Did I really lose to Dan again?
sigh
And a grin.
[...pause to pull up a game list...]
I really did lose to Dan again. And Josh caused it! Grumble, grumble, grumble.
This was a fairly straight forward game for me and, surprisingly, I didn't stab anyone until the very end of the game. Josh should check his records, for he stabbed me and not the other way around.
It's Spring '01 and we're heading east. The Channel stays empty and I take Nth uncontested, though the Lowlands are already trying to get Norway into the North Sea. Pity for Norway that he headed the other direction. I normally open to the Channel in a no-press game, but with the Crowded variant, France has to deal with Spain and England has to deal with a lot more fleets already on the North Sea so that made the opening decision easy. I just continue westward in the fall to secure my position for the spring of '02. Happily, Russia has taken a center from Norway and Norway disbands ... Norway.
Spring '02 we waltz into Norway. Russia, for some reason, has decided to continue beating on Norway rather than trying to deny the center to us. His loss, my gain. France and Spain are still squabbling, but Lowlands is going to help bring down France fairly soon. Massive hug-fest around the North Sea in the Fall of '02 as we've all gained a center and have units to spare for hugging each other.
Spring '03. No indications that I should change course. Russia attacks Norway with one, no support, allowing me into Ska and allowing me to keep Norway. He regrets this in the fall when I take Sweden from him. France, Spain, and Lowlands are still busy with each other, and I am getting complacent.
Spring '04. Okay, time to open up the fronts. We can blow Norway out of Denmark since he has no support, run an army into Norway to protect against Russia, *and* go to the Channel. The latter was probably not a good idea. We were doing well keeping to the west and I shouldn't have annoyed Spain. Then again, Spain probably would hae walked into IRI/NAO anyhow, so it may not have been a mistake but a good defensive maneuver. In the Fall we shuffle fleets, covering IRI and ENG and continue to hug Lowlands. Russia tries to go home to StP and is denied. Heh heh.
Spring '05. Okay, we now hug Spain, while Spain hugs himself. Take the North Sea again with no problems, move to the Baltic, etc., etc., etc. I should have seen Lowlands moving on me at this point, but ... Come on David, what else is he going to do with two fleets? Stab City, come fall. I must correct an earlier statement, I did stab Lowlands at this point, while he stabbed me. Mutual stab. Unfortunately, his worked and mine didn't. He's in the North Sea now, and it's going to take me a long time to unravel this.
Spring '06. I try to cover London, but Lowlands is moving on Denmark and Spain takes the opportunity to force his way into the Channel. I continue this folly, and Spain and Lowlands continue to do the right things, and Spain now has fleets in IRI and the Channel. I get Denmark back, which is about the only thing I did right at that point.
I'm actually being too hard on myself. I think I did the right thing all along and played the conservative route. Spain and Lowlands assumed I would, and took appropriate steps. If I'd gone the radical route, London would have been lost and I'd be gone. I needed every unit I had.
Spring '07. Spain goes home, Lowlands moves to stop Turkey while signalling Spain to move on me. sigh Spain does, but to NAO and not NTH. Time to chase fleets again.
Spring '08. I lose Lvp! What the heck was I thinking?? I must have been out to lunch. I could easily have stopped it. I compound this error by forcing MAO to retreat, and it goes to NAO. A rather bizzare convoy puts me in Picardy on my way to Paris, unstoppable by Spain. Another move that kept me hanging on.I'm hoping that Lowlands will back off at this point, but ...
Spring '09. Spain blows me out of MAO after building in Por, Lowlands blows me out of Nth, which I could at least see was coming and we're all shuffling fleets around.
Spring '10. Turkey is moving on Norway and Lowlands finally wakes up. The North is stabilizing! My conquest of Paris and Turkish action in the soth force Spain to disband Lvp and I can even get my home center back this year.
The next few years were pretty dull. Formalize, as much as one can, the alliance with Spain and Lowlands, move on StP and pray that Spain will get his act together. Lowlands and I can do well up north, so that shouldn't be a problem. I run a few fleets over to see if I can help Spain out, which a) wasn't necessary and b) invited Lowlands to attack me. I compound this error by waiving a build.
Again, it probably wasn't an error. I couldn't see any way that Lowlands could stab me without costing us the game. In turn, I wanted to make damn sure that Spain and Lowlands both knew I wan't going to do anything to them.
Thigns are really stagnant, Turkey is trying to get me to stab Spain, draw proposals aren't going through, Lowlands is making progress on Turkey and Turkey is withdrawing. Looks like signals for a three way draw. I stupidly, again, vacate StP so I can convoy an army in there. Yet another invitation to Lowlands to stab me.
He stabs me, I stab Spain for one, rather than two, and lose three centers to Lowlands. I went for Mar rather thanSpa because I wasn't looking at the actual orders. Turkey was supporting Lowlands into Mar, not me. Duh.
It's all over at this point. I'm going to do my best to stop Lowlands from gaining anything more. I watch in dismay as Turkey starts racking up the centers again. With Spain stabbed and coming after me, he can't hold the line in the Med any more. *ding* End of Game.
My major mistake was opening myself up to Lowlands. Without that error, I could have stabbed Spain for one, rather than two, and probably still have made it. Yes, Josh was ... in error ... stabbing me at the end, but I made it easy for him. A bit more defense on my part, the temptation would not have been there, and it would have been a draw.
Ah well.
It was a very enjoyable game, though frustrating at times. Sitting in the backfield wanting to do something but unable really hurt.
Question: I tried to get a RTAE draw proposed late in the game. Michael and I talked about it and he said that his policy was not to announce draws, which I can live with. Would anyone have voted it for it, though? I'd guess that Dan would not have, and Josh might not have.
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