Perdita Logs

Egypt

Well... it was a long fight, but a good one.

The game started well, with an alliance between myself (Egypt) and the other nations surrounding Ydris (Turkey) seeing him off the board in double-quick time.

There was a long, protracted struggle in the middle (from my point of view) while we decided who was going to reign in the Mediterranean - a battle eventually won by myself (phew!).

And then there was a minor spat as Piers (Ukraine) and I (Egypt) fell out for a short time until it was realised that nothing would be gained by it... and "oh, by the way, have you seen how big Germany has got lately and what's he doing behind you Piers?"...

For a little while there I thought perhaps Piers (Ukraine) and myself had bitten off more than we could chew when it was decided that we would try to take France out of the game. To be fair, Hippie (Germany) had also seemed rather keen on the idea (probably because he thought he would be able to sneak in for the win!), so all we had to do on the Egypt/Ukraine side of the border was wait and position ourselves until we were in a position where we felt almost sure we would not lose enough ground to let Germany win. Even we were shocked by the speed at which France fell... all those SCs in one game year!

Many thanks to all the other players for a great game... and to the Gamesmaster (Murky) for running it in such a timely and organised fashion, and for sticking with it for over a "normal" year (when did we start this game?... end of October 1997!!... gosh).

And I'd do it all again!!... (to think, this was my first ever game of diplomacy anywhere ever... I'd never even played the board game (had to go and buy one to get the rules!)... It was fun... <shameless plug> Details of the modern game (SUSAN) to be started mid-January and my house-rules + prospective players (I have a little list) will be forthcoming after the first week of January once "Pyramids" is out of the way </shameless plug>.

France

Ok Ok Ok after Murkys (not so) subtle reminders[3]

Here it is, in glorious widescreen, the French End of (Perdita) Game Statement

'Bugger'

Hope you enjoyed it.

Mike

To elaborate.........

Bugger bugger bugger
If only I'd......, and if I had seen the stab, and if I'd talked more to ....., and .... - Sheesh what was i thinking!

The war started well for me. I convinced Britain that Spain as an easy target - sorry Spain but in Modern, Spain & France are going to fall out sooner or later - luckily for me, I convinced Jim (Britain) to side with France. Unluckily for me, my 'tactical' (lack of) knowledge of the game meant you survived longer than I had hoped.

That said, my SC count was up there with the best of them. Poor Ydris fell victim to ELS, and John (Italy) followed suit - i remember thinking (profoundly as it turned out) that there could be more than one 'Early Leader' and deliberatly slowing down my advance. Then things went pear shaped. It got very obvious (to me at least) that Germany & I were allied - despite warnings from soosie[1], I persevered with this alliance and tried to take the Med.

I could hear everyone, players, GM, obsevers etc. alike, saying, stab the kraut now, but I took it a year or two too far. I said to Hippie after the stab, I had intended to do it next spring, but I never really had the forces in place to do it well. GM note: Stating the obvious, I presume Mikey is speaking figuratvely, as I did not break GM impartiality

While I may have intended to stab the hipster I was still battling for North africa/the med with soosie and wasn't really in any position to take him on. the alliance certainly worked for Germany! He had more targets. That said, when he struck, he struck well - I didn't know what hit me! I then tried to mend bridges elsewhere burnt, but in reality it was always too late, Egypt had little to gain and much not to gain by holding off. I felt her offers of help were always with an eye to manouvering in for the kill. Even though I could see it, there was nothing I could do except pray she was naive enough to help. Hah Hah Hah - no chance.

I tried like buggery, when it was obvious that Egypt/Ukraine were allied to vote the draw in, but even I could see that there was the possibility/probability of a three way tie, as oppposed to the four way I proposed. Once the three way draw was on the cards, my sc count plumetted. As a Para, I experienced that kind of sickening 'wow, wheres the floor?' feeling but never expected to see it on a PC screen. thanks guys!

All in all, I can have no complaints about the end result. If I had a better tactical grasp, maybe I could have finished of Spain sooner, maybe I could have taken the Med, maybe I could have had some of Germany, but who knows. I give my adversaries the credit for a game well played & a battle well won. I hoist a glass of Chablis in their direction and ponder what might have been.

