Perdita Logs

Let's have a look behind the scenes....

Italy and Egypt spent some time here looking at the "zone of influence" question. John and Suzi have been having a conversation with regard to the Maltese sea - he would have been a little silly to antagonise Suzi by moving there and appears to have earned himself some points by not doing so.

Suzi wrote to John:

I have re-examined the map, and do see your point about the Maltese sea. Maybe you can understand my reservations, though, when your last statements in an otherwise friendly communiqué appear to threaten rather than to point towards a lasting peace between our two nations. I do hope that this is merely a misinterpretation upon my part (I know translations from Italian to English and then from English to Egyptian may not be helping here).

You can understand my concerns, though, I hope when I have Turkey so near to my borders. I do need to ensure I have an ally in the years to come and I feel that together you and I may be able to achieve much, but divided I feel we could both fall prey to the nations on our other borders.

Therefore I suggest that we trust one another in this respect, but as a measure of our trust in one another I think it would be decent of us both to at least let the other nation know if one of us needs move in the waters adjacent to our lands... If in your coming campaign I can be of assistance, and am in a position to be able to help, please let me know.

A little optimistic there on the part of Suzi I feel... "Hey, John, let me know if you're going to be a threat to me, please."

John did have the following to say:

Germany's a bit nervous about me moving into Austria this turn.. I'm trying to reassure him. I don't plan a war with Germany...Possibly a war with France, or Spain, but more probably, wait and see how things go between Egypt and Turkey and attack whoever's winning.. Preferably take out Egypt, otherwise she could be a pain later on.

He's a scheming one that John....

Suzi does have a nice agreement with Mikey though with Eme an apparently declared DMZ.

On re-reading my last communique, I feel that it may need some clarification. I have no objection to the Eastern Med being a DMZ, along with the states of Syria and Iraq, but in order to ensure the defense of my nation from others, I will still need to allow my fleets to pass around the edge of the Eastern Med. I hope that this has clarified what could have been an unfortunate misrepresentation on my part.

As stated in my last communication.. our two nations working together could be formidable, and such an understanding as expressed earlier in this communication would mean that we can each concentrate on our more pressing concerns, whilst allowing a relationship to evolve which could be advantageous for both our countries in the longer term.

This appears to have been honoured - at least whilst they both rally their forces!

Let us now move away from the affairs of Egypt, and look toward Ross "Trotsky" Chapman. Ross provided me with the following insightm:

Because you are such a brilliant and masterful GM *g* This man knows his stuff - flattery always helps! here is my basic plan at the mo.

Basic idea is to gain Sweden and Bielorussia. And if posible to gain Georgia.

I would expect F Ros to *bounce* as Turkey wants that SC as well, and communiques with Turkey say as much.

I got the Moscow and Gorky armies into a position where they could support one another into Bielorussia. Same with the Murmansk Army and St Petersburg Fleet in regards to Finland.

I currently have a non-aggression pact with Egypt amd cam hopefully use Suzi to harry Turkey's South whilst i do the same from above.

Ukraine and i have an agreement, but i trust Piers about as far as i can throw him. he is the only one that i have any real character knowledge of since i have spoken to him on #afp prior to joining Perdita. i still don't trust him. he is a bit to close to Russia to have friendly intentions.

Nevertheless Poland will be my first objective. Germany says that she is also worried about Poland. i therefore told Poland that Germany is going to attack Poland as it has an agreement with UK and France. I then made a deep insinuation to Ukarine that Germany had made an agreement with Russia to attack Poland so she could attack Germany.

I implied that Britain might find this interesting enough to attack Germany, and hopefully Piers will take the hint and tell Britain this.

Anyway. that is what has hapened so far. i have spoken with Germany, Turkey, Ukraine and Egypt (mostly Egypt as we have a Russo-Egyptian Non-Agression Pact). i have sent messages to Spain, GB, France, and Poland.

With all this in mind, here were the results

Spring 1995 Movement Results

Commenting on the results after the processing, John said:

Well, blimmin' Germany didn't do what he was supposed to..The only encouraging sign is that he's moving North and France is moving South-west, so they aren't ganging up on me. :-)

Famous last words, John....

