SplitDiplomat, congrats on a strong game. Very nice moves at the end to destroy my lost Finland army and then vacate the Baltic, so I could build Warsaw and take out Germany's sole remaining unit in Berlin without fear of losing the stalemate line. 4-way draw became 3-way. Well done!

Thanks; same to you! We lucked out that Austria's a bit inexperienced so once you left me alone, we wiped him out pretty quickly.
I'm still not entirely sure how I managed to secure the Italian centers, especially looking at the map around 1908, but I tried to move as fast as I could down there to neutralize France's northern advances. Props to you for pulling together that stalemate line as well (and thanks to Split for letting us eliminate Germany too).

Gg guys,you played a great game and I wasn't able to hold Italian centers anyhow.Who would have thought Russia could have been such a strong player after that stupid build in 1901. But he has proven himself throughout the game.Congrats.

I wouldn't call 1901 F Sev stupid, exactly, but it almost made me punch my computer. I was completely expecting an army farther north to deal with a potentially hostile England, who fortunately focused on F/G instead.
What were your thoughts back then, chluke (aside from DESTROY TURKEY NOW)?

Looking at the board as an outsider, it's pretty amazing Turkey survived. Nice job. I thought you caught a break and Russia made a mistake by moving Black Sea to Seva in S03 instead of Ukraine -> Seva and keeping the pressure on Const.

You are right jp,it would be stupid to build F (SEV) if Turkey were in Black Sea in autumn '01. But seing Ank - Con and Con - Aeg in 1901 to build F (SEV) is EXTREMELY stupid thing to do.

Ahahah -- thanks for the backhanded compliment, Split :)

It was a pretty dumb rookie mistake, building in Sev in 1901, now that I look back at it. Turkey gave me a juggernaut option, and I ruined it, leaving me 100% vulnerable in the north, and then still spiralling down to nothing in the south.
Lucky for me Turkey did not lose his cool, and kept showing me he wanted to cooperate. Both Turkey and I looked like we could be the first two to exit the game, and we wound up in the final 3-way.

That's why I give such huge props to Turkey (jpribe) in this game!

@Mapu I think S03 was when he decided to back off b/c he let me get Ank back in the fall. Austria was clearly hostile, and it turned out to be fairly easy to show his intentions to me.
Regarding my survival, I was sure I was dead as well, but Austria was probably the main reason that I got past the early stages of the game. An A/R or A/I alliance would have destroyed me, but he chose to attack both of them.

@jpribe. I was hoping by showing Austria that I did not attack him with a 50/50 free center chance in fall 01 that he would not fight me, take my alliance, and I could go after you, Turkey, instead. If Austria worked with me instead of attacking me, I could have earned a build from Ankara to help support St. Pete. But I think Split is right -- it was pretty stupid of me to go after you, since you were offering me the juggernaut, and gave me free reign to use all my units elsewhere.

@mapu. If I didn't retreat to Sev in 03, Austria could have retreated there when I took Rum, and wreaked havoc behind my lines with free access to Moscow too.