Win 07 and Spr 08 Thoughts

I don't know who to trust... I think we are at a key spot in the game...

I'm still not sure if I can trust Turkey when he says he will help me and is only concerned with getting Italy out of the game before him. I mean, he is a really experienced player.. the only experienced player in the group that is left actually.

France, who I do trust pretty well, has promised me again that he'll be on my side till the end, and also says he doesn't mind finishing 2nd to me.

I haven't talked much with Italy, because he's a good friend and I want him out of the game. :-) But he is really strong and knows I have an alliance with France. He has mentioned he only really wants Turkey out of the game before him, and is estatic to still be in this game, as he's playing Italy.

So... I don't know what to think.. I would think everyone would still ideally want a solo victory, and clearly Italy is still looking strong.. the only thing touch for Italy is that he is fighting France and Turkey at the same time...

That's why I still think it is possible that he might have a truce soon with Turkey... But if Turkey was going to switch to Italy's side, I think he would not have disbanded the army in Silesia. Unless he thinks that'll be too obvious to me... argh.. i keep overthinking this!!

The problem is... If they are not working together, than I support Lvn into Mos now.. assuming Ukr bounces with Sev.. Shit.. I don't know... would Sev really move off of Sev to protect Mos? I suppose he will die soon anyways... only 4 centers left.. maybe he'll be happy to left me have Moscow to end Turkey sooner.. but that doesn't make sense.. once I have Moscow, I'm obviously moving south to Sev... Damn, I'm starting to sound like Vizzini from Princess Bride...


Anyway... I think I'm going to move to surround Mos with StP, Lvn, and War this turn. That way I'll DEFINITELY get it in the fall, when it matters most. It might be the long way around, but I guess I'm in no rush.. I should get 1 more SC by next fall (Mos) and I'll help France get into the Italian Peninsula. But Italy will probably get some SC's in Ank and/or Rum.. So it'll be interesting by next Fall..

;-)

Fall '07

Well, things are looking good for Germany(me) so far. I've taken Warsaw and get a build! Turkey's army in Warsaw will either retreat to Sil or Mos, but then Turkey will have to disband one of his troops. I'm going to assume he'll disband this.

I've decided to trust France for now and am moving Ruhr and Kiel south to help him with Italy. I convinced France last Spring to move against Italy or Italy would get builds and his base SC's would have troops that most likely wouldn't leave. And really, Italy would've had 2 builds had he not "forgotten" to turn his moves in.

I'm still not sure if I'm loving this game or not I must say... It seems that in both of the games I've been involved in, that the "diplomacy" aspect of the game has stopped toward the end of the game. Everyone pretty much knows the "sides"... Seems pointless to continue discussions with Turkey and Italy if I know I'm not going to really help them out. I would just be promising things that I would not have any intentions on following through with.

SC Count:

Germany (me): 11

Italy : 10

France : 9

Turkey : 4

My fear remains that Turkey and Italy will join sides and attack me and France. That would still leave us with 20 SC's versus 14 SC's so I like our odds. So we'll see. We've all said we are going for a solo victory, so I still need to make sure that France doesn't stab me at some point... Things on my mind still...

My fleets in Baltic, Nth and Nwy seem like they'll be useless for awhile now (possibly for the rest of the game). I'm not sure what I should do with them. If I move Nwy to Nrg, France would be rightfully nervous. Just hate Holding all of my fleets.

Not sure what to do in the Spring. I'm of course planning on taking Moscow, and have told Turkey that. I'm in a great position to do that, unless Turkey and Italy team up. I'm not worried that they read this and think of that. Turkey is REALLY experienced, and Italy is in his 2nd game, but clearly understands the game. So I will be prepared... If it continues as it is, I don't see how I can't win this, but I have to be prepared for a stab.

I will admit that I have commited a major error in all this. It is 1907 and I STILL haven't really looked at what my 18 SC's will be. Really. No lie.. I figure I'll just keep taking SC's until I've reached 18. I know I need to look up the stalemate lines as well. I am a little fuzzy on the lines and hope that doesn't harm me this game. I'll add that to my to-do list. :-)

Ok... I quickly counted SC's.... I can see easily getting 14 or 15.. but the 18 SC's will be really hard to get unless .... (well... I can't write this in case others _might_ read it).. but 18 SC's seem pretty hard... I'll have to get a lot of Austria/Turkey... Hmmm... guess we'll see. Maybe I'll just propose a draw to France once we are the last 2... we'll see....

Fall 06

I'll comment on this later, but here is last Fall (1906)... I took back Berlin (while bouncing in Kiel with Denmark and Bal), and Turkey took Warsaw, eliminating Russia.

Summer 07

I'm playing Germany for my second game. I'm looking pretty good. I have a tight alliance with France (although I was a little nervous about it this past season, which is why I am in Bel and Hol).

Now that I've started this, I'm not sure how much to say.. Suppose another person I'm playing with comes across this? It's unlikely I know, but it is possible... Hmmm... what to say then?

Well, it is Summer '07. Russia was just eliminated in Fall 1906 to join Austria (eliminated pretty early on). This game is interesting in that the first game was all first time players, but in this game there were 2 really "experienced" players playing, Austria and Turkey. But I was disappointed in Austria's play. Like I said, I am playing Germany. I would've thought that Austria, being an "experience" player, would email a lot of people and use "diplomacy". But every time I emailed him, he never responded back. Not once. I think this is pretty poor Diplomacy skills, although I'm guessing it would not have changed a thing. We both left the Germany - Austria border pretty much unprotected as we branched out into our own sides of the map. But it would've been good to hear from him... oh well, I degress... The point is, the only experienced person left is Turkey, and we won't let him win. I'm not sure if that is a "fair" reason, but that's the way it is...

So I need to see what I am planning to do for Fall '07. In the spring, France showed his hand to Italy by taking Tuscany. Italy was initially planning to attack Turkey and my fear now is that Turkey will convince Itlay to turn on France. And it would make sense or else Italy will be between at war with France and Turkey. So I need to decide if I should eliminate Turkey or Italy. I could either take Warsaw away from Turkey or take Bud away from Itlay (with a little luck). I haven't attacked Italy in a couple of years (or so it seems, I might have to look back and see) and he hasn't attacked me. But it is possible that Italy will take Vienna from me (but I'd put money that Tri goes to Ven to stop France from taking it)... SOO... perhaps I should take Tri, assuming he moves off of it.. But I clearly can take Warsaw without too much effort. SO... we'll see..

In the middle of my second diplomacy game

Well, I'm going to give this a shot.. I'm in the middle of my second game of Diplomacy. If you haven't played this game, take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacy_(game).

I was going to start this blog when I started playing this Diplomacy game, but I've been way too busy...I really attempted to start this blog, so at the end of the game, when I give my post-game analysis I can remember what the heck I was thinking as I was playing it..


So it is currently Summer 1907. I will try to put some posts of previous years so you (and I) and see how I got here... For the record, I am playing in my second game of Diplomacy, and I'm still not sure if I really like it or not. I won the first game of Diplomacy in a three way tie. It was everyone's first time playing and it went pretty well, once I backstabbed a really close friend (i'm still trying to mend the relationship; he's sworn off playing Diplomacy ever again)

So.. I'll see how this goes..