DipideeDawg (georgeatkins) 03/17/2020
Well, first of all thanks to NoPun for inviting me into the game and for his usual standard of adjudication and oversight...as well as his patience with my laziness and carelessness. Next, my real appreciation to all of the slugs, er, fellow players for a very interesting and challenging game. My first time on this variant, as you could probably tell by my fumblings in Europe. I was accused of stabbing everybody, which was not true, but that might have been what it looked like. By nature, I am not a stabaholic. First off, a stab is what you do to an ally, not an opponent, right? Anyway, I couldn't find a solid base of cooperation in Europe, which might have been due to not finding the right approach for Austria. Stuck between two larger powers (France/Rhine States and Russia), it seemed that, no matter which way I went, the other side would roll over me, or both would. So, I might have unconsciously led to my own demise over there. Unfortunate, as Waka had suggested a dual win, which I was thinking from the start as one of the interesting features, along with trying to handle two powers. As it turned out, my failing in Europe doomed Waka's Grand Plan and forced me to move against him before he could regroup. But New Spain coincidentally pushed it along by stabbing a 3-way plan we had just put together. Perhaps he saw it was temporary. The rest is easy enough to see. I simply ran out of time. I probably should have stabbed Waka a turn or two ago, but New Spain was too strong at that point and would have moved against me in alliance with Waka. In the end, I knew I could get to 17 centers with correct play.
But, as Waka also pointed out, getting that last center (having been annihilated in Europe) was not going to happen. And France was making moves of his own by that time, with nobody doing much about it, since I was still the one to stop. So, all of my feeble negotiations late in the game mattered not a tit. And Waka was not going to let me walk to victory, in spite of his threats to the rest of you. No matter what I did, he could stop me, and did. In the end, I think the victory belongs to those of you who successfully erected the stalemate in the North East. Either that, or I was just too slow.
Again, thank you, NoPun, for another innovative variant, professional design, and top-notch adjudication.
I sure can suck up, huh?
Do any of these points get into PD?
Commander Tomalak 03/17/2020
Oh man, yeah, this game has been a load of fun for me as well.
I admit I haven't done the best jobs - the very flexible loyalties of the first few turns ended up putting me in a position where I didn't have a chance at winning. I find it ironic that the one person I'd immediately (at the start) decided to settle in on an alliance with, Austria, was the only person I was fighting by the end of the game!
I didn't want to roll over Austria, but I could see how that would be a possibility. I'd hoped to support Austrian movements through France. Unfortunately, my plans stalled quickly (Strategus is very good at that) and then I was threatened by Denmark and Austria, and I had no friendly neighbours.
I admit, I couldn't help the stalemate. I spent the entire time in the alliance carefully planning exactly what to do when it turned on me.
Part of the reason I was rushing towards a draw, I suppose, is that I knew I was the dead weight, the odd man out.
I knew that if France/Denmark chose to stay loyal to each other over me - and they almost certainly would - I'd be toast
The game would also have probably ended in a French solo had that happened, so I was starting to get cautious about France, hoping we could do something about it. I wasn't going to let Austria come back and doom the game, but I knew we had to be careful about French expansion.
Did the best I could, came in a decent place. Happy with my score. It's better than I thought I would have three years ago or so. (In game years, that is.)
DipideeDawg (georgeatkins) 03/17/2020
I do want to add that I thought everybody would appreciate the fact that Waka came in next-to-last.
I hope that makes up a bit for my play in Europe. As for a Fr/Den solo, had Austria been able to retain one center, that would not have happened. In any event, I don't see how Denmark would let France solo. And that's why Denmark helped US secure the North East and prevented a Shawnee solo. I enjoyed the give-and-take with you all.
