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Fall 2004 – What a great game to commentate on. Never a dull moment (or turn). Yet again chaos and destruction reign, as well as some inventive play (and another error or two). The retreats aren’t going to change anything bar disband choices, so here we go...

1. North America: W Can finally goes into the darkness, after what must have been a frustrating game for him. USA and Quebec do an ‘honesty’ bounce, but just look at the continent - there are hardly any units there. As long as the alliance holds, these two powers will be able to project all their force outwards

2. South America: Very similar to the north. Argentina moves away from threatening the Quebecois holdings. Is the failed Quebecois convoy move a mis-communication.

3. Oz/Frozen: Uh-oh. Frozen cannot be happy to see an army land in Antarctica, especially when there are two more readily available to repeat the trick. South Africa once again proves that any units can be useful. And USA gets ‘lucky’ – a successful sneak into New Zealand pretty much ensures Oz will be gone next year.

4. Africa: Ghana is this year’s India. 3 disbands. Foes everywhere. Not pretty. And an Argentine fleet docks in Africa, with support from Libya! South Africa at least gets a build, but is still squeezed between Frozen and Libya. Still, a net -1 isn’t bad, and I’m going top predict he’ll outlast Ghana

5. Europe/Middle East: Russia takes the guaranteed West Siberia (no defence against that combo), but still faces a disband, which will be interesting. And Near East finally shuffles off, having been convinced to try for his homelands, which was easily blocked, rather than defend what he held (and at least get another year).

6. Asia: Pac Russia has a problem. After his forced disband he’ll have one build. But the Russian’s will have two units (at least) harrying him, the USA has landed right next door, and the Chinese army has suddenly (well not really) appeared. What to build, and where? Who to trust. 2005 will be make or break for PR. Meanwhile China sails (so to speak) serenely on – only 1 SC this turn, but a very solid looking position.

Yet again, the naval action is very interesting

1. Atlantic: Ok – Europe and Pac Russia – you messed that up. In order to ensure Godthab Barent’s has to support Norwegian in (unbreakable support). NE At taps Labrador and it’s a done deal. Now the chance is gone. Apart from that lots of bouncing, and next year is going to require some skilful play from both sides if someone wants to achieve a breakthough. In the South, Argentina continues to dominate

2. Pacific: The USA splits his forces – in the north making sure of Alaska, and getting position on PR. In the south, New Zealand. Meanwhile, the Argentine navy becomes a two ocean force, and is well set to be of good use. These two allies now dominate this large open expanse between them. The Chinese navy is well set out to defend his territories, but it doesn’t look like he’s under any threat (yet)

3. Indian: China just squeezes down, while Frozen tries to edge into position.

4. Northern: The Quebecois move to Beaufort evens up the forces, and we’ll see if these former allies at warring, or if things can be patched up

5. Southern: No real movement here, although there is a big gap in the middle now
So builds to come, but we’ve had the first contact between the two power blocks, and the messages are mixed. Ghana start falls, while Europe shows that slow and steady can do well. Meanwhile, a couple of nations seem to be stalling, and things may well get (even more) surprising next year.

I apologize for not getting to this earlier.


As 2004 draws to a close, we're looking at the following strategic picture

North America / South America - held by an alliance of Quebec, USA, and Argentina. The three powers in question are now in expansion mode.

Africa - being digested slowly but surely by Libya... but by the time he finishes off his opponents he's going to have a serious problem: not anywhere *near* enough fleets to keep hostile powers out. There are nine territories facing East Atlantic alone - having a hostile power owning that territory is pretty much a recipe for disaster. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot Libya can do about it - even if he cranked out fleets every turn it would take at least a year to get them in place to do anything useful on the western Africa coast, and that's likely to be too late. For some strange reason I doubt Ghana is going to be willing to act as a shield and let Libya eat him from behind, so while he has had tactical successes against other African powers, his lack of an ally that can build on the west coast will ultimately be his doom.

While FS points out that Libya is trying to work with Argentina now, I don't see it lasting - there is nowhere else Argentina is going to be able to expand as easily as they can against Africa.

Europe:

Europe is on the defensive, despite getting two builds - he has all sorts of greedy nations to his east, and Quebec coming in from the north. The two Russias have managed to neutralize each other, and will be easy pickings for others due to their ongoing feud.

Asia: China is in a good position - enough fleets that he doesn't need to keep a lot of armies on the border, and distracted nations on his border. He needs to be wary of the Americas Alliance, but while he's the biggest player he's not so huge that others are going to unite against him... yet.

Australia / Antarctica - Antarctica has grown, but probably not fast enough. It is likely that Argentina will leave Africa to stew for awhile and start moving some serious metal down south. Once Antarctica is weakened, it's not exactly a challenging convoy trip up to Africa

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I'll do a better response later, but my first impression is "Stabtastic!"

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I'm going with strat on this. Will get something out later

What did you do at lunchtime Pete? Why I wrote some commentary, thank you for asking :)

Spring 2005 – Stabs? Miscommunications? Misorders? Who knows? Up here in the peanut gallery, it looks like some things are falling into place, while elsewhere cracks are beginning to show. Three eliminations look likely in the Fall, so we should be down to single figures in players.

1. North America: Is that a crack? The bounce is coupled with an apparent centre grab, and as the USA supported a different Quebecois movement, I’m sure the diplomatic channels are busy at the moment. The move to Monterrey is interesting – either the USA was expecting something else, or it’s part of a deep plan.

