see from a GM consistently, but man, when it happens it's like Christmas morning to a seven year old. I also appreciated the jDip maps. They are very clean and easy to follow, in my opinion, with a good color scheme. Really a fantastic effort, Darren, so thank you.

I entered this game happy to play Russia and happy to see a powerful Italian counterweight in lingfish. Dave and I had just partnered well in a game of Explore, and we've worked well together in the past, so I thought an RI seemed like a natural fit. I had little experience with Austria (BuffaloZoo) and Turkey (TheManInBlack/StevieT92), aside from their performances in the gunboat tournament I ran a few years ago, but I was willing to see what they had to offer. I was a bit lazy in contacting Austria, and from what I recall he didn’t contact me either. Steve and I negotiated a few ideas with regard to the Black Sea, Rumania, etc. and I actually enjoyed these discussions a great deal. I thought that my strategy in the south would likely involve Turkey at least in the short term, and in the long term involve continued partnership with him or a switch to RI depending on Italy’s involvement in the east. I also looked for a partnership with Germany (QuipWitted) who I knew fairly well from previous games and whose play I respected. I expected France (Green Arrow) to be a potential late game ally if things with Italy or Germany did not work out, as he and I have worked well together in the past. This is not to say that I counted out England (King of Swords), but from experience ER relationships are difficult to maintain. I put some of the onus on him to show me that I could work with him, and just tried to keep him out of my hair in the early game.

My instincts were pretty good, I’d say. By Fall 1901 I had Austria down to two dots, Turkey and Italy heading toward a stalemate in the med, and a pretty even situation in the west with no frontrunner alliance. I did blunder by ordering Rum – Sev in F’01 when I had agreed with Turkey to go to Black Sea. The plan was to get my fleet out to Aeg by F’02 to help in the Med. I thought it was a fairly tame mistake, but Steve was furious and said so using a few choice words that I thought were uncalled for. It didn’t cause our alliance to break up, but it certainly didn’t help when I had to choose between Italy and Turkey. Going into ’02 and facing an apparent western triple I decided it was best to go after Turkey and help Italy remain strong. Austria understood his position thanks to our ruthless assault on him in ’01 and seemed happy to help Italy and I while serving as a junior partner. Dave coordinated a good deal of this, so I was both happy and a bit nervous that Austria’s loyalty might be to Italy and not to me, but I went along with it. ’02 saw me move on Turkey while moving to block the expected EG cooperation in the north. I think I played things correctly here, focusing more on England and less on Germany to give Germany a legitimate alternative. If I was in Prussia and Silesia he would have no ability to change alliances and move against England. At the same time I encouraged EF cooperation against Germany, hoping they would cement my case. The latter worked and Germany found himself in a bad position, with good ol’ Russia to come to his aid. ’03 showed that I was definitively allied with Germany and Italy in a strategy which pushed west against EF, and to a lesser extent against Turkey who really had no hope for anything but an early elimination. I felt that my position and Dave’s were both equally strong from about ’04 to ’07. But then Germany’s virtual withdrawal from the game led me to make gains much more quickly than anticipated. Suddenly I had legitimate looks at a solo. I felt that Italy and Austria had worked too hard and been too loyal to give any serious thought to a stab, beyond academics of course. I felt that I should stick to our original plan to play for a three way draw of something like 14-14-6 or 15-15-4. I believe we could have reached the 15-15-4 end by F’12, even when the game ended, but I also felt that it was purely academic and therefore not nearly as interesting. I unexpectedly made 15 with Italy still at 13, but I proposed the draw anyway figuring that the worst case scenario is that it would be vetoed by Italy and that we would play to 15-15-4. I decided to build several armies as a precautionary measure and to guarantee my joint share at the very least, but I suppose Italy felt as though I might be tempted to push for the solo. He therefore accepted the draw. A happy coincidence from my perspective is, if I understand the scoring correctly, I tied for top Russia with Sharur. If so, I’ll gladly take it.

One thing I didn’t mention only because it worked out for all parties is a very spirited discussion that Dave and I had somewhere around midgame (maybe ’06?) about the division of spoils and the position of our units. We both feared the other both from a position perspective and for the skill we possess as players. A kind of healthy fear that good players have of one another. For a moment I thought it would lead one of us to flinch, but we both stayed the course and managed a brilliant campaign against EFG. I think a lot of credit here goes to George’s Austria. George kept both of us focused and really made me believe that he wanted to hold the union together at all costs. I think his input to our discussions and his acceptance of his role in the game kept Italy and I committed to our agreements and our goals. In that sense George really earned his spot in the draw. I think it was an interesting finish for an Austria who by all accounts should have been eliminated in 1902. Instead he ended up three dots, including Brest. That’s the kind of stuff I love to see as a Diplomacy player.

I won’t go into too much detail about how I felt about each player’s game because the discussions were light from my perspective aside from those between AIR. Germany suffered more from malaise toward the end of the game than anything he did diplomatically. I think Green Arrow and King of Swords were victims of their own short term greed and lack of commitment to allies which is as much their fault as it is mine and probably Italy’s for encouraging it.

Dave – it was nice working with you in this game. I’m glad we were able to sort out our differences and end the game in favorable positions. I somewhat regret not splitting the board with you as we discussed, but I think that I just wanted this one off my plate sooner rather than later. A very well played game as Italy.

George – I’m glad we got the chance to cooperate after not speaking early on. As I said, you were the keystone that held our union together and helped it prosper.

I look forward to playing with each of you in the future. Good luck in the remainder of the tournament.