EOG Germany

Hi All

First of all, I would like to thank Christine for an excellent GMing. I know 
that I made it quite difficult on you towards the end with my trip and, 
later my recruitment but you handled it great. I never came across such a 
great standard in the past and I would definitely like to see you GMing the 
final, if you can devote the time for it.

Moving on…
Aside for Bernd and Steve which I played against before I didn't know any of 
the other players.
I was warned about Vincent, the current FTF world champion, and JW.  JW had 
quite a reputation. This, of course, did not help him that much in this type 
of game to say the least. :)

This was also the first time for me playing a tourney game on which only the 
board topper gets to advance. In all the tourney games I played before there 
were always some deals to be made to please everybody, or at least, somebody 
except for me but this game was a clear cut "winner takes all" game.
This meant that this game's dynamic is going to be a little bit different. 
Alliances were going to be much more fragile and ELS was going to be a major 
factor.

The first impressions were all good. The most talkative were JW and Patrick. 
No big surprises there since they were my immediate neighbors.
In light of the repeated warnings I got about JW, and Patrick's suggestion 
of opening with a sea lion in S01 I decided to go with Patrick and work for 
an early elimination of JW. In order for that to work I needed to keep 
Russia busy on other targets and to guess right against JW. Both turned out 
to be very hard tasks.

1901:
The spring went smoothly. Patrick went to the channel and I made the usual 
German opening which kept me neutral for another turn. The other openings 
were quite standard and did not reveal much.
I was trying to get Austria and Turkey to work together in order to keep 
Russia busy and away from Scandinavia. This is something I will be working 
on for the next 4 years or so since I needed to avoid RE cooperation.
In the fall, Patrick and I were completely outguessed by JW. Our move to Nth 
was foiled along with my attempt to clear out of Kie and build a fleet 
there.
We both had 2 builds. I was interested in building a fleet but since Kie was 
occupied and building F Ber would piss Bernd off immensely I was forced to 
build an army. Patrick was interested in building one fleet and one army but 
since I wasn't able to build a fleet I convinced him to build 2 fleets to 
achieve naval superiority.

In light of that, a very interesting situation was created. I was allied to 
France but had 4 armies and only a single fleet. France had 3 fleets and 
therefore, would have had more influence regarding the partition of England 
when it is finally brought down.
I realized I would have to balance that somehow.
By the end of the first year I sat in Hol and Den while France had a fleet 
in Bel and Spa.

1902

It became quite clear at that point that JW is going to focus his defense 
against us rather than Russia and without advancement this year I was going 
to be crushed by Russia. So, I made great efforts in convincing TA to work 
together. I made them aware of the fact the Russia is to get his 7th center 
this year.

I was toying with the idea of switch sides and stabbing France. If I recall 
I think I might have hinted something to JW about it. My plan was to try and 
get one of the French armies convoyed to English soil and then run France 
over with my many armies. Without guarantee that TA are attacking Russia it 
looked like my best option.
Patrick seemed willing at first but at the very last minute he backed down 
and I was forced to keep on the alliance with him. Without him convoying one 
of the armies to England the stab would not have been worthwhile.

Luckily, the spring turn showed my diplomatic efforts in TA to bear some 
fruits and Turkey entered Bla. This would keep Russia away for at least 
another year even though he got his 7th.
Meanwhile I put in a lot of pressure around French Belgium. This was meant 
in order to keep me in the game once England is brought down. The deal I 
made with Patrick was that once he gets an English center I take Bel. I put 
my armies around Bel in order to have the ability to force it in case he 
doesn't concede it.
In the fall, Turkey got into Rum and Russia was put to a halt. That was 
really good news for me as the English front was not advancing at all.

1903:

This year Patrick and I knew we had to make some progress. Patrick wanted to 
carry on the attack against Nth but I objected to it because I thought that 
JW would never leave it undefended and also I really didn't want France 
sitting there in such a strategic position. After long negotiations Patrick 
agreed to attack from the side and moved to Nao and Lon. This time we 
outguessed JW and finally we were making advancements.

