wm02sf02: Austria EGS

EGS Austria,

Hi all,
This is my first try at a tournament like this and when I started it I 
didn't know what it could bring, what level of play I was up against, and I 
didn't even know about other tactical implications tournament play has over 
a normal standard game. In round 1 and 2 the level of play by the 
participants varied greatly, but most of the times it was an experienced 
lot. My goal in these games was to get at least a decent result to get me to 
the semis. Obviously goal 1 was achieved. I expected much from the level of 
players in the semi, and I was not disappointed! I even accept the fact that 
I may not well have been the best player in our game, tactically and/or 
diplomatically. Especially on the 'writers' front I soon felt outmatched by 
Paul (Russia) and Justin (England), but I tried to cope in my own style. But 
while my goal for round 1 and 2 were simply (well, simply?) decent results, 
this game was an all or nothing kind of thing. How to approach a game with 
this kind of quality players? I expected a balanced kind of game, which 
proved to be so, and I was hoping to be able to stick around long enough to 
have a say in the endgame. As for my opponents in this game, I had talked to 
Stan (France) before in round 2, as he was the captain of my ally in that 
round, and I had heard from Justin because my team captain GM'd him in round 
2. The others were all unknown to me.

GAMESTART
Quickly after game start I already met a bit of a kin to my style of play in 
my immediate neighbour Jake (Italy). Except he proved to be more restless 
than I am. Nevertheless I believe we hit it off right from the start, and we 
have discussed some adventurous and crazy moves in these first turns. I also 
began to think highly about Paul (Russia) but if I recall well, in these 
early turns I had to clarify myself a few times as he apparently didn't 
always understood what I meant. Nevertheless I believe we got along well 
also, but still, spring 1902 may have been a turning point, more on that 
later. Anyway, I felt quite comfortable with both Italy and Russia and I 
must confess my talks with Turkey were more being polite as I always felt he 
was the first to go. So I went for the agreed bounce in Gal and felt 
comfortable enough with Italy to go for 2 builds.


GERMANY
Right from the start Stephen was in trouble when Italy occupied Tyr and 
France moving to Bur. There was no way Germany could keep Mun and France 
duly supported Italy in in A01. I'm still a bit puzzled about what happened 
next as it was clear Germany needed help from England and Russia but he 
somehow upset Russia by helping England against Russia! Italy then got 
kicked out of Mun next turn because France didn't support him anymore and it 
appeared there was an E/F in the making. I believe I've shown interest in 
France moving against Italy then, but am not really sure. In the meanwhile I 
think maybe Germany was led to believe he was part of an E/F/G, but that was 
soon over as England and Russia took care of him. I don't think Russia 
needed convincing to attack Germany. Luckily I was in the neighbourhood 
around 1904 to pick up a vital share (Mun) myself and thus staying more 
healthy than Italy had hoped for when he planted his first stab in A1904, 
again, more on that later.

TURKEY
In the meanwhile, Len (Turkey) was making all the right noises for him and 
me to turn on Russia in 1902 and as Italy was about to move west (to oppose 
France) I agreed to his idea. Especially as Russia was starting to become a 
major power by being in Nwy and Swe. Unfortunately that was when my hotmail 
account started to play up for the first time and my agreement to go with 
the orders as discussed only arrived at Len's inbox several hours 'after' 
the adjudication. The same was happening with Paul's (Russia) message to me 
about a bounce in Gal. Apparently he didn't want that one anymore, but as I 
didn't hear from Len I went ahead with that bounce…. and there I was, in 
Gal. Clearly, this was a mess. Off course as both messages never arrived in 
time, and I could prove it, it was not hard for Paul to believe I would move 
out of Gal next turn as nothing happened that wasn't agreed with him. For 
Len it was a different matter, as a good plan fell down the drain and even 
if I could prove about hotmail to him as well, and still be credible enough, 
the situation was different. In the meanwhile Italy was with a fleet in the 
AEG (as well as sailing west) and things were looking grim for Turkey.