Orders have started to arrive for the autumn phase, for example Comrade Trotsky Chapman entertained me with:

F GOB -- Swe.
A Fin S F GOB -- Swe.
A Cen -- Biel.
A Mos S A Cen -- Biel.
F Ros - Cauc.

i have had hardly any communication this round. so don't know what the others are going to do. You mean, "what they want you to think they're going to do". Hope this helps. Have a nice day.

It seems i was right about Piers. The legendary "as far as I can throw him" line Poland was a bit of a bastard as well. it doesn't bother me though as i will gain Biel this turn unless Piers gives support, which i wouldn't put past the slimy bastard. Crikey Piers, you've made a friend here!

Only the Russian God knows what i will do with my Rostov Fleet. it will just have to wait till she gets support. Unless i lose that SC this turn through Turkey and Ukraine i will get a Build there. at least i think i will.

Sorry bought the *void* last turn. Hey, no worries to me! Piers again, right? Piers had promised (right) to Support me into Georgia if i supported him into there. He decided to move elsewhere without telling me however, probably in collusion with Turkey so they could get Georgia.

Unless Ross corrects his orders by processing time he'll have another *void*, and this one all of his own doing. I have informed him of the impossible order - will he correct it?

At the time of writing, orders are arriving thick and fast. There are a few which are interesting, for example, Mikey is in prime position to influence I/G using his Swi army - yet he chooses to have Swi to hold. Perhaps this isn't so baffling - he slightly annoys them both, but doesn't do anything overtly hostile - with luck they'll bounce of each other. They could also gang up against him! Another set of orders baffle me though. Spain has got her armies mutually supporting each other. This assumes that E/F have an alliance and an agreement about who gets Poland - I'd have considered the chance for Gibraltar, at worst I'd have been one SC up - at best, two.

Time will tell, as will subterfuge and outright lies. (Comment is © Piers Forrest in an afpdip email)

The next day, Ross changed this order to move to Vol. I feel this is a mistake - he is practically giving Rostov away to a neighbour which decideds to "chance it". He is relying upon a bounce or upon goodwill - he should protect his home SC and get them to force him out. (Which, coincidentally, they are going to do!) - Correction, he's now going to EBS

Meanwhile Piers' orders came in - it looks like Piershas gone for 2 SCs, deciding to use his remaining units to help his neighbours against the Russian.

Piers' long term plan probably involves helping Turkey and Poland along, making these powers worrisome to other players (yet complacent toward him, Piers always helps...) and then to pick up the spoils when people ally against them.

John's just changed his orders, from a supporting role to an SC grabbing one, due to the fact that his ally hasn't been in touch. He says he may have another change coming.

England has submitted orders leaving Gibraltar open to the ravishes of the Spaniard:

I have tried to get the Spanish to Leave Gibralter <sic> alone. It will be interesting to see if he will. I don't hold out much hope.

He's in for a pleasant surprise unless Spain comes to her senses...

Mikey, meanwhile, has sent me some notes regarding his orders:

F Nav Por - maybe the brit will support me in. he might do it to keep the spaniard to one build max - idf he goes for Gib. who knows - I have offered this option in return for the some of the spoils. who knows - the spaniard mught be terminally insane.

A Auv Bar - you never know - at worst I bounce and he has not gotten anywhere threatening with his fleet, at best another sc for me!

A Switz hold - what dont you understand? <g>

A Mar Mon - Ditto.

These moves will also (with any luck) force the spaniard to count me as his worst nightmare and maybe I can get the brit to hit him on his blind side in the next year or two. I really dont like the thought of a neighbour with only one way to go - through me!

Hippie & I decided to form an alliance. it seems that the first two to go to war are germany & fFrance and they are the first two eliminated. we thought we might try something different this time. So if one of us attacks the other, you know a) they are a dirty lying cheating dog with fleas, and b) we fell out. I'll say it again , hopefully with less disasterous results - I think he can be trusted.

Well, we shall see.... without further ado, here was the news:

Perdita, Autumn 1995 Movement Results.

Get your nose into here... it's like mascerated pencil shavings.
(Jilly Goolden, Food and Drink)

Please double check for errors. Errors will not be corrected more than one phase after the results are published.