In the Balkans things were quite chaotic. Russia went to Arm and formed a 
defensive line. I hinted to TA that I would be helping them against Russia 
but I simply couldn't efford to do it at that point. I guess my lack of 
help, Russia being taken back to 6 and  FG advancement in England turned 
things upside down again and the TA was no longer.
In the fall I took Bel from Patrick. We made it appear as if I was stabbing 
France even though it was under agreement. This served the purpose of 
confusing the other powers.
As a result Russia was no longer afraid of being my next target and 
therefore, he opened himself up the next turn.
I think however, that Steve and Dave suspected the war between me and France 
was only a simulation.
I also took Nth this turn which put me in a very nice strategic situation.

1904:

England was already brought down. I just had to walk into Edi to get my 
share of the spoils. It was time take Russia down.
JW realized he is to lose his mainland so when I offered him support into 
Nwy he immediately agreed. I also talked with TA and asked them to 
coordinate something in the south. I guess they realized the potential 
because when the results cam Russia was down to 4 after losing Nwy, Rum and 
having no chance of keeping Swe.
In the fall I took Swe and convoyed my army to Edi even though I promised JW 
I wouldn't.
At this point JW's survival depended on me so I figured it would be much of 
a damage. It turned out I was right.
Turkey, unfortunately, did not move against Sev like I expected. I guess he 
was alarmed by me growing to 8 centers and didn't want to give me a free 
ride in Russia.
With JW on my side, I was now prepared to get rid of my strongest threat- 
France. So, I asked JW to move to the channel. From my conversations with 
Patrick I concluded he would be leaving it empty. The move succeeded and 
Patrick didn't suspect anything.

1905

It was now, time to bring down France. I think that until my success against 
Russia Patrick was planning to take me out as the next target after England. 
That it why I maintained the wall of armies I put across our border. My 
excuse for keeping Mun was Italy's presence in Tyl. It worked out quite 
nicely. I think Patrick read the situation correctly and wished to move as 
fast as he could south towards Italy to stay even with me rather than 
hopelessly bang his head against the wall.

Of course, when you are in a hurry you make careless moves. Everything was 
set for the stab. I had a friendly F Eng, F Nth and a recently convoyed A 
Edi. I promised Patrick I would convoy the army towards Scandinavia and in 
exchange asked him to begin moving south towards Italy.
The stab worked perfectly well. I took Lvp and Nwy (from England) England 
maintained his army by taking Lon. I convoyed another army into Yor ensuring 
Lvp for the fall. Meanwhile, France moved to Pie and Gol and I walked into 
the empty Bur.
The only down side of it all was the fact that TA completely backed off from 
Russia and allowed him to move to Pru and Fin. I was hoping to get Bernd 
away from me and allow me to sit on my 10 center and easily take the remains 
of France to guarantee my top. Bernd didn't believe me when I told him 
before that I was moving on France. He thought I will be attacking him 
instead so he issued that unfortunate set of orders.
So, I had to retreat from Bur in order to keep Russia away.

Now, if France and Russia cooperate together then I would have achieved 
nothing.
So, I mailed Patrick and asked him to allow me the top and in exchange I 
will help him get a very high second place. The logic behind it was that I 
was likely to miss a very big part of the final game if I qualify, due to my 
military enlistment. And according to Tourney rules, the one who finishes 
with the highest second place in the semis gets to replace me. Later, it 
turned out that my military enlistment came earlier than I thought so I will 
probably just miss 1-2 months from the final game.
Patrick agreed to the proposal, which meant, according to my demands, his 
removal of units from the stalemate line and his continuous attack on Italy.
In exchange I was due to withdraw my units to the nearest stalemate line 
(which I had to do anyway to keep Russia out) and help him to finish as high 
as possible on the second place.
As you probably assume Patrick kept none of my demands and formed a strong 
stalemate line across our borders. This stalemate line was a real pain 
because I had to devote half of my units to defend it which meant I had a 
really hard time keeping Austria and Russia out. So that deal failed 
miserably.

Also, I guessed wrong in Scandinavia and therefore, finished the turn with 9 
centers instead of 10.

1906:
I managed to convince Bernd that I am not attacking him so he finally 
retreated his army from Pru. This kept me in the clear for a little while. 
Unfortunately, Austria went to Boh that turn which triggered the alarm bells 
again. Russia kept making my life miserable in Scandinavia and France kept 
stalemating me and forcing almost all my units to sit still along his 
border. I took Nwy to get a much needed 10th build and was struggling to 
stay at evens not allowing any of my hostile neighbors to get through.