Cheers

Mike

[1] My first ever footnote![2]

[2] Don't mess with Soosie - she's not as much a newbie as her (one) games played might suggest!

[3] So my footnotes are out of synch - waanna make something of it?[4]

[4] Thanks to Murky for GM'ing. Well GM'ed!! thanks for the subtle reminders, thanks for bearing with me when RL got in the way![5]

[5] Is it as obvious to you as it is to me, on re-reading the footnotes, that i subconciously want to win an award on TV and give one of those crappy speeches? thank you, sniff, thank you all! (Mike exits stage left with the babe presenting the award!!!)

Germany

Well here we are. Over a year down the line and Perdita finally draws to a close. So what are my thoughtm?

Murky once again took on the duties of Gm to which he has again proved himself both flexible, prompt and dedicated making it an excellent and enjoyable game. Many thanks. Having started to Gm myself since then really brings home quite how well Murky does this (them tables must have been a bugger to do).

So to the game. As usual the first port of call was the pouch. It's thoughtm on Germany were "well at least you're not France" this then led to a long and beneficial alliance with France from the very beginning of the game. The theory being two bads might make a slightly not quite so bad. This was actually in the fairly early days of the Modern variant and it is interesting to note that since then certain articles have appeared in praise of the super alliance in Moddip so perhaps we had the right idea after all.

So to the countries. France was to take out Spain and I'd take on Britain. Usually a difficult task but with France persuading Britain to help in the war with Spain, I'm afraid the writing was on the wall. France got the help of Britain while "forgetting to help him get any sc's" while with his reduced forces he was unable to defend his home turf. I could slowly pick off the targets as and when I wanted them. (Not too quickly though as I wouldn't have an excuse to have fleets so near to France ;-) )

Meanwhile, John and Ydris both fell foul of ELS and received their just comeuppence.

Then a little bit of Russia. Russia was already being picked off by the Ukraine and Poland so it was just a little smash and grab of a couple of Supply centres.

Then Poland. From a personal point of view, this was the one that gave most satisfaction as it was all over in a couple of years. Piers dragged his boots and payed the price of failing to take the supply centres we had already agreed between us. (so I took em ;-) )

At this point things were going great. I was making inroads against Piers in the Ukraine with Egyptian help. France had taken on Cleo for the control of the Med. Then, just as I thought I was going to cross the stalemate line in the east, Cleo and Piers came to a very timely and sensible alliance and it was obvious that I would not make any progress there. A swift change in direction and a stab of France saw me pressing down the western side and the colour draining from Mikey's face. In reality, although it looked good on paper, from a tactical point of view I don't think it was very effective stab. Mikey somehow managed to bury the hatchet with (in ;-) ) Suzi and it looked like we might get a 4 way draw despite Suzi just happening to have armies swaning around Spain and the Ukraine for no apparent reason.

A flurry of draw votes and some heavy mail bombing of Suzi left me thinking that the game was over. My last chance of a win by getting Egypt to stab France and then overrun Mikey more quickly than Suzi had calculated looked dead in the water and I mentioned this to Murky in one of my posts I think. Then, just as I gave up hope, Suzi attacked!! So I went for it as quick as possible.I think even Suzi was surprised at the speed of Mikeys demise and I wonder if she had any second thoughtm about her action. Even then I new it would be close. Once Suzi had completed dominance of the med I couldn't win. My last chance came with Murkys miscalculation putting me at 3 sc's from the win instead of 2. A moral dilemma!! Do I point out the mistake to Murky or try and grab the win in the hope that the others micalculated.!! argh....hmm. Lets face it. They should be as aware of how many sc's I need to win as I am and it wasn't that Murky had made a mistake in the moves just the peripheral information. Go for it. So to the last throw of the dice. Can I grab those last sc's before Suzi can get into a position to stop me.....and the answer was............ NO!

bugger!!....How do I feel? Well a little sad that I got so close to the win but failed. On the other hand,I never quite understand how any one gets a solo as logic says that others should always stop a possible winner before its too late. ( JAKE!! I said I never q.... ;-) ah Jingo!! )

How do I feel? Pleased that I actually managed to get to the end of a game and finally get a mention on the points table (2 years on the list and not even a sniff of appearing on it before;-) ) and I really enjoyed the whole game. Congratulations to everyone who played and made it such a good,witty and challenging game.

