I don't have time to write mine at the moment, but it'll be up within the next day or so

Just look at the position after Spring 1910 moves. Total mayhem.

I returned after A08 moves. If I may say, I think I did a pretty good job up north upon my return...

Don´t have time for a full EOG now, but I agree the game was epic in some moments, and the lever of play was really high.
And I made the same mistakes again. I played a great game in the beggining and middle game, but in the end game I suck. I was ahead of the stalemate line and then made some huge mistakes, probably a better player could have soloed.
Eden, you really did a great job, some of your moves were just brilliant, I try to antecipate your moves but you antecipate me most of the time.

Ugh... This game. rdrivera, you need to teach me how to play Russia some time. orathaic, you were hatin' that game, you. What'd I do?

^that. Germany was as hardcore anti-English as can be. I was honestly pretty shocked. The opening game was practically gift-wrapped to me, with goldfinger trolling the shit out of the east and Germany so determinedly anti-English...

Also I'll do an EOG at work tonight

So, my EOG:

Germany wanted me to convoy to Picardy in Fall 1901. This was unheard of to me. It quickly became clear to me (or at least it seemed that way to me) that he simply wanted me and France at each other's throats. I tried to spin it with France into an alliance, but it was immediately clear I was pretty much at his mercy because Germany had my back 0% no matter what I said. And when France bounced me out of Belgium, no matter how much fun I was, it looked really, really bad. In fact, I would say this is the game in which I have been most screwed after the first year ever. Germany refused to work with me at any point even though it was obvious obvious obvious that he was next, so I decided as my last few moves to just make sure he died. So I did that. Russia never came to my aid, but I think he was right in doing so so we're cool. Austria was friendly.

I sat for President Eden for a time in this game. I suck.

I have little to say, really, but I'll put in something by tomorrow. I'm really curious to see how you guys interpreted the opening years.

I'll say this for now: BLOODY GOLDIE!

^This is a pretty common sentiment after finishing games with goldfinger...

That was my first.

I promise you, not my last.

I WANT REVENGE!!! ;-)

Awww, what for? I didn't do anything to you, now. As I said, all I wanted to do was swing my armies around you and attack Russia

But I did enjoy making R,G, and A shit their pants for the first couple years. France and Turkey must have been lol'ing the whole time. England, sadly, was too busy cutting himself as he was being ripped apart.

My strategy, in short - don't be boring

I was indeed loling hard.

true life: i got ripped apart

Italy did the most annoying opening years I have seen until now. That army in Livonia was really getting on my nerves.

also I lied

never wrote an EOG at work trolololo

tl;dr EOG:

opening game: holy fuck this is handed to me on a platter, England Germany war and derptastic Italy

middle game: time to go a stab Germany an-- FUCK RUSSIA Y U HELP HIM

more middle game: FUCKING HARD DRIVE

SD intermission: idk

return: OH SHIT RUSSIA'S GONNA SOLO

endgame: EPIC BATTLE

draw

/game

best EOG ever!

That was indeed a fantastic EOG Eden, and I won't try to top it. But I'll still give you guys something in a bit

Alright, so in all honesty I thought I was dead in this game after that opening.

Opening: I started out wanting to Key Lepanto and shaft Turkey from the beginning. It's just that Austria didn't really seem to fly for that idea, so I tried to...erm...force it by going for Trieste in the Spring while setting up a convoy to go to Tunis (in retrospect, kinda like Eden's Italy strategy). So the bounce really screwed by relations with Austria for the rest of the game. I decided to go to Tyrolia in the fall to get better leverage over Germany and Austria and ditched the assault on France idea. Now I have *no* memory of why I built an army instead of a fleet in '02, but it really had me sweating balls for the rest of the game. That said, I tried to become a "mercenary" of sorts for the next few years, putting my units in good positions and "hiring" them out for alliances. My real goal, though, was to wrap around Austria and hit Russia. Its just that Austria never really believed me. I tried to organize a last-ditch alliance with Germany to save Austria, but it was really to late (but let me build another fleet!)

Mid-game - The lack of fleets an Turkey's penetration of my lines was so frustrating. I was simultaneously trying to push Turkey's fleets past my centers and imploring France to help me out against Turkey. It was tricky, trying to make sure that Turkey never had a combo of moves with which he could snag Tunis or Naples. Meanwhile I was trolling through Russia, and kept trying to get him to attack Turkey, and I floated several ideas past him in which my army would slip through Sev and go to Armenia and start trolling Turkey. The Jugg formed in '03, which I was really upset about, but that at least ensured that France would have my back (I was worried about the French stab for a long time too). I literally spent years trying to get Russia to stab Turkey. I kept telling him that a stab of turkey would mean a solo, and I'd be all for helping him. Well, Russia bit in 1908 and my survival was assured.

end-game - I really didn't didn't have much to do in the end-game in terms of stopping the solo. I was pushing for France to let Russia and I kill off Turkey, but that sadly never happened. If the game had lasted another year or so, I think France would have been okay with it.