With Austria now being my strongest threat I began talking with Italy and 
Turkey about a mutual attack against Austria. It seemed to bear fruits. The 
best part was when Austria got suspicious about it and the result was that 
Austria sent Boh to Tyl and Turkey did not keep his word and went against 
Italy. This gave me one more year of peace though Italy, who had been a very 
important balancing tool was on his way down and soon I will have to deal 
with only 4 powers.

As an early leader my only chance to win was to play on the rivalries 
between the other powers. It was clear that an all out 3-way attack by FRA 
against me would take me down. A 2-way attack on me would keep me stalemated 
and anything else would allow me to grow.
In order for this 3-way attack to happen Turkey would have to sit on the 
side and do nothing to interfere. (which means do nothing at all). I was 
counting on the fact that he had no reason to allow the 3 other powers to 
grow while he is sitting aside doing nothing and getting nothing.  At that 
point Austria was superior to Turkey which made it even less likely for him 
to agree.

In the fall I was planning to get rid of JW. After all I needed an army 
build much more than I needed his fleet in Lon that was standing there 
uselessly. Unfortunately, I made a syntax order which kept JW alive and 
hostile for one more year.
Also, Russia sent the army in Nwy OTB and planned to rebuild it as a fleet 
in Stp. I guess it was sweet justice when he made a similar mistake and did 
not issue the right build.

1907:

In 1907 things began to turn for the worse. Russia wasn't attacking me but 
TA were dividing Italy between themselves which was going to put them at 7-7 
tie by the end of the year.
Of course, I got worried, as it was the first sign of cooperation I saw in 
that area in years. My main concern was that they reached some kind of deal 
that enabled Turkey to sit aside while my 3 neighbors carve me up.
This year we said goodbye to JW, as I finally removed his last fleet and 
build a much much needed army instead.

1908:

Turkey and Austria were now allied and tied for 7 centers. I suspected there 
is something going on against me so, I began to heavily negotiate with 
Russia and Turkey in order to get them against Austria.
This move turned out to be a mistake. Russia and Turkey were apparently 
insulted by my request. When I look at it in retrospect I think they were 
right. I was basically asking them help the leader against a power required 
to bring him down. I guess it was quite stupid of me to think strong players 
would miss that. The result was bad. Not only that everything was leaked to 
Austria, I began a 4-way alliance against me. Turkey sent a fleet towards 
France in order to help him at first (and probably stab him later), Austria 
went to Tyl and attempted to move to Boh (luckily I predicted that move and 
bounced it) and Russia went to Fin.
In the spring I decided to use my build and attempt to break the French 
stalemate. I decided to go towards France rather than Russia because I was 
still hoping I could get Russia on my side. After all, he had zero chance of 
winning so, I figured there is no real reason for him to try and bring me 
down.
This move turned out to be another mistake. France, who was alarmed by my 
move, invited Turkey to Mao to issue help. So, I now needed one additional 
unit to maintain the stalemate and Turkey, who slowly but surely became my 
rival for the top was now within reach of another easy center.

In the fall, all the plans against me fell apart. Turkey made one demand too 
many from Austria, which made it clear for Austria that regardless what 
happens he has no chance of winning. So, he switched sides again and moved 
on Turkey. Not before telling me all about it :)

I think Steve was right when he concluded he had no chance of winning 
regardless. He had to choose if he wanted to crown me or Turkey as the 
winner, and luckily he chose me.

That was great news for me. All I had to do from then on was to sit on the 
stalemate with France and Russia until the game ends and top the game.
Unfortunately, nothing comes that easily this game, and when the build phase 
came Austria NBRed and handed Turkey an unjustified advantage.

1909:

With Turkey's advantage and Russia's help Austria was easily carved up by 
them and Turkey slowly became a threat for the top.
I told Steve, who seemed determined to punish Turkey that unless he actively 
helps me Turkey is going to win. Steve agreed to allow me into Tyl in order 
to help him defend against Turkey and in the future maybe take one of his 
centers to guarantee the victory.
I also had to face another danger that turn as France and Turkey were slowly 
advancing against me in the north. I had to convoy another army from 
Scandinavia and to guess right in order to stalemate England. Luckily I 
succeeded in doing that.

1910:

The game, pretty much evolved to a race between Turkey and me. I had an 
advantage since I had Austria and a 4 center lead on my side. Turkey had 
France on his side so the deciding factor was Russia.
At that point Bernd was replaced by Frank. I got along very well with Frank 
who realized Russia had no chance of winning and just pushed to get a 
maximal score.
Of course I offered to help him and did so as much as I could to help him.
Frank wanted to get the second place and therefore he chose to cooperate 
with me. With Frank's help the victory was pretty much in my pocket even 
though France was handing Turkey all his centers.
At the end of the year I took Vie from Austria and got to 12.

