Well that was an interesting first year.
It looks, to me, like Valis has done well, with Capt Brad (Germany) not bouncing him and letting him take Sweden. Also, Ishirkmywork surprised me by not convoying his army from Edinburgh to Norway, so it looks like both England and Germany are wanting to be friends with Valis in the North. Valis has also positioned his armies well in the South to move into Galicia and threaten Ogion with Austria
It looks like a real test for Ogion with Austria, just as well that Ogion is a highly ranked player. Ogion has a strong Russia on his borders, plus mitomon with Italy tried for Trieste last move.
Big opportunity in all of that for Hathkin with Turkey.. if he chose to support Ogion ? Or not. On "form" Hathkin is the lowest ranked player in this game, and has two of the best, Valis & Ogion as neighbours.
Capt Brad (Germany) has taken a rather "anti France" strategy with two consecutive attempts to get an army into Burgundy. It looks like Demon Overlord ( France) has out played him, tactically, by moving to Burgundy with support in the Spring move, and then capturing Belgium with an army, and bouncing him in Burgundy in the Autumn move. It also looks like Demon Overlord has outcome Capt Brad in the diplomacy caper, by getting England and Italy to give France leave & it looks like England is keen to invade Germany in cooperation with France.
So Capt Brad is doing it tough..only one build, so it will be interesting to see how Valis acts, will he move against England, or not. Will Valis build a new fleet in St Petersburg North Coast ? Or will he play a more subtle game in the North and go hard in the South ? My guess is Valis will see the opportunity to use Capt Brad as a pawn and prevent England and France from being able to quickly defeat Germany.. with the qualification that trying to predict what the wily, & imho, "Machiavellian" maestro, Valis will do is extremely difficult.
So, my ratings are..best performers in the first year are..Valis & Demon Overlord, with a special mention for Ogion ( he did well despite being attacked by Italy and threatened by Russia, and got Greece against competition from Turkey.
Still, I think Ogion's immediate future will depend on what Turkey and Italy do.