WM02F - The Russian Boring EOG

My dearest friends,


Difficult task here... How to put in words a game that lasted for around 8
months... Not because I don't remember what happened, it's just that A LOT
happened during this time. I was once accused of writing long sugar-coated
EOGs, and you know what? It's true. Get ready for another one  - a 
looong one !

Let me describe what happened from my perspective first, 
opinions/discussions in
the end:

Pre-1901:

This has been a very peculiar game in some aspects, and I think a lot of what
happened was due to this phase. Pre-1901 I heard a lot of talk about the fact
me and Adam being friends, and also about Bruce and Adam being part of 
the same
team. I personally don't mind that kind of comment, and normally manage to use
these on my behalf, like RI did by alarming Austria, but I can't hide I was a
bit worried about GT in the beginning, cause my Russia could easily fall if
they decided to work together. All I knew was that England and Austria 
would be
important if GT happened.

I did have a card up my sleeve, though - pre 1901, my team captain, Egbert
Ferreira, presented me to Robert. They had played before on a WM 
semifinal, and
became friends since then. Actually, Egg and Robert are always talking about
their WM games, and giving opinions. As Robert told me, Egg gave him valuable
advice on his last semifinal, too... So even before the game was 
rolling, I had
someone I could develop a good trusting relationship, besides Adam Silverman -
who I really consider a good friend (wouldn't be here if it wasn't for 
him) . I
also Knew some of Eelco's friends/teammates, making me feel I could stay cool
with him for the whole game, and use his help if needed.

Therefore, since pre-1901 (and I seldom have a structured game like that), I
already had a good way to go: arrange with Italy to attack Austria, ask Turkey
to go along, and play both sides with Germany and England. Austria should be
treated well, of course, but without looking too close or trustworthy, 
in order
to allow  Italy the first shot at Trieste . The reason was obvious: Robert
should warn Joni about my Friendship with Adam, and be very
talkative/trusting.... This would make Austria go for the 2 builds to defend
from RT, and let Tri open for us. By that time, my captain Egbert was part of
the discussions with Robert for practically the whole early and midgame, the 3
of us were already having a good time discussing past games, EOGs, Egg's role
in Robert's semi (and who they eliminated)... It was smooth, I knew Austria
would not stand a chance, all I needed to do was to stay cool with my
neighbors, have 2 builds, and decide later between Adam and Robert. But things
are never the way we want, are they?

1901

Everything went well, but with some risks and open issues. Bruce was 
selling Swe
dear - he mentioned a couple of times that England was asking him to deny it,
while Steve claimed he was not going to convoy an army to Nwy (and that was
paramount to me). Austria agreed to bounce Gal (and took a foreign army in Tri
like planned), and Adam opened anti-Italian, allowing me to have the Bla. Adam
was cool with that outcome, but demanded me to leave it by the Fall. If I were
to stay with Robert, I could not do it. Sorry, Adam.

The Fall changed a lot of things - Bruce let me in, and  now  I knew why.
Brilliant attack on Steve, in exchange for a support to Belgium :-) Steve was
in trouble, needing my help, I had 2 builds, and 2 slightly pissed players - A
and T. I could still deal with Turkey for some time, and maybe even work  with
him, but Austria had to go fast giving how strong France was going...

1902

Some surprises. France builds an army in Mar (but refuses to attack), 
and Bruce
supports Austria into Tyr. It would be more difficult to grow over the red
armies than we initially thought, which made it imperative to slow FG down in
the North. Steve was already talking (seriously ?) about giving me his dots,
and letting  me into Nwy. Things start to get complex, but still looking good
to me.

An issue that made a lot of difference -  even though Robert was playing very
open with me, his retreat Tyr-Boh was suspicious. He had a problem with 
his car
in a tunnel or something like that, committing  the biggest mistake in this
game, IMHO. His situation became fragile to France, and his lines were broken
by Tyr. Robert took a long time to recover from the French harassment, and
that's  probably the reason why he could not grow as much as I did. I was not
happy either, I thought France could kill Robert fast if Eelco so wished, and
the temptation to go with Adam was high - I knew Adam could be trusted (maybe
not after my "stab"), and decided to give him a chance. I asked him to go for
Serbia, and offered support. If he went for it, I would know that for a while
we would stay together, if he didn't I would have to keep the fleet in 
Bla. One
way or another, I would be able to fight Turkey if I needed - Adam built an
army, giving me plenty of options.

1903

Another decisive year.... With 2 new armies, the whole Scandinavia occupied by
my fleets, and England begging for help, I could dream and place a bet. And I
did. Attacked the whole Europe at the same time: Austria suffered in Bud and
Gal, Germany in the Baltic and Silesia, I supported Steve into Nth... 
Real good
bets, especially considering the double convoy that FG set, that would be a
killer for England. The setbacks: Austria was resisting bravely (I 
entered Bud,
but he dislodged Tri, not to mention that damn Tyrolian army), Adam got pissed
and retreated his fleet back to Con, and France knew that he had to do
something about RI.

