WM02 - semifinal07 - Austria EOG

Hello to all!
 
At first I would like to thank everyone for that interesting game. This
match has definitively been one of the most difficult and exhausting
games I ever played and I am really glad, that I managed to make it to
the finals. There had been many times when I doubted, that I would be
able to win and in the end I needed much luck to advance.
And of course I want to thank Nate for his brilliant job. I was very
pleased with the way you lead us through the game. Looking back at the
game now, there actually is only one thing I never was really
comfortable with. I think that it is better, if players are NOT allowed
to change their orders after the deadline (before the adjudication). For
me it`s usually a very relaxing time when the adjudication is not done,
but the deadline is already over. There is no need to write any e-mails
during this period and you can lay back from working, but of course
other players may have other opinions… I don`t know.
But I want to start talking about the game now…
 
1901:
Actually I was a little bit shocked when I saw that I had to play
Austria, especially with all these brilliant players around. Fortunately
the first year went very well. Toby (Germany) was very friendly and it
was calming to see him as my ally. It has been my impression that he
very soon became a lot of control over the board and although this was
somehow to my own advantage in the beginning, it became a source of much
distress soon. I tried to get Italy as my ally, too, and fortunately
Stuart seemed to be very reasonable and loyal. Actually I never feared
him to stab me. I always hoped that he would attack Turkey (although I
never urged him), but to my great frustration he attacked Guy (France) –
this made the situation in the east even more difficult for me. But
everything went well there: I managed to get Serbia and Greece in the
first year and probably even more important: I was able to convince
Russia to move his fleet to Rumania. This was a declaration of war
against Turkey and I was in the nice position to decide between them
both as my ally!
 
1902:
This has been one of the most important years. It has been my impression
during 1902 that Germany and I somehow “fought” against each other to
get the better control over the board. Especially Russias friendship was
hard-fought. There were many difficult decisions. I actually intended to
attack Turkey together with Russia. I liked Anatoly, he proved some
trust by moving to Rumania, but to my great distress Brian made MANY
very effective efforts to get me at this side (a great job)– and I was
seriously thinking about going with him (especially because Toby
proposed to attack Russia together with Brian and me). Nevertheless I
made Russia a proposal that was clearly to my advantage - a deal that
granted Bulgaria to him and Rumania to me. Anatoly said “no”, so that I
decided to go with Brian. I send him a letter in which I confirmed to
attack Russia together with him.
Then only a few hours before the deadline two letters arrived that
changed everything. At first Toby backed out of our deal, telling me
that some changes in the north made it impossible for him to attack
Russia now. Then Anatoly wrote me, that he rethought my proposal and
that he is willing to cooperate with me the way I proposed to him. This
was perfect for me. I changed my orders and the attack against Turkey
began. Unfortunately it took a long time for Brian to forgive me this
“senseless” stab and in the past he hurted me many times with effective
defensive moves…
Nevertheless 1902 put me in a very comfortable position. Russia, Germany
and I were at equal power, but I think that I was slightly ahead. At the
end of the year I only had one weak enemy, while my allies were in good
shape. Tobys plan (I think it WAS a plan!?!) to make Anatoly and me
fight each other failed, so that I was able to gain advantage in the
next years. 
 
1903:
Anatoly and Toby continued attacking Lee, taking him somehow out of the
game this way. England never recovered from the German stab in 1902. But
especially Stuart suffered from the German attack at England in the last
year. He lost his two allies against France and although he managed to
get Marseille, the dying Turkish forces slipped via ION into Naples,
making his position very difficult this way. I made two very difficult
decisions in fall. At first I decided to be greedy. Instead of only
taking Bulgaria (which was my deal with Russia), I also took
Constantinople from Turkey, which was actually promised to Anatoly in
the next year. I thought that I would be able to handle Anatolys
distress, but I was wrong. He was even more upset about me then I
expected. My second decision was moving my army to Tyrolia. This army
weakened Germanys position (who was my main rival in 1903) and was the
beginning of my stab at Italy. The Italian position was very weak due to
the desperate Turkish attack and I thought that I would be strong enough
to be the only one being able to benefit from the situation. Once again
I made a mistake in my guesses. Although I managed to grow to eight
centres, the main problems were going to come in the next years…
 
1904:
My imperial dreams faced reality. The well-planned attack at Italy was
anticipated by Stuart and Brian who allied up against me and slowed me
down in a very hurting way. In the meanwhile I gave CON back to Russia,
hoping that Anatoly would forgive me my greediness in the past, but
unrepairable damage was already done, nevertheless there was still peace
between us in 1904. But I think that the only reason for Anatolys
friendliness was the fact, that Germany was attacking him in the north,
robbing Sweden from him. Toby was getting stronger and stronger, but
with hostile France recovering, he was going to face too many enemies
soon. 
 