Mentioned earlier, in the north Germany then upset Russia by supporting 
England, and with France moving to the Med, A/I/R had to combine to stand 
against E/F or E/F/G. But the G of a possible E/F/G was soon eliminated 
after that. For our defence we arranged for Jake to get Gre while this was 
compensated for me with Bul. And A/I/R was ready to take a stand against the 
west (we had a line set up from Tyr to Ber), and take Turkey out at the same 
time. Yow! Then things started to change again in the west, apparently 
England let France down and Stan turned around and headed out of the Med and 
started to oppose England, something he kept doing from then on until the 
end. We called of Italy's attack on France as French resistance against 
England was more important and we arranged for France to take Mun.

STAB 1
And here comes A1904, Italy immediately grabbed the opportunity (I admit I 
was a bit stretched) and stabbed me for the first time. Luckily, coinciding 
with Jake's stab I knew France was going to claim Bel and (I believe we 
agreed) I took Mun off of France in exchange (as he didn't really need a 
build to thwart England, and also to keep the game more balanced, especially 
in my area as I was suspecting something to happen in the east. . but I have 
to admit I didn't suspect the Italian stab already this turn, good one 
Jake!). Anyway, me taking Mun proved to be a life saver! Right there and 
then I immediately vowed to all that I would never allow an Italian board 
top! Off course Len spotted this as his lifeline and offered his undying 
help to me to push Italy back, which off course I accepted (with in the back 
of my mind that mishap in 1902). In 1905 I tried to hijack the Italian 
ION-fleet by supporting it to Gre and slide into ION myself as I was 
thinking Jake would self bounce in Gre. It failed, and Jake told me it was 
in the dying seconds he changed the bounce order... Italy then kicked me out 
of Ser and I retreated (with Russian agreement) to Russian held Rum. Russia 
was about to pick up Ank and he also knew he needed a healthy Austria to 
stop Italy. And I promised to hand Rum back to him asap. However, as Turkey 
was now becoming very important for 'my' well being I had to try to make 
sure he stayed as healthy as possible as well. Unfortunately in the spring 
Russia was already in Ank and as Turkey was about to go down from 3 to 2 (or 
1 as I wanted Smy for compensation against Italy) Len and I arranged it so 
that Russia was kicked out of Ank and that I would land in Smy. Paul asked 
for help, but I chose to ignore it and focus on my main worry first, Italy. 
Russia would not be jeopardized as he was not in danger, he just didn't get 
that build, and secondly, it was also more in the interest of keeping the 
game balanced. A build for Russia would be in Stp or War and both were not 
in my interest (when looking at the balance side of things. Remember I was 
Austria between Italy who was not allowed to attack France and Russia who 
could not allow England to grow, but at the same time I didn't want him to 
grow either). In 1905 I kept Mun and Rum (still by agreement), took Smy and 
gambled on keeping Bud empty for the all important build, and I got it! 
Italy was on 7, I was on 6, Turkey was helping me and Russia retreated. Not 
bad at all...

STATUS QUO
In the years 1906 and 1907 things started to consolidate. I handed Rum back 
to Russia, Italy never got anywhere anymore against me thanks to an NMR, 
coordination between Len and me, but also very importantly, thanks to a 
friendly Russia (and off course England threatening to run away with the 
game). Other matters of importance, Italy sends a fleet west to help France 
against England, England accidentally takes Mun off of me, and although I 
went down to 5 because of it, it did more harm to England as this was 
positionally definitely NOT the place to be at this stage. A stage where 
everyone started to combine against him as he was about to run away with the 
game. And surely by A1907 Italy was in Mun, Russia threatened Kie and France 
was about to take Bel. So, England was kicked out of Mun. . . . I then saw 
the danger of 1904 loom again, with Turkey on the verge of elimination (and 
not being able to help me anymore) and being in the middle of I/R. And so I 
asked Justin to retreat Mun to Boh to keep I/R at bay, or maybe even having 
this unit to help me against I/R. And not surprisingly, both I/R wanted that 
army out of the way asap and made suggestions that would finish it off 
immediately. But I did not help out (told them so) and 'defended' against a 
possible stab. But to keep them happy I kept helping pushing Turkey back in 
his corner, again by supporting Italy and in return I again got support to 
Bul.

