This has been an interesting game for me, mostly because it's the first one that I've played in a while (read: years — almost a decade I think).

I'd forgotten the amount of time and energy required from week to week, in researching/formulating tactics and strategies, sweet talking neighbors, determining potential allies, keeping intel flowing between those farther afield, and just making shit happen, week after week.

However, after the few game years, I got so into it that I decided to get a FTF game going in my office. They’re all first timers, so it’s a bit of a gong show, but great fun! :)

This could quickly turn into a novella, so I’ll get on with my game notes:

Thanks

My first thanks go to our GM Owen/Danivon, for a smooth and well run game. I certainly wasn’t great at getting prelims in, and his reminders probably saved me a couple of times. He was also quick to answer any technical questions I had, and made my return to the hobby an easy one. I’m always impressed by the GMs at Redscape, they do a great service for the community, and rarely get the thanks that they deserve.

Secondly I'd like to thank my English partner-in-crime, Rob Draniczarek. We had a lot of good conversations, with some very interesting ideas, but also a LOT of second guessing and doubts. However, we made it through to the end (almost) with a solid alliance, and it was a pleasure working with him. Success with England & France! Who would have thunk it?

Finally, many thanks to the rest of you for going easy on me on my first game back. I made several mistakes confusing the names of provinces or forgetting some of the less common rules. While there were definitely some ups and downs in negotiations, and resulting tempers, I did enjoy much of the game — it’s been a while since I’ve been in situations where a little manipulation and skullduggery have been an acceptable, nay — encouraged practice. :)

Early game

Italy and England were immediately approachable, and both had interesting ideas to throw around. There was talk of giving Brest to England in the early days, and I’ll admit that I considered it, but there wasn’t enough in it for me.

Italy started off talking about splitting Germany, which was intriguing mostly because Germany wasn’t saying very much at all. I tried with very little success to get Germany interested in a dialogue, but sadly he wasn’t having any of it. This made my early decision to side with England very easy, although it wasn’t my geographic preference. But as I always maintain in this game, you have to play the player, not the country. I think that my first rookie mistake was stabbing Germany too early… England rode the envious position of working with both of us for a good long time, and I don’t blame him.

I will say this about Heath/Italy — while he was an excellent strategist and negotiator, we both had a couple of flare ups that got heated fast. For some reason I think that we were both able to push each other’s buttons, which is weird, as I usually have zero problems in keeping things rational and low-key. Anyway, it was probably this that led me to decide on ultimately siding with England over Italy.

I’d played several games with Austria before (which was weird, considering the time span since the last one!) and had always had successful winning relationships with him, the last one in a massive WW4 variant. Unfortunately we weren’t set up for natural cooperation here, and it sounds like I got left out of the Italy-England-Austria triple that was forming (would LOVE to hear more about this, if anyone is willing to speak up on the matter).

Neither Russia or Turkey had much to say to me in the early game, we had agreements to share intel, but I don’t remember much in the way of successful collaboration. Oh, except working with Tim against Germany. But that was slow and limited. Still, friendly times.

Mid game

This was pretty much dominated by an unfortunate offline accident with our first Italy, and his resulting decision to leave the game. Unfortunately, the initial incident and communications afterwards led to some strained relationships, and I’m not happy that I gained from this in the game.

It is also a sad twist of fate that I was able to greatly profit from the disagreements that arose between the new Italian leader and his pre-existing allies. Someone mentioned to me in an email that my solo wasn’t legitimate, partly due to this turn of events. I’m willing to accept that I got lucky, and hope that my next win is harder come by. I do agree that it was a soft victory for me, for a couple of reasons, this being high on the list.

Another major factor leading to my solo was Austria/Mike trying to muster/force some support for an anti-France alliance, by throwing centers to me after I (weakly!) stabbed him. This strongly contributed to an early game end. I think that he did everything right, but that the tournament played a large part in screwing him here — both England and Turkey were content to play on as agreed, towards the three-way draw.

The Solo

I should note that up until the last three seasons, it was always my intention to aim for the draw. I didn’t think that the opportunity to solo would present itself, as Rob had proven to be a more-than-capable negotiator and tactician. In short, I didn’t think that he would let me get into a situation where I could take it.

But the situation arose, and was too tempting for me to leave alone. These are the main factors that I think contributed:

1) The holiday season. All three of Turkey, England and myself were very busy with life outside of the game, and our negotiations had been slowing down anyway. So I don’t think that the board was examined quite as closely as it might have been a month or earlier/later.

2) Giving Italy a shot at survival. While I could have taken him out and built units to push forward in his place, his continuing presence in the game added an element of confusion, unpredictability, and the opportunity for a last minute land grab.

3) As mentioned, various unfortunate game events, including old Italy getting injured, his leaving the game, and Austria’s failed ploy to turn the board against me. Also, Rob’s misorder to capture Munich at the end was a lucky turn for me.

4) Turkey’s desire to have the last laugh. There were two things here — he wanted to finish with a unit in Italy and/or Austria, and he wanted to not only see Austria eliminated, but to actually be the power to destroy Mike’s final unit, even though Austria had no more SCs. This led to suggesting some moves that left him (and to some extent, Rob) vulnerable in the final season.

5) The tournament mindset. There were some assumptions that because we were playing a tournament, that other players would not play this as a regular game. I certainly held no belief that given the opportunity others wouldn’t take a solo. But I would love to hear what others think on this, as I did labour (for several minutes!) over the decision to go for it or not. :)

Okay, this is it from me for now. Let me know if you have any questions, and I’ll answer them as best as I can. If you’re still reading, thanks for bearing with me this long. :)

Reuben.

Your solo wasn't legitimate? What an unfortunate thing to suggest.

I remember a World War IV variant many moons ago whereby each world country was played by two players. The majority party was given the final say on all orders. The minority party could advise or even attempt an overthrow but definitely had to sit back and accept the direction the ruling party took the country in. It was a fascinating game and true to form as far as politics are concerned. Heath's departure and my decision to take things in another direction was a reflection of how politics work or fail to work as the case may be. Politicians step down, are assassinated, impeached, whatever. Their replacements sometimes change the course of history. So what? Diplomacy sometimes eerily resembles the macro. So the England/Italy/Austria "Hands Across Europe" plan didn't work out? (and I still don't know if that was indeed the plan) Rather than pouting about it, a savvy player might remain flexible and adjust to the new landscape with an openness to new possibilities, even serendipity.

There was an insistence from the beginning that I go along with what was established before my arrival. The underlying assumption was that I should believe what was being told to me. This is diplomacy. People lie and give half truths at every turn. There was no way I was going to simply take either Rob or Mike on their word. How absolutely ridiculous. An England/Italy alliance early in the game doesn't make all that much sense to me given the lack of proximity typically. The Italy/Austria alliance was a credit to Heath but I thought a stab might not only help me to grow and thereby add some strength to my distant Munich unit but energize the Turk to help me dismantle Austria. It turns out I waited too long and missed my window to get him. After that, things went down hill.

All of this to say, in my opinion your solo was as legitimate as any other I've witnessed over the past 25 years and well deserved.