German End of Game Statement
Jerry Fest Played Germany
The war is over. Peace has returned to Europe. Of course, for the past several seasons, the Cavalian conflict has been little more than a routine gunboat game, anyway. The truth is -- with all due apologies to Jeff, Stephen, Mark, and Doug -- this game has been over since spring '01 when Adam, Rob, and I formed the Driekaiserbund: or the Three Emperor's League.
I first heard of the 3 Emps, as I so lovingly refer to it, from Calhammer's book. I knew of the Driekaiserbund from history prior to that, but had never really considered it as a Diplomacy alliance as it seems so awkward and unlikely. I soon found out that however awkward and unlikely it is, the 3 Emps is also deadly and effective.
The classic 3 Emps goes like this:
There are really only two majors threats to the 3 Emps. The first is failure to pull off the game start diplomacy. If a strong eastern focused I/T forms, the alliance can be slowed if not stopped. Fortunately, I/T's seem as unlikely as the 3 Emps. A more critical problem is failure to bring France into the fold. If E/F hit Germany hard out of the gate, the 3 Emps can rapidly turn into an A/R.
The second is the internal temptation to stab. Early in the 3 Emps, with Russia pumping out northern and southern fleets, the Motherland goes through a period where the steps of Russia are little more than empty plains. She sits there with her legs spread while Germany and Austria build armies that have little to do. If Russia survives this period, the roles reverse -- Germany and Austria find themselves tied down in mop-up operations in the west, while all the Russians in the world sit around with nothing to do but smoke Tsar Pushka's and sip Vodka. The players in Cavalia while certainly find that scenario familiar.
Still, if the 3 Emps gets out of the gate, and the 3 players -- for whatever reason -- stay together, the alliance is unstoppable. Of course, the same might be said about any 3 powers, but I personally feel that the 3 Emps can be far more effective militarily than almost any other 3. This may be because it has the added advantage of being so unlikely that it is not obvious to the board. By the time most players figure out that the 3 Emps is rolling it is too late to do anything about it.
The Cavalia 3 Emps was an experiment. Adam, Ron, and I wanted to see what would happen with a "perfect" alliance. Rob and I did not take advantage of Russia's vulnerability early on, and Adam did not stab later in the game, simply because we wanted to play it out to the end and observe both the power and weakness of the alliance. We kind of suspected that Russia's "all-hold" orders would dash any remaining hopes of a stab, and apparently it did, as the draw finally passed. But know that if we had to eliminate every last unit on the board, the 3 Emps would have taken the 3 way draw. This wasn't a tournament, this was an email game, and it provided the perfect "play test" for one of the most underrated alliances in Diplomacy. I hope it was a learning experience not only for Rob, Adam, and I, but for the rest of the board, as well.
In closing, let me thank Nathan for GMing, Adam and Rob for helping me with this demonstration, and Jeff, Stephen, Mark, and Doug for their unwilling participation in this experiment. I'd play with any of you guys again in a heartbeat.
JT