As Pete McNamara noted in the aftermath, "There were no easy dots" in last night’s game at Matt Sundstrom’s home in Glenview. The board was loaded with four of the season’s top seven players. The others included a Royale combatant from last year and one of the club’s dogged young guns. But the player who successfully navigated the minefield of Peters and Sundstroms and Nates (oh my) was last year’s Rookie of the Year Amanda Baumgartner. She earned her first ever board top, and first positive score of Season 6, with an 11-center Germany. The final center counts were:
Austria (Matt Sundstrom): 9; 27.000 points.
England (Peter Lokken): 0; 0.000 points.
France (Peter Yeargin): 7; 16.333 points.
Germany (Amanda Baumgartner): 11; 40.333 points.
Italy (Nate Cockerill): 0; 0.000 points.
Russia (Aash Anand): 0; 0.000 points.
Turkey (Pete McNamara): 7; 16.333 points.
The supply center chart is here. Now let’s hear from the players.
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Interestingly, the country with the longest active streak of draws is Austria at four. After drawing in eight straight games, England now has been eliminated in the past two.
Although the result reads “Russia (Aash Anand): 0; 0.000 points,” the reality was much different – a 7 year, 5 hour streak on one bleeding center (first Moscow, then STP). By the end of it, I had gotten used to negotiating as the Sovereign Socialist Republican City State of St. Petersburg (North Coast).
The opening was brutal – Austria went to GAL, Turkey lied to me and went to ARM (and continued to attack me persistently for the next three years), Germany refused to let me into Sweden despite the recommendations of Peter Yeargin, Nate Cockerill and others, and Peter Lokken made an opportunistic grab of STP to put me down to two. Little did all these people know that the Sovereign Socialist Republican City State of St. Petersburg (North Coast) would have its revenge. What followed was a dogged struggle against tyranny, hegemony and irrationally exuberant stabs.
In 1901, I opened South, with MOS-UKR and STP-GoB, bouncing in both BLA and GAL. Turkey had moved to Armenia. I decided to give Pete McNamara a hard time and let Austria into Galicia, while letting Turkey into RUM in F1901. This was the worst situation for Turkey to be in as Austria would get BUL and RUM the next year and Turkey would have nothing. When Pete McNamara refused my offer to help him by supporting RUM, and instead took my SEV, letting Austria grow to 7 in 1902, I was livid. I supported Austria into WAR and SEV, my ultimate objective being to screw Pete McNamara over until I had determined that he had paid for past treacheries. At this point, England had supported me into SWE. If he had let me keep Sweden I would’ve been on three at the end of year 2, but instead he let Amanda take Sweden and slipped into STP himself. Great, I thought – just one more crazy opportunist who will have to repent by the end of today.
In 1904, I was in Moscow, having put Matt Sundstrom in WAR and MOS. England was in STP. In S1904, I let Matt take MOS and moved to LVN on the condition that he would support me into STP so that I could make fun of Peter Lokken. There was one hurdle to this plan – Lokken had an army in Scandinavia supporting STP, and Amanda (in Sweden) had to tap it. She agreed, and for the first time, actually helped me get a dot. Lokken went down one or two dots that year and I am pleased to say that I initiated his decline.
At this point, Russia became the Sovereign Socialist Republican City State of St. Petersburg (North Coast). It was hilarious. I was nobody’s enemy, yet everyone else, having wronged me in some way, was mine.
S1905 – A STP S ENGLISH A FIN-NWY
F1905 – A STP S GERMAN F SWE-NWY
In 1906, an amazing situation arose, giving me hope that I could go up to 2 units that year and build in STP. Here’s what happened – Amanda was sitting in TYR and BOH, and I told her that if she would go to SIL, then we could collectively hurt Matt Sundstrom, which TYR and BOH were failing to do anyway. Once she was in SIL, in 1906, Austrian Warsaw and Sevastopol were empty, and Austria was sitting in MOS. Amanda did not bounce Matt in Warsaw, so that MOS-WAR succeeded and my STP-MOS succeeded. I was sitting in MOS now with Austrian A WAR, A SEV (sneaked up from the Balkans) and German F NWY. I had promised Amanda support into Warsaw, but sensing an Amanda-stab I moved back to STP anyway. Turns out I was right – the sly German was trying to kill me off even as I had helped hurt her enemy. Since STP was a bounce and Matt Sundstrom dislodged me, I had a build! I built A STP.
Now I had taken care of bothering Turkey, Austria and England. It was Amanda’s turn.
S1907 A STP-NWY
F1907 A STP-NWY
S1908 A STP-NWY
In F1908, Pete McNamara asked if I could tap MOS for him. Because this gave me an opportunity to go feel important and actually engage in diplomacy, I engaged in 3 way talks with Turkey and Germany. The plan was that Turkey would support me into Moscow while Germany attacked Warsaw (I think). Unfortunately, this didn’t succeed, although Matt Sundstrom was quite annoyed by the end of it (that I, his vassal state, would for the second time turn against him).
S1909 A NWY-MOS
This turn, Amanda moved to LVN and used NWY and LVN to take me out. Matt Sundstrom refused to support me to hold even though his score would’ve been better with my one center not going to Amanda. Alas – a great struggle had come to a close.
I urge all of you to remember the fighting spirit of the Sovereign Socialist Republican City State of St. Petersburg (North Coast) against tyranny, hegemony and selfish lying, cheating and stabbing.
Sorry, it was F1908 STP-MOS, S1909 STP-NWY, F1909 STP-SWE followed by a declaration that the Sovereign Socialist Republican City State of St. Petersburg (North Coast) would never die.
I’m pretty happy with the outcome, considering I survived past both Peter Lokken and Nate Cockerill.