AARs

[Pedros]

A draw for Japan (trckertrsh) and USA (haroonriaz). But what was it like for you?

[Willie900]

First of all, I'd like to apologize for NMRing so much, my mind wasn't entirely on this game, and for that I am sorry.

anyway, I replaced someone as Italy, but it was the first turn, so it was basically like I had started normally.

in the beginning, the UK and I hatched a plan to take out Germany as fast as possible. Things started to turn ugly when the U.S. And Japan struck the UK. We couln't completely eliminate Germany. Once it became clear that having Britain as an ally was not good, I neglected to ally with the USSR, so we started fighting, sealing our doom as Japan and the US swept the board. I had good relations with the US, but I figured we'd fight sometome. I also neglected to try splitting the Japan-US alliance, which was another big mistake.

all in all, I neglected to do many things, which was my fatal flaw here. But it was a fun, interesting variant, in which I got Italy to do much better than they did in real history

[asudevil]

Im not a player, but as a captain I followed this with great interest. I think the USSR fell apart when Germany (who he wanted to ally with) started NMR'ing. A crucial NMR of our own really hurt our chances. I think this game was mainly decided by the fact that US and Japan didnt NMR and everyone else did.

Japan and US got too big too fast, and there was never really a chance to break that alliance.

[haroonriaz]

The game has been pretty dramatic and one of the only few chances of breakthrough for the CLD in the Team Championship.

I got my last preference in the country allocation and that actually somehow became an advantage. I think England had a strong presence and that was the first and the greatest target. It all began when Japan helped me win Canada and there was no stopping after that. I don't think anyone was expecting a Japan-US alliance in this manner and everyone was caught off-guard. Perhaps to the disappointment of the captain of FANG or not, Soviet Union became an ally and a part of the US-Japan axis and only helped us grow, taking out China, which was really a sitting duck. Italy was the only formidable resistance but I do admit that it was his NMR and passive foreign policy that helped us advance.

I think Germany started in a disappointing manner by sticking to Britain unnecessarily. Got stabbed and was virtually out of the game. However, I was pretty impressed with the way BobMyYak carried it forward. He deserves applause.

After the reminder message dispute episode, I considered the game to have lost its balance which could threaten the alliance and though I am not in favor of such easy draws, I proposed it and urged Japan to accept it. It was appropriate because somehow I did not think that it would bring the right outcome if we continued with it. tkertrsh's Japan has been a great partner throughout the game, so agreed to it, recognizing that we could not have achieved that position without each other's help.

I know it is not easy supervising five to six games at a time and I think Pedros has done a superhuman and marvelous job in this regard, making the Team Championship possible, so needless to say he's the one who makes all this fun possible and deserves our recognition, respect and appreciation. Also, for maintaining a democratic approach to problem solving and consultation, which is the greatest thing and makes this forum a great place to play diplomacy. Thank you for organizing. So I do apologize to him and to Willie and others if I have criticized a couple of things here and there in arguments during the course of this game in frustration. But sometimes arguments and disputes occur in Diplomacy, both in the real world and Calhamer's.

In the end, pretty satisfied with the result and it was nice playing with tkertrsh. Not a person of many words. I hope tkertrsh takes some time out to post here.

Great game, perhaps not so much for other teams and players, but hey, it is not our fault you guys never stopped NMRing.

Any diplomacy game is ruined because of that. This one was no exception.

[Pedros]

Im not a player, but as a captain I followed this with great interest. I think the USSR fell apart when Germany (who he wanted to ally with) started NMR'ing. A crucial NMR of our own really hurt our chances. I think this game was mainly decided by the fact that US and Japan didnt NMR and everyone else did.

Couldn't agree more!

[trkertrsh]

Im not a player, but as a captain I followed this with great interest. I think the USSR fell apart when Germany (who he wanted to ally with) started NMR'ing. A crucial NMR of our own really hurt our chances. I think this game was mainly decided by the fact that US and Japan didnt NMR and everyone else did.

Couldn't agree more!

I agree the nmr's played a part, but usa and I were on the other side of ussr and had him in with us till almost the end. It was hard for us to go around to grow as we did i believe continued allegiance to each other kept us from killing ourselves off as others did. The nmrs didn't help us get centers it actually helped Italy more i believe until he started nmring.

[Pedros]

China (his record was pretty bad - and two successive NMRs in 41-42 basically gave the two of you his whole position). And Britain (cs never got to grips with the troops (for a couple of turns after he joined he didn't even know he had a Middle East section!)

I'd say those two gave you a pretty overwhelming advantage.

[BobMyYak]

Well, I have never tried an AAR, partaken in a tournament or taken over a forum game position before... So why not hit all three in one? (Albeit rather late)

Having been handed a lovely position at the end of fall 1942, things looked a little desperate for the formerly mighty German Nation. It was obvious that Italy had all the say over whether I would survive even a single turn. Naturally, my first attempt to communicate was with Italy... Which did not go as well as intended:

No response?! What was I supposed to do from here?

Luckily, the USSR was at least talking to me and - although not being able to affect whether I survived or not - was interested in working with me. A message form the USA urging German action was also promising.

The priority was to gain another SC, which would preferably be a home SC... Options, with only one fleet, were limited to either Denmark or Hamburg. Hamburg was the home SC, so that was the target. Unfortunately, I could not guarantee England not coming to take this back and Italy not moving to Berlin, so a hold and pray order was issued. Back to one SC.

Then the USSR made good on their earlier messages and supported a move back to Berlin, boosting the German nation to two SC's. Happy Days

From the desperate starting position, a doubling of SC's was more than I could have hoped for, so the draw was accepted as soon as it was noticed.

It would have been interesting to have been in at the start on a map which is certainly interesting. I could have said far more had I been there at the start, but annihilation may well have been the final result for Germany

Hope to meet you under less stressful circumstances!

Cheers


Bob

[Pedros]

I think it's clear we need to make sure there's another game of Zeus soon - far too interesting to lie hidden so long.

[asudevil]

I think it's clear we need to make sure there's another game of Zeus soon - far too interesting to lie hidden so long.

Same with 1900 it seems.