Re: WM02SF02 Spring 1912 Movement

Eelco,

I guess congratulations are in order though I still feel it is a weak victory for you.  You get the benefits of Jake's plan for revenge, which only came about because I blocked his path to victory by supporting you.  Perhaps that is just the nature of a winner-take-all game with a short deadline, but it is hard to give it as much respect as I would under different circumstances.  Perhaps you can convince me otherwise in your EOG, but until then, I'm skeptical you really deserve the win.

As for my decision to help England this last year, I don't what else you really should have expected.  You didn't need my help (or apparently desire it) so if I wanted to preserve any challenge, I needed to aid the underdog.  As expected, it will be too little, too late to do any good.  If I had known you had France so firmly involved in your plans, I probably would have acted sooner for better or worse (though I can't see that it would have made any lasting impact).

Most importantly, I want you to drop the pretense that you are an alliance player first and foremost and hated to stab me when you did.  I didn't believe you then, and I definitely don't believe you now.  You knew exactly what you were doing, and to deny it insults my intelligence.  If you truly believe what you've been saying, then you are just deluding yourself and are even less deserving of victory than I currently find you.

Am I bitter?  Perhaps a little, but I don't think that's influencing my assessment.  You will win because a game long enemy and a player on the far side of the board decided to spite others with a throw.  There is no evidence I see that this is a cultivated relationship that paid off with the throw when you needed it.  This isn't a throw to you, it is a throw against England and myself, which may say something about our play, but it doesn't do anything to distinguish yours.  I'm not saying you haven't played well, just not really well enough to deserve the win under these circumstances.

Call this a pre-EOG.  I'll be more thorough with my own play perspectives when the game actually finishes.

Paul of Russia


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