| Player Analysis for Fall of 1908 in describe |
Austria: fall 1908 retreat
Army Munich -> Tyrolia.
Only available retreat. Now that it looks like EG will be trying
to move south, tyr is a valuable position to hold.
Turkey
No communication
Germany
He has chosen to throw in with the English. I'm not too
surprised by this. This puts me in trouble on my northern front.
France
No communication
England
I had a feeling sooner or later he would make a move against me,
given how we were unable to come to terms on anything. Although it did
come a bit earlier than I expected.
Italy
He has not been very enthused by my proposal of IAR vs E; he just
doesn't seemed terribly interested in taking on E. Which doesn't leave
much for him to do once T is finished off except come after me. I suppose
I could always try to cut a deal wit T and strike pre-emptively against
Italy, but that only gaurantees Italy will be my enemy. Making Italy an
enemy pretty much makes my demise automatic, so I play nice him and hope
for the best.
Russia
He hasn't overtly opened hostilities with me, but his moves have
a definite pro-English tilt. Having all armies, leaving most of them
near me, and his move of war-sil are all menacing toward me. R tried to
explain away his move of war-sil as a mistake. However, I find it more
likely it was intended prevent sil s mun, so it looks like EGR are
cooperating against me. R has played an honest game so far, but he's
reached a point where he will have to initiate war with one of his allies
- either me or E. Right now, it looks like he's favoring E.
As with Italy, I could try to make a pre-emptive strike against R.
But as with Italy, I feel this would only serve to gaurantee that R is my
enemy. Making ER a sure thing will get me killed. A diplomatic approach
to keep R friendly to me is the best approach.
Funny turn, all in all. The theme of the season was to reform,
as much as possible, the diplomatic structure of the game. I wasn't very
happy with Russia last turn for attacking Turkey (and thereby helping
AI), but it seems that I'm stuck with Russia. So I decided to spend most
of my effort on Germany and France, particularly the former.
Diplomatically:
Russia: We established that he wouldn't take Sweden from me and
that, most likely, he would continue attacking Turkey. Russia wants my
support into Berlin, which I said I wouldn't be able to give, but then I
don't think he'll need it. But I didn't tell him what I had in mind.
Germany: Germany has mentioned that he thought I would win the
game, but I spent most of this turn trying to tell him that I need some
help to do so. And I do. So I offered to support his A Ber-Mun with my
army in Kiel. I'm assuming that he's also order A Ruh S A Ber-Mun, and
with three units on Munich, he should get in. My guess is that Russia
will slip into Berlin - which is fine - and I told Germany as much. I
also hopefully persuaded Germany to order A Bel-Bur, which is meant to
prevent the Austrian A Mun from retreating to Burgundy. (That would be
bad.) Germany was skeptical and seemed to distrust me, but I told him
that taking Paris and Belgium this turn would only solidify AI even more
and make keeping Russia on my side a difficult battle. He accepted this
explanation, and will order A Bel-Bur. But not all things are certain.
As far as the wisdom of this tack, I'm pretty comfortable with
it. Taking two more centres this year will not help me much. But
getting a temporary ally to hit Austria with and also helping Russia
(albeit in a manner that he might not appreciate) seems the way to go. I
don't know how long I'll be friendly to Germany, but right now I'm being
totally honest with him, and that's good for brownie points.
Austria: Didn't say much to him. We're at odds diplomatically,
and so far we've been neutral on the board. That should change with
these results, and I don't expect sunshine and happiness from Austria
when they process. I hope he disbands.
Turkey: He got replaced, and the third Turk seemed friendly
enough, but he didn't feel like talking to Russia before sending his
orders in. Hence, the results process too soon.
Italy: We talked a bit about the western situation. I really
don't trust him to keep things quiet, as he wants to put an army into
Marseilles. I don't want to have Italians (especially armies) in France.
France: I offered him my help in keeping the Italians out of
Marseilles, and he seemingly accepted. If I can get in place to defend
him, maybe I can take Marseilles myself.
Tactically, this is a turn for repositioning some things and
helping others against AI.
F Por-Spain(south coast): The purpose of this move is to cut any
support of that fleet in Spain. Italy can't get his army into
Marseilles, and he can't get his F WMed into the Mid-Atlantic.
F NAfrica-MAt: I'm not thrilled with leaving the MAt open, and
so I decided to cover it with this move. Getting the fleet to NAf served
its purpose I think, as Italy has to cover Tunis and can't really afford
to do anything offensive. Italy can still get into the MAt with F WMed S
F Spa(sc)-MAt, but then I get Spain and get a build of F Liverpool. I
decided that I could live with that.
F Baltic S A Kiel: A defensive support, just to protect Kiel.
Also, I don't mind keep F Bal in place, in case I need to teach Russia a
lesson.
A Kiel S German A Ber-Mun: The order that will tick Austria off,
but I think it's necessary, and the German move should work.
