I sadly didn't have much choice after your NMR.

Im not disappointed in you S. Digits. We were put in a hole right away. And then later when the members of the Triple refused to play for a win, we had no choice but to waste away at the stalemate line

Yeah and only one of us got eliminated, you tools. :-)

Next time someone says "Let's try this unorthodox opening I read about" I know to say yes but play it as no. Especially if Agent K is in the game. :-)

Seriously though, well played. With an orchestrated RA alliance, my porr Turkey didn't stand a chance.

Oh, and that hole was hardly right away. You both came after me right away. Your hole was your own doing for focusing with tunnel vision on me.

Im just happy to have survived. My allies were faithful to me even when i could have been eliminated in a snap. Thanks guys! Sorry draugnar, tough luck. Id play with this great group again anytime.

I'd play again too, but not anon. That game is the exact reason I hate anon. People have no problem blatantly lying to your face when they are hidden by a mask.

Yes, they do have no problem. Sorry draugnar!

Hehe...well it was designed to be a remedial game. My priority was relearning the game after 15 months rather than go for a solo.

K, the problem wasn't a 'lack of killer instinct's, it was a lack of opportunity. You pushed early and often for the triple to break up, but you never really presented a reason why it would be in our interest to do so.

Granted, it would have benefitted you and Austria, but that's kinda the point. I was at a whopping eight centers - not exactly a place where a solo is going to be a guarantee.

Sometimes I hate this phone.

In any case, there was no real opportunity to stab on my own, and no real motivation to stab with an ally.

And then theres me, italy. Who lived with one sc. In a hardcore 1000 point game i would have been crushed but here my allies were what you would expect from great allies.

K would have wiped you had he not NMRed ;)

Likely. But i at least was faithful to my allies.

Draugnar I was actually fully willing to go for the opening up until you told me that you mentioned it to Austria. you told him that it was the anti-russia opening. There was no need to tell him exactly what the opening was. If i was Austria in that position, I would highly suspect that it was the hidden jugg, especially after you tell him its anti-russian. So at that point I made a strong pitch to Austria to screw you over and he was more than willing

And Diplomat I was going to kill you that turn. I was planning on entering my moves as late as possible. I had read all the global messages and wanted it to seem that I hadnt been there to read them. Unfortunately I missed the turn.

But to be honest, and I expressed this to Austria as well, I dont really see what Diplomat did in that game. He didnt believe me that France was coming after him even after a fleet marseilles build and then put up little to no fight against France and even Germany. Then he just cherrypicked one center from Turkey after he was basically dead. So being faithful to your "allies" or just floundering doing jack shit

Either way i survived, so i dont care what you think of it. but yes, i should have believed you about france. strategos you stabber! :)

That's not the point Diplomat. I am curious what your thought process was the entire game. can you enlighten me?

Just trying to win, but later beat the triple that stabbed me.

Agent K and Draug: what was this special R/T opening which never eventuated?

Fleet Ank->Arm?

Hi Spyman. Ive been infatuated with the "Ship of the Desert" opening. The basic idea is that it disguises a Juggernaut and causes mass confusion. The wiki entry goes into more detail. I tried it once before with I think Hellalt in a GFDT game but he turned against it

@AK - Yeah, in hindsight, I should have kept my mouth shut altogether to Austria. I do have only myself to blaim as I tried playing him against you and was planning to stab one or the other when the time was right.

no problem Draugnar. It was just really unfortunate because I was really hoping this would be the game for it to work. although it was nice to finally play with you as a neighboring country. Until next time!

AK....I did a variation of that manuever in this game:
http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=22598

My Turkey was a bit nervous and misunderstood an important move early on which put us on the defense the rest of the game.

The Western Triple ran smoothly, but the AH-R alliance has blocked us pretty well too. At the end, there was not a possible stab that was both safe and profitable for anyone.

I'd agree with JP. I do think that England probably could have stabbed Germany, but still.

Never would have guessed Turkey for Draugnar. And I blatantly lie to people's faces whether or not my name is visible, I have no shame. :)

EOG: France:

I started the game the way I start virtually any game: telling my neighbors how awesome they were and how much my other neighbor sucked.

No one was willing to commit to anything, but actions in the East made it clear there was either A) massive chaos or B) some strong alliance between two or more countries. Since neither of my neighbors would agree to jump the other, I suggested a Triple, and they agreed.

Russia spent a lot of effort trying to break the Triple, but he didn't get anywhere with me, primarily because he didn't offer a compelling alternative. "You should stab because you might get away with it" may work with a newbie, but it pays to look a few years into the future in this game.

I was pretty content with E and G stalemating, as I still saw myself able to make progress. Had I hit ten centers before they broke the line I might have considered stabbing, but it would have been silly with most of my units committed to the Med. Gaining one English SC and losing three in the Med is a bad exchange.

@SD - Not my finest game, for certain. But that's how the cookie crumbles. Agent K is a good player and I thought he was someone else who is a lesser player (not bad, but not Agent K's level), so I screwed myself by trying to play the player.