I wasn't going to do this as it isn't a proud first solo for me. It was gained because France self-sacrificed and I accepted his offer of the solo. I should say I'm not going to apologise for the win but I do feel kind of bad at how it was gained and for the players who missed out on the final table because of it.
Opening Phase
I started by working with France and Russia on attacking Germany. As usual I was trying to be flexible in my approach while keeping to an overall plan. France and I had good communication from the start, as did Russia and I. In contrast Germany was fairly quiet. I blocked him in Belgium in 1901 then grabbed Denmark. Russia and I were working on northern Germany, France on Munich. Russia then attacked France in Munich and, with Germany on his way out, France and I re-focused. The south was much more messy. Turkey had NMRed in S1901, and when he moved he was moving against Russia. France and Italy had an arrangement and Austria was being attacked by Italy. I don't think the south organised itself until the mid-game when Turkey and Austria took Italy and Russia were weakened.
Middle Phase 1904
France and I were now working on a possible two-way. There was a rogue German unit floating about the east and it took a Russian SC. It was obvious that he wouldn't be able to hold it and once I had an army in StP I offered to support Germany into Moscow, trying to continue the weakening of Russia. At the same time France took Belgium from Germany, giving me Holland. Up until this point my builds had been fleets, but once I had StP the focus changed to armies. I controlled the north and had freedom of convoying. France and I worked on Russia in the north; in the south R/T/A seemed to be more co-operative. Meanwhile I had placed a fleet in NAf to support the French in Tunis as T/A were moving through the Med. It took a while but I was eventually able to move through northern Russia down to Warsaw and Moscow, taking the final German SC on the way. By this point it looked like a stalemate line had been drawn: E/F in the northwest, R/T/A in the southeast.
Final Phase 1909
That's when I got a message from France. He told me he didn't see us breaking through and forcing R/T/A to allow us the two-way (and we weren't going to give them the three-way). His offer was to give me the solo. I have to admit to being shocked. Having taken over the tournament position I hadn't expected a Final Table place at all. What France was saying was that a solo was the way for one of us - me - to get to that lofty position. I accepted. Initially it may have seemed like a stab from me: Lon-Bel, NAf-MAO, Den-Ber. I had the chance to steal 3 French SCs. In actual fact I intended only to hold Berlin. Anything else would mean too many French units being destroyed. However, France and I were able to hold the line while I positioned myself to grab the French centres. By Fall 1911 I took 4 of the 5 SCs I needed. But I didn't take Spain; France hadn't moved out. I can only assume that the others had persuaded him to stop me. However, it was too late. I was able to manoever and grab the final SC in Fall 1912. Turkey hadn't expected it at least: he was asking for a draw from remaining players.
As I said I'm not proud of the victory. It wouldn't have been gained except for France's sacrifice. I'm still not sure why he offered and made it. You'd have to ask him.
I'm not going to comment on the other players this time, other than to say that without France and his ability in the early and middle phases I wouldn't have been in the position to take the offer in the first place, and to commiserate with Russia for moving against him in the middle phase. Unfortunately, the southern powers and I didn't communicate much; we all had our own areas of concern and the diplomacy in those areas was taking a lot of time.