*THAN the ones he suggested

In the GFDT, I had a game with EdiBirsan.

I know that he is a legendary player, and no, I was not suprised how good he was. In fact, on more than one occasion, I could have simply defeated him. Actually, if I had done so, I would have had a solo-victory.

But what really impressed me was how incredibly flexible he was with the way the supply centers were distributed. ALL other players I had ever seen, including me, always want, even if for they only have 2 and I have 15 centers, that at least their centers are conjointed. Alliances usually work in coherent blocks. One big block of yellow, one big block of blue, etc.

Edi had no problem at all of taking a supply center wherever it was useful to the strategy, only taking back his 2 of his homecenters because building units there, instead of in italy, was much more useful to us.

I can wholeheartly say that this was the most stable alliance I have ever had, and despite the fact that I could have simply whiped Edi out and gone for a solo-win, I agreed to a 6-way draw instead. (partialy due to the reason that because of another gfdt game where I got a solo-win already, my entry into the final round is already secured, all points above that are just fluff)

take a look at the game

gameID=10808

now tell me what you would have done in EdiBirsans place?

most other players I know would have plotted like mad to bring italy down while allying with france and germany. not out of malice, simply because every other player would have been paranoid as fuck about italy simply swooping down on him, something I seriously considered long and hard.

but when a player has THAT much trust in me, I simply could not brign myself to do it.

and that deeply impressed me. Tacticaly, he had done a bad job, but diplomaticaly, one could say he totaly had me.

I've played two games with a new player called Iggy, one a standard game and the other a gunboat. Whilst there hasn't been one 'stand-out' moment, you only need to look at the guys stats to see that he will be a force to be reckoned with. Finished 4 games and won two of them. In the two he is playing at the moment he has great chance of soloing in one and a good position in the other (although in fairness he was helped a little by some NMRs)

His stats could soon be 4 from 6. Impressive.

following on from my post about Iggy's stats - one of the games he didin't win was a one move game where 5 player's resigned in the first move! Otherwise his stats would have been even better - this is a player to watch.

There's been a bunch I've been impressed with and usually one theme has held true. They continue communicating even after you've stabbed them, even after they are nearly down and out of the game, even after they hold most of the cards, even after - fill in the blank... Regardless of what has taken place prior in the game, they keep talking and trying to either work with you, or simply work you. Some have been excellent allies as well as excellent opponents: Some names (and please forgive me, as there are definitely more than I can mention):
djbent, zscheck, airborne, ukla, lulzworth, friendly sword, babak, jbalcorn, ike, BZD, bhzoner, et al.
I look forward to having more names to mention after the TMG tourney and some more GM challenge games.

I can honestly say this game/site has become nearly as much an addiction as watching College Football (for me personally, I suppose).

Thanks Maniac for spending the nice words to introduce me into the network of webdiplomacy. Too bad in the one game you didn't ally with me. You could have ended up much better. ;-)

@Iggy - as I recall I did ally with you - i was germany and you were England. I bounced russia in sweden and then supported your unit there the following turn. You swiftly stabbed me and took denmark from me. That kind of thing puts a strain on an alliance. In fairness we then allied later and you kept me alive. Allying with you in our gunboat game was an option and maybe I should have gone down that route - but then I'm still learning the game.

that's all very nice but I was expecting at least 10 persons claiming that I was the best opponent they ever had. They may be late. Perhaps they ll respond later...

who are ya?

I'm very impressed with Perry6006's moves.

tactics wise, bartdogg42 impressed me in an early game, and i haven't really seen someone play as brilliantly since that game. as for diplomacy, i seem to always get played by babak. he seems to have disappeared, but i always appreciated jbalcorn's indefatigable chattiness no matter what was happening, and i could say the same about LanGaiden, who is still playing. Friendly Sword is also pretty good at getting in my head, and MarekP has always struck me as impressive b/c he always asks, when we are allied "does my plan sound good, or do you see a better way?"

