S12: A very brutal year for one player in particular and we will also see the final three by the game's end. I think I can now say with certainty, the rest of the game is about cleaning up loose ends.

#1 and 2: France and Turkey:
For the first time, I have placed Turkey in the top spot, although it's a shared position, so a hearty congrats to him in his successful change of events.

France: I'm more apt to place you in the second spot but only based on the centers you'll gain this season. Your position is a beautiful one and you'll definitely see a new center at Liverpool this season, but I'm not entirely sure you'll get Edinburgh. The second great thing about your position is that you threaten so many of your opponent's centers. Anytime you threaten 2 or more neighboring centers, it forces your opponent to really have to think about what you might do. In your position, there are no less than a dozen ways you could move depending on how aggressive you play, which centers you're going to put emphasis on and how you think Germany will move and this type of diversity really means that Germany is simply guessing and when you have your opponent on the ropes like you do here, then all the power is on your side. Although it doesn't need to be said, you're one of the 3 countries that will participate in the endgame draw and I think this type of press has made up a portion of your messages in the past several years. You've worked cohesively with Russia and I don't see any singular power having the ability to get a solo.

Turkey: A really fortunate turn of events was the NMR of Italy. This helped you speed up the process in reducing the country. Another congrats in resecuring Russia as an ally and at this point, it's a matter of finalizing another year or two. I like your position a bit more than the French one in that you have all the bonuses of the French player in the way you're threatening a ton of your opponents centers forcing him to guess at what you're going to do but you also have the option of stabbing an ally at any point if you felt that you had the chance of a solo and the stab would be pretty good. At this point, though, I don't see another stab in the future. If you'd have had over 10 centers, then I'd be telling Russia and France to watch their backs, but like I mentioned earlier, this part is simply about cleaning up. It doesn't really need to be stated since it's obvious, but you'll be one of the players at the endgame and congrats at turning a last-place position into a potentially first place ending. When I calculate my personal stats, I enjoy seeing a first-place position in a draw. Even though it might not translate to more in terms of the draw, I feel it's better to be the top guy in a draw rather than third or fourth.

#3 Russia: Not a bad number 3 because this position is still really solid. I love the move to Silesia since it prevents stabs, even though I don't see one coming in this game at this point. I also like the move to Lvn and Mos. It was conservative compared to a direct march into St Pete but it was a sure thing. I'm sure most people would say that Germany was 90% certain to not move Norway into St Pete and I agree with them because his disband occurred there showing that he has no interest in defending his rear flank, but there's still a small chance that he'd have bounced you there, and sometimes it's better to be safe than sorry, especially since you weren't going to get Nwy this season, so why not take the sure route. It also goes without saying that you'll be the final person in the endgame draw since I don't foresee any reason for anyone to stab anyone else. You, France and Turkey were all at the cusp of defeat in this game and all three of you turned things around to end on a strong note. A big congrats to you as well.

#4 Germany: I'm glad to see that you continue fighting even though you'll be out this game. I'm sure I can say that everyone who has played a dozen or more games of Diplomacy has been there before and I know it sucks, but it says something really great about you that you're willing to fight to the last man. Not all games flow like this one and sometimes someone will try to solo and someone else will need to keep a minor power on the map to ensure that the top dog doesn't move on to solo. I myself have kept a small country around to ensure that someone didn't solo and that low center country wound up with part of a draw instead of an elimination. You did a great job for 95% of the game and it was only a small portion of the game where you overextended yourself that caused you to falter. At this stage in the game, you've got a lot of choices on how to defend, but I usually find that defending only means you die slower. In my opinion, I think it's better to throw in some tricks and try to slip behind enemy lines and screw up their backfield. They wrecked your game, so spend some time wrecking theirs. It often results in a few things: (a) Your opponent sees that you're throwing yourself at him and he backs off because he doesn't have the lone strength to defeat you and you win a new ally, (b) It does nothing to faze your opponent but it slows or halts his progress while his ally sees regular gains, at which point you can rest well that since you're going down, your opponent could easily get stabbed in the process, and (c) It sometimes spurs someone neighboring your opponent to join the foray and it wins you an ally in the process. In the past several seasons, that's what I'd have tried. Focus on one opponent (didn't matter if it was Russia or France) and fight them until they cry 'uncle' or get so pissed at you that they spout profanities at you vehemently. I don't see that happening in this game, but it's something to think about in the future. Reducing yourself to defending is a hard habit to break because people often think that if they survive long enough that someone will come to their aid, and while it's true in a small portion of games, it's far more common that your assault on one opponent will cause them to break.

#5 Italy: Uh...an NMR? I see you haven't been on in over 4 days and it wasn't even you that requested the pause, so I don't really understand the NMR here, especially given that your profile shows that you were on 2 days ago. I'm not saying that this NMR will cost you anything, because you were out the door anyhow since the R/T reformed for the final push, but it's still poor show. Hopefully you'll return to finish this out.