Some problems to solve, nevertheless things look good - Berlin and Greece fell
to RI, while I let England into Sweden in order to give him some muscle...
Probably a mistake.

1904

Year when I learned to admire Bruce - he had 2 retreats - NWG and Sil, and 2
disbands to order.... I talked to him about it, told him to regroup, 
and let me
play my game, and he did it. He simply could have decided to ruin my game for
good this round, and didn't. Later on, we had plenty of opportunities to dip
about other issues (the final draw, how we would deal after I started fighting
Steve, ...). I can mention this attitude from Bruce as one reason not to have
entered Finland and tried to solo during the final years. Thanks for the good
discussions, Bruce.

I agreed to support Steve into Denmark, tap Kiel and Mun. Good moves from FG,
they pulled a convoy from Den to Hol via Hel, totally unexpected. Congrats....
Steve used his build in Edi to enter NRG, and make it "look" like he 
would stab
me, but in fact he was planning to go to NaO and fight Eelco... I 
couldn't let a
stab spoil my chances, so I decided to exchange Nwy for Swe anyway. Good move,
cause Steve decided to turn tables on me, too.

 From this day on, I knew I was going to lose Scandinavia, and had to keep my
positions near Germany; I wanted to defend myself in the most aggressive
manner, especially from Steve, who played high risk since day one - and kept
doing it till the end of the game.

Regarding AT, wrestling advances a little, Austria gives Adam a breath, he
enters Armenia... Which pins me a lot, but nothing to worry too much about.

1905

Difficult year - Stp is gone, Berlin is gone, France is in Piedmont, 
and Turkey
has 2 fleets AND can kick me out of Armenia.... It all happened, but this time
I did it right - let Berlin go, convoyed to Lvn, so as to ensure Stp would be
mine again; I knew I was going to lose it anyway sometime, but I could not let
the most important Northen dot slip thorugh my fingers so soon to England.

France was all over Italy, and Robert showed a lot of resilience; I thought he
was going to resist and give me his dots by this time, it was amazing how you
did it, Robert. Thanks Egg for helping the alliance stay together at 
that time.
To make matters worse, Eelco enters Tyr. Damn Tyrolia again! :-)

Good news is that Bruce sees some cooperation when I left Berlin, and we start
to talk again... Not for long. Bruce had agreed to work with me to have 2
builds and be viable again (great plan); I just could not let Germany 
grow that
much at this stage (things for RI in the South were still difficult), 
so I lied
and went myself for Denmark...  Result is surprisingly zero disbands 
this year,
but Germany very pissed with me again. Sorry, but I did it with a purpose in
mind, not for quick gains.

Eelco was taking too long to attack Robert - unexplainable to me. I 
think he was
trying to convince Robert into stabbing me, while not attacking Italy 
directly.
The bottom line is that neither Robert nor Eelco advance much, while Turkey
goes. Phew....

1906

This is when Robert starts growing, and I stall; His builds are now enough to
resist, while Eelco misses that convoy (big mistake), and I start to 
get kicked
by EG... Nevertheless, with AT dealt with, I could go North and block them.
Funny, from that moment on I started talking about stalemating EG while losing
Scandinavia, but nobody believes me. Well, I did it.

RI were strong enough together to stalemate at 19-20, and wait... And if EFG
decided to put one of them in 14-15, no probs - we would do the same 
easily. So
the game loses that dinamic pace from the early years. I admit, it's my 
fault. I
played with hunger from the very beginning. Russia is best played this way -
with the units on the enemies' fields. Right Egg? ;-)

Just one point to notice - some said my biggest mistake this game was on Fall
1906, when I tried to grab Den, and lost Sweden and the Baltic 
instead.... Like
in WWII, the Russians try to get Denmark, while the English ruin their 
party...
:-) Anyway, why I think it was the right thing to do: I KNEW Steve was 
going to
risk Nth, but he had a sure build, and while I would be guessing with 
him to get
one dot, I would not make more than that; Eventually, that unit could 
be used to
break Eelco's lines and help the alliance, but it would help Robert 
more than my
Russia. I preferred to risk a move, and fail, but have that unit in Hel behind
their lines, but with still some possibilities open to help me go for Ber and
Mun, the SCs I wanted for my stalemate. And so I did.


1907-1911

I roll on to Germany, pin FG with Hel-Hol, get the Baltic, and Mun... Now I
needed Ber, Pru and Lvn, and my lines were adamant-solid... I was freaking out
the whole time about Lvn. For several rounds I was imagining how much a convoy
there would hit me hard enough to make my chances go down the drain... But
luckily it never occurred, EFG were probably not foreseeing the stalemate that
was about to take place, or did not believe we would take it to an extreme
level.