I would diffinetly agree about bartdogg he is a very good player

i would also agree about Perry6006

I impress myself.

What's unfortunate is that you are the only one that gets impressed by rlumley. Gotcha!

DJBent and MadMarx play the same way. Never have a negative thing to say about either, and you sit there with a smile on your face as they rip your SCs from you. I hate realizing that when it's too late ;)

Ivo is a classic player as well. I have probably mentioned it before, but on a couple occasions, I've asked him if he's going to stab me next turn, and he said "Afraid so". Heh... what honesty! I also appreciate that often times, when he stabs, he doesn't wipe out the ally, just takes what he needs and moves on. Usually the stabee appreciates the survive enough to join him in an alliance. A tactic, I'll admit, that I've stolen from him ;)

There is two players in the SoW games that have impressed me (besides Ivo) whom I'll talk about after the game is finished.

bartdogg won 3 of 4 league games in D-level.

wish i could have played with Edi but he seems to have one from this site. Rait is a master long term strategical player who is very good, Ghostmaker has a very impressive knowledge of stalemate lines, The Mastergamer , Braveheart and flashman are very flexible open minded allies, Madmarx never gives up, even when facing utter defeat.
ivanov (?) was a very dependable ally full of good suggestions.

one= gone

oh, one thing I can say about Edi (only played with him once)... he loses SCs, and doesn't seem to care... he just changes strategy and continues on. Tenacious would almost be the word to use.

Edi is...interesting.

MadMarx is the most impressive I've played with. He made me do things I didn't really want to do, but I thought I did. I think he is a witch.

Babak...in every single game I have played with him so far.

Jacob somehow makes me want him to win. I don't get it, but I've played a small number of games with him, and I have to remind myself that he's the enemy and not a 'good guy'.

And the worst two time I've been suckered has both been from Centurian. I don't think that's coincidence. He really pissed me off, deserved my flame, but the last one was really really awesome - I have to admit. Made me the biggest fool ever (aka a France with zero builds in 1901)

It will have to be a long list to not miss anyone. I think it's safe to say there's an overall increase in the level of play this last year. A lot of new quality additions and old players (I think I count as one of these now) are learning off each other and getting better all the time.

There are a few that I'd like to mention for their thinking, diplomacy and communcation skills as well as their tactical skills but this thread is about being impressed by moves. I don't think I've ever been impress by individual moves per se. It's not like they can be particularly surprising or cleverly executed like a football move or a judo throw.

"Ooh, look at how that army crossed the border from Venice to Tyrolia How the heck did that happen? I wonder if they went through the Brenner Pass." Can't really see that happen.

I think they mean the actual tactics in the strictest sense. Like, doing a set of moves that you were probably not expecting and that seemed to be very well thought out/brilliant.

of course there are actual tactics. I'm an expert in tactics, my weakness is diplomacy :p
In tactics, attacking a unit to cut support can have totally different effect than supporting your own unit to hold. Also, it's what Thucydides mentions. You have to think like the other player, find out what his move will be and respond with a surprise. For example, in one of my games I am Austria and in war with Russia and Turkey. They used 4 units to get Rumania. I anticipated Turkey to attack Serbia cutting my crucial support so I just left Rumania entering Ukraine. This gives me now access to unprotected Mos and War (Did I mention I also have a unit in Galicia?) and I'll probably take both till the end of the year.

hellalt, for absolutely trouncing me in the game we played together, but still turning around and saving my last unit so I survived rather than being defeated.

BESM for being an absolutely cool ally. One of the easiest to work with I've met on this site.

I agree with BESM being a fun and easy to work with ally.

Jbalcorn and djbent are always fun to play with because of the chatter; I always seem to be enemies with them though which is a bit disconcerting.

I'm not sure i've been "wowed" tactically a whole lot. Babak and Langaiden in our current game took me for a totally unexpected ride though.