Smid's Diplomacy Game Thread #1

[Erc]

Personally...obviously I'd prefer Option 3, but I'd be more than fine with (2) as well if people prefer.

[Erc]

Despite that fleet of his in the Black Sea, I'm willing to take Gustaf's word as a gentleman here.  This game is messed up enough as it is, and I think many of us nearly ended up in his position ourselves.

[Erc]

My apologies to those who have been expecting press from me...damn nearly forgot to submit orders this round (been a busy last couple weeks), let alone PM'ing folks.  Will be back on top of things next turn though.

[Erc]

Um...oops.

[Erc]

Um...oops.

When I saw Italy's fleet was dislodged, I wondered whether it was legal for it to retreat to Greece, so I looked up the rules in apprehension of a retreat order.

I guess it's ironic that Italy gained a build and Turkey lost one, solely through Turkey dislodging an Italian fleet.

Yeah, it's perfectly legal, and it's unfortunately something I realized approximately 10 minutes before you posted retreats.

[Erc]

Italy does have more potential than is commonly recognized.

A couple fun strategies that I personally enjoy:

The Key Lepanto...Italy makes noises that he wants Austria dead, moves into Trieste in S1901, while secretly negotiating with the Austrians.  Meanwhile, in the Fall, he moves into Serbia, while the Austrians take Greece, putting Italy and Austria in a very good position to take out an unsuspecting Turkey.  Of course, this requires some serious trust on the part of the Austrians to let you move into Trieste.  I once had a more elaborate version of this pulled on me as Turkey, where the "phony war" between the Austrians and Italians didn't end until 1903---needless to say I didn't last past 1905.

Another possibility, which is unfortunately never considered, is a long-lasting Italy-Turkey alliance.  Problem is, most players dismiss it out of hand---though not without good reason...Turkey needs to get out of his corner, and it's hard to do that without fleets, and any fleets in the Med are a threat to Italy.  However, if a rock-solid relationship can be established, I've seen Italy and Turkey together sweep the board.  Turkey has more potential to stab Italy than vice versa, which puts Italy at a disadvantage in the long run, but you can't get around that.  Unfortunately, it's usually very hard to try to establish that level of trust (on either side).  If the Turk proposes it, the Italian will assume the Turk will just turn on him by 1903 when Austria is dead and the presumed Russo-Turkish Juggernaut starts rolling.  If the Italian proposes it, the Turk may naturally think the Italian is crazy or has some Lepanto up his sleeve and may refuse to trust him.  As a result, I didn't even bother proposing it in this game (my apologies to Mikado).

[Erc]

I'm an idiot.

[Erc]

The Grand Duke of Tuscany is, of course, willing to support a draw.

[Erc]

Russia's position is a good illustration of the importance of keeping home supply centers open particularly in the fall. Three additional units could help Russia immensely, but unfortunately they can only take one of their builds this year.

With Turkey eliminated, I wanted to comment on an interesting possibility that existed a few turns ago. France had a static fleet in the Gulf of Lyon, and with Turkey's knowledge there could have been an arranged dislodgement in the while the Turks still had their one home center. The rebuild of a Turkish army deep behind the Russian lines would have been a stunning stab, and the Turks would have almost certainly recaptured two if not all three of the Turkish home centers.

As Jas said, this possibility was noted.  I won't comment further until the end of the game.

[Erc]

Oh, and, I suppose, for the record...

F Tys - GoL.

The Turkish fleet takes posession of Minorca and promptly scuttles itself.

[Erc]

This remains my favorite map from the thread. It's like a work of art.

Ugh. I think that was when I gave up the game, since Erc's failure to hand in orders for that turn doomed me.

Yeah...I messed up an unfortunate amount this game.  Some of them were stupid, some of them were just egregious (like forgetting about the game until Saturday evening that time).

At some point I'll give a tell-all memoir in the other thread (not that there's much to tell apart from things that will just embarrass myself).