Re: WMSF3 England EOG

Italian EOG.

I came, I saw, I got my butt kicked!

I opened the game trying to established a neutral border with France so 
that I could focus on the East.  Eric and I hit it off so well that I 
decide to build a long term Italian-French alliance.  We did not do very 
well, but at least we never betrayed one another.  So as the opening 
stage rolled on, my plans formed around a FIR alliance.  I think that if 
we have worked better together, we might have had a good chance.  The 
main problem is that Nick appeared to be hot and cold on it.  One day he 
was saying all the right things, trying to work for the good of the 
alliance.  The next day he appeared very one sided in his dealings and 
less interested.  I always got the feeling that he was playing all side, 
not really sold on the FIR, just keeping his options open.  (Curious 
about whether this was true.)

I tried real hard to get everyone focussed on Ray...better him than me 
:-)  I also felt that with the sharks in the game that I could not play 
a wait and see game as Italy.  Getting that 5th center as soon as 
possible was my goal.  Eric seemed willing to help me get Munich in 
1901, so that was my focus.  Ray bouncing me out of Tyrolia in the 
spring really messed up my plans....I still wonder who tipped you off 
Ray, or was it truly just a lucky guess?

In the fall of 1901 there was a lot of talk within the FIR about my 
stabbing kester, and Eric walking into Munich...it all seemed to 
unlikely so I stuck with the safe plan and did not betray Kester (he 
would have bounced me out of Trieste anyway.)

In 1902 I was still hoping for Munich, with Kester moving to Bohemia, 
but in the fall it looked very unlikely.  I decided to finally take the 
slow route to the Lepanto and put my future in Kester's hands.  Kester 
offered to give me center to get me to that 5 that I was striving for. 
Basically at that point I was trying to sell out Russia for my gain. 
Unforunately Nick did a better job of selling me out for his gain. :-)

I saw the chance for Kester's stab, but felt that I had to take the risk 
in order to get somewhere.  If I would have done as Julio suggested, 
covered Venice and convoyed to Albania, it would certainly had been a 
better defense.  But if Kester had not betrayed me, then my position 
would have been almost as bad as if I had been stabbed.  (I probably 
should have given more weight to the IT alliance that John talked to me 
about.  I was just never sure that he really meant it.)  So I took a 
chance and was gutted.  :-)  It was a nice stab by Kester.   It 
completely did me in.

The only reason that I survived as long as I did was because Kester 
decided that it was in his best interested to take out Turkey rather 
than me.  In the end I am not sure if that was the correct decision.

Kester did try to get me to work with him once, which I agreed to 
because I felt that I could nab a build and get back to 2 centers. 
Unfortunately Kester moved to Venice and had the option of denying me 
Rome.  His decision to let Ray have Venice and deny me Rome was the 
deciding factor in my becoming Julio's puppet from there on out.  I used 
my meager resource to try and make the person who did me in suffer (even 
if I respect his skill at doing me in :-)

I had hoped to survive, but Julio decided to take me out.  I was not 
really upset as I was always prepared to give him my last center in the 
end if he needed it to top the board.

My only regret was that Eric and I were on opposite sides at the end (he 
wanted Julio to not win and I wanted Kester to not win).  We refused to 
actually attack or support an attack on one another, which was based on 
our early alliance.  It is too bad that we had different goals in the end.

(Well, I had one more regret, in that I could not betray Ray one last 
time and finally get Munich ;-)  You know you missed my harassment 
Ray...it was something that you could count on :-)

I enjoyed the game immensely.  It was greating meeting all of you.  I 
really appreciate the great job that Craig did keeping the game going, 
despite his real life concerns.

Congratulations to Julio and good luck in the Finals.

Roger Yonkoski



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