1911:

In 1911 I was replaced for a single turn by Sam Austin who did a great job 
and kept on the cooperation with Russia. At this point I was simply issuing 
the orders for Steve who just copied and pasted them to Christine.
Sam landed in Tri and in the fall I managed to hold it to put me at 13. 
Meanwhile, Patrick completely opened himself up for Dave in a last minute 
attempt to hand the game to Dave. He even tried to convince Russia to help 
them it but Frank had no reason to agree.

1912:

The game was pretty much in my pocket by then. I was still paranoid of worse 
case scenarios such as, Austria forgetting to issue orders or Russia 
switching sides in the last minute. Luckily, none of that happened so even 
though Turkey took 3 French centers I managed to win the game.

All in all I think it was surprising I was able to hold the lead for so long 
(since 1904) without any real attempt to bring me down. I think the right 
time to do it was immediately after I stabbed France. Russia was deep in my 
territories back then and all it took was a single Austrian army to turn 
things upside down. Luckily it didn't happen thanks to the rivalries between 
ITAR. I think those frequent stabs and the hostility between the players 
there was the main reason why I was able to hold on to the lead for so long.

I think my relatively long term alliance with France in the beginning was a 
very good move on our part. While the rest of the players were fighting 
among themselves we were advancing forward slowly but surely. I think long 
term alliances in this type of game are a very good idea even though they 
will advance much slower than on a regular game. I think it was clear very 
early in the game that the winner would be either me or Patrick because we 
were the only ones at a stable alliance without too many disputes to worry 
about.

Patrick:
It's been a pleasure working with you. You are a very logical player and an 
excellent ally.
The only reason you didn't win this game was because JW chose to help me 
rather than you. I think it was partly because I supported him against 
Russia back in 1904 (under your agreement) So If I had to point out a 
mistake that led you to lose the game I would say that it is allowing me to 
use JW against Russia and not demanding his immediate destruction.
Either than that I think you played an excellent survival strategy after the 
stab. That stalemate line you formed was a huge pain and would have helped 
bringing me down if the rest of the players wanted to.

JW:
Well you didn't stand a chance from the beginning. Once Patrick offered the 
sea lion I simply could not refuse.
I think you are an excellent player, well worthy of the reputation that 
caused your destruction.
I highly appreciate that you devoted time in the game even though you knew 
you had no chance of winning. I wish all players had your nature of 
sportsmanship and I hope to cross swords with you again in the future, next 
time I promise to give you a chance :)

Steve:

Thank a lot for choosing to help me rather than Dave. I pretty much owe you 
the victory. I think that by the time you decided to throw the game you 
really had no chance of winning. Still, I think working more closely with 
Turkey in the beginning an sticking to one ally would have been a better 
plan. I am not sure what your share in the chaos in the Balkans was but 
knowing you, I am sure you did everything you could to win.

Bernd:

I think you are a very logical player. You saw the board well and made a 
good conclusion as to what you can achieve from the game. Once you were 
attacked by 4 powers at once you lost all your chances to win. I guess ELS 
got another victim this time :)

Frank:
It was a pleasure working with you. Like I said before we got along just 
great. If it wasn't for Patrick throwing everything he could to Dave you 
would have nailed that second place.

Vincent:
We didn't get to exchange that many letters. You kept very quite through 
most of the game. I would really like to hear your perspective of the game. 
I think the situation of constant chaos in the Balkans put Italy in a very 
tough spot. It's too hard playing Italy as it is. Luckily I didn't need to 
face that task. Well maybe in the final :)

Unanswered questions:
Patrick:
-Why did you refuse the deal of getting the best second place and crowning 
me as the winner, even though you knew you had no chance to win?
-Why did you attempt to throw the game to Dave?

Steve:
-When was the actual moment you concluded you had no chance to win. If I had 
to guess it was much after you *told* me you concluded it. Am I right?
-Why didn't you join in the party after I stabbed France and helped them to 
bring down the leader?

I would love to hear your perspective of the game. I am sure there were many 
things I missed and/or wasn't aware of so send the EOG's in please..

Cheers,
Itamar

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