Ok, here goes France's EoG:
Pre-game:
After sending my classic 6 messages to the other powers, I'm trying to get a feel on who I'm playing with. On the west, the best communication I have is with England (Babak). He seems flexible and we DMZ our territories in a fine way. Clearly the best ally I find in the pre-game. Germany also looks flexible, but less communicative, and we do agree to a DMZ in Burgundy. My communication with Italy gives me the tell there ain't a 3Vf scenario from the start, so I feel good about it.
1901: Along with E and G, we discuss a WT, but at the same time, me and England are teeling ourselves that we might just caught G off guard while he goes south to invade him. Along with England, we decide to wait and see what would be the best possible scenario for us, basically based on if Russia wants to join us in attacking Germany. If Russia decides to be in with us, I'm telling myself I'll clearly go after 1/2 of Germany and the other half against Italy, in the med, while England tricks Germany and deals with Russia afterwards. It also is funny, because at that time, I'm telling myself that I (highly) think England must be Babak, based on his press. I have high doubts about it, but I'm telling myself: nevermind, but just beare when Germany will be invaded to not let him stab you, if it really is him. Other important note: Eng, Ger and I decide to make Belgium look like we're fighting over it, so qwe don't draw too much attention. Interesting fact: Turkey sees it all, and is trying to get information from me about a possible WT, mentionning he'd be more than happy to see a WT. Since I'm a bit confused about future plans, I tell him I can give him no guarentees yet as there's quite a lot of possible plans for this game.
1902: Screw that! No WT. Germany goes East while England and I go to Bur and Hel. Now, with those moves, I'm happy x2 because England is comitting to our alliance against Germany, so I have no fear of him going against me, and our moves worked greatly against Germany. In the south, it is from that time that I try to get myself a place in what's going on in Italy and in the Med. Since it higly looks like Italy will be invaded by Austria, I ask him if he'd like my presence there to help him out against Austria, but at the same time I have Turkey and Austria asking me if I'd like to ally with them against Italy. From that time, and with the moves in the first year, I understand there's a strong A/T comming our way, so I'm telling myself I can't fight AT alone, so I explain the situation to Italy. He then accepts to have my armies near where he is. From that time, I start feeling quite alone in the Med and I hope I can get one of Turkey or Austria to ally with me, or else I would ally with Italy to stop them and hope they start attacking each other since their growth would likely be stopped.
1903: The domination in the North continues in the North with England, and I know I'm still safe against him, because Germany has still 3 units on the field and Russia is now made at him. The most interesting facts for this year is what has happened in the south. I start developping (more and more) a good communication with Austra and he seems open to an alliance with me to share Italy, and then to go on an attack against Turkey. Turkey seems to want the same with me, but from what me and Austria are exchanging, I see there is some lies in Turkey's press with me, and I decide to shoot for Austria and hope he trusts me. Austria looks well aware at the fact that AT alliances often ends in Turkey stabbing Austria... badly to say the least.
1904: How fine! Austria trusts me and supports me to Rome. Things are only gettiong started with Austria. Now, at that time, I know Germany will most likely be dead by the end of the year and that I'll have to look up to England now that he'll have no meat to chew on. But still, I trust him for this year because all of his units are busy in Scandinavia and Germany. Now, in Autumn, things are getting tricky: Russia is in Silesia and tells me he will support Munich so I'd have no chance of having this SC. On the other side, England looks like he'll get 2 SCs while I could have none, and my border with him is *weak*, to say the least. I even thought about stabbing him in Holland at that time as I knew he would most likely come against me next year with his 2 builds while I get none, if Russia supports Munich. Although, I told myself I'd only stab England if Russia supports me in Munich while I 2 on 1 Holland with Ruhr and Belgium. Russia buys the fact that his best chance at a Draw or surviving would be to let me grow fast so people would fear I'd go for the solo and he could be part of a stalemate somewhere, maybe, so he tells me he will not support Munich, but at the same time, he tells me he doesn't want to support me to Munich, so stabbing England was out of question at that time. From that time until the end, I had solid laughs with Russia, even though we didn't get to cooperate that much in this game. We still had fun and it's the most important part for me there. With Austria, things go with the flow and our communication stood for the rest of the game, really. The trust really was there for the whole time since we both know he'd need me to invade Turkey sooner or later and that I need to watch England as well.
Builds 1904: The turning point, for me, in this game. I have one build while England has 2. I'm really weak on my border with him and I really wish to build a fleet in Brest, even if we DMZed it from the start, but at the same time, if I tell him I'm building there, he might just do builds in Liv and London and attack me full force since he only had StP left to take in the north. He tells me he would go through StP and tries to cinvce me to move past the stalemate with him, but I felt it would weaken me big time if I do and that I would be a prime target for him. He tells me he's gonna do F. Edi and A. London to go through StP, but with his fleet in North Sea, he could just slip in Ech and try to attack me. I do a F. in Brest no matter what, and I tell him I'll go for a Fleet in Marseilles.
1905: Guess what? Eng is pissed at me. No, for real?!? How could that be?? I thought he'd be cool with me building in Brest... NOT! At that time, I tell him I don't want to attack him and that I only wish to bounce with him in Ech while I leave Ruhr empty and sail to a 3 way with him, but it looks like he didn't buy that, unfortunately... At that time, I really was pissed at me for not moving to Ruhr, because I think my only possible chance to go for the solo and break England would've been to take Ruhr at that time. From now on, I really started a streak of bad decisions in my orders and I've been pissed at me for not choosing correctly what to do. I knew that if I was breaking through England, I had a reasonable shot at the solo, but I also knew that I only would have few chances to break him before he stalemates me. Unfortunately, I missed them all...
1906 and until the EoG: I tried to get Russia on my side and asked him if he'd be willing to move through StP to get in Scandinavia while he could, so he could help me solo OR get in a draw if he managed to be in the stalemate line, somehow, but unfortunately, it didn't work. After my second move that didn't work against England, I knew I blew my chances to go for the solo and went for a solid 3 way-draw to end this game, since England and I stalemated our border. Austria wasn't a solo threat, because he need my fleet to invade Turkey, so I knew I was safe with him.
BengalGrrl: Too bad we didn't talk much in the early stages of the game. I usually like F/G better than E/F, but the situation in this game made the E/F more viable. I hope you enjoyed your Webdip game as I guess you are a F2Fer!
Coeus559: I really felt like I was about to ally with you when the AT was at his strongest, but my communication with Austria made me switch sides. I also hope we'll get to play other games together.
Fortknox: Strong game in the start, I was really impressed with your play before me and Austria decided to ally together against you. We didn't communicate that much this game, but I hope we can maybe play as neighbours in our next games!
Sandgoose: Too bad this game started ugly for you. I think 1901 really killed you for the rest of the game, but I really liked our communication, I had a lot of fun joking with you most of this game.
Babak: I really liked our cooperation throughout this game (well, until 1905), it really was fluid and I enjoyed most of our chat. Congrats on your play. You outguessed me the two times I could break you, so cheers on that! Although, I'd like to hear from you, since the game ended, if you had the intention to stab me in 1905 if I didn't make F. Brest. Nice playing with you!
Mr. A: First time we play together and like I said in our chatbox, I really enjoyed our exchanges in this game. You really are a good ally to have in a game, and I hope we can play other games together in the future.
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