Thorough description of the game:
I walk in 35 minutes late as my train got stopped for a medical emergency and my cab gets stuck in traffic thanks to a baseball game (Cubs vs. Phillies) at Wrigley Field. No time is wasted in getting the game started. We draw cards for seating order and draw separate cards for assigning countries, which is done by 'screwing your neighbor' method. The highest drawer starts, assigns his neighbor a country, and the same thing continues clockwise. I wind up sitting next to the guy who won Huskycon, and he gives me France, stating that it is only fair as I am the 'new player' (although I have stated at this point that I've played 122 games online). We go around the table and he winds up as Germany. I am taking no chances with this guy so when the timer starts I take Italy (a strong player I am told) to a corner and talk with him about a lepanto. I promise England Belgium and Germany asks me not to move to BUR which I agree (lie) to. Germany has also been aggressively talking to England, Italy and Russia so I am shitscared at this point.
Opening moves: I open A PAR-BUR, with support from MAR, and F BRE-MAO. Germany opens DEN, KIE, RUH, and England opens NWG, NTH, and misorders LVP so it stays there! Italy opens standard lepanto and Austria opens Balkan gambit Galicia variation. R/T appear to be in an alliance as Turkey has allowed F SEV-BLA and has moved F ANK-CON and A SMY-ANK. So that is how it turns out.
Autumn 1901: Germany is pissed about Burgundy, so I tell him it was defensive and that I'll bounce England. I bounce England and take SPA/POR, Russia and Germany bounce in Sweden, Italy misorders the convoy to Tunis, Austria gets SER and GRE, Turkey gets BUL and Russia gets RUM and moves to GAL. After this point I don't remember much about the Eastern Triangle as it was way too messy with all the plastic pieces pointing in different directions and no arrows to help me remember moves and supports. I build F BRE and A PAR and notice F LON has appeared as well. Germany builds an A MUN and F KIE, Russia builds A STP. Austria gets 2 armies and Turkey a fleet.
S1902: Despite my kind willingness to allow Germany to capture BEL, I find that my move of A PIC and BUR S A PIC finds BUR displaced by an incoming army from MUN supported by RUH (I retreat to PAR). Germany takes BEL too and England takes ENG Channel with support. I move SPA-GAS and POR-MAO. Italy convoys APU-ALB which is blocked by Austria (Turkey gave her the info) and Russia occupies CON, which is ostensibly going to move out into the Mediterranean. Turkey looks like they are mounting an attack on Greece.
A1902: Germany is talking for a long time with England. I pull Germany aside and warn him "not to do this" saying that I will not let him and England get a single SC and that I will throw all my shit at him and be a pain in his neck until the end of the game. Then I pull England aside. Germany has offered to support his convoy to PIC. I one up the offer by saying that PIC will support LON-BEL and my fleets BRE and MAO will bounce in GAS and GAS-MAR will cover my other open SC. England is also pissed that Russia got support into Sweden although apparently Germany's plan was to have England go to Sweden with his support next turn, which seems kinda sketchy anyway. Orders are read. Moment of Truth. England convoys to BEL with supports from ENG and PIC. PAR-BUR cuts support, MAO, BRE bounce in GAS, GAS-MAR. Germany has to remove the unit. Italy convoys APU-TUN for a build finally and Russia and Austria work some sort of stab move on Turkey were Turkey ends up in Greece but loses BUL to Austria and Russia is out of CON or something. Ultimately Russia gets some builds and is growing big. England is up to 5, Germany and I are even at 5.
Spring 1903: Now Germany and I talk and he agrees to move out of BUR and make another attempt at BEL. He is also wary of Russia. We work out a plan where I move MAO-NAO, BRE-MAO and one of my armies to BRE to convoy to LVP which is open since England built F EDI against Germany. I agree, but then I made the mistake of moving A PIC-BRE, allowing the Belgium army to retreat to PIC. I leave BUR open as a sign of faith to GER...I can't convoy to LVP anymore thanks to England's retreat which gives him 2 units on BRE so I must protect it. Italy has moved into lepanto position against Turkey and Russia is apparently setting A/T against each other and picking up SCs one by one.
Autumn 1903: F NAO-LVP, F MAO-IRI, A PAR S A BRE, A MAR-GAS to leave it open for a build. Germany gets Belgium, and Russia gets Norway. England just went from rebounding to screwed in one turn and has to disband 3. Italy gets Greece with Austrian support and Turkey is down to 3. Germany has a build. He builds F KIE and I build F MAR. Austria is still at 5 (TRI, VEN, BUD, SER, BUL), not a very tenable position. I think Russia is at 8 at this point.
Spring 1904: I explain to Italy that I am happy seeing his good recovery from the S01 misorder and that F MAR was the only available space to build that fleet and I must move to SPA since F ENG can escape into MAO and threaten Iberia (this was legit). I end up keeping up my end of the bargain. I move SPA-MAO, with support from IRI, move LVP-CLY since EDI is open (England has fleets in LON, ENG). Germany takes NTH but gets bounced in DEN by Russia I think. Russia moves an army to BOH to make an attack on VIE but Austria cuts off the followup army coming into GAL so now Russia has an outlier that can play a role in MUN since I have moved MAR-BUR with support from GAS. I think I also moved to PIC at this point. Big mess in Balkans. Italy and Russia are working together and getting stronger, but there is some political puppeteering going on of Austria and Turkey. Italy manages to get a unit in Albania and does some weird stuff there.
