Saturday at Nate Cockerill’s home in Lincoln Square, six of this season’s regulars, along with an old new face, played a game to end all games. It ended around 1 a.m. after the Fall 1918–yes, 1918–turn in the following center counts:
Austria (Patrick Boylan): 0; 0.000 points.
England (Peter Yeargin): 14; 45.794 points.
France (Aash Anand): 6; 8.411 points.
Germany (John Gramila): 0; 0.000 points.
Italy (Peter Lokken): 0; 0.000 points.
Russia (Nate Cockerill): 0; 0.000 points.
Turkey (Mike Morrison): 14; 45.794 points.
Take a look at Game No. 127’s center chart, which hints at some great stories. Six of the seven players shared or held the lead at various times, and it looks like two of them threatened solos in what clearly was an epic game.
And best of all, the aforementioned regulars will be at Peter Yeargin’s home this Saturday to do it all over again. But first, I hope they’ll check in here to share their thoughts on our club’s longest game to date.
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This was one of the strangest and most interesting games I’ve played in years. I drew Russia which apparently I can only draw Russia or Germany in Chicago.
I had Morrison in the south as Turkey and Yeargin in the north as England for the second week in a row. I decided to split force and went north with Moscow, Warsaw to Galicia even though I’d agreed not to due to Patrick playing Austria and I didn’t know if he’d hold to it.
I had things worked out with Gramila’s Germany and so 1901 seemed ok or so I thought. Mike Morrison’s wack pack opening threw me off. I went into this game wanting either him or Gramila to board top if I couldn’t. I thought I had a solid with Mike but apparently he’d allied with the Austrian.
In Fall I vacated Rum and took Sweden and Vienna. Don’t ask why I vacated Rum I can’t remember. I bounced around wound up in Con with the fleet got knocked out of Vienna. Debuilt rebuilt and basically realized “why the fuck am I believing Mike Morrison” which had only gotten me whittled down to 3 by 1905.
Meanwhile the steam heat was pumping full force and they seven of us were allready hot from the back and forth of the game. We managed to get the heat cranked down and the windows open. Thank god I didn’t bust out the whiskey till dark or there’d have been a fistfight.
By 1908 I’d gotten up to 8 centers but couldn’t finda solid ally.
The Italian and I worked somewhat together but it was too little too late and I took a center or two from him here and there and he retreated into mine at other times.
I held out until 1913 and then threw in the towel trying to give Morrison two of my centers . I wrote my moves showed him and turned them in for the turn. He didn’t takr me up but still took centers as England took St. Pete.
Rebekah Kim an interested coworker showed up in the midst of all the whiskey ,cigarettes, and my ball breaking of Aash. I almost drove Aash to the point of breaking a bottle over John Gramila’s head even though I was the one teasing him. I don’t know if Rebekah will ever show up to a game now. Oh well!
Lokken , Kim, Gramila and I played Rattus and some other games. Lokken passed out . Gramila and I played Race for the Galaxy and the game ended just before one(AM). Yeargin with 14, Morrison with 14 and Aash at 6. I was exhausted so I knew they had to be. It was fun though I would like to have had a better outing, it just wasn’t in the cards. But I believe a good time was had by all.
Went into this game hoping to preserve John Gramila’s record as best Turkey. It was close, but I believe I succeeded. PY and AA almost forced me to fail, but I fought against their best efforts. My initial play was subpar. Ankara to Armenia proved to be useless, so it returned to Ankara. Nate was a great host, and promised me Sevastapol and Liverpool, but only came through on one of those. Patrick Boylan in Austria was a very solid ally, down to his final retreat blocking Russia’s usual method of progress, retreating from Sev to Rumania. John Gramila provided very colorful commentary throughout the game and several times almost caused me to reconsider whether preserving his best Turkey was such a noble goal. Peter Lokken in Italy moved to Apulia on the first move, ensuring my Smyrna to Syria was a roaring success. In short, this game was like playing hop-scotch on a see-saw.
MM
i miss you guys š„
Greg’s here? Scratch my last comment — it was leap frog on a teeter-totter.
Darn. We have some stubborn people in this club.
[quote]The Italian and I worked somewhat together but it was too little too late and I took a center or two from him here and there and he retreated into mine at other times. [/quote]
hmmm….
“I need an ally I can go to the end of the game with…”
-John Nathan Cockerill
30 seconds before he takes my center
[quote] Thank god I didn’t bust out the whiskey till dark or there’d have been a fistfight.[/quote]
Another gem.
Lokken: “hey wheres the whiskey Nate?”,
Cockerill: “We drank it all!”
Lokken: “How many of you had a shot?”
…two hands raised…
Cockerill: “OK! its in the cupboard!”
Peter let’s not forget you said you’d buy me a bottle if I told you where it was stashed.
I also will never split my forces as Russia again until the south is 100% secure or my mother is playing Turkey.
[quote]I also will never split my forces as Russia again until the south is 100% secure or my mother is playing Turkey.[/quote]
Hmm. This comment has me thinking about Beowulf.
[quote]Hmm. This comment has me thinking about Beowulf.[/quote]I haven’t thought about Beowulf since 9th grade.
[quote]I haven’t thought about Beowulf since 9th grade.[/quote]
Yah? Well, when Cockerill’s Mother six-dots you, don’t come crying to me.
[quote name=”Nate Cockerill”]
Rebekah Kim an interested coworker showed up in the midst of all the whiskey ,cigarettes, and my ball breaking of Aash. I almost drove Aash to the point of breaking a bottle over John Gramila’s head even though I was the one teasing him. I don’t know if Rebekah will ever show up to a game now. Oh well!
