Re: EOG Germany

Itamar,

You played a great game. I want to respond to your
EOG.

I'm pretty sure it was your idea to try the Sea Lion
against England. I'm not saying I wasn't right there
with you plugging.....because I was! I was thinking
about the Sea Lion before you even mentioned it. I'll
have to check old emails to be sure, but that's the
way I remember it.

I'd almost forgotten about the two fleet build in
Winter 01! Thanks for reminding me! (Grrr.) You
started to press me much harder after that, and I
never felt that I recovered from that build phase. I
really didn't want to build that second fleet. But I
did, and you made me pay for it. I'd forgotten about
this early mistake.

I even helped you put together the TA alliance (for
all that it lasted.) I was diploming right along with
you at that time.

When England moved to the English Channel, I did
suspect something, but it never clearly formed in my
consciousness, and I ignored the rumblings in my gut. 

Yeah, I had plenty of chances to come to my senses,
and I passed by every one of them. What was I
thinking???

Great game Itamar. Hope to see you again sometime.
Patrick.


--- Itamar Laserson <[email protected]> wrote:

> 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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