| Analysis for Spring of 1902 in gauntlet |
Dear Rick,
Since my last comment on this game everything has gone as well as possible. Italy moved west, and I followed his lead. Although my position looks good with fleets in ION and AEG, in the short term I may not make much progress. Italy will take two centers this turn, lose Naples, and, assuming that Austria doesn't take Venice, will be building one. If Italy were to order A(Pie)-Ven and build A(Rom) then he would have good chances of retaking Naples next year. However he can only recapture Naples by withdrawing from his engagement in France, so France should be able to recapture the centers that he will lose this year. So in the long term Italy should steadily lose centers. and my control over ION should be sufficient to ensure expansion. Of course if Italy doesn't order to Venice and Austria does, then Italy won't be building anything and he'll be in serious problems. If I were Austria I wouldn't order to Venice, sure I gain a center but it helps Turkey too much.
If I were Austria I'd want to concentrate everything on Russia and leave F/I/T to fight it out; Austria is unlikely to gain more than one center in Italy and she can gain that center at any time. Interesting situation in Ukr this time. Does Russia standoff or support one of his units in or hold? If Austria suspects either of the first two options then he should order either A(Gal)-War or A(Rum)-Sev in conjunction with a support order of the approriate Russian unit into Ukr. If Austria gains Sev, then I will be worried about a Russian retreat to Arm. As long as Austria stays away from Alb then I am happy with my position. Gre/Bul are secure and I have hopes of expanding westwards. I'll have an interesting build in Winter: the relative merits of Army/Fleet are balanced, it all depends on the adjudication... Mark.