1905:
This was definitively the most frustrating year for me. Russian troops
surrounded my borders in spring, taking Bulgaria and Rumania in fall.
Nevertheless I wrote a million mails to him, trying to convince him to
stop his attack. These maybe were the most important letters I wrote
during the whole game. Anatoly hinted to me that he was not willing to
eliminate me, so that he told me how to defend Bulgaria, but I didn`t
trust him and lost it. In 1905 Turkey used all his power to hurt me and
he used his power well. Although I still attacked Italy with everything
I had I only got Venice. Once again I had to disband at the end of the
year. I only had six remaining centres, while Russia and Germany had
eight. But maybe the strongest opponent was rising in the west. Guy, who
has been under attack from the beginning of the game, was recovering.
Now he had five centres and no enemies left… My own power was crumbling
and no one liked me anymore. I didn`t expect that I would be able to
recover from the losses… This was true especially in spring. But to my
great surprise Anatoly kept his promises and his armies turned against
Germany instead of eliminating me. I am still convinced that this was
Anatolys greatest mistake. He probably would have been unstoppable, if
he would have continued attacking me and if he would have kept Smyrna
instead of giving it back to Turkey…
 
1906:
This year went better than 1905. I decided to trust Russia and threw all
my forces to the west. To my great relief I was able to persuade Anatoly
to remove his armies from my borders, while protecting Rumania and
Bulgaria only with one fleet. So I was able to take out Italy. Stuart
helped me getting Rome, but then I stabbed him for Naples, which I had
promised to him. I guess that he expected this somehow, but he had no
other chance to stay in the game but hoping for my loyalty. He offered
me his help against France, but I was not in shape to fight Guy. I
already planned to take back my eastern centres, so that I couldn`t
afford to fight an additional enemy. Austria without Rumania and
Bulgaria has no chance to win, so that I couldn`t agree to Stuarts
proposal. I hated lying to Stuart, who has always been a trustworthy
ally, but in a semi-final like this I was not able to show him any
mercy. 
In the north Tobys power was broken. He lost many centres, especially
homecentres, while gaining control over Liverpool and Moscow. The
situation for Russia, England and Germany became very difficult. France
maybe was the most dangerous opponent in 1906. Toby was his only enemy –
and Toby was attacked from every side. In my opinion Guy threw away his
good chances to win this game by stabbing Lee for London and forging an
EG alliance this way. After 1905 I suddenly saw hope again, that I might
be able to win the game. I lost Greece to Turkey, but with no more
enemies in the west I was able to concentrate on the east now, being
sure that the loss was only a temporarily one.
 
1907 + 1908:
Now it was time to attack the east. My most important goal was to become
Turkeys friend again. Brian only had one fleet, but it was important for
me to see it attacking Russia again. But I failed to come to an
agreement with Brian at first. He had seen how I had treated my former
ally Italy and he remembered how I stabbed him early in the game, when
no stab was necessary… So he tried to block me first. But then, like any
good player, he did what was necessary to survive and attacked Russia
again. In 1908 we worked together again and Brian became the owner of
Con and Smy, while I got back my precious Bulgaria. Russia was in real
trouble now.
Guy was making some progress in the north, but Lee and Toby were allied
now and fought him very successfully (sometimes even with Russian
support). Everything was going well for me now. Guy and I agreed never
to fight each other, making sure this way that one of us would win the
game. Lee and Toby urged me very hard to attack France in the south, but
I think that it was very important for me to keep the deal with France.
I only had to make sure, that I would grow faster then France…
 
1909-1912:
My alliance with Turkey continued and once Russia realized that his game
was over he decided hurting Turkey instead of me. So I was allowed to
gain all Russian home-centres, while Brian unfortunately was eliminated.
Due to some unfortunate guesses Guy was not able to make real progress
against England and Germany. He grew to slow to become a real opponent
in the last years, while I was able to take Kiel and Munich from
Germany…
 
Now I`d like to write some lines to every one of my opponents:
 
Guy: It was fun to play with you. Thanks! I am sorry for having attacked
you in the last years, but I wanted to improve my result and attacking
you granted me Munich. Nevertheless you played a brilliant game and your
recovery after the early attacks was impressing. It was a great relief
to see that you were a very loyal ally towards me. But I think that you
should have tried to attack me in 1907 or 1908 somehow. Your chances to
break the EG-defence were slim, while my way to victory was much easier.
But maybe you thought that low chances for you and good chances for me
are better than slightly better chances for you and increasing chances
for every one else. I would respect that. I did the same in my last
semis and somehow lost the possible victory this way…
 
Toby: You definitively proved why everyone fears you as an extremely
good player. In the beginning you controlled the board, but then you
over-stretched yourself with fighting too many opponents at the same
time. It was funny to talk to you in the first years. Then it became a
little bit frustrating, because you are very good at pushing people into
the direction you want them to go. ;-) Maybe this was the reason why
Anatoly decided to fight you instead of taking the victory by
eliminating me in 1905?!? It was a really tough job to say “no” to your
proposals to attack France for so many times. Thanks for helping me
winning this game.
 
Lee: Unfortunately we never had much contact in the game. In the last
years I was very glad that you and Toby made such a very good job to
hold back the French troops. Thanks for that and thanks for being
reasonable enough to ally with your arch-enemy Germany after the French
landing in London. Without this unexpected twist, I never would have won
the game.
 
Stuart: You were a very loyal ally and you deserved a more trustworthy
friend then me. But after the Turkish landing in Naples I feared to lose
too much time by defending you. I feared that Toby would win the game
easily, if I wouldn`t take your centres. I needed Russia as Germanys
enemy, so that I attacked you instead of him.
 
Brian: It was frustrating to have you as my Turkish neighbour. Turkey
simply is no good ally for Austria. You were reasonable, I liked you
very much, but… you were Turkey. In the final years we managed to come
to an alliance at last, but I would enjoy playing with you in another
game again (without being Austria and Turkey).
 
Anatoly: I am sorry for having broken all my promises by attacking you
in 1907, but it was a semi-final and there is no time for
sentimentality. You played a good game, but you shouldn`t have listened
to me after your stab. If you would have continued against ME instead of
Germany no one would have been able to stop you…
 
 
I think that this enough at first. I will be away for a week, but then I
will be able to reply to your EOGs (if you are interested in writing
one)
All the best to all of you!
Regards,
 
        Robert