2. South America: Yet again, the Quebecois army is ordered to convoy, and it doesn’t happen. Apart from that there is nothing happening here.

3. Oz/Frozen: Oz = dead. Frozen cannot be stopped from taking NSW if he so desires. With no allies, to survive this long is pretty good. Argentina lands a second army as expected, so the tactical battle for Antarctica begins.

4. Africa: Ghana is still this year’s India – with sensible play from his foes he has zero chance of survival. South Africa keeps battling away, and ejects the Frozen fleet from his homeland – I think the Frozen moves were an error, and ensured a supported attack would take the SC. Meanwhile Libya’s fleets push off from the coast...

5. Europe/Middle East: ...and one ends up the Med, which is interesting. Meanwhile Russia NMRs as Europe guesses right, which means he’s pretty much dead this year as well. Not that he had much hope anyway.

6. Asia: A good turn on the land for Pac Russia – retakes the centre lost to Russia, and kicks the USA off the tip of Asia. With the tap from China, Russia couldn’t have done much even if he had ordered. China, meanwhile, pushes his armies up and begins to form a really useful border.

Yet again, the naval action is critical

1. Atlantic: North – nothing doing, as Europe & Quebec use their forces to support other moves. South – now belongs to Argentina, and is going to stay that way I would think.

2. Pacific: The USA shifts focus to the centre/south, and seems to have given the north up. The Chinese navy is well placed the push north, east or south, and has been cleverly moved to keep all those options open without really offending anyone (bouncing the Argentine move is more defending yourself then anything else).

3. Indian: China stays still through the magic of bouncing, while Frozen is finally in position to kill off Oz.

4. Northern: Pac Russia’s retaking of Siberia with his fleet means that this area now belongs to Quebec & USA. This may not be good for him if they can still work together. Also, the European support hold of a moving unit isn’t great – this stage of the game still requires allies to co-ordinate well, otherwise you will lose ground to your foes. After getting into position to push the North American forces back, Europe and Pac Russia have messed it up.

5. Southern: So again fleets support other moves, and a bit of bouncing keeps the South African navy safe from his Frozen foe. Until someone makes a move, this is likely to be the least interesting sea (cue massive movement in the Fall)

bump. strat?

I was going to wait until the turn kicked over - I don't have a lot of free time right now, so I'm just trying to get in one message per game year.

Regarding the conflict apparently brewing between USA and Quebec, I see that there are three options:

1 - It's a ruse designed to throw people off
2 - It's a stab
3 - USA believes it's a ruse designed to throw people off, but it's really a stab

Just from the moves, it looks like USA is moving on Argentina, and presumably thought Quebec would as well, but instead Quebec decided to take advantage of his distraction

let me clarify - I do have *some* free time, but not enough to offer a reasonable amount of feedback.

One other note: Guys, seriously, if you're going to try flaming me, at least *try*. The comments directed at me.... weak, weak sauce.

You'd be better off trying to kiss the asses of your neighbors to avoid the anal rapeage which appears to be the threat of the day over there and less trying to bring your pathetic best to the table against me. Just accept I'm out of your league and play in the sandbox with the rest of the short bus crew

Intersting thought on the USA moves strat. I suppose that if the support for the Argentine navy had worked, the fleet that he moved south would have had free reign on the coast of South America. On the other hand, it could just be a reshuffling of forces to head towards Australia

Whups - ignore that last comment; that was for the Rage is Therapy thread!

LOL @ strat!

@Strat- Best comment on this thread ever, lol.

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And the answer appears to have been (1).

I'm going to let strat go first with the view from the peanut gallery

And the turn kicks over - it appears it was option #1 re: my earlier post

North / South America:

The alliance chugs on. A pretty good attempt to through confusion into the game by a faux stab didn't end up getting a superior position, so Quebec and USA are still moving slowly. Argentina is starting to seriously exploit the lack of opposition fleets - expect to see some convoy action soon.

Quebec, what the heck are you doing with the army in REC? Pick a spot and convoy already, instead of just trying to draw lines on the map ;)

Africa:

Three builds for Kenya. Ghana goes down. South Africa will probably be joining him shortly.

Europe/Asia:

Russia goes poof. Europe gets two builds, and appears to working with Libya, Pacific Russia, and possibly China. If they form a power block it's going to be hard to get at them.

Oz/Antarctica:

Oz goes poof. Frozen gains a build, but the Argies are moving in

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So we appear to have two major power blocks: USA / Quebec / Argentina and Europe / Kenya / Pacific Russia / China. I would suspect the two remaining powers (South Africa and Antarctica) are due for elimination, and unless we see some stabbing, that's going to end up being the finalists in a draw.

I've not got a lot to add to my esteemed colleague's comments. I find the Chinese army moves....interesting, and I think that there is the potential for one more power to be eliminated. I sent strat a prediction a couple of turns ago, and I'll reveal what I thought at the end.

Oh, and that's Libya, not Kenya

Close enough ;)

bumpers

up up and away....

+1 'anal rapeage'

I'll enter a rage-based commentary once the turn kicks over ;)

Just wanted to say "Blimey look at all those fleets!". No-one has built anything else.

Which doesn't surprise me at all - in the end game, fleets are vital for keeping on the offense - or keeping *other* people from screwing you. I'll comment this evening when the Spring turn is complete, there isn't anything exceptionally stunning in the Builds