JW
Then after S9108 I was about to embark on an unexpected vacation and I had 
to look for a replacement for 2 turns. A08 and S09. I already used up my 
extension time somewhere in march/april because of important private 
matters. And as I met JW (Jan Willem Omlo) for the first time shortly 
before, when I invited him on a BBQ, and as he was our team captain, I asked 
him. Off course he felt he couldn't say no after the BBQ-fiesta! I told him 
what was up, that he should keep wary of Jake, that I intended to 
disentangle with Italy more (after 1904 we were still entangled!) by 
supporting all of Italy to Turkey and let me have the rest of the Balkans. I 
told him about the strategic importance of the English army in Boh and when 
I came back JW secured my build, but the english army in Boh was gone (not 
so bad), but unfortunately Italy had stabbed me again (S1909)! Still, JW got 
me back up to 7 again and the situation was salvageable I thought. Great Job 
JW!

STAB 2
But anyway, big *sigh*. So there I was AGAIN, the english army in Boh was 
gone and what I had feared happened immediately. Italy pays another visit! 
BUT, as I thought that Russia would then join in, he didn't??? He left Jake 
hanging (Paul being the alliance player he is, or out of self interest?), 
which I'm sure was not very much appreciated by Jake. Okay, Russia had other 
worries in the north as his campaign in Scandinavia was not getting anywhere 
(wrong gamble) but he did land Mun. Although I knew I could not trust Jake, 
he was then willing to talk about disentangling again.... still I had to 
retreat Ser, and again Rum was the option. I received a lot of pushing to do 
so by everyone, except by Russia off course. I did anyway as I needed that 
build once more as compensation so Italy would not get it into his head to 
stab me for the 3rd time. And I mentioned to Russia that I would hand it 
back again like I did after the first stab. I subsequently managed to free 
Tri and I build a fleet (much to annoyance to Italy, but hey... with two 
knives in my back who can blame me! And I thought that would keep him in 
line). This was A1909 and that same turn coincided with maybe the most 
important move in the game (as sort of part of a deal with me retreating to 
Rum), Italian F(WMS) - Spa sc, effectively stabbing France! Jake told me 
Stan would not mind as he had offered Spa a few turns earlier, but 
apparently Stan took it VERY badly and moved away from England to fight 
Italy.

E-COUNT
The situation. France was about to embark on a sort of suicide mission 
against Italy. England was about to get significant gains which should kill 
of any hopes Russia, Italy or I would've had to achieve boardtop. That is 
unless someone was to throw centers rapidly to anyone else. With my retreat 
to Rum earlier I was thinking Russia was going to count on me throwing 
things to him, but I was wondering if he would do the same for me. Sure, he 
told me he would, and who knows maybe even Jake would! Anyway, England was 
heading for additional centers in France and Iberia and I'm sure Russia 
would've tried to thwart me throwing centers to Italy as much as Italy 
wanted to thwart me throwing centers to Russia. In that light maybe I 
should've gone for the gentlemens approach, using this thought about Jake 
and Paul not granting eachother the victory and that they might both have 
been okay with throwing centers to me, but it was just a little too much 
counting on 2 others who would want to allow me this, 'especially' as we all 
could live with the fact that Justin would take boardtop! Anyway, Jake 
suggested a bizar deal a turn earlier and I didn't embrace it eagerly then. 
But I slept it over for a week or so. Evaluating the situation I began to 
think more and more it was an unconventional way for me to take boardtop 
afterall ... But...what if I lost the e-count deal? Then what about my 
messages, after Italian stab 1 and in future turns, to all the others that I 
would never allow Italy to get boardtop? I calculated that even with me 
throwing centers to Jake, Stan would start throwing centers to Justin as 
easily, as Stan would never allow an Italian win either. And I'm sure Russia 
would feel betrayed as well and maybe (if necessary) hand England any 
necessary centers to beat Jake... Bottom line, Jake would probably never 
beat Justin to boardtop, so I could always agree to the deal knowing it was 
then me or Justin winning this thing.

And so hotmail downtime part 2 starts. I could tell Jake I was going for the 
deal, which was just down to counting e-'s in Jan's next adjudication A10 
after he first mentioned A1910 until the last dot. Where when it was 'odd' 
Jake would throw me his centers and when it was 'even' I would do the same 
for him. But I needed to keep Rum or otherwise have to fight for that one as 
well if I did win the deal. But because of this downtime I was not able to 
convince Russia to let me keep it for another turn. I tried to correct it 
afterwards but I made a poor job of it. But by then I was not particularly 
interested anymore to get Russian sympathy, more on that later.. . Anyway, 
by keeping Rum I knew Russia would not really be favourable to me anymore 
and the e-count was the only way. Well, it must've been fate because Jan 
accidentally published the Austrian orders twice! And because of that the 
e-count was 'odd'.

