I will check these out thanks.

Here's a game where I convinced Austria to work with me early on against Turkey, and I managed to solo in 1906. It turned out that Turkey was the only other player in that game who was any good, and once he was gone, nobody else put up too much of a fight. gameID=125938. I've been finding recently that I like to kill Russia when I play Turkey and to kill Turkey when I play Russia.

Working on my EoG on the weekend. I'll post next week.

Would still love to see some End of Game statements from the other players and TA's.

Not sure about the others but I've got 37 pages (109 when copy and pasted into Word) of game messages to go through... A bit of work to get it down to 500ish words :)

No problem. Just bumping the thread.

@RAZ- Traditionally, EOGs especially for major players can stretch well over 500 words (often closer to 5000) which I think would be welcome (and even encouraged). I don't want to speak for thehamster, but I would imagine that by 500 is perfect he meant at least 500. Presumably, if you have something to say, we all would love to hear it.

@Raz, another member Obiwan has posted messages unrelated to games that are over 10,000 words, no one is going to complain to see a long in depth message. Just the opposite, the more detail the better, though don't feel you have to spend a ton of time on it.

Congratulations on the win A_Tin_Can, that was an excellent game all around, and thank you to all the TA's, students, and other professors (who picked up the slack when I was unable to continue posting).

I've been working on my EoG in spare moments over the last few days. Hope to have it up early this coming week. It will definitely be well over 500 words (though I'm trying to keep it interesting, of course), so glad to hear the limit isn't flexible.

*is flexible :)

Cool, I won't abbreviate my EoG too much then. It will take me longer but hopefully it will help someone in the future (besides myself).

Guys, do you think this was a disrespectful comment?

"I don't mind terribly if you want to keep this thread for yourself, but please don't bump it unnecessarily then."

If not please keep it in mind will you.

Hey Lopt, you are disrespectful. Just mute this thread and get over yourself. Thanks.

I would say "get over yourself is more disrespectful". In any case, I didn't realize I could mute and it wasn't my intention to be disrespectful. I don't think I was either.

Saying "get over yourself" however most definitely is disrespectful.

Lopt, you've been asked not to post here already by the TD of this game, do so again and it will be a 24 hour silence.

As I have exams this week, I can't promise to get my EoG in until the weekend at the earliest, and possibly not until sometime next week.

Mendax asked how many School of War games there have been.
Great question. Depending on how you count them, 19. (The gunboat SoW games, the Dojo of War, and the games that were restarted due to CD's are questionable.)
Here's the list for your bookmarking pleasure.

SoW I gameID=10755 G/I/T Draw
SoW II gameID=10963 Russian Solo
SoW III gameID=11113 E/F/T Draw
SoW IV gameID=11284 6-way Draw
SoW V gameID=13331 England Solo
SoW VI gameID=15796 5-way Draw
SoW 2011 gameID=46236 Turkish Solo
SoW 2011 gameID=46924 E/G/I/A Draw
SoW Gunboat I gameID=56991 6-way Draw
SoW Gunboat II gameID=57512 5-way Draw
SoW Summer 2011 gameID=62777 5-way Draw
SoW Summer 2011-2 gameID=63029 F/G/R/T Draw
SoW Winter 2012 gameID=77742 E/I/T Draw
SoW Summer 2012 gameID=91053 E/A/R Draw
SoW Fall 2012 gameID=103225 F/R/T Draw
Dojo of War gameID=117976 6-Way Draw
SoW Summer 2013-1 gameID=118036 5-Way Draw
SoW Summer 2013-2 gameID=118549 E/F/R/T Draw
SoW Fall 2013 gameID=126887 Italy Solo

Woah. Before I go digging, do they all have forum threads?

Also, this made me realise that it would be useful to post a link to the forum thread in the global chat at the start of the game, for future readers (and potentially, also useful for players at the time).

For those of you who may have considered signing up in the past but may doubt the ability of our TAs and Professors to produce results, take a look at some of the recent graduates of the SoW who have gone on to become marginally productive members of our site:

ghug
steephie
Gen Lee
bosox
celticfox
theministerofwar
Cachimbo
Yonni
Draugnar
Tom Bombadil

For those of you playing along at home, yes, there are TWO current mods and one former mod among the SoW alumni. Just goes to show that you don't need any real Diplomacy skill to be a mod, I guess.