There is one round I am specifically proud of - Spring  1908. My units 
were not
in position yet, and if I wanted to have BOTH Ber and Mun, I had to use 
my last
2 rounds in Bal (before being helplessly exploded) wisely. The double 
attack on
Ber was real nice: Lvn-Ber was convoyed successfully, and Mun could not be
defended. Too bad I could not enter there right after (I was bounced in tyr),
but thanks to Robert for entering Mun and then letting me explode his army
later on.

Anyway, life goes on, and I was pretty sure that EFG would make F up to 
12.... I
was very wrong.


1911-end

Steve decides to stab France... My opinion is that Steve did not want to throw
his dots so easy, and to make things even more tempting, Robert retreated a
couple of fleets to make it appear that FI could be together, which would be
pretty bad news for me... I freaked out at first (I was at a very comfortable
position till then), but then cooled down and decided to play it to me.

Bruce and Eelco were pissed, all I had to do was grabbing as many dots as I
could so as to compensate the ones Robert would be getting from France. Robert
and Eelco were also working against Steve, all I needed to know is how 
he would
react to the attacks. Luckily, Steve didn't like Robert coming back North
towards him, and decided to disband his armies. That pretty much decided the
game in my favour.

Now the final tie... There was a lot of talking behind the scenes during these
days, with some of the players trying to finish higher than the others. I have
my personal opinion about who should be solo 3rd, or finish better than 
someone
else... But I agree with Robert that's just our opinion, and it depends 
a lot on
how diplomacy went during the game. We were in no position to judge anybody
else, and Steve won his place when he behaved so well. He bet, he lost, he was
reasonable in the end. So I took the deal.

Why not soloing?

Well, why soloing after all?  I confess I played with the idea, and if 
I entered
Fin it would be very likely... But see, apart from Austria, which I killed
ruthlessly and as fast as I could, every power in this game helped me win it;
Adam could have used his fleets to dislodge Bla but didn't, Bruce could have
used his units behind my lines or sticked with Steve after the stab, Steve
could have thrown to Robert instead of me, and not to mention Robert, who took
the alliance till the end. No solo under these circumstances. More than most
players do, or should do, I tried to make it end in a fair way. I just miss
Adam in the final draw, but that I could not achieve.

Robert?

Most of the players said Robert played for second this game. I do not agree.
Robert faced heavy pressure from France, Germany, Turkey and even Austria in
the first Seasons, and I doubt that stabbing me would improve his chances. It
would spoil mine, sure, but not increase his. I think he played a marvellous
game, very honest and trusting. Seldom have I stayed in such an alliance where
one could discuss issues so openly, and trust the other so much. I did play my
game for me, to win, and so did Robert; The only thing we didn't do was 
to mess
with the other one. Congrats robert, you deserved the 2nd, and sometimes the
victory. Thanks a million to Egg that made this alliance possible, by helping
Robert in the semi, by introducing us 2, and by several times stepping in the
discussions to give an impartial opinion. Many times have I thought too 
greedy,
some has Robert, and you have been a point of equilibrium. You helped 
the WM be
won by trust, not by a stab.

My final notes to each one:


Joni/Itamar - Sorry we did not talk much, you didn't stand a chance; 
Not because
of the diplomacy, but due to the bad luck of getting between Russia and 2
potential allies to me. I would have creamed anyone with that Austria, with
Adam and Robert in T and I;

Steve - Risk taker, you certainly added a lot of spice to the game, and I
acknowledge diplomacy yields good results if you play aggressive sometimes.
Actually, I think I was more aggressive than my normal in this final... My
honor to have fought you, we both had good moments.

Eelco - I felt we did match very well from day one. You helped me a 
lot, being a
buffer in stalling Robert, and later on by not fearing elimination provided I
got into a position to win. I'm glad I made it to keep your 3 final dots :-)
You had a good chance in the beginning, but you should have killed either
England or Italy. Pie-Mar or Pie-Tus could have made the difference.

Robert - No comments man, one had to be there to believe how much fun we had,
and how fair we tried to be - no stabs needed. Look forward to playing you
anytime.

Bruce - You master it, Bruce, but this game is not fair. I have been a thorn
inside your shoe the whole time, and I think it was a miracle that you 
ended up
in 3rd. Brilliant analysis, moves, alliance shifting, argumentation.... But
given the initial draw and the way things went, I can't look back and 
see a way
other than fighting you to win. My honor.

Adam - You are the regret I have. Had you entered Serbia to help me with
Austria, we could have set a steamroller juggernaut... I only got here because
of you, and would love to work with your Turkey. But it was the only way I
found to win this thing, at least I can now try to say it was necessary.


Thank you guys for teaching me so much these 8 months, my diplomacy 
will not be
the same as it was before this game. Thanks also to the ones who helped me
getting to the final game in the other rounds - Egg, Geog Kotschy, Frank
Bacher, Adam Silverman, Ray Setzer. It was quite a ride!


Paul, impecable GMing. Not a flaw, not a problem, you were truly a 
machine, but
even so had the nice soft touch a human being has. Thanks a lot again, and
again.


Regards,


Julio.