WitA 8: game End and AARs

[Nanook]

The game has ended in a DIAS with Peru, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. Congratulations to the survivors, and condolences to the eliminated!

Thank you all for playing! This game was a bit choppy at times, but overall I think it was a well played game, so I’m mostly happy with how it turned out. Especially since we did see a legit run at a solo by Spain, which made things a bit more exciting!

I’ll make this prettier with the final map and center count later, but for now I just wanted to get it up and give players a chance to comment and talk about the game.

[W0bbly]

I guess I'll go first. I have a terrible memory, so usually, I try to wait until others post and then riff off that. I'll be brief, but maybe it will spark some other AARs.

I obviously shot my shot in trying to get Mexico and lost the coin flip. I was happy to get stuck with Spain as opposed to Venezuela, but still felt like it was a precarious middle position. I was very happy to avoid getting jumped on. I tried to play all sides but really felt I would have to come to blows with Britain at some point. Mexico seemed a good natural ally and I also proposed a central triple with Venezuela and Colombia. I tried to be flexible and be willing to go with any alliance. Despite my predisposition to distrust of Britain, Don Juan is such a great ally and was good to communicate with so I wanted to find a way to work together.

Basically, I managed to fly under the radar and gain some strength. I stabbed Britain before I could have it done to me and threw myself at Venezuela. Frankly, asudevil lied to me about his intentions for Colombia so I felt I wasn't his main ally. He's too dangerous and when he betrayed Colombia out of the gate I didn't think I could work with him longterm. Meanwhile, Mexico seemed to be eager to work with me. That set me up nicely, though. Mexico and I could grow and not really get in each others' way, while the SA powers fought amongst themselves.

The game was going pretty well to plan, until I lost track of Mexico's SC count and saw he got to 18. I was immediately worried about him soloing, and Peru and Chile cleverly amplified that fear. As I was looking at how to stop Mexico, I realized that my fleet advantage and the relationship I had developed with Brazil put me in a good position to get to 21. So, I took my shot and was foiled by a great rally by the other powers and a shrewed retreat by Colombia that I just missed.

After that, I was certain I couldn't solo and went back to hoping to draw this thing out (I accepted every draw proposed in this game, by the way). I'm glad we finally got it finished because I think there were no real solo threats after that. I was going to make sure Mexico had a helluva time soloing and I wasn't going to get there again. I thought that Chile had a chance if it dragged out long enough and the focus remained on me and Mexico, but I think I ascribed too much deviousness to NoPun.

As for the controversial (at least to bigj0e) decision to object to the retreat, I still don't think I understand what was so unfair about that. As I've said before, we had previous NMRs and I don't see why they would be treated less leniently. I can understand why it would seem cheap for Spain to object to the retreat while still retaining some solo aspirations, but I truly wasn't trying to do anything but draw. But, I don't know why it would be any less cheap for Mexico to solo by getting a pass that nobody else who NMR'd got. In any case, I don't think that destroy made the difference. I was going to go raiding up and down the eastern seaboard and I don't think Mexico was going to get to 21 no matter what. I think it got the game over and I'm glad for that, but I wonder if I'm the only one who objected.

Anyway, that was a fun game for me. I really like WitA. I'm not sure how I feel about the rule adjustments that were apparently made at some prior time but it is a really good map. I look forward to it maybe being added to the main site. Anyway, thanks to everyone for a good game. Tip of the hat for the good coordination to stop my solo bid. Great game, as usual, nanook. A real pleasure!

See you all around,
Wobbly