Britain
F Norwegian Sea-Norway
F North Sea Hold
F Irish Sea-Ireland
F South Atlantic-Morocco

Egypt
F (RED) - Saudi
F (LBN) - Libya
A (Cai) - Israel

France
F Nav Por (*bounce*)
A Auv Bar (*bounce*)
A Mar Mon
A Switz Hold

Germany
Army Munich to Saxony
Army Hamburg to Holland
Fleet Holland to Belgium
Fleet BHM to Demark

Italy
A MIL-AUS
A VEN-CRO
F ADR-SER (*bounce*)
F TYS-TUN

Poland
Army in Bielorussia Hold
Fleet in the Baltic to Lithuania
Army in Czech Republic Hold

Russia
F GOB -- Swe.
A Fin S F GOB -- Swe.
A Cen -- Biel. (*bounce*)
A Mos S A Cen -- Biel.
F Ros - EBS

Spain
A Por S A Sve (*cut*)
A Sve S A Por
F WMe-Bar (*bounce*)

Turkey
A Bulgaria Serbia (*bounce*)
F Aegean Greece
A Adana Iran
F Georgia S Ukrainean A Don-Ros

Ukraine
A Don-Ros
A Kie S Polish A Bie
A Rum-Hun
F Ode-Rum

The following table gives the current SC situation.

A positive number of adjusts means you have builds, a negative number means disbands. In the event of an NMR on the adjust phase, builds will not be given, disbands will be made bu use of a random process.

As there are 64 SCs, 38 home SCs and 26 neutral the victory condition is 33 SCs.

The following table contains a game summary, broken down by power.

The NMR/Late score are for the current player.

Dropouts:
No players have yet dropped out of this game.

The following table contains a game summary, broken down by SC. Sc's are grouped roughly according to geographical area.

            Start End
      SC       95 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12
----Africa-------------------------------------------------------------
         Libya  .  E
       Morocco  .  B
       Tunisia  .  I
---Britain-------------------------------------------------------------
     Edinburgh  B  B
     Gibraltar  B  B
     Liverpool  B  B
        London  B  B
-Central Europe--------------------------------------------------------
       Austria  .  I
      Bulgaria  .  T
       Croatia  .  I
Czechoslovakia  .  P
        Greece  .  T
       Hungary  .  U
       Rumania  .  U
        Serbia  .  .
----Egypt--------------------------------------------------------------
    Alexandria  E  E
         Aswan  E  E
         Cairo  E  E
----France-------------------------------------------------------------
      Bordeaux  F  F
          Lyon  F  F
    Marseilles  F  F
         Paris  F  F
---Germany-------------------------------------------------------------
        Berlin  G  G
     Frankfurt  G  G
       Hamburg  G  G
        Munich  G  G
----Italy--------------------------------------------------------------
         Milan  I  I
        Naples  I  I
          Rome  I  I
        Venice  I  I
--Middle East----------------------------------------------------------
          Iran  .  T
        Israel  .  E
  Saudi Arabia  .  E
----Poland-------------------------------------------------------------
        Gdansk  P  P
        Krakow  P  P
        Warsaw  P  P
----Russia-------------------------------------------------------------
         Gorky  R  R
        Moscow  R  R
      Murmansk  R  R
        Rostov  R  U
St. Petersburg  R  R
-SovSatellite----------------------------------------------------------
   Bielorussia  .  P
       Georgia  .  T
     Lithuania  .  P
--Scandinavia----------------------------------------------------------
       Denmark  .  G
        Norway  .  B
        Sweden  .  R
----Spain--------------------------------------------------------------
     Barcelona  S  S
        Madrid  S  S
       Seville  S  S
----Turkey-------------------------------------------------------------
         Adana  T  T
        Ankara  T  T
      Istanbul  T  T
        Izmair  T  T
---Ukraine-------------------------------------------------------------
          Kiev  U  U
       Kharkov  U  U
        Odessa  U  U
    Sevastipol  U  U
-West Europe-----------------------------------------------------------
       Belgium  .  G
       Holland  .  G
       Ireland  .  B
        Monaco  .  F
      Portugal  .  S
   Switzerland  .  F

From my perspective I am pleased with year one, although that early leader thing may be my downfall I reckon that John is more likely to suffer that at the moment - but it's a big board, so perhaps there is rome for two early leaders! Nice negotiation with Piers ensured us each an SC. Italy started off very bullish and, if I may say so, a little rude which is why I bounced him out of Serbia. I might help him in to ensure he is a little endebted.