Hey Tin

There are no threads for the Dojo of War or the Gunboat games (neither of which should really count, since not much effort or attention went into those games). The discussion for SoW 1-4 disappeared into the ether of the internet. You'll notice that the SoW's presided over by peterwiggin and TruNinja are easily the most well-covered.

SoW I gameID=10755 G/I/T Draw
SoW II gameID=10963 Russian Solo
SoW III gameID=11113 E/F/T Draw
SoW IV gameID=11284 6-way Draw
SoW V gameID=13331 England Solo threadID=474841
SoW VI gameID=15796 5-way Draw threadID=501033
SoW Winter 2011-1 gameID=46236 Turkish Solo threadID=669448
SoW Winter 2011-2 gameID=46924 E/G/I/A Draw threadID=672851
SoW Summer 2011 gameID=62777 5-way Draw threadID=738795
SoW Summer 2011-2 gameID=63029 F/G/R/T Draw threadID=739795
SoW Winter 2012 gameID=77742 E/I/T Draw threadID=813957
SoW Summer 2012 gameID=91053 E/A/R Draw threadID=884531
SoW Fall 2012 gameID=103225 F/R/T Draw threadID=940795
SoW Summer 2013-1 gameID=118036 5-Way Draw threadID=1010911
SoW Summer 2013-2 gameID=118549 E/F/R/T Draw threadID=1013333
SoW Fall 2013 gameID=126887 Italy Solo threadID=1054331

Wow awesome job hamster

I was so damn close to the solo in Winter 2011 :/

You and me both goldfinger ;-p

Also, 2WL, that makes THREE current mods and a former mod among SoW grads

Hey, if Germany hadn't bounced me out of Baltic, Pete, I could've made a real good run for the solo.

You mean 4 former mods as students, a 5th as a professor, 3 current mods as students, and then one or two current admins as professors. And shhhh, don't give away how we pick mods.

*waves hand for future consideration*

Stay in school, kids.

I was the TA for Russia in this game. As his TA I attempted to give advice and options but ultimately left the decision making to him. Perhaps a more robust TA/student relationship could have yielded greater results.
Duckofspades has already written a pretty extensive writeup so I will limit mine to three critical points in Russia's game and give some thoughts on it.
"BRING OUT YOUR DEAD"
1901 was a complete and utter disaster. Thats the God awful truth of it. 0 builds for Russia is something one almost never sees. I chalk this up to a failure in diplomacy but an amazing lesson to be learned. In low end, low priced games which many of our students (and myself) play in, it is rare to see Germany bounce Russia in Sweden and to a lesser extent Turkey in Rumania (Turkey always eyes Greece). In low end games, you dont even want to broach the subject with Germany or Turkey for fear of putting ideas in their heads. However, in high end games, threatening, promising not to or performing a bounce in neutral areas is common practice in the opening year.
Lesson Learned : If someone hasnt asked you about what you can offer them to not bounce you....be concerned.
"ITS JUST A FLESHWOUND"
As everyone was wondering what flowers to place on Russia tombstone, DuckofSpades worked some diplomacy magic in the best way a weak power can....making himself useful to those around him. Austria and he worked themselves into a strong relationship with future plans against Turkey, which was Duck's desire all along while simultaniously working an arrangement with England to get into Sweden, with Englanfd hoping a bitter Russia would assist against Germany.
With Austria as a stalwart ally smarting from an Italian stab, England as a passive supporter, Turkey bottled up and a German looking west.....the world was Russia's oyster.
Lesson Learned : Duck taught us all, that no matter how dim things look, things can change on a dime through use of proper diplomacy.
"THAT BURNED DOWN, FELL OVER, THEN SANK INTO THE SWAMP"
1903. The year that changed everything for Russia. Spring 1903, Duck and I had a pretty heavy discussion regarding Austria. He was set on supporting Austria and doing nothing which would jeapardize the relationship. I advocated moving Warsaw to Galacia. This would give Russia the option in the Fall of supporting Austria in Vienna/Budapest in exchange for support in Bulgaria or stabbing Austria if it became clear things would crumble.
In the end, Warsaw continued to hold at the behest of Austria, Austria continued to crumble and was unable/willing to lend support against Turkey.
Lesson Learned : Do not get married to a pre-game plan. Always be willing to hedge alliances and move in ways which give you options.