WW I - End of Game Statements
Austria - Chuck
Gentlemen:
Mistakes were made, hearts were broken, but all in
good fun, eh? As the only person with real prior
Diplomacy experience I thought I would have an edge
throughout the game. I was wrong. Key erroneous
assumptions were made:
1)I thought I was not playing with a pack of liars,
cheats, and vagabonds.
2)I thought I would be okay as Austria.
3)I thought my superior understanding of battlefield
tactics could overcome the fact that at one point
Russia, Turkey, and Italy were all after me.
4)Every turn I thought it was better to do something
wild and interesting rather than plug away at
piecemeal territory gains.
5)I thought because Jay and Pat sent funny and
interesting emails they were good allies for me to
have.
I think we were all a little paranoid at the start
which slowed us down considerably. The key is to pick
a friend earlier wipe out a few of your opponents then
have at it with your former friend. Sadly, nobody
wanted to be my friend. Maybe next time eh?
As for inviting Carrie into the game, I say a simple
no thank you. I opened the Pandora's box by letting
her in my fantasy baseball league which she promptly
learned to dominate and I don't want to make that
mistake again.
Much love,
C
England - Jay
Final thoughts...
I should have convoyed my army from London instead of taking Belgium with a fleet.
Best collaboration of the game: Atie between Mike and Mike (The Secret Southern Alliance) and Chris and David (Commies and Fascists). Both well executed and revealed at exactly the right time.
Worst collaboration of the game: Pat and myself. Way too blatent and encouraged only antagonism and apathy from other members.
The game carried on too long. One full year per week would be better.
Overall winner: I'd say Chuck for managing to stay in the game even after it all looked lost after 1902.
Just my $0.02.
BTW, I'm looking for some mega redemption next game.
Jay
France - Pat
It's been fun, but this just proves that when it's all on the line,
the French are as weak as a soggy croissant.
In other news, I can't believe that my old car is tied with a cheese log
for the best prize for winning the game. I'm not sure if that says more
about good ol' American craftsmanship or that we'll eat anything while
watching football.
Italy - Mike Karle
You know... it's been a lot of fun. I wasn't sure how all of this would go when I first started the game, oh those many months ago. But the weekly phone calls to Mike, the bitingly funny emails from Chuck, and the intricate discussions of strategy with Chris all helped to make this game a blast. And lest I forget, I also greatly enjoyed fighting/allying/begging for the help of Pat as well as never quite being able to figure out a coherent strategy for my dealings with David. I think that there was somebody else in the game as well, but you know - I just can't be sure...
Actually, Jay was the first person other than Chris from whom I received a Diplomacy-related email, but I believe that initial exchange was the most meaningful discussion of strategy that the two of us ever shared. Oh well - next game.
This has definitely been a learning experience for me. I made some tactical errors, but hope to correct those for the next go-around. I know that I pissed some people off, but hope that everyone realizes there was no malicious intent behind it. At no point did I stop playing my character, and at no point did I stop having fun.
If I have one regret, it's that this game did end in a draw. It would have been nice to have a winner, if only so that the rest of us could gang up and eliminate them first in the next game. I am of the firm belief that David and Mike should have contacted each other at the very end there (which would have likely marked the first time they had done so) and said "Screw our alliances". Mike should have wiped out Chuck and then smashed through my forces, and David should have marched into Russia with banners held high. Don't get me wrong - I'm not complaining too strenuously that they are such honorable young men. But it would have been a hell of a race to the finish between Germany and Turkey.
Anyways, I say again that I had a very good time. Thank you, Chris, for instigating and convincing and moderating. Matching wits with you, and all of you, was truly a pleasure. I look forward to the next battle.
And with that, I cede the floor to Austria and the final set of final thoughts. Peace - Generalissimo Mike
Germany - David
Despite, not knowing most of you guys at all, except through reputation, I
really enjoyed, playing with you all and for being allowed to partake in
this game. With that said.
Jay I never meant for any hard feelings, I was only protecting my
borders, and I must say I only lucked out with the help of Russia and the
French, which were just not happening. Goodluck in World War II
Pat, what can I say, your french, nough said. I can't help but
stress this game would be SOOOOOO much diff, had you taken my help in
Marseille, instead of letting Italy waltz in. We would be winning right
now, the three of us. I just can't believe it.
Karle, you're alive right now, because people in this game are I
don't know, but you shouldn't be where you are now. Which is not to say
that I thought we could be allies. Until I realized that you and turkey
were inseparable, which made sense, but I just thought that we were close
man, apparently my ties via allison don't have much weight.
Wolyniak, never had any problems with you, just that you back
stabbed Chris. Don't know why, but you had your reasons.
Chuck, how the hell are you still alive. The one person who kept
you alive and you betray him. Some friend.
And Chris where can I begin! We fought long we fought hard, and next
time will be ours.
To all Germany, has never taken England before in all of its
history. It has tried long and hard to get its army into london, but never
until now. Because unlike the 3 reichs before me, I didn't invade russia,
remember, Russia is everyones ally, because its so damn cold there you can
never fight there. With that said, peace be with all of you, and Long live
Germany, in World War II.
Russia - Chris
Thanks guys for a great game. I had fun organizing and playing and we couldn't have done it without you all. Thanks for sacrificing your personal lives, your time with loved ones, and your overall sanity by playing this game for the last four months. I really appreciate it and I hope this is just the start of things to come.
As for the game itself, I started playing the game with the intention of just hoping everyone had a good time and I hope you all did. Of course as the game started to creep in and take over my brain, I realized that I also wanted to win. If I ever erred in anyway during the game, I blame it on being possessed. And I did make the occasional mistake. For one, I think I over-reacted just a hair to being stabbed by Mike. I had it coming and I just freaked out when it happened, because at the time I couldn't understand why. Looking back at it now, Geez, I was a whiner (it's not like I didn't have enough units or anything at the time). It was a good move and I just got suckered.
