School of War EOG
Spring 1901
So much politeness! I don’t think I’ve ever been called a Sultan so many times in 48 hours. Everyone’s friendly and it’s a happy go lucky kind of attitude. PeteU (my TA) and I have discussed opening press and we’re ready to take over the world. This is my first time ever playing Turkey and the biggest piece of advice that everyone is saying is that you’re in a box and it’s secure but you have to get out in order to succeed. so this is highest on my priorities.
As mentioned, the opening press was great from every player, the most notable aspects however were Italy informing me that they were going to “play a passive opening and just take Tunis then see what unfolds”. Austria, Germany, Italy and England all expressed concern about a Juggernaut but Austria more so than most. He went to lengths to explain how he had the support of Germany and Italy if a Juggernaut appeared and that Russia and I would be dealt with harshly. Russia was not hesitant in exclaiming that we should indeed ‘roll across the board’ and although this was by far the most succinct offer that I had received I still wasn’t sure whether to take him up on it or not. Russia was adamant about a bounce in the Black Sea however and I felt this seemed like a good place to start.
In terms of the press I was sending out. I wanted France in a strong position as that would hopefully grab the attention of England, Germany and Italy which would give Russia and I some breathing space if we needed it. I therefore sent messages to France and Germany explaining about how having an English nation at their backs for half the game would be a horrible thing and should be dealt with as soon as possible.
I decided to take a conservative opening with the simple Con->Bul, Smyr->Con, Ank->Black. My TA asked me to have a think about what I thought every nation would do for opening moves. I guessed Russia and Germany and Englands however France’s gambit threw me and Italy...oh Italy. I should have realised at this point not to trust the Lord of Pizza but lo and behold he charges straight into Trieste. Convinced that this looked like a Key Lepanto that I had once read about (but never seen, let alone dealt with). I quickly looked up the article and it was indeed a textbook Key Lepanto on Italy’s part. Austria hadn’t done what was recommended in the article and so I remained optimistic that it was actually just a clever gambit by Italy to convince Austria to allow him into his homeland.
Giving credit where credit was due, Italy was very convincing. Going to the lengths of even pointing out that it was a Key to me, he then proceeded to explain how it was a ploy on his part to take over Austria, and all he needed me to do was keep Austria in the south. Meanwhile Austria had explained he wanted to move to Greece from Alb, and that in order to combat the Russian threat he was happy to support me if I moved Bul->Rum.
Russia had requested support from Bulgaria for his move from Sev->Rum. Making a decision based on the fact that I could please both Italy and Russia at Austria’s expense. I explained to Russia that I thought a Key was potentially underway, but that Italy will turn on Austria and that we could take advantage of this. So I bounced Austria in Greece. Thus giving Russia his build (and furthering our alliance), denying Austria Greece and having Italy pounce on his back all in the fall of 1901...it was too good to be true.
Meanwhile, France and Germany were making true on what I requested and were indeed in the middle of taking England for a ride. I realised that they might end up doing this too efficiently and I’d potentially created a monster France too early in the game and started to try and convince Germany to stab him.
Maybe it was naivete, maybe it was because it was my 30th birthday and I was drunk for most of the turn, maybe it was greed. But I didn’t consider trying to prevent the Key by moving Bul->Serb until the last hour before the turn ended. I dismissed my thought as paranoid foolery and decided to stick with my current plan of uprooting Austria.
Fall 1901
Live and learn is what they say as the fall of 1901 came to be. It was indeed a Key, I was indeed compromised and indeed in an unfortunate position. With my TA scolding himself for not advising the move to Serbia, I decided to do the only thing I could...diplome like I had never diplomed before. I sent long winded and extravagant messages to both Austria and Italy explaining why their attack on me was a flight of fancy. To Italy I explained that he would be bashing his armies against my little yellow box with no gains to be had for years. He was much better to attack Austria while he was vulnerable and then our illustrious IT could rule the world.
To Austria I said much the same except that Italy was strung out and in a perfect position to be attacked, I also informed Austria in no uncertain terms that Russia was about to bear down on his homeland like an avenging angel and smoosh him and he’s delicious goulash into the mud. This was helpfully backed up by the comments in the SoW thread that unanimously agreed the goulash would definitely be muddy.
I had explained to Russia that I was moving to the Black sea in order to get my fleet out through Con, this was actually true, and was then hampered by being boxed in by the key. I informed Russia that our alliance was indeed a thing and that he should destroy Austria while I tied up his units, I promised to remove the fleet from the Black Sea as soon as was convenient.
During the retreats and builds of 1901, Germany sent some stern press concerning my relationship with Russia, I told him to convince Austria to work with me if he wanted to avoid a juggernaut. Italy responded to my plea wanting to know exactly how we would go about world domination and I gleefully explained it would require Russia’s help, but then we could turn on Russia once Austria was disposed of.
Spring 1902
Italy and I had negotiations about him taking Greece from the Aegean, he lied and instead attacked Bulgaria...not much else happened.