[/quote]
You put the ‘Nate’ in ‘unfortunate.’
My EOG is coming up.
Wow…where to even begin on this one. Well…first of all, Nate, thanks for hosting. You provided us a great place for some Dip, a full frig of beer and plenty of food. Couldn’t ask for more.
Now on the board side, I guess I could ask for you to NOT order MOS-STP. However, I pretty much assumed it was inevitable. I think Aash drew France first or second and I was somewhere in the middle, picking up England. When I saw John in Germany and Nate in Russia, I started making my way to the exit! It seems like I end up with Aash and John as neighbors pretty often, and it also seemed like they were always coming my direction. I was hoping for a different outcome this day, but it wasn’t meant to be.
My Spring 1901 negotiations were seemingly cordial with all three of those guys. Aash and I agreed on the usual English DMZ and John thought it was a good plan to support me into Belgium in the Fall. Nate told me he was heading south, more than likely, because he didn’t totally trust Mike. Of course, as everyone probably assumed here, those negotiations led to the Aash in the Channel after Spring, John with a standard opening, and Nate coming north with Moscow.
I assumed the Sea Lion was coming my direction, and I also knew there was no chance Nate wouldn’t at least try to bounce me out of Norway. A build was a necessity if I was going to stay alive. Aash promised to take Belgium with the fleet and John promised to bounce Nate in Sweden. Neither happened as Aash supported John into North. I supported NTH to NWY and picked up a fleet build in EDI. Luckily for me, Nate was getting at least a little bit of pressure in the south. Also luckily for me, he somehow managed to vacate Rumania while picking up VIE from GAL. If he had built three, I’m most certainly done. It was his inability to build a third unit that kept just enough pressure on him in the south from Austria and Turkey to keep me alive.
The next five years of my game was spent trying to seed doubt and create minor alliances with those two guys while trying to get Peter and Mike and Patrick to keep Nate somewhat occupied. I had a few good guesses along the way to keep most of my centers. They whittled me down to three in 1903, but a miscommunication between the two of them allowed me to build in 1905. I think Aash was expecting to support John into EDI while John ceded him Belgium. Turns out, neither of them walked into my just vacated EDI supply center and I was able to drop down a third fleet to get up to four.
Aash was getting antsy at this point. He was at 7 after 1905, but had only grown one dot in the last 5 years. He was ready to break out, and I, of course, was more than willing to help him. If he was attacking John, he wasn’t attacking me. That’s all I cared about. The attack succeeded and Aash grew to 9 while John dropped down to 4. Unfortunately for Aash, John was pissed, as you might expect. He offered to support me back into two of Aash’s dots while I also worked with Nate to help him pick up one more somewhere else on the board. Aash grabbed a dot somewhere else that year, but his three units lost to myself and Nate got me to 6 and Nate to 8. Aash had was settling into panic mode at this point a little bit, wanted John dead, and he offered to support my convoy from YOR through my fleets in NTH and HEL to Kiel. It worked and I was able to build two that year. The second coming from my * in 1906.
Aash and I had a couple of hiccups along the way the next couple of years, but in general, we were both supporting each other and growing. At the same time, Nate and Peter were both inadvertently chucking dots to Morrison like they were going out of style. Mike hit 13 by 1912 while I was at 10 and Aash at 8. Aash and I moved towards the center of the board at that point and locked up our line while probing Mike’s.
I could see a gaping hole in Mike’s line at that point. It was also late as shit and I was exhausted. This game was a freaking marathon and I was talking out of my ass so much that I grew a second mouth down there. I was ready to call it quits. I proposed a draw with Mike at 13, myself at 11, and Aash at 10. Mike was staring at the board and I could tell he was looking for his solo opportunities and also excited about his prospects. I looked at Mike and said, “you’ve got a big hole in your lineā¦let’s take the draw and call this one”. Mike told me to point it out. I of course had no plans to do that, because, despite the fact that it was there, if he knew where it was, he could limit the damage. If he didn’t, we could probably break his entire front and force him back as much as we wanted.
He of course vetoed the draw and we played on. I convoyed an army from EDI to STP to solidify my own line and also supported my armies forward to LVN, PRU, BER and KIE. Aash continued rolling through the middle and also brought all of his navies down south to blockade the Ionian.
We were slowly making progress and pushing Mike back at this point and Aash was interested in whittling it down to a 17/17 draw. The idea seemed cool to me, but I was running on fumes. I decided to pull back a couple of fleets and hopefully put some pressure on Aash to agree to the draw. Mike had units in SEV, MOS and UKR. I was in STP and LVN. I supported LVN into MOS just for the hell of it. Mike ended up moving MOS though rather than supporting and I picked up one to bring the board total to 12-12-10. I was going to vote for the draw at 13-11-10, but getting to 12-12-10 made me think twice. Especially since Aash wasn’t able to react to my moves to NAT and ENG. I had two SCs guaranteed in BRE and POR.
I grabbed them plus one more in WAR to get up to 15, but Aash had pulled everything back and Mike basically had a walk to 16 the next year. He was a little worried that taking 3 of Aash’s dots might give me the solo, so he only took one off Aash and ended up picking WAR back off of me. We were sitting at 14-14-6 now. Both Mike and I had solo possibilities, but it was also precarious all over the entire board. I think Mike had the better opportunity, but there was also a chance I might get Aash to turn around enough to solo myself.
Mercifully, we all agreed to call it right there and end the marathon. It was a great game and an extremely intense game! Thanks again to Nate for hosting!
-Peter
no more comments? Aash…you said you almost finished your end game? I want to see what you thought also!