188759. PDT SuperPastis21 - game 1B

[Pete the Great]

OMG I hit a worng key and lost the entire AAR! So hear it goes again: (Also disclamer, Germany is top board but graciously agreed to let me open this thread as they have never written an AAR).

I entered my 2nd season of SuperPastis excited to fix my mediocre record from the previous year. Opening my initial mesage of assignment I discovered I had drawn Austria. This was either going to be very short (luckily I had another tourneament in PDL) or very exciting. Early messages went out to:
* Germany (allied, I have your back you have mine, if Gal agreement violated will you deny Swe?)
* Italy, my sympathies, united we can do great things, what would you like to do (Key, Blue Water, regular Lepanto?), name it, I am game. By the way Ven to Pie is a real headache for France.
* Russia, we can be friends, I am not the enemy AR can work and if you violate an agreement at Gal Gerrmany will deny you Swe (I hope).
* Turkey AT can work. Note IcomeInPeaceMaybe really got a raw deal. The original player left after spring 01 and IcomeInPeace stepped into a bad situation with alliances formed and everyone gunning his way for free centers. You did well given the circumstances and Italy and I agreed to spare you until the tail end to give you some points.
* England and France, Good luck lets have an informaton exchange.

Opening messages went well, a Central Triple was forming, Russia was amicable and was agreeable to attack Turkey, but no response from Turkey. 1901 opened as expected, things were looking up. No immediate enemies and a +2 looked solid.

In fall 01 things took a turn. Russia succumbed to Turkey's overtures and invaded Galicia but in turn lost Black. A long discussion ensued and ultimately resolved with Russia and I making up with my building a fleet in Tri in exchange for Russia building army Mos. This ruffled Italy a bit and he laid some specific expectations of what I could do and not do with that extra fleet. I felt positive about the future.

1902 saw Russia vacate Gal and I gained Bul. It became evident that RG were getting along well. Was I in a CT, RAG or RA? Time would tell. The discussion in CT was France or England first. I offered 40 some years of reading diplomacy articles: let France get fully involved, when England is ready to fall, strike. I and G seemed to heed that advice and the wars dragged on.

1903 saw Italy gain Smyrna, a much needed build for him, while I gained Con in Fall 1904. Decision time, CT or AR? Russia wanted me to drive headlong into the German rear. That looked like a pretty ugly proposition given that all Russian forces were engaged in Turkey. I chose CT. Was it a stab? I publicly in the press declared war on Russia and then played cat and mouse stretching his lines northward until Fall 1906 when I took Rum, Sev and War. Tactically I was very proud, persoanlly I felt terrible as I really liked my banter with Russia. For that I am sorry.

Things were rolling at full steam now. Turkey was just left in Ank, England was eliminated in 04, and France was on the IG dinner plate being carved up. How would you like to end this? The message went out outlining several possiblilites 12/11/10/1; 11/11/11/1; 12/11/11? Interestingly enough, both Germany and Italy had great respect for France and wanted him preserved with a center. Both Italy and myself agreed that Germany deserved the top board honors for holding the line on EF alone for all those years. The great adjustment began with me giving up Turkish holdings to get Italy into the bonus. The grind to eliminate R, T and F (other then 1 center) continued.

Home stretch and a near disaster. We were finalizing a lot and I messed up not seeing Germany sneaking up on StPete until the last minute (Fall 1909). Ouch, with a stab Germany could take both Bre and StP and knock both Italy and I out of bonus. What to do? I sent a number of messages, some more emotional than they should have been, but the message was claer, Do you want 1 in the hand or two in the bush? Germany, if they accepted the draw proposal was top board and 39 bonus points. or they could gamble. Depeding on their decisions they could keep 39 or possibly drop to 24 bonus if they misplayed. I was willing to sacrifice all bonus pionts to transfer southern centers to Italy. After this, a great game, is 2 points for StP worth it and if you misplay it you might actually lose points?

I am grateful for Germany's decision to accept the draw. She is very deserving of the top board she received in this game and I wish her the best of luck in the remainder of the tournament. It turns out as we discussed AAR that we are neighbors , a country apart separated by a meer 5 or 6 hours drive. Had we known earlier 1909 might never have been a question. Good game!

Italy, It was fun. Sorry about the 2nd fleet, but it ws needed. We both made bonus points. Good game!

Russia - I really enjoyed our conversations. It was a tough choice and I hope you understand. You are only the 2nd persn I have ever forwarned that I was going to stab them, not that I stab often.

France, England and Turkey - good game. It is the nature of the beast. Great conversations and I wish you the best of luck for the remainder of the tournament.

Pete

[Ann2026]

Thanks Pete for a great opening and starting point for discussion and point of views.

This is my first season competing - I was excited and nervous at the same time.
I was assigned Germany.

First year and introduction and negotiations started, and to get the feel of everyone’s intentions.
As Austria mentioned, discussion about CT went pretty well.
I have to mention thou - at first - 80% of my daily talks was with France and Russia.
20% to Austria and Italy. I was aware of their doings, but didn’t go into detail about their moves. It was only around 1905 that the shift changed.

My immediate neighbours chats concerning the opening year: England asked for Belgium. Russia stated his goal was Norway. France didn’t ask for Bel, I was sceptic about that in the beginning.
My first stab, was to England - Fall 1901 - denying him Bel. From there, sorry England - you got attacked from both sides.

I spared France from a stab, (btw - that tap was really unintentional) so I knew I had a friend for a while. I agreed to Russia’s request, so I know I had a 2nd friend for a year or so.
While France moved to England, I support myself to Bel, and started to secure myself in the North Sea.

Fast forward 1903, Russia wanted to move towards GB. I had to make a choice, do I support Russia to get stronger and out of control? I tried my best to stretch our negotiations, that ever long talks about Sweden. France started to settle well in England, while I asked for London.

1904 With France’s mainland almost un-protection, I started to move closer, and so did Italy - France, as mentioned before - it was really hard.

Fall 1905 I moved in on Russia as well. I was careful not spread myself too thin, to be able to keep supporting myself and to be prepared if I would become a target.
As Austria mentioned, from there it was discussion about the end-results. And how Italy and myself would prefer that France survive till the end as well.

I was happy with the end result, and that last stretch … some of my fleets got bored and I love challenges. what can I say …
oh, and I do not do well with threats …
After an evening of baby-sitting my god-grandchildren (twin boys) … my heart soften and I agreed to the draw.

Well played Austria and Italy and that the CT worked out very well for all of us.
France, a great team-player and welcome back to the game.
Russia, a strong player and survivor.
England, sorry about the early stab, and seeing your stats afterwards, you would have been a strong competitor.
Turkey, we haven’t talked much but great game to have survived for so long the way you did.

Get some rest and all the best to everyone for the next round … good luck to us all!!