I think this is more a case of praise than blame. Seth did a tremendous job. He kept a juggernaut going until I was in Germany then he stabbed me. Sure things could have been done. Italy turning quicker, France not taking stPete, me not opening myself to the stab. But to start with the blame is premature--first we must recognize the great play by Seth. And a good game all---thoroughly enjoyed it (which is a rarity in a solo).

Strange game :) I won't argue with the result but I thought I was never going to get my fleets past Italy's one fleet before he finally disbanded it.
Pretty well played game all around and the fighting between Austria and italy and Russia playing nice gave me a pretty solid position to do pretty much what I wanted.

Thanks JCB for setting these games up and I have had I great time with them all :) very high quality of play which is pretty rare.

Yeah, Turkey did play well. When Italy decided to give me a friendly little "fuck you, you can't stop a juggernaut" tap in Trieste, I made sure to show him that he was right. I wasn't going to stop the juggernaut, whether I could have or not. I could have, and while it would have involved stalemating Turkey and forcing him toward Russia, it could have been done, though it may weaken me a bit. But Italy said nah, so I threw it. That's where I blame Italy.

I think Russia had a stalemate line - I know you did - if not for a poorly timed shift in your line, which isn't your fault. Turkey more or less just guessed right. He knew it had to come at some point.

In the earlier years, after Turkey had gotten into Iberia, France could have kicked him out. That was my first instinctive claim… three units versus two should have been easy had I supported the MAO instead of cutting Portugal. I don't know why he moved as he did, but it certainly wasn't the only reason for Turkey winning. Most solos take luck, and often a screw up on someone else's part, and this one is no different, though the play was solid.

And, just a side note, is the stalemate line within Austria on Budapest/Vienna/Rumania or Galicia/Ukraine/Warsaw/Rumania? I've had both work but I've seen both fail too.

Add Galicia onto the first set ^

Hmm looked like Italy was trying to help you by bouncing Trieste for you...but then again a move or so later he convoyed to Albania.

Hehe...that's the great thing about gunboats...trying to extrapolate the other guy's motives. I was trying to bounce in Trieste to save it. Initially I sent my army north to help against Russia who ran north..which left me dumbfounded. Then Turkey makes a breakthrough in the South. After accidently acquiring Trieste, I left it for Austria to retake, but I sense Austria doesn't get it my intentions and would come at me. End game...I was just trying to survive.

I got my ass kicked so bad it is kind of moot for me to post much. But then I suck at gunboat.

I've already said all I need to in PM, but I'll say it here for everyone wondering why I ignored Turkey for so long.

In 1907, Germany took London after I had offered him support holds and moves. Russia had become my target when I thought that we needed to stall him, but my blood-lust in post-1907 made me oblivious to the Turkish threat until I noted all the draw votes. That was 1909, I believe, and that's when I made an effort to stop Turkey.

I was disappointed that Germany and I didn't dance better at the end there. I thought he should have convoyed the army back to the mainland and taken Munich sooner (to convert the Russian fleets into armies since Russia couldn't build). I also thought that Russia should have been a little more overt in saying, "Please, take your home centers back so I can get rid of these fleets and you can build armies." No one is perfect, but I tried to give some convoy signals to Germany and some support move signals (when I could afford them) to indicate what I thought was a good idea.

A final note, you cannot support a convoy from Liverpool to Gascony if the fleet offering support is necessary for the convoy. This was the terrID error the mods were so helpful in pointing out to me. Just interesting trivia in the programming there. :)