I started out the game trying to decide whether to work with Austria or Turkey, because that was my biggest issue at the start. Chuck offered to cut up Turkey and I offered to work with Turkey to return the favor. Since I didn't have much experience in the game, I didn't see the Austria/Russia alliance lasting long because of the strange situation of supply centers. I was worried that giving Austria the Balkans would only set me up for a huge stab afterward as he marched his armies up through Galicia. So I opted for the time honored alliance of Russia/Turkey. I thought with the DMZ in the Black Sea, and a split Austria, that I could keep a better peace between the two of us and opted to go with Turkey. Of course I stupidly ended up going against my word against both of them in the beginning and almost shot myself in the foot. I was too worried that both would double cross me from the start and so I didn't trust either of them. That didn't help me at the start at all! Fortunately, I convinced Wolyniak to give me another chance and we took care of Austria until, Mike eventually attacked me (I bet I had that coming after my auspicious start). I didn't eliminate Austria when I could have, partly because I was trying to see if we could work out a deal (but we really couldn't) and just to let him hang around (I won't do that again, that punk double-crossed me eventually too). As for my moves in the North, I just hoped to keep peace there in the beginning and then I worked with Germany on England. I did tell a few untruths in the game to Jay, but I think those were the only ones. I kept reassuring him that my fleets on the North coast of St. Petersburg were just a defense, but I really wanted to see if I could create a naval presence and work on him. Sorry Jay. After that, it was all just a matter of stalemate for me because once the Mid-Atlantic was stopped up, there was no way of Germany or myself crossing the stalemate line successfully. I tried my best as well to help Pat, but he unfortunately didnt want Germany's help until it was too late. C'est la vie. So that was it for me. Not much else to reveal.
As for my favorite moves, I do like the time I took Norway from Jay and then rotated my fleet in there so I could take the North Sea. It was a series of moves that really helped to break the North open for me. As for other moves I like, I think Karle had the move of the game when he saved Italy from certain destruction after Pat and Austria were beating down the gates. You were lucky punk!
Lastly, I really enjoyed the emails from this game. Everyone did a nice job and really put some effort into every email, especially Jay. God, he killed me. Especially that line about how you shot that guy who said the Cossacks were impressive. I never in a million years would have thought to write something like that. Are you on any narcotics Jay? I don't know how he comes up with this stuff. I swear he must plan his emails as much as he plans his moves.
Thanks again guys for a great game. Get those knives sharpened up and prepare for the next world war!
Chris
Turkey - Mike Wolyniak
Let's just say I didn't enter this game as I found I had drawn Chris and Chuck as neighbors. I figured I had about two years in the game before their joint forces wiped me clean. Nevertheless, I started out in an alliance with Chris and Russia since it seemed to be a sensible thing for Turkey to do. It didn't help matters that he violated out Black Sea DMZ agreement in freakin' Spring 1901, but I saw past that for a while. I was even starting to notice that Chris was a man of his word and that we were jointly wiping Chuck out (This is, of course, before it came to light that Russia was everyone's best friend in this game).
At about the time this game started, "The Ring" was in theaters. If you never saw it, it revolved around watching a tape on TV then getting a phone call saying you were going to die. So I saw this film one night, got home around midnight, turned on the TV, and the phone rings. Needless to say, I nearly soiled myself. It didn't help matters that I didn't recognize the voice on the other end as Michael Karle, who had made the situation even more creepy by getting my number from 411 (the lesson, as always, is to get a less ethnic last name that's harder to trace). Anyways, Karle proposed a top secret Turkish/Italian alliance that nobody would suspect since we're such bitter rivals in the fantasy sports arena (BTW, remember when Turkey blew Italy out of the football playoffs this year...that was sweet!). So I said, sure, why the hell not. So now I've sold my soul to Russia and Italy, there's no way I can keep both alliances, and I have quite the dilemma on my hands. I figure I'll just wait until Austria is toast....
So some move comes along where I kept Chuck alive instead of supporting Italy. I get the winiest phone message in the history of mankind that said, paraphrasaing, wah, wah, how could you, you've ruined everything, etc. etc. Karle then disappears off my phone for 2 weeks. My fleets are in position to overrun Italy, and the plan is signed, sealed, and delievered. Then, with only a day or two to spare, Karle decides to stop being a candy-ass, and he brings to my attention the closing window of opportunity to go after gains in Russia. It was already painfully obvious that Russia would never attack Germany (Mike and I, incidentally, will be publishing that theorem as our "brother-in-law" theory of Diplomacy, but there's still some copyright things to work out), so I decided to make a move on Russia while he was out of position and I still had huge advantages on Italy. It worked great and was a total surprise....the one move that saved Chris's ass from more total annihilation was when he abandoned Sevastopol and forced my retreat from Rumania, thus establishing the stalemate line. This is a move a agonized over but by no means regret, even if it did have the negative effect of making Karle happy.
So now I'm stuck with Italy as my bed-fellow....not a bad arrangement until Chuck INEXPLICABLY decided to stay in the Russia/Germany camp even though we could help him expand and they could offer him nothing. Things are no better in the West, where Jay is eliminated and Pat, despite our efforts to prop him up (we were even sending you direct orders for God's sake....was it really that freakin' hard????) decided to order his armies to burn Paris and haul ass for the coast. This left us in a stalemate situation broken up briefly when Austria FINALLY figured it out and turned on Russia. I can't really complain about the outcome, though...our alliance had the most controlled centers and epitomized the element of surprise. See y'all in the next game.
Sultan Wolyniak
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