Okay, so...

Opening year: I work quite hard at making sure Turkey and Russia are "uncomfortable" with one another. In my experience, trying to encourage an all out war from the get go usually produces the reversed effect. My feeling during the spring is that I can count on my eastern flank to be quiet-ish while I deal with the Italian. For the Italian is not quiet! At first, it looked like Italy would be a good ally. But as our conversations unfolded, I started to get the feeling that we weren't exactly on the same page. Fearing his attack, I chose to block Trieste just in case while I moved 2 units towards the Balkans.

End of spring, I feel pretty good about myself and my reads seem to be spot on.

The fall moves were highly questionable but not without logic. I'm still not trusting Italy much, and Russia is becoming the more likely ally for me. I therefore endeavour to block any attempts on Greece from Turkey, cover Trieste from Italy and place a fleet in the Ionian in hopes of selling it to Italy for peace.

After the fall, though my moves were a bit risky (no certainty that Italy will buy the fleet, Turkey is pissed, and I gave up a sure build), I'm still feeling pretty good about myself. It's not exactly a classic Austria, but it's not a bad one either: given the tensions east and Germany and France's assurances that Italy is not EXPLICITLY out to get me, I'm thinking I'm in a good spot. Plus, I really get along with Russia.

Then paranoia got the best of me.

Italy crawls on my back: he warned me about it, but it all felt so weird that I got nervous. And there's Germany, who comes down in Tyr and, though I think him friendly, that's just WAY too many people on my ass. Not to mention that Turkey is playing hard ball by now and that Russia is playing the "I'm not too sure where I'm going with this" card to a tee. Still, I'm thinking I have something going with Russia here, and he's in a really good position to help out with Turkey.

But I'm never going to hit Turkey, am I...

I got ridiculously nervous. Comm was bad and, if I recall, I was going through shit at home (in RL) which made me much less attentive to details. Italy and I are now incapable of patching things up, I'm trying to play to many angles at once, and slowly but surely the whole thing sets up to explode in my face. For Russia and Turkey have patched things up and, smelling my stupidity, they set me up perfectly. I get in Greece while Russia grabs Buda and Turkey gets to Ionian... with my dumb help! From there on, Italy and I are friends, but that really just means that I'll have at least one person to give me a proper eulogy when the inevitable happens.

Bottom line:
1901 went well though it didn't go as I wanted
1902 forward, a brain tumour grew and slowly forced every bit of grey matter out through my ears and nose. The process ended with the death of a dumb Austria in 1906.

All in all, I say I was the biggest troll an Italy can be :)

I learned my lesson though! Next time I get funny feelings like that with Italy, I'm going blue Waters on his ass!

One last thing: great learning experience! The battle of the north was splendid. And RdRivera was great fun to watch in the mid game.

@ Goldfinger: I just saw that you got a title from RdRivera for that exact reason!

Well deserved!

Brief EOG:

Early game: I wanted to take on Austria, but also wanted to do everything in my power to make it look like an accident. I think that worked out pretty well, though I sacrificed a lot of momentum, while Russia made progress.

Midgame:
I initially wanted France's support in Italy, with the long-term idea that I could work with France to block any Russian progress in the south - I have to admit that I wasn't terribly concerned with the north at this point, and more interested in setting myself up for progress in the Mediterranean. When it became clear to me that France was not going to help me, and that France was making significant progress out of that theatre, I tried to convince Italy to work with me against France, offering to relieve tension in the Eastern Mediterranean by sending fleets to the far West. At first I meant it primarily as a ruse, to get at Italy without French support, but actually ended up deciding to go through with it, then use the trust built with Italy to launch a stab at Russia.

Endgame:
Unfortunately, Italy did everything he could to sabotage that relationship, making me think that a move on Russia would result in my swift elimination to R-I. Instead, I tried to reposition for an attack on Italy. Russia finally stabbed me and went for the solo, one thing led to another, and next thing you know I'm passed out in Central Jersey and the game is drawn.

In any case, everyone played an excellent game. I don't know if I would have done anywhere near as well outside of my corner.

I had a feeling you had it in for me from the start. Much of my inclination to work with Russia first came from that.

That being said, Turkey having it in for Austria is not exactly a wild guess...

That I did do everything I could to sabotage that relationship. No way in hell I would let more than one fleet at a time of yours pass through my waters. But it was a good game all in all, and nice playing with you again.

And I second the opinion that I would have died anywhere else (ie, if I was actually the initial target of someone)

I also like to do crazy stuff when I'm Italy, especially in gunboat.

No other EOG's? Only 4?

I counted five, six if you include my somewhat silly one...

I counted 5 including yours. Maybe the next time I'll count 6 haha. But I didn't think rdrivera or orathaic chimed in with EOG's

Mine should count too. :P