Who am I watching? Everybody, if you're sensible.

Egypt. Suzi and I have an understanding to head west and tackle Italy together so we shall see what happens. EME is the hotspot there.

Russia. That fleet in EBS is going to be trouble. I can sense it. Hopefully the trouble up north will kill him off quickly. Unless people perceive Piers as a bigger threat...

Ukraine. With the risk of cross game play, Piers is a concern Cross game play? Between whom?. His slick negotiating vs Russia shows how sharp he is. Well, I haven't seen the negotiations, but there does seem to be a rather united eastern front - with Piers in position to storm into Russian SCs.

Italy. Going to be pretty pissed at me for Serbia Hey, that's life... but maybe I can help him out there and mend that fence.

Who else?

Spain is going to have trouble as he seems to have nowhere to go. Is there anything I can offer? Maybe help to get into Italy if he is desperate. I will start a dialogue. Spain does seem a little fenced in, the only way out for spain if for England/France to come under threat...

France was unlucky or stupid Mikey is France, right? not to get some of Spain. With the exception of persuading him into Italy theres nothing I can do with him at the moment.

Poland seemed pretty shrewd but I would like to see him worry Piers a little more. Always get the other guy to do the dirty work....

Germany. Did well but is going to be in the thick of it.

England is also going to have a direction issue. Moreso now that England has kept hold of Gibraltar, odd that Spain did not try for Gibraltar - at worst then Spain would have been one SC up, as he is now - at best, two.

Ah well, it's a funny old world....

Jim mailed me to say:

It was an act of silliness for Spain not to take gibralter. I wonder if I can convince him that I'm still on his side...

At this stage, Suzi revealed some more correspondance:

1: Written to Italy in response to his correspondence:

As is probably patently obvious by now, the Turk and I have an agreed DMZ in the Eastern Med - but as I'm not sure how long for, I am moving a fleet into Israel in case the worst happens. I will also be moving a fleet into the Libyan Sea, so if necessary I will be in a good position to not only defend myself against him, but even possibly (should the need arise) move against him (with some help).

I do not know what the Turk intends at this stage, as we have not had communications of late, and he has not told me what his next moves will be. But, as I've already said, I am fleet building just in case!

It would seem that we may have a potential common enemy here - we need to guard ourselves against attack, and maybe work together to squash his expansionist plans.

Your input appreciated.....

Yours, as ever, cordially,

Empress Cleo

I wonder if John's relayed to Turkey that Suzi plans an invasion, and that in preparation she'll move just so?

2. Written to Turkey after correspondence with Italy:

Greetings Sultan,

How goes the campaign? You've got the Italian worried... I've just had an email from him! He is concerned by the apparent alliance between yourself and Ukraine... I think he was hoping to do a little better (ie. pick up Serbia). I think he may also have worked out the alliance between us. Be prepared for mail from him trying to set us against each other! (If he's worried, it must mean we're in a position to hurt him... well... that's my view anyway.)

Speak to you soon,

Yours, as ever, cordially,

Empress Cleo

Playing off both ends against the middle... Suzi is learning fast - she'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Mikey commented:

As before the german & I have a non aggression pact due to the fact that when F & G fight , they get eliminated first.

My builds are anti - spanish and anti italian just in case. the Paris army is one move from the spanish border, the fleet in mar ditto and italy.

Nice idea Mike, shame about the dodgy capitalisation! ;-)

trusting you to keep this a secret......... Muahahaha! (Although I dare say the cat is well and truly out of the bag by now!

The builds follow:

Perdita, Autumn 1995 Adjust Results.

Britain +3
A Edinburgh
F London
A Gibraltar

Egypt +3
Fleet in Alexandria
Fleet in Cairo
Army in Aswan

France +2
Build A Par
Build F Mar

Germany +3
Fleet Hamburg
Fleet Berlin
Army Munich

Italy +3
A MIL
A VEN
F NAP

Poland +3
Gdansk build fleet
Warsaw build army
Krakow build army

Spain +1
B F Bar

Turkey +4
B A Ankara
B A Adana
B F Izmir
B F Istanbul

Ukraine +3
Build an Army in Kharkov
Build a Fleet in Sevastopol
Build an Army in Odessa
The Ukrainean controlled Propaganda Rag came online.

All of this tomfoolery gave rise to the following map: