I will try to make my EoG (when I post it) consist of more than just whiney self-loathing for my mistakes!

This game was hands down the most fun I've had playing online Diplomacy. Major props and thanks to all involved, especially Italy (SocratesDissatisfied), who charted a course from humble beginnings to gradually assume the mantle of "indispensable nation."

I've gotten pretty carried away with my EoG commentary (and I'm only at Spring 1906!), so I'm going to serialize my EoG by year.

"1901 -- The Prelude"

Spring 1901
Russia is one of my favorite countries to play; more than most, it offers the opportunity to shape events all over Europe and the thrill of confronting danger at every turn. This game offered more than its share of both of those things, and I’m extremely happy to have been a part of it.

I came into this game with two tactical goals and one strategic goal for 1901. Tactically, my goals were Rumania and Sweden – these would be non-negotiable vassals of the growing Russian empire, and I would allow no amount of diplomatic sweet-talk to dissuade me from these objectives. Subject to those two tactical goals, my overarching strategic goal was to establish working relations with as many neighbors as possible. This last goal would be important first to reduce the chance of having to fight a two-front war (the prelude to death for any nation, especially Russia); second, for the chance to launch a major offensive in one theater.

I believe my first conversation was with Germany. The German agreed with me fully that an early R/G war would be disastrous for both of us, so we set up the normal and necessary DMZs in Pru/Sil. He also seemed eager to cede me Sweden, which was very welcome news, and even hinted at the formation of an F/G Sealion, lobbying me to move A Mos->St. P with a promise of capturing Norway. Overall, Germany’s sincerity greatly impressed me, and I quickly singled Germany out as my go-to ally.

Italy also seemed pretty eager to ally. Since Italy poses no immediate threat to Russia and, at the very least, can serve as a useful eastern counterweight, my primary goal with Italy was to get him thinking about his prospects the east rather than going on a lark attacking France. Whether Italy and I would work against Austria or Turkey first was unclear, but also of little immediate importance. We agreed to a long-term Wintergreen alliance that would have short-term flexibility, depending on the comparative threat of Austria and Turkey.
My conversation with Austria was cordial. The Austrian seemed deferential but also a bit jittery, which I tried not to let influence my judgment over him since this is not an unreasonable attitude at all for someone starting out in the Archduke’s shoes. I hoped that by providing adequate assurances over Galicia, I could avoid early conflict and tip the Austrian into my camp. I emphasized over and over again that I strongly desired a DMZ in Galicia; I even hinted at (though refused to commit explicitly) that A Moscow was moving north, which would give the Austrian even more room to maneuver in the south. I was about 90% confident that our Galicia DMZ would hold up.

My press with Turkey was promising, if a tad awkward by necessity. We agreed amicably to bounce in the Black Sea in Spring 1901, to cede me Rumania by the end of 1901, and to set up a permanent DMZ in Armenia. All of this, I suppose, is about the best outcome one can hope for in first-year R/T relations, assuming the very pro-Russian F Ank->Con in Spring 1901 isn’t on the cards (which would be pretty unusual in a highly competitive game). So while we had a first-turn agreement over our borders, nothing was said about the long-term status of Black Sea, and it was clear we both valued it highly. I expected Turkey to try for BLA again in Fall 1901 and I could see future tensions arising over this area.
I had very little press with England; our conversation was basically limited to my request that he land a fleet in Norway, which he agreed to do. I can’t recall if I explicitly promised not to move Moscow north to St. P, but I definitely hinted at it. My strong initial conversation with Germany had sapped a lot of my motivation to engage with England, and anyway, I didn’t really want to encourage England too strongly to over to the English Channel since a bounce could throw off the Sealion.
Press with France was also rather limited, but he further confirmed the existence of a Sealion which was useful to know.

When it came time to submit moves, I felt no reason to commit myself against anybody in the south just yet. I decided to broadly trust what would happen there, push A Mos->St. P, and join F/G in the more decisive Sealion campaign already forming against England.

A Mos -> St. P
F Sev -> BLA
A War -> Ukr
F St. P (sc) -> GoB

Fall 1901

Overall, I was quite happy with the way the board looked after the first move. Germany moved F Kie->Hol rather than Den, removing any doubt about my claiming Sweden in the fall, and kept armies out of Pru/Sil. Turkey stayed out of Armenia pursuant to our DMZ agreement. France had taken the English Channel, which meant the Sealion was underway and serious troubles for England. Despite England's northern opening, I looked forward to my probable capture of Norway in 1902.

There was just one big red flag: Austria moved to Galicia. This was damaging, but, I began to reassure myself, potentially useful. In my press with Austria, I chose not to chastise him, but instead struck a conciliatory note (“Austria is a tough nation! I don’t blame you at all for moving Gal!”) and emphasized the diplomatic and tactical usefulness of the Galicia move (Gal could support F Sev->Rum for example). I still maintained moving A War->Ukr was correct, since staying out of Gal at least showed Austria that I was trustworthy and did not foreclose future cooperation.

