Dip 1190 - 2nd Italy EOG

Michael D. Ashland wrote:
>Standard
>
>PEACE!
>
>Congratulations to Colin Kinsella for a well deserved solo.

Indeed, congratulations are due!  Well done, Colin!

I came into this game in Spring of 1904 as a replacement Italy.  The 
original Italy had expressed inordinate trust of our game winner and 
had moved his units wholeheartedly against France - so much so that 
when Colin stabbed him, there was no way for him to retain even a 
single one of his home centers.  Thus, when I entered the game, Italy 
had control of Spain, Marseilles, and Tunis.  Three centers, yes, but 
none of them actually in Italy, and the board leader holding onto all 
of my centers.

My obvious goal was to get back into my homeland, but that was very 
much complicated by the fact that in the face of German/Italy 
alliance, France had allied with Austria.  The obvious thing to do, 
then, was to try to foment an Austro-Russian war.  Despite my very 
best efforts, though, neither side would bite.  The only reliable 
ally I could find was a much-besieged Turk (thanks, Matt!), and he 
and I didn't even have any units in contact!

The position was ultimately doomed, as I couldn't get a single other 
power to attack Austria.  France was worried about Germany and 
wouldn't even move into position to support me, let alone actively 
attack; Russia wanted to crack Turkey and wanted Austria's help to do 
so, so he wasn't willing to make a move; Turkey was fighting off 
Russia and Austria; and Germany was fighting off a loose coalition of 
three of his neighbors.  My cause was not aided by my own inability 
to meet a game deadline and the GMs prompt NRR and disband.  I think 
I will limit my future play to games with slightly more lenient 
deadlines.  My own schedule is just too chaotic to be so rigidly 
constrained.

In any case, with no distractions, there was obviously no incentive 
for Austria to suffer my existence, so that was that.  Turkey and I 
died fighting, but died nevertheless and in the same turn, leaving 
the Astro-Russian alliance the dominant force on the board.  I had 
thought the game would be over pretty quickly after that, it being 
just a question of who stabbed who first and with the most, but the 
two allies appeared to stay pretty faithful, and Scott made a very 
nice comeback as the new England, putting himself firmly in the mix. 
It was a closer call than I expected, but I'm not at all surprised by 
the ultimate outcome.  Nice going, Colin!

-Adam Kuehn, Italy, Spring '04 to end.


 
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