Finally,I'm reminded of something that Ydris mentioned in a previous game. He said that his game life often reflected his real life and when I look back to our lives at the start of the game things for most of us have changed a lot.Mikey has a new baby on the way,and a promotion (and a new garden shed as well) Murky has a new job and house, Ydris is now in California, Jim is now in Singapore and I'm sat here amongst packing cases deciding which of my favourite books to take with me to New Zealand. All this in the space of one game......makes you kind of wonder what will happen during Suzis game!!!!!

Once again every one thanks and can I have that lady Mikey is with after the show (anyone need a doorstop?) <exit stage left>

Ukraine

First off, let me express my admiration for Murky for the way in which this game was managed. With it being a new variant, we were all unfamiliar with the new map, the new abbreviations, new powers and colour schemes and so on, Murky included. Add a move of house part way through the game, and it is astonishing that there were so few glitches.

Bask, Murky, bask!

1. The Choice of Power.

   I really wanted Egypt. I figured that, having the fewest number of flanks, if I could get any kind of reasonable start, I would be there at the finish. England and Italy would have been the next best alternatives, but I guessed that there would not be much point having either of those two as second choices. So....

   The conventional wisdom is that Ukraine is a difficult power to play, being surrounded by other powers and rarely making it through to the end. After the way I was summarily destroyed as Turkey in Jingo, it suited me to have a good excuse ready if it happened again, while, if I did make it through to the end, I would have the satisfaction of surviving against the odds.

   It didn't happen the way I had planned...

2. The Opening Moves.

   With 4 immediate neighbours, it seemed to me that I had to make some friends very quickly, while taking one of those neighbours down in record time. Poland was in a similarly unenviable position and it made sense to both of us to ally, especially for protection from Russia.

   I saw Turkey as potentially a very strong ally or enemy and set out to try and see that he was the former, especially as the player was Ydris who has a bit of form. The responses I got were encouraging but, just in case he was lying, I also set bout cultivating Italy who was about to become a neighbour in the Balkans and with whom I would certainly need to reach an understanding to prevent any nastiness there.

   That left Russia. Try as I might, I could not see any alliance with Russia that would last, and so, despite Ross saying all the right things, I started to plot against him with help from both Ydris and Drew in Poland.

3. The Destruction of Turkey.

   The first few moves went pretty much as I could have hoped, except that one power - worse, a neighbour - grew very quickly. To have a friendly Turkey growing was fine; but to have him double my size within 2 years was not.

   Therefore, when Suzi approached me with a devious plan to attack Turkey with help from Italy, I was only too ready to listen and Suzi's power charts show very clearly the result.

   One of the effects of this was that I had to negotiate a truce with Russia. In retrospect, I think that I might have done better to take a slightly less active role in the destruction of Turkey, and not let Russia off the hook. Leaving Drew to fight alone (even though I kept assuring him it was only temporary, and part of a cunning plan) cost me dearly when it was time to resume the battle against Ross.

4. Ukraine's First Setback.

   Italy had made excellent headway in the battle against Turkey and held the majority of the Balkans. One of his last moves in that war, however, set alarm bells ringing back in Kiev.

   I pointed out that, although I could not prevent him from picking up a couple of easy SC's, I would use every ounce of Diplomacy to get Egypt and France to attack him if he kept coming. Unfortunately for both of us, and probably encouraged by Poland's moves into my territory, he ignored the threat at precisely the time that Mike and Suzi were both looking for a new target.

   They hit him with a speed and ferocity that was definitely not part of my plan and, although I regained the ground I had lost, Italy was effectively destroyed within 2 years. This was bad news for me as I had wanted Italy to guard my back while I dealt with Russia, before we both turned our attention on Egypt.