Even so, a few things about Austria continued to trouble me. First, I had repeatedly emphasized to Austria my commitment the Galicia DMZ until I was blue in the face. Austria had apparently accepted my assurances, yet, when it came time to move, he moved to Gal anyway. It felt like I had wasted my time and I was left wondering why Austria, if he was really so concerned about a Galicia backstab, didn’t just agree to an arranged bounce in Galicia (which I had also offered).

Second, Austria blamed press from Germany in pushing him towards moving to Galicia -- which, even if true, suggested both a tendency to sow seeds of doubt about trusted allies and a troubling inability to take responsibility for his own actions.
Third, and perhaps most strangely, Austria seemed troubled by my move of F Sev->BLA. While I had agreed with Austria that I would take Rum with a fleet rather than an army, I hadn’t said anything about whether this move would happen in spring or fall. I was beginning to sense that Austria’s paranoia was more temperamental than a result of the country he drew.

In the northern/western sphere, England announced he recognized the Sealion and would be taking Norway by force (via NTH->Nor supported by NWG; the only guaranteed way in his dire position); instead, I should move St. P to Finland and then transition to attack Germany. I believed England’s threat and carefully considered England’s offer, but elected to follow my original agreement with F/G and go for the attempted bounce in Norway anyway. Ironically, England’s suggestion to transition over to attacking Germany would actually play a big role in the southern negotiations in 1902.

Back in the south, I elected to broadly announce my move to Warsaw (I think I told Austria, Italy, and even Turkey), which put the ball in Austria’s court to decide whether Galicia was better off supporting my claim to Rumania, his own, or Turkey’s. Despite my reservations about Austria, I was fairly confident Austria would come onto my side at least for now, since supporting a Turkish army into Rumania would be tactically horrible for Austria (placing both Serbia and Greece at major risk), and an Austria supporting himself into Rumania for three builds would practically force an R/T juggernaut, with Italy likely piling in as well.

A St. P -> Nor
A Ukr -> War
F Sev-> Rum
F GoB -> Swe

*Winter 1901*

After the phase, I was pleased to see Austria did indeed choose to support F Sev->Rum, which overrode Turkey’s own attempted attack on Rumania. Turkey explained that he was offered support into Rum by Austria, which I didn’t doubt. I feigned forgiveness to Turkey, but since Austria had offered the Rum support to me, and I expected to continue to cooperate with Austria, I saw no reason to actually forgive Turkey.

With two builds available and only two build sites (Mos & Sev) open, my only decision was whether to build A Sev or F Sev. Given Austria’s crucial help in Rumania and Turkey’s duplicity (having already agreed Rumania was mine), I chose to honor Austria’s request to build F Sev. I also did my best to mislead Turkey into building F Smy, which he must have decided was important given the Italian convoy to Tunis and what seemed like a Lepanto in the works.

Builds:
A Mos
A War

“1902 – The Austrian Question”

Spring 1902

At the start of 1902, Austria now presented as far and away the greatest threat to mother Russia, with new armies in Vie and Bud added on. I tried to allay my own worries of the Austrian builds as the probable result of an Austria agreement with Italy for no builds in Tri. However, the two new Austrian armies were still quite concerning when coupled with the Austrian army that remained threateningly stationed in Galicia. Yes, Austria’s Galicia army had just helped my fleet to Rumania, but Turkey had also just made a play for Rumania and the Austrian could still switch sides at a moment’s notice. As such, steering Austria away from considering conquering the Russian homeland – while soliciting valuable information from rivals about his intentions – formed the guiding principle of my diplomacy in 1902.

While an I/A/R vs. T seemed to be in the works, I questioned the long-term stability of this arrangement. Conquering Turkey would only offer 4 SCs which we would have to split three ways. Additionally, even with engagements on the Turkish front, there were already enough Austrian armies that a second front for his units would soon be needed – or the Austrian would certainly target me next. So I seized on England’s idea of attacking Germany and promoted it to A/I. I felt it was at least sound; from a pure numerical perspective, A/I/R/E together would have outnumbered F/G/T, and this unusual alliance would have the element of surprise as well.

The initial reception of my alliance proposal was also promising. Italy was receptive, since he could see that the long-term endgame of an F/G alliance would likely be a ton of French fleets in the Med. Austria played along with attacking Germany as well, and I believed his line since attacking Germany would provide a promising outlet for his armies to expand west (even through Ruhr to the low countries).

