Well another game in the can. As was pointed out this was my first time with a large country. USA was not want I originally wanted but I went with it. I have been in about five of these games so I felt confident I could take the USA and do something with it.

North America:
Almost all the games I have played in the USA played aggressively and attacked Canada, Mexico, or both. I wanted to try a different strategy and work with them. I thought the fact that neither of those two powers could eliminate me, so why try when they had a friendly USA? My goal was to have Canada move either east or west, Mexico go south and the USA support with his Nukes and control the Caribbean. Cuba unfortunately did not fit into those plans and the Pirate in the beginning did not seem like a good choice either. I was a 100% loyal to the idea of this alliance which of course lead to my down fall.

My biggest problem was the players that commanded them. I have played with both and I knew that it was a big possibility that they would work together. My hope was that they would see the benefits of using my unlimited nukes and not having to defend against one another. So I tried to sow as much distrust for Ling as I could with Mexico while pursuing a "trust" strategy with Mexico. Of course none of this mattered. The two had a plan from the beginning and nothing I could have said would change that when I showed I was not going to attack them. For future USA's, follow the crowd and defend against Mexico and remove Canada.

The game started as I knew it would with both my neighbors keeping to their perspective areas. My slow growth was planned and I tried to ensure that any sc's the others needed they could get. I knew from experience sc's are far less important then votes as long as you can fund you nukes. I warned both Canada and Mexico that the UK and the Pirate together could dominate the Atlantic if we fought. Which I was correct on I might add. When the stab happened I was surprised because I would have thought it would be done the turn before. Really there was nothing I could do about it especially when the UK helped them in the initial thrust.

After that I fought a battle to stay relevant and to cause cracks in peoples alliances around me. The UK's immediate switch was a great play and saved my bacon . He knew that a strong Canada was really bad for the UK and he saw the same. Fred would not work with me seriously for most of the rest of the game. There was an attempt in the middle to reform our alliance but since I knew I could not trust either power I was not committed to it. My goal at that point was to ruin their chances for a win while gaining a survival for my self.

The final turns involved me trying to get Argentina and the Atlantic Pirate to nuke Mexico. When Nigeria fell I knew that it was going to happen and pushed firmly for both to work together. Thus in the end I ended the game with more votes then both Canada and Mexico and a survival. But make no mistake both Fred and Ling played a great game and I would be honored to play with them again.

South America
:
This area of the world was reserved for conquest for Mexico. That was my goal and I knew that the biggest threat was Argentina. I spent the first two years warning all of the South American countries that he was the threat and that they should unite against him. My hope of course was that they send their units south and Mexico could land and advance behind them. But it seems that they could not get their acts together and Randy ran the Table on them.
At the same time Mexico had other plans and once he was allied with Argentina I knew I just had to wait. There was no way that alliance could work out. The personalities would sink it or the opportunity for a mega stab would. In the end it was the mega stab with guaranteed results that finish that dream and led to the Randy's great finish. Well played Randy.

Africa
I spoke with everyone here but other the Egypt and Nigeria I really did not have any real concern. I thought Egypt could help me in the Middle East but otherwise I stayed out of the politics here and just offered support and encouragement. My hope of course was to gather votes here for the end game. But things never developed.

Europe
So I had this wing and I was like "what the hell?" I knew I was never going to make a colony in Europe. I did not want to try and I figured my best bet was to play neutral until things sorted out a bit. I leaned towards Germany but I told him that I would not move on France unless both he and Italy were on board and committed. To prove this commitment I asked for 1 BB from each of them. I never really expected them to do it. But if they did I would know they were serious and be able to get a nuke built. France was a great player and played a good game. I wanted to work with him but we really just never could get into a groove. Perhaps next game. Serbia confused me not end and Poland well......was tenacious if nothing else.

The Middle East

Here was an area I thought I could influence. My plan for the Middle East was to choose a country and support them into becoming a power and hopefully gain their votes for end game. My first choice was Saudi Arabia and Second was Turkey. When the Saudi betrayed me I was sunk and had to reevaluate. My new goal after the betrayal was the ending of the Saudi, Iran, and getting a safe haven sc that I could build fleets and cause problems for the Indian Ocean Pirate after he took Diego Garcia for no reason. Turkey was a great help and he even kept his word about sending me an BB at a later date. Thus he ended up getting my votes for most of his coalitions. Israel on the other hand did not follow through on his guarantees about a safe have spot for my future fleets so I was not sorry to see him go.

This area has a soft spot in my heart I have played Saudi Arabia twice and Turkey once. So I understood this area well. The number one decision as the USA is do you support Turkey, Israel, or Iran. I kind of wonder what would have happened if I had supported Iran. Maybe next time.

Asia

This was the place I felt I had the most ability for growth. Since I was going to support Canada and Mexico I needed a place to grow and get votes. My first job was to find a power to support in the north. I needed Japan, China, and Russia fighting so that I could get the Philippines and head south. In most games you do not need to push Russia and China to fight. The real issue is getting Japan to get involved in the mix. No matter which side he chooses it is a win for the USA. So I made it clear to Japan that I supported him. But I found out about year three that Japan was playing false. After that I started feeding info to China and switched to a more neutral stance. Of course as this all started happening The hammer fell and I was never able to really get started. Sendric is a great player and I wish I had allied with him in the beginning and attack Japan. It is a mistake that cost me years.

My most important relation was Orange, I early on saw the potential of the Pirates and offered all of them support. Only Orange really responded how I liked so I offered him the use of my wing. I believe this helped him gain a good foot hold and add a small bit to his success. This alliance was the most important I had and the one I relied on in later turns. I only wish he had not allied with the UK. I really wanted to fight the UK in Asia but when Orange was not down I knew I was stuck. So I hung around and waited for an opportunity's. When I was able to move on Japan I did. When China hit the chopping block I felt bad but I knew I had to stay true to Orange so I moved as well.

In the end I did not play as well as I like and I made some bad decisions in the beginning. But I think my game improved as I got into the groove. I have to admit once all my plans blew up in my face I was rather down cast. But as things started turning the other way I really got into the idea of making my enemies loose. The only thing I really did not understand was some of the random sc's people took. For instance the Indian Ocean Pirate taking Diego Garcia, The Atlantic Pirate taking Porto Rico, Germany taking Wiesenburg, and Israel taking Qatar. In each of those situations they gained one SC and lost all of my potential votes. My suggestion to everyone, if you are going to stab some one make sure that the gains are worth it. One sc's is never worth the votes of another country. If you attack eliminate them or don't attack.

Thanks to the GM for the game and thank you all for doing this with me. I hope to see you all again. Oh and if I did not mention you it is not because I thought less of your game. It is only because I spoke with every nation almost every turn for the first five years. After that everything got blurry. Also I am terrible at writing these things.