PDL 2020 Division 1 Mar Game B AAR

[Groo]

By comparison just a few words from me as Russia. I acknowledge that I was perhaps fortunate to be a part of the final result although I don't think that it can be denied that I worked long and hard even to survive so the in that sense I feel I was successful. At the end, I realised and shared that T was surely never going to order against A as that would invite A to retreat to gift F a solo and once that became clear I think we all recognised that the game was complete.
France kindly has suggested, "I think R is a really nice guy (perhaps too nice for PDL!) so I'm happy that at the end he was included in the draw." and I will admit to a sense that this is certainly a demanding and unforgiving format and quite different to the more normal day-to-day stuff. However, I am here and never quit - so hopefully next time I might even find a way to have fun as well as surviving: success, however, seems unlikely!

No, you played really well. You deserved to be included. Also, a draw with 8 dots is a respectable result in this league.
From our early comms, which were excellent, I thought you'd be a great ally for a jugger. It was partly my greed (ensuring Bla) and partly my fear of Italy that made me decide otherwise. I'm really sorry I made this game difficult for you, it was nothing personal, on the contrary! As you can see, I'm still thinking it might have been a mistake to alienate you this early in the game.

Interesting also to learn that when A supported R into Sev it was actually not a ruse, especially because for some reason Austria sold it to me as a ruse when I asked him about it!

Yeah, we agreed it would be better for us at that moment to make it look like we planned it all. The idea behind that was to save Austria's face (he was worried about switching sides too many times) and to appear more coherent in order to get you (Fra) talking about a 3wd with us. I don't know if that was necessary or even counter-productive.

I also share the opinion the "Musketeers idea" was a tad too much. I mean, I didn't believe for one second Germany will get out of this alive, but it seems Austria really did. I thought there's no harm in trying it, as it seemed Russia was pissed with France about his stab and repeated lies. I was seriously considering giving him Sev and turning the fight around and back to France. But then I realized it was the same trick Austria and I pulled on R/I a few years back so I advised Austria on taking Russia down. He seemed confident in Russia's commitment, though plus it was really risky to stab him. I mean the best thing we'd get if we took Russia out is a 3-wd with France on 17 so the decision was to trust Russia (but not completely, I blocked him out of Sev) to move against France which never happened.

ps.
You're welcome, V. for taking Squasher down.
pps.
Italy, I would love to hear from you. I was wondering if you have any advice on how to make so many good guesses?

[Squasher]

I have to admit, my least favourite country to play is Italy. Either I move west, which means Turkey gets let off the hook, and Italy has problems in the mid game; or I moved into Austria early - which also means Turkey could get strong - past the 6 centres - 'come and get me, as I'm going to dig in and just defend', or try to get A+R on board against Turkey. So, I hardly communicated with Turkey, and put a lot of effort in talking with France, Austria, and Russia.

England seemed to be mischievous, asking for a 3 way early attack on France, to which I was wary, unless I could get Germany on board - which was tough, as Germany's communication was at best brief, and seemed to say the right things, but be noncommittal. Also, France seemed to get wind of the idea, so he and I agreed a bounce in Piedmont (suited me, as I wasn't intending to attack Austria or France). My error, was not moving Rome to Apulia, so I could convoy to Tunis, and keep an all important fleet in Ionian.

All seemed to go okay - 1901 - the 'circling Italian armies' - trying to show Austria AND France, I meant no harm, and would not be a threat to them. Austria was giving me all the right noises, but refused a Key Lepanto (I don't blame him/ her), and Russia was friendly and seemed to be on board. But Austria became frustrated (as he frequently told me) with Russia, for his lack of, or late, communication. So, Austria sided with Turkey. And once Austria allowed Turkey into Greece, I knew I had problems.

So, Russia and I tried, unsuccessfully to attack Austria - with support from Turkey, it was tough to get far enough into Austrian territory. I continued to try to get Russia and Austria together, without success. Turkey and I started talking - Turkey asking for a single fleet to sail past Tyrr / Tunis (spells disaster for Italy longer term), so whilst I agreed (I had no choice - I lost Tunis anyway, by putting a fleet into Adriatic, to take on Austria, I knew I'd lose Tunis - but I couldn't just become passive, and await the inevitable fate), I knew Turkey would attack me.

France and I continued to be friendly, and perhaps I should have invited French fleets to help out earlier, but France was preoccupied up north. AND I didn't really want France to push south - I knew I'd be dead meat. Maybe a strategic error?

Whilst I continued to survive, and out play Turkey defensively - I changed tact. I knew by now, that I would be out of the game, so, as I had solo'd in the first January game, my new goal was to ensure there was at least a 3 way draw. (sorry for not telling you this France - but you can now see why my moves seemed strange at times - I was happy to 'give' Austria a centre, and frustrate Turkey - but not frustrate Turkey too much, so Turkey had enough centres, to get enough fleets, to stop France from soloing, by taking Tunis).

By now it was obvious to me, that Turkey and France seemed to have agreed to be 'non-aggresive to each other', or perhaps going for the 2 way draw. There were too many times the 'bounce' seemed to help both parties. France seemed to be unwilling to send fleets down south early, and Turkey kept NOT moving to West Med. So, my plan was to try to alert Russia and Austria NOT to be stabbed by France and Turkey respectively. (Hence why I allowed Austria into Venice, at the same time as slowing Turkey down, AND letting Turkey have Rome / Naples- so France could not get Rome and Naples (deliberate poor play).

Although a frustrating game from my perspective, I really did enjoy the game. Such a high level of communication, and frequency of communication. And whilst I knew I'd be out of the game, I was delighted with a 4 way draw - and deserved by all four players. And thanks to France, Austria, and Russia for the frequent, and high level communication - and well played Turkey - getting out of a R+A+I early onslaught was excellent diplomacy - shame we didn't communicate much - but I knew I wanted to attack you early on, and then later, I knew we would have very little in common to work together with.

Other than original Germany, I'd enjoy playing with all of you again. Thank you all.