Board 1:
We are only seven players, so Alex has to play as well; remembering how he played Germany and was stabbing my Russia in Scandinavia basically every turn we shared a border until I was gone from there the week before, I was just hoping not ending up next to him and also not in between Robert and Carl (the guy with the beard) who seemed to be old acquaintances. But I was hopeful I could make a good impression and it only being 6 other guys that after game 1 and then probably playing another game with them, I might get some sort of credits and do well in the second game.
Off we go, Country assignments: I didn’t really know the names of the people yet, so most of the assignments were blanks to me until I heard my name…. Italy! Could have been better, but I wasn’t really unhappy with that, after listening to the Italy podcast a few weeks ago I was curious to try some of the things I had heard in there and determined not to just sit there dithering and slowly fading away… I had a plan!
Who would be Austria? Curiously I was awaiting the assignment….. Alex!
Shit! So I would have to defend Venice from turn 1. So much for my plan of being active and trying all these fun things, but ok, hopefully as Austria he will be busy defending the Balkans and maybe not look at me as aggressively as when he was Germany last week. Maybe Russia or Turkey would keep him busy enough. Russia was the only other guy from outside of the greater Boston Area, Will, my companion in fighting 7 Eleven sandwiches (the store was next door), and I knew he also played online at playdip besides FtF. Maybe I could get him into an IT? Turkey was Robert, which was ok, I didn’t expect him to make stupid moves and allow Alex to grow too fast. Until I saw who was France. The guy with the beard, Carl, Robert’s best friend. They surely won’t both go at me with fleets… or will they? Well, at least not in 1901, but overall the assignment couldn’t have gone much worse.
OK, game starts, everyone tells me they are my friends and they don’t trust the other guys. I decide to keep most options open and as I will surely exit soon, play a fast-paced game and no lengthy lepanto that Alex would stab me out of anyways. So I’m getting all my units to where they can do something, Ven-Tyl, Rom-Ven and Nap-Ion. Alex is not too happy with that but as Turkey and Russia seem to be fighting, it all seems to be ok for me. I try to convince Alex I am not looking at his dots and wonder what to do next. R/T not going for a jugger, nothing interesting happening in the west I decide to stab Alex and support myself into Tri, wanting to get off to a good start and 5 centers. Maybe this game will last a bit longer than I expected. Alas, Alex guesses right, blocks me from Trieste, walks into Greece uncontested and gets 2 builds. To make things worse, France builds a southern fleet. There go all my plans of being active and doing something good here. I have no idea where my 5th center could possibly come from, I have France on my heels, his best buddy is playing Turkey and I have angered and unsuccessfully stabbed Austria.
The next year goes as expected, I do not pick up anything and am stuck at 4. E and F turn out to be allied and with Russia also turning onto Germany he is in an even worse shape than I am. Alex at least is occupied with R and T in the Balkans, it looks like I will do the exact one thing I did not want to do: Dither and wither. Come Fall 03 I get the impression my only way to do anything here is to stab each and everyone. I accept France’s support into Munich despite telling Russia I would support him there and walk into Trieste realizing that after 3 seasons of truce it might be unprotected. Both work and to my surprise I find myself at 6 units, suddenly capable of defending against French fleets and thanks to a Turkish(?) gain Austria being too small to take revenge. In the next years I continue to stab on all sides and get to 7, down to 6 , up to 7 an then up to 9, 12 and finally 13 centers. After me getting into Marseilles and an English stab, France is crumbling and on his way out, I come around Iberia, lose Marseilles in the process but end up in Brest, Austria is finally going down as well, Russia later blames it on me that because of my failed support into Munich in 03 he didn’t get a crucial build (true) that gave England the upper hand in the north to expand all the way into Moscow and up to 11 centers, but Russia keeps Berlin and Munich that I lost in 05 until the end of the game. Because of me growing at Austria’s cost, Russia and Turkey are forced into an alliance but with their armies partially out of position and Russia being busy in Germany and with England on his doorstep, both not really being able to profit from Austria’s demise so that most falls to me. Despite losing hold of Mun and Mar, I end up with Bre, Por, Spa, Tun, my 3, the Austrian 3 and Ser, Gre, Rum when the game ends, me unexpectedly leading the tournament.
to be continued...
Point Reimburstment
)
)
)
)