ENDGAME
Off course Russia was not amused and was now going to play to keep his 
centers and then hope to be the decider in the end. I didn't mind as the 
plan was to take the Turkish and Italian centers and by that time I was 
already discussing things with Stan. Stan's game was initially ruined by 
Justin so helping me was always a sure deal. We've even discussed this 
throughout the game, but we were never much in a situation to exploit it. 
There was only 1 problem for Stan, Italy. The Italian stab apparently hurted 
Stan more than England denying him a chance in this game and he needed 
convincing Italy would throw his centers to me. It didn't take a lot of 
messages to convince Stan, especially when Stan saw Italy supporting an army 
of mine to Nap in S10. He was convinced. From then on I only needed to 
supply my allies their orders and I walked to 16. Congratulations and end of 
story!? Ha, no way!

ENDGAME PART 2
Somewhere in the middle of the game Justin confided with me that his team 
mate Itamar (who was looking to gain boardtop in his game) may not be able 
to play the final. Wether this was true or not I didn't know but I couldn't 
think of a reason why Justin would lie about it at that moment in the game. 
Anyway, this would mean 8th place in the final rankings would be allowed to 
take Itamar's place! Justin then promised me that if I was to manoeuvre 
myself into a situation where he was able to get me to shared boardtop he 
would see we shared it. I remembered this when I won the e-count deal. And 
soon after, it was apparent to Justin as well that we might get into that 
situation he mentioned earlier. I checked the rules on shared boardtop and 
apparently the first decider is the 'worst nation' list. As Austria was 
doing better than England a shared boardtop would mean 8th position for me. 
(Excluding what might happen on other boards off course, but Justin and I 
were in a position to get a 'high' shared boardtop). But then Itamar wrote 
his EGS, and suddenly there were messages flying between games as now some 
others were eyeing 8th place as well. Apparently cross game deals were made. 
I only inquired with some Austrians hoping Austria would do worse than 
England, but one apparent crossgame deal made sure Austria was always going 
to do better than England. Then Itamar started to tell everyone he IS going 
to play, and my 8th place started to look not so sure anymore. I mentioned 
to Justin that I rather wanted a 16/15, which should normally give him 8th 
place anyway, and as it's his teammate who may not be playing, that it's 
more his risk. I added a few other reasons, and he thought them to be 
sensible and agreed to 16/15. And as my goal always was this 16/15 I didn't 
mind not getting along very well with Russia anymore, in fact I didn't even 
try to alter his stance towards me and even hoped he would by then rather 
wanted to throw his centers to England to try to get Justin par with my 
score or get him as high a center count behind me as possible.. just to try 
to thwart me.

Alas.

All's well that end's well now? Nope, not yet... Maybe my stupidest message 
all game! Seeing his reaction when Jake stabbed him I thought Stan had his 
revenge on him by now....which apparently it was, because when I asked both 
Jake and Stan about the 16/15 deal Jake was all for it, but Stan wrote a 
fierce reply that he did not want that at all!!! As my deal with Justin 
predated any other deal and for other aforementioned reasons I had to let 
Stan down and supported England, knowing Italy and Russia were likeminded..

FINAL WORDS
Nevertheless, I did enjoy this game very very  much! I rarely get into a 
game with this much quality! I should try to get into some more. I also 
realize that my deal with Italy was a bit unconventional, maybe even 
bizar..but hey.. whatever makes things work for you then why not. As 
mentioned in the beginning, this is a different kind of format of a game 
than a normal game. I'm sure under normal circumstances this game would have 
been totally different. I wouldn't mind playing this game again under normal 
circumstances! Still, I think my deal with Jake didn't do Paul justice as it 
was mainly because of his alliance play that I was in the position I was in 
to be able to make that deal with Jake. But I hope you understand that I 
went into that deal with Jake based solely on trying to get to boardtop 
without needing more charity from anyone else. So sue me….

A final word to Jan. Thanks for a classy GM-ing performance! Always on 
time...and off course a special thank you for your A10 adjudication! ;-)

The end...finally...

Cheers,
Eelco (Austria)

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