To my relief, Austria also accepted my proposal to attack Germany. However, behind my back he was cooking up a separate deal with Turkey to slip an army into Ukr and push me out of Rumania. Luckily, I caught wind of this treachery from my good friend Italy, whom Austria failed to see would gain nothing from allowing Austria to go ahead and conquer me. Germany – still my Sealion ally, despite my plotting behind his back – also came on board with a promised move of A Mun->Boh and some helpful advice to save my Rumania fleet from destruction by moving F Rum->BLA supported by Sev.

I thanked Italy and Germany profusely for their diplomatic and tactical help vs. Austria and altered my moves accordingly.

The northern front offered much less drama; the Sealion alliance continued smoothly and efficiently.

F Rum -> BLA
F Sev s Rum -> BLA
A Mos -> Ukr
A War s Mos -> Ukr
F Swe -> Nor
A St. P hold

Fall 1902

Spring 1902 had clarified the diplomatic situation, and so Fall 1902 was mostly a tactical turn.

My move switch, coupled with the Italian and German help, meant I weathered the A/T storm extremely well. With I/G/R armies in Tri, Boh, and Ukr (where Austria attacked, but which I successfully forced with Mos->Ukr support from War), Austria swiftly fell from the position of central European hegemon to the verge of collapse in one turn. My precious jewel of Rum was temporarily occupied by an Austrian army, but more importantly, my fleet had lived to tell the tale by forcing Turkey out of the Black Sea.

Austria’s duplicity in the Balkans had spoiled England’s last chance at redemption. Now there was no reason left not to go ahead with capturing Norway and fulfilling my assigned role in the Sealion. As before, a durable F/G alliance pivoting toward myself and Italy after England’s collapse remained a distant threat, but Germany’s newfound stake in Austria (with Vie promised to him) further solidified R/G/I relations, and seemed now to make France somewhat diplomatically isolated.

Turkey was hopping mad at my fleet in the Black Sea, but even he had to admit that forcing BLA was my best play. The impending collapse of his intended Balkans partner, Austria, also forced the Turk to reconsider his diplomatic options. I maintained that my fleet was “just passing through” and would retake Rum and leave Turkey alone, which seemed to calm him down somewhat. I also suggested Turkey take this opportunity to claim Gre for himself, or else it would inevitably become an Italian prize.

I exchanged short words with Austria, taunting him with the offer of a “two-way draw” which he had previously used to lull me into a false sense of security. However, my moves continued in his general direction:

A War -> Gal
A Ukr s War -> Gal
F BLA -> Rum
F Sev s F Rum -> BLA
F Swe -> Nor
A St. P s Swe -> Nor

Winter 1902

Although Germany’s attack on Vie failed, Italy held onto Tri, I retook Rum, and Turkey captured Gre, which reduced Austria to 3 SCs. England lost Nor to me and Lon to Germany, putting him on 2 SCs.

St. P and Sev were occupied, so as a thank-you gesture to Germany (who requested no builds in War), and to help consolidate my expanding north-south axis, I built:

A Mos

Your EoG is making me sad that i hadn't really been in on much early eastern intrigue -- well done.
This was a great game, I agree and a fine example of everything that is glorious about this website.

Okay, well I'm going to come up with a EOG to try and rival Amwidkle's, and I'm grateful for such a good EOG. I'll comment on my responses to others, too.

Dear all. Unfortunately I don't have time for a proper EoG, however I will try to comment on some key events for the sultan. I must say that it was a very good game and I would love to do a repeat when I have a proper amount of time to dedicate to it. I feel I didn't give this game and its players the attention it deserved. sorry about that guys ;)

1901 and before: I don't think I have ever played in a game where I felt my diplomatic efforts had so little traction. Right from the bat it became clear to me no one truly wanted to work with me. As such I made the mistake of gambling believing Austria he would support me into Rumania. This offended Russia so much he never wanted to work with me again. However, I doubted had I not tried to snatch Rum as well, that Russia was planning to work with me otherwise. This is confirmed by Russias nice EoG I guess.

1902 - As I was under attack by all three powers around me I suspected, I tried to set them all up against each other. Which worked as they all stood to gain by attacking each other.. At the end of this year I was still in an okay position.

1903 - Huge mistake by me to not contest Black sea and from that point on I wasn't in control over my own destiny any more. I must say from this point onwards I was very well deceived by both Russia and Italy. Well played guys!

Post 1903 - At this point I offered myself as a gun for hire to Italy, mostly because I felt I couldn't get back into this game truly and because I was more sympathetic to his cause then Russias. Surprisingly Italy screwed me over very soon, which I was very surprised about and I feel cost him the solo, because at that point I lost interest in helping any one of my neighbors. Also this coincided with some RL issues that came in between.

All in all I would love a repeat with these players, when I know I will have plenty of time available. I feel there was a solo in the works for Italy and I would have loved to help him with it because of his great play and who doesn't love to see an Italian solo. My own agenda there would have been to ride it out to the end and who knows even get to a draw. Good game guys, thanks!