Well, I certainly did not expect that....
I thought both Palin and Stalin MUST see that I was within reaching distance of the required 9 SC's.
That and Palin going silent on me meant I was attempting to hold the lines and lose as little as possible with the guaranteed gain of Scotland.
Palin and I had an alliance based on two main premises.
A drawn victory in a 3 player game would not be in the spirit of the game.
That we would combine against France and then go for the solo.
I was pretty incredulous to get to seven so easily ad quickly.
By concentrating his defence on the threat posed by the Burgundians, France did succeed in severely limiting Burgundian growth, but allowed England far too much leeway.
Spain was also, I feel, a mistake. It was so easy to put a stopper into Aragon and simply remove the French force in Spain from further meaningful participation.
I fully expected a joint French, Burgundian onslaught to put me back in my place.
I can actually see how this variant could be a very long game indeed - with much to-ing and fro-ing - I think I was very lucky to be allowed so many early gains.
I would be interested to hear perspectives from Burgundy, France and Pedros...