5 Days of Pain

End of Game Statement

Anonymous players – very slow.

I play England and allied with France early on and opened with Edi-Norg; Lon-NS; Liv-Yor. Germany NMR’d so I tried for and gained Denmark in the autumn. France gained 3 SCs, Turkey gained 2 and Ger, Italy, Russia and AH all gained 1 SC.

Italy and AH were at war and Russia and Turkey did appear to be co-operating. My alliance with France seemed strong enough.

France then attacked Germany and I concentrated on Russia and Scandinavia. I eventually neutralised Russia yet offered to support his St P unit until the end of the game, which I did. I lost and regained London to germany and France was now pushing on through Germany and into Italy and Austria. Turkey was doing well in pushing through southern Russia and Austria.

Then Turkey quit, (a turning point in the game I feel) France was left with an easy victory unless I started taking SCs from him as he gained them on the front line. If I was France I would have tried to solo here so I thought I had to take some of his SCs.

A new Turkey then entered the game. Whilst France and I had quarrelled, I viewed this as both of us trying to get the best result we could. I wanted to prevent anyone (turk) soloing and tried to keep both Russia and Italy alive knowing their SCs would be critical. France still perceived me as a threat, and didn’t want to draw with Russia and Italy.

And then something strange happened, it became apparent to me that Turkey would solo, so my only intent was to force a draw, but France insisted in giving up his SCs to Turkey so Turkey could win outright. Turkey probably couldn’t believe his luck, he joined as a replacement and was handed the game.

France says that he threw the game because I didn’t help him enough in the early game and he had threatened me that he would throw the game if I didn’t do as he asked.

This was an enjoyable game, albeit a little slow. I don’t criticise France for throwing the game, but I would be interested to learn a little more about the psych of this attitude. Do people generally feel better following through with athreat rther than adjusting to the changing game conditions? Do they think that it improves their chances of being listened to in future? Or are they acting like spoilt children?

I would like to re-iterate, I’m not criticising France, he played well to get into a great position and although I try to win or get the best possible draw, I accept tat other people play for different reasons, I’m just trying to understand those reasons so I can be a better player.