5. Russia.

   Drew's moves against me (so he later told me) were born partly out of boredom but mostly paranoia. He had not heard from me (I did announce that I was away on holiday, but...) but had been hearing plenty from Russia and my forged "Piersa" (press, not orders) just before I went on holiday had triggered a reflex action. However, we managed to resolve that, and the assault on Russia was launched in earnest.

   Finishing Ross took far longer than it should because he managed to get most of his units where they could support each other, with one exception in Georgia which diverted far too much of my efforts for far too long.

   The result of this was that, by the time Drew and I were ready to take those last few Russian SC's Herr Hippie had decided to join the party.

6. Poland.

   I was in position. Germany was in position. Drew was completely isolated. I was still itching to turn south, especially as Suzi had been helping Russia for his last couple of surviving turns, but:
   - Suzi was communicating with me frequently.
   - Hippie was prepared to discuss which of us would get which Polish SC.
   - Drew was only responding to about one in four e-mails.
   - I was in position.

   I also knew that, when Poland was out, Germany would keep on coming but I figured that I would be able to get Mike to stab Germany whose back was very nicely exposed.

   Unfortunately for me, Suzi's assistance to Ross meant it took me longer to get into Poland than I had envisaged and Germany got to my targets first.

7. The Blitzkrieg.

   I have to say that Hippie's moves against me in Russia deserved the title of Blitzkrieg. I could not believe the risks he was willing to take, leaving units and SC's exposed in order to give his attack momentum, and therefore I was rapidly outmanoeuvered. Even so, I had a fantastic chance to counterattack past Moscow and roll him back down through Scandinavia before he could move anything to stop me, except for one thing.

   With one single unit in Kazakhstan, Suzi would have been able to turn my flank and roll straight through Georgia and Rostov into my own territories. I was pinned.

   Of course, this was all a temporary setback as Mike was about to come to my aid by launching his attack on Hippie.

8. This Is A Good Year To Die.

   I managed to get my units in place quickly enough to defend against Germany with a block he would find it almost impossible to get through. This was so successful that Mike and Suzi both launched there own attacks against me.

   This was the point at which I was about to get killed off, so I agreed a deal with Suzi designed to keep me in the game up to the point where she won.

   And then, astonishingly, Hippie came to my rescue!

   Mike was still fighting Suzi in the Med, and now attacking me when Hippie stabbed him.

9. The Alliance Against Germany.

   By this time, Germany was so strong that the rest of us could see him taking an outright win. As a result, it didn't take long to agree to work together to stop him. A well coordinated effort should have seen us turn the tide and even, if we could hold it together long enough, take Germany out of the game.

   For the first couple of turns after this, the agreement seemed to work, and the first of several draw proposals was made. Piecing together what was said during that period, it seems that all 4 of us voted for a draw at some stage, and all 4 of us voted against it at some stage. What a devious lot.

   After the second proposal was voted down, Hippie let me know that he would be voting against it from there on as he was very confident that the alliance would not hold, and that two of us would turn and stab the third sooner or later.

10. Mike's Turn In The Barrel.

    At about this time, Mike appeared to decide that he wanted to play his own game and not work with Suzi or me. The immediate result was Hippie slowly resumed his progress into French territory.

    When Mike started to ignore the e-mails from Suzi and from me, we decided to fulfil Hippie's prediction.

    There were some worrying moments for us as Hippie got nearer to his magic number than we had foreseen when, again, he threw caution to the wind and plowed through France like it was 1940.

    However, a lot of analysis went into those final moves and we could see that, so long as we didn't make any stupid mistakes, Hippie was always going to be 2 short of his target. In the end, he took one risk too many with the result that we could have rolled him right back through France.

    But then what? It is the nature of a 3-way endgame that, as soon as one power looks too strong, the other two immediately combine to stop them.

11. And Finally....

    Congratulations to Suzi the novice. Novice? You played as though Sun Tzu and von Clauswitz were your bed-time reading.

    Congratulations to Hippie. I really think you could have won if you had delayed your stab against Mike until you started to break through my defence (and I think that you would still have had the chance for the stab to be effective). But I'm glad you didn't :)

    And commiserations to all of the others, along with my thanks for staying with it when things went wrong.

Piers.