I decided right off the bat that I wanted to play hard nosed and be pushy in this game. It's not my usual style, but I was going to take risks as bluntly say what I wanted.
I hit it off well with Austria using this gung ho attitude and we surged north quickly and took Sevastopol.
Germany started spouting off about that time, and I was very pleased at how upset everyone was getting with him. I think I even sent him some messages telling him he was right and should stick to his guns.
Austria wanted to use the German attitude as a magnet and elimate him quickly. When I saw how enthusiasic he was about doing just that I decided that I would hit Austria if I could. I approached Russia telling him that Sevastopol wasn't that important to him and I would not give it back, but if he wanted to ally with me, we could do that.
I was rather blunt and very forward, but it didn't seem he had much of a choice, and like I said earlier, I wasn't being nice in this game.
It worked like a charm and Austria was eliminated very fast to my surprise. I was then approached by Italy who was to go after France while Austria and I took out Russia. I told Italy that Russia and I weren't getting along and I was going to start the attack again.
I lied again and Italy fell pretty fast.
The consequences were that England was getting pretty big, and he hadn't stabbed anyone yet, so I was a key target I thought. So I approached France and told him I wanted him as my third in a draw, while at the same time telling Russia I wanted him as a third in my draw. To England I was saying I prefered France over Russia because I wanted to get England attacking Russia. That would open up the back side so I could take Russia out. While being freindly to France, I hoped I'd get good will and an opportunity would open up sooner or later.
France never fell for it and continued to support England until England went for his solo bid. A year too early in my opinion, but a nice try none the less.
After the bid by England failed the old France contacted me and informed me he was pretty apathic and didn't really care about the game anymore. If he helped England go for the solo, it would only be fair to help me as well. Once. I don't know if he would have or not.
He got taken over, and the new France was very pleased with how I had offered him a chance in the draw, but felt I should go for the solo. He offered to help me if I would give him credit in the EOG. So I thank him for his help.
Though I had considered taking Marseilles from him which would have worked as well. If I got into Marseilles then Munich would have fallen that would have been the end of the game anyways. So in the end France didn't through the game all that bad. But I do understand the let down.
As for the spy options. I liked this variant though I think it needs some tweaking. I used the spy a lot in the opening and then couldn't care less about him in the end.
I did most of my talking during the winter stage, and talked freely during the normal moves. I figured I could talk freely then and get that reputation so that no one would ever really trust anything I said. So if I talk of an alliance openly they might discount it as a ruse. So I talked freely. Additionally for me in this game, it was straight forward play and not much intrigue. Once Austria was eliminated, I didn't have many people to spy on that was worth it. Italy, but he fell fast after Austria as well. So then I had no need, other than curiosity.
I'm thinking that perhaps you send out your spy and he continues to collect information until you retreive him. Before he can spy again he must rest a season be it spring fall or winter.
So I envision some windows but the opponents would never know when or where those windows were. In this manner I can see a lot of people deploying their spys and retrieving them in the fall, redeloying them for winter. Or perhaps waiting an entire year through winter to get them, redelploying in the fall and miss spring. OR going for years before retrieval. Might be tough on the Master though.
The other option is immediate press as soon as it is recieved. I could see someone tipping thier hand on who is spying on who after they get furious over something. Accidently spilling the beans as it were. That would be a lot of intrigue then.
The flaw in it all was spys during build cycle. The other option you could choose is to enforce the no talking during builds rule. But you know someone would. But you could then broadcast it as punishment. But that might punish the wrong person.
All in all I thank everyone for playing, and turning in your moves so regular! I thank the Master as well for running such an interesting variant. You are all fine players and great diplomates!
(Well maybe Germany should work a bit harder on that aspect of the game).
Thanks again
Joe Carl
Turkey
Sultan Ali-Achoo
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