A Brest-Gascony: I debated a lot about going to Paris, but I
didn't think taking another build now would help me much in the long
term. A better idea, I thought, was to put more pressure on Italy with
this move. As I think France is staying in place this turn, this move
will work and I should be in good position to attack Spain in the Spring.
F Eng C A Lon-Pic, A Lon-Eng-Pic: I'll finally get that army
over this turn, and Picardy was the best place to put it. I want Belgium
to stay German for now, and Brest is a weak location for an army, and
hence I order to Picardy. From here I can take Bel or Paris if
necessary, and maybe move into Burgundy to help or hinder the French in
Marseilles.
F Nth C A Den-Hol, A Den-Nth-Hol: I wanted to reposition this
army somewhere more useful, and Holland was a better place. I don't know
if Germany will appreciate this, but I'll figure out a way to make it
palatable. Maybe it would be better to keep it in Denmark, but moving to
Holland might also earn some points with Russia, and after helping
Germany against Austria (a Russian ally), I might need some points.
A very crucial turn, but then there have been a lot of these. I
think my policy of weakening AI will work better than grabbing what I can
now from Germany. If I can show Russia that he doesn't need Austria,
then I can get his help and most likely Turkey's as well. I can't win if
AI succeed, and so by reforming the policies of the other nations, I hope
to make them weaker.
Lord Sheringham
No analysis submitted
No analysis submitted
Fleet Aegean Sea -> Constantinople.
Army Bulgaria SUPPORT Fleet Aegean Sea -> Constantinople.
R is supposed to order arm-ank to cut support. If he comes
through, I will pick up con.
Army Silesia SUPPORT Russian Army Prussia -> Berlin.
Doing what I can to stay on R's good side, although I'm now very
worried that R will ally with E against me.
Army Rumania -> Galicia.
Army Vienna -> Galicia.
As I said, I'm worried about R, so I'm taking a few measures to
defend myself.
Army Bohemia SUPPORT Army Munich.
Defending mun, even though G said he's doing ber-kie. I don't
trust G, after the unfriendly tone of his press.
Army Munich HOLD.
Holding to recieve support.
I did consider a more agressive attack in Germany, or perhaps
doing mun s ber - kie to open hostilities with E since I think E will
attempt to attack me in central Europe sooner or later. But I decided my
main concern was to prevent the formation of IER. So, I chose to try to
remaing as friendly as possible with I, E, and R.
Turkey
No communication.
France
Too bad mar-gas failed. Given the apparent friendliness between
E and Italy, it's possible EI arranged to bounce F out of gas.
Germany
He told me he was doing ber-kie, but I decided to ignore this
becuase of his hotile attitude toward me in his press.
Russia
I doing what I can to stay his ally, but if he choose to side
with E I'm in big trouble. I've brought up the idea of IAR vs E, but
didn't get much of a response for it.
Italy
I suggested IAR vs E to him as well, but he was uninterested.
Which means that after T's defense is broken, Italy will have nothing
else to do but attack me.
He tried to portray E's move into naf as hostile, but I don't buy
it. It's too weak to be a serious attack.
England
We had some vague talk of cooperation, but nothing substantial.
I'm sure he would like to see EIR vs A. He moved mao-naf in the spring,
but that's no threat to Italy, especially since he didn't move a fleet
into mao. I don't think he's seriously interested in attacking either
Italy or Russia.
Overview
It's beginning to look more and more like an IER vs A is coming.
So far, my attempts to prevent IER are meeting with little success. Both
Italy and Russia show little interest in taking on E, which pretty much
leaves me as their next victim. I may be soon put in the position of
attempting to throw the game to E if I get ganged up on by AER.
No analysis submitted
According to the rulebook, diplomacy during the adjustment period is illegal. (at least, I'm pretty sure of that, I can't find my rulebook right now) Of course, the Judge asllows it, and here's a case where it creates some interesting effects. I was planning to leave the fleet in the Black Sea all along, feeling that I have to be antagonistic instead of defensive in my dying hour. But I now have press from Austria and England (England, I assume, has the Russian's confidence) that keeping the fleet in the Black Sea would be OK with them! In fact, it would be doing them a favor. So not only do I have a better attacking position, but I can likely get the backing of one of these powers against the other! and I still have a few days to wait before I have to commit! Why do people abandon when you can have so much fun even when you're a tiny power? --------------------------- After an unsucessful attempt to get Austria to help me with Russia who I precieve to be my biggest threat, I am ordering: A Ank - Smy F Bla - Con If Italy's unit in EAS and Russia's unit in ARM team up to take SMY, then I lose my gamble. If Italy does not move into Smyrna, then I lose big time also. If Italy moves EAS - SMY, and ARM and CON team up to take Ank, then I keep Smyrna and either Con or Ank, depending on where the attack comes from. I am tyring to keep myself alive, but I can;t protect against all possibilities of attack. I can only hope that the most obvious attack plan to me is the one they'll choose.