A04: I stab Germany again, going to MUN with Russian support. Russia bounces Germany in DEN and I bounce Germany in EDI despite promising to let him in there. He now has to disband as well. I don't take ENG has it is locked down with a support. I build F BRE. Turkey pushes Italy out of Eastern MED finally and starts focussing on protecting his little cage. Russia and Italy displace Austrian A BUL which retreats to CON causing more problems for the Sultan.
S05: I now have no more friends in the West since I have stabbed both E/G quite a few times already. Luckily they are weak, Italy is not attacking me after his early mistake and Russia is not going to let Germany get strong soon. But bad news...Germany is pissed with all my aggressive diplomacy and decides he might throw it to Russia (metagaming! Lol). I talk to him and agree to trade EDI for MUN and that my displaced MUN army will retreat forward in the fall into SIL which is open. Fine, he says. I find myself in EDI and Channel ready to convoy into England, but England has moved to LON and YOR. Germany is still in NTH and still bouncing Russia in DEN. Hot mess in Balkans, but I think it mainly consists of Turkey defending, Italy moving units into Austria and Russia cleaning up.
A05: Germany and England chuck me out of EDI, but I walk into an open BEL, and Germany displaces me from MUN but I forget to enter retreat orders for that army so it disbands. Germany gets no builds. Russia is up to 10 units including VIE and CON I think. Italy has TRI and SER... It's all shaping up. I build A PAR.
S06: Now Germany and I agree that Russia is going for the solo and we had better drop our fight and go after him. Fine, WTA and all I agree and feel like Barn3tt would approve. So I abandon my attack on EDI temporarily, move to NWG to block the incoming F STP(nc)-BAR and take an unsupported London. Germany has a fleet in BAL which he uses to displace SWE which retreats to SKA. I have a line of armies in BEL, BUR, PIC doing nothing. Italy's new fleets sail East which is good for me.
A06: I support myself into NTH and the displaced German fleet I think disbands. Russia walks into DEN and Germany gets another disband. Italy takes SMY. Austria's gone home by this point.
1906: Russia wants me to move out of NWG if we want to talk. Sure, I say. I move to NAO and figure I"ll just move LON-YOR to take EDI with support from NTH in the fall, but I misorder WAL-LVP instead for some stupid reason and so no builds for France this year. Russia is dislodged from DEN but retreats to HEL. He takes back DEN in the fall and I go into an empty HOL under the pretext of 'bouncing Russia there' to stab Germany for the 5th or 6th time in as many years. He is thoroughly pissed but I guess he has to go disband a bunch of things. There are 2 Turkish units which Italy is now using against Russia very discreetly, while himself helping Russia with the green units. Awesome stuff I learned from these guys.
1907: Russia takes KIE and BER. I finally get in position to take EDI. Turkey, Germany and England are down to one unit and someone calls a 5WD which I veto off the bat. Italy (9 units) Russia (13) and I (9) agree to 3WD but Italy warns that Russia, who's at 13 now, is the sort of guy who'll try to solo. Fine, you take Turkey out and I'll take E/G out, I say. I get my units into HEL, RUH, BUR etc. Take out EDI, and R/T support each other into ANK to make the Turkish army move to SYR and onward into its oriental journey towards the cardboard box when it is disbanded in the fall. Germany is the only toughie. Russia has been supporting hold his lone unit at MUN the past two turns and I only have RUH and BUR against Germany. F HOL is in a position to threaten both KIE so Russia is being cautious with DEN. We need some way to get a 3WD so I in a last stab against Germany agree to support him into KIE and because Russia's hold orders don't work for a moving MUN army, I take MUN and we draw the game.
Russia: 13 SCs
France: 11 SCs
Italy: 10 SCs
I wanted to push for the solo/2WD like we do on this site but the club has had only 6 solos in 103 games it has played so I figured the group was kinda never gonna let it happen especially with a noob :P
Phew.
@The Czech: There were several crates of good beverages. I noticed (and tried) some Corona Light, Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Goose Island Summertime and about 2 other crates I didn't manage to get to. We put our orders in the box in A04, broke for Lunch and then read them after which is a good policy I think (esp since my stab for MUN came right then). We ate chicken sandwiches. Hors D'ouvres were crackers and chips and veggies with this awesome sour-cream and onion dip. But after about 8 hours it got a little stale.
Thanks all for the encouragement. I think I took out the best player and drew with the other two strongest. I learned a lot about this game that I didn't know previously. But most importantly, that people remember things like stabs (my host, Germany, was thoroughly pissed by the end and will likely remember it next time unless I take a crate of beers or something with me). Everyone else told me the same thing, that compulsive lying would just get everyone not trusting you in subsequent games. I'm playing 6 other members of the club next weekend and apparently the host has got networked bedrooms with an updated versions of the map with units on it on TV screens so you can see the map while scheming with your ally/puppet.
Anyone else see this happen?
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