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Round 2, Board 1
The game ended by stasis in Spring, 1913. No centers had changed hands between competing alliances in 3 game years.
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Austria:
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Siobhan Nolen
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(7)
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16.554
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England:
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Chris Kelly
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(11)
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40.878
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France:
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David Hafner
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(0)
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0.000
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Germany:
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Ali Adib
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(10)
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33.784
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Italy:
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Grant Smith
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(1)
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0.338
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Russia:
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Mike French
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(0)
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0.000
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Turkey:
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Jake Trotta
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(5)
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8.446
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A: Siobhan Nolen
E: Chris Kelly
F: David Hafner
G: Ali Adib
I: Grant Smith
R: Mike French
T: Jake Trotta
E: Chris Kelly
F: David Hafner
G: Ali Adib
I: Grant Smith
R: Mike French
T: Jake Trotta
This Post Has 4 Comments
The first order of business in this game was to “congratulate” Mike French on his solo win in Round 1 the previous night by swiftly decimating Russia. (As England, I did my part, reaching Moscow by the end of 1902.)
Ali Adib had a very strong diplomatic game as Germany, maintaining alliances with both Austria (Siobhan) and England (moi) for nearly the entire game while leading or tied for the most supply centers. This is even more impressive given that I tried to stab him in Fall 1902 but miswrote a necessary support order under time pressure – we managed to resume working together, but only by each devoting nearly half our units to self-defense.
Ironically, this mutual (and justified) paranoia between myself and Ali is what helped me win. As France, Russia, Turkey, and Italy were eliminated or marginalized, Ali had literally nothing left to do but stab either me or Siobhan… and my defenses against him were so well-fortified that he finally agreed to cut an Austrian support of Moscow. This infuriated Siobhan, and their subsequent fighting gave me the space to take the two centers I needed to pass Ali for the board-top.
[quote name=”Chris Kelly”]nd my defenses against him were so well-fortified that he finally agreed to cut an Austrian support of Moscow. This infuriated Siobhan, and their subsequent fighting gave me the space to take the two centers I needed to pass Ali for the board-top.[/quote]
Think it was actually his swipe of Trieste that was the real problem.
Ahh, I didn’t notice that — both happened on the same turn, apparently, so all the more reason for Siobhan to be angry.
Weasel Moot Round 2 AAR
Well, this was a weird and frustrating one. AND I FORGOT THAT CHRIS KELLY TOPPED THIS BOARD. Argh. Let’s start at the end.
[b]Failed Draws
[/b]This game ended because of 3 consecutive years without centers exchanging hands, after a long stretch of vetoed draws. I stopped vetoing draws once I hit five centers. The logic there was pretty simple. Someone was giving me dots. They stopped, and could in fact take those dots back. I wanted to keep those dots, so it was quitting time. I’ve heard after the game that people thought I vetoed draws. I have a policy of always owning up to my votes postgame. I appreciate that my reputation has led people to think that I believe I could make more play out of my late game position.
My personal opinion is that it was Ali who kept vetoing draws, partially because he was trying to blame it on me before draws even failed. Ali’s a great player, total shark in “I’m nervous and tired and just want the game to end” clothing. Chris Kelly, however, had the most incentive to, as he may have had a solo opportunity.
[b]What to do with the yellow jersey
[/b]First thing that has to be said is Mike French, tournament leader and eventual winner, played a lights out game. His tactics were good, but his negotiation was excellent. Every pitch was perfect… the only reason none of them worked was because he soloed in round 1. If the only way to improve your result is not soloing, you’re doing just fine.
Now, I didn’t know any of my theatre buddies. Grant (Italy) and I have played a couple times, but never in the same theatre. Siobhan and I were real life buddies that hadn’t played together. And Mike French was the tournament leader.
Immediate strategic choice: do you kill the leader, or trust him?
So if the leader gets any points, my odds at winning the tournament go down. However, if I get a big board top as a result of working with him and gain a margin of, say, 25 points, is that calculus different? Further, our interests were aligned- I needed a big score, he needed ANY score.
But I didn’t work with him. Siobhan and I tag-teamed him, Italy moved against me shortly thereafter, and all the sudden I was down to 2 centers.
I’m apparently a terrible janissary
So, once I got brought down to 2, I said screw it, let’s hand this to Siobhan in exchange for my survival. My support lasted one season, because I realized A) if she kept growing she’d kill me anyways b) she can’t kill me right now and C) if she gets too good of a board top, I probably don’t make the podium. It was a great double-deal that I didn’t even mean to set up, and for that I’m sorry Siobhan. But not very sorry. I’m medium sorry. 4ish sorries out of 10.
[b]Climbing back
[/b]Once I was down to 2, I started drinking more. There were three major powers- England, Austria, and Germany… and all of them seemed tenuous. So I vetoed a draw, thinking “hey, I’m not gonna die, and if things go south I can pick dots off from the back.” This strategy worked because Ali stabbed Siobhan, and as a result Siobhan decided to start tossing me dots. Once that stopped, I started voting for draws. I never really had a chance to make a big impact on the entire game, but picked up some points and had fun.
[b]Player Feedback
[/b]Austria (Siobhan Nolan): Fun finally sharing a board! I couldn’t really figure out how to negotiate with you, which was a bit of a challenge and probably made me seem spotty. Again, 4/10 sorry about my meh janissary effort. Wish you’d topped- certainly played well enough for it.
England (Chris Kelly): Hearing postgame that you weren’t planning to leave me in Sev til the end of time broke my heart.
France (David Hafner): Honest feedback- think you may have folded a bit too quickly. If you turtle and play some creative tactics, France is a BEAR to take down and you can often flip one of the two people in the west.
Germany (Ali Adib): The anti-me campaigning in this game was both fun and flattering, especially given our mutual enemies. As I mentioned before, dollars to donuts I think vetoed.
Italy (Grant Smith): I wish I could tell you that your choice to turn my way instead of biting off the back of France was the wrong choice… but I’m really not sure. Wish I had done a better job coordinating how we could go after A together, but when you moved east, that option was no longer available.
Russia (Mike French): A real pleasure playing with you. As you probably can tell, I have some regrets on my alliance choices. Hope to see you on another board soon.
Turkey: C+ performance. Good work working back from 2, but didn’t negotiate well enough to make a real game impact.