I really should get into the habit of making EoGs (and there are a couple of people who I owe a discussion-- some for months!), so I might as well do my write-up while I'm still here. I really appreciate the compliments, but I still have a lot to learn, I think!
I wasn't terribly pleased drawing Russia-- Russia is much too exposed for my tastes, and I feel as though I don't usually play him as well as some of the other countries (particularly Austria). This is doubly the case in a live game, when I don't get as much time as I'd like to examine the board, confer with people, and decide accordingly. Still, I was pretty pleased with how I played this time around.
As Russia, I'm always worried about the fact that I have to deal with both Scandinavia and the Balkans, and I decided this time to try and pursue an aggressive strategy against Britain in concert with France and Germany to relieve pressure on the northern front. Meanwhile, I did the usual bit of messaging everyone and asking for support against each other, but it seemed as though I had particular rapport with Austria and Italy, which was solidified after Austria and I honoured the DMZ of Galicia. Turkey, on the other hand, seemed wholly suspicious of my every move, so between that and the fact that I managed to get Austria and Italy seperately to move against Turkey, I was pretty secure in my decision to fight Britain and Turkey.
Britain threw out all of the stops against me, choosing to make a supported convoy into Norway and preventing me from bouncing. I was really worried that Germany would bounce me in Sweden, but as I found out, he was wholly agreeable, and Britain's focus on me ended up being rather futile. This actually caused a bit of concern, since in my triple with Germany and France, France was able to gain a really solid position against Britain, which made me worried that I wouldn't be able to get any SCs from Britain, and furthermore that France would be in an extremely solid position to move on Germany or myself afterwards.
I was able to break through into Norway and Bulgaria simultaneously, with help from Germany and Austria respectively (and support from France and Italy). At this point, though, Germany had moved into Tyrolia, causing an understandable scare from Austria. For my part, I had no idea why Germany would do that, but I tried to defuse the situation temporarily, which I managed to do.
While I was getting in position to nab Edinburgh and to dominate the Black Sea, France appeared to be in position to sweep Liverpool and London and threaten me from the north. Additionally, it looked like he was the other major power comparatively. As Britain and Turkey were crumbling, France and Austria approached me to stab Germany. Germany and Austria had both been excellent allies during the course of this game, and I was hoping to convince Austria to turn his attention to Italy while I busied myself with the French threat.
This was just a temporary reprieve, though, since immediately after Turkey collapsed, Austria and France (and France in particular) were pressuring me to move against Germany. I wasn't particularly intent on moving against anyone just yet, since I wanted to solidify my position before moving out.
At this point, Italy gave me quite a huge break by asking me to stab Austria, and I got a second break by managing to convince France that I needed London for an extra build against Germany. I was quite hesitant to move against Austria, since he was a solid ally, but I reasoned that it was better to move against him considering that he had reasonable ties to France, who was my top concern at the moment, and that furthermore he was in a reasonable position to attack me and rob me of a couple of SCs.
The Austrian attack worked beautifully, and at the same time I was able to continue convincing France that I needed to hold onto the British SCs to maintain a force to attack Germany. I was somewhat worried about a single-unit German move into Denmark, so I pressured him to move away from Denmark, but at this point by and large the momentum was pretty squarely on my side. What particularly helped me was the fact that everyone got into a messy fight in the southern France/northern Italy area, which further diverted their attention away from me. After that, it was just a matter of time to pick up the 18 SCs.
So, that's my analysis. Austria, Italy, France, and Germany, you guys were all great players and wonderful allies. Britain, you seemed to be intent on striking me in the beginning, but that strategy didn't work out so well, n'est-ce pas? Turkey, it seemed as though you were particularly suspicious of my moves, so I don't think any arrangement would have worked between us, as much as I would have liked it to.
)
Slayer
)
)
)
)
)