Spain, I'm glad to see you made it into the draw
(somehow) 
! You must have had help from on high (looking at you Alman, "document doctorer")
Congrats to everyone for a well played game. There isn't a one of you I wouldn't
try to stab play with again.
Britain's AARPrebidding Looking at the map I figured that the best power was probably Russia, with number two going to Britain. I was thinking that Russia would probably be getting a lot of attention, so I went for Britain. I seriously considered Spain as my top choice, but the fact that the Spanish would have to rely on British help to secure Portugal dissuaded me.
Early Game My very first goal, once I drew Britain, was to secure the north and dismantle any potential rival for fleet building. The three main targets to hit were Portugal, Brest, and Chr. I figured that the easiest way to do it would likely be to open with a war against Denmark or France and then betray the other one. I decided to embark on an anti-French quest and hope for a sneaky move to Chr because Nth seems so British, I figured Denmark couldn't really deny me having a fleet there in the spring and so there was potential for a sneak-fleet into Chr.
The crux of my early game came when Spain approached me about hitting France together. That seemed perfect, I traded my help attacking France (which I had kind of already planned to do) to Spain in exchange for Spain's promise to make any center other than Portugal their 3rd home SC. Spain and I then approached the Hapsburg Empire, who viewed France as a serious continental rival. HE didn't ask for anything in return (other than the minor powers nearby) and so the triple anti-French attack was born.
The actual mechanics of the French attack were extremely complex, I can't recreate them perfectly from memory but it involved HE bouncing getting support into Bur from BaW (paid for by DPs from Saxony in exchange for promised help against Prussia) while I moved to the channel with support (I had offered the channel to France) and Spain moved on Marseilles. HE was also to have taken Savoy using DPs in the spring and support Spain into Marseilles in the fall. If everything had gone according to plan, Spain could have taken Marseilles, I would have taken Brest, and HE would have taken Sav. From there France would have been out by fall of the second year.
Unfortunately, HE screwed up. I don't know if it was purely an accident or HE intentionally trying to screw the pooch but HE didn't move the Netherlands unit at all, allowing France to walk into Burgundy. The irony of HE's mistake though, was that Poland/Saxony has betrayed the plan (or never really been committed) and so if HE had moved according to it Spain would maybe have been able to take Marseilles but I could never have taken Brest. But, the stars aligned and Spain was the one that got screwed (because now France could support Marseilles to hold). While a ridiculous amount of planning went into this battle-plan, in the end it came down to what felt like pure chance.
At this time also, I made plans to abandon my home SC in Han. I decided that it was worth it to trade any continental holdings in exchange for absolute control over the northern oceans. I offered Denmark the chance to take Han from me, expecting that Denmark would move on Han and either the Baltic Sea or Sca, leaving Chr open for a sneaky fall move. I also offered Han to Prussia, with a half-formed idea that the two might bounce each other out and leave me with an extra build. When Zurn instead went for the all-out Swedish attack, those hopes were dashed and I just had to cede Han to Prussia. The "loss" of Han was totally acceptable though, because Prussia helped me into HeW to counter the loss and my gambit of an unsupported attack on Chr succeeded. Zurn, for the record, I really did like the idea of working together with you - just because it seemed so off the wall. If you had actually gone for the Prussian attack, I would seriously have considered sticking it out with you (for at least a while) because you seemed like a good player and that alliance seemed so cool and novel.
Mid Game Once I had secured the north I decided that I was in a position to solo and so I started working towards that goal. I did my best to help Spain, both because I liked him and because the Ottoman's aggression meant Spain would always have to devote most of his forces to defending in the Med, leaving open the potential of a late game 3 SC stab for the win.
Additionally, it was in the mid game that my alliance with Prussia really bloomed. Antigonos is a very reliable and excellent player, so I was happy to be a close ally of his. His dependability meant that I could leave my continental forces quite thin and focus on pushing into Scandinavia. Prussia and Russia didn't seem to be getting on, so I tried to exploit that so Prussia and I could crack Russia and eat the north. Unfortunately Asudevil was just too darn clever and made some defensive moves that made the epic convoy I'd been planning on totally undoable.
Around this time, while things were fairly delicate with Russia and Prussia PetesAHut as the Ottoman Empire started a 4-way draw conversation. I immediately realized that this was simply an attempt to get me to turn on Spain - so OE could rule the Med unopposed, but unfortunately because of the game mechanics the logic behind the 4-way draw made way to much sense. While I did my best to stall the conversation out (pushing for including Austria and then pushing for rejecting Austria and replacing them with Russia, etc. etc.) the fact that in a 44 SC game a player solos with 15 SCs made the inevitability of a 4 draw too real for me to argue with.
Knowing I could never justify being above 11 SCs, especially to Prussia, I consented to giving up HeW to Prussia (in lieu of giving up Chr to Russia). This was essentially the beginning of the end.
The Late Mid-Game (since there was no late game) The game basically continued with a revolving door of 4-way draw conversations until everyone else got too tired of it and gave up. If Prussia turned on me I had a 0% chance of soloing (and potentially would even lose out of being in the draw) and, since Antigonos is astute, there was nothing I could do once I was at 10-11 SCs. I couldn't afford to become a true board leader, so instead I tried to bide my time - unfortunately, everyone else lost steam before I had any opportunities to make any exciting plays. I stabbed Spain as I was required to by the 4-way draw (Ottoman Empire's demand) and lost those potential SCs to the math of the 4-way draw.
There were two points where I felt like I might still have a shot. The first came when Russia was "kicked out" of the 4 way draw (and replaced by Austria). Asudevil, seemingly in frustration, sent me some messages saying essentially "I'm tired of this chicken-shit play, I'll help you solo." I agreed (though I feared he was just getting ammo to send to Prussia) and prepared to try to sweep through the Russian centers (and then stab Spain for the win). Unfortunately, before I was able to even get a unit into the right place, the revolving door of the 4-way draw kicked Austria out and brought Russia back in, and that idea fizzled.
The second bright moment also came from Russia. The two of us, having discussed how much we prefer fiery endings to cool ones, decided that we would work with Prussia to crush Austria and then each stab Prussia and race to the solo. This seemed like a really interesting way to go about ending the game (even if Russia wound up winning) and I knew that I had the advantage since Prussia and I had been such great allies - I could tip Prussia off just before the Russian stab and thus prevent Russia gaining ground but potentially expose a Prussian or Russian flank for my own gain. However, this great idea died too when the Ottoman Empire suddenly reared it's head in the Med and the prospect of crushing Austria became one of handing OE the solo.
The fork was really stuck in any possibility of me playing for the solo when OE betrayed me by supporting Spain into the Mid Atlantic. Since I didn't know if I Love Italy (Spain) was going for a suicide attack against me I had to cover using my fleet in the north sea, a unit which was essential for any interesting play on my part (this was the first time I've ever cursed Ireland for being passable).
In the end I accepted the draw after Russia (Asudevil) threw in the towel. I felt like a jerk forcing 5 other people to keep playing if they were all tired of the game - but I was also okay with moving on.
Also, I found it hilarious that after all of that "4-way draw is inevitable" talk, we wound up accepting a 5 way draw.
Good game everyone!