Fall 1902
The same negotiation happened about Greece from the Aegean and Italy lied again...you’d think I’d have learned something. He also moved into the Eastern med and Austria took the Ionian. I’m in trouble. Meanwhile, Germany had muted England over England helping Russia take the north sea. I sent press to both in an effort to make them ally and prevent Russia from winning the game too quickly. I kept trying to convince France to build a fleet in Mars and tell Austria that he needs to attack Italy or he’s going to lose the game.
Spring 03
Italy finally came to the table and hit Greece from the Aegean, In the same turn Russia was also in position to support me into Serbia which dislodged the Italian army. I was also able to finally remove my fleet from the Black Sea as I promised to my good friend and ally, Russia.
Fall 03
I kept up communication with Italy informing him that I was indeed going to help him take the Austria centres and that we could then move on Russia together. Germany was also campaigning that I should move against my purple neighbour but I definitely felt far too weak to even bother making a move at this point in the game. Along with that, I really like Steingrim and had gotten along very well with him at this point. He was the only player in the game that hadn’t threatened me or attacked me. So in short, I really didn’t want to stab him and was resisting this request from the other players for this reason.
To coincide with this, I really really disliked Italy. He had lied to me practically every turn of the game so far and I had no reason to start trusting him now. Yes, he’d eventually turned on Austria but only after the litanies of messages that I’d sent to him and where I’d received either one line messages, no reply or outright lies in return. So...I wanted justice and I wanted to destroy Italy.
If I wasn’t so emotionally blinded, I probably would have listened to Germany a lot more in regards to attacking Russia earlier. But the combination of liking Russia and disliking Italy definitely made my decision for me. Perhaps something to learn from.
I had also negotiated with Russia which territories we would have and I requested Trieste as in any good Jugg, it’s Turkey’s by right. Russia was very convincing in saying that he needed it to finish of Austria and that he would return it to me afterwards and I believed him...
Spring 1904
In continuing my gleeful destruction of Italy, I took Greece.
It also became apparent that Italy and Austria had started to come to some kind of alliance as I saw Austria launch out of Tunis with reckless abandon towards France thus leaving himself at Italy’s mercy.
Germany kept trying to convince me to attack Russia and I kept putting it off.
Fall 1904
It appears Italy has lied to Austria as well, as Italy pounces on Tunis taking the Austrian out of the game.
I asked Russia to hold Trieste so we could stop the Italian from taking it.
At this point Germany has started to convince me to turn on Russia, I decided I’d move against him in the spring of 1906 as I assumed I’d hold trieste by then and would be able to build a fleet in Ank to help take the black sea
Spring 1905
Turns out Russia got the jump on the me. I was mildly hurt by this as I really like Steingrim, but thats Diplomacy. I decided to make peace with Italy as soon as possible seeing as I was definitely not going to survive this with a war on two fronts. I also start attempting to convince Germany to start sending units East against Russia before he became too strong.
Stein in his EoG commented on my move of an army to Greece instead of convoying to Apu. I actually told him in the press before the move that I was moving to Greece so I’m not sure why he thought otherwise. The reason I didn’t was that I didn’t want to leave Bul empty as it would have made me too much of a target. I intended to convoy the army from Greece to Apu in the following turn. This never eventuated of course because of Steins stab.
Fall 1905
From this point on the turns really speak for themselves, I continued to try and recruit Germany but I was steadily losing centres as I had a particularly undefended homeland.
I quickly sent my units back to try and maintain control but knew I was in a lot of trouble. If Germany had turned around immediately I might have had a chance but at this point he was too engrossed in France.
On the bright side, Italy and I started to finally work together properly and it became quite an enjoyable alliance.
Spring 1906 and onwards
I started trying to convince Russia to work with me in someway and he offered that if I was to send my fleets against Italy immediately he’d leave me 2-3 centres and wouldn’t finish me off. We had quite a bit of heated bargaining at this point and I was tempted to do what he said. However my one sticking point was that he needed to withdraw some units before I was going to move any fleets.
I think he understood why, as I couldn’t really spend a turn moving away and give him the opportunity to break his word and just roll through me. He wouldn’t boon me this request and because neither of us was willing to budge he simply continued grinding me down. A big part of my argument was that he needed me to solo (which I still maintain as true) but seeing as he wasn’t willing to give me the space there was no way I would turn west and as such I was removed from the game.
Italy technically dealt a final blow which was unfortunate but understandable.
In Conclusion
A big thank you to Abgemacht and Shadow for offering their advice and Valis for organising the SoW. I had a great deal of fun and despite being quite new to diplomacy and not altogether proficient with a lot of the nuances of the game, I learned a great deal.
Another big thank you to my TA PeteU who kept me alive far longer than I deserved to, I’m super appreciative of your help and look forward to playing against you one day.
Of course thank you to all the players, you were all great to play with and the variety of styles that you all employ was very enlightening and entertaining. Steingrim, I particularly enjoyed our alliance and you deserved to be in the winning position for the game. You played very well and are a very likeable player which I believe counts for a lot. I’m only slightly depressed that you stabbed me and luckily whiskey has helped me through that phase of my life.
Thanks again all.
Draffin
The